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Candy-Coated Secrets

By Cynthia Hickey

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A horn blared. I heard a crash. A shrill shrieking like metal on metal. Then I felt a vibration beneath my feet.

"Earthquake!" Aunt Eunice ducked beneath the kitchen table.

I shot her a look. "Please. In Arkansas?"

Another blast of the noise a shattered trumpet might make.

"That sounds like an elephant." Aunt Eunice crawled from her hiding place and glanced at me, her brow furrowed.

In Mountain Shadows? "It can't be."

The trumpet screamed again.

Aunt Eunice tossed the the sink the cucumber she'd been peeling before her dive under the table. She whipped off her apron, sending it in a yellow-checkered parachute to the floor, and then headed toward the living room.

"Race you to the window." My aunt was game for anything. We dashed to the front of the house. I planted my feet on a throw rug and slid to the door first. I hit it with a thud. "I won!"

"You cheated!"

Truly, my Cairn terrier, barked in a fit of frenzy. Aunt Eunice dodged Truly as we rushed outside onto the porch. The screen door slammed behind us.

A diesel rig in garish colors had collided with another trailer and lay diagonally on its side across Highway 64. Tires spun as smoke poured from beneath them. The acrid odor of burnt rubber assaulted my nostrils. Other brightly painted trucks pulling trailers idled beside the road.

Men darted around our yard, herding escaped animals: sheep, miniature ponies, and a pig. Cries of alarm and cursing filled the air. I never would have believed such a sight had I not seen it.

A horse whinnied, a lion roared, and an elephant trailing a length of frayed rope thundered past the cars and across the front lawn.

"My roses!" In my usual fashion of acting before thinking, I grabbed an umbrella from a stand beside the door. "Hey!"

Opening and closing the makeshift weapon in rapid succession, I waved it in front of me as I flew into the yard. The elephant blasted a warning and turned toward me. Horror! Gone was the cute Dumbo of my childhood. Instead, I faced several tons of a frightened giant who rose to stand on two legs. Dong what any sane person n my circumstances would, I whirled and dashed around the corner of the house. Then, peering into the front yard, I watched in anguish as the elphant stomped through the roses I'd grown for the county fair. So much for my hopes of a blue ribbon.

Aunt Eunice took a step off the porch in my direction, and then obviously decided against being trampled to death. She turned and scooted into the house. "Summer, get back in here this instant!" she yelled through the screen door, as if the mesh could protect her. "No use dwelling on uprooted dreams. You'll get squashed." My heart thundered as loud as the beast's massive feet. I cowered beneath my still open black-and-white polka-dotted protection. God, save me.

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