The Taco Contest That Required Forensic Analysis Nate Pritchard had a stainless-steel ruler pressed against the edge of his taco tray when Dean Wexler walked up behind him. Dean stopped. Nate felt him stop. There were certain silences a person could recognize without looking. This was the silence of a friend discovering something he intended…
Cal Mercer moved his shell bucket two inches to the left. He crouched, checked the distance between the bucket and his right knee, moved it back half an inch, then stood and looked at Tess with the grave expression of a man who had just discovered sabotage. “You touched this.” Tess was sitting three feet…
Glen Bixby stood barefoot on an industrial livestock scale while a television host announced his weight, resting heart rate, neck circumference, and estimated “sausage potential” to several hundred people who had been trying to find the demolition-derby entrance. “One hundred eighty-three pounds!” Kip Sizzle shouted. “Thirty-four years old! Five feet ten inches of untested digestive…
Dale Pritchard was already boasting about the hot dog contest when Martin Treadwell entered the warehouse break room carrying a lunch container divided into six sealed compartments. “The Last Bun Standing Championship,” Dale announced, “is the purest test of courage left in Bellweather Falls.” Martin put the container on the table and opened it. One…