Panda Puzzle

by Ron Roy

  Kate stopped in front of a row of four doors. Two of them were labeled MEN and WOMEN. But the two doors in the middle were unmarked.

  “Here are the changing rooms,” Kate said. “No diving, no running, and listen for Danny’s whistle. If he blows it once, everyone freeze. Then he’ll blow it again twice. That means kids get out of the pool for fifteen minutes while the adults swim. Have a good time!”

  “See you in three minutes,” Ruth Rose said, and disappeared into the girls’ changing room.

  Dink and Josh went into theirs and found themselves alone. Blue metal lockers lined the four walls. At the far end were showers, sinks, toilets, and a floor-to-ceiling mirror. The floor was carpeted, and there were benches to sit on.

  Dink walked over to a small closet with STORAGE stenciled on the door. He peeked inside.

  “See any pandas?” Josh whispered.

  Dink glanced at Josh in the mirror. “No, but I see a skinny redheaded monkey.”

  “You are so dunked when I get you in the pool,” Josh said.

  The boys changed, stashed their clothes in two lockers, and headed for the pool.

  The lifeguard stopped them. “Hi, guys,” he said. “I’m sure Kate explained the rules, right? You’ve got about ten minutes before adult swim. Have fun!”

  “Thanks, we will,” Dink said.

  Ruth Rose came out wearing a lime green bathing suit. The kids jumped into the water at the shallow end.

  “Now what?” Josh asked, glancing toward Flip behind the counter.

  “I wonder what’s behind those two other doors,” Dink said.

  “One might lead to the bowling alley,” Josh said. “I think it’s right below us.”

  “Maybe we can check them out during adult swim,” Ruth Rose said. “When the whistle blows, make sure you climb out on that side.”

  While they waited, the kids swam and splashed each other. Josh tried standing on his head underwater. He came up coughing.

  Suddenly the whistle blew.

  Everyone in the pool turned and faced the lifeguard. “Adult swim!” he yelled, and blew the whistle twice more.

  There was a wet stampede as the kids clambered out of the water. At the same time, the adults tried to climb into the pool.

  Most of the confusion was right in front of the changing rooms. No one noticed as Ruth Rose tried the handles on the unmarked doors. One was locked, but the other one opened.

  “Come on!” Ruth Rose whispered as she slipped through. Dink and Josh were right behind her.

  When Dink pulled the door closed, it was pitch-black.

  “Where the heck are we?” Josh asked, shivering. All three kids were dripping pool water.

  Dink put his arms out and touched smooth walls on each side. He inched one bare foot forward and felt the edge of a wooden step.

  “I think we might be at the top of a staircase,” he whispered.

  “Let’s try to find a light,” Josh said. “I hate the dark.”

  “Not yet,” Ruth Rose said. “Let’s feel our way down and see if there’s a light at the bottom.”

  “Watch out for slivers,” Dink said.

  The kids made their way down the dark stairs. They reached a hard, cold floor and stopped.

  “Okay, I’m not going any farther without light!” Josh announced. “I feel like one of those blind fish that live in a cave.”

  They felt around on the walls.

  “Got it,” Ruth Rose said. There was a click, and the lights came on.

  The kids were standing at one end of a corridor. The floor was smooth stone. The bottom half of the walls was rougher stone, with newer-looking painted boards on the top. The ceiling was a mess of ancient wooden beams, rusty pipes, and spider webs.

  “Check this out,” Dink said. Scratched into the mortar between two stones was a date: 1902. “This wall was built a hundred years ago!”

  “And it’s still creepsville,” Josh said through chattering teeth. “These stones are c-cold!”

  The narrow corridor was filled with broken gym equipment, rolled-up floor mats, and large paint containers. A row of cardboard boxes lined the right-hand wall.

  There were no other doors in the corridor.

  “What’s that noise?” Ruth Rose asked. “It sounds like thunder.”

  Dink leaned his head against the wall on his left. “I think the bowling alley is on the other side,” he said.

  The kids began walking along the hallway.

  “Let’s look in every box,” Ruth Rose said. “Winnie’s small, so she could be hidden anywhere.”

  Five minutes later, they’d run out of boxes. Most had been empty, but a few held white packing peanuts. The kids stood at the end of the corridor and thought about what to do next. A floor mat had been left there. The kids flopped down on it.

  Josh rubbed his bare feet and shivered.

  “It’s weird that they’d have this long hall with no doors,” Dink said.

  “Maybe it was an old basement before the fitness center got built,” Ruth Rose said.

  “Ouch!” Josh said.

  “Now what?” Dink asked.

  “I don’t know, but it hurts!” Josh got up and poked the mat where he’d been sitting.

  “Help me lift this thing,” he said.“There’s something under it.”

  The kids got up and helped Josh lift the mat. Hidden underneath was the metal handle of a trapdoor.

  CHAPTER 9

  “Should we open it?” Josh asked.

  Without answering, Dink grabbed the handle and pulled. The door came up easily. Beneath it were stone stairs leading down. They heard something skittering about in the darkness below.

  “Yuck, rats!” Josh said. “If you think I’m going—”

  “Shhh, I heard something else!” Ruth Rose said.

  Then they all heard it. It was a squeaking, crying noise.

  “That’s Winnie!” Ruth Rose said. She ran down the stairs. Dink and Josh were right behind her.

  The air at the bottom of the steps was filled with some kind of dust. It stung their eyes. The only light came through the open trapdoor.

  “Guys, I think we’re in an old coal cellar,” Josh said. “My grandfather has one, and it’s just like this!”

  Dink could feel the coal dust in his eyes and nose and on his lips. He began to cough.

  “Look, there’s Winnie!” Ruth Rose whispered. Across the room glowed a pair of eyes.

  Suddenly the trapdoor slammed shut. Instantly they were in total darkness. Then they heard the sound of metal on metal.

  “Someone locked us in!” Josh said. “I can’t see anything!”

  “Let’s not panic, okay?” Ruth Rose said.

  “Let’s just sit down where we are,” Dink suggested.

  “But I can’t see!” Josh complained. “This place is disgusting!”

  Dink sat down. Underneath him, he felt a few lumps of coal. He brushed them aside.

  “I’ll bet Flip locked us in,” Ruth Rose said. “He must have figured out where we went.”

  Dink heard Josh standing up. “What’re you doing, Josh?”

  “This building is old, so maybe the lock is, too,” Josh said. “I might be able to force it.”

  “I’ll help you,” Dink said. He and Josh stumbled up the steps and shoved against the trapdoor. It didn’t move.

  “Well, it was a good idea, Josh,” Dink said.

  They found their way back down the steps and sat next to Ruth Rose.

  “How are we supposed to get out of here?” Josh asked in a shaky voice.

  “Maybe there’s a window,” Ruth Rose said. “Don’t basements have windows?”

  “But it’s not a basement,” Josh said. “It’s just a room where they kept the coal in the old days.”

  “I bet no one ever comes down here anymore,” Dink said. “It was a good place to hide Winnie.”

  “Where is she, I wonder?” Ruth Rose said.

  “She’s probably hiding,” Dink said. “If only we had
a light.”

  “Gee, if I’d known I was gonna be trapped underground,” Josh said, “I’d have brought my flashlight.”

  “Don’t worry,” Ruth Rose said. “Flip will let us out after he collects his money at midnight.”

  “Well, I’m not sitting here till midnight,” Josh said, standing up again. “I have a plan!”

  “You do?” Dink said.

  “Yeah,” Josh said, sliding lumps of coal out of the way with his bare feet. “Let’s hold hands and try to find the walls. Then we can feel around the whole room.”

  “What’re we feeling for?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “The coal chute,” Josh said.

  “The coal shoot?” Dink said. “Like in a gun?”

  “The coal chute, Dinkus. C-H-U-T-E,” Josh said. “My grandfather told me how coal used to get delivered. They slid it down a chute right into the basement.”

  “So you’re saying there’s one of those slide things here somewhere?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “Yeah, and it’ll lead to the outside!”

  The kids held hands, with Ruth Rose in the middle. Dink and Josh reached out and groped for the walls.

  Seconds later, Dink tripped over something. He landed on his knees in a pile of coal.

  “I found a shovel,” Dink said, running a hand over the metal shape.

  He used the shovel to help him stand. He lost his balance and fell against a wall.

  “Okay,” he said, rubbing his elbow. “I found a wall. Now what?”

  “Feel along for some kind of opening,” Josh said. “It might be kind of high up.”

  All three kids moved along the wall, feeling their way. Dink used the shovel like a cane as he shuffled along.

  Once Dink heard a whimper. “It’s okay, Winnie,” he said into the darkness. “We’re the good guys.”

  Suddenly Ruth Rose shouted, “I FOUND SOMETHING!”

  “What’s it feel like?” Josh asked.

  “Like a window frame,” she said. “But there’s no glass—there’s a piece of board or something where the glass should be.”

  “That must be the chute,” Josh said. “How high up is it?”

  “A little above my head,” Ruth Rose said. “But I can reach it.”

  Dink and Josh felt their way along the wall until they were standing next to Ruth Rose.

  “I think you found it, Ruth Rose,” Josh said. “But how do we get it open?”

  Dink lifted the heavy metal shovel. “Will this do?” he asked.

  CHAPTER 10

  Dink felt the wood that covered the chute. “It feels old,” he said. “Back away, you guys. I’ll smack it with the shovel.”

  “How will you hit anything?” Ruth Rose asked. “I can’t even see you!”

  Dink felt the chute again, judging its distance. He raised the shovel over his head, swung, and missed.

  “Pretend you’re blindfolded and you’re swinging at a pinata,” Josh said. “It’s filled with candy, money, cookies …”

  THWACK!

  Dink’s second swing struck something solid. Now that he had the right location, he was able to hit it every time he swung.

  “See if it’s loose,” Dink said, out of breath.

  “Wait a minute,” Ruth Rose said. She stepped forward and felt for the wood. “I think you cracked it!”

  “Okay, get back again,” Dink said. He swung the shovel with all his might. This time, the wood shattered.

  “You got it!” Josh said, pulling broken wood away. “Oh, gross, there’s something slimy on me!”

  As he spoke, a pile of wet stuff fell into the room. It smelled worse than the coal dust. A beam of sunlight fell through the chute. At Josh’s feet was a pile of rotted leaves.

  “You did it, Dink!” Ruth Rose cried. Then she started to laugh.

  “What?” Josh asked.

  “Our legs and feet are black! We look like pandas!”

  The kids stared up at the sunlight. The chute was slanted. It was easy to see how coal would come sliding down into the cellar.

  “We need something to climb on,” Josh said.

  “All we have is the coal,” Ruth Rose said.

  “And my handy-dandy coal shovel!” Dink added. “What if we make a pile right under the opening?”

  “But how do we climb out?” Ruth Rose asked. “The chute is steep and looks slippery.”

  “We can boost each other up,” Josh said. “The first one out can pull up the next one. The ones on the inside can push.”

  “But how about the last person?” Ruth Rose asked. “Who boosts him up? And what about Winnie?”

  “I guess somebody has to stay here while the others get help,” Dink said.

  The kids stood and thought, with the sunlight streaming down through the chute.

  “How’s this?” Josh said after a minute. “Ruth Rose, you’re the smallest. What if Dink and I boost you through the chute? We can stay here with Winnie while you run to the police station.”

  “Are you sure?” Ruth Rose asked. “Maybe you should go. You’re a faster runner.”

  “Nah, I have to stay to protect Dink,” Josh said. “He’s afraid of the dark.”

  “Okay, let’s get to work,” Dink said. “We’ll take turns shoveling.”

  Ten minutes later, Ruth Rose stood on a small mountain of coal. She stuck her arms into the chute, then her head and shoulders. “Okay, push, you guys!”

  Dink and Josh pushed Ruth Rose until only the bottoms of her feet were sticking out of the chute. “More!” she said, her voice sounding hollow. “I can’t reach the other end.”

  As the boys pushed the bottoms of her feet, Ruth Rose inched up the chute. “Okay!” came her faraway voice.

  Dink could hear her scrambling to pull herself out. When he and Josh looked up the chute, they saw her face at the other end. “Try to find Winnie,” she said. Then she was gone.

  Dink and Josh sat on the coal they’d piled up. Neither wanted to leave the comforting shaft of sunlight.

  “How do we find a black-and-white panda who’s now all black?” Josh asked.

  “Maybe if we’re real quiet, we’ll hear her,” Dink said.

  They sat totally still on their hill of coal. The sunlight fell between them, bouncing off the shiny black chunks.

  Dink heard his own breathing and Josh’s. But try as he might, he couldn’t hear anything else.

  Then Josh giggled.

  “What’s funny?” Dink asked, glancing over at Josh.

  A coal-black baby panda had crawled onto Josh’s lap. It was snuggling up against him.

  “Winnie must think you’re her mama,” Dink said. “Boy, do I wish I had Ruth Rose’s camcorder now!”

  Dink and Josh sat and cuddled with Winnie. The sunlight coming through the chute warmed them up.

  Dink heard something over his head. “Listen,” he whispered.

  “Sounds like someone walking,” Josh said, holding Winnie tighter.

  Suddenly they heard the trapdoor opening and more light fell into the room.

  “Dink? Josh?” It was Ruth Rose’s voice. “I brought Officer Fallon!”

  CHAPTER 11

  “If it hadn’t been for you kids, Flip would have gotten away with it,” Officer Fallon said later that evening.

  Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose were sitting on the lawn at Panda Park. Inside the fence, Ping and Winnie were playing tug-of-war with a stalk of bamboo. Winnie’s fur was once again black-and-white.

  Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose were clean, too. A few hours ago, they had surprised their families by showing up completely covered with coal dust.

  “He’d have picked up the money at midnight, then let you kids out of the coal cellar,” Officer Fallon continued.

  “So no one could have proved that he took Winnie or locked us in, right?” Dink asked.

  Officer Fallon nodded. “That’s right,” he said. “No one saw him take Winnie or lock that trapdoor. He’d have hidden the money somewhere. In a year or so, he might have begun spendi
ng it.”

  “Were you really going to leave a million bucks in that hollow tree?” asked Josh.

  Officer Fallon nodded. “Flip knew we had no choice,” he said.

  Just then, Ping yawned, rolled over on her back, and went to sleep. Winnie cuddled next to her and chewed the bamboo stalk.

  “Too bad Win Frances isn’t here to see this,” Dink said.

  “Did she leave Flip any money?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “Some,” Officer Fallon said. “But I guess Flip thought he was entitled to all of it.”

  “Did he confess?” Josh asked.

  Officer Fallon nodded. “You should have seen his face when I walked into that gym with Ruth Rose.”

  “He thought I was still in the coal cellar,” Ruth Rose said. “I must have looked like a ghost!”

  “What will happen to him?” Dink asked.

  “He’ll probably go to jail for attempting to extort money,” Officer Fallon said. “Plus, he stole Winnie and trapped you kids in the coal cellar.”

  Everyone was quiet for a moment.

  “Sometimes a judge will give a young person a second chance,” Officer Fallon went on, “especially if it’s his first crime. Flip seems very sorry for what he did. The judge might ask him to do community service in place of some of his jail time.”

  “What’s community service?” Dink asked.

  “That means that Flip would do work for Green Lawn as part of his sentence.”

  “What kind of work?” Josh asked.

  Officer Fallon smiled. “Got any good ideas?”

  “I do,” Dink said. “He could give free gymnastics lessons to kids.”

  “And he could help out in the senior center,” Josh said. “He could do exercises with the old people.”

  “I’m sure Flip would be willing. He’d be good at it, too,” Officer Fallon said.

  “And his grandmother would be proud of him, right?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “I knew Win Frances for many years,” Officer Fallon said. “She’d be sad about what Flip tried to do. But she was a woman who always gave people the benefit of the doubt. Win would give her grandson a second chance, too.”