Free Crunch by Leslie Connor Page B

and let out a sigh.

18
    “PSST! DEWEY. I NEED YOU TO GET UP.” LIL SHOOK my arm. I sat up in the attic bedroom and looked over at Vince. Unconscious.
    “D-did I oversleep? Do I have customers?” I squinted at the clock.
    “No, but heads-up. Change of plan.” She looked stern.
    Lil…taking charge. Of something. Now if only I could wake up…
    “I need you guys to meet me at Shoreland’s Market right after you drop off Angus and Eva. I’ve been watching the news. Trucks still aren’t moving. I did a cupboard check. I don’t like it. We need to get there this morning.”
    I whispered. “Are you kidding? Lil, I have toget into the shop. Vince does the camp drop now. Take him.” I jabbed a thumb toward my sleeping brother.
    “Yeah, right. Vince in the grocery store?” Lil whispered.
    She was right. Vince was a notoriously terrible shopper. He tried to follow the list, but he’d get off track and start picking up whatever. Then he’d come home embarrassed and bewildered by what was in the grocery sacks. And what wasn’t.
    “I’m going to have Vince babysit the bikes while you and I shop,” Lil said. “Last thing we need is another theft. You and Vince put the carrier on the tandem. Haul Angus and Eva to camp. Meet me, and then we’ll fill it with groceries for the way home. I’ve got the panniers and we’ll all bring backpacks,” Lil said. “Oh, and you have money, right?”
    Ah. Now she would understand about all those bikes in the shop. I reached below my bed and dragged out one of my work boots. I pulled a roll of bills out of it and thunked it into her hand.
    “Cripes! Dewey!” she squawked. That madeVince sit up. “Ever heard of making a deposit? How much is here?” She sniffed the wad. Must have been the smell of peppermint. Not essence of work boot.
    “A lot,” I said. “B-but it’s just because I held on to a bunch for the trip to Bocci. And Robert Deal paid cash for his bike.”
    “Negligent.” Vince yawned and fell back on his pillow.
    Lil wasn’t amused. “Unreal, Dewey. Staying on top of the banking is part of taking care of the Bike Barn. Dad would worry if he knew!”
    I felt my face flush. “Yeah, well, who was supposed to stay on top of the groceries?” I felt bad as soon as I said it and worse when I saw Lil’s face pink up too.
    She flipped through the bills instead of looking at me. “Well, I guess we’ve both been crunched, then,” she said. “We’ll have to do better. Meet me at Shoreland’s.” She gave my bed a hard bounce as she got up.
    I yawned and said, “It’s a plan.”

19
    SHORELAND’S MARKET WAS PACKED. I FOUND LIL in the produce section. She was holding a grape in her finger and thumb. I faked a gasp.
    “Did you pick that?” I asked. (Time to make nice with her.) “You renegade. You deviant. Picking and eating in the grocery store.” I shook my head. (Had to have some fun. I belonged in the Bike Barn.)
    Lil wrinkled her nose at me and said, “First, I wouldn’t eat this if you paid me. Second, I did not pick it. I didn’t have to. They’re falling off the vines. And they’re all spongy.” She set the grape back into one of the bunches and several more rolled off the vine. “None of this produce looks good,” she said. “And look, no lemons.”
    “Maybe Mrs. Bertalli will visit again.”
    “Well, it’s not like we need lemons.” Lil looked around at the produce section once more. “We have fresh stuff in the garden. Dark greens are full of C, right? And the early tomatoes, too. So we’re not going to end up with scurvy just yet. Let’s skip this and move on.”
    She steered our cart around the cheese case, which wasn’t full but wasn’t empty, either. I picked up a small wheel of cheddar and pressed it over my head a few times. “What do you say?” I asked.
    Lil checked the sticker. “Hmm…yeah, let’s do it. It’s not cheap, but I can see us carving off of that for a while.” I rolled the cheese wheel off my hand and