The Goatnappers

by Rosa Jordan

  “I hope Grimsted didn’t see you,” Kate fretted.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Justin said. “The more distance we put between us and him, the better.”

  Just then, a familiar voice shrieked, “Kate! What are you doing here?”

  Justin turned and saw Kate’s friend Mary Ellen coming out of the store. She was alone, and looked really glad to see them. “I didn’t know you’d be in town today! Did you come in for the grand opening of the new mall?”

  “Well … uh …,” Kate stammered.

  Justin saw that his sister was having trouble shifting gears from Grimsted to a grand opening on such short notice. In the same instant, he realized that going to the new mall would be a great excuse for them to be in town. “Yeah,” he said. “How about you?”

  “I wouldn’t mind walking over there with you,” Mary Ellen said, cutting her eyes at him.

  Justin tried not to be obvious about staring at girls, but it was pretty hard with Mary Ellen. Her skater pants slid so far down her hips that the top of her blue panties showed all the way around, and her sleeveless T-shirt only reached about halfway down her stomach. A lot of bare skin was showing in the middle, which he would have noticed even if she hadn’t had a shiny gold ring in her navel.

  “Sure!” Kate said happily. “Let’s go!”

  “What about them?” Mary Ellen motioned to the younger children like they were pets that should be on a leash.

  “They’re with us.” Justin grimaced. Given how many times he had been forced to take the younger children to town lately, it probably looked like he had no friends his own age. Which some days felt like the truth.

  “We’ve got babysitting detail,” Kate muttered.

  Lily gave her an evil look. “I already told you, Kate! We’re not babies! If you don’t want to go to the mall with us, we’ll go by ourselves!” She marched away down the sidewalk, followed by Chip and Luther.

  “Wait!” Justin commanded. “We’re all going together. Got it?”

  So off they went, the three younger children in the lead with the three older ones following, Mary Ellen in the middle. When they had to move to the side to let someone else go by, Mary Ellen crowded closer to Justin than was necessary, but he didn’t mind. He didn’t even mind that he had no money to spend. Going to the mall would be a fun thing to do, exactly what all of them needed to get their minds off goats and Grimsted.

  There was a surprisingly big crowd at the grand opening. It was really only a strip mall, but it was the biggest one ever to be built in their town. The huge discount store in the middle seemed to be the center of all the action. A clown was giving out balloons at the entrance, a band was playing oompah music, and in the store’s food court, just about every stall was offering free samples.

  As they walked along the aisles they got a little separated. Kate and Mary Ellen dawdled in front of the clothes, and once Chip and Luther got to the toys, they didn’t want to leave. Justin and Lily left them there and went to browse around in the sports equipment section.

  Justin had just taken a soccer ball away from Lily to keep her from kicking it in the aisle, when Kate and Mary Ellen appeared.

  “Mary Ellen wants to go outside to see the show,” Kate said.

  It was a normal enough thing to say, but Kate, who was standing behind Mary Ellen, looked scared stiff.

  “What show?” Justin and Lily asked in the same breath.

  “The Dancing Dogs. Come on, Justin,” Mary Ellen said in a teasing voice. “Maybe you’ll pick up some tips, in case you, like, want to invite a girl to a dance sometime.”

  “Dogs can’t dance,” Lily said scornfully, taking the soccer ball off the shelf again and giving it a kick that sent it spinning down the aisle. A clerk blocked the ball before it crashed into a display rack, then looked to see where it had come from. He pointed a scolding finger at Justin, naturally assuming he was the one, not little Lily, who had given the ball such a powerful kick.

  “Out!” Justin said, giving Lily a shove. She followed Mary Ellen toward the front of the store.

  Kate hung back and put a flyer into his hand. There, big as life, was a picture of Grimsted holding two terriers, one in each arm. Under the picture it said, “The greatest dancing dogs you’ll ever see! Cha-cha, salsa, swing—give them a tune and these bow-wows will dance to it.” Below that, in bigger type, were these words: “Under the direction of Corky Grimsted, world-renowned animal trainer, comedian, and entertainer.” Then, in super-big letters, “DON’T MISS THE 2 PM SHOW AT THE GRAND OPENING OF PALMETTO MALL!”

  Justin read the notice over twice. His first thought was to leave the mall immediately. “Where are the boys?” he asked.

  “There.” Kate pointed out the store window. A small wooden stage had been erected in the mall parking lot.

  At first Justin didn’t see Chip and Luther, but then he spotted them standing on tiptoe at the back of the crowd, trying to see whatever everyone else was watching.

  By the time Justin reached the place where the boys had been, they’d already squeezed past the taller spectators and were near the front where they could get a better view. Lily immediately dived into the crowd and worked her way forward so she could see, too.

  Justin sighed. What was the point in running? This was a small town, and they were bound to meet up with Grimsted now and then. The sooner they learned to act natural, like they had nothing to feel guilty about, the better. One more day and Booker would take Little Billy away. Then there would be no possibility of getting caught. Remembering that they had Booker on their side, Justin relaxed a little and watched the show.

  All it was, really, were two terriers, one wearing a pink tutu and the other wearing a blue vest, two-stepping around the stage on their hind legs. The dogs didn’t exactly keep time with the music. It was more that the choppy tunes seemed to keep time with the jerky way the dogs moved. Grimsted kept up a steady flow of corny jokes, entertaining the smaller children up front. Even a few of the adults and teenagers laughed a little.

  Justin didn’t find any of it funny. He was wondering how Grimsted had trained those dogs. If he did it with treats, the way Luther used to get Little Billy to stand on his hind legs for a carrot stick, that wouldn’t be so bad. But if he used an electric prod—that was a different matter. Just remembering the way Little Billy had jumped when Grimsted gave him a shock caused Justin’s muscles to tense up.

  The longer he watched, the more he remembered other animals he had seen on TV and in movies and in the circus. He’d enjoyed watching at the time, but now he found himself wondering if putting on a show like this was ever fun for the animals.

  That line of thinking depressed him so much that he turned to Kate and said, “Let’s get out of here. Time to find the others and go home.”

  Mary Ellen gave him a surprised look, but Kate just nodded in agreement. She seemed to understand. Maybe she’d been thinking along the same lines, or maybe it made her nervous to be so close to Grimsted. She wiggled through the crowd, looking for Chip, Luther, and Lily.

  “Can’t you stay, Justin?” Mary Ellen asked. “I’m not leaving yet.”

  Actually, Justin would have liked to spend the rest of the afternoon with her, not at the mall, with Grimsted there, but maybe downtown or somewhere. He gave Mary Ellen an apologetic smile that he hoped said, I’d really like to, but I can’t.

  Mary Ellen glanced at Kate and the younger children, then looked back at him and batted her eyelashes. Her look asked, plain as words, Why can’t your sister take care of them?

  Justin couldn’t explain to Mary Ellen how they’d all been involved in something a lot more serious than mall-walking and how, even though it was more or less over, he didn’t feel right about skipping out on them. If it hadn’t been for all of them coming up with part of the money, he would have had to sell his bike for sure. So he just shrugged and said, “Can’t. I got to get these kids home.”

  “Well, I’m staying,” Mary Ellen said, trying to look as if s
he couldn’t care less. She then glanced over at Kate to see if she might be willing to stay. But Justin could tell that his sister had lost interest in mall-ratting, too. Or maybe she was offended that Mary Ellen had been so ready to dump her for a chance to spend time with her brother.

  “We do have to go,” Kate said, without bothering to give a reason.

  Justin could tell Mary Ellen’s feelings were hurt. She’d probably get even by telling her friends that he was “immature” and that was why he spent so much time with younger kids. Desperate to let her know that he did have a life of his own, he blurted out, “Besides, my dad’s coming by to take me to the movies.”

  Justin almost added, And I’ll be driving his car. But he couldn’t risk one of the younger kids overhearing and blabbing to Mom.

  As Kate headed for the street, Justin looked back over his shoulder at Mary Ellen. She had already struck up a conversation with a couple of older guys from school.

  The sun was hot as they walked home from the mall. “I’d like to’ve stayed at the store in the air-conditioning,” Kate complained. “Grimsted being there just ruined everything.”

  Justin told himself he didn’t want to stay, not after he’d seen Mary Ellen flirting with those older guys before he was even out of sight. But something more than Mary Ellen’s attitude seemed to be weighing him down. Which was weird, because he should have been feeling great. After all, they had done what Booker expected of them, and the Little Billy problem was as good as fixed.

  “It was stupid the way he had those dogs dressed in people clothes,” Lily grumbled. “But at least it wasn’t Little Billy.”

  “I’m going to miss Little Billy,” Luther said sadly. “What kind of life is he going to have after he leaves us?”

  Nobody answered, because nobody knew. But the question stayed in Justin’s mind. It reminded him that if he decided to go with his dad, he didn’t know what kind of life he’d have either, whether it would be better than the one he had now, or worse.

  28

  ANOTHER GOODBYE

  Sunday morning, before Mom went to work, Justin told her that they were going down to the Wilsons’ to tell Booker goodbye.

  “Lily wants to come, too,” Kate told Mom. “When you get over to the nursery, will you ask Mr. Hashimoto if it’s okay for her to go with us?”

  Mom gave Kate an approving smile and said she would ask. In about ten minutes Lily appeared at the door. It was a sunny morning—already hot—as Justin, Kate, Chip, and Lily walked down Lost Goat Lane. Most of the cornfields on either side of the lane were still plowed up. Some had been planted, but the seedlings had only begun to sprout. The fringe of tall grass along the drainage ditch was full of chirping insects, croaking frogs, and chittering birds. It was as if they were all singing, which was what Justin felt like doing, too.

  Booker was out on the porch with Ruby and Luther when they got there. Mr. Wilson came out of the house with Booker’s duffle bag, followed by Mrs. Wilson, who was carrying a sack of “road food” for Booker to eat on the drive back to Atlanta.

  “Hey, Justin!” Booker called out. “What do you think about coming to see me in Atlanta?”

  “Oh, man! Fantastic!” Justin grinned. “I can’t wait to get there!”

  “Not a bad town, old Atlanta. You know it was Ruby’s idea.”

  “Really?” Justin looked at Ruby in surprise, but she only gave him a sidelong smile, more with her eyes than her mouth.

  “Ruby’s the restless one in this family, so I guess she picks up on it when somebody else starts feeling that way,” Booker told Justin.

  “Me?” Ruby shot back. “Booker Wilson, you were out of this house long before I was!”

  “That’s because I’m the oldest.” Booker smiled. “It’s a big brother’s job to get out in the world before his baby sister!”

  They kept teasing back and forth all the way out to the van. For a few minutes Justin wondered if Booker could have forgotten his promise to help them deal with Little Billy. The other kids are worried, too, he thought. They’re never this quiet.

  Booker fussed around a bit, hugging his sister and kissing his parents goodbye. Then he lifted himself into the van and took his time stowing his folding wheelchair in its special place behind the seat. All that probably only took five minutes, but to Justin it seemed like an hour. Finally Booker said, “Well, I’m off.”

  Justin’s heart thudded. His mouth opened, but nothing came out. Then Booker turned and said, “You kids want to ride as far as the highway?”

  “Yes, yeah, sure!” they cried more or less all at once, and piled in.

  Instead of driving up Lost Goat Lane all the way to the highway, the van turned off on the dirt track leading to the Old Place. When they got there, everyone except Booker got out.

  Booker opened his door and slid sideways to face them. He sat there with his short half-legs sticking out and his big muscular arms crossed. He was not smiling. “Luther tells me he delivered the money to Mr. Grimsted. The rest of you kids got anything to say?” He said, “you kids,” but he was looking at Justin.

  “We each put in fifteen dollars, so Mr. Grimsted got his full seventy-five dollars back,” Justin said.

  “With a note,” Kate added. “Saying it was to pay for the goat.”

  “I was going to deliver it myself,” Justin started, “But—”

  “I decided we should draw straws,” Kate interrupted. “And Luther got the short one.”

  Justin felt his face flush. He hated having to explain to Booker why he’d let Luther take the risk instead of doing the job himself. “I told him he didn’t have to, but—”

  “I wanted to!” Luther shouted. “I wasn’t one bit scared!”

  Justin smiled a little at that, because from the start, Luther had been the most scared one of all. But that fear hadn’t stopped him from taking on the scariest part. Maybe he really had wanted to, just to prove he had the courage. Pretty impressive, thought Justin, for a seven-year-old.

  “Fair enough,” Booker said. “You kids kept your part of the bargain, I’ll keep mine.” He tossed the van keys to Justin. “Open the back and put him in that crate.” He handed Kate a stack of newspapers. “Spread these out first, just in case he springs a leak.”

  As Justin opened the back door of the van and helped Kate spread the newspapers in the bottom of the wire crate, he heard Booker telling the smaller children, “You know, gas stations used to have separate restrooms for colored and white, and they’ve still got separate ones for men and women. Some even have restrooms for the handicapped. But I don’t reckon I’ve ever seen facilities for a goat.”

  Justin climbed into the pen and reached for Little Billy, but the goat shied away from him. Normally Little Billy was eager for attention, but he must have sensed that something was up. He ran to the opposite side of the corral and stood there with his nubby head down, glaring mistrustfully. When Justin started toward him again, Little Billy leapt away.

  “Let me,” Lily said. “You open the gate.”

  It wasn’t a real gate, just some old boards they had wired up where the gate used to be. Justin took them down, although he wasn’t sure it was a good idea. If Little Billy got loose, they might have a hard time catching him.

  But Lily knew what she was doing. She took a couple of corn chips from the pocket of her shorts and held them out. Little Billy gobbled them greedily and nuzzled her for more. She walked toward the van, luring him along by holding the chips out one at a time.

  When they reached the back of the van, Justin scooped Little Billy up in his arms and set him in the crate. The small goat bleated in panic, but when Lily threw a handful of chips on the floor of the crate, he was distracted long enough for Justin to shut the door.

  Kate put the bag of grain and the rusty skillet in the front next to Booker. “In case he gets hungry before you get there,” she explained. “And don’t forget to give him some water when you stop for gas.”

  Chip and Luther climbed into the va
n’s back seat. Chip got on his knees facing backwards. He reached through the wire and scratched Little Billy’s head. “He’s afraid,” Chip said. “Because that other time he ended up in such a scary place.”

  Luther leaned over Booker’s shoulder and asked, “You’re going to keep him for a pet, aren’t you, Uncle Booker?”

  “Not likely. I’m pretty sure there’s something in my apartment lease about no goats.”

  “What are you going to do with him?” Kate asked.

  “The best I can, Kate. That’s all I can say.” Booker took the keys from Justin and asked, “You got him all settled back there?”

  “I think so,” Justin said.

  “Jump in, then, and I’ll give you reformed goatnappers a ride out to the highway.”

  By the time Booker stopped at the Martin driveway, Little Billy, who didn’t seem to like the movement of the vehicle, had curled up on the newspapers. Chip and Luther each gave him a final head-scratch.

  “Just remember,” Lily told Booker. “You don’t have to train him. He’ll do anything for corn chips.” She emptied the rest of the chips where the goat could reach them without getting up.

  Justin double-checked to see that all the van doors were secure, then went back to the driver’s window. “Thanks, Booker. For everything.”

  Booker grinned. “See you Thursday, champ.”

  29

  FRIENDS

  After Booker left, Justin felt so weird that he flaked out on the couch for about an hour and did exactly nothing. The others must have felt the same way, because all of them lay around the Martin living room like yesterday’s party balloons after half the air has leaked out.

  When Lily and Luther had to go home, Chip waved goodbye listlessly. Kate flipped through the cut-up fashion and movie magazines for a few minutes, then got up and put them all in the recycle bin under some old newspapers.

  “Why’d you do that?” Justin asked. “I thought you said—”