Atom Mystery [Young Atom Detective]

By CHARLES COOMBS
ILLUSTRATED BY G. DEAN LEWIS
Publishers GROSSET & DUNLAP, INC. New York
©1958 BY LANTERN PRESS, INC. Under the title: “YOUNG ATOM DETECTIVE” BY ARRANGEMENT WITH LANTERN PRESS, INC. MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
It was only a dream. Eddie Taylor would like to have finished it, but the bar of morning sunlight poking in under the window shade pried his eyes open. The dream fled. Eddie kicked off the sheet, swung his feet to the floor, and groped under the bed for his tennis shoes.
He heard his father’s heavy footsteps in the hallway. They stopped outside of his bedroom door.
“You awake, Eddie?”
“I’m awake, Dad,” Eddie answered.
“Breakfast’s ready. Get washed and dressed.”
“Be right there,” Eddie said. Then, remembering the dream, he added, “Oh, Dad, is it all right if I use the Geiger counter today?”
Mr. Taylor opened the door. He was a big man, broad-shouldered and still thin-waisted. Eddie found it easy to believe the stories he had heard about his father being an outstanding football player in his time. Even his glasses and the gray hair at his temples didn’t add much age, although Eddie knew it had been eighteen years since his father had played his last game of college football.
“You may use the Geiger counter any time you want, Eddie,” Mr. Taylor said, “as long as you take good care of it. You figured out where you can find some uranium ore?”