“It’s really stuck. It got rammed between two branches.”
“I’d go up and help her, but the branch she’s on wouldn’t support me,” Diesel said.
Glo did some grunting and swearing. “Ugh,” she said. “Double ugh!” She put her foot to the tree truck, leaned back, and pulled, but the broom didn’t budge. “I think it’s afraid to let go,” Glo said.
“Maybe it doesn’t want to let go,” Diesel said.
“Whatever. I’m done. I’ve had it with this broom.” She turned around and climbed down the tree. “Honest to goodness,” Glo yelled, stomping back and forth in the rain, flapping her arms. “It is so annoying. This broom has been nothing but trouble. The heck with it. I don’t even want it anymore. It can stay in the stupid tree forever.”
Tree leaves rustled in the wind and rain, a branch creaked, and the broom fell out of the tree and hit Glo on the head. Glo staggered forward a little and stared down at the broom.
“I guess I loosened it,” she said. “And the wind did the rest.”
Diesel picked the broom up. “Do you want it?” he asked Glo.
“I suppose so,” Glo said, taking the broom. “I mean, I paid for it and all.”
“Where’s your car?” I asked her.
“It’s at the bakery. I saw the broom go by like a tumbleweed, and I took off after it.”
I opened the back door and scooped up Carl’s crumpled wrappers and rogue Froot Loops. “The bakery is almost a mile away. Get in and we’ll give you a ride.”
“I’m all wet,” Glo said. “I’ll make a mess.”
“I’m living with a monkey,” Diesel told her. “You couldn’t come close on your best day.”
Glo slid onto the backseat and set the broom next to the window. She slicked her hair back from her face and looked at Carl. “Wow, look at all the cool food,” she said. “You’re a lucky monkey.”
Carl gathered his food close to him and inched away from Glo. He leaned over and looked at the broom. “Eep,” he said.
I was watching over my shoulder, and I swear the broom twitched.
“Maybe you don’t want to let Carl get too close to the broom,” I said to Glo.
“It’s just a dumb broom,” Glo said. “Carl can’t hurt it.”
“Yes, but I’m not sure the broom likes him.”
Diesel glanced over at me. “Are you okay?”
“It twitched,” I whispered to him.
Diesel looked in the rearview mirror at Carl and then at the broom. “I don’t see any twitching,” he said to me. “Maybe you just have low blood sugar. We’ll get you a cupcake when we drop Glo off.”
“Thanks,” I said, “but I don’t want a cupcake.”
“I always want a cupcake,” Diesel said.
He turned a corner, and the broom slid across Glo and whacked Carl before Glo had a chance to grab it and set it back in place.
“Eeep!” Carl said. And he shot goo from the Easy Cheese can at the broom. The cheese hit the broom mid-stick and stuck like snot. Carl shot some more, and it missed the broom and hit the window.
“Knock it off,” Diesel said to Carl.
Carl gave Diesel the finger and shot goo onto the back of his head and onto the dashboard. Goo was flying everywhere. Carl was in
an Easy Cheese frenzy. I had goo in my hair and goo on my soaking-wet bandage.