“How do you come up with your ideas?” another kid said.
Mom looked at me and winked. “I let my imagination run.”
A girl near Wally whispered, “I think it would be cool to have a writer for a mother, don’t you?”
“That’s what I want to be when I grow up,” another said.
Everybody clapped for Mom. She waved good-bye to me, and Bryce walked her to the front door.
“Is everyone having a good time?” Mrs. Genloe shouted.
The kids screamed and put fists in the air.
“We almost didn’t have this get-together tonight. We almost had to cancel. Does anyone know why?”
“The attack!” a boy yelled.
“Those two girls,” a girl said.
“The guy is still on the loose,” another said.
Mrs. Genloe nodded. “Well, we thought this would be a good opportunity to learn some safety tips. So I’d like you to welcome three guests. Actually, four.”
A police officer walked down the hall with a dog at his side. The boys went wild. The girls oohed and aahed at the dog.
Mrs. Genloe held up a hand. “You’ve all heard different things about what happened that day, haven’t you? Let’s talk about what really happened.”
The kids gasped as Cammy Michaels and Tracy Elliot walked onto the stage.
Chapter 26
Cammy was thin with long blonde hair, and her skin was the color of the inside of pancakes. Tracy’s hair was almost black with red streaks around the sides of her face. She wore dark jeans and had several earrings. Both wore lots of makeup—red lips, dark eyelids, that kind of thing. Makeup is okay, I guess, but some people wind up looking less beautiful and more like Ding-Dong, if you know what I mean.
The police officer let the girls sit on stools. The dog obeyed every command, and I figured the leash was to protect it from the kids rather than the other way around. I was glad Ding-Dong’s pigs were gone, because the dog looked hungry.
Cammy took the microphone, looked at Tracy, and stifled a laugh. I figured she was nervous because a lot of people do that when they’re in front of a crowd. Tracy nudged her, and Cammy went limp-wristed with the microphone, letting it drift away from her mouth. The police officer stepped forward and pushed it closer.
“Okay, so I’m supposed to tell you what happened to us the other day,” Cammy began. “I’m sure you’ve all heard about it. We had stayed a little later after school to get some help with homework.” She giggled. “We need all the help we can get. Anyway”—(snort)— “we were coming home from school, just passing the café, when this guy jumps out and grabs us around our necks. He dragged us behind the café to a little shed. We were both really scared.”
Tracy took the microphone. “He had duct tape back there—you know, the big gray rolls you see at the hardware store. And before we knew it, he taped over our mouths and tied our wrists together. We tried to scream, but it all happened so fast that I guess nobody heard us.”
The kids stared, and parents stood at the back shaking their heads. Everybody got as quiet as they had for Mom’s story. Several mothers had hands over their mouths as the girls continued.
“Please, you guys have to be careful,” Cammy said in a high-pitched voice. “If we’d have been aware of what was going on around us and not talking to each other, we would have seen trouble coming. We could have crossed the street and avoided that guy or yelled for help.”
“Fortunately, we were able to get away before the guy came back or he might have really hurt us,” Tracy said. “So we hope you’ll all learn from our mistake and stay safe. Red Rock is not that big of a place. But it only takes one bad guy to mess everything up.”
Chapter 27
I watched Cammy and Tracy as they moved away from the microphone.
The kids all applauded and several raised their hands.
“Did you call the police right away?”
“Did you get to ride in a squad car?”
“Have they caught the guy?”
“Did you pick him out of a lineup like on TV?”
The girls went back to the microphone and answered questions until Mrs. Genloe returned. She thanked the two, then introduced the officer, a dark-skinned man with a mustache. While he talked he kept his radio on, so we heard all the chatter.
Tracy and Cammy moved to the back of the auditorium where several parents hugged them and the girls smiled. Something bothered me about their story, but I couldn’t put a finger on what it was.
I knelt to ask Wally what he thought of the policeman and his dog. Wally’s balloon made by Ding-Dong lay on the floor, but Wally was gone.
Chapter 28
Just when the policeman was getting to the part about how to spot people who might hurt you, Ashley darted down a hallway and disappeared.
I ran to catch up and finally found her in one of the classrooms. Her eyes were red and her hands shook.
“Wally’s gone,” she said. “He was right in front of me, but now he’s gone.”
“He’s gotta be around somewhere.”
“Bryce, they gave me one thing to do the entire night and I blew it. What if he’s outside? What if that guy gets him? What if he gets hit by a car? It’s all my fault!”
“Calm down. We’ll get everybody to help us—”
“No, we can’t let them know I lost him.”
I found the nearest bathroom and checked all the stalls. I skirted the auditorium and checked another bathroom on the other side. Nothing.
I found Ashley again and shook my head. “I’ll go to the playground. You look in here.”
She nodded. “Be careful.”
Chapter 29
I went to the auditorium to make sure Wally hadn’t tried to get closer to the dog. I moved behind the adults, looking between shoulders, scanning the stage and seats.
How could I have been so stupid! I thought. He could have slipped away anytime in the last half hour. He could be in Colorado Springs by now!
Mrs. Ogilvie had told me that it’s important to think about what you say to yourself. Sounds kind of funny, and at first I thought only crazy people talked to themselves, but now I know better. If you keep calling yourself stupid, it wears you down.
“Okay, I’m not stupid,” I whispered, frantically looking in the girls’ bathroom. “I didn’t mean to lose him. It was just a mistake. All I have to do is stay calm and—”
Something moved in the corner.
“Wally?”
The stall opened. It was Cammy. “Who are you talking to?”
My heart sank. “I was just looking for someone.”
“You’re the Timberline girl, right?” Cammy said. “The twin.”
“Yeah.”
“Who are you looking for?”
I told her, my voice shaking. “He must have took off when you and Tracy were speaking.”
I hoped she would help, but she scowled. “Kid’s probably scared to death, wandering around this dungeon.” She walked past me. “Glad I’m not you.”
Wally could be dead by now, and it was my fault.
Chapter 30
I let the outside door close and heard the clunk of the latch behind me. That sent my stomach (full of sub sandwich) to my ankles. All the school doors were locked. Unless Ashley came for me, I was stuck.
The parking lot looked like an SUV convention. Ski racks. Bike racks. It’s part of living in Colorado. The temperature had reached 70 that day, but the wind had picked up and the evening temperature dropped. The night air felt cool compared to inside. When we go to Rockies games, we always take blankets. Sometimes it even snows at the stadium.
The stars shone bright, and the quarter moon looked like God had hung it there.
My first thought was to call out for Wally, but I held back. If the little guy was hiding for some reason, he’d never answer.
Something moved at the edge of the playground. The overhead lights cast an eerie shadow on the swings and basketball hoops. A dark animal padded past the monkey bar
s and four-square boxes. A fox. They ran through our town like squirrels.
I stepped forward as the fox ran down a hill and across the soccer field. In the distance I saw the moonlit cap of Pikes Peak, white as a snow cone. The Front Range blocked most of the 14,000-foot mountain, but you could see the top from just about anywhere.
I scanned the playground again and heard what I imagined was Wally banging against something metal. I raced around front to find an American flag flapping in the breeze, the rope and metal clips knocking against the flagpole.
“Wally?” I said, loud enough to echo off the building.
Something rustled the bushes by the front door.
I froze, trying not to breathe. What if the guy who attacked the girls wanted to shut them up and had followed them here?
My voice shook. “Wally, is that you?”
Chapter 31
I looked in vacant rooms before returning to the auditorium. Sleeping bags and pillows were piled in corners and near closets. It’s weird how something as normal as a school looks creepy in the dark.
The police officer introduced Max, the sniffer dog. Kids came forward to pet him, and I felt sorry for the poor thing. He looked at the officer with pleading eyes. If he could talk, the dog would have said, “If I can’t attack anyone or find anyone, can we get out of here?” He was a beautiful dog with piercing eyes and a shiny coat.
The officer said Max was three years old and at night went home with him to his family. Max was trained to sniff out seven kinds of drugs.
“There she is,” someone said, pointing at me.
Mrs. Genloe hurried over. Cammy stood with her arms crossed, whispering to some parents who looked at me like I had clubbed a baby seal.
“Ashley, where is Wally?” Mrs. Genloe said. Her voice was strained, and the wrinkles in her forehead were so deep I could have planted corn in them.
I glanced at Cammy and the group in the corner. Tracy motioned to me and shook her head.
“Uh, I was watching the police presentation, and when I looked down—”
“You lost him?” Mrs. Genloe said.
The whole auditorium grew quiet. Kids turned and looked at me. Even Max glared.
Someone banged on an outside door and kids screamed, some running for parent helpers, others huddling near the policeman. Max’s ears perked up, and he stood at attention.
Someone opened the door and Bryce walked in. He looked at me and frowned.
How was I going to find Wally?
Chapter 32
Ashley ran from the room, and I thought she had lost it. I was shaking from the noises outside, plus some teacher was yelling at me for leaving the building. I was about to explain when Mrs. Genloe called for quiet and asked kids to clear the aisles. “We have a situation and we need your help.”
Before she could continue, Ashley rushed in holding a backpack over her head. She approached the police officer and said, “Max is a sniffer dog, right?”
The officer nodded, smiling. “He’ll find your friend. Get everybody seated and quiet.”
Ashley turned to the principal and the woman nodded. “Everybody listen!” Ashley said. “Wally slipped away. We’re going to have Max find him, but you have to sit down!”
It was a perfect idea. Almost as if Ashley and the policeman had planned it. The entire group hushed and sat with a whomp.
The cop knelt and held the backpack down to Max. The dog sniffed it from top to bottom, prancing in place like he couldn’t wait to get started. “Go get him,” the officer said as he unsnapped the leash.
Max shot up the aisle, ran to the top, turned right, and went straight to the spot where Ashley and Wally had been sitting. Kids streamed from their seats to see the dog at work. Ashley was right behind the officer, and a crowd of kids followed them.
I’d never be able to catch up that way, so I went up some stairs to the main hallway. Max passed me, panting, his tongue lolling to one side. He sniffed the floor, went down a hall, circled back, and continued toward the main office.
The officer jogged after him, and I joined the chase.
Chapter 33
When I heard Max bark, my heart leaped. A pile of jackets and blankets lay by the front door near a coatrack. Max danced over the pile, whining, his tail wagging. He spun in a circle, looked back at the officer, raised a paw, and barked again. The coats moved and Wally giggled.
The cop snapped Max’s leash on with one hand and moved the coats with the other. “Good boy,” he said, stroking the dog.
Wally bounded out of the coats as the kids rushed up behind us. Everyone cheered. Wally said, “You found me!” and hugged me. I was so relieved I almost cried.
As we made our way back to the auditorium one of the parents said, “This is why middle schoolers shouldn’t be helping.”
I felt my face turning red.
Bryce came up and said, “Good idea.”
Mrs. Genloe assigned one of the parents to Wally, which was okay with me, except he kept scooting away and running to find me. Bryce went to his third-grade room to help set up for the movie while others went to the gym.
I heard a honk outside and pulled back a curtain. Cammy and Tracy ran to a bright red sports car, and it didn’t look like something a mom or dad would drive. Cammy spotted me, laughed, and shook her head, which made me want Max to take a bite out of crime—if you know what I mean.
Chapter 34
The next morning I woke up from two hours of sleep and found that one of the third graders had had an accident in his sleeping bag. While one of the dads took him to the bathroom to change, I hung the sleeping bag on the chain-link fence outside to dry.
Parents who had volunteered for breakfast arrived with donuts, pancake mix, orange juice, and other stuff. I saw Duncan Swift’s dad and waved.
“Ready for the big game today?” Mr. Swift said. He seemed kind of young to be a father. His hair was spiked like Duncan’s, and he wore blazing white tennis shoes and tight jeans. He always yelled the loudest at games and came onto the floor at halftime to tell Duncan what he was doing wrong.
“I almost forgot,” I said.
He squinted and stopped. “Forgot Coronado, probably the biggest game of the year? Remember what those guys did to you last game?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I guess I am ready for some payback.”
“Payback is right. Tell your dad we’ll save a seat for him. Can’t wait to see you guys blow them out of that gym.”
Jeff Alexander struggled out of his car as his mom waved at me and carried some food into the school. Jeff had told me he wanted to spend the night with the kids like I was, but I guess he didn’t have the energy.
“How’d it go last night?” he said, making it to the sidewalk and leaning on the railing.
I told him what happened, and his jaw dropped. “Wish I could have been there for that.” He pushed his hat back, and I saw a little tuft of hair growing at the front of his scalp.
“Looks like your mane’s growing back in.”
He grinned. “I told Mom I was going to get a Mohawk once it all grew back. I think she’ll actually let me do it.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you,” I said.
“How about coming to my house tonight?” Jeff said. “Got some stuff I need to talk over. Maybe spend the night?”
Chapter 35
Bryce went to bed as soon as Mom brought us home, but I couldn’t. I had to tell her what had happened. She hugged me.
“I know I messed up letting Wally get away, but—”
“Sounds like Wally gets away a lot,” Mom said.
“I don’t know why they had to be so mean to me. At least Bryce helped.”
She smiled. “It’s nice having somebody who understands, huh?”
I went to my room and wrote in my journal everything I could remember about Cammy and Tracy’s speech.
I woke up with Bryce standing by my bed, yawning. “You coming to my game?”
I rubbed my eyes and tried to stand. I li
ke going to Bryce’s games because I get to see my friends. And Duncan. But I couldn’t drag myself out of bed.
“Sam’s taking me,” Bryce said. “You can stay here.”
“If you insist,” I said.
Chapter 36
Sam drove me to the game against Coronado. I had slept until about 10 minutes before we left and felt like a used dishrag. I wish I could wake up as fast as Pippin and Frodo. I guess that’s why adults drink so much coffee. I like the smell of the stuff, but I can’t stand the taste. Unless it’s one of those foofy coffee drinks—you know, the latte, frappé-whatevers. I like those.
As Sam drove, we listened to the radio and the latest about the attack on the girls. The guy’s picture had been on TV and in the paper, but the police still hadn’t found him.
I walked into the Coronado gym and looked for my teammates. Another game was going on, a blowout. The Coronado team sat across from us on the bleachers, and some of them tried to stare us down. Their big guy, #23, was already over six feet tall and had arms like tree limbs. Our tallest guy is 5’9”. Number 23 stretched on the sideline and listened to his coach as he studied us.
Coach Baldwin had told us not to worry about him, that he was going to get his points and rebounds, but if we could contain the rest of the team we had a good chance. Coach kept reminding us, “When he shoots, passes, breathes, whatever, get a hand in his face so he can’t see.”
They turned off the scoreboard toward the end of the game before us, and finally the slaughter was over. We took the floor and started our warm-ups.
“Goin’ down, Red Rock,” #23 said as he brushed past Duncan Swift and me. “Again.”
Chapter 37
I couldn’t get back to sleep. I slogged downstairs and found Mom organizing the pantry. I could tell she was between book-writing projects, because that’s always when she cleans or organizes.
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