Beware! Shadows in the Night

by Lin Oliver

  “Speaking of fathers,” Luna said. “We came to tell you that mine is coming home today for the weekend.”

  This seemed to catch Viola’s attention.

  “Doesn’t your father live with you?” she asked.

  “He’s in the army,” Luna answered. “He doesn’t get to come home often, but he’s coming home tonight.”

  “Well, then, we’ll have to see that you return exactly on time,” Mrs. Dots said. “Now, back to Edward Hopper.”

  “That’s just the thing,” Luna interrupted. “I can’t go. I have to see my papa. I can’t take a chance on going into the painting. What if something happens during the hour of power and we can’t get back?”

  “Oh no,” Viola said softly. “This won’t do.”

  She turned away from us and leaned her head on the mantel above the fireplace. I thought I saw her shoulders shaking.

  “I understand missing your father,” she said, still facing the wall. “As a child, I missed my father, too. You see, he was a soldier and never came back from the war. I was only a child when he left. I never saw him again. My younger brother, Eddie, never even got to meet him.”

  Luna walked over and put her arms around Viola. She’s a hugger, that Luna.

  “And then, while still a young woman, I lost my son, David,” Viola said, her voice trembling. “You can’t imagine how much I miss him. It’s been a lifetime since I’ve seen him.”

  She sounded so sad, I was almost tempted to join in the hug, which is saying a lot, because I’m not a hugger.

  “We will help you find him next week,” I said to Viola. “We promise.”

  She turned to me and smiled a little, but I could tell from the way her chin was shaking that she was trying not to cry.

  “I feel him inside this painting, Tiger,” she said. “As I worked on it, I felt I could see my David sitting at that counter, eating a slice of blueberry pie. I could almost hear his laughter.”

  I stared hard at the Nighthawks painting. New York City at night looked like a scary place. There wasn’t a soul on the streets. There were only three customers in the diner. The man in the gray hat and the woman in the red dress looked so unhappy. And the guy sitting across from them was all hunched up like a bad guy in a movie. You couldn’t see his face, but I imagined he had a big scar running down his cheek. I shivered a little. I wouldn’t want to be David, wandering around those empty, dark streets.

  But there was nothing we could do to help him. Luna had to stay home and see her dad. And any minute now, my dad was going to come looking for me to start my report.

  “Mrs. Dots,” I said. “We want to help you and David. We really do but—”

  Suddenly, we heard a loud crash coming from the other room. It was followed by a high-pitched squeal. That was definitely the sound of a pig!

  “Help!” Chives cried. “I’ve lost control of the vehicle!”

  “Don’t tell me he’s on that contraption of yours!” Viola said. “Who gave him permission to ride it?”

  “I guess I did,” I said. “He asked so nicely.”

  “That was a mistake,” she snapped. “Chives is a very clumsy pig. He can’t do anything with those hooves.”

  “I’ll go help him,” Luna said.

  But before she could leave, Chives came speeding in on the Snack ’N’ Scoot. His tie was caught on the handlebars, and his porky body was hanging off the side of the scooter. One of his back legs was stuck inside the cooler.

  He must have tried to stop his fall by grabbing the red curtains. A large piece of velvet had torn off and was wrapped around his shoulders like Luna’s Moon Girl cape. He was heading right toward the Nighthawks painting.

  “Help!” he squealed again. “I can’t stop this thing.”

  “Drag your feet along the floor!” I hollered out to him.

  “I don’t have feet,” he hollered back. “I have hooves and they make very poor brakes.”

  “Hang on, Chives,” Luna called. “Tiger and I will stop you.”

  She grabbed my hand, and we formed a human wall in front of the painting.

  “He’s going to crash into us,” she said. “Put your arms out to stop him!”

  Bang! Boom! Crash!

  Chives rode right into us. He flew into the air and landed with a thud on the floor. His cape got all tangled up in Luna’s cape, but at least he didn’t seem badly hurt. I reached for the Snack ’N’ Scoot to stop the wheels from spinning.

  Just then, I heard a low rumble, like a train was going through a tunnel under the house. I felt the floor shake beneath my feet. A cold night wind blew into my face, and I thought I could smell hot coffee brewing. Or was it hot dogs? Or blueberry pie? Or was it all three?

  I heard the clock on the frame strike its first chime, and I began to feel dizzy. The room spun in circles. The air felt electric, like it was vibrating. Then I heard a ripping sound, growing louder and louder until it almost seemed to fill the room. I squinted at the painting and saw a hole as big as my head opening up. I could feel myself being pulled in.

  I was knocked off my feet. There was no use fighting. An invisible force was dragging my body closer and closer to the hole.

  “Tiger!” I heard Luna scream. “Don’t go! Don’t go!”

  But it was too late. The force from inside the painting was too strong for me.

  Down, down, down the tunnel I fell. Past tall skyscrapers. Past dark streets lined with old-fashioned cars. Past something that looked like the Statue of Liberty. I could hear my Snack ’N’ Scoot thumping behind me, bouncing against soft walls, then whipping through the cold air.

  Finally, I landed with a thud on concrete pavement. Ow, that hurt!

  I peered into the darkness. Instantly, I knew where I was. It was the street in the painting. A bright yellow light from inside the diner gave the sidewalk an eerie green glow.

  The night was full of shadows. And I was alone. All alone.

  CHAPTER 4

  I was shivering. It was really cold outside.

  I blinked hard, trying to get my eyes to focus. What I saw was a dark and lonely city street. Maggie’s pink princess scooter was the only splotch of color.

  Wait! Was that a voice calling out to me?

  “Tiger! Tiger! I’m coming!”

  It was Luna. I couldn’t see her, but I could hear her voice echo all around me. I looked up in the sky just in time to see her tumbling through the air.

  I jumped to my feet and held my arms out. Luna crash-landed right on top of me and knocked me back down to the sidewalk.

  “Why are you here?” I asked as I tried to sit up. “You weren’t supposed to come.”

  “When I saw you get pulled into the painting, I got so afraid for you. I couldn’t let you go alone. So I left Chives on the floor and jumped into the hole just before it closed up.”

  “But what about your dad?”

  “We’ll have to promise each other to get out on time,” Luna said, “whether or not we find David. Is that a deal?”

  I nodded and we shook hands. Luna stood up and brushed off her cape.

  “Viola was sure David’s somewhere in the diner,” I said. “Let’s go inside and find him.”

  “One little problem,” Luna answered. “There’s no door.”

  She was right. There was no door to the restaurant. But there were three customers inside and the guy who worked there. They had to have gotten in somehow.

  “Maybe there’s a secret door,” Luna said, “that opens when you say a magic word.”

  I leaned the Snack ’N’ Scoot against the window and followed Luna along the sidewalk. We pushed on the green tiles, saying “abracadabra” and “hocus-pocus.” Nothing happened.

  At last, we found a glass door that led into the lobby of a building. We crept inside. At the far end of the dark lobby, we could barely m
ake out a narrow wooden door. We raced over, pushed it open, and found ourselves in a small kitchen. On the opposite wall was another wooden door with a window in it. We could see the yellow light from the diner shining through the window.

  “That must be the way in,” I whispered to Luna. “You ready to go inside?”

  “Moon Girl was born ready,” she said with a swish of her cape.

  When we stuck our heads inside the diner, not one of the three customers even looked up. They sat there in complete silence. It wasn’t what you’d call a friendly place. Only the guy working behind the counter smiled.

  “Hello, folks,” he said. “Come on in and grab a stool. We’ve got hot coffee and some swell blueberry pie.”

  Blueberry pie! That’s exactly what Viola imagined David was eating, I thought.

  “My name is Raymond, but everyone calls me Ray,” he said, adjusting his white cap. “Can I cut you a slice of pie? Pretty rare to get real pie these days, what with the sugar ration and all.”

  “What’s a sugar ration?” I asked as I slid onto one of the polished wooden stools.

  “You’re kidding me,” Ray said. “You haven’t heard? Each family gets a book of stamps. Every time you buy sugar, you’ve got to hand in a stamp. That’s because it’s in short supply. All the ships that carry sugar to the United States are being used for the war.”

  “That would be World War II, right?” I tried to sound casual, like I knew what I was talking about. I remembered Viola saying that Nighthawks was painted during World War II.

  Ray gave me a strange look.

  “Of course it’s World War II, for Pete’s sake. Where are you kiddos from, anyway?”

  Luna walked over to the counter. As she stood in the yellow light of the diner, the bright M on her cape seemed to sparkle. Ray stared at it.

  “You probably won’t believe this, Ray,” she said, “but we’re from the future. I’m Luna, Moon Girl.”

  She spun around and her cape formed a circle in the air.

  “Right. And I bet you’re going to tell me you’re the star of a comic book.” Ray snickered. “Like Wonder Woman.”

  “Moon Girl’s not a comic book hero,” I said. “She’s the real thing.”

  Ray laughed again. But then, as he watched Luna spin around and around, his smile disappeared.

  “How’d you get here, anyway?” he asked Luna.

  “I flew,” she answered. “Right through the air, across seventy-five years, and onto your sidewalk.”

  Ray looked over at me. “She’s pulling my leg, right?” he said.

  “It’s all true,” I answered.

  “Holy applesauce,” Ray said, swallowing hard.

  Luna looked like she was about to confess that she wasn’t really a superhero when I put my hand up and stopped her. I had an idea.

  “I’ll tell you what, Ray,” I said. “I’ll get Moon Girl to show you how she can fly if you help us out.”

  Luna caught on right away to what I was doing.

  “We’re looking for a person named David,” she said. “He’s about thirteen years old, brown hair, really nice guy. We’ve been told he’s here in your painting . . . I mean . . . your diner.”

  “Are you talking about David Dots?” Ray asked. “That kid’s been hanging around here a lot the last week or so.”

  “David Dots! Yes! That’s the one!”

  “He’s a swell kid,” Ray said. “Sometimes we play music together. I play bebop on the saxophone. David’s taught me some swinging songs by a band called . . . um . . . the Cockroaches, or some other kind of bug.”

  “You mean the Beatles?” Luna asked.

  “That’s it! How’d you know that?”

  “They’re from the future, too,” Luna said.

  Ray’s eyebrows shot up. I think he was actually starting to believe that Luna was a superhero.

  “Listen, Ray,” I said. “David’s mother is looking for him. We need to find him fast.”

  “He left a few minutes ago,” Ray said.

  “Oh no!” There was a little panic in Luna’s voice. “Where did he go?”

  “I sent him to my apartment,” Ray said. “My aunt Janet lives with us, and she’s having a baby. She called and said she needed to get to the hospital right away. My mom works nights at the navy yard in Brooklyn. Aunt Janet said she needed me to come babysit her three-year-old daughter. I told her I had to work here until nine o’clock closing time or the boss will fire me. So David said he’d go.”

  “Is your apartment far away?” Luna asked.

  “Not for you,” Ray said. “If you’re really a superhero, you could fly there in about ten seconds.”

  “What if I can’t fly right now?” Luna asked.

  “You could take the subway,” Ray said. “You want me to draw you a map?”

  “Yes, please,” I answered. “And fast!”

  He pulled a pencil from behind his ear and grabbed a paper napkin.

  “When you leave here, walk a few blocks to the subway,” he said as he wrote. “Go down the stairs. Take the F train four stops to Delancey Street on the Lower East Side. My apartment is on Essex Street, right above the bakery. But honestly, it’d be easier if you fly.”

  “Thanks, Ray. I’ll discuss that with my cape,” Luna said, grabbing the napkin map and heading for the door.

  “Hey, Moon Girl, what about that flying demonstration?” Ray shouted after her.

  “She’ll give it to you when we come back here with David,” I said.

  “Jeepers, that will be swell. I’ll have some pie waiting.”

  But Luna didn’t hear a word he said. She was already out the door, heading into the dark streets of New York City.

  CHAPTER 5

  This was not the New York City I had seen in pictures. There were no skyscrapers poking up into the sky. No yellow taxicabs clogging up the streets. What we saw looked more like a dark, empty village. Brown and redbrick buildings filled both sides of the narrow street.

  I grabbed the Snack ’N’ Scoot and rode behind Luna. The streetlights cast long, dark shadows on the sidewalk. They looked like skinny zombies.

  Tiger! I thought to myself. Do not even think about zombies. Don’t think of ghosts, either. Or vampires. Just keep your mind on scooting.

  After three blocks, we saw the subway entrance. It was a metal stairway with two round lights above it. We hurried over to it, grabbed the Snack ’N’ Scoot, and ran down the stairs.

  It felt weird to go down into the subway station. I had never been underground before. Everyone else was standing around like it was a totally normal place to be. We didn’t know where to go. We looked on the wall for signs, but all we saw were a bunch of posters of a woman called Miss Subways.

  “I wonder how we catch the F train, whatever that is,” Luna said.

  “There’s a guard. I’ll ask him.”

  “Okay. Be sure to tell him we’re in a big hurry.”

  The man was wearing a blue jacket with gold buttons.

  “Excuse me, sir,” I said. “My friend and I are trying to get to Essex Street on the Lower East Side. We’ve never been in a subway before. Can you help us?”

  “What? Never been in the New York subway?” he boomed. “Why, son, this is the finest subway system in the world. Open twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year.”

  “Yes, sir. We’re in a hurry, so if I could just ask you . . .”

  “Did you know that there are 660 miles of track in the New York subway?” he went on. “That’s long enough to stretch from here to Chicago, Illinois.”

  “Yes, sir, that’s very interesting, but . . .”

  “Did I mention this here is the largest rapid transit system in the world?” There was no stopping him now. He was on a roll. “The first underground line started way back in 1904.”

 
; I had no idea how to get him to stop talking.

  “Could you please just tell me where we catch the F train to Delancey Street?” I asked, trying to sound as grown-up as I could—which isn’t very.

  Luna could see that I needed help, so she came running over to us.

  “Oh, who do we have here?” the guard asked, noticing her red cape. “Little Red Riding Hood? You on your way to Grandma’s house?”

  He let out a big laugh that bounced all around the subway tunnel. Luna stood up straight and gave him her most serious look. She doesn’t like to be teased.

  “Sir,” she said. “There is a baby about to be born who needs our help. But if we don’t get on that train right away, it may be too late.”

  Her serious face worked. The guard stopped laughing immediately.

  “Go over to that turnstile,” he said. “Drop in a token each and wait on the southbound platform until you see the F train. Hop on, go four stops, and you’re there.”

  He was still talking as we grabbed the Snack ’N’ Scoot and ran across the station. Luckily, I had some of my allowance money stuffed into my pocket. I dug out two nickels and bought the tokens just as I heard the train approach. Luna and I dashed to the turnstile, inserted the tokens, and ran through it and down the stairs to the platform.

  “I know what to do when the train pulls to a stop and the doors open—jump inside! I’ve seen people do that in movies,” I told Luna.

  “You go first,” she said.

  The train came to a screeching stop right in front of us. The doors opened and a crowd of people got out all at once.

  “You go first,” Luna said, giving me a little shove.

  I pushed my way through the crowd and lifted up the scooter to make sure the back wheel didn’t get caught.

  Once I was on board, I turned to check on Luna. She wasn’t there!

  I whipped around just in time to see the doors closing. Wait! There was something caught in them. It was a cape, a red cape.