Now he and Pearl were on their way to see Dr. Woo. They’d tell her what had happened and she’d know what to do.
As they walked down Main Street, they passed a lot of signs.
Many of the shops had gone out of business after the button factory shut down. The town looked like it was falling apart at the seams. Paint was faded, and lampposts had rusted. There were so many cracks in the sidewalk Ben decided he’d need wings or a jet pack to avoid stepping on them.
“Uh-oh,” he said as he spotted red overalls and a red baseball cap a few yards away. Mrs. Mulberry, Officer Milly, and Ms. Nod, owner of the Buttonville Bookstore, were deep in conversation. Ben and Pearl stopped to listen.
“My knob is missing.” Ms. Nod pointed to the hole in the bookstore’s front door. “Who would take a doorknob?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Officer Milly said as she wrote on her little pad of paper.
“Another metal item,” Ben whispered to Pearl.
“Why are you whispering?” Mrs. Mulberry asked, glaring at the kids. “What do you know about this?”
Pearl shoved the last of her breakfast sandwich in her mouth. Then, after a big swallow, she said, “Ben and I know nothing about this. Absolutely nothing.”
“That’s right,” Ben said. “Nothing.”
“I’m still convinced that Dr. Woo is behind these thefts,” Mrs. Mulberry said with a stomp of her foot. “Let’s go to the hospital right now and ask her all sorts of questions. I’ve made a list.” She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket.
Officer Milly cleared her throat. “Have some patience, Martha. I’m in charge of this investigation and I will talk to everyone in town, including Dr. Woo. But it may take a few days.”
“A few days?” Mrs. Mulberry threw her hands in the air. “And in the meantime the thief will continue to steal. As president of the Buttonville Welcome Wagon, I take safety very seriously. I didn’t sleep a wink last night, I was so worried. And my daughter’s such a nervous wreck that she’s hallucinating. Yesterday she said she saw a dragon!”
Ben and Pearl looked anxiously at each other.
“We gotta go,” Pearl said, tugging on Ben’s sleeve. “Bye.”
He followed her away from the bookstore. As soon as they were out of earshot he said, “Why would a dragon keep stealing metal?”
“Well, you can get money for metal at a recycling center,” Pearl pointed out.
“Yeah, but why would a dragon want money?”
“Beats me.” Pearl tucked her T-shirt into her orange basketball shorts. Her pink slippers didn’t match her outfit, but who could blame her for wearing them? He wished he had a pair of leprechaun shoes—just not in pink. “Let’s go.”
They darted around the corner and bumped right into a red wagon that was blocking the sidewalk. “Victoria,” Pearl snarled. Victoria Mulberry, who was sitting in the official welcome wagon, looked up from her book.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” she said. She held out an empty pickle jar. “Know what I got here?” She smiled proudly, exposing her glistening blue braces.
Ben leaned close to the jar. A little something lay inside. “It looks like a piece of spaghetti.”
Victoria blinked. Her glasses were so thick they made her eyes look like they belonged on a frog. “It’s not a piece of spaghetti. It’s a worm. I found it. Dr. Woo won’t let my mom into the hospital unless she has a sick worm. This one’s real sick. It’s not even moving.”
Pearl grabbed the jar and shook it. Then she snorted. “It’s not moving, because it’s dead.”
“Dead?”
“It’s all dried up.” Pearl handed the jar back to Victoria. “Dr. Woo doesn’t take care of dead worms. Too bad, Victoria.” Then Pearl skedaddled up the sidewalk.
“You can’t put a worm in a jar without dirt and water,” Ben explained. “They need moisture.”
Victoria’s rump was wedged inside the wagon, so it took her a few moments to scramble to her feet. “My mom wants me to be an apprentice just like you and Pearl. But I think worms are gross.”
“Ben,” Pearl cried. “Come on or we’ll be late.”
Ben tried to get away, but Victoria stepped in front of him. “I saw that dragon,” she said, spit flying from her braces. “I told my mom, but she didn’t believe me. She said I was having a nervous breakdown, and she made me take a nap. But I know what I saw. Tell me where it lives.”
“Uh…” Ben shuffled. He felt his cheeks go red. “Uh…”
“Ben!” Pearl hollered. She’d made it to the next block.
“Bye,” he said. Then he darted around Victoria.
“I saw it!” Victoria yelled. “I’m not crazy!”
As Ben ran after Pearl, he didn’t know whom he felt sorrier for—Victoria or the worm. But there were more pressing matters—like protecting Dr. Woo and her dragon.
7
At 7:59, Ben and Pearl arrived at the hospital gate. At eight o’clock on the dot, the hospital door opened and Mr. Tabby walked down the long driveway. The curlers were gone and his red mustache was expertly groomed into individual segments, like whiskers. His black slacks were perfectly pressed, and his white vest, with red polka dots, bore not a single stain. As his polished shoes crunched against the gravel, a ring of keys jangled from his fingertips.
“Why are you two bouncing around like kernels of popcorn?” he asked after unlocking the gate.
“Because we need to tell you something.” Pearl pushed the gate open, and she and Ben rushed through.
Mr. Tabby flexed his nostrils and sniffed. “Do I detect the odor of bubble gum?” He sniffed again. “Yes, indeed I do. Is it necessary for me to remind you, Pearl, that gum is not allowed on hospital grounds?”
“I forgot,” Pearl said. Then she swallowed. “Sorry. It’s gone now.”
“Let us hope that will be the only rule you break today.” Mr. Tabby narrowed his yellow eyes. “Well? What is it you need to tell me?”
“The dragon stole a doorknob from the bookstore,” Ben said.
“And my aunt Milly’s going to come here and ask questions. She’s a police officer. We need to tell Dr. Woo.”
“Dr. Woo is not on the premises.” Mr. Tabby locked the gate. Then he walked up the driveway with Ben and Pearl at his heels.
“When will she be back?” Ben asked.
“She will be back when she returns.” Mr. Tabby’s strides were long and graceful.
“She will be back when she returns?” Pearl repeated. “That’s like saying something will be over when it ends.”
“Or we will get there when we arrive,” Ben added.
“Exactly.”
Pearl frowned. “If you’re going to answer a question that way, you might as well say nothing at all.”
Mr. Tabby’s ears twitched. “That would be nice, indeed.”
One of the things Ben had noticed about Dr. Woo’s assistant was that he tended to lean on the grumpy side of life. He’d made it quite clear to the kids that he wasn’t thrilled about their apprenticeships, because he didn’t want to get stuck babysitting them.
“Mr. Tabby? Can I ask you something?” Pearl quickened her pace, trying to keep up as they neared the front stoop. “There’s this girl named Victoria Mulberry. I don’t like her, because she’s super nosy and she never invites me to any of her parties. Anyway, yesterday I told her—”
“I am not interested in the conversation that took place between you and the human named Victoria,” Mr. Tabby said.
“But—”
He turned on his heel and pointed a finger at Pearl. “The best buts are no buts.” Then he twirled back around and opened the front door.
Pearl shrugged. “I tried to tell him.”
Ben sighed with relief. He didn’t want Pearl to get into trouble for talking about the dragon. He didn’t want to be the only apprentice or, worse, share the job with Victoria Mulberry.
“Please secure the door,” Mr. Tabby said to Ben once they were all
standing inside the entryway.
Ben had neglected to lock the front door on his first visit to the hospital, and that was how the sasquatch had escaped. He was determined to never make that mistake again. “These bolts are huge,” he said as he slid all five into place. “No one could get in here without a battering ram.”
“A battering ram? Hmmmm.” Mr. Tabby stroked his mustache. “I hadn’t thought of that. Are they available in town?”
Pearl shook her head. “I don’t think so. We’ve never sold any at the Dollar Store.”
“Excellent. One less thing to worry about. Please follow me.” Mr. Tabby crossed the lobby and pressed his fingertips against a door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY. The door hummed, then clicked open. They entered a hallway and walked straight for the bulletin board. Ben and Pearl grabbed their time cards from the OFF DUTY side of the board. Another card remained for someone named Vinny. They punched their cards through the time clock, then pinned them to the ON DUTY side, next to the one for Mr. Tabby and another one for Violet.
“Who are Vinny and Violet?” Pearl asked. She’d asked this before, and today she got the exact same response.
“Violet and Vinny work for Dr. Woo, and that is all you need to know,” Mr. Tabby replied.
In the closet, Ben and Pearl found new lab coats. The last ones had gotten soaked with lake water and lake-monster slobber. Ben thought that the lab coat was the coolest uniform, so much better than the tan pants and maroon shirts he had to wear for school.
“What are we doing today?” Ben asked. While he’d spent much of the night thinking about the dragon situation, he’d also wondered what amazing creature they might see on their second official day as apprentices. It would be spectacular to meet a Pegasus or a griffin.
“As I recall, you’ve been instructed to give the sasquatch a flea bath,” Mr. Tabby said. Ben groaned. He’d hoped they wouldn’t have to deal with the stinky sasquatch again. But on Monday, Pearl had broken a rule by taking an Imaginary creature, the leprechaun, outside the hospital. The flea bath was the punishment.
“However,” Mr. Tabby said with a flick of his mustache, “the sasquatch is currently napping. We have a steadfast rule—never wake a napping sasquatch unless you wish to be flung to the very top of a tree. Do you have such a wish?”
Ben and Pearl shook their heads.
“Wise decision,” Mr. Tabby said. “While we are waiting for it to arise, you can clean the roof.”
“The roof?” Ben glanced at the ceiling. “But doesn’t that dragon live up there?”
Mr. Tabby’s half-moon eyes flashed. “Indeed, a dragon lives on the roof.”
“Uh…” Ben’s stomach tightened. “It’s a pretty big dragon. Should we go up there? I mean, where does it rate on the danger scale?”
The danger scale was a system used by Mr. Tabby to rate Imaginary creatures. For example, a creature that nips at fingers might rate a level one. A creature that shoots poisonous venom from its eyeballs might rate a level four. But the most dangerous creatures of all, the ones that like to eat humans, rate level five. Because Ben and Pearl had very little experience with Imaginary creatures, they were not supposed to face a level four or five.
“The dragon that lives on the roof is a Western black dragon. Most full-grown Western dragons are level five. The black variety is particularly nasty.” A low growl vibrated in Mr. Tabby’s throat. “Lucky for you, this dragon is young and rather tame. Well, tame-ish.”
“Tame-ish.” Ben gulped. “What does that mean?”
“That means he has promised to not eat peasants and to not set any villages on fire. That brings him down to a level two.”
While two sounded so much better than five, Ben wondered if dragons were good at keeping promises. And since there weren’t any “peasants” in Buttonville, did that mean the dragon could eat grandsons, senior citizens, and Dollar Store employees?
“Hey,” Pearl said as she buttoned her lab coat. “I thought Imaginary creatures weren’t supposed to live in the Known World. How come this one lives here?”
“This particular creature was saved by Dr. Woo when he was a hatchling. Because of his injuries, he stayed under her care for an entire year, and as a result, he imprinted.”
“Imprinted?” Pearl asked.
“Dragons become attached to the first being who takes care of them. This dragon became attached to Dr. Woo and is loyal to her. He refuses to return to the Imaginary World.”
“What about the baby dragon I found on my bed?” Ben asked.
“That hatchling wasn’t in human company long enough to imprint. It was returned safely to the Imaginary World.”
Mr. Tabby took out his creature calculator, a device he kept in his vest pocket. It contained all the information he needed about the creatures that were being treated at the hospital—the species and gender, the illness or injury, and the current location. “Our dragon appears to be gone at the moment, so you don’t have to worry about disturbing him.”
Ben’s heart thumped a few extra times. The last thing in the world he wanted to do was to disturb a dragon.
“He’s probably stealing more stuff,” Pearl said. “He’s going to get Dr. Woo in trouble.”
“That is not your concern. Dr. Woo will tend to such matters when she is able.” Mr. Tabby reached into the supply closet, then handed Ben a shovel and Pearl a bucket.
“What’s this for?” she asked.
Mr. Tabby’s nose twitched. “For the collection and proper disposal of dragon droppings.”
Both Ben and Pearl groaned. Pooper-scooper duty!
“You will take the stairs to the roof,” Mr. Tabby instructed as he led them to the stairwell at the end of the hall. “Go straight there. Do not dally. Do not dawdle. And whatever you do, do not, I repeat, do not open the door to the tenth floor.” He leaned over and put his face very close to Pearl’s face. “The tenth floor is off-limits. Do you understand?”
“Of course I understand,” Pearl said. “We speak the same language, don’t we?”
Ben noticed the glint in her eyes. From the way she tried to hide her smile, he could tell she was already planning on sneaking a peek at the tenth floor. Well, he wasn’t going to risk another sasquatch punishment. No way. “We understand,” he told Mr. Tabby. “The tenth floor is off-limits.”
Mr. Tabby straightened himself, then pointed to the stairwell. “Very well. Off with you.”
That’s when a voice boomed from a ceiling speaker. “Mr. Tabby to the Incubation Chamber. Immediate assistance required. The pixies are percolating. Repeat, the pixies are percolating.” Ben and Pearl had heard this voice before. It was very nasal and monotone, as if it came from a computer.
“Oh dear,” Mr. Tabby said as he checked his creature calculator. “What a predicament. I must go. Percolation is a matter of urgent importance.” He dashed away. “You two are on your own,” he called. The door leading to the lobby closed behind him. Its thud echoed down the long hall.
“I hope the sasquatch naps all day,” Pearl said.
“Me too.” Ben gripped the shovel. “We’d better hurry and clean the roof before the dragon comes back.”
8
The stairs were steep. When Ben reached the seventh floor, his legs felt as if they’d turned to stone. “This is like climbing a mountain,” he complained. Pearl, eager to get to the roof, scampered up each flight as nimble as a monkey, the bucket swinging from her hand. When Ben finally caught up, she was standing on the last landing.
“Floor ten,” she whispered.
Ben leaned the shovel against the wall. “Don’t… even… think… about… it,” he said, gasping for breath. He pointed to a sign that was tacked to the door.
Pearl pushed some wisps of blond hair from her eyes. “Oh, come on, Ben. Just a little peek. What harm could that do?”
“What harm?” His breath was wheezy. “You still want to keep this apprenticeship, don’t you? Breaking another rule won’t help, that’s for sure.”
�
�Drat! I guess you’re right,” she said, stepping away from the door. “I told Victoria about the dragon. I shouldn’t do anything else that might cause trouble.” She patted Ben’s shoulder. “Thanks for helping me remember the rules.”
Ben wasn’t sure she needed help remembering. But she certainly needed help following.
There were nine steps remaining, and they led to a metal door. Pearl pressed down on the handle. As the door swung open, fresh air streamed in, cooling Ben’s sweaty face. But it didn’t cool his nerves, which were sizzling with worry.
Without hesitation, Pearl stepped out onto the roof. Ben stayed in the doorway, his gaze searching for anything big, black, and fire-breathing. “The dragon’s not here,” Pearl reported. “You can come out.”
Phew. But Ben’s relief was followed by a twinge of embarrassment. How could Pearl be so brave?
The roof of the old button factory was flat and surrounded by a tall ledge. Dozens of chimneys poked up here and there. The south side looked out over the gravel driveway and the padlocked gate. Buttonville’s clock tower rose in the distance. The north side offered a view of Button Lake and the surrounding forest. Morning sunlight glimmered on the lake’s surface, but there was no sign of the lonely lake monster they’d met on Monday.
Ben sniffed, then looked down. A large glob sat at his feet. It looked like a slightly squished chocolate cupcake, only there were feathers and tiny bones sticking out of it. “I think I found a dragon dropping,” he said.
“Yuck.” Pearl set the bucket next to it. “Looks like he’s been eating pigeons.”
Ben scooped the dropping with the shovel, then plopped it into the bucket. “You keep watch while I clean,” he told Pearl, since there was only one shovel. “Warn me if you see the dragon flying this way.”
The Rain Dragon Rescue Page 3
