by Lin Oliver
Just as the rest of her body was about to slip through the hole, her progress stopped. Her butt couldn’t squeeze through. She was stuck halfway into the painting and halfway out, with her legs kicking and squirming in the living room.
“Somebody push my bustle,” she shouted. “It’s stuck.”
“I won’t do it, Madame!” Chives squealed.
“Chives, I order you to do it!” Viola hollered back.
“Beg your pardon, Madame, but I must refuse!”
With that, Chives reached out and locked his stubby legs around Mrs. Dots.
“One … two … three … ,” he yelled.
He yanked so hard it seemed like he might tear Viola’s legs off altogether, but she didn’t seem to be budging. Then suddenly, there was a loud pop, followed by a gust of wind. When I looked up, I saw Viola flying out of the painting and back into the living room. Before I could figure out what had happened, I was pulled like a magnet into the hole she had left empty.
“Tiger, let me go back in!” Viola called. “Stop right now!”
“I can’t,” I called as I was whooshed into the painting. “The force is too strong.”
“Then promise me you’ll look everywhere for David!” Viola shouted after me. “Tell him to come home.”
Suddenly, everything grew dim. I began falling fast, dropping head over heels down a dark tunnel. I felt the wind whipping through my hair. I looked around for Luna. I could see her somersaulting down what looked like a flight of golden stairs. I closed my eyes and felt myself spinning. Dots of color swirled in my mind, and the real world seemed to melt away.
“Tiger,” I heard Luna call. “Prepare for landing!”
It was the last thing I heard as I tumbled through time and space into another world.
Chapter 3
When I opened my eyes, I saw a body of water rushing toward us. We had missed the island and were going to land in the river! I had just enough time to take a deep breath before I fell headfirst into the freezing water.
“Luna!” I called, coming up for air. “Where are you?”
I saw her head pop out of the water.
“I’m okay,” she said. “Let’s get to shore.”
We weren’t far from the island. We swam by some people in a rowboat who were speaking a foreign language. They gave us strange looks. We just waved like it was a totally normal thing for a couple of American kids to land in their river. They paddled on, and we pulled ourselves onto the bank. We came ashore at exactly the spot where the painting had ripped open—right next to the umbrella woman with the bustle.
“Why is she holding an umbrella?” Luna whispered. “It’s not even raining.”
“I think she wants to keep the sun off her giant butt,” I said.
Luna laughed. “I like you, Tiger.”
I thought about telling her I liked her, too, but I was a little embarrassed to blurt it out. I’m not like Luna. I can’t just go around being all lovey-dovey.
We crawled onto the grass, dripping wet. “You wait here,” I said to Luna. “I’ll search around to see if I can find David. He’s got to be here somewhere.”
“I’m coming with you,” Luna said.
Of course she was. Luna Lopez wasn’t the kind of girl who would be happy staying behind.
The island was crowded with people. Everyone was relaxing in the sun or the shade, having a good time. Some were picking flowers, some were strolling by the shore. A man with big arms was lying on the grass smoking a long pipe.
“If he lived in the twenty-first century, he’d know that smoking that thing is going to make him sick,” Luna said.
The man may have heard us whispering, because he turned around and shot a sour glance in our direction. We ducked behind a bush.
“We’re safe here,” I said.
“Not so fast, Tiger.” Luna pointed to something behind me. “I think you’re going to take that back.”
When I turned around, I was face-to-face with a monkey whose long tail started to twitch when he spotted us. He opened his mouth and let out a piercing shriek. He wasn’t that big, but he had sharp teeth and nasty little claws. I don’t speak monkey, but if I did, I’d bet he was saying, “Get out of here or I’m going to jump on your head.”
“Nice monkey,” Luna said, and gave him her best smile.
“Don’t smile, Luna.”
“Why not?”
“Because monkeys think you’re making a threat when you smiiiii …”
The monkey opened his mouth wide and showed us his teeth.
“You just have to let him know you’re not afraid,” Luna said. “I saw that on the Animal Channel.”
Luna put up her hand like she was going to give the monkey a high five. He reached for it, but she pulled her hand away fast.
“Too slow, Joe,” she said with a laugh. “That’s a funny thing we say in the future, which is where we’re from.”
The monkey let out another fierce screech.
“So much for TV,” Luna said.
The monkey jumped onto the woman’s bustle, took aim, and dove straight for us. We took off so fast, we didn’t really look where we were going. We ran right through a woman’s lovely picnic, squashing her bread and cheese. She shook her finger at me and yelled something.
“Tell her I’m sorry,” I shouted to Luna. “You speak Spanish.”
“We’re in a painting of Paris,” Luna yelled. “Which is in France, where people speak French.”
I was going so fast, I ran right into a little girl in a white dress and knocked her off her feet.
“Maman!” she cried.
But her mama was busy, smacking me with her red umbrella. The little girl ran and hid in her mom’s skirt, just like Maggie does with my mom when she’s having one of her four-year-old scared attacks. That gave Luna a chance to grab the umbrella from the woman’s hands.
“Back off,” she called, holding the umbrella out in front of her like a sword. She looked like she was right out of one of those old pirate movies you see on TV. She spun around, pointing the umbrella at the crowd that was gathering.
“I can take you,” she told the people. That wasn’t far from the truth. She was tough.
With Luna keeping everyone at a distance, I had a chance to look around for David. All I saw were a lot of upset people. Most everyone had left their picnics, leaving the dogs and the monkey to grab their food. Our arrival had turned their lovely, peaceful afternoon into a real mess.
“Do you see David?” Luna asked. “I can’t hold this umbrella forever.”
I looked hard. I saw a woman fishing in the river, and some kids chasing one another. There was a couple kissing in the distance, and another couple getting in a rowboat.
Wait a minute. Back up, Tiger. That couple in the rowboat!
I squinted to get a closer look. I could see a blond girl wearing a straw hat with a big white bow. Helping her into the boat was a boy of about thirteen, with brown hair and a ruffled shirt. I couldn’t see his face clearly from where I was standing. Could it be David? He was dressed like a French kid, but that didn’t mean anything. Clothes were just clothes.
I jumped up and started shouting at him.
“David!” I yelled. “It’s me, Tiger.”
The boy looked over at me and paused for a second. I yelled again.
“Luna’s here, too,” I shouted. “Your mom sent us to find you!”
He took another few seconds to study me, then the boy turned and got into the boat. Without so much as a wave, he picked up the oars and quickly rowed away.
Chapter 4
Luna was swinging the red umbrella at the puzzled crowd that had gathered around her.
“Just keep your distance, folks,” she was saying, “and there won’t be anything to worry about. We’re here to look for a missing friend. He lives in your painting. Oh, I know you don’t think you’re living in a painting, but you are.”
“Luna,” I whispered. “Be quiet for a minute.”
&nbs
p; “Do I have to? This is really fun. It’s like I’m the star of my own movie.”
“Cut it out and listen to me. I saw David. At least I think it was him.”
Before she could answer, a whistle blew.
“Here comes trouble,” Luna said. “Just like in the movies.”
Two men in orange-and-gray uniforms were hurrying toward us. They were very small in the painting, but now they were as big as life.
“They must be the police!” I said. “Or the army.”
“So?” Luna said, swinging her umbrella. “Let them come.”
“Listen to me, Luna. We can’t get caught by the police. What if they keep us here? Or throw us in jail?”
“We’ll escape,” Luna said, her eyes lighting up at the thought of it.
“And if we don’t, we’re stuck here forever,” I reminded her. “Besides, we came here to find David. And if that kid I saw was David, he’s left the island and is heading to the mainland.”
“Why didn’t you say so, Tiger? We have to follow him!”
Luna dropped the umbrella, and we ran toward the shore. We looked around to see if the soldiers were still following us. They had been stopped by the black dog that was barking and running in circles around them. The little girl in white had thrown herself on the ground. That gave us time to reach the sand.
I looked across the river. In the distance I could see the little rowboat making its way to the city. The girl’s straw hat looked like a yellow dot on the dark blue river.
“We’re going to have to row across,” Luna said.
“Two problems,” I said. “Number one, I don’t know how to row a boat. And number two, we don’t have a boat.”
“I’m an expert boat rower,” Luna said. “My grandpa Arturo taught me. We always go fishing when I visit him in Mexico.”
“Fine, problem number one is solved. But what about number two?”
It occurred to me that this was the second time today I had said the words number two. It was a good thing Maggie wasn’t there to have a giggle attack.
Luna looked up and down the beach. There was only one rowboat left on the sand, and an old man and his wife were just settling into it.
“Come with me,” Luna said, and before I could ask why, she had practically reached the old man’s boat.
“Hi,” she said to him, in her lovey-dovey voice. “I’m Luna, and this is Tiger. We were wondering if we could give you guys a hand. People your age shouldn’t have to row yourselves.”
“They don’t understand a word you’re saying,” I said.
“My grandma always says, ‘Una imagen vale más que mil palabras,’” she said.
“Great. Now that makes three of us who don’t understand a word you’re saying.”
“It’s simple, Tiger. It means a picture is worth a thousand words. Just watch.”
Luna picked up a stick and quickly drew a picture in the sand—a boy, a girl, and a boat. She looked at the couple and pointed to herself.
Suddenly the woman burst into a big smile and said something to her husband in French. His face lit up, too.
“Ah … oui, oui,” he said, and held out his hand.
“Is he offering to row us across the river?” I asked Luna.
“No, we’re offering to row them across the river. Help me shove off before those army guys catch us.”
Luna jumped into the boat. She picked up the oars and dug them into the sandy bank.
“Push, Tiger,” she called. “Then hop in.”
I pushed the boat into the river and leaped in. I landed with such a thud, I almost tipped us over into the water. Luna started to pull the oars through the water. She really did know how to row.
“Do you see David up ahead?” she asked. Her back was facing the mainland.
I could see the place where his rowboat had landed, a little dock next to some factory buildings. But I couldn’t see any signs of him. I was afraid he had disappeared into the city.
“Luna, can you row faster?” I asked.
She put her head down and dug the oars deep into the water. A wind was blowing, making it hard for her to gain speed.
I looked down at my Batman watch. It was already 4:15. That left us exactly forty-five minutes to reach the shore, find David, convince him to come back with us, and row back to the island. Everything in me said that was impossible, and growing more impossible with each stroke of the oars.
The hour of power was ticking by fast, and there was nothing we could do to slow it down.
Chapter 5
Luna did her best, and we reached the riverbank in record speed. As we helped the old man and his wife out of the boat, I heard the clip-clop of a horse-drawn carriage coming down the street. The driver pulled to the side of the road. He climbed down, greeted the old couple warmly, and opened the carriage door for them. I figured he was probably their driver.
Before they got into the carriage, they held their hands out to offer us a ride.
“Thanks, anyway,” I said. “But we don’t know where we’re going. We’re hoping to find our friend, and we think he’s somewhere around here.”
They just looked at me with a blank expression on their faces.
“Remember what I told you, Tiger,” Luna said. “Pictures, not words.”
She went up to the couple, shook her head no, and gave each of them a hug and waved good-bye.
They didn’t understand my words, but they sure got the picture from Luna. They got in their carriage, leaned out the window, and blew a kiss.
“Okay, here’s the plan,” I said to Luna. “We move the boat away from the dock and hide it under that tree. Then it will be here when we get back with David.”
Luna and I waded into the water. We dragged the rowboat to a nearby tree and tied it up. But when we tried to make our way back to shore, we ran into a big problem. The water was thick with dirt, and it didn’t smell too fresh, either. Every time we tried to take a step, our feet would get stuck in the squishy mud.
“Wait … I think I hear someone coming,” Luna said, holding very still for a moment. She was right. There were voices, kids’ voices. “Maybe they can help get us out of this muck.”
We called out for help and within a minute, a group of five or six kids turned a corner and came down to the riverbank.
“Bonjour! Bonjour!” one boy shouted. He sounded friendly. When I looked up at him, all I could see were two bare feet and a dirty face.
He waded into the water and stuck out his hand to me. Another boy helped Luna. When we were both out, their friends gathered around us in a circle. There were six kids dressed in dirty rags and filthy caps.
They all started to say bonjour and a bunch of other French words I didn’t understand.
It didn’t take long for them to realize that neither of us could speak a word of French. We just kept repeating bonjour. Then we’d slap our chests and say our names. They didn’t mind that we couldn’t speak their language. They were excited to meet us.
The boy who had pulled me out of the river threw his arm around my shoulder. He was a head taller than me. I was pretty sure his name was Marcel. At least, that’s what he kept saying every time he slapped his chest.
“Américain?” he asked.
There was a word I recognized.
“Yes,” I said, nodding. “Tiger.”
“Américain, Américain!” he said, poking his friends to let them know.
“Tiger, Américain,” they all chanted.
“And this is Luna,” I said, pointing to her.
“Luna, Américaine!” they cheered.
“I’m going to ask them where we can find David,” Luna told me.
“What are the chances they know?”
“An American kid their age would stand out. It’s worth a shot,” Luna reasoned.
“How are you going to ask them? They won’t understand you.”
“Pictures, not words,” Luna reminded me. “Just like Grandma says.”
She turned to Marce
l.
“David?” she asked. She held her hand above her head to show she was talking about someone taller than her. “David?”
“Ah … David,” Marcel repeated. Then he pointed up the street. Luna broke into a smile.
“See, Tiger?” she said. “Don’t be so negative. He’s going to take us right to him.”
Surrounded by our new group of friends, we turned a corner and headed up the cobblestone road. As we climbed the hill, we passed several factories. I could see shops and small houses up ahead. Marcel was taking us to that neighborhood. I was sure David was there, probably walking the girl in the straw hat home right about now.
If we could find David in the next few minutes, we had a good chance of making it back to the island by five o’clock. For the first time since Luna and I had landed, I took a deep breath. I thought of Viola Dots finally getting to see her long-lost son, and a feeling of happiness swept over me.
“Marcel,” I said, throwing my arm around his shoulder. I couldn’t quite reach his shoulder, but I stood on my tiptoes and did the best I could. “Luna and I really appreciate your help.”
Marcel didn’t answer. Or even seem to care. He was looking at a man coming out of one of the factory doors. He was a very rich-looking man, wearing a top hat and bow tie, just like Chives.
All the kids had slowed and were watching the man walk down the cobblestone street. They became very quiet. Too quiet.
The man stopped walking. Stroking his gray whiskers, he pulled a shiny gold watch from his vest pocket.
Marcel whispered something in French to me, pointing to the man.
“Sorry, Marcel,” I said. “I don’t understand.”
When he heard my voice, the man looked up. Without any warning, Marcel pushed my back hard. I lost my balance and staggered several steps to keep from falling. Before I realized what was happening, I had smashed right into the man with the pocket watch.
I slammed into him so hard, I knocked him down. While he was on the ground, Marcel and the street kids charged him, whooping and laughing. Then they grabbed his pocket watch and raced up the road! It all happened very fast. I suddenly realized that they had already done this many times before.
