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Show -20- Peppermint Monday "I'm already asleep," Jason tried to boom back. Twice before Saturday I changed my mind. It was stupid and risky. There were other ways to get pa to make Jake stay away. I just had trouble thinking of them. Regardless of my inner battles and better sense, here I was, ready to leave. I'd put on my patched jeans I had used when we painted my room. Large dabs of pink paint, hue number twenty-three, decorated the old jeans. I wore an old sweat shirt that ma had junked twice. I'd been lucky enough to rescue it both times, but after today's episode, I might have to finally give in. Who knows what I might get on it at Jake's. Jason was also dressed for the occasion, right down to his miss-match socks. We even had a paper bag for evidence. We weren't going to steal, just collect proof of whiskey bottles, marijuana joints, or stuff like that. Neither of us were real sure where we were going. We'd both heard general directions and distance, but that was all we had to go on. Pa and Russ knew, but we'd been smart enough not to ask them. We just set our course for the east hills and walked. We were bound to bump into something. Russ had told me once that Jake lived in a little forest and Jason had heard pa tell ma he was three miles from any human neighbors. We knew the hills fairly well, having lived here all our lives, and so we followed a few crude paths, hoping we'd find it. After getting lost three times, we took a right fork, and almost stumbled into several cages, semi-hidden under some short-leaf hardwood trees. One home-made cage held a coon, his paw wrapped with smudged white tape. There was also a chattering squirrel that didn't look or sound the least bit sick to me. One more cage housed a tired looking mallard, that needed rest more than anything from the looks of it. None of |