Me and Rupert Goody Read Online Free Page B

smile. Then I made the
mistake of looking at Uncle Beau. He was looking at me and shaking his head, his eyes all hangdog and watery
    I didn’t much enjoy my Big Chief Special that day
    Â 
    By the time we got to the ruby mine, it was warm. A good day for mining. Uncle Beau backed the truck in so he and Jake could sit in the back and watch. Uncle Beau never did mine. Just liked to watch. Call out, “You get anything, Gravel Gertie?” craning his neck to see what I got.
    Uncle Beau buys my buckets. I never did feel right taking money for the work I did in the store and he never did feel right letting me work for nothing. So we came to an agreement. Ruby mining. Two buckets. Ten dollars.
    Course, I couldn’t help but notice Rupert got two buckets, too. If I didn’t know better, I’d’ve thought somebody died and left Uncle Beau a millionaire, the way he was buying them buckets that day But I kept my mouth shut.
    I set to work scooping and sieving and sorting through them rocks. Rupert sat next to me, watching every little thing I did and doing the same thing. I scooped. He scooped. I shook the sieve. He shook the sieve. I didn’t let on, but it like to run me wild.
    After a few scoops, I found myself a ruby.
    â€œI got one!” I yelled, holding up a ruby about the size of a pea.
    â€œI got one!” Rupert yelled, holding up a muddy ole piece of gravel.
    â€œThat ain’t no ruby,” I said.

    He shrugged and looked kind of bumfuzzled. I put my ruby in a plastic bag and set to work scooping and sieving again.
    Uncle Beau sat on the tailgate of the pickup, swinging his legs and scratching Jake. Every now and then, he called over to us, “How y’all doing?”
    I’d hold up my bag and show the rubies I had. Not too many Mostly little tiny ones. Rupert’s bag had all kinds of rocks in it. Might have been a ruby or two in there, but I wasn’t going to tell him.
    Suddenly Rupert yelled, “I got one!” so loud it scared the bejeezus out of me. Made everyone in the ruby mine look at us. Rupert held up a rock big as a golf ball.
    The man who works there came running over with his eyes wide and his mouth open.
    â€œLookee here, folks,” he said, pointing to Rupert’s ruby “Look at the size of this ruby!” He held his hand out to Rupert. “Let me shake your hand, mister, cause today’s your lucky day.”
    Rupert nearly pumped that guy’s arm plumb off and held up the ruby for everyone to see.
    Uncle Beau came over and took the ruby. Rolled it around in his hands. Held it up to the light. “Sure looks like a ruby,” he said.
    â€œThat’s cause it is a ruby,” the man said. “That one’s worth a bunch, that’s for sure.”
    â€œHow much?” Uncle Beau asked.
    â€œWell, it’s hard to say, lest it was cut.” The man talked
real loud so everyone could hear. “But I know this, I ain’t seen a ruby this big in a long time. Just goes to show, you buy enough buckets, you’re bound to get a big one sooner or later.”
    â€œWell, now,” Uncle Beau said. “Maybe we don’t want to get it cut. How much is it worth then?”
    â€œAin’t worth a milk bucket under a bull,” the man said. “You got to get it cut.”
    â€œWhere would we get it cut?”
    â€œRight here, mister. Right here.” The man took the ruby and examined it, then whistled and shook his head. “This here’s a beauty, all right. Since I ain’t seen one this nice before, I’ll give you a deal. Eighteen hundred bucks.”
    Uncle Beau let out a “pffft” and waved his hand. “You must have me mixed up with a fool, mister,” he said.
    The man shrugged. “Have it your way. Lowest I could go is fifteen hundred. Ain’t nobody in North Carolina’d cut that stone for less than that. I expect that ruby’d be worth five or six times that