“She was really hungry,” said Mika, her voice a little brighter.
“Well, that sounds like an abandoned cat to me.”
The muted boom of distant thunder rolled over them, and Mika looked out the window. Aimee followed her gaze. “It’s really pouring out there now,” said Mika. “We should get the pests inside.” She lifted Angel off her lap.
The two girls slipped on raincoats and gumboots by the door.
“Hey, Billy! Matt! Come on in,” Mika yelled from the garage door. “It’s almost lunchtime.” Yelling war whoops, the filthy twins hurtled toward them.
Mika turned to Aimee. “I’ll get Joseph. Don’t let these guys in until we get them cleaned up, okay?”
“No prob.”
Mika hurried around the side of the garage toward the back yard, calling her little brother. When there was no answer, she felt a stab of irritation. Why was he always so single-minded while hunting bugs? It was as if the rest of the world didn’t exist.
“Joseph!” she yelled again.
There he was, bending over an ant pile close to the fence, his back to the gate. And the gate hung open.
Mika dashed through the downpour. “Are you okay?”
Her little brother straightened. “Yeah. Why?”
“How’d you open the gate?”
“What do you mean? The gate’s shut.”
“No, it’s not. Look.”
Joseph turned to stare, open mouthed, at the gate. “But it was shut. I tried to … uh, I mean, I uh ...”
“You tried to open it?”
He looked sheepishly at the ground. “I wanted to go in the woods.”
Icy needles probed the back of Mika’s neck. Had someone opened the gate, hoping Joseph would leave the safety of the yard? Or had someone been about to grab him when she called and scared them away? Maybe she and Joseph were being watched right now from the thick, shadowy forest.
“It’s time for lunch,” she said, her voice shrill, and grabbed Joseph’s hand to drag him away.
“I don’t want to eat!” he yelled. “I want to watch the ants!” He kicked at Mika’s shin, and when he missed, he threw himself backward to jerk out of her grasp.
“Too bad,” said Mika and pulled harder.
“Leave me alone!” Joseph shouted. “I’m going to tell Mom! I’m telling her you’re being mean! You big meany!”
When they were inside the house, Mika let him go, then blocked the door so he couldn’t rush back outside. Joseph stomped up the stairs, and moments later, she heard his bedroom door slam.
“He’ll come down when he smells lunch,” she said to Aimee.
After cleaning off the muddy twins, the girls sliced sausage, cheese, and tomatoes on a plate, then opened jars of peanut butter, jam, honey, and a can of tuna.
“Come and get it,” Mika yelled upstairs when everything was ready. She was amazed the twins heard her above all the noise they were making, but they did. They galloped down the stairs, and seconds later Joseph followed them.
“Now take a bun and make a sandwich with anything you like.”
They were halfway through their second sandwich creations, and Angel was polishing the tuna can with her tongue, when their parents’ car pulled into the driveway. The boys rushed to the window.
“Grandma!” Joseph shrieked. He dashed out the door and into the deluge, the others right behind him. Mika beat them to Grandma’s open arms, then she felt Joseph, Matt, and Billy hugging them both. Laughter filled the humid air.
“Okay, you muggers,” teased Dad, hoisting a twin under each arm. “Let’s get Grandma’s stuff into the house before we all get soaked.”
He carried the twins around the car, set them down, and opened the trunk. Each twin got a small bag to carry, and Mika and Aimee got two larger ones. Joseph grabbed the last large one and staggered after them to the house.
“Wow,” said Mika to Dad. “How long is Grandma staying?”
“Come inside and we’ll talk about it.”
In the kitchen, Mika set down the bag and scooped a waiting Angel into her arms. She carried the cat to her grandma. “Look, Grandma. This is Angel.”
“Oh Mika, she’s beautiful!” Grandma’s soft arms gathered Angel in. “How wonderful for you to finally have a pet, and such a cuddly one.”
“She’s not mine yet,” Mika said, a little gloomily. “I found her last Friday. Mom thinks someone abandoned her in the woods.”
“Come into the living room, please,” said Mom, leaning in the kitchen doorway. “The boys can’t wait any longer for the announcement.”
“What announcement?” asked Mika.
“You’ll see.”
Grandma gave Angel back to Mika and she, Mika, and Aimee walked to the living room together. The three boys were lined up on the couch, all of them wiggling as if they desperately needed to go to the bathroom. Mika couldn’t stop herself from smiling.
When everyone was listening, Dad announced, “Grandma is staying for three whole weeks.” A split second later, wild yells from the Trio drowned his voice as the boys leapt off the couch and hurtled around the living room. Mom tried to calm them, unsuccessfully, as they shouted and screeched for joy.
Then a commanding, unwavering voice rose above the din. “Boys, no more yelling.”
Mika wouldn’t have believed Grandma could make the Trio calm down so quickly, except that the evidence was right in front of her. They crowded around her, looking up into her wrinkled face with adoring puppy eyes that said they wanted nothing more than to make her happy.
The rest of the day went quickly. Grandma had brought some clay, and soon everyone was sitting around the kitchen table sculpting vases, cups, and cats. Angel sat in the centre of the table, being a model when she wasn’t checking out everyone’s work. Even Dad had fun as he made a cup, though he was a little annoyed when the handle fell off. After they cleaned up the clay, the Trio and Dad went into the living room to watch TV while Mom and Grandma visited in the kitchen over cups of steaming coffee.
Aimee looked out the kitchen window to see if her mom had arrived yet for her ride home. The driveway was empty. “Did you finish your science?” she asked Mika.
“Yeah, Friday night when I couldn’t sleep. What about you?”
“I’m going to be up late tonight. I don’t dare ask Mr. Benson for more time, not after my last assignment was …” she wiggled her fingers as if she was making quotation marks, “… too creative.”
Mika grinned. “Yeah, Mr. Benson is way too interested in the facts.” Then she gasped. “I forgot my school backpack at the fort.”
“You better hurry and get it,” said Mika’s mom, overhearing. “It’s almost time for supper and it’ll be too dark to go after.”
Mika’s breathing became shallow. She didn’t want to go to the fort alone. What if the black dog was still lurking about?
“I’ll go with you,” offered Aimee. “We can be back in twenty minutes. My mom won’t mind waiting if we’re not too long.”
“Why don’t I come too,” said Grandma. “I’ve never seen your fort.”
Mika’s hands unclenched. With Aimee and Grandma beside her, the rushed trip would be fun. She slipped on her coat and shoes and waited for the others to get ready. Angel tried to follow them when they went out the door, but Mika’s mom picked her up. “You stay with me, Angel. I need some company.”
“Does the rain ever stop here?” Grandma asked as they walked across the back lawn.
“It stopped yesterday for a little while,” said Mika.
“Well, I guess you girls will be my rays of sunshine,” said Grandma.
As they walked through the woods, Aimee and Mika told Grandma about the river being a lot higher than usual, and when they reached the bridge, they stopped to show her. The brown water and debris still battered the upstream side.
“You don’t go out on it, do you?” asked Grandma, concerned.
“Not when it’s like this,” said Mika.
Aimee no
dded. “It’s not normally dangerous.”
“The salmon spawn here in the summer,” said Mika. “It’s really fun to watch them. They turn bright red and splash around and chase each other.”
“Why don’t you show them to me next summer? We can bring a picnic lunch.”
“That would be so fun. But we should do it sooner.”
Grandma laughed. “Okay, I’ll make you a deal. We’ll have a picnic on the shore as soon as you get this rain stopped. It just has to be before I head home.”
“You shouldn’t go home, like, ever,” said Mika. “You should stay here with us.”
“Now that is a delightful idea,” said Grandma. “Now where is this fort of yours?”
Mika pointed.
“Oh, Mika, Aimee, what a lovely little cabin!”
“Just wait until you see inside,” said Mika. “It’s, uh, bright.”
When they first stepped inside the fort, everything seemed normal. The cheerful furniture and walls appeared to welcome them as always.
“I love what you did with the cupboards,” Grandma said to the girls. “And your table and chairs are glorious. You girls are interior designers.”
“Aimee’s mom is a real interior designer,” said Mika. “We’re lucky because we get a lot of our stuff from her.”
“And she likes bright colours just like we do,” said Aimee.
“I can see that,” said Grandma as she wandered into the second room, Mika and Aimee right behind her. “Fantastic wallpaper, and what a lovely old quilt.”
“Just don’t sit in the rocking chair,” warned Aimee.
“Yeah,” added Mika. “It already collapsed once.”
“What kind of horses are in your posters?” asked Grandma. Aimee and Mika explained the different breeds and that these were the horses they would choose if they lived at the fort and had to ride horses to town, like people did in the old days.
“I used to have a horse when I was a girl.” Grandma pointed to Aimee’s chestnut Arabian. “She looked a little like yours, Aimee. Her name was Honey and she was a beautiful mare. She had a foal one year that we called Nugget, because his colour was as gold as can be.”
“Wow, Grandma, I didn’t know you had a horse,” Mika said.
“A lot of the country kids did back in those days. But I never saw one like your Fjord, Mika, with both white and black in his mane. And such kind eyes.”
They were halfway back to the bridge when Mika remembered that she’d left her backpack again. She told the others to go ahead, ran back to the fort, and grabbed it from the corner — then she paused.
Was it her imagination, or did the fort seem different somehow? There was a chill in the air that was more than just dampness from the rain. The strange feeling grew stronger when she looked toward the second room. Was the doorway darker than it had been? For the first time, she noticed the paint can opener on the cupboard. Hadn’t they put it away yesterday?
Mika stepped backwards through the open front door, and when she was on the porch, she pulled the door shut behind her. Within a minute, she’d caught up to the others. Aimee looked at her funny when she took a couple of deep, shaky breaths. “Later,” Mika mouthed.
But there wasn’t time for Mika to ask her friend about the paint can opener when they got back to the house. Aimee’s mom was waiting. As soon as they left, she ran up to her room. Angel was curled on the bed, looking like a round furry hat. Mika threw her backpack down and sat on the bed to pet the cat.
Her hand stopped in midair.
Smeared pink words glared up at her from the back of her pack. In Mika’s rush to get out of the fort, she hadn’t noticed the finger-painted scrawl on the black canvas.
GIVE HER BACK.
NOW!
Chapter 8
Mika found it hard to leave the next morning. All she wanted to do was stay home and snuggle up with Angel and Grandma.
As she feared, the school day lasted forever. The morning inched past, and even the lunch hour dragged. Mika put the found cat poster up in a corner of the school bulletin board, under a sign about the chess club, so that she could honestly tell her mom and dad she’d put up a sign at school.
The afternoon seemed even more drawn out. The batteries in the clock above the blackboard had to be dead. Each minute was like an hour, until finally, at long last, the bell rang. Mika ran to dump her books in her locker. Aimee’s locker was beside hers, and together the two girls hurried to catch the bus.
“Show me again,” Aimee said as they took their seats at the back of the bus.
Mika turned her pack so Aimee could see the painted warning. “I’ve been thinking about it all day,” she whispered. “There’s no explanation except that someone’s moved back into the old house, someone who doesn’t want any of the neighbours to know he’s returned.”
“It’s too creepy that he knew to come to our fort.”
“Maybe that dog showed him the way.”
“I hope it doesn’t show him the way to your house,” said Aimee.
Instant bile rose in Mika’s throat.
“But I’m sure he wouldn’t go there anyway,” Aimee added quickly. “He’s hiding out, or someone would’ve seen him by now.”
“I hope so.”
“Hey, maybe he isn’t the person who actually owns that house. Maybe he’s a bank robber and he’s hiding from the law.”
“A bank robber with pets?” Mika arched an eyebrow.
Aimee’s expression lightened as she giggled, and a moment later Mika joined her. A bank robber with a sweet-natured cat as his accomplice — how dangerous could he be? Then Mika remembered the not so sweet dog stalking Angel in the woods and watching their house. Instantly, she sobered.
“Do you think he has bandit masks for his pets too?” asked Aimee, still smiling. “Maybe his dog carries the moneybags for him when he’s making his getaway. Angel has to be the distraction. She’d look too cute in a bandit’s mask.”
The bus stopped in front of Mika’s house. “I’ll call you in a few minutes,” she said and rushed to the front of the bus. Finally, she’d see Angel again.
“Hi, Mom. Hi, Joseph.” Mika ran through the kitchen.
“Mika!” Joseph called after her, but Mika didn’t stop.
Her room appeared empty. Where was Angel? Lounging in some quiet corner? Reclining on the living room couch? Mika threw her backpack into her closet. “Angel, kitty, kitty. Where are you?”
“Mika?” Her mom’s voice startled her and she spun around. A twinge of apprehension buzzed in her mind and she took a step backward; Mom looked far too serious. “Mika, I wish there was an easy way to tell you this.” Mom paused to collect herself. “Angel’s owner came to get her today.”
The quiet words slashed straight to Mika’s heart and she stumbled to the bed. Her eyes were a burst dam, pouring tears. Her Angel, her wonderful, sweet Angel — gone. She buried her face in her hands as Mom sat down beside her, then Mika felt the thin, strong arms go around her.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. You don’t know how much I wish she really was a stray. We’re all going to miss her.”
“Who’s her owner?” Mika asked in a raspy voice.
“A woman I’ve never seen before.” Mom swallowed, then added quietly, “She had the big black dog with her, the one I saw on the road the other day.”
“Did she say where she lives?” Mika asked, just in case her guess was wrong.
“No. Why?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I could go visit Angel at her house.”
“Oh, honey.”
Mika leaned into her mom’s hug. She felt the bed move behind her, then other arms were around her. Joseph, Billy, and Matt were hugging her too.
“Maybe she’ll run away again, Mika,” Joseph said hopefully.
“I think she’ll come home. She likes us better. I could tell,” said Matt.
“She wanted to stay here,” Billy added, his voice muffled by Mika’s sweater. “She hid under the bed, but that lady
knew where she was.”
Mika brushed some of her tears away. “Is it okay if I don’t do homework before supper, Mom?” she asked. Her voice broke, but she forced herself to continue. “I won’t be able to concentrate.”
“After supper is fine, honey.”
“We have something for you, Mika,” interrupted Matt. “Grandma made your favourite sandwich cookies for dessert, the ones with the icing in the middle.”
“Shhh. It was supposed to be a surprise,” Mom said softly.
“Then we won’t tell her about the movie we rented,” Billy said in a loud whisper.
Mom shook her head and smiled. “That’s a good idea, Billy. Let’s not tell her.”
“But he already did!” yelled Joseph and laughed when Billy clapped his hands over his mouth.
Finally Mika was able to convince them that she needed some alone time, and one by one they straggled out of her room. Mom was the last to leave.
“Are you sure you’re all right, honey?” Her eyes searched her daughter’s face.
“I’m trying to be,” said Mika, though she didn’t think she’d ever feel okay again.
“You just rest, and I’ll call you when supper’s ready. I’ll even help you with your homework.” She closed Mika’s door when she left.
Mika collapsed back on her bed and shut her eyes. She could see Angel’s face in her imagination, just as she’d first seen the little cat — terrified. Had she been frightened of being alone in her big dusty house? Or was it more? Was she scared of the woman who owned her?
Billy said that Angel hid when her owner came for her, but the woman knew where to look. How could she know? Because Angel had hidden from her before? Because Angel was frightened of her?
The truth flowed into Mika’s heart: the little cat really had been calling for help when she’d heard her that first time. Angel didn’t like her owner and had run away. And that meant she might try to run again. Maybe she’d find the broken back window or some other hole to squeeze through to escape that old house. Maybe she’d run back to where she belonged, to her real home, with Mika and her family.
The Time Thief Page 5
