Homer Price by Robert McCloskey Page B

interested in what the robbers were doing, that he forgot to keep an eye on Aroma. The next thing he knew, Aroma had left the hiding place and was walking straight toward the suitcase! He climbed inside and curled up on the packages of money and went right to sleep. The robbers were busy shaving and having a difficult time of it too, because they had only one little mirror and they were all stooped over trying to look in it.
    “I can hardly wait to finish shaving and try some of that fragrant after shaving lotion,” said the first robber.
    Then the second robber (who had a cramp in his back from stooping over and from sleeping in the woods) straightened up and turned around. He noticed Aroma and said, “Look at that thing in our money!” The other robbers turned around and looked surprised.
    “That, my dear friend, is not a thing. It is a Musteline Mammal (
Genus Mephitis
) commonly known as a
skunk!
” said the third robber who had evidently gone to college and studied zoology.
    “Well I don’t care if it’s a thing or a mammal or a skunk, he can’t sleep on our money. I’ll cook that mammal’s goose!” Then he picked up a big gun and pointed it at Aroma.

    “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said the third robber with the college education. “It might attract the sheriff, and besides it isn’t the accepted thing to do to Musteline Mammals.”
    So the robbers put a piece of bacon on the end of a stick and tried to coax Aroma out of the suitcase, but Aroma just sniffed at the bacon, yawned, and went back to sleep.
    Now the fourth robber picked up a rock and said, “This will scare it away!” The rock went sailing through the air and landed with an alarming crash! It missed Aroma, but it broke a half dozen bottles of Mr. Dreggs’ lotion. The air was filled with “that distinctive invigorating smell that keeps you on your toes,” but mostly, the air was filled with Aroma!
    Everybody ran, because the smell was so strong it made you want to close your eyes.
    Homer waited by the old oak tree for Aroma to catch up, but not for Aroma to catch up all the way.
    They came to the bike and rode off at full speed. Except to stop once to put Aroma and the basket on the rear mud guard, they made the trip home in record time.
    Homer was very thoughtful while he did the odd jobs that afternoon. He thought he had better tell his mother what had happened up on the mountain. (His father had gone into the city to buy some things that were needed around the place, and he would not be back until late that night.) At dinner time he was just about to tell her when she said, “I think I smell a skunk around here. I’ll tell your father when he gets home. We will have to get rid of that animal right away because people will not want to spend the night at our tourist camp if we have that smell around.” Then Homer decided not to say anything about it, because he didn’t want his father to get rid of Aroma, and because the robbers would no doubt get caught by the State police anyway.
    That evening Homer was taking care of the gas station and helping his mother while his father was in the city. In between cooking hamburgers, and putting gas in cars, he read the radio builders’ magazine and looked at the pictures in the mail-order catalogue. About eight o’clock four men got out of a car and said, “We would like to rent a tourist cabin for the night.”
    Homer said, “All right, follow me,” and he led the way to one of the largest cabins.
    “I think you will be comfortable here,” he said, “and that will be four dollars in advance, please.”
    “Here’s a five-dollar bill, Buddy, you can keep the change,” said one of the men.
    “Thanks,” said Homer as he stuffed the bill in his pocket and hurried out the door because there was a car outside honking for gas.
    He was just about to put the five-dollar bill in the cash register when he smelled that strange mixture, partly “the distinctive invigorating smell