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Show 132. Then last night, late, Stephanie had called to ask if she and Chic Wilcox could meet him at the office first thing in the morning. "First thing" for Tom Crawford was eight o'clock, early enough to catch the June smells lifting from the grass, late enough to read the morning edition of the Denver Post before he left the house. He didn't expect the kids to make it until mid-morning, but he was wrong. He'd hardly got into his printer's coat when he looked out through the large shop window and saw them crossing the street. Chic still limped, but he was keeping up with Stephanie, who held a paper sack in her hands like she was carrying a May basket. "Good morning!" Tom greeted them from behind the counter as they came in. "Just a minute here," he ransacked his desk for a pair of glasses, adjusting them on his nose as he turned around. "Never got to congratulate you on that scholarship, Chic," he reached out across the counter to take Chic's hand. "Names get all lumped together in the school awards news, but yours stood out." "Thanks," Chic smiled. "Yessir, local boy makes good! Okay, kids, something's afoot to get you out of bed on a summer morning like this. What have you got to tell me, Staphanie?" "Mr. Crawford, Chic and I drove up to Skull Mountain yesterday--" her eyes were bright and she sounded out of breath, excited. "You did, huh? Looking for clues?" "I guess," she admitted, glancing at Chic. "Well, did you see any sign of JD?" Chic answered this time. "We didn't expect much, Mr. Crawford. Lenny Jones was up there in the spring where JD left the car and he didn't find anything to report. Mostly we wanted to check out that place where the UFO landed." "The circle's still there! And almost as plain," Stephanie said. "Well, I'll be damned!" Then Mr. Crawford gestured toward a work table farther back in his office. "C'mon around here where we can sit down. You know, by golly, I'm going to make a trip up there myself. Tell me what you saw." "You, Chic," Stephanie suggested, "I've described it so many times." |