“What's he got under his arm?” mused Beth.
“Looks like a book. A dictionary?” Caroline guessed.
“It's not a dictionary, it's a box,” said Eddie, craning her neck and staring hard out the window.
Down below, Peter started forward again. Yes, it was a box, Caroline decided. A yellow box. Peter was holding it in both hands now and studying it as he crossed the halfway point on the bridge and kept coming. Now she saw him hold the box up to his ear and shake it.
“You know what I think he's got? A box of Whitman's chocolates,” Eddie said, beginning to smile. “Doesn't it look like it's wrapped in cellophane? And isn't that a wide red ribbon across the front?”
“Beth, I'll bet it's for you!” Caroline cried excitedly. “I'll bet Josh sent it over here with Peter.”
They watched in fascination as Peter held the box to his face and appeared to be sniffing it. Yes, it was a box of Whitman's chocolates. The girls would recognize one of them anywhere. Caroline had seen rows and rows of them in the drugstore.
“They're chocolates, all right,” Beth said.
“Or they were —what will be left of them if Peter doesn't stop shaking them.” Eddie laughed as Peter shook the box still again.
Peter came off the bridge at last, but he took only two steps up the long hill to their house before he stopped, looked over his shoulder, then sat down on a large rock there on the bank.
“Now what?” Beth wondered aloud, then gasped as she watched Peter pull off the ribbon and work his finger under the cellophane in one corner.
“He's opening it!” Caroline shrieked. “He's going to eat your candy, Beth!”
“I don't believe this,” murmured Eddie.
“I believe it!” said Caroline.
Peter was holding his mitten in his mouth while his finger probed around under the cellophane, trying to lift a corner of the lid. But it didn't seem to be working, and so, with a shrug, Peter dropped both his mittens on the ground and gently tore all the cellophane off the yellow box. The girls stared in fascination.
They watched as Peter opened the lid. They saw him study the diagram on the inside. They saw him lift up the cardboard over the first layer of chocolates to peer at the candy beneath. And finally his hand roamed around the top, started to descend over a chocolate, paused, then plucked a piece out of the box and popped it into his mouth.
“My candy!” Beth wailed, laughing nonetheless.
“At least, we think it's your candy,” said Caroline. Who was to say it might not be for her?—a box of Whitman's chocolates from Wally?
Peter seemed to be having a marvelous time. He probably had selected a nougat, Caroline decided, since those were usually the largest pieces of all and his jaws were still moving up and down.
“You'd better get up here, Peter.” Eddie laughed. “If Josh sees what you're doing, you're dead, kid.”
Any minute now, the girls expected Peter to close the lid of the box. Any minute they expected to see him get to his feet and bring the candy on up to the house.
To their surprise, however, Peter pondered the diagram under the lid again, and once more his hand hovered over the layer of chocolates.
“Look at him!” cried Eddie.
Peter picked up another chocolate, looked it over, then put it back in the box and traded it for something else.
“Oh, gross!” cried Caroline.
The second chocolate went into his mouth.
“If you're lucky, Beth, you may get a piece or two before they're gone,” Eddie told her.
It appeared as though Peter had barely swallowed the second piece before he selected a third, and then, to their horror, the Malloy girls watched as he poked his finger first in one chocolate, shook his head, then another, shook his head, and finally, finding a candy to his liking, popped it into his mouth and sat tapping both feet on the ground.
But it was when he began nibbling a corner off first one piece of candy, then another, that Eddie said, “Somebody ought to go out there and stop him.”
“Maybe it's his own candy,” said Caroline. “Maybe somebody gave him a box and he's just sitting out there enjoying it.”
“On our side of the river?” said Eddie. “Come on.
Put on your jackets and let's go pretend we're just out walking.”
The girls clattered downstairs, took their jackets off the pegs by the back door, and headed down the hill toward the swinging bridge.
Peter was holding a large chocolate out in front of him, examining it from all sides, when the Malloy girls suddenly appeared in front of him.
Caroline saw him freeze. The chocolate dropped from his fingers back into the box and he sat like a statue on the rock. A thin trickle of marshmallow creme oozed out one side of his mouth.
“Hi, Peter,” Beth called. “Looks like you're having a picnic.”
“All by yourself,” added Caroline.
“It looks to me like you're celebrating Valentine's Day a day early,” said Eddie.
Without taking his eyes off the girls, Peter scrunched up the cellophane. His fingers raked up all the empty paper cups and he thrust them under him, there on the rock.
The girls took a step closer. The marshmallow creme slid down Peter's chin and onto his jacket.
“Yum! Whitman's chocolates!” said Eddie. “Who gave you the candy, Peter? Your girlfriend?”
Peter swallowed and thrust the box toward Beth, and as soon as it was safely in her hands, he leaped off the rock and went racing back across the swinging bridge.
The girls looked down at the box, then at the cello phane on the ground. There was a card taped to the cellophane. On it someone had drawn a beautiful heart, decorated with little pieces of pink and red tissue paper and covered with red sparkles. In the middle were the initials J+ B.
Twelve
Like Two Hot Coals
“So how long does it take to drop a box of chocolates on a porch?” Josh murmured to Wally as they sat in front of the TV.
Not this long,” Wally said. “We saw him cross the bridge, though. We know where he was headed, right?”
“You don't suppose Caroline got to him first and took the chocolates herself, do you?” Josh asked warily. Wally shrugged. “Anything is possible with Caroline.”
They looked up to see Jake observing them from the doorway. “So, what are you guys doing?” he asked.
“What's up?”
“What do you mean?” said Josh. “We're watching TV.
” “With the Mute button on? What's happening, anyway?”
“Waiting for Peter, that's all,” Josh said. “I sent him on a little errand.”
Jake came over and sat down. “Waiting for Peter to do what?” And when he got no answer, he grinned. “Waiting for Peter to deliver a valentine, maybe? You might as well tell me, because I'll find out somehow.”
“Waiting for Peter to deliver a two-pound box of Whitman's chocolates to Beth Malloy,” said Wally, answering for Josh.
Jake stared at his twin. “Are you crazy? After all we've done to drive the Malloys out of Buckman, you're giving Beth a valentine? Chocolates? Do you want them to stay here forever?”
“I wouldn't mind,” said Josh truthfully.
Jake clutched at his head. “What's happening to us? We're all going soft, that's what! Beth's your girl friend, Josh! Who are you kidding?”
“She is not!” said Josh. “You wanted me to spy, didn't you? I can't very well spy if they won't have anything to do with us. If Valentine's Day comes and goes and Beth doesn't get a present from me, do you think she'll tell me anything anymore?”
“Yeah? So what's she told you so far that we didn't know already?” said Jake. “I'll bet she's given you a valentine too, hasn't she? Baked some fancy cookies or something?”
“No, she hasn't, but if she does, I'll just throw them out,” Josh said.
There were footsteps on the porch, and the front door opened a crack. Wally and his brothers stopped talking and watched as the do
or opened wider still and Peter slid noiselessly inside. He was tiptoeing across the hall, trying to get upstairs without being seen.
“Peter?” said Josh.
Peter stopped with one foot in the air.
Josh got up from the sofa and went out into the hall, Wally and Jake at his heels. Peter put his foot on the stairs and paused again, avoiding Josh's eyes.
“Don't you want your quarter?” Josh asked, digging in his pocket.
“No, you can keep it,” Peter murmured, and took another step.
“Why? You delivered the candy, didn't you?”
Peter didn't answer.
“Peter! What happened ?” Josh asked. “You didn't drop it in the river, did you?”
Peter shook his head.
“What did you do?” Josh asked in alarm.
“I gave it to Beth,” said Peter. “She came along and I just gave it to her.”
Josh looked relieved. “Well, what did she say?”
Peter shrugged. “I don't know.”
Josh reached out and turned Peter around. “What's that on your jacket?” His voice rose. “What's that on your chin? Peter, you ate those chocolates, didn't you!”
Peter broke away and dashed upstairs, his brothers after him, and managed to lock his door before Josh could get it open.
Josh put his mouth to the door. “Boy, you'd better not come out of there as long as you live,” he whispered through the crack. “You'd better not come out of there until I go to college, Peter, because I'm going to pulverize you.”
There was a small squeak from behind the door. “I didn't eat them all!” Peter said.
Josh banged his head against the door.
“How many did you eat?” asked Wally.
There was a pause, but the boys could hear Peter counting. “Maybe four,” he said. “I only took a little bite off the others.”
Josh moaned.
“Why?” asked Wally. “Why would you open the chocolates Josh was sending to Beth?”
“I was hungry!” Peter answered in a pitiful little voice.
“See what a dumb idea that was, Josh? See what trouble a girlfriend is?” said Jake.
Mrs. Hatford came upstairs. “What's going on?” she asked. “Where's Peter?”
“In his room,” said Wally.
“What's he doing in there? Why are you three standing out here?”
“We're trying not to kill him,” said Josh, and went into the bedroom he shared with Jake, shutting the door behind him.
Mrs. Hatford looked at Jake and then at Wally and then at the two closed doors. “No,” she said finally. “This is too nice a day to ruin. I don't think I want to know.” And she went back downstairs.
Peter stayed in his room most of the day, and Josh was too angry to come out of his. Just before dinner, however, when dark had settled in, the doorbell rang, and when Wally answered it, all he found was a box. A low square box with the words For Josh on the outside. He took it upstairs, where the twins were playing a computer game.
“What's that?” asked Josh.
“Somebody rang the doorbell, and when I answered, I found this,” Wally said.
“So open it!” said Jake. “Looks like my hunch was right.”
Josh opened the box. Instead of fancy cookies, there was a large, delicious-looking chocolate heart, with B+J written in frosting.
“See? See?” said Jake. “She's your girlfriend.”
Josh's face and neck were bright red. He didn't say a word as the boys took turns examining the chocolate heart. They sniffed it and turned it from side to side. To Wally, it smelled simply delicious.
“Okay, so let's see you throw it out. That's what you said you'd do,” Jake told his twin.
Josh hesitated.
“You aren't even going to taste it?” cried Wally.
“Go ahead! Taste it or toss it; we're waiting,” said Jake. “If Beth's not your girlfriend, I dare you to throw it out.”
Josh swallowed. “Of course she's not my girlfriend,” he said quickly. “And you can bet it's made out of something gross.” He took one last look at the chocolate heart, then opened the window and tossed it out over the porch roof and onto the ground below.
After dinner, with Peter sitting as far away from Josh as he could manage, Josh took Wally aside and said, “I have to go over to Beth's and leave her a note. She must think I'm nuts, sending her a box of half-eaten chocolates.”
“Why don't you just call her up?” Wally suggested.
“Mom would hear, and anyway, I'd rather leave a note. You come with me, boost me up on their back-porch roof, and I'll slip it in Beth's window.”
“All right, but all we need is for the Malloys to call the police and report a burglar on the roof, and Mom would really freak out.”
“Don't tell Jake, though. You know how he is,” Josh cautioned him.
Jake, however, followed Josh around like a shadow, and when he saw him leaving the house with Wally, he came too.
“Who asked you?” said Josh.
“Hey, whatever you're going to do, I can help,” said Jake.
“Yeah? Well, I just want to tell Beth that Peter ate those chocolates. I don't want her to think I did. I've written her a note, and if you guys will boost me up onto the porch roof, I'll just slip the note in her window, see what the girls are up to.”
“Ha! You'd better explain why you sent Peter instead of taking them over yourself,” Jake told him.
“Because Mom doesn't want us to have anything more to do with the Malloys,” Josh said.
“Sure. So you send Peter. Now, that makes sense,” Jake jeered.
Josh shrugged. “All right, so I don't know what to say to a girl when I give her candy. So what? You wouldn't know what to say either. If I'm going to spy on her, I have to pretend to like her.”
They crossed the bridge in the February darkness, the twins in front, Wally walking behind. He didn't know why he was even along, to tell the truth. Jake would have to horn in just when Josh and Wally were beginning to do things together, when Josh was beginning to confide in him. Wally could see it all now. No matter how good a friend he was to Josh, Jake and Josh would always be best friends because they were twins, and he'd be stuck with Peter.
They reached the other side of the bridge and started up the hill toward the Malloys’ back door. Wally tried to remember what things had been like when the Ben-sons lived in the house. Weird, but he was having a hard time remembering exactly what things they used to do with the Benson boys that were so much fun. He must have crossed the swinging bridge and come up the hill to the Bensons’ house dozens and dozens of times—hundreds, even—but what did they do when they got together? Played baseball, maybe. Played Clue. Flew model planes. Played Kick the Can. It was all fun stuff, but somehow it didn't seem as exciting as it once had.
As the boys reached the top of the hill, they could see a square yellow patch of light from the kitchen window shining on the hard ground. The porch light was off, however.
Josh dug one hand into his pocket for the note he had written to Beth.
“I just want you to boost me up on the porch roof, and I'll slide this note under her window.”
“What if the window won't open?” asked Jake.
“I already thought of that. I'll just tape it to the glass,” said Josh, and showed them a roll of tape in his pocket.
Wally began to feel useless. “So what am I, your cheering section?” he asked. “I don't think you need me at all. I think—”
He didn't finish. He stopped in midsentence and didn't even close his mouth. Because there, just beyond the garage, were two shining eyes, glowing like hot coals in the darkness.
Wally could only gasp and clutch his brothers’ sleeves, but Jake and Josh had seen the eyes too, and neither of them moved a muscle. They didn't even seem to be breathing.
For what seemed like sixty seconds the boys stood frozen, the two hot coals staring back at them.
Then the creature took a step forward
.
“Abaguchie!” Wally croaked, and suddenly the three boys were stumbling onto the Malloys’ back porch, pounding on the door, so that when it opened at last, they tumbled inside and fell at the feet of Coach Malloy.
Thirteen
The Confrontation
“Boys?” said Caroline's father, as though he wasn't sure whether the creatures sprawled at his feet were animal or vegetable.
“We saw it!” Jake gasped.
“The abaguchie!” said Wally.
By now the girls had gathered, wide-eyed, in the kitchen, and Mrs. Malloy came up from the basement where she had been doing the laundry. The whole family was staring at the Hatford boys, who were awkwardly getting to their feet.
“You saw something outside just now?” Coach Malloy quizzed them.
“Standing right beside the garage! It was horrible!”
said Wally.
“Fiery red eyes!” said Josh.
“Pointed ears!” said Jake.
“A long pointed tail. Sort of like a…a devil's tail,” Josh finished uncertainly.
And when Coach Malloy folded his arms across his chest and raised one eyebrow, Wally added, “It was coming right at us.”
Mr. and Mrs. Malloy exchanged glances.
“What were you guys doing over here in the first place?” the girls’ father asked.
“We were just out walking,” Jake insisted.
“Along the river,” said Josh.
“And we weren't doing anything!” said Wally.
Coach Malloy took a flashlight and went out in the backyard to look around. But Mrs. Malloy said, “You were walking along the river way up here in our yard?”
At that Josh blushed, and when that happened, Beth's face grew pink as well. A minute went by in silence. Then another. Finally the girls’ father came back inside.
“Didn't see a thing,” he said. He put one hand on Josh's shoulder and sat down on the edge of the table. “Listen, you guys,” he said. “Let me tell you something. I think it's time you made other friends and started hanging out with other boys. Leave the girls alone.”
“Daddy!” Beth protested, humiliated that he would say such a thing, but Coach Malloy held up one hand to stop her.