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Show -24- Peppermint Monday running. It was the opposite direction from Jake, and that was what mattered now. When I felt relatively safe, I sat down under an oak tree, sprawling in its shade. It was still early spring, still March, and the day was cool. Shade wasn't necessary, but I sat there anyway, leaning my back against the giant tree. It gave me strength I had lost miles back. Jason sank beside me, huffing as much as I was. He had dropped the paper bag earlier in our escape, but it had been empty anyway. It didn't make me feel any better to know Jake wasn't sleazy and dirty. His house was not the disgrace everybody said it was. It hadn't even had that stale, stuffy smell that Grandma Ruby's had, and most of the other old people I know. It had a mountain air smell, the kind I like to drink big breaths of. "What should we tell pa?" "We don't have to tell him anything. We didn't find anything to make them keep Russ away from Jake, so it wouldn't do any good." All we could say is what a good housekeeper he is, and that is not a bad habit. "But what if Jake tells pa?" Jason looked younger, and less brave than he had before we'd been caught. "Jake won't tell pa, at least not now." "How can you be so sure?" His blue eyes were large, almost begging me to come up with an answer he'd believe. "If he was planning on telling pa, he'd have let Russ see us. He didn't want Russ to know we were there." "I hope you're right," Jason sounded doubtful. "Pa would kill me." I didn't deny the possibility. I hated to think what pa might do to us if he knew. Right now, I had a bigger problem though. What was |