The breakout ended up being more of a kidnapping. Grandpa Rose was confused again. He didn't remember me, was using words so bad that they can't be written, swearing unwritable. "What's this you're plotting?" Grandpa Rose shouted. "Quiet, Grandpa Rose," I hissed. In the room next door, someone shouted something about sewers. I emptied my backpack, shaking out the disguise. A flowery shawl. A floppy straw hat. A wig of curly white hair that I had worn for a play, once, playing the part of a dead composer. I yanked the wig over his hair, yanked the hat over his wig, wrapped him in the shawl. "You devil," Grandpa Rose muttered. "You agreed to this idea!" I hissed. I tossed his suitcase out the window, boosted him through. He slipped, tripped, fell onto the concrete. His palms were scraped and bloody when I helped him stand. Jordan Odom was gaping at us through the window of room #37. I gathered the suitcase, then led Grandpa Rose off toward the ghosthouse. We moved at about half a mile per hour. Grandpa Rose hunched over the cane, knuckles white, panting. He seemed< confused now. He yanked the hat lower onto the wig, as the shawl snapped about in the wind. I could smell cookouts-grilling meats-and someone burning leaves. The road wound through swaying maple trees, passing squat houses. High school kids loading the trunk of a car. Middle school kids teetering across a plank of wood, leaping from a treehouse into gold leaves piled below. Elementary school kids sitting in a driveway, ripping heads from dolls, tossing the heads into the grass, singing a song about babies. No one's as weird as elementary schoolers. "We're being tailed," Grandpa Rose muttered. "What?" I whispered. The suitcase whacked against my knees. I glanced backward. An old man was hobbling after us. It was Jordan's grandfather. Jordan was dragging him by his arms. Excerpted from If You Find This by Matthew Baker All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
