“This is what I don’t understand,” Jack said to Annie. “The poem says the unicorn is on public display. But if that’s true, why haven’t we ever read about New York City once having a unicorn in a zoo? That would be major news.”
“Yeah, but remember the poem says he’s ‘hidden well,’ and he’s ‘under a spell,’” said Annie. “So maybe the spell makes him look like a regular animal. But when we get to the zoo and say his name, he’ll come out of hiding and—and—”
“Reveal his true nature?” said Jack.
“Exactly!” said Annie.
“Okay …,” said Jack. “But how will we know what kind of animal to look for?”
A signal bell clanged. Lights appeared at the end of the tunnel. Jack and Annie moved with the crowd as it surged forward.
The subway train rumbled down the tracks. On the side of the train, Jack saw a big number 2. “That’s us!” he said.
When the train stopped, everyone on the platform crammed inside. Jack and Annie were squashed into one of the first cars. All the seats were taken, so they had to stand in the aisle. They held on to a silver pole as more riders squeezed into the subway car and grabbed straps hanging overhead. Jack actually didn’t mind the tight squeeze. He was anxious to thaw out from the cold.
“Look, Jack!” cried Annie. She pointed out a window of the subway car.
Jack peered out the window, just in time to see two people rush across the platform toward one of the rear cars. One was dressed in a dark cape, the other in a tan raincoat.
A bell sounded. The subway doors closed and the train started down the tracks.
“Yay! They’re on the train!” exclaimed Annie.
“Cool,” said Jack, grinning. “We’ll see them when we get off.”
“Hey, where do we get off?” said Annie.
“Oh, man, we forgot to ask!” said Jack. He turned to the lady next to them.
“Excuse me, where do we get off for the Bronx Zoo?” he asked her.
“Tremont Avenue,” the woman said gruffly.
“Where’s that?” asked Annie.
“There’s a map,” said the woman. She pointed to a map on the wall above a row of seated passengers.
Jack and Annie stared at all the colorful lines that showed the subway system. “Nothing here makes sense,” said Jack.
“Do you need help?” the girl sitting under the map said. She wore a tattered purple shawl over her head and shoulders.
“Yes, please,” said Annie. “Can you tell us where we get off for the Bronx Zoo?”
“It’s much further north,” said the girl. “I’ll let you know when we get to the right stop.”
“Thanks,” said Jack.
The train bumped and creaked along, stopping every couple of minutes. Jack looked out the window and tried to read the name of each station, but sometimes the platforms were too crowded. He was glad the girl in the shawl had promised to help them.
Just when Jack was starting to feel warm and a little drowsy, the girl called out, “Your stop’s next!”
“Thanks a lot!” said Annie. She and Jack squeezed through the crowd toward the doors. When the train stopped and the doors opened, Jack and Annie were practically pushed out onto the platform with the other people leaving.
The subway doors closed and the train moved on.
“Do you see Teddy and Kathleen?” asked Jack.
The crowd was swarming away from the subway platform toward different exits. Jack couldn’t see anyone who looked like the two young enchanters.
“No,” said Annie. “But if we figured out where to get off, I’m sure they did, too. Let’s hurry and get to the zoo. We can meet up with them there.”
Jack and Annie moved with the crowd. They passed a change booth on the way out of the station. “Wait, I’ll ask where to go,” said Annie. She waited in line and then leaned forward to talk to the man in the booth. “Do you know how to walk to the Bronx Zoo from here?” she said.
“Walk to the Bronx Zoo? Are you out of your mind?” said the man. “This isn’t the stop for the Bronx Zoo! It’s much further north.”
“You mean we got out at the wrong stop?” said Annie.
“You did, but it doesn’t matter,” said the man. “You can’t get there now, anyway. The tracks near the zoo are above ground. And I just got word they’re buried in snow.”
“Oh, no,” said Jack.
“Lousy day for the zoo, anyway,” said the man. “Next!”
Jack and Annie stepped away from the booth and walked out of the subway station. The sidewalk was deserted. “Oh, man, that girl gave us the wrong information,” said Jack.
“This is terrible,” said Annie.
“No kidding,” said Jack. He looked around, wondering what to do next.
AH-U-GA! AH-U-GA!
“What’s that?” said Jack.
“It looks like a taxi.” Annie pointed at a big yellow car with a checkerboard stripe and writing on the side. Its horn let out a loud squawk: AH-U-GA! AH-U-GA!
The driver stuck his head out the window. He wore a big furry cap that came down over his ears. “Need a taxi?” he called.
“Yes!” shouted Annie. “Come on, Jack! He can take us to the zoo!” Jack hurried after her through the snow.
The taxi driver stepped out of the cab and opened the back door. “Hop in!” he said. His cheerful voice was muffled through a plaid scarf that covered half his face.
“Thanks!” said Jack. He stepped onto a running board and then climbed inside.
The taxi was very roomy. Jack could stretch his legs out and not even touch the front seat. “Boy, lots more room in old cars than ours,” he said to Annie.
“Yeah,” said Annie. “And there’s no seat belts.”
“Oh, yeah,” said Jack. “I guess old cars didn’t have any. I hope this guy is a good driver.”
The driver slid open a little window that separated the front seat from the back. “Where to?” he asked.
“Can you please take us to the Bronx Zoo?” said Annie.
“We’re in a big hurry to get there,” said Jack.
“Sure thing, kiddos,” said the driver.
“Great,” said Jack.
“Oh, how much will it cost?” asked Annie.
“About thirty cents,” said the driver. “Can you afford it?”
“Sure thing, kiddo,” said Annie.
The driver laughed and closed the window.
Then the taxi began moving through the snow.
“Everything’s so cheap here,” Annie said to Jack.
“To us it is,” said Jack. “But it’s the Great Depression. Lots of people don’t even have a nickel.”
The taxi slid over the icy road and bumped over the curb. “Whoa!” said Jack, slipping off the seat.
“Sorry, kiddos!” called the driver. He got the taxi back onto the street. Then he plowed on through the snow, swerving this way and that.
The ride seemed dangerous in the bad weather, but Jack didn’t want to get out now. He stared nervously out the window. The streets were empty of people. All the stores were closed and shuttered. Snow was piling up on apartment stoops, fire escapes, and iron balconies. Many of the buildings were shabby and crumbling, with broken windows.
“Hard times,” Annie said softly.
“Yep,” said Jack. He took a deep breath.
The taxi climbed up a road lined with tall evergreen trees. Suddenly it skidded and came to a stop. The engine roared, but the taxi’s wheels only spun in the snow.
“What’s happening?” Jack wondered aloud. He tapped on the glass that separated them from the driver.
The driver slid the window open. “Too bad, kiddos, looks like I’m stuck,” he said.
“Are we near the zoo?” asked Annie.
“It’s still a long ways from here, I’m sorry to say,” said the driver. “But this taxi’s not going anywhere. I don’t know what else to tell you.”
“Oh. Well, thanks,” said Annie. “How much do
we owe you?”
“Forget it, kiddo,” said the driver. “Good luck!”
“Good luck yourself, kiddo,” said Annie. She opened the door, and she and Jack climbed out into the cold wind. The taxi motor kept running, but the wheels only spun in place, sending up sprays of dirty snow.
“I don’t believe this,” said Jack.
“Maybe there’s a subway station somewhere near here,” said Annie.
“The man in the booth said the subways aren’t running all the way to the zoo,” said Jack.
“I know, but maybe we can at least get closer,” said Annie.
Jack and Annie struggled through the storm until they came to a steep cliff. Over the edge of the cliff they saw nothing but a cloud of wind-blown snow.
“Where are we?” said Annie.
“I have no idea,” said Jack. His teeth chattered. His eyes and ears stung with the cold, and his hands and feet felt numb. Isn’t this what frostbite feels like? he thought. Numb?
“Let’s go back and sit in that taxi until we figure out what to do,” said Jack. “At least get out of the wind.”
“Okay,” said Annie. “Maybe the driver will get it going again.”
Jack and Annie headed back the way they’d come. But the taxi was gone!
“Hey, he must’ve got unstuck!” said Annie. “And he left us!”
“Oh, man,” said Jack. “We’re having really rotten luck. And I think I’m starting to get frostbite. Seriously.”
“It looks like there’s a building over there,” said Annie. “I see a tower.”
“Yeah, me too,” said Jack. “Let’s go there and try to figure out what to do next.”
Jack and Annie trekked up what looked like a long driveway until they came to the gray stone building. Jack wiped snow from a sign in front.
CLOISTERS OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM, OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
“A museum!” said Annie. “Let’s go in and ask them how to get to the zoo.”
“Yeah, and get warm for a minute,” said Jack.
He and Annie climbed the snow-covered steps of the Cloisters. Annie opened the door, and the wind nearly swept them inside.
They pushed the door shut.
“Ah! My first visitors all day!” a woman chirped.
Jack and Annie turned around. A museum lady sat at a desk in a corner. Dressed in a green uniform, she was tall and thin with a friendly face and short gray hair.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t stay long,” said Annie. “We just came here to get warm for a minute and get some information.”
“What can I tell you?” the woman asked.
“We’re trying to get to the Bronx Zoo,” said Jack. “Is there a subway near here?”
“Well, the A train is close by,” said the museum lady. “But that won’t take you anywhere near the zoo.”
“Oh, darn,” said Annie.
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sad,” the woman said brightly. “If I were you, I’d stay right here and enjoy the Cloisters! You won’t regret it, I promise. The Cloisters holds most of the medieval collection of the world-famous Metropolitan Museum of Art.”
“What’s a cloister?” Annie asked.
“It’s an enclosed garden or courtyard,” said the museum lady. “We have four in all. They beautifully evoke medieval times, from the Romanesque period to the light, airy elegance of the Gothic.”
“Cool,” said Jack politely. He had no idea what she was talking about.
“I suppose the gardens are cool most days, my dear,” said the woman. “But today they are freezing! Never mind, you don’t have to spend time in the gardens to enjoy the museum. Inside, we have many beautiful exhibits. The tapestries are especially lovely. They were woven with beautiful yarns by weavers from the Netherlands. For years, they hung in a French castle and managed to escape destruction during the Revolution. Then, for two generations—”
“Excuse me,” said Jack. He was eager to end the woman’s boring lecture so they could be on their way.
But she kept talking excitedly. “The tapestries were used by peasants to protect potatoes stored in their barns until, eventually, a countess rescued them. They were restored, and in 1922, Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., bought them. Just last year, Mr. Rockefeller gave them as gifts to—”
“Oh, that is so cool!” interrupted Jack loudly. He pretended to be interested so they could escape. “We’d love to see them! Where are they?”
“The tapestry room is just on the other side of the first cloister,” the woman said, pointing. “Turn that corner, go out the door, and then walk through the garden to the door of the tapestry room.”
“Let’s go, Annie. Quick!” said Jack. He and Annie went around the corner, out the door, and into a snowy garden.
“Whew!” said Jack. “I didn’t want to be rude. But we’re short on time.”
“I know,” said Annie.
“What now?” said Jack, shivering in the cold.
“We need to figure out exactly where we are,” said Annie, “and where the Bronx Zoo is. Maybe we can just walk there from here.”
“Come on, let’s get inside the tapestry room and check our research book for a map,” said Jack.
They walked along the edge of the garden under a covered walkway. When they came to a door, Jack pushed it open, and he and Annie slipped out of the cold into a large, warm room.
Jack closed the door against the storm and unbuckled his briefcase to take out their research book.
“Ohh … wow!” breathed Annie.
“What? What?” said Jack. He looked up.
The walls of the room were covered with cloth hangings—tapestries shimmering with gold and silver.
“Oh … !” whispered Jack.
“A unicorn!” said Annie.
There were seven tapestries in all. Each was almost as high as the wooden ceiling. Jack read aloud from a sign on the wall under the first one:
The Hunt of the Unicorn
Tapestries woven in the Netherlands
at the end of the 1400s
The first tapestry showed hunters and hounds searching for the unicorn. The second showed the unicorn being found.
The other tapestries showed the unicorn trying to escape, leaping from a stream, chased by hounds, then captured and slain by the hunters’ spears.
Oddly, the last tapestry showed the unicorn alive again. He was sitting in a garden of flowers surrounded by a wooden fence. There was a wide blue and gold collar around his neck, and he was chained to a tree.
“That’s him,” Annie said softly.
“How can it be him?” said Jack. “He’s a picture in a tapestry.”
“Read Merlin’s poem again,” said Annie.
Jack unbuckled his briefcase and pulled out the parchment scroll. He read aloud.
The very last unicorn
Is now hidden well
By those who have put him
Under a spell.
“The unicorn is hidden in the tapestry,” said Annie. “The people who wove it must be the ones who put him under a spell.”
“Hmm …,” said Jack. He read on.
Four centuries, four decades
From that afternoon,
At the end of November,
Before the blue moon …
“Stop, do the math,” said Annie.
“Right,” said Jack. He took out his notebook and pencil. “Okay, four centuries is four hundred, and four decades is forty. Add ’em up, you get four hundred forty. Then if you subtract four hundred forty from 1938, you get… 1498.”
“It works!” said Annie. “The sign says the tapestries were woven at the end of the 1400s! And it’s the end of November, and Mr. Perkins said there’s a blue moon tonight!”
“Oh, man,” whispered Jack. He kept reading.
He will wake once more
And be free to go home
If you call out his name:
Divine Flower of Rome.
Annie looked up at the tapestry. “Divine Flower
!” she called.
Nothing happened.
“Divine Flower of Rome!” Jack called.
Jack and Annie watched and waited. Nothing changed in the tapestry. It looked exactly the same.
“Maybe he’s not the right unicorn after all,” said Jack.
“Maybe it’s just not the right name,” said Annie. “Read the rest.”
Jack read more of the poem.
You must coax him to stand
Once his name is spoken.
His chain will break
And the sipell, too, be broken.
“He is the right unicorn!” said Annie. “See? There’s the chain!” She pointed to the chain in the last tapestry.
“Yeah, but why didn’t calling his name work?” said Jack. “Why didn’t he wake up?”
“I don’t know,” said Annie. “What else does the poem say?”
Jack read on.
Then a young girl must love him
And show him the way,
Lest he be trapped forever
On public display.
If he loses this chance
To rise and depart,
All magic will fade
From his horn and his heart.
“He is on public display, and I’m the girl, Jack!” said Annie. “I love him a lot! I’ll show him the way!”
“Okay, calm down. First we need to wake him up,” said Jack.
Voices came from outside. Jack moved to a window. He looked out into the courtyard. Two people were coming through the cloister, their heads down against the flying snow. One wore a dark cape, and the other a tan raincoat.
Jack turned back to Annie, a big grin on his face. “You were right! They found us! Teddy and
Kathleen are here!” he said. “They’ll know how to break the spell!”
“Of course!” said Annie, beaming. “Quick, let’s hide and surprise them for a change.”
“In there!” said Jack. He and Annie hurried into a long room off the tapestry room. They heard the door from the cloister open. They felt a rush of cold air. They heard footsteps.
Jack and Annie grinned at each other. Jack put his finger to his lips. Then a quick, nervous boy’s voice came from the tapestry room: “Grinda, they are not here!”
Blizzard of the Blue Moon Page 3
