Free The Great Snapping Turtle Adventure by Susan Yaruta-Young

put food down in front of you faster than McDonald’s and it’ll be the best durn food you ever ate. She makes it all herself. Real Shore cooking.”
    â€œSounds good,” said Fred.
    In the truck, the boys were furiously nodding their heads “yes!”
    â€œOk…this is what you do,” said Miss Marie. “Go down Route 50. Go past a log cabin house and then start looking. There ain’t no sign. It looks like a gas station with old fashioned pumps. Only thing is, they’re dried up. Miss Ruby’s got yellow curtains at the windows and there’ll be local-looking cars pulling into most of the parking spaces.”
    â€œNo sign?”
    â€œNope. Like I said, she likes to keep it a secret,” said Miss Marie. “You tell them in there about how you have family from the Shore, just like you told me.”
    â€œOn my mom’s side,” said Fred.
    â€œThat’s right. You tell ’em your mom’s name was Truitt. That’s a good Shore name. That’ll make it alright for you to eat there.” She sighed. “I’d like to come with you just to get a taste of one of her pies. She makes the best pies that ever crossed your lips!”
    â€œHow about if we bring one back with us?” suggested Fred. “It’s the least we could do to return the favor of you telling us about the place.”
    â€œWell now, I know better than to say no to a gift like that!” said Miss Marie, and her eyes gleamed like stars. “Coconut cream is my favorite. If she don’t have that, make it a chocolate mousse. Tell ya what, bring it back here and we’ll eat it together. By then I’ll be ready and needing to break from my work for the day. I’ll fix us up some cold icy lemonade and we can sit out on the porch and feast on river smells, marsh sounds, and the moon.”
    â€œSounds great,” said Fred.
    â€œAnd I can tell you boys about our ghost,” added Miss Marie.
    â€œWild!” shouted Charles.
    â€œYeah,” added Max, but he was wondering how he and Charles would be able to turn Cinderella loose after a ghost story. He was wondering about how brave Charles would be then. And, since he was just wondering and not saying anything aloud, Max also wondered how brave he might be after hearing a ghost story.
    â€œSo, I’ll see you all in a couple of hours,” said Miss Marie. She waved her paint brush goodbye and headed back to her work.
    After two misses, they found Miss Ruby’s. It was a small, white, one-story building back off the road. The parking lot was filled with all models and years of cars, from rusty trucks to big limos, a couple of motorcycles and one black, shiny, antique Model T Ford.
    â€œQuite a hot spot,” said Fred, getting out of the truck.
    â€œHope they still have some food left,” said Charles in a starved voice.
    â€œHope they have room for us,” added Max, also beginning to feel pretty hungry.
    Inside, Fred and the boys found two small rooms buzzing with activity. Tables for four filled each room. Each table had a blue-checkered cloth, blue paper napkins, and a jelly jar filled with marsh grass and small dried flowers. The chairs at these tables were an odd assortment of furniture you might stumble upon at a flea market. And sitting in those chairs were watermen in clean faded jeans and crisp, ironed khaki shirts, farmers with boots still sandy and dusty from the fields, lawyer-types in three-piece suits, ladies in house dresses and ladies in fine silk blouses tucked into designer skirts purchased from stores like the ones found in the Salisbury Mall.
    The rooms were filled with the sounds of forks hitting plates, the rattle of soup bowls and coffee cups, and a polite hum of people talking. People were busily eating, eating, eating…and the smells, though mixed with the odors of boat fuel and farmers’ sweat, were wonderfully, powerfully delicious.
    â€œI’m