“It’s cool,” said Stanley.
“We had to lift the truck clear out of the hole,” Zigzag told him. “It took everybody in C, D, and E. We just picked it right up.”
“It was really cool,” said Twitch.
X-Ray was the only one who didn’t come over. Stanley saw him hang back behind the others a moment, then return to the Wreck Room.
“Guess what?” said Magnet, glancing at Mr. Pendanski. “Mom says we don’t have to dig any more holes.”
“That’s great,” Stanley said.
“Will you do me a favor?” asked Squid.
“I guess,” Stanley agreed, somewhat hesitantly.
“I want you to—” He turned to Ms. Morengo. “Hey, lady, you have a pen and paper I can borrow?”
She gave it to him, and Squid wrote down a phone number which he gave to Stanley. “Call my mom for me, okay? Tell her … Tell her I said I was sorry. Tell her Alan said he was sorry.”
Stanley promised he would.
“Now you be careful out in the real world,” said Armpit. “Not everybody is as nice as us.” Stanley smiled.
The boys departed when the Warden came out of the office. The Attorney General was right behind her.
“My office is having some difficulty locating Hector Zeroni’s records,” the Attorney General said.
“So you have no claim of authority over him?” asked Ms. Morengo.
“I didn’t say that. He’s in the computer. We just can’t access his records. It’s like they’ve fallen through a hole in cyberspace.”
“A hole in cyberspace,” Ms. Morengo repeated. “How interesting. When is his release date?”
“I don’t know.”
“How long has he been here?”
“Like I said, we can’t—”
“So what are you planning to do with him? Keep him confined indefinitely, without justification, while you go crawling through black holes in cyberspace?”
The Attorney General stared at her. “He was obviously incarcerated for a reason.”
“Oh? And what reason was that?”
The Attorney General said nothing.
Stanley’s lawyer took hold of Zero’s hand. “C’mon, Hector, you’re coming with us.”
49
There never used to be yellow-spotted lizards in the town of Green Lake. They didn’t come to the area until after the lake dried up. But the townsfolk had heard about the “red-eyed monsters” living in the desert hills.
One afternoon, Sam, the onion man, and his donkey, Mary Lou, were returning to his boat, which was anchored just a little off shore. It was late in November and the peach trees had lost most of their leaves.
“Sam!” someone called.
He turned around to see three men running after him, waving their hats. He waited. “Afternoon, Walter. Bo, Jesse,” he greeted them, as they walked up, catching their breath.