by Jenny Lee
“Taisy, are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Quit worrying, Benj. It’s too late. We’re doing it. Besides, aren’t you curious about Billy?”
“Not really. In fact, the less I know about him, the better.”
Brookhaven Park is popular because it has a huge duck pond in the center of it, where you can rent those paddleboats that are shaped like swans. I’m willing to bet that every single kid in town has a photo of themselves when they were, like, four years old, posing with the bronze statue of four little ducks standing at the edge of the water as if they were about to go in. It’s just a thing that people do in our town, a rite of passage. It occurred to me that it’d be pretty funny to get a picture of Elvis with the bronze ducks for my mom’s scrapbook.
People also use the pond for their radio-controlled sailboats, and there’s even an annual summer radio-controlled sailboat regatta. People come from all over Pennsylvania to race their boats. I’ve gone a few times with my dad, and every time I watch it, I think that I would really like to get my own radio-controlled boat and compete in the race the next year, but then somehow I never end up doing it. Where does the time go? It’s like my whole youth is just passing me by. I mean, it was only a year ago that I was in the single digits.
When we made it to the edge of the park, I noticed Elvis was still about fifteen feet behind us. He stood with his head cocked to the side.
“Elvis, what’s going on?” I asked, and he ran up to me.
“Benji, something’s not right. I think there’s a problem by the pond.”
“What? What do you mean? How do you know? Did you hear something?”
“It’s just a gut thing. But I don’t know what to do. My instinct says I need to go help, but technically I’m not allowed to leave you. I feel very conflicted right now.”
“If someone’s in trouble, you gotta go help. I’ll be fine. We’ll be right behind you.”
And ka-bam, Elvis took off running toward the pond. He runs really fast for a giant dog. I turned and yelled for Taisy and Alexander. We all ran straight for the pond. Alexander even let go of his laptop case, because it was slowing him down. Just as we got to the top of the hill where we had a view of the pond, Elvis leaped into the water from the bridge that crosses it. There was a massive splash. I’d never seen a dog belly flop before, but that’s what he did. I was surprised there was any water left in the pond.
“Look, there’s someone in the pond.” Taisy pointed. “Do you think they’re drowning?”
I’m not a great swimmer myself, though I really like the water. The thought of someone drowning made me woozy. Just thinking of all that murky brown water getting in my ears, going in my mouth and up my nose, stressed me out. And then . . . I fainted.
“Benji, are you okay?” Alexander asked when I woke up seconds later. He looked scared.
“I’m fine, Alexander. I kinda faint when I get really nervous. What’s going on with Elvis?”
“I don’t know. You fainted, and Taisy ran to the pond to get Elvis, because she thought maybe he needed to save you now.”
Alexander and I headed down the hill toward the pond, where a small crowd had gathered. We pushed our way through and found Taisy standing next to a very wet Elvis.
“Taisy, what happened?” I asked.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I have a tendency to faint a lot in high-stress situations. You’ll get used to it. What happened?”
Before Taisy could answer, a sopping-wet teenager turned to me.
“Is this your dog?”
“It is. Did he save your life?”
“No. In fact, your dumb dog almost caused me to drown. My boat’s engine died in the middle of the pond, so I had no choice but to go in there to get it, and out of nowhere something grabbed me by my shirt and started pulling me. I thought it was a shark or an alligator, so I started freaking out, and then I actually did almost drown. And then he dragged me back to the side, and here we all are. So what do you have to say about it?”
“Uh, sorry? I mean, when you think about it, he really didn’t mean to scare you. I mean, you could have been drowning, right? I’m sorry if he scared you, though. And I’m also sorry if you have water in your ear, because I know how that feels, and it’s a big bummer.”
“I’m a lifeguard at the country club, so no, I couldn’t have been drowning in the middle of the duck pond.”
Elvis looked miserable, and I felt bad for him.
“Hey, what happened to your boat? Did you get it back?” I asked.
As if on cue, the crowd turned their gaze from me and my giant wet dog to look out at the water, where we all saw the sailboat still bobbing around in the middle of the pond.
“No, I didn’t. And you want to know why? Because your dumb dog—”
“Hey, hey, I let the first ‘dumb dog’ thing go, because you were upset, and sometimes people say things that they don’t mean in the heat of the moment.” I looked over at Elvis to see if he understood where I was coming from, but he was so miserable, I think my meaning went right over his head. “But now there’s no need for any more name-calling. My dog isn’t dumb. In fact, he’s extremely smart. He could even be smarter than you. But what I was thinking was that since my dog is such a great swimmer, perhaps he could retrieve your boat for you.”
I looked at Elvis to see if this was okay. Clearly this was more than okay, because Elvis stood up and walked back into the water and swam toward the boat. The crowd murmured. And the teenager looked at me again.
“Did your dog just understand what you said?”
“I told you he was smart.”
We all watched as Elvis swam back out to the middle of the pond and nudged the little blue sailboat back toward the shore. Taisy grabbed my arm with excitement.
“Look! He’s not putting it in his mouth, because he doesn’t want to wreck it. He’s amazing.”
I had to admit he was pretty amazing. When he got the boat close enough to the edge, the teenager picked it up. He patted Elvis on the head, and the entire crowd burst into applause. Elvis then did what all dogs do when they are sopping wet. He shook himself, and everyone screamed and ran away.
12
“Uh-oh, we’re running out of time,” Taisy said, looking at her watch. “We’ve got to leave right now if we’re going to make it to Billy’s and then back to school on time.”
Wow, that Taisy sure was one goal-oriented girl. She was like a dog with a bone that just would not give up.
“Taisy, maybe we’ve had enough excitement for one day. Elvis is all wet now. Maybe I should get him home and dry him off.”
“Yes, I agree. Perhaps we should finish up this mission another day. Who knows—maybe the lug nut will turn up on its own before then. I mean, stranger things have happened,” piped up Alexander, who was just back from retrieving his laptop bag. “And the good news is no one took my rolling briefcase! I’m so relieved. Of course now there’s grass stuck in the wheels.”
Taisy looked at her watch. “We still have forty minutes left. Actually, if you subtract the travel time back from Billy’s to the school, we have twenty-five minutes, well, now twenty-four minutes.”
I crouched down to help Alexander clean out his wheels. “No one took your rolling briefcase because all the businessmen who would want it are at work right now instead of the park,” I joked.
“Hey, my bag is cool. It’s made of genuine imitation leather made out of nylon, so it’s actually quite light, yet very durable. And I feel that wearing a heavy backpack will stunt my growth.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s not a proven theory, but think about it: walking around with all that weight on your shoulders when your bones are trying to grow taller? I mean, why make your body have to work harder?”
It was kind of the weirdest, most logical thing ever. And boy, did I hope it wasn’t true.
“You two, less talk, more walk. Let’s go,” commanded Taisy.
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Taisy led, and Alexander and I followed. I hung back a little to see how Elvis was doing. By the way: wet dog? Not the best smell in the world.
“I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not me. It’s the pond. I don’t even want to know what rancid thing met its untimely demise in that tepid, murky, disgusting water. I really hope I’m up-to-date on all my shots. And I’ll most certainly be needing you to draw me a bath this evening.”
I guess I was speaking the truth when I said he was smarter than that kid who Elvis thought was drowning but wasn’t actually drowning. Elvis was so smart, he knew exactly what I was thinking. “Well, I’m just saying you were pretty amazing in the water back there, and it’s not your fault you now smell like a swamp creature on a hot day. And don’t worry your big furry head about getting a bath, because there’s no way my mom’s going to let you sleep in her house when you smell like that,” I said, trying to hold back my laughter.
“I just feel foolish. I don’t know why I assumed he was drowning. Usually my canine sixth sense is very accurate. It just made no sense that he was out in the middle of the pond when no one else was. And I definitely heard him making unpleasant noises. But I suppose, in hindsight, that was because he was in that awful water. I strongly feel you should write a letter to the parks commissioner to let him know they should drain that pond and refill it with better water.”
“Okay, yes, I’ll get right on that . . . like, never. But you shouldn’t get your collar all in a twist over it just because you made a mistake. It happens to the best of us. Well, it happens to me all the time.”
“Well, not to me. I don’t usually make mistakes.”
“Well, la-di-da. Must be nice, Mr. Fancy-Pants, making such grand big-worded proclamations. Ha, ‘proclamations,’ that’s a big word too. It was a spelling word last week.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? And by the way, calling a dog Mr. Fancy-Pants really makes no sense, because when’s the last time you saw a dog wearing pants, let alone dressy ones?”
“Oh, forget it, I’m tired of arguing with you. Let’s just catch up with the others and get this over with.” Oh brother, I don’t know why I bothered talking to him. Clearly his recent mess-up was just adding to his already bad mood from our fight in the lunchroom. Elvis was not having the best day, and I was sure he was wishing he was frolicking on the White House lawn right about now.
When we finally hit Hamlin Drive, Alexander pointed to a small, run-down brick house at the end of the street. It had a big front yard of brown, overgrown grass. The shades on all the windows were completely drawn, and pieces of the front walk were cracked. I doubted the doorbell even worked. This was just the kind of house I avoided on Halloween.
“So now what? Are we just going to go up and knock on his front door?”
“Do you always ask this many questions? It’s not like I have a whole plan figured out.” I could tell by Taisy’s tone that she was tense and a little frustrated with me.
“Yes, I do ask a lot of questions, and as far as a plan goes, maybe now’s a good time to come up with one.”
“Benj, it’s going to be fine. Relax.”
Well, relaxing was certainly out of the question, but I was hopeful she was right about the everything-being-fine part. I had no choice but to follow Taisy as she walked up the front yard, straight up the steps to the door, where she pushed the bell. I was surprised when it rang.
“I guess my plan was pretty much on the money, though you rang the bell when I had suggested knocking, but it’s pretty much the same thing, don’t you . . .” I looked at Alexander. “I’m babbling, aren’t I? I do that when I’m nervous.”
Alexander told me that he ran through the state capitals when he was nervous. Or he listed all the presidents of the United States in order. Or, if he really wanted a challenge, he listed them alphabetically by last name, which he felt distracted his brain from whatever it was he needed to distract it from. Okay, clearly I wasn’t the only oddball of the group. I held my breath while we waited to see if anyone was home.
“Okay, too bad. No one’s home. We should go now. We tried. Good effort, team. We’ll get ’em next time,” I said, speaking in Taisy’s language.
Alexander agreed. “And I second that motion. Should we vote now? All in favor of going home, say ‘aye’!” Alexander and I both said aye.
“Wait, maybe he’s in the backyard,” Taisy suggested, ignoring us both.
“Taisy, that’s trespassing. We can’t just go snooping in someone else’s backyard.”
Alexander agreed with me. I turned to Elvis. He was still sulking. “Do you think it’s okay to go in the backyard?”
“Well, if the point of all this is to find him, then yes, the backyard would be a good place to start, especially as that’s where he most likely is.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, someone is back there. I hear music. Unfortunately, we’re still a bit too far for me to get a good smell of him. Of course, my own odious pond smell is getting in the way too.”
“Odious?”
“It’s a fancy-pants way of saying yucky.”
I nodded. “You hear music? I don’t hear anything.”
“Are you talking to your dog again?” Alexander whispered.
“Uh, yeah, it’s another one of my habits.”
Alexander nodded. “I can see why talking to a dog might be beneficial at times, especially since they can’t ever disagree with you.”
I nodded back and laughed to myself. If only Alexander knew the real story.
“Wait a second,” Taisy whispered, and closed her eyes. “I think I hear something.”
I’ll say one thing about Taisy, she was one gutsy girl. She walked right around the house on her own. Alexander and I had no choice but to hurry to catch up with her. When we rounded the corner, we all stopped suddenly.
Billy had a huge backyard. It was completely overgrown with grass and weeds that were so tall, they came up almost to my knees. Walking across the yard made me feel like we were walking through the wilderness instead of the suburbs, and I suddenly got nervous about the possibility of wild animals hiding among the weeds, just waiting to pop out. Not that there are many wild animals around here, but you never know. At the very back of the yard, there was a large wooden garage. The roof was caved in on one side. All of a sudden I heard the music too.
“This is a bad idea. We should leave. I don’t want to be here anymore,” I said, but Taisy was already halfway across the yard, heading straight for the garage. I turned to Alexander. “You know, if we banded together, it would be two against one. Who died and made her team captain of our world?”
“Well, as far as team captain of the world? I’d rather it be her than me or you. No offense, but she’s kind of a natural. Plus I’m sort of having fun.”
“You are?”
“Benji, let me explain my life to you. I go to school. I study. I do flash cards. I practice the piano, and then I practice the violin. I do more studying, and then more flash cards. I get to watch a half hour of television on the weekdays and one and a half hours of television on weekends. And I’ve recently been signed up for tennis lessons, so my dad is showing me videos of Wimbledon champion tennis players who can serve at over a hundred miles an hour. Pretty boring, right? Right. But what’s worse is that as cool as this total recall thing I have may sound to you, it’s also a huge pain in my butt. Mainly because I can remember every single boring day I have down to the tiniest detail, whether I want to or not. And trust me, I’ve had a lot of days that were totally forgettable, and I’m stuck with them.”
I thought about the fact that I’d had my share of boring days myself. Lately, even the hospital was a big snooze fest. You’ve seen one morgue, you’ve seen them all.
Alexander continued, “But this day so far, hanging out with you and your dog at lunch, watching your dog save someone from drowning who wasn’t even drowning, having a girl like Taisy boss me around? Having you guys think my fre
aky brain is useful for our super-awesome adventure? Well, this is stuff I only dreamed of doing. And frankly, I don’t want this day to end. Ever. But when it does, it may be the first time that I’m truly happy that I will never be able to forget one second of it. Although I really hope you won’t be too upset if we don’t find your lug nut here, and just because we don’t doesn’t mean it’s actually gone forever. It could always turn up later. Maybe. Hopefully. Did you know it’s a known fact that people who are optimists live longer?”
I looked at Alexander with new eyes. Instead of looking at our extremely dangerous current situation as nerve-racking and scary, which is how I had viewed it, Alexander saw it as the adventure of a lifetime. And he was right. As useful as his brain disorder seemed, there were probably just as many times when it was no fun at all. Maybe Elvis was right. Maybe I did need an attitude adjustment. Maybe I did need a pack of friends to give me a whole new perspective on the world.
“Well, if you’re in, I’m in,” I said.
Alexander beamed. “Should we make up a secret handshake?”
I smiled back. “Maybe we can work on that later, okay? Right now I think it’s best if we try to stay close to Taisy. You know, in case she needs us.”
Alexander nodded. “Or in case we need her!”
“Yes, that too.” I laughed. And we both took off toward the garage. As we walked through the tall weeds, I wondered if this was why Billy never wore shorts to school. I turned to check on Elvis. His fur was almost dry but now had lots of stuff caught in it. When we rounded the corner of the garage, we found Taisy crouched down, peering into a window. The music was really loud. I put my hand up against the window and felt the glass vibrating.
