Free Sally's Bones by MacKenzie Cadenhead

rides.
    â€œThat was, without a doubt, the coolest concert ever,” Sally said. “I mean, if this is a dream, I don’t ever want to wake up!”
    â€œI don’t ever want to go home!” Chati echoed. “I could have totally danced on that stage all night.”
    â€œMe too,” Sally agreed. She scanned the parking lot for her father, but his station wagon was nowhere in sight. Instead, a group of picketers across the street from the venue caught her attention. “Who are they?” Sally asked.
    â€œOh them? That’s PAD,” Chati replied. “It stands for Parents Against Death.”
    â€œSeriously?” Sally asked. “Isn’t that kind of an obvious choice? Why don’t they just call themselves Mammals for Breathing?”
    Chati shrugged. “They show up at any event they think promotes being dead. Museum exhibits, concerts, book signings, you name it. If it’s deadly, they’re there.”
    â€œReally? But I’ve never even heard of them,” Sally said, tightening the straps of Bones’s carrier.
    â€œWe don’t see them much in Merryland,” Chati continued. “Except at concerts. There’s always a new song or a group they find offensive. Just last winter, my dad booked a choir of monks from the west coast to do a holiday concert. They’d just released an album that was actually decent called Christmas from the Coast , but someone made a mistake and printed up hundreds of posters that called it Christmas from the Ghost . PAD came to protest, but when they realized their mistake they stayed for the show and even waited at the stage door for the monks’ autographs. My dad says they’re harmless, so he lets them picket across the street.”
    Though Sally wanted nothing more than to believe Chati’s representation of PAD, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy about a group of people who took issue with dead things. When Viola chimed in, Sally’s unease became deep concern.
    â€œHarmless here,” Viola said.
    â€œHuh?” Sally asked.
    â€œThey’re harmless here, Sally,” Viola repeated, addressing her enemy for the first time. “I saw some of their protests when I lived in Watta City, and wow! Let me tell you, there was nothing harmless about those mob scenes.”
    â€œOh, no?” Sally tried to ask nonchalantly, though she knew the quiver in her voice betrayed her rising anxiety.
    â€œOh, yes,” Viola replied, her eyes sparkling. “I’ve seen them come out in the thousands. When they find something that really glorifies death, they stop at nothing to bring it down.” Viola glanced at Bones’s carrier, out of which two wide black eyes peeked. “Sure, PAD’s local chapter isn’t anything to have nightmares about, but I bet all their big city members would come for a visit if they got wind of something really deadly. Or really dead .”
    Sally gulped loudly. She felt so exposed. Where was her father? Why was he so late? She suddenly wanted nothing more than to get Bones back to the safety of her own home, lock him in her room, and protect him, just like her father had told her to from the start. She looked back at the protesters and could have sworn one of them was waving at her. Just as she was about to make a run for it, she heard three beeps and caught sight of her father’s station wagon pulling into the lot.
    â€œThere’s my dad.” Sally’s sigh was heavy with relief. “Guess Bones and I should get going. Does anyone need a ride? Seems like everyone’s parents are running late.” Sally smiled politely at the gang, but Chati, Susannah, and the others looked away. Viola, on the other hand, not only matched Sally’s grin but raised her a chuckle.
    â€œOh, no, Sally. It’s just my mom who’s late,” she cooed sweetly. “We’re all riding together. You’re the only one waiting for