Charlie and Frog

by Karen Kane

  Finally, Charlie went to his dresser and picked up ASL? You Can! Charlie wouldn’t have anyone to sign with at boarding school. What was the point of learning ASL? He would be leaving soon. Leaving Castle-on-the-Hudson. Leaving Castle School for the Deaf. Leaving Frog and her family.

  And he knew he would not be coming back.

  A knock; Charlie’s door burst open.

  It was Yvette—a deck of cards in her hand.

  “It’s not going to work,” Charlie said as they sat at the kitchen table. “Grandpa and Grandma Tickler only want to watch television.”

  “Stop talking and start listening,” Yvette said.

  They were playing a card game called Kings Corners. A game, Yvette insisted, that Charlie’s grandparents would want to keep playing for one simple reason.

  “Competition,” Yvette said. “Irma and Irving each will want to win. And when one doesn’t win, he or she will want to play again in order to win. Cards bring out the competitiveness in people. Television, on the other hand, lulls them into bovine numbness.”

  “Bovine?” Charlie said.

  “Cows!” Yvette snapped. She cut the deck of cards neatly with one hand.

  “You’ll be the rule keeper,” Yvette decided, “and you’ll change the rules every few games so Irma and Irving will need you to make sure they’re playing cards right. I’ll teach you. You’ll teach your grandparents.”

  It was an easy game to learn. Four cards were placed around the draw pile: north, south, east, and west, leaving the corners empty for the kings. You put down cards from highest to lowest, alternating red and black cards. If someone played a red ten, the next person could play a black nine. If someone played a black king, the next person could play a red queen. The goal was to get rid of all your cards.

  “Yvette, it’s not going to work,” Charlie said again after they had played several hands. “My parents are coming back to take me to boarding school. Then Grandpa and Grandma can watch all the television they want without me bothering them.”

  “I’ve been watching you trying to get Irma and Irving to change,” Yvette said. “I didn’t think it would work. Then I remembered how much I loved to play cards with my grandparents. And I thought, if a boy like you can believe in people changing, why can’t I believe, too?”

  “Some things,” Charlie said, “are impossible to believe.” He started to sign “impossible.” Then he remembered he didn’t need to practice ASL anymore.

  Yvette ignored this. She made a pitcher of lemonade and placed homemade peanut butter cookies on a plate. “When I say something will work, it will work. Now go in there and tell your grandparents to come into the kitchen for cookies and cards.”

  • • •

  “Charlie, we can’t see the commercial—you’re blocking the television,” Grandma Tickler said. “This is the one where the cow drives. We love this one, don’t we, Irving?”

  “Ayuh,” Grandpa Tickler said.

  “Okay,” Charlie said, and he went back into the kitchen.

  “Get back out there,” Yvette said without turning around from the kitchen sink.

  Charlie sighed and went back into the living room. Once again he stood in front of the television.

  “Grandma and Grandpa, do you want to play cards? Yvette made peanut butter cookies and lemonade—”

  The sky flickered outside the living room window. The television went blank.

  “Yvette!” Grandma Tickler hollered. “Lightning hit the antenna again!”

  Yvette came out of the kitchen. “I’ll call Herman after the storm is over,” she said.

  “Oh, all right,” Grandma Tickler said as thunder crashed outside. “I suppose we can play cards with you, Charlie—we have nothing else better to do. Come on, Irving!”

  • • •

  The next day was as dark as night. Rain thrummed on the roof. Wind lashed at the trees and rattled the windows.

  “This is the stormiest summer we’ve ever had,” Grandma Tickler remarked as Grandpa Tickler dealt the cards. They understood how to play now, but Charlie, under Yvette’s watchful eye, made sure to modify, remove, or add rules every few hands.

  “You deal five cards, Grandpa, not seven,” Charlie said. And then a few hands later he told Grandma Tickler, “Grandma, you deal seven cards to each player.”

  “But Irving dealt five cards when he was the dealer!”

  “That’s only for every third deal. It’s supposed to be seven cards otherwise,” Charlie said.

  They kept score on a notepad. Grandma Tickler would win a few hands, and then Grandpa Tickler would take the lead. Yvette was right. They both loved to win.

  As he played cards, Charlie realized that Grandpa Sol had to be back by now. And that meant Frog had to know something more about Aggie and her secret.

  But the gondola wouldn’t operate in this weather, so that meant no letter from Frog. And that meant Charlie could only worry and wait.

  To distract himself, Charlie talked as he played cards. And as he talked, Charlie realized his grandparents weren’t listening to him—had never really listened to him—not even when Charlie talked about listening.

  “There was this grave,” Charlie remarked as he played a two of diamonds, “that I saw up at the castle.”

  “Irving, it’s your turn—pay attention!”

  “On the headstone it said, ‘No one ever listens until it’s too late.’”

  Grandpa Tickler put down an ace of clubs.

  “Another grave,” Charlie continued, “mentioned a special kind of listening.”

  “Really, Irving? An ace of clubs?”

  “It’s not listening with our ears,” Charlie said.

  “Ayuh!”

  “And it’s not listening with our eyes.”

  “Don’t tell me to be quiet, Irving!”

  “And it’s not listening with our hands, like how Obie the caretaker listens. Instead, we have to listen with something else.”

  Grandpa Tickler lifted his gaze and looked at Charlie, almost as if waiting for Charlie to tell him what that something else was.

  • • •

  The next morning, the day of the Founders’ Day Dinner, the rain stopped. Herman stepped out of the taxi and strapped on the harness. Charlie stood outside and watched. Herman gripped the edges of the ladder. He placed one foot on the first step, braced himself, and then pulled the other foot up. He paused and took a breath. Charlie counted one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi. Then Herman placed a foot on the second rung. He braced, then (one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi) pulled himself up.

  Charlie went inside. Grandma and Grandpa Tickler sat in their E-Z chair recliners, waiting for the TV to turn on again. Once the television was fixed, Grandma and Grandpa Tickler wouldn’t need Charlie anymore.

  What had Yvette called it?

  Bovine numbness…bovine…cow.

  Charlie went upstairs. He opened his ASL? You Can! book to the sign for “cow.”

  Charlie signed the letter Y, touched his thumb to the side of his temple, and twisted his wrist forward twice. Then he remembered again—he didn’t need to practice ASL anymore. He slammed the book shut.

  Charlie needed to get to the castle. He needed to find Aggie.

  Grandpa Sol was still gone. And Frog was still without a key to the library.

  Mrs. Castle was ordering this, commanding that, directing this, arranging that.

  She hasn’t showered in two days! Frog wrote. That’s the only time she is away from her keys!

  They needed to find a real copy of A Dead Author and Her Secret Treasure, not one with just blank pages—and the school library was their last hope.

  But Frog did have something to show Charlie. A Founders’ Day Dinner name tag. Agatha Penderwick, CSD Alum.

  That means Aggie IS coming! Charlie wrote.

  IF she makes it, Frog replied.

  What does that mean?

  I mean this is a murder mystery! Dex and Ray are still
out there.

  Charlie thought about Vince Vinelli’s Worst Criminals Ever!

  Aren’t you worried something might have happened to Grandpa Sol?

  Don’t say that! Grandpa is fine!

  But underneath her diamond tiara, Frog’s eyes looked worried. Charlie wished he hadn’t said anything.

  • • •

  Charlie pulled weeds, polished silver, swept and mopped floors. He was cleaning the glass on a display case when Frog pointed to her mother going up the stairs.

  Mom is getting ready to shower, Frog wrote. I’m going to get the library key off her key ring.

  This seemed dangerous. If Frog’s mother caught her…

  But five minutes later Frog was at the top of the staircase, the library key in her palm. Oliver threw down his polishing cloth and followed Charlie.

  “This is sure to end badly,” Oliver told Charlie as they took the stairs two at a time. “And yet, I can’t help myself.”

  They raced up the second set of stairs that led to the library tower. Frog inserted the key and the door swung open. Charlie and Oliver followed her up twisty stairs that spilled into a bright, round room lined with books.

  After all their searching, the school library had seemed like a last-ditch effort. One final attempt to find the book that Aggie and Dex and Ray had been looking for. The book that held Aggie’s secret.

  Charlie hadn’t really expected to find anything.

  But, unbelievably, there it was.

  A crumpled sleeping bag, a plate of half-eaten peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, and the book A Dead Author and Her Secret Treasure by D. J. McKinnon. A Dewey decimal number marked its binding: 419.7 REF.

  Frog picked up the book, took a deep breath, and opened it.

  Blank pages. Again. Just like the copy in Grandpa Sol’s study. But these blank pages had been cut into a rectangle-shaped hole. In the empty space was a folded note.

  D.J.

  The treasure inside this book is being restored to its former glory.

  I promise it will be returned soon.

  S.C.

  Solomon Castle. Why would Grandpa Sol write a note to a dead person?

  Charlie heard footsteps on the library stairs. Bear bounded into the library followed by Millie.

  “No!” Millie signed with both hands. “No, no, no!” She stamped her foot. Millie’s hands were a blur as she signed to Frog and Oliver, who signed back to her and to each other. All those hands talking at the same time was making Charlie dizzy.

  Finally Millie turned to him. “You aren’t supposed to be in here, Charlie! I promised Aggie when I helped her hide in here! It’s supposed to be a secret!” Millie signed the letter A, and tapped the back of her thumb against her lips twice. “Secret.” Charlie automatically copied the sign.

  “A secret? You have to tell us what’s going on, Millie,” Frog signed as Oliver interpreted for Charlie. “Why did you help Aggie hide up here? And how did you know there was a secret key to the library?”

  “James told me,” Millie said. “He wanted to make sure I could get books from the library while he was gone.”

  “James shouldn’t have told you,” Frog said. “You can’t keep a secret.”

  “I can too keep a secret!” Millie said. “It’s Aggie who can’t!” Millie stuck out her bottom lip. “Aggie told a secret she wasn’t supposed to tell. That’s why she was trying to find a book before two men found it. She finally found it in Grandpa’s study. But what was supposed to be inside the book was gone. Then Aggie read the note Grandpa left. Aggie said she knew where to look next.”

  “Where?” Frog asked.

  Millie shook her head.

  “We’re trying to help Aggie,” Frog said. “You have to tell us!”

  Millie looked from Frog to Oliver to Charlie. Finally she signed something.

  “The Naked You?” Oliver said. “Why would she go there?”

  The Naked You? What was that?

  Before Charlie could ask, he heard a loud shout. Bear sprang up and ran down the library stairs.

  “What?” Frog signed.

  “Mom,” Oliver told her.

  Frog looked at the key in her hand. It was too late to put it back on the key ring.

  They locked up the library and followed Bear to the top of the stairs overlooking the great hall. Frog’s mom, wearing a bathrobe and a towel around her hair, was hugging a white-haired man with a bandaged ankle, leaning on a pair of tree-branch crutches.

  Grandpa Sol was home.

  Frog, Oliver, and Millie ran down the stairs. Charlie slowly followed, feeling like an outsider as they clung to Grandpa Sol and his backpack like koalas to a tree.

  Were koalas endangered?

  Would his parents be helping koalas next?

  Then Frog, Oliver, and Millie were all signing at once, trying to be seen by Grandpa Sol to get his attention. Frog’s mother silenced them so she could yell at Grandpa Sol. In his mind Charlie interpreted.

  “Where have you been? You were supposed to have been home days ago! What have you done to your foot? The Founders’ Day Dinner is today and you haven’t even written your speech and you are filthy and you need a shower!” And so on.

  Finally Mrs. Castle stopped signing and pointed upstairs with a sweep of her arm. Grandpa Sol obeyed. He hobbled up the stairs with the help of Mr. Castle, Frog’s mother right behind them.

  “Grandpa Sol has to clean up and get his speech written,” Oliver said to Charlie, who was pleased he had understood. “No one is allowed to talk to him until then,” Oliver added.

  “We have to go bring Aggie here,” Frog told Charlie as Oliver interpreted. “We have to bring her back to Grandpa. If we go now, we can be back before the celebration starts.”

  “But Aggie is coming here,” Charlie said. “We saw her name tag!”

  “Not if Dex and Ray get to her first,” Frog said.

  “How do you sign ‘TROUBLE’?” Charlie asked Frog.

  Frog signed the letter B with both hands near the side of her head. She quickly crossed and opened them in front of her face several times. “Trouble.”

  “You will be in so much trouble,” Charlie told her.

  “True that,” Oliver said.

  “But,” Charlie signed, using what he learned from his ASL book, “good people do good things.”

  • • •

  It would have been madness for them all to go. Oliver wanted to come for protection, but Millie insisted she and Bear were going if Oliver was. In the end Oliver said it was up to him to be the voice of reason and stay. Millie would help Oliver distract anyone searching for Frog while they were gone.

  Charlie and Frog bolted for the gondola. Charlie learned that their destination was actually the Naked Ewe, a knitting shop owned by Miss Tweedy’s sister, Enid. “Ewe” and “you” sounded the same in English, but they looked nothing alike in ASL. As they crossed the river, Frog scrawled a note to Chief Paley.

  Charlie handed Mr. Simple five dollars when they reached the other side. “Mr. Simple, would you deliver this letter to Chief Paley right away? It’s important!”

  Mr. Simple counted the bills. “You betcha.”

  “When does the gondola leave next?” Charlie asked.

  Mr. Simple looked at his watch and signed three threes.

  Three thirty-three? Charlie looked at his watch and showed it to Frog. They had seventeen minutes to get to the Naked Ewe and back.

  • • •

  Charlie and Frog raced to the Naked Ewe. When they reached the yellow Victorian house, they paused to catch their breath. Charlie looked at his watch—fourteen minutes left. Quietly they climbed the steps on the side of the big front porch. Dropping to their hands and knees, they crawled to the front windows. Slowly Charlie and Frog raised their heads and peered inside.

  Charlie saw shelves of colorful yarn, knitted sweaters and scarves on display…and tiny Aggie staring at someone, hands on her wrinkled cheeks. Next to Aggie was a woman who looked like Miss
Tweedy, armed with a knitting needle. This must be Enid, Miss Tweedy’s sister.

  Charlie moved his head just enough to see who Aggie and Enid were facing.

  There stood Dex and Ray.

  Charlie and Frog crouched back down and gave each other a look. Both knew what had to be done.

  Charlie pulled out his key. Frog pulled off her diamond tiara and held it with the sharp prongs facing out.

  Charlie and Frog flung open the front door just as Enid shouted, “Aggie’s not going anywhere with you! Frog? Frog! Get the police!” Enid almost stabbed herself with the knitting needle as she signed “police.”

  Charlie and Frog edged into the shop with their knuckles straight out in front of them.

  “What’s all this?” Dex asked.

  “It’s those kids, Dex.”

  “Yeah, I see that. Look, lady”—Dex turned to Enid—“there’s no need for the police. We just want to talk with Aggie.”

  Dex signed to Aggie, who shook her head and signed, “No!”

  “She already told you she doesn’t want to talk. She’s not going to tell you anything!” Enid said.

  Dex signed to Aggie.

  “What did you say?” Ray asked.

  “I told her we can split whatever is inside the book,” Dex said.

  “Aggie already told you—what’s inside the book isn’t for stealing!” Enid said. “It’s for everyone to share.”

  Aggie folded her arms and glared at Dex and Ray. Her confidence had grown since Charlie and Frog had arrived. She now looked a bit like Dorrie McCann on the cover of Dorrie McCann and the Mystery of the Secret Treasure.

  Charlie and Frog moved next to Aggie and Enid. They faced Dex and Ray armed with a knitting needle, a diamond tiara, and a house key.

  “I’m real scared,” Dex said. “What are you going to do? Knit, crown, or key us?”

  “Are you being serious, Dex? Because all those things could really hurt.”

  “They’re not going to hurt,” Dex said, “because we’re going to—”

  “Nobody move!” Chief Paley shouted as she and Miss Tweedy burst through the door.

  “Enid, are you all right?” Miss Tweedy rushed over to her. “Walter Simple told me the chief was needed at the Naked Ewe and—Oh my goodness, Enid, what’s going on?”