Read The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past Page 2

  2

  The Dumbass Detector

  Dinner, as with most things in the Jordan household, was a haphazard affair. And that was before the eating even started. Jay Jordan, Binny and Cassie’s father, was calling his three boisterous and bickering children to the table. It usually took at least two tries, and often three or four to eventually get all of the Jordan offspring in one spot. This evening was no exception.

  “Kids. Dinner. Now. I won’t ask again.” Jay yelled, his eyes flashing behind wire-framed glasses, his shiny head poking through the kitchen doorway. Of course though, he would do just that. He often laughed at his own jokes, and the growing personal catalog of his less than effective parenting efforts was a never-ending source of humor. But despite an ability to laugh at his own futility, Jay still tried to sound convincing.

  Zach Jordan, Jay’s oldest, was already sitting at the table during this latest plea. A skinny twelve-year-old with a mop of brown hair, a healthy smattering of freckles across his cheeks, and a seemingly endless collection of sarcastic t-shirts, Zach seemed to think his job was to point out inconsistencies and errors in other people’s thinking. “I’m already here. Why are you yelling at me to come to dinner?” Zach smiled his toothy, jaunty, sarcastic smile.

  Jay’s brow furrowed with annoyance as he tended the grilled cheese sandwiches. “Zach, must you? You know I wasn’t talking to you.”

  “How would I know that? You just yelled to ‘kids’, and last time I checked, I’m one of the kids.” Zach either didn’t notice his father’s growing annoyance or more likely was thoroughly enjoying it. Zach loved demonstrating his intellect by coming up with new and inventive ways to annoy those around him.

  “As usual, you know what I meant. And also as usual, stop being a pain.”

  Jay again made his way to the doorway to yell for the kids and just as he let out the first bellow, Binny rounded the corner into the kitchen.

  Whether Binny was still irritated over Cassie’s theft of her mirror or annoyed at being yelled at by her father wasn’t clear. Needless to say, her sour mood had hardened and showed no signs of leaving anytime soon. “GEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZ!!!! I KNOW! I HEARD YOU!”

  “Don’t yell at me, Binah Jordan.” Her father cautioned her. Using a child’s given name instead of their nickname was a tradition that parents all over the planet had adopted to demonstrate seriousness to their children. “I have no way of knowing you’re coming if you don’t respond the first three times I call you.”

  “I was washing my hands,” Binny offered with a smug look on her face, her eye roll serving as punctuation to her excuse. But Jay missed it as he’d already moved on to his dinner ministrations.

  As Jay brought a bowl of steamed cauliflower to the table, Cassie finally made her appearance, striding in as if there were no chance dinner would start until she made her grand entrance.

  This inexcusable lateness wasn’t lost on Binny. “Where have you been?” Binny asked.

  Cassie looked up at her sister and shrugged. “Dunno.”

  “Well, I know what you were doing. You were in my room going through my stuff.” Binny said.

  “No I wasn’t!” Cassie screeched. Cassie’s anger escalated especially quickly when confronted with criticism from her older siblings.

  “This isn’t the first time you’ve done it either. I’ve been keeping track.” Binny raised her voice.

  “I didn’t touch your stupid mirror!”

  “You left it on the sidewalk. Someone could have stepped on it. YOU’RE! SO! RUDE!” Binny was yelling.

  “Girls, stop the bickering. And eat your cauliflower.” Jay tried to end the argument.

  “She took my mirror.” Binny complained.

  “Binny, I mean it. I’m not interested. Eat your vegetables so I can give you your grilled cheese.” Jay said.

  The kids served themselves. Binny took a bite. “It’s cold.”

  “Ah shoot,” Jay collected the vegetables back into the serving bowl. “Sorry. Give me a second.” Jay put the serving dish filled with cauliflower into the microwave and added “you know kids, I could heat up your meal with my heat vision if I wanted to. I just choose not to.”

  “You don’t have super powers.” Binny chided.

  “Yes he does,” Cassie disagreed.

  “Don’t be dumb.” Binny snapped.

  “SHUT UP!” Cassie yelled.

  “Binny, stop calling your sister dumb. And Cassie is absolutely correct. I do have super powers. I’m not sure why you don’t believe me. But I suppose it’s better that way, since I’m not supposed to use them unless I’m doing my job fighting crime.”

  Zach piped up, “I thought you were an illustrator, not a super hero. Am I confused?” Zach’s eyebrows were raised as far as they would go in mock surprise.

  Jay continued pedantically, “It’s true, I do draw for a living, but when called upon, I also fight crime. Where do you think I get my inspiration for drawing crimefighters? It’s hard leading a double life, but someone has to take on the responsibility of making the world a better place.”

  Binny’s eyes rolled furiously.

  BEEP. The cauliflower was hot again.

  “While my responsibility is fighting crime,” he looked at Binny as if to emphasize his next words, “and keeping the peace,” Jay placed the serving bowl filled with steaming vegetables on the table, “your responsibility is to eat your vegetables.”

  “I’m thirsty.” Cassie blurted through a mouthful of cauliflower. Her lips glistened with melted butter. Little white bits of cauliflower flew indiscriminately from her mouth.

  Zach poured the last of the apple juice into his glass, looked at his thirsty youngest sister and gave her a half shrug and smile.

  Cassie was about to about to explode at Zach ensuring a hailstorm of cauliflower confetti when Jay interceded, “We have more juice in the basement. If you can manage to chew your food with your mouth closed, I’ll go down and get some.”

  “Hey Binny,” Zach offered at the exact moment his father disappeared from the kitchen.

  “What?” she responded, pre-annoyed, knowing that whatever was coming next would be unpleasant.

  “You’re a dumbass. And I can prove it scientifically.” Zach asserted.

  “I can prove that you smell terrible.” Binny didn’t miss a beat.

  “No seriously. I’ve been working on some dumbass detection equipment. It lights up whenever there’s a dumbass in the vicinity. And when you walk by it lights up like a Christmas tree.”

  Binny thought for a second. “You’re too stupid to invent anything. Shut up.”

  “Look, I’ve even tested the equipment on a group of dumbasses and a group of non-dumbasses. You always have to have a control group so that you know the machine isn’t getting false positives,” Zach explained condescendingly. “It was right one hundred percent of the time. So you see, I have incontrovertible proof that you are, in fact, a dumbass.”

  Binny found Zach’s smile insufferable. “I HATE YOU!” Binny screamed just as Jay rounded the corner holding a big unopened jug of apple juice.

  “Binny, stop yelling,” Jay snapped. “I cannot take even one more minute of this fighting.”

  “The machine never lies.” Zach whispered to Binny with a look of sympathy on his face so fake Binny thought her head might actually explode, spreading bits of brain and bone and frustration all over the kitchen ceiling.

  “He is being a total and complete jerk. I hate him. I hate him. My head is going to explode from how much I hate him! ” Binny screeched.

  “The machine… never… lies…” Zach repeated, his head slowly shaking back and forth in false pity.

  “You’re the one screaming, Binny, and my head is about to explode from that. Enough! The grilled cheese is ready. Did you guys finish your vegetables?” Jay asked no one in particular as he brought the sandwiches to the table.

  Cassie immediately insisted, “Me first, me first, me first.” She grabbed a sandwich off t
he plate not waiting for Jay to give it to her.

  “She always just takes whatever she wants.” Binny complained.

  “Binny, I meant what I said. Enough.” Her father warned.

  “She took my mirror.” Binny said.

  “To be clear, Binny Jordan, it’s not your mirror. It’s a mirror I gave to your mother that you have made your own.”

  Jay tried to change the subject as he distributed the rest of the sandwiches. “Did you finish your homework yet?” Jay asked Zach.

  Through a mouthful of toasted bread and melted cheese, Zach responded with a muffled grunt that sounded somewhat affirmative.

  Jay took it as a yes, and said, “I still honestly don’t understand how you get it done. You don’t appear to spend all that much time on it.”

  The kids ignored their father’s comment and wolfed down their dinner.

  “Where’s Mom?” Cassie asked.

  Before Jay could answer Zach and Binny responded in unison “at work” accompanied by some pretty significant eye rolling.

  Cassie added mopily, “She’s always at work.”

  Jay frowned, distracted for a moment by the comment, and wearily sat down in an empty seat. That subject apparently was closed for now. The eating continued in silence. Briefly.

  “Dad.”

  “Yes, Binny.”

  “Zach and Cassie are being jerks. Cassie keeps going in my room and stealing stuff. And Zach told me he invented a dumbass detector and that it proves that I’m a dumbass.”

  Jay sighed with resignation, “Are you a dumbass, Binny?”

  “No.” Binny said, her voice mostly confident.

  “Then why do you care in the least what he says?”

  Sensing he should offer an explanation, Zach said, “I didn’t say she was a dumbass, I just said that the detector went off.”

  Binny exploded. “He’s lying! He did say those things. And he’s a huge jerk.”

  “I’m not lying.” Zach insisted. Now he too was starting to get upset.

  “Yes you are.” Binny insisted. Binny yearned for a world in which people followed the rules, and nothing made her angrier than lying.

  “Binny please.” Jay begged her to calm down.

  “I’m not lying, Binny,” and then after a pause and in a more conciliatory voice, “And the machine never lies.”

  “I HATE YOU!” Binny screamed and stormed out of the kitchen.

  “I’m done, can I be excused?” Zach asked, already out of his chair, shoving the last of his sandwich into his face.

  Jay, resigned to the disaster the meal had turned into, shook his head in disbelief. Zach took that as a yes and escaped from the kitchen.

  Jay rested his forehead on the table.

  Cassie, seemingly oblivious, was munching her sandwich happily when she spied someone in the doorway. “Mommeeeee.”

  Jay looked up at Julie Jordan, who had just arrived on the scene. Her sharply put together business clothes were in an almost identical state to when she’d left 12 hours earlier for the office. “Where is everyone?” Julie asked.

  Jay put his head back down on the table with a groan.

  Cassie punctuated the silence between her parents. “More grilled cheese please.”

  §

  Julie’s dark brown wavy hair framed her face with a more adult and more professional version of Cassie’s bouncy curls. She looked tired. The few tiny lines that had recently started to appear at the corners of her eyes were in full bloom this evening. The chaos of the house had subsided, but the toll of her endless day of meetings as a Vice President at a large local technology company was visible on her face.

  Sometimes she thought that managing a team of 300 adults was roughly equal to the complexity and demands of raising 1/100th the number of children. But if there were a competition between her employees and her kids to see who could tire her out more quickly, her money was on the kids. At least the people that worked for her seemed generally satisfied with the attention they got. The kids never seemed to get enough.

  Julie had adapted to getting pleasure from the tiniest moments and rituals that would fit into her cramped schedule. Each night it that ritual was a cup of Uji green tea. She’d discovered the tea on a business trip to Japan a few years earlier. The caffeine it contained was an exception to her generally caffeine-free existence. She never failed to fix herself a cup when she arrived home from work, and most nights her cup of tea made up the majority of her dinner.

  Sipping from her mug, feeling fidgety, Julie wandered around the first floor of the Jordan house. Dinner had mercifully ended. Zach and Binny were upstairs in their rooms. Cassie and Jay were snuggled together watching E.T. in the family room with the lights lowered. Julie liked movies just fine, but the two hour commitment wasn’t often a possibility for her these days.

  Jay’s responsibilities as a freelance illustrator left him plenty of time to introduce the kids to the canon of his childhood – super hero comic books, science fiction and fantasy TV shows, and of course – movies. Right now, the movie was getting intense. The government agents had taken over and E.T. was dying. Julie hadn’t seen the movie in over 30 years, but her memory was sharp. She peeked into the family room to share in the moment.

  “Thanks for bothering to come home.” Binny’s sarcasm interrupted Julie’s brief moment of peace.

  Julie spun around to face her daughter, wondering how long Binny had been standing behind her. “Of course I came home. How could I stay away from you sweetie?”

  Binny wasn’t done. “Yeah sure. You seem to stay away from me just fine every day.” It wasn’t just Cassie’s misdeeds that Binny was writing down in her journal.

  “I always come home when work is over baby. Can I have a hug?”

  “No.”

  Julie felt the chill coming from her daughter. “What’s wrong honey?”

  “What’ wrong? What’s wrong?” Binny was starting to bubble over in frustration. “Let’s see. How about the fact that Cassie is a thief and Zach is a liar? Is that a good start?” Binny’s arms were now firmly crossed in front of her chest. Binny stuck out her chin defiantly waiting for Julie’s response.

  “It sucks being the middle kid. Doesn’t it.” Julie’s response was more of a statement than a question. “What happened? Tell me everything.”

  Binny’s arms uncrossed and the stories of the afternoon and evening came spilling out. “And Daddy just ignored it all. Cassie didn’t get in trouble, and Zach just sat there with a stupid smile on his face. Dad acted like it was all my fault, but I didn’t do anything. They were being jerks!”

  Julie’s face softened in sympathy for her daughter. “You’re father is doing his best honey. It’s hard to get dinner ready for you guys and keep track of who’s being a jerk to whom.”

  “I’ve been keeping track – in my journal.” Binny answered.

  “Binny, maybe instead of spending all that time writing down what your family has done wrong, you should spend time writing down all the times people show you how much they love you. I bet that would make your life a lot happier.”

  “What would make my life happier is if you were there to help Dad when Cassie and Zach are being mean to me.” Binny raised her eyebrows and continued. “But you weren’t here to defend me.”

  Binny’s words stung. Julie did her best not to show her daughter just how much. “Honey, don’t be so angry. They don’t give us a handbook, or a fairness scale, or mind-reading abilities when we become parents. They don’t really give us any tools at all. We’re just expected to figure it out.”

  Binny wasn’t thrilled with this response and settled into a familiar gray sulk.

  Julie continued, musing almost to herself. “Well, I suppose there is one tool they give us.”

  “What’s that?” Binny asked, already knowing the answer would be deeply unsatisfying.

  “Ice cream.” Julie answered with a bittersweet smile.

  Slightly less angry now, Binny said almost t
o herself, “Well… but ice cream can’t solve every problem.”

  “I know honey. I know.”

  §

  “They're just gonna cut him all up.” Elliot said to the man from the government agency. The man responded “Would you like to spend some time alone with him?” The lines from the movie that Jay and Cassie were watching floated over to where Binny and Julie were standing in silence. Just listening.

  Cassie turned to Jay on the couch and asked “Is he dead?”

  Elliot, the boy from the movie responded. “Look at what they've done to you. I'm so sorry. You must be dead, 'cause I don't know how to feel. I can't feel anything anymore. You've gone someplace else now. I'll believe in you all my life, every day. E.T., I love you.”

  “I don’t understand. Why would they cut up E.T.?” Cassie asked.

  Jay paused the movie, “For science honey. In the movie, the government wants to learn how E.T.’s body works.”

  “So they can figure out his super powers? How he makes things fly?” Cassie wondered.

  “Yeah,” Jay nodded slowly and seriously.

  “But won’t that kill E.T.?”, Cassie worried, her eyes widening.

  “Well, it looks like he’s already dead, darling.” Jay said, and then added as an afterthought, “But to be honest, the government would probably cut him all up even if he was alive. People aren’t often as gentle as they need to be with living things that are different and special.”

  “Oh.” Cassie seemed to be thinking.

  Jay unpaused the movie.

  E.T.’s heart started beating and Cassie got excited. “He’s alive Daddy. E.T.’s alive.”

  “I know baby. But that only happens in the movies. In real life, when the bad guys kill you trying to figure out what makes you tick, you don’t come back to life.”

  3

  The Chocolate Chip Banana Waffles

  Binny’s skateboarding heroes watched over her as she slept. A good night’s sleep softened Binny’s frustration and anger. But just a little.

  Although Julie Jordan worked just as hard during the summer as she did during the rest of the year, for the rest of the family the summer stretched like an endless lazy weekend. Since Jay was able to work from home, he was left in charge of the Jordan children’s summer activities which were few. Once each summer there was a day trip to the nearby islands for blackberry picking, but the only other treks out of the neighborhood were pilgrimages to the cineplexes downtown to take in every last summer blockbuster, or the periodic mandated chess camp.

  Chess camp was usually at the urging of Binny’s mother. Julie Jordan desperately wanted her kids to love chess the way she did. Jay had played against Julie in the first years of their marriage, but after it became clear he was an infinite distance from beating Julie, he kind of gave up. Julie’s competitiveness wouldn’t allow her to throw a game or two to keep Jay’s interest. She reasoned that letting him win wouldn’t teach him the right skills anyway. She was right. But ultimately what Jay learned was that playing chess with Julie was just not very much fun.

  Zach didn’t mind chess camp, and while the kids complained about taking the ferry to the islands, they all loved Jay’s blackberry cobbler, made from the massive amounts of blackberries they would bring home from their trips. Cassie especially loved these expeditions Her purple smile would last for days until the fruit finally ran out.

  Jay was not much of an outdoor person or athlete, preferring the couch to his 20-year-old still nearly mint condition bicycle. And while he claimed he wanted the kids to be more active, Jay’s efforts to get them to play outside usually stopped after a couple of ineffective requests. As a result, for the bulk of the summer, the kids were on their own. And the Jordan kids mostly liked it that way.

  Binny easily surpassed her father’s athleticism with her newfound passion – skateboarding. For all of his half-hearted attempts to get her to pick up an outdoor activity, skateboarding wasn’t exactly what he had in mind. Jay wasn’t particularly excited at the thought of his ten-year-old daughter speeding down the Madrona hillside on four wheels and a plank, unable to stop for oncoming traffic.

  But with her mother’s support, and countless promises to wear her helmet, skate only on flat surfaces, and go sloooooooow, Jay relented and bought Binny a skateboard. A few short months later, Binny was on her fourth skateboard, having promised Jay repeatedly that she would take better care of the latest replacement, and that the demise of the prior three boards was not a result of her trying dangerous stunts. Jay suspected that Binny wasn’t telling the entire truth, and yet he relented. He liked to picture Binny as he’d drawn her, zipping about Madrona with little wings sprouting from her helmet, and a trail of smoke from her back wheels.

  It was the sun that finally woke Binny up. Jay, Zach, and Cassie were already awake. Binny’s rage and frustration from the previous night took a lot of energy to maintain and demanded a large amount of sleep to keep charged. Rubbing her eyes, Binny smiled at the thought that summer vacation had begun only recently, and this day was hers. But first things first.

  Binny grabbed some relatively clean seeming clothes off the floor and changed into them. Many of the shelves in her closet where her clothes actually belonged, remained empty, unsure of their purpose.

  Binny was about to head downstairs to quell the rumbling in her stomach when she remembered to check on the mirror that her sister had swiped the day before. Binny backtracked into her room and to her bookshelf where the mirror had a place of honor – still there. It occurred to Binny that she should move the place of honor to a higher shelf that Cassie couldn’t reach, but there would be time for security improvements later. She was getting really hungry now, and something in the house smelled especially delicious.

  §

  Taking the steps two at a time, Binny reached the first floor. Binny galloped past her brother who was lying on the living room rug, intently focused on his videogame. Cassie was already engrossed in yet another TV show. This was the one starring the girl who was secretly a rock star. Binny, and Zach wouldn’t admit to liking the show, but they could often be found slumped on the couch watching slack jawed along with Cassie.

  “Hey Binana.” Jay greeted Binny jovially as she entered the kitchen. He looked particularly pleased with himself.

  “I don’t like it when you call me that.” Binny’s surliness from the previous evening started to resurface in her voice.

  There was a glint in Jay’s eyes as he continued to ‘play with fire’. “But sweetie, it’s banana, but combined with you.”

  “Yeah, I got that.” Binny was starting to rev up again. “And I TELL you that I don’t LIKE it every time you call me that NAME.”

  Jay cooed sweetly, “But this time is different, this time I’m using that nickname as a way to notify you of the delicious chocolate chip banana waffles I’ve made in your honor.”

  “If Cassie and Zach ate some then you didn’t make them in my honor,” grouched Binny, casually eyeing the waffles, trying to hide her interest from her father.

  “Beanie Baby?” Jay offered.

  “I like that one even less.” Binny spied the waffles longingly out of the corner of her eye.

  “You know it’s not exactly easy coming up with nicknames for Binah.” Jay placed a quartet of waffles on a clean plate and paused looking at his daughter. “Would you like some waffles darling?”

  “You and Mom named me, so you can blame yourself for that. And as for the waffles,” she added not terribly convincingly, “I’m not really that hungry.” The only thing stronger than Binny’s hunger was her sense of justice. Her father’s teasing didn’t sit well with her after his shameful inaction the previous night during dinner.

  “Good point. Can I make a peace offering of these waffles? Everyone else has already had their fill, so you’d really be doing me a big favor by eating them. I’d hate to just throw them in the trash.” Binny’s eyes told Jay all he needed to know as they tracked the waffle plate careful
ly.

  “Doesn’t Mom want some?” Binny made an effort to sound casual.

  “Your mother’s still asleep, and you know she wouldn’t eat these anyway. They’re too ‘healthy.’” Jay raised his eyebrows as he said the word ‘healthy’. He started walking the plate towards Binny. “She doesn’t share our love for chocolate chip banana waffles. Crazy, I know.” Jay’s face squinched up in mock confusion.

  Binny paused, knowing she’d been had: “Well, only because I don’t want them to go to waste.” Binny grabbed the plate before Jay had a chance to place it in front of her and started tearing at the waffles with her fork.

  Jay spun a chair around, sat facing his daughter, and smiled as he watched her eat. In his relationship with his eldest daughter, he would count her enjoyment of the waffles as a medium-sized victory. “Are they good?” He already knew the answer.

  “They’re really good.” Binny said, but it came out more like “Bear billy khood” as the mouth full of waffles made it somewhat difficult for her to speak clearly. Jay just kept smiling.

  Towards the end of her second helping, Binny seemed to slow down enough to catch her breath and be able to respond to Jay’s comments.

  “So ‘Binny’ is still okay, right?” Jay returned them to the topic of nicknames.

  “It’s the one I dislike the least.” Binny responded, the waffles dampening her anger as well as her hunger.

  “It means ‘understanding’ you know. Your name. Binah. ‘Understanding’,” Jay repeated, hoping it might somehow impart the gift of patience and perspective to his temperamental daughter.

  “Yes, you’ve told me that a thousand times. I know what it means.” Binny responded by rote. “What I don’t un-der-STAND is how you let Cassie and Zach get away with everything, and I’m always the one getting in trouble.”

  Jay couldn’t help but smile at Binny’s relentless sense of justice. It was hard to tell these days when Binny would act like a normal ten-year-old and when she would get one of those flashes of insight that was mature beyond her years. For the moment, Jay knew he had better erase his smile before Binny interpreted it as a lack of seriousness on his part. “I know you had a hard night. And I’m sorry you felt like I wasn’t there for you.” Jay offered earnestly.

  “But they were being incredible jerks. It’s just not fair. Zach kept calling me a dumbass and LYING about it, and Cassie keeps going into my room to take stuff.”

  “I know. I know. In life, there is no fair. Things just are.” Jay looked for a moment as if his eyes might well up, but then the moment passed. “I’m not okay with either of those things. But you need to understand, that you erupting at them, screaming like a lunatic, does not help when I’m trying to get everyone through dinner in a relatively peaceful fashion. I don’t have the time or energy to settle every dispute. And frankly, I just wanted you to stop yelling.”

  Binny wasn’t having any of Jay’s excuses. “Well sometimes I don’t like the way things JUST ARE!” Binny mimicked Jay’s intonation on the last two words and then continued, “Maybe you’d have more time to stop Zach and Cassie from being incredibly mean to me if Mom was here to help you.” Binny punctuated her statement by raising her eyebrows to indicate her point had been made. And irrefutably so.

  “Binny, how many times do I have to remind you? Your mother and I are superheroes. It keeps us incredibly busy. Raising the three of you along with saving the world, is no small set of responsibilities. And besides, if there’s one thing I’ve learned fighting evil, it’s that you can’t solve every problem in the world. Even when it seems like you have the power to do so. Sometimes people have to figure stuff out for themselves.”

  Binny knew that Jay’s story was patently ridiculous. But Binny also knew just as well that there was no arguing with Jay on the premise that he and her mother led secret double lives as superheroes. It was his favorite fiction. But still, Binny couldn’t resist pushing back on his silly notion. “You’re not superheroes. There’s no such thing as superheroes. And you’re not even super parents. If you were, you’d do your JOB and stop your kids from misbehaving.”

  “What I’m trying to say Binny, is that even with all my powers – parenting or otherwise – I don’t know if I can fix that for you completely. I can’t stop you from misbehaving, so what makes you think I can stop your brother and sister?” Jay reasoned.

  “I don’t need superheroes for parents. Just actual parents who actually care.” Binny had lost interest in her food and was now putting her main energy into making her case to her father.

  Jay smiled a bittersweet smile. He was stinging a little from Binny’s accusation but tried not to let it show. “Of course we care. And I suppose I could yell at your brother and sister and maybe it would work and maybe it wouldn’t. But in life honey, you are going to encounter people who mess with your stuff, call you names, lie about what they did, and maybe even worse.” Jay paused looking for some glimmer of understanding in his daughter’s face.

  “No matter how powerful I may or may not be,” Jay winked in a rare acknowledgement that he may not in fact actually have superpowers, “you can’t spend your life waiting for everyone to behave the way they should. You’ve got to solve your own problems at some point despite the obstacles that other people put in your way. Be your own hero.” Jay reached across the table to hold Binny’s hands in his to emphasize the importance of his message.

  Trying to be a little more conciliatory towards his daughter, Jay offered “Look, I think you’re right. Your mother and I have been distracted lately and are probably not giving you guys the attention you need. I’m sorry for that. And so is your mother. We’ll work on it.” Jay paused, lost in his own thoughts for a moment before he continued, “Sometimes I wonder if the reason you kids fight in the first place is just to get more of our attention.”

  “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Do not change the channel! Stop it!” Cassie’s screech could be heard loud and clear coming from the other room.

  Jay raised his eyebrows as if to say “exactly”. He and Binny shared a giggle as the screams escalated from the room next door. With things mostly mended with Binny, Jay paused for a moment shaking his head to himself and gathering up his energy to deal with the next crisis.

  “I thought you were going to try and stay out of it and let everyone solve their own problems.” Binny teased her father, her eyes sarcastic.

  “I said I would try. I may be a superhero but I’m not perfect.” Jay struck a pose, putting his hands to the top of his button down shirt as if to undo it revealing his superhero tights underneath.

  Frowning a little, Binny offered “you don’t need to be a hero. Just go be a parent.” Binny seemed to feel that with her judgment rendered, the conversation was now over and started tackling the remainder of the waffles.

  Jay decided this was as good as he was going to get from Binny that morning and headed into the fray developing between his other two children.

  4

  The Girl from Across the Street

  Despite the sizable number of chocolate chip banana waffles in her stomach, Binny Jordan came rocketing out of the house ready to attack the day. Skateboard in hand, helmet firmly on her head, the trials of the previous night were forgotten given the promise of a beautiful day, her skateboard, and lots of empty sidewalk.

  The skateboarding world had dozens of different tricks to learn. Binny had only been riding for a few months. In that time, Binny’s desire to perform even the most basic of these tricks had only grown. But so far, the only trick she had mastered was how to break a skateboard.

  Binny had tried to learn how to Ollie. This trick would allow her to jump over objects. But weeks of repeated failure tempered her goals. Instead, Binny decided to set her sights on an interim step – the Hippy Jump. It would still let her jump over objects, just not with her skateboard. When executed properly, Binny would jump up and over the obstacle and then land on her skateboard which should have rolled forward to the exact spot of B
inny’s landing. Despite Binny’s lack of progress, she pursued mastery of the Hippy Jump just as stubbornly as she pushed her agenda with her parents.

  Since the Jordans lived on a steep incline, Binny had to walk a couple of houses uphill to get to a clear expanse of flat sidewalk where she could practice her tricks in relative safety.

  One of the houses had a low slung wall in front of the yard, and more low walls around flower beds out by the curb. Binny placed a long stick from wall to wall to create a “high jump” of sorts.

  Binny grabbed her skateboard, double-checked her helmet strap, and walked a dozen steps to give herself some room to pick up speed. Her right foot still on the ground, her left foot on the front of the board, Binny crouched slightly. Binny steeled herself and pushed hard against the sidewalk with her back foot.

  The skateboard shot forward with Binny along for the ride. When she thought she was going fast enough, she brought her right foot to rest across the back of the board. Her crouch got even more pronounced and her face scrunched up tightly with added focus and intensity.

  This was typically where things started to fall apart, and today was no exception. Instead of both feet leaping from the skateboard simultaneously, Binny was only able to lift her front foot from the board. This had the unfortunate effect of tilting the board backwards, causing Binny to lose her balance.

  In a desperate attempt not to fall, Binny slammed her front foot back onto the skateboard. Her foot made sloppy contact just in time for the front of the board to hit the stick that was suspended about a foot over the sidewalk. The stick broke and Binny sprawled forward onto the sidewalk.

  While Binny’s proficiency at the Hippy Jump was still a ways off, she was getting pretty good at falling with minimal damage. The wrist guards she asked Jay to get her took the brunt of the fall, but the fire in her knees told her that they’d taken some of it as well. Her skateboard did a couple of spins before sliding out into the street. It couldn’t have looked very impressive. Luckily, no one was watching.

  “Nice try.” Came a voice from above.

  Oh no, Binny thought.

  Across the street from the Jordan house, and up the hill a bit, a gray house with lots of windows had been sitting empty for several months. The ‘FOR SALE’ sign had sat there so long it had come to feel like a permanent fixture on the front lawn. But one day it was gone.

  Like most kids, Binny didn’t notice much about the real estate transactions in her neighborhood, but it did occur to her that the absence of the sign meant that a new family would be moving in to the neighborhood. And maybe that family would have kids. Maybe even someone her own age. To Binny’s surprise, they did. Ten-year-old Penny Yang and her mother had moved in three weeks earlier. Binny hadn’t seen a dad around. But she often saw Penny ‘lurking’ about. To Binny, the girl just seemed weird.

  Binny hadn’t had many encounters with the girl from across the street so far, but the ones she’d had were enough to let her know that this girl was definitely not friend material. On one occasion Binny was walking by the girl’s yard only to find her stacking rocks. The girl started with big flat ones, then laid progressively smaller stones on top to make several decently sized piles. Binny’s mistake was to stare a little too long as she walked by only to have the girl offer “They’re sculptures, you know.”

  Penny Yang was sitting cross-legged and barefoot, wearing long army shorts and an over-sized plaid flannel shirt over a tie-dyed t-shirt. Her super straight black hair was of medium length but looked like she’d cut it herself. The girl’s glasses weren’t much cleaner than her feet.

  But Binny didn’t care much about how the girl looked. It was the ‘lecturey’ tone in the girl’s voice that set Binny off. It was a tone you would expect from a teacher or a parent. And it put Binny on the defensive right from the start.

  “Oh.” Binny responded, not quite sure what to say next.

  The girl continued, even though Binny hadn’t asked for further explanation, “They’re totems.”

  “Oh.” Binny responded again. A totem? She was starting to feel stupid. She hadn’t asked what the girl was doing. She’d just been walking along. She hadn’t even said anything to the girl, but now she was stuck in a conversation with her. And what the heck was a totem anyway? Binny suspected the girl was using this fancy word to make Binny feel dumb.

  “My Mom says that the totems will keep us safe and happy in our new home.” The girl added.

  Now this unwanted conversation felt definitely distinctly like a lecture. And a lecture was the last thing Binny was interested in, especially from this girl.

  “I’ve got to go.” was all Binny could think to say.

  “I’m Penny. Nice to meet you.” the girl offered and went back to her stone stacking.

  She hadn’t even waited for Binny to respond before she’d turned back to her “sculptures” or “totems” or whatever it was she insisted on calling them. Binny had never seen sculptures like these. Were they supposed to be stacks of fat misshapen pancakes? Ugly alien accordions? Honestly, what they resembled most were piles of rocks. And Binny was quite certain that forming a stack of rocks out of a stack of rocks did not quite qualify as “sculpture”. But instead of sharing her art critique, Binny just said, “Uh. Nice to meet you too. I’m Binny.”

  Penny responded with a quick smile and went back to her arranging. The girl’s smile seemed smug to Binny. Just Binny’s luck – a girl Binny’s age did move into the neighborhood, but the girl might as well have been from another planet.

  After encountering the girl a couple more times with equally unsatisfying results, Binny made every effort to avoid passing in front of the gray house. She had considered her makeshift skate park to be a good enough distance from the house since it was all the way across the street. Quite clear of the usual spots the girl hung out.

  Maybe the voice from above was someone else’s? Maybe a new new girl had moved into the neighborhood. Binny put her palms by her sides and lifted herself up. Sure enough, there was that crazy haircut, a bespectacled face with, and a smug smile. The girl’s eyes were wide and expectant as if she expected Binny to be happy she was there. Ugh.

  What was she doing over here? Where had she come from? Binny was quite sure she had been completely alone when she’d arranged her obstacle course. There was no doubt the girl had snuck up on her. This girl was so stealthy she must have practiced her lurking on a daily basis.

  “Hi.” Binny said, grimacing as she slowly raised herself on her stinging palms. Binny collected her skateboard from the street and regrouped. She didn’t want to practice her trick in front of this girl, but she also didn’t want to turn and leave after only one failed attempt. If she did, the girl would know that Binny was leaving because of her. But more importantly, Binny felt that this was her spot, and leaving immediately would cede it to the girl.

  Binny tried again. And again. And again, to do the hippy jump, with no success. Each time her feet wouldn’t quite leave the board at the right time, and she wasn’t able, in even the best of circumstances, to get more than one foot over the new stick she’d placed across her path.

  “Maybe a few deep breaths would relax you.” the girl suggested to Binny. More ‘wisdom’.

  “Maybe a swift kick in the butt would keep you quiet.” Binny said using the voice in her mind that only she could hear. Binny wondered if she could project the thought telepathically to the girl, but the girl’s smile made it clear that the Binny’s message had not gotten through. Could this girl really be unaware of how superior she acted? She was so obnoxious.

  Binny took a deep breath and tried again despite her irritation. Still no luck. And all the while the girl’s face remained patient, and could it be – supportive? Had Binny asked for this girl’s support? Certainly not. Yet this girl now seemed to think she was Binny’s skateboarding coach.

  “I’m sure you’ll get it once you get more comfortable.” The girl sounded encouraging.

  “I’m not
used to having an audience.” Binny responded sharply, punctuating her sentence with her trademark raised eyebrows. The signals were lost on Penny. After realizing this, Binny added, “I really would prefer if nobody was sitting there judging whether or not I’m any good at this trick.”

  Without missing a beat the girl responded in a measured tone, “Oh don’t worry. I’m not judging your skateboarding skills. The only thing you seem to be no good at is reading my mind.” The girl looked pleased with herself, but if she was hoping to put Binny at ease, she’d had the opposite effect.

  Now Binny was getting really irritated. “I need more speed, I think.” Binny muttered to herself. This time Binny walked her skateboard all the way to the point where the sidewalk turned the corner on its approach to the Jordan house. Binny thought that maybe she could get enough speed to end her trick by landing feet first on the girl’s head.

  Binny flipped the skateboard down on the ground hoping to project some confidence and indicate to the girl that she didn’t really care what she thought. Rather than landing on its wheels, the skateboard ended up upside-down. Even her trusty deck was against her today.

  Binny bent down and righted the skateboard. Just then, a flash of light caught the corner of her eye. As she looked down the sidewalk to her left, there was her sister Cassie playing in front of their house, something reflective and shiny in her hand.

  It couldn’t be, Binny thought to herself. The mirror. Again. That brat had gone into her room and taken it again! And now she appeared to be doing some kind of singing performance with it on the sidewalk. Binny silently scolded herself for not putting her precious keepsake on a higher shelf earlier that morning when she’d had the chance. On the plus side, this was a convenient excuse to give up on the trick and get away from the annoying girl from across the street. Binny jogged her skateboard a quarter turn and launched, hurtling downhill towards her sister and the mirror.

  §

  The man thought. A lot. Sometimes he would think about the home he’d left. Sometimes he would think about his work. Work that he loved. And sometimes he would think about the choices he’d made that he regretted. He thought about those a lot more than he’d like.

  Time has a way of making some people question their thoughts and memories. The man was no exception. His recollection of the day before had gotten a little fuzzy. This was despite the fact that he’d thought of almost nothing else since the little girl’s ‘performance’.

  The man wasn’t prone to flights of fancy, and he didn’t believe in the supernatural. Quite the contrary. He was a firm believer in facts, and science, and evidence. But was this not evidence from his own senses? While he hadn’t witnessed her disappearance (Thanks Rembrandt!) he had definitely seen her reappearance, literally out of thin air.

  His formidable intellect, so used to difficult scientific problems, was now chewing on how to react to the evidence his eyes had collected. It wasn’t exactly logical, but the man felt drawn back to the spot of the event, as if maybe it could provide some answers. He had witnessed what happened from a fair distance down the hill and across the street. Maybe a closer look would help him understand what had actually happened.

  Rembrandt’s love of a good walk was an excellent excuse for the man to revisit the spot of the disappearance. Whether Rembrandt knew he was serving a higher purpose or not was irrelevant. Rembrandt was happy for the exercise.

  §

  Binny often let her frustrations get the best of her, but she learned quickly from her mistakes. And on this sunny morning, Binny had already learned one particular lesson well – her shouting from the day before had given Cassie time to escape and abandon Binny’s mirror on the ground. This time there would be no warning.

  Even from the top of the hill, Binny could tell that Cassie was lost in her world of imaginary stardom. Binny would shoot down the hill to catch Cassie red-handed, and only then would she administer a verbal smackdown. Binny smiled as her board picked up speed.

  §

  The man was now past the spot to which Rembrandt had dragged him a day earlier, and this time he was on the correct side of the street. The man figured that if anyone was watching, Rembrandt’s relentless search for some scent he absolutely had to find was the perfect cover story for the man’s nosing around.

  Satisfied that he’d prepared an excuse if he was caught snooping, the man looked up only to see the very same little girl putting on an encore performance in the very same spot. Maybe she would repeat her disappearing act as well?

  §

  As Binny hurtled down the hill, she had already started composing the speech she would give to her parents about the virtues of honesty and respecting boundaries, and her sister’s complete lack of both. She could see herself bringing Cassie by the ear, or wrist, or shirt, or whatever she could grab onto, before her parents’ stern but fair judgment.

  This fantasy was quickly set aside as Binny saw a strange man with a large dog approaching her baby sister. The man hadn’t done anything wrong exactly, but there was something about the look on his face that bothered Binny, and he was going to reach Cassie before she could.

  §

  It was Rembrandt’s enthusiastic snuffling that brought the little girl out of her trance. She wasn’t scared of the dog, but she did pause mid-performance to regard Rembrandt suspiciously.

  “Hi,” said the man.

  “Hi.” Cassie responded.

  “Sorry to interrupt your concert.”

  Cassie paused, slightly sheepish for the briefest moment realizing she’d been seen putting on her show. But her eyes sparkled and she flashed a toothy grin and said, “It’s okay.”

  Rembrandt was a little less formal in his approach to meeting new people. He started sniffing the little girl. “Don’t worry, he’s friendlier than he looks.” The man said this in a confident and reassuring manner, as if he were practiced at it.

  “I know.” The little girl replied dismissively while petting Rembrandt gently on the top of his bobbing head.

  It occurred to the man that there were probably very few things you could tell this little head of curls that she wouldn’t claim to already know. He grinned.

  Even though the man had already dismissed the possibility that his eyes had played tricks on him, some part of his brain was not done arguing the point. This was the exact spot where he had seen something impossible happen the day before. He kept sneaking peeks out of the corners of his eyes to see if he could spot some sort of hole or shrub that might have provided the little girl a place to hide.

  §

  There’s a moment when one is riding on something that one realizes their speed has exceeded their ability to stop without hurting themselves. It can happen when one is learning to ski. It can happen when one is learning to roller skate. And it was happening to Binny right now. Binny continued to accelerate.

  §

  “Know of any good hiding places around here?” The man realized that perhaps the little girl’s presence was to his advantage in explaining her disappearance from the previous day.

  The little girl just looked at him, puzzled.

  “My dog’s name is Rembrandt,” the man tried another angle.

  “Hi Rembrandt,” the little girl said as she continued to pet the dog, a little more enthusiastically now.

  “Rembrandt, he likes to play hide and seek, so I was wondering if you knew of any good spots nearby to hide out.”

  Cassie thought for a moment, and then asked: “Dogs play hide and seek?”

  §

  A trip to the hospital seemed to be approaching Binny with frightening speed, but her back foot felt glued to the back of her skateboard. As her foot pressed down on the skateboard, Binny tried to lean forward to get the front of the deck firmly back on the ground. Somewhere in her brain she knew that this wouldn’t do anything more than delay her epic fall by a few more seconds. But her survival instincts had taken over.

  §

  The man was getting nowhere. The l
ittle girl had no idea what he was talking about and this tiny spot on the Madrona hillside was quite unremarkable. No trenches. No trap doors. No empty tree trunks.

  As a child, the man had read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories translated into his native language. And in his current profession he’d found one of the famous fictional detective’s most famous quotes particularly useful: “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

  The voice inside the man’s head that had been telling him there must be another explanation grew even quieter. If there was nowhere for the little girl to hide, and there was nothing shiny nearby that could have produced that flash of silver light, then the inescapable conclusion was that the little girl was the first human on earth with a –

  “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”

  §

  Binny screamed as she hit the ground. The skateboard had decided that Binny was no longer interesting company and shot out from under her like a missile. For her part, Binny was happy for the separation, landing squarely on her butt on the patch of grass running down the edge of the sidewalk. Binny slid several feet and came to a stop right in front of her sister, the strange man, and his large dog.

  “My god. Are you okay?” The man crouched on one knee to see if Binny was hurt, a loud snapping sound punctuating his question.

  Binny winced harder at the sound than she had at her own crash landing. She was not much worse for the wear thanks to the patch of grass that she lucked onto. But the same couldn’t be said for her skateboard. Her fourth skateboard.

  “I’m fine.” Binny responded to the man, putting her hands behind her and raising herself onto her feet, slightly wobbly from her fall, and trying to hide even that from the man. Binny moved closer to and slightly in front of Cassie, who was still communing with the dog, oblivious to Binny’s explosive entrance.

  “Cassie, Dad wants us to go inside now.” Binny said to her sister, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the man, who was now slowly getting up from his supportive stance. He was taller than he seemed when she was at the top of the hill. Binny put her hand on Cassie’s shoulder, instead of pulling her ear as she had envisioned.

  “I don’t want to go inside. I’m having fun.” Cassie whined.

  “You should do as your sister says, Cassie,” the man encouraged. Even though he was helping her cause, Binny didn’t like how familiar the man was being with her little sister – the way he said her name, which Binny belatedly realized she herself had carelessly revealed.

  Rembrandt finally settled matters by pulling on his leash.

  “It looks like Rembrandt is ready to go home.” The man said. “Are you sure you are okay?” he added.

  “I’m fine, thanks. Let’s go Cassie.” Binny scooped up the battered halves of her skateboard and shooed Cassie up the hill towards the entrance to their house.

  “Bye Rembrandt.” Cassie waved cheerfully as she slowly let herself be herded home.

  “He says goodbye.” The man said to Cassie, winking, making Binny doubly uncomfortable and suspicious.

  §

  As the man receded back down the hill from where he came, Binny scolded Cassie, “You shouldn’t be talking to strangers. And that dog could have bitten you. And give me back my mirror!” Her concern over her sister talking to the strange man had abated slightly, and Binny remembered the injustice that had made her angry.

  “The dog was friendly.” Cassie whined.

  “Give me my mirror.” Binny demanded.

  “It’s not your mirror.” Cassie shot back while handing it over to Binny.

  The two sisters marched up the hill. Once the mirror was firmly ensconced in her pocket Binny finally had a moment to look up only to see that smiling messy looking girl from across the street standing at the gate to the Jordan house.

  “Sorry about your skateboard, but that was a really nice slide. Have you been practicing that one?” The girl asked Binny.

  Binny couldn’t detect any trace of sarcasm in the girl’s voice. But she was quite certain the girl was just practiced at hiding it.

  “I have to go inside now.” Binny responded as she turned Cassie towards the Jordan house with a firm hand on her shoulder.

  As they distanced themselves from the neighbor girl, and Binny looked down at the broken skateboard in her scraped up arms, a thought suddenly occurred to her. If the man was walking his dog, why did he choose the exact spot where Cassie was standing to end the walk and head home? It was almost as if he’d come there just to see Cassie. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but Binny had a feeling the man had some sort of interest in her sister. While Binny was only ten, and didn’t know everything, Binny did know that the man’s curiosity about her seven-year-old sister could not be a good thing.

  5

  The Fortress of Solitude

  “You really shouldn’t be talking to strangers.” Binny lectured her younger sister as they walked into the house. “It’s dangerous, and Mom and Dad would be very upset if they knew.”

  “Stop bossing.” Cassie wasn’t screaming quite yet, but she was clearly on her way.

  “What’s she bossing you around about?” As the girls walked into the house they encountered their brother, back in his prone position in front of his videogame. The only thing capable of tearing his attention away from his game was the prospect of messing with Binny.

  “She was talking to a strange man and petting his dog. And the man was weird and scary.” Binny reported.

  Zach popped up from the floor, assuming the role of investigator. “Were you talking to a weird and scary stranger?” Zach asked Cassie, hand stroking his chin with mock seriousness.

  “No! I wasn’t!” Cassie yelled, and then in a more conciliatory voice added, “And the dog was very nice.”

  “Well Binny, she says the dog was very nice. Maybe you should stop bossing?” Zach knew just how to get a reaction from his eldest sister. Cassie added a “Yeah, you’re so bossy.” which didn’t help matters.

  With a fresh supply of righteous anger in addition to her concern for her sister, Binny responded acidly, “Fine, you know what? I’ll go tell Mom and Dad that she’s been talking to strangers and petting strange dogs, and we’ll see what they have to say.”

  “Don’t do that. They’re busy.” Zach suddenly turned serious.

  “So what? They’re not too busy for this.”

  Where Zach had been the tormentor a moment earlier, he now tried to be the peacemaker. “Look, we can handle this ourselves.” He turned to face Cassie, “Cassie, you know, Binny’s not really being bossy, she’s just worried about you. Tell Binny what the rules are for you when you play outside.”

  Cassie recited as if she’d heard them countless times, “No crossing the street. No going more than two houses away from our house. No going anywhere with strangers or taking anything from strangers, no matter what they say. And use my brain.” The last sentence she added proudly but she didn’t seem entirely clear on what her parents had meant by that.

  “See?” Zach gestured to his baby sister, who was trying to look responsible.

  Sensing the tide of the conversation was not going her way, Binny changed the focus: “She doesn’t know how to use her brain. I’m not even sure she has one.”

  “She knows the rules. And technically, talking to a stranger and petting his dog isn’t against the rules.” Zach paused and lowered his voice a touch as if he was about to say something important. “I guess what I’m saying is, Cassie’s no dumbass.” Zach folded his arms and smirked, his stint as the helpful older brother was over. Zach refocused on his favorite pastime – irritating Binny.

  It worked. Binny was enraged by Zach’s reference to the dumbass detector from the previous night. “Number one, you’re a JERK. And number two she’s a jerk. And, she STOLE my mirror – AGAIN! You two can go…” Binny was already storming off before her last sentence was completed.

  As Binny headed upstairs she barely heard
her brother’s parting advice. “Don’t bother them, they’re busy.”

  Zach then turned back to his youngest sister with a look that said, ‘What’s with her?’ Cassie was happy to get some positive attention from her older brother. She realized it was at her sister’s expense, but given her sister’s bossiness, that seemed appropriate.

  §

  The Jay and Julie’s room was on the third floor of the house. It had been the attic at one time, and had been converted into a large bedroom with a balcony. The balcony overlooked the neighborhood and the lake above which Madrona sat.

  Binny was on a mission. Dispensing with the usual formality of knocking on her parents’ door, Binny went straight for the handle, about to launch into a diatribe on her sister’s dangerous behavior, and her brother’s general awfulness. But the door was locked, and made a lot of noise as she angrily twisted the knob.

  “What is it?” her father barked from behind the door. He sounded angry.

  “What is it honey?” her mother followed in a softer tone.

  “Can I come in please? They’re being horrible!” Binny complained.

  “Not now, Binny, we’re in the middle of a discussion. Could you please go downstairs. We’ll be down in a bit.” While the firm tone of her father’s request didn’t seem to leave much room for debate, Binny pressed forward anyway.

  “Pleasepleasepleaseplease. I just need to talk to you.”

  This time it was Binny’s mother who responded: “Sweetie. We’ll be down soon. I promise. We can talk all you want in a few minutes. Just give us a few minutes, please.”

  Binny turned the handle a couple more times in frustration.

  “A few MINUTES, Binah!” her father was yelling now.

  “Fine.” Binny tramped back down the stairs, making her steps extra stompy. If her parents wouldn’t listen to what she’d been through, then at least she would make them listen to her going down the stairs.

  She got to the bottom of the stairs, just out of her parent’s view, and slumped to the ground. She heard the door upstairs open, a pause, and then her father say “she went downstairs” to her mother before he relocked the door. Her parents’ voices went back to being unintelligible murmurs. Defeated, Binny went back to her room.

  §

  It was well after two in the afternoon before Binny emerged. Her skateboard no longer functional, she was reduced to watching skateboarding videos. She’d ignored her father’s call to eat something, and banished Cassie from her room when she came by wanting to play “pop star”. She told her mother that she’d rather go to summer school than play a game of chess. Not that anyone but Binny was counting, but it had been way longer than a “few minutes” until her parents had seen fit to seek her out. But after a while, all this sitting and ignoring everyone was pretty draining. She needed to get away. Binny needed to get clear of her insanely annoying family.

  Like many relatively modern cities, the greater metropolitan area in which the Jordans lived was laid out on a grid, making navigation and maintenance easy. But the people who settled the Madrona neighborhood at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century realized the value of the lush natural vegetation, as well as the beautiful views of the lake and white-capped mountains in the distance. The neighborhood plan was laid out mimicking the ebb and flow of the natural landscape — paths through Madrona to the lake were dotted with teardrop shaped parks and large expansive wooded areas. The lake, the opposite shore, and the mountains gleamed in the distance on clear days.

  While some of these nature spots were no more than small patches of green with a convenient bench or two, there were swaths of woods where you could lose yourself if you really needed to. When Binny’s strenuous and frequent efforts to find peace by getting justice from her parents would inevitably fail, the woods gave Binny their own form of peace. Needless to say she was a frequent visitor lately.

  Binny snuck out of the house to avoid seeing her family. She made it all the way out to the front gate, but immediately regretted glancing up the street: Cassie and the girl from across the street were now playing together on the sidewalk. It wasn’t that Binny was dying to play with either of them. But why was the neighbor girl always inserting herself into Binny’s life? Cassie might be an annoying little sister, but she was Binny’s annoying little sister and therefore Binny’s private domain. And what was a ten-year-old doing playing with a seven year old anyway? That was pretty weird. And speaking of weird, did that girl not own a pair of shoes?

  Her wooded destination temporarily set aside, Binny walked over to where Cassie and the girl next door were playing. Apparently Cassie had convinced the neighbor girl to pretend to be her chauffeur. They were standing next to a parked car with Cassie reciting the various destinations where she’d like to be driven in her “limousine”. Binny reflexively ran her hand over the front of her pants pocket to feel for the outline of her mother’s mirror. It was still there; one small thing that was still hers.

  “And then I’ll need you to drive me to my sold out concert this evening,” Cassie issued her instruction in an offhand but serious tone.

  “Yes ma’am”, the girl responded, equally serious.

  “You know she’s not allowed to go too far from the house.” Binny interjected, feeling it was her responsibility to remind Cassie and the neighbor girl of the rules.

  “Ma’am, it’s one of your fans.” The girl said to Cassie, staying in character.

  “Oh driver, you know I love my fans, but I just don’t have time to sign autographs right now.”

  “I’m sorry, but she can’t sign any autographs right now. Perhaps I could offer you a free ticket to her concert this evening? It’s sold out you know.”

  Binny was incredulous. “I don’t want an autograph. And I don’t want tickets to her concert. And you know why? Because there is NO concert, she’s NOT a star, you’re NOT her chauffeur, and this ISN’T a LIMOUSINE!” Binny shouted, hands on her hips, her face filled with indignation.

  “Give her a backstage pass as well.” Cassie waved her hand towards the neighbor girl, signaling her to take care of it.

  Binny couldn’t sit through another minute of Cassie’s make-believe. It was bad enough that her sister lived in her own warped world. But to have the girl next door pretending with her…

  “You know what, I was just trying to make sure you didn’t get hurt. But now, I don’t care. Do whatever you like. Break all the rules. Go wherever you want.”

  Then Binny added to the neighbor girl: “She’s your problem. I’m leaving!” Binny turned her back on them both and resumed her original course down the hill to the woods.

  §

  Technically, the city owned the Madrona woods, having purchased the land from nearby homeowners in the early 1900s. But for as long as most of the current residents could remember, Caleb Adams – a neighborhood fixture – had tended to these woods. Caleb had owned Madrona Bouquets. By virtue of his flower shop, Caleb knew everything about everyone – birthdays, anniversaries, and even when spouses were having fights and flowers were required to smooth things over. It was one measure of how much Caleb was respected that his neighbors trusted him with their wishes for their loved ones.

  Caleb didn’t appear to have a family. Nobody had ever remembered him being married. So even when he was busy running Madrona Bouquets, Caleb had plenty of spare time on his hands and a need to keep those hands busy. When he retired and closed his shop the previous year, he had even more time to focus on his favorite hobby – taking care of the neighborhood forest. Dogwalkers, parents with small children, and couples out for a romantic stroll, would invariably run into him, his battered milk crate filled with tools and a large black garbage bag he would use to remove anything he found that didn’t belong.

  Caleb was even taller than his silhouette made him appear, as his long arms seemed to weigh down his shoulders, giving him a bit of a stoop as he walked. A faded blue baseball cap with an embroidered white “S” set in a baseball
diamond sat on top of his close-cropped tight almost white curls. The emblem on the cap didn’t appear to belong to any particular team – even the most ardent baseball fan couldn’t identify it. Under the cap, the dark skin of Caleb’s face was etched with what seemed like a thousand lines.

  To the kids in the neighborhood, Caleb seemed both ancient and ageless, like one of the trees in the forest. While the nearby families flowed in and out of the official and unofficial capillaries of the Madrona woods, Caleb was rooted there, unmoving and dedicated to his mission.

  §

  It was really entirely too much. Was it not enough that her brother was a jerk, her sister was annoying, and her parents were locked in a room with each other, ignoring her? Ignoring their job as parents! Did they even care that Cassie was making friends with strangers and their strange dogs? If only her parents would get more involved. At the very least they could punish Zach and Cassie for being so rude. That would certainly be a step in the right direction.

  But while Binny’s parents, her brother, and her sister were all avoiding their responsibilities, that girl next door, with her strange piles of rocks, and her dirty feet, was forcing her way into Binny’s life. Binny had spent countless hours playing Cassie’s butler, chauffeur, and all manner of servant, manager, agent, and fan. Binny said no just this once and all of a sudden the neighbor girl was taking her place? It made Binny want to –

  “Ruvh Ruvh Rrruvvvh.” A dog barked at Binny. There was one last lone house at the end of the street before the woods swallowed any additional pavement. It was built in a “modern style”. She knew that because her father would always complain about it when they walked by it on the way to the woods. He would say “who thought our neighborhood needed all this glass? It doesn’t belong. Why would someone put this in the heart of Madrona?”

  She wasn’t sure whether it belonged or not, or what the heck her father was so upset about, but she did finally see where the barking was coming from. It was that dog. The dog that Cassie was petting.

  And then it struck Binny – this was where that man with the dog lived. Great, Binny thought, another house in the neighborhood I need to avoid. She wasn’t sure she could tell the difference between an angry bark and a playful one, but it kind of seemed to her like the latter. Binny wasn’t about to test out her theories – she picked up her pace and headed straight for the entrance to the woods. The dog’s barking faded behind her.

  §

  Caleb looked up slightly, taking note of Binny winding her way on the path through the woods. Binny storming past him wasn’t exactly a new sight. Caleb was used to giving people their privacy, and Caleb knew very well that Binny liked hers. He kept working, never missing a stroke in digging out a root that was threatening to upturn one of his raised wooden paths.

  Binny’s parents used to take walks in the woods with all three kids when they were younger. On particularly lazy days the Jordans would pause their walk and chat with Caleb. Binny’s mother Julie, would try and talk baseball with Caleb sometimes. Periodically he would bounce Cassie on his knee, gently reciting nursery rhymes they hadn’t heard of before. When the family continued on their trek, Caleb would return to his seemingly never ending list of horticultural tasks.

  §

  It wasn’t that Binny didn’t like Caleb. She did. Everyone did. But Binny didn’t come to the woods for companionship. Especially not today, when the whole world seemed to be against her.

  People didn’t listen. And they didn’t do what they should. And the people that were supposed to tell them to follow the rules weren’t doing their job either. Who did you call when the people in charge weren’t being in charge properly?

  Binny’s accelerated pace took her quickly past the spot where Caleb was working. He hadn’t seemed to notice her, lost in some task of his. There were multiple paths through the Madrona woods. Despite how windy and confusing they could be, Binny knew them all. Binny liked how the woods could swallow you up.

  As she branched off a couple of times onto lesser and lesser known tracks, the branches of nearby trees seemed to intertwine and create a sort of canopy for her, almost a tunnel. Binny could still make out the shimmer of the lake through the trees to the east, but the sights and sounds of the houses past the edges of the woods were now gone. Binny had arrived at her destination.

  To the casual observer, usually an adult observer, Binny had arrived at an old rusted out shell of a car. In fact, some adults might see this as less a car than a guaranteed trip to the hospital with its numerous rusty pieces of metal sticking out at various spots. But to Binny, this 1946 Chevrolet was a treasure – a secret hideout.

  The path Binny used to get here had petered out to the point where it was probably only her footsteps that kept it from completely disappearing into the forest floor. And the car itself was not much more visible. The vegetation was thick here and had enveloped one entire side of the car. A tree had grown inside it, coming up through the floor and growing through the window behind where the driver had sat. The forest had claimed the car just as Binny claimed this part of the forest.

  The car’s front seats were nowhere to be found, as was the windshield and all the glass for that matter. The radio, the steering wheel, the mirrors – all gone. Anything that could be removed, had been. The back seat remained in place but pretty much all the fabric had been removed or destroyed by the elements many years earlier. What remained was really a car-shaped shell with a rusty roof.

  There wasn’t really much to do in her secret spot. She’d brought the occasional book once in awhile. But coming here wasn’t really about a particular activity. It was just about being here at all. In a place that nobody knew about. In a place that was hers. In a place where there was nobody to argue with her. Here, Binny was in charge and everyone followed the rules.

  How the car got here Binny didn’t know, but she was pretty sure Caleb hadn’t made it too far in this direction yet or he would have cleaned it up. Maybe not the car itself, but certainly the pieces of junk Binny had dragged over to complete her sanctuary. She had laid two wooden boards across the springs of the back seat, making it a reasonable place to sit. An old tire made for a good place to rest Binny’s feet or lay her skateboard on when she had it with her.

  It was at this point that Binny would usually take a long sweeping look around her to make sure that she hadn’t been followed. What was the point of having a secret place if someone else found out where it was? She would part some of the branches she’d laid across the spot where the passenger front door was missing – the back was rusted shut – and then enter backwards, keeping her eyes peeled for strangers. On this day Binny entered in just the same way.

  The crunch of the can under her foot as she crouched backwards into the car, was her first signal that something was wrong in her little corner of the universe. Between the cans on the floor of the car, and her backward momentum, Binny lost her balance. She was going to be landing on her rear end for the second time that day. But somehow the usually hard boards felt slightly softer, and perhaps wetter(?) as she landed. She wasn’t hurt exactly, but something didn’t feel quite right.

  And then it hit her. The smell. Oh no. Was it… Yuck. Dog poop. She’d sat in DOG POOP. Looking down at the floor she realized that she had lost her balance walking on a sea of empty beer cans. Tall silver beer cans. They hadn’t been here a few days earlier on her last visit. Oh my god, Binny thought, someone’s been here. Someone’s been drinking beer here and letting their dog poop all over my secret spot. My spot isn’t a secret anymore. And I’m sitting in dog poop. Her thoughts rushed at her like a dam had suddenly burst.

  Binny started to cry.

  6

  The Invisible Girl

  “Can I tear you away from that game for a minute?” Julie Jordan plopped down on the floor next to Zach.

  “Uh huh.” Zach made a sound that sounded like agreement but showed no sign of stopping the game.

  “So when I ask to tear you away from th
e game, and you agree, that should mean that you actually stop playing the game for a second so I can have your attention.” Julie was never one to shy away from teasing her children. While they did many things differently, teasing their kids was one topic on which she and Jay were firmly in sync.

  “Okay, okay.” Zach paused his game, turned to look at his mother, raised his eyebrows, and let out an elongated “Yesssss?” Zach was no stranger to sarcasm either.

  “I want to talk to you about Binny.”

  Zach’s shoulders slumped a bit and he let out an audible “ugh”. “I know what you’re gonna say.”

  “What am I gonna say?” Julie mimicked her son’s intonation as she asked him the question.

  “That I should be nicer and be a better big brother.”

  “I have to ask Zach, if you already know what I want, why don’t you just do it?” Julie pushed gently.

  “Just because I know what you want, doesn’t mean I don’t feel I’m already doing it.” Zach responded.

  “Ah. Well played my son. Well played. But despite your cleverness, this is where you and I disagree.”

  “She could be a better sister you know. She yells and goes crazy on me.” Zach said.

  “And I’m sure that on 100% of the occasions where that’s happened, you’ve been completely innocent.” Julie asked rhetorically.

  “Yes.” Zach nodded earnestly. “Completely innocent.” But even Zach couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from turning up in a smile that told his mother all she needed to know.

  All Julie had to do was raise her eyebrows and Zach caved, reassuring her that he would be nicer to Binny in the future.

  Julie continued, “She’s having a hard time you know. It’s tough to be the middle kid. She gets it from you and from Cassie all the time. Since it’s always the kids closest in age that argue, there’s no Jordan sibling fight that she’s not a part of.”

  “Has it occurred to you that if she’s part of every fight that maybe she’s the problem?” Zach smiled, proud of his clever argument. But before his mother could get really annoyed at him, he added, “Just kidding. I know. I know. I’ll be nicer. I promise.”

  Julie shoulders un-tensed just a touch with the hope that Zach’s promise wasn’t an empty one. Julie continued, “Sweetie, it’s just that I can’t always be around to protect her,” Julie paused and then hastened to add, “because I’ve had to be at work a lot. So I need you to go a little easy on her. Okay? Sorry, I’m done. I know you get it. I’ll stop now.”

  After giving her son what she hoped looked like an expression of satisfaction, Julie switched topics. “Honey do you mind helping me find Cassie? She’s out and about somewhere. It’s been way too long since she’s had a bath, and I can’t find her. Would you mind looking outside and corralling her while I get the bath started?”

  “Can we play a game of chess later?” Zach negotiated for something in return.

  “Yes. Of course sweetie.” Julie agreed. And then added, “I love getting humiliated at chess by a twelve-year-old.”

  Zach picked himself up off the floor to go find his sister, but not before he added with a winking smile “I love that part too.”

  §

  Now where would that little mop of curls hide herself, Zach thought to himself. His mother had apparently scoured the house, so Cassie must be somewhere outside. On his way out the front door he thought of just yelling for her but caught himself at the last second as he knew that would earn him a reprimand from his mother – something along the lines of “I could have done that.”

  Zach started his sweep by walking around the perimeter of the house itself, eliminating some of the most obvious spots. The dense shrubs in front of the house were perfect to hide in. No Cassie. The little shed on the side of the house was probably too full of spiders to be of Cassie’s liking. The narrow backyard was empty as well.

  Much to Zach’s annoyance, Binny’s words from earlier that day started playing back in his mind. Binny had been worried that Cassie was in danger. Was that it? Or was it just that she was mad Cassie was breaking the rules? In Zach’s opinion, Binny was often more focused on the rules than on their sister’s welfare. Yes, Cassie didn’t exactly use common sense on a regular basis, but she could repeat the rules her parents had laid out for her being outside with surprising accuracy. Zach reassured himself that it was probably just Binny being Binny. Cassie was perfectly fine.

  §

  While the man had taken this very route earlier that day, Rembrandt was a convenient excuse to repeat it. Like an itch in the middle of his back that he couldn’t reach, his conclusions from the morning were still bothering him. The little girl had definitely disappeared. No other explanation made sense. But if he thought that deciding on the facts of the incident would calm his mind, it had quite the opposite effect. It had only brought up more questions and speculation that were swirling through his brain in an absolutely distracting manner.

  The man thought a walk with Rembrandt might clear his mind a little and help him think in a more orderly fashion. And of course, his thoughts brought him up the hill towards the very same spot he’d surveyed that morning. And much like that morning, the little girl was again out in front of her house playing.

  This time however, the little girl noticed him first. As Rembrandt tugged him up the hill, the little girl strode down to meet him. As it turned out, it wasn’t so much the man in which the little girl was interested, it was the dog. While he would never claim to be an expert on what seven-year-old girls thought – especially seven-year-old girls who could wink out of existence – there was at least one thing they could both relate to – once you got to know him, Rembrandt was extremely lovable.

  §

  Zach headed up the hill. It shouldn’t be that hard to locate Cassie, he thought. She knew she was only allowed to go as far as two houses in either direction. She wasn’t there though. She must be below. Zach regretted his earlier decision not to just stand and yell for her — he was getting annoyed at the amount of trudging around he had to do.

  When Zach headed down past his house, Cassie wasn’t within sight either. He started to get a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Could he have been wrong? Was Cassie wandering about the neighborhood getting into trouble? Would she walk beyond their neighborhood? The thought that his sister could be hurt was worrisome. And if he was being completely honest, so was the thought that Binny might have been right.

  Zach pushed those thoughts out of his mind and tried to focus. Cassie wasn’t an adventurous sort exactly. Just more lost in her own world. Zach imagined she probably just went a little further than she should. If he widened his search he was sure he’d find her soon enough. Zach continued downhill, picking up his pace hoping that moving faster might ease the knot in his stomach.

  §

  While the little girl petted Rembrandt, the man weighed his options. Since he’d already accepted the events of the previous day, what remained was to decide what to do next. But he needed more data. How did one get information from a seven-year-old? Even more important, how did one get information from a seven-year-old in a way that wouldn’t garner unwanted attention from passersby?

  “Sometimes he likes to hide from me so I have to search for him. I think he thinks it is amusing.” The man offered as the little girl gently stroked Rembrandt’s muzzle.

  She seemed not particularly interested in a discussion, but the man pushed forward anyway. “I bet you are pretty good at hiding.”

  Still not more than a muted “Uh huh” from the girl. Apparently the man’s skills at small talk were equally good with women of all ages, he thought to himself.

  The man took a risk: “You did a pretty amazing job hiding from your big sister yesterday when she came looking for her mirror.” Would the girl understand what he was really asking about?

  “Yeah. She gets crazy when I take her stuff.” The girl replied without missing a beat. If she did understand, then she’d done an excellent job
deflecting.

  After a pause, she looked up directly at him, and with a sparkle in her eye she added “I’m good at sneaking.” Had the little girl winked at him, too? There it was! She as much as admitted that she had disappeared the previous day! Not only that, she was proud of it. The man supposed that if he could pull off a trick like that, he’d probably want to show off a bit too.

  §

  Just as Zach was reassuring himself that Binny was wrong, and Cassie was safe, the sidewalk curved enough to broaden his line of sight and reveal Cassie talking to a man he didn’t recognize. She was well beyond the two house limit. Zach started running.

  §

  The man hadn’t expected to get a confirmation so quickly. But on second thought, was that really a confirmation? What had she really said? Just that she was good at “sneaking”. And she’d winked. Maybe? What did that even mean – “sneaking”? Did he read too much into what the girl had said? Ultimately, while the man believed in facts, and science, he wasn’t immune to the value of a good gut feeling. And the man’s gut was screaming that this girl could become invisible at will.

  “You are not just good at sneaking…” The man was now crouched down and looking at the girl eye-to-eye. She was still petting Rembrandt. “…you’re great at it. I would love to know, what is your…”

  §

  “…secret?” was the only word Zach heard as he arrived, out-of-breath, on the scene, just as the dog started barking. Zach was not a fan of dogs. Not in the least. He didn’t mind the smaller ones so much, but these big ones scared him. He’d been so focused on the man that he didn’t even see the huge dog right next to his sister.

  This was definitely the pair that Binny had been worried about. Zach stopped in his tracks still a few feet from Cassie.

  §

  Binny didn’t know how crying worked, but if there was a tank somewhere in her body that stored tears, it was now empty. Dry as a bone. She simply couldn’t cry anymore. Her eyes were puffy, and her whole body slumped as she reversed her course through the forest, trudging back towards home.

  §

  “It’s time to come home, Cassie.” Zach called to his sister. He tried to sound assertive and at ease, but the nervousness in his voice was still slightly evident. Surprisingly, his trepidation was coming less from his fear of the large dog, and more from his suspicion of the dog’s owner, who seemed just a little too comfortable around Zach’s baby sister.

  Cassie kept petting the dog. Had she not heard him? Zach got an inkling of how his parents must feel when Cassie ignored them.

  The moment stretched out for Zach as he wondered how he would get Cassie home without he himself having to get any closer to either the man or the dog. Zach felt a nervous anger rising in him — Binny was right to be concerned. The man seemed to be waiting for Cassie to respond.

  After an uncomfortably long pause, the man finally broke the silence. “Cassie, you should listen to your brother.” The dog seemed to take that as a cue and started heading back down the hill, pulling the man behind him. As the man started after his determined pet, he added, almost as an afterthought, “Take good care of your sister, Zach.”

  Awash with relief that the man and the dog were leaving, it took Zach a couple of seconds to realize that the man had known his name. The man knew his name. What might normally have been an offhand remark now felt like a warning. How did the man know his name?

  §

  Binny had no interest in seeing anyone, let alone the strange man who had been talking to her sister. But there he was, coming down the hill towards her. Didn’t he have anything better to do than patrol the neighborhood with that big dog of his? Binny didn’t trust him. And she certainly didn’t want him to see her like this.

  Binny walked faster and kept her head down. She couldn’t tell if the man was looking her way, because she was doing her best to avoid eye contact as she walked past. Only when she was clear of him did she realize she was almost on top of her sister and her brother, standing right where the man had just come from.

  When Binny arrived, Zach was yelling at Cassie for straying too far from the house. He was pretty angry.

  “You were more than two houses away from home.” Zach lectured his baby sister.

  “No I wasn’t.” Cassie defended.

  “One. Two. Three. Four.” Zach counted the houses up the street. “Four is not two. It is four. And the rule is two. Not four.” Zach was really upset now.

  “Binny said I could break all the rules.” Cassie pointed at her sister.

  “You said what?” Zach turned to Binny accusingly.

  Binny’s eyes widened as she sputtered in defense. There was something different in her brother’s voice. “I didn’t say that. And I told that girl next door to keep an eye on her. It’s not my fault that she didn’t listen.”

  “You did say it!” screamed Cassie. You said I could break all the rules and go wherever I want. You said it! You said it!”

  “Are you insane?” Zach glared at Binny.

  “I, I, I…” Binny stuttered.

  “And what is that smell?” Zach started wondering. “Is that you? You smell awful.”

  Cassie didn’t miss a beat and held her nose with a loud “Pee-yoo”.

  “I sat in dog poop.” Binny said quietly.

  Zach started laughing, and it turned out Binny’s tear tank wasn’t empty after all. At the sight of Binny sobbing, Zach stifled his laughter and turned serious, awkwardly trying to comfort her with a soft, “Sorry. Sorry. It’s okay.”

  Zach mercifully changed the subject by turning his attention back to Cassie’s transgression. “She was talking to that scary man and his scary dog again. You shouldn’t have told her to break the rules.”

  Binny now started screaming through her tears. “Break the rules? You were the one who told me that she was fine on her own. And knew how to use her brain. I told you about that man who was talking to her, but you didn’t listen. Neither of you would LISTEN to me.” Binny’s anger was rising even further and now it was Zach’s turn to be defensive.

  “I’m not the one who told her to go wherever she wanted. If something had happened, this would have been YOUR fault!” Zach was yelling now as well.

  The yelling and pointing escalated back and forth between Binny and Zach. It had started out heated and now it was growing out of control. The kids were name-calling and trading shouts back and forth. Each was blaming the other for what might have happened to their sister. Cassie, standing between them, tried to shield herself from their verbal blows.

  First her hands went to her ears, and then she lowered herself into a half crouch. And then, the thing that the man had suspected, the thing the man hadn’t actually seen, the very thing the man was deep down certain had happened – did actually happen.

  Bright silver tendrils of light snaked their way around Cassie’s limbs, body, and head. They looked like ivy made of white lightning. The ivy grew quickly to form a loose web around the little girl. Suddenly, Cassie herself appeared to go out of focus, like they were looking at her through a camera where the lens had been zoomed in too far.

  Zach and Binny’s argument halted abruptly mid-sentence as they both stared at Cassie. The two siblings froze – and then, before they could say or think anything at all, their baby sister, curls and all, winked out of existence.

  7

  The Suspicious Phone Call

  Jay and Julie Jordan would have been hard pressed to remember a time when anything could have gotten both of their eldest children to instantaneously stop yelling at each other in the middle of a heated argument. But neither parent had ever tried disappearing into thin air.

  Time had not actually stopped, but it might as well have for Zach and Binny. Their sister had been there one moment, and was gone the next. What had just happened? What had they just seen? WHERE WAS CASSIE?

  It happened so quickly. Zach was just about to launch into a bout of nervous upset laughter and Binny was on the
verge of a fresh round of tears, both thinking their sister was gone forever. But at the last possible moment, before her siblings could do anything, Cassie reappeared.

  First there was a fuzzy, partly transparent image of a little girl, then shiny white tendrils reappearing, this time shrinking back into her, reversing their previous paths. Then all of a sudden Cassie was there – peering tenuously over the hands she had up to her face as if to gauge her siblings’ reaction.

  Zach and Binny’s faces seemed to indicate sheer terror. Their expressions scared Cassie. Badly. She crumpled, sobbing, curled in a ball on the sidewalk.

  Binny was the first to reach out. “Cassie, it’s okay.” Binny crouched down and took her shaking sister in her arms.

  Zach followed quickly. “Don’t worry, it’s all right.” he repeated, trying to soothe Cassie and probably himself a little as well.

  As Cassie started to catch her breath, Zach, who was still crouching, looked at Cassie earnestly and asked the question that was darting around in his mind, “Where did you go?”

  Cassie’s eyes got wide for a moment. Then she broke into a toothy grin and laughed, still wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Huh? Nowhere!” Cassie looked at Binny trying to indicate that their brother might be a little crazy.

  Binny smiled at her sister sweetly but with a note of concern. “You… you,” Binny didn’t quite know how to phrase this next sentence, “You were gone for a few seconds. And then you were back.”

  Cassie’s smile started to fade a little. “No. I was here the whole time since the man was here with his dog until now. I didn’t go anywhere.” Cassie now sounded less scared but more annoyed.

  Zach motioned to Binny to let him try again. Binny was annoyed at Zach for waving her off but acquiesced. “We were standing right here,” said Zach, “and all of a sudden we couldn’t see you. And then after a little while, there was this glow and ‘poof’,” Zach smiled as he said “poof” to try and help Cassie relax, “we could see you again.” Did you realize we couldn’t see you?”

  “I was hiding.” Cassie responded plainly. “Sometimes I hide.”

  “When you don’t want people to see you.” Zach finished Cassie’s thought for her. “Can you do it again?”

  “Zach!” Binny almost yelled.

  “What?” Zach said.

  “Are you kidding?”

  “What? It’s a perfectly reasonable question.”

  Binny paused for a moment and turned to Cassie. “Well, can you? Do it again I mean?”

  Cassie took her siblings’ interest as an indication that maybe it was okay after all. She responded in a small voice. “I don’t know.”

  §

  “It’s magic.”

  “It’s not magic. There’s no such thing as magic.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “I don’t know. A power maybe.”

  Binny and Zach had shuttled Cassie out of public view and onto their front porch, which was mostly shielded from the street. They argued back and forth while Cassie practiced her jumps: up and down on the steps of the porch.

  “A power? A power? What does that even mean? Wouldn’t that be the same as magic?” Cassie demanded of Zach.

  “I don’t know. I’m thinking.”

  “We should tell Mom and Dad right now.” Binny asserted.

  “Cassie, could you hide again? Just for a second?” Zach ignored Binny’s attempt to end the discussion.

  “Don’t ask her to hide again. You don’t know where she went or what it might do to her.” Binny moved towards Cassie.

  “You heard her. She didn’t ‘go’ anywhere.” “We just couldn’t see her.” He turned to Cassie. “You were just hiding, right?”

  “Yes.” Cassie really wanted to please Zach.

  “No.” Binny moved in front of Cassie to face her brother.

  “It’s okay. I’ll do it, I’m really good at it.” Cassie offered.

  “You don’t know what will happen!” warned Binny.

  “Do it Cassie.” Zach instructed gently.

  Cassie balled her fists and squinched her face up tightly. Her eyes were closed. She stayed like that for a few seconds. No glowing ivy. No going out of focus. No poof. “Good?” Cassie asked.

  Zach said, “Nothing happened.”

  “But I hid.” Cassie complained.

  “We could still see you.” Binny added, her desire to tell their parents momentarily set aside.

  Cassie scrunched again. And again. And again. And each time she and her blonde curls remained distinctly visible.

  “Maybe that’s the first time it happened?” Binny asked herself more than anyone in particular.

  “No. It’s not.” Cassie replied with uncharacteristic authority.

  “Huh?” “How do you know?” Binny and Zach asked her.

  “Makeup Massacre.”

  “Makeup massacre?” Zach asked.

  “That’s what I’m getting for my birthday.” Cassie responded confidently.

  “What is a ‘makeup massacre’?” Zach asked.

  “It’s a video game where lipsticks and other makeup characters battle each other to paint a girl’s face.” Binny answered impatiently and then turned to Cassie. “What does Makeup Massacre have to do with your ‘hiding’?”

  “I snuck into their room and saw it in the present drawer in Mommy’s dresser. It’s my birthday present.”

  “You looked in the present drawer?” Binny was scandalized.

  “Yes.” Cassie was beaming, proud of her accomplishment.

  Zach interrupted, a note of impatience in his voice, “And what does Makeup Massacre have to do with you turning invisible?”

  “I was sneaking into their room to look in the drawer. But while I was looking, Mommy and Daddy came in, so I hid, and they didn’t see me the whole time they talked about the apartment.”

  “The apartment?” Binny interjected.

  Zach didn’t seem to notice. “There’s no place to hide near their dresser. She must have been invisible. She must have.”

  “What apartment? Did they say we were moving?” Binny sounded extremely worried.

  “How long were you there for after they came in?” Zach was now quizzing Cassie on the details of the incident, his mind calculating the possibilities and dimensions of what had happened.

  “They were talking for awhile. Talking about the apartment, and when Mommy was going to move into it.”

  “Mom is moving into an apartment?” Binny was more confused and nervous about this news than she was about Cassie’s apparent invisibility.

  “And they didn’t see you the entire time? Did you leave the room or did they?” Zach again ignored Binny.

  “They left after awhile and then I snuck out.” Cassie responded.

  Binny shoved Zach in the shoulder to get his attention. She was on the verge of tears. “Did she say Mom was moving into an apartment? Just Mom? Without us?”

  “Ow.” Zach turned to Binny and after a moment of indignation he shook his head subtly to indicate that Cassie was obviously confused and had garbled their parents’ conversation.

  “I’m bored. Can I go inside and play now?” Cassie inserted herself between her siblings wordless communication.

  §

  Binny looked over her shoulder until Cassie was safely inside. “What did she mean about Mom moving into an apartment?”

  “She’s seven. She has no clue what she heard. Relax.”

  “Are you sure?” It was a rare moment that Binny would look to her older for brother for reassurance.

  “Yes. I’m sure.” Zach responded. Binny didn’t seem quite convinced that Zach was telling the truth, but he continued without giving her an opportunity to pursue the subject. “Cassie can turn herself invisible.”

  Zach and Binny just stared for a moment, contemplating the weight of Zach’s statement.

  “Why couldn’t she do it when you asked her?” Binny wondered.

  “What happened yesterday with your mirro
r?” Zach asked.

  “Can you answer my question without asking me a question?” Binny sounded irritated.

  “I’m trying to. Just tell me what happened yesterday.” Zach tried to get Binny back on track.

  “Fine. She snuck into my room without me seeing her, and then she took it outside. And when I went to look for her all I found was my mirror sitting on the sidewalk.”

  “She snuck into your room without you seeing her.” Zach repeated Binny’s words, letting his emphasis sink in. “And where was she when you found the mirror on the sidewalk?”

  “How should I know? I never saw her.” Binny paused. “Wait, I really never saw her?” Binny realized the implications of her own words.

  “Where wasn’t she when you went to look for your mirror?” Zach was in full detective mode now.

  “She wasn’t in the house, but she wasn’t outside either. But that doesn’t mean she…”

  “No.” Zach interrupted. “It’s not proof that she was invisible, but she’s not usually quiet, is she? You would have likely noticed her in the house or somewhere outside if she hadn’t been ‘hiding’.”

  “Maybe.” Binny wasn’t quite ready to concede, but she also knew what she’d seen just a few minutes earlier. Of that there was zero doubt in her mind.

  “OK. When Dad called us for dinner last night. Where were you?”

  “I was outside getting my mirror. And then I came in.”

  “Where was Cassie?” Zach continued.

  “I didn’t see exactly. She came in after me. But she came in from outside I think. Maybe she’d gone further than she was supposed to. Like today.”

  A cloud seemed to cross Zach’s brow as he thought about Binny’s last statement.

  Binny continued, “You think she was standing right there when I took my mirror back? Invisible?”

  “A secret. That man was asking her about a secret.” Zach seemed to have moved on already.

  “What secret?” Binny sounded stressed.

  “The man with the dog was asking Cassie about a secret. All I heard was him say the word ‘secret’ when I got there.”

  “I don’t like him.”

  “Neither do I.” Zach added shaking his head. “And there’s something else.”

  “What?”

  Zach paused for a moment. “He knew my name.”

  “That’s it,” Binny started standing up. “We’re going to tell Mom and Dad.”

  “Wait. Wait. What are we going to tell them? That Cassie has a super power that she uses to sneak around the house stealing your stuff and finding out what her birthday present is going to be?”

  “We’re going to tell them,” Binny was raising her voice now, stressed and scared, “that there is a man in the neighborhood who has seen Cassie go poof and wants to kidnap her so he can find out the secret to how she does it!”

  Zach was all set to dismiss Binny’s statement, but the logic of her argument caught him by surprise. “But…” Zach wasn’t sure how to continue the sentence.

  “But nothing. That man is from the government. And Cassie is like E.T. He’s gonna cut her up. For science. I heard Dad say so.”

  Zach finally composed himself. “You’re being ridiculous. You heard Dad say that the man is going to cut up Cassie?”

  “No, idiot. I heard Dad explain why the man from the government was going to cut up E.T. in the movie and this is no different.” Binny’s hands were back on her hips.

  “How do you know he’s from the government?” Zach looked incredulous.

  “How did he know your name?”

  Again Zach was caught off guard by his sister’s logic. He meekly added, “Well, that doesn’t mean he’s from the government. It just means he has access to information. Information that’s usually not publicly available.” Zach realized that his own explanation wasn’t a really great argument for the man not being from some shadowy government agency.

  “I’m telling Mom and Dad right now.” Binny turned on her heel.

  Zach jumped after her and put his hand on her shoulder.

  “WHAT?” Binny demanded impatiently.

  “Look. I just think Mom and Dad are very busy.” Zach tried being conciliatory.

  “So what. They’re always busy.”

  “I’m just saying, Cassie’s safe inside the house having her bath. The man is gone. Let’s try and figure things out ourselves a little more before we tell them.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m saying, why don’t you and I do a little detective work. The two of us.” Zach suggested with a smile.

  “The two of us? You want to do something with me? Do you have a fever?” Binny was being sarcastic now, but she couldn’t help but feel flattered at the interest from her brother.

  “Yeah. The two of us. We just need to gather some intelligence.” Zach’s hand was back to stroking his chin.

  “Are you a spy now?” Binny laughed, relaxing a little.

  “Yeah. Let’s be spies. If only we knew where to find the man.”

  “I do.” Binny said proudly but with a little bit of smug satisfaction at knowing something her brother didn’t. “I know where he lives.”

  §

  Some of the houses in Madrona are situated so their backyards are on alleys. Their front doors faced the street like you would expect, but garages and garbage pickup were in the alley in back. The back of the man’s house, the house where Binny had heard the man’s dog barking, was on just such an alley.

  Zach and Binny walked quietly for a bit, still recovering from all the news they’d just absorbed. Binny finally interrupted the silence, “Have you met the girl who just moved in across the street? Penny is her name I think.”

  “I’ve seen her a couple of times. But I haven’t talked to her.”

  “She seems like a know-it-all.”

  “Uh huh.” Zach thought better of reminding Binny that she herself had a knack for lecturing.

  After a long pause Binny added, “Have you seen a dad around? I’ve only noticed a mom.”

  Zach wasn’t sure he knew what Binny’s point was, so he kept his answers short. “I don’t think so. No.”

  And then to no one in particular, Binny added, “I wonder if Penny’s father lives in an apartment.”

  §

  From their vantage point crouching behind the low slung fence at the back of the man’s property, Binny and Zach had a pretty good view of the man’s backyard with its carefully manicured grass. They could also see into his living room, which opened up onto a deck through two big glass doors. The deck wrapped around the house to the right and continued beyond their view.

  “There’s the dog.” Binny whispered to Zach. “See. Through the glass.” The man’s dog was curled up in a dog bed on the stone gray tiled floor of the living room.

  Zach was a little nervous about the dog but didn’t say anything.

  There was no sign of the man.

  Neither of the kids was sure of what they were waiting for, but waiting felt at least like doing something so they kept it up.

  “Zach?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I know this is ridiculous, but I have to ask.”

  “OK.” Zach’s interest was piqued.

  “You know how Dad is always joking about being a superhero.”

  “Yeah.” Zach let a little of his skepticism at what Binny was about to say creep into his voice.

  Binny ignored it. “I mean, I know he’s just kidding, but. Well. Cassie has a power.” Binny paused and her eyes got wider. “Cassie’s got a super power. You don’t think Dad’s telling the truth do you?”

  Zach laughed.

  Binny cut off his laughter, “I know. I don’t believe it either.”

  “It’s okay. I’m not laughing at you.” The events of the afternoon had made Zach a little more charitable towards Binny. “It’s just that, Cassie can’t control her ‘power’. You saw. She couldn’t do it when she wanted to. So it’s essentially useless.?
??

  “She used it well enough to steal my mirror and see her birthday present.” Cassie responded.

  This was the third time that afternoon that Binny surprised him with her solid reasoning. Maybe he hadn’t been giving his eldest sister enough credit. Rather than make him feel competitive, it made him feel just a little bit closer to her. “You’re right. That she did.”

  §

  “Sam, I am just asking you what I am supposed to be looking for.” The man’s voice sailed over from the far side of the house. Binny and Zach immediately shrunk down behind the fence. When they dared to raise their eyeballs just over the fence, they could see the man had come out on the deck from the side of the house. There must be a room on the side that opened up onto the wraparound deck. The man was pacing back and forth. He looked agitated.

  “I am sorry. I am not trying to be difficult. I am just trying to do what you are asking. Though frankly it makes me uncomfortable.”

  Binny and Zach exchanged wordless glances with each other.

  More fragments floated over the yard from the man’s conversation. Things like, “Yes, I have kept my eyes open.” “Under what pretext?”, and “I think that would be an overreaction, and would scare the parents.”

  Binny’s head started to spin. Kept his eyes open for what exactly? What would be an overreaction? Scare the parents?

  “Very well. I will come up with something. Just please give me more time. You do not think there is any danger, do you?” The man continued. And then the man responded to a question the kids couldn’t hear. “No, I was just walking my dog.”

  “He’s talking about Cassie. I knew it! They think she’s dangerous. And he was spying on her while he was walking his dog. We need to go warn Mom and Dad right now before he has a chance to do anything.” Binny was incredibly agitated but still whispering. She grabbed Zach’s arm hard, so that he was caught a little off balance and had to steady himself on the garbage can to his side. It clattered loudly. The kids immediately crouched down behind the wall, trying to stay hidden.

  “The raccoons have gotten into the garbage cans again. I have to go get rid of them. We can talk more tomorrow.” The man was trying to end the phone call. “Yes, I am aware of my responsibilities.” There was a pause. “Tomorrow then.” The kids heard the agitation in his voice as the phone call ended. Then they heard his footsteps on the deck as he headed towards the very garbage cans next to which they were crouched.

  “Let’s run.” Binny pleaded in a scared whisper to her brother. Binny’s heart was beating fast at the thought of getting in trouble for snooping.

  “No. He’ll see us. Stay put for a second.” Zach whispered.

  “Can you turn invisible too? Cause that would be pretty useful right about now.” Binny responded.

  “No.” Zach smiled briefly, but his fear of their impending discovery returned to his face quickly. “Just hold on a second. If we run, we look guilty.”

  Binny marveled at her brother’s logic. She hadn’t realized how adept he was at staying out of trouble and wondered what he’d gotten away with as a result of these skills.

  The man got closer and closer to where Zach and Binny were hiding. And suddenly, there was a “ruvh ruvh” from the house. “Yes yes, Rembrandt,” the man said. “The raccoons are in the cans again. Can I deal with them first?” The man approached the gate to the alley.

  The man’s dog started barking more insistently now. “You are going to annoy the neighbors again, Rembrandt. Stop barking.” Rembrandt didn’t appear to care what the neighbors thought.

  And just as the man put his hand on the gate to open it, the dog started barking yet again. This time, even louder. “Fine! Fine! Everyone is ordering me around today.” The man lamented to himself.

  Instead of walking into the alley to perform an inspection, he just shook the cans by reaching his hand over the fence. When there was no response from inside, he seemed satisfied that the raccoons had retreated and he turned back to the house to attend to his dog.

  Zach and Binny waited, barely breathing as they heard the man’s steps on the deck and the screen door open and then close. After waiting another moment, the dog’s barking also stopped. Zach motioned to Binny to follow and they scuttled down the alley in crouched positions. Only once they were a fair distance from the man’s house, did they feel safe enough to stand up.

  Once they were in the clear, Binny pounced on Zach, determined. “Did you hear what he said? He was talking to his boss in the government. They think Cassie’s power is dangerous. They’re going to take her away!”

  “Wait a minute Binny. I know it sounded bad, but there could be lots of explanations for what we just heard.”

  “Name one.” Binny’s eyes were wide with certainty.

  Whether it was the stress of almost getting caught, the scary barking of the big dog, or finding out his sister could turn herself invisible, Zach was stymied. He knew that given a couple of minutes he could come up with an alternate explanation. But even if there was one, wasn’t Binny’s explanation really the best explanation? It didn’t matter anyway. Zach could tell that Binny wasn’t about to give him more time to persuade her to pursue a different course.

  “It’s time Zach.” Binny heard a new note of confidence in her own voice. But there was also a note of fear, and that was less comforting. “You may not be worried, but I am. Cassie’s in danger. I’m going to tell Mom and Dad what’s happening.”

  “Mom and Dad have a lot on their plates right now. I just don’t think we need to bother them with this just yet.” Zach said.

  “What could they possibly have on their plates that’s more important than this? Mom working late again? Dad drawing in his study? Or let me guess,” now Binny’s tone was harshly sarcastic, “they’re too busy fighting crime in their spandex superhero outfits?”

  “Of course not.”

  Binny continued, “They’re our parents. This is their job. Their daughter is in danger, and they should know, but you don’t seem to care enough to tell them.”

  “Of course I care, I just…” Zach tried to explain.

  “You just what? What?” Binny demanded.

  Zach couldn’t find the words. Binny closed the discussion: “We need to tell Mom and Dad. I’m gonna do it with you or without you.”

  Zach sighed and nodded just slightly to Binny in a gesture that Binny took as agreement. If Binny had continued looking at her brother instead of straight ahead, she would have seen that in fact, Zach’s face was creased with worry.

  They finished the wa­lk home in silence.

  8

  The Demonstration

  The kitchen in the Jordan house had a door on one end that swung both ways. Generally Jay liked to keep the door propped open in one direction or the other to avoid accidents. But invariably his instructions would not be followed and someone would inadvertently swing the door into someone else’s face as they approached. Luckily, there was nobody on the kitchen side of the door this time as Binny shoved it sharply inward as she march determinedly to her parents. Binny entered the kitchen alone. Zach had made himself scarce knowing what Binny was about to do.

  It was hard to tell the difference between Binny angry, and Binny angry and scared. At this moment she was clearly the latter. But while her parents were both experts at interpreting (if not addressing) Binny’s various moods, they were both too distracted to notice the subtle difference when Binny entered the kitchen.

  “…Tell them.” were the last two words of the sentence Julie Jordan was finishing as Binny arrived with a head of steam.

  “Binny, for the hundredth time, can you please open that door gently. You can never tell when someone is on the other side.” Binny’s father admonished her sternly. Binny’s parents stood opposite each other at the far end of the kitchen – a large empty space between them.

  Jay’s anger caught her by surprise, but as usual Binny was quick to recover her righteous trajectory.

  “Why is the door
even closed anyway? You always tell us not to close it.”

  “Binny. Please modify your attitude. Now.” Jay chastised.

  Julie sighed.

  “And what do you mean, ‘telling them’?” Binny paraphrased her mother’s overheard words. “Who is they, and what will you be telling them?”

  “No one, and nothing.” Julie responded, her face making it clear that Binny should get out while the getting was good. Binny ignored the advice.

  “What can we do for you?” Jay asked, in a quieter than normal voice.

  Binny’s curiosity about the conversation she had interrupted was only slightly smaller than her desire to reveal the day’s events. Binny’s eyes flickered briefly as she considered the path before her and chose, “I need to tell you something.”

  This got her parents’ attention. They sat down at the kitchen table together. “What do you need to tell us,” Julie asked. The tiny note of impatience in her voice was almost undetectable amid the genuine concern for her daughter.

  “Cassie can make herself disappear.”

  There. She said it. She would show Zach that she was the most responsible of the Jordan children. Zach liked to make it seem like he was equal to their parents when it came to telling Binny what to do. But Zach was only two years older, and less mature in Binny’s expert opinion. Now her parents and Zach would have to take her seriously. Her sister was in danger!

  Her parents started laughing. “We know. She disappears every time it’s bedtime.” “Or time to do homework.” “Or, for that matter, time to do anything she doesn’t want to do.” They laughed together and the tension between them seemed to dissipate a bit.

  “It’s TRUE. Cassie can turn herself invisible. Truly.” Binny’s earnestness was apparent on her face.

  “Uh…” was all Julie could muster. Jay just sat there looking puzzled.

  Jay took a deep breath, “Binny. We’re both sorry about before. We know you needed our attention and you didn’t get it as soon as you should have. But you can’t always be the center of attention. Sometimes other people are having important conversations. And if you need attention, sometimes, to accommodate the other people in your life you need to have just a little more patience.”

  “You think I’m lying to get your attention?” Binny was incredulous.

  “Honey, nobody said you’re lying.” Then trying to soften the mood with humor Julie added, “Let’s call it ‘creative passive aggressiveness’.”

  Binny closed her eyes and clenched her fists as she tried to collect herself. After a moment Binny opened her eyes and responded as slowly and angrily as her father had a few moments earlier. “Fine. I am trying to get your attention. I’m trying to get you to focus on your chil-dren. But feel free to ignore what’s going on in your own FAMILY!” Binny made a dramatic exit through the swinging door. She stomped up the steps to the sounds of her parents calling after her again for shoving the door too roughly.

  Binny was annoyed at how self-involved her parents seemed to be these days. But she had to admit that if someone came to her to tell her that their sister could turn invisible, Binny might be a little skeptical too. Okay, she’d be a lot skeptical. At least Binny had thought to change her pants before confronting her parents. Binny comforted herself by thinking that it could have been even worse.

  How was Binny going to get her parents to understand the broader circumstances and the dangerous man without them believing that her sister could make herself disappear? She had hardly believed it until she saw it with her own eyes. That was it! She’d get them to see it with their own eyes.

  §

  The door opened inward as Binny sauntered into Cassie’s room. Cassie appeared to sock something under her pillow as soon as she realized Binny was there. Binny almost never came into Cassie’s room except when she was angry. Binny assumed Cassie was hiding some ill-gotten candy.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t tell on you.” Binny reassured her sister.

  “Tell on me about what?” Cassie stole a quick glance at the pillow – she had moved her body between the pillow and her sister.

  “Whatever it is you just hid under your pillow.” Everyone but Cassie thought Cassie was terribly unsubtle at subterfuge. But she was only seven and bound to improve. “She’ll be really good at sneaking candy once she gets a handle on that whole invisibility trick.” Binny thought to herself with a smirk.

  The look on Binny’s face made Cassie uncomfortable. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Cassie responded, stone-faced.

  “Okay. Whatever.” Cassie’s shoulders relaxed – a little. “I just needed your help with something.”

  Cassie perked up at the request. Whatever resentments she had towards her big sister, she was still excited at the prospect of being included in her plans. “What can I do?”

  “I want you to show Mom and Dad your trick.”

  Cassie’s excitement faded a little when she realized what she was being asked. “Why?”

  “Don’t you think they’ll be impressed? I know I was.”

  Cassie made a sound indicating she was thinking it over.

  “Why do I have to show them. Can’t we just tell them?”

  “I tried. They didn’t believe me. Sometimes people have to see something with their own eyes to believe it.” Binny started to worry that Cassie was not going to go along and added speaking quickly, “I can’t turn myself invisible. Zach can’t do it. You’re the special one.”

  This line of reasoning clicked with Cassie. “Yeah. I am special.” But then, frowning, “But I couldn’t just do it before when you asked. I think it just happens.”

  “I know. You know what I think? I think it happens when you need to hide.” Binny said, answering her own question.

  Cassie looked puzzled. Binny continued. “How about if I yell at you in front of Mom and Dad. I bet if you get scared enough, you’ll disappear.”

  Cassie backed up a step, not liking the sound of this at all. Binny immediately reassured her that it would be pretend yelling. They’d be putting on a play of sorts for their parents and Cassie would be the star. Binny’s proposal was starting to sound fun to Cassie.

  §

  When Binny reappeared in the kitchen with Cassie in tow, the swinging door had been propped open again and her parents were putting away the dishes.

  “Ah Binny, I see you’ve brought Invisible Girl.” Jay said in a mock serious voice.

  “Normally I’d insist that her name would be Invisible Woman” Julie added getting in on the teasing of Binny. “But since Cassie is just seven we’ll stick with Invisible Girl – for now.”

  Binny rolled her eyes but willed herself to ignore her parents teasing. “Cassie’s been taking my stuff.”

  Now it was Binny’s parents’ turn to roll their eyes. In their frustration they didn’t notice the unsubtle wink Cassie gave Binny. Cassie came in right on cue with, “No I didn’t.” Her acting wasn’t particularly noteworthy, but Jay and Julie assumed that a standard bout of sibling bickering about to break out.

  “What didn’t you do?” Zach interrupted, entering the room and offering his opinion with a smirk.

  Binny gave him a look intended to keep him quiet, and continued. “She keeps sneaking into my room and taking stuff. She took the mirror and left it outside. Promised she wouldn’t do it again and then did it anyway. I found it on her again. I’m sick of this.”

  “I’m sick of you!” Cassie responded, raising her voice but having trouble stifling the giggles.

  “That was pretty funny.” Zach added.

  Now Binny was getting genuinely frustrated. What she’d intended to be a carefully orchestrated effort was getting away from her.

  “Yes. That was funny.” Julie agreed. Binny flashed her an angry look. Julie hastened to add, “But Zach, please stop adding on, and Cassie, is it true that you’re sneaking into Binny’s room and taking her stuff?”

  “No.” Cassie crossed her arms with a look of smug satisfaction.
/>
  “Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes you ARE!” Binny screamed. Now even Binny wasn’t sure whether she was acting to try and get Cassie to disappear or was genuinely upset that her sister was lying to their parents.

  “Whoa. Please stop yelling, Binny,” said Binny’s father in a steely tone.

  Despite the yelling from the fight that she’d manufactured, Cassie was nowhere near disappearing. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying this little drama. Maybe she’d be a star someday after all.

  Perhaps it was Cassie’s smile. Or maybe it was the look on her brother’s face. Zach hadn’t wanted her to tell her parents, but Binny knew it was the right thing to do. Binny decided to shift tactics. Yelling at Cassie to get her to turn invisible wasn’t working. Maybe the more direct approach would yield results after all.

  “Cassie not only keeps sneaking into my room and taking my stuff, but she’s even done it when I’m sitting in my room.”

  A puzzled look crept across Jay’s face. A worried one crept across Zach’s.

  “How does she pull that off?” Jay inquired.

  “I told you. She can turn herself invisible.” Binny crossed her arms.

  Silence in the Jordan kitchen. It lasted for several long seconds. Jay and Julie exchanged looks of concern and then Julie finally responded, “Honey, what’s wrong?”

  “What’s wrong is that nobody will listen to me. I told you and you didn’t believe me. So I brought her down here to show you.” Binny said.

  “OK. Show us.” Jay was willing to play along. And the thought that one of his kids had a super power was a fun one.

  Cassie scrunched up her face, and for a moment the entire family held their breath. For a brief instance Jay and Julie actually wondered if maybe it wasn’t impossible. But that didn’t last long. As the seconds passed, and Cassie remained scrunched but clearly visible, the idea that she might actually have a super power exited their minds as quickly as it had appeared.

  “Ugh!” Binny uttered in frustration. “She can’t make herself do it on purpose. It only happens when she gets stressed out. Ask Zach, we both saw it happen in front of the house.”

  All eyes in the room turned to Zach. He seemed to back up in his chair a little as he felt the pressing stares. He swallowed for a moment before he answered. “I don’t know what she’s talking about.”

  “WHAT???” Binny erupted. Zach had just flat out lied to her parents. He didn’t want her to tell them, so when it came time to confirm her story he had just completely betrayed her. Binny got mad at her brother a lot, but she didn’t think she’d ever been this angry. She was experiencing a new level of absolute fury.

  “Binny, calm down.” Jay insisted.

  “He’s lying! She disappeared in front of the house. And that’s why the man with the dog keeps walking by. He saw her disappear and now he wants to dissect her to find out about her powers.”

  “Wait. What man?” Julie interrupted.

  “The man with the big dog.” Binny said.

  Zach rolled his eyes. “It’s just one of the neighbors walking his dog. He stopped to let Cassie pet the dog. It was harmless.

  “Cassie, what happened?” Julie addressed her youngest.

  “He’s a nice dog.” Cassie said.

  “Did the man ask you to go with him?” Julie probed gently.

  “No. He just stopped to let me pet his dog.” Cassie paused and grinned. “He’s a really nice dog.”

  This had turned into a complete and utter failure. Binny hadn’t expected Zach to stab her in the back so completely. And what did she expect from Cassie? Cassie couldn’t show up for dinner reliably, much less be expected to play her part effectively in this demonstration.

  Lost in thought, Jay was staring at some spot beyond the people directly in front of him. Still focused on that faraway place, Jay asked, “Binny, were you listening to us watch E.T. the other day? Did it give you nightmares about your sister?”

  Not only had Binny failed to alert her parents to the very real dangers presented by her sister’s power and the man’s interest, but now her father was treating her like she was the seven-year-old.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not a baby.” Binny said.

  “Neither am I.” Cassie chimed in.

  “Nobody was talking to you.” Binny snapped.

  Jay ignored the bickering and continued with Binny, “Honey, why are you worried that someone wants to dissect your sister then?”

  Binny thought to tell her parents about the conversation she and Zach had overheard at the man’s house. But what had they really heard? Fragments really. If she revealed they’d been eavesdropping, her parents might freak out on her for snooping around the neighbors’ houses. And besides, Zach would just deny it had happened anyway. This was an absolute disaster.

  “I’m not.” Binny surrendered. “I just want her to stop taking my stuff.”

  Binny could see the concern on her parents’ faces about why their daughter was making up fantastical stories about super powers. But based on their expressions they seemed to have resolved to address that issue later. Instead Binny’s parents focused on things they could understand – things like Cassie taking Binny’s stuff. “Cassie, you wouldn’t like it if Binny snuck into your room and touched your stuff, would you?”

  “No.” Cassie seemed to have already moved on to some other thoughts that interested her more than this conversation.

  “Please don’t do that again, okay?” Julie asked Cassie.

  “OK. Can I go now?” Cassie responded, already exiting the kitchen without waiting for a response.

  “Thanks.” Binny offered as if she was satisfied that the issue she had raised had been addressed, and left the room.

  Zach had sidled out of the room just before Binny and was waiting for her around the corner. To the casual observer Zach would have looked like he regretted something. Binny was too angry to notice. “I’m…” he mouthed to Binny, almost whispering.

  Before he could complete his sentence, Binny raised her index finger toward her brother, and just said “No.”

  Normally when Binny was angry at Zach she would scream until she was hoarse. But her anger was so white hot that even that wouldn’t do now. Binny’s single word response did the trick. It stopped Zach mid-sentence. Her “no” hung in the air for a moment before she turned on her heel, headed up the stairs to her room, and closed the door behind her.

  §

  Binny sat on her bed and stared out her window brooding.

  She wasn’t sure what was worse – her failure to convince her parents that she was telling the truth? Or that Zach was being a complete lying jerk? Cassie hadn’t really helped much either, but that was pretty typical when it came to Cassie.

  Binny knew that Zach had been against telling her parents. But she didn’t expect him to so effectively stop her from telling them herself. And even worse, it seemed that her parents now thought she was insane, getting nightmares from watching kids’ movies. Binny’s mission to get her parents to understand the truth had just gotten much more difficult.

  Binny was so lost in thought that she almost didn’t notice the girl across the street. The girl seemed up to something in front of the gray house where she lived. If Binny sat in just the right spot on her bed, she could see past the nearby tree branches and get a clear view of the front steps of the gray house. What on earth was that girl doing now?

  §

  Zach was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, right where Binny had reproached him, trying to sort things out. He almost didn’t notice his parents pass by.

  “You okay honey?” Zach’s mom asked him.

  “Yeah, yeah. Fine.”

  “You look a little bummed out.”

  “I’m good.” Zach tried to sound reassuring.

  “Can you keep an eye on the girls for a couple of hours. Your father and I need to run some errands.”

  “Sure.”

  As they walked towards the door, Jay added, “And especially keep a car
eful eye on Cassie. We wouldn’t want her to disappear.” When confronted with a bummed out child Jay’s first instinct was always to try and make them laugh.

  Zach tried hard to make his laugh sound convincing.

  9

  The Broken Typewriter

  Binny took her eye off the girl momentarily as she watched her parents get into one of the family’s cars and drive up the hill. She had no idea what they were off doing. She was sure it couldn’t be as important as spending time with their kids. But her parents had made their priorities clear.

  Binny looked back towards the girl who was now sitting cross-legged on one of the deep steps leading up to her house. She had a shiny shallow teal box of sorts sitting on her lap. What was that thing – a laptop? It had a piece of paper sticking out of the top. Perhaps it was a printer. What was she doing with a printer on her lap?

  Binny watched for a couple of minutes, her mind wandering back to how angry she was with her brother, how she was going to get her parents to believe her. There were short interludes of concern for her sister as well. All of a sudden, the teal box on the girl’s lap seemed to gently explode, pieces spilling onto the sidewalk below. The parts fanned out in a rough semi-circle around the girl.

  Binny shook her head in frustration – this girl brought things out of her house only to break them into a zillion pieces all over the sidewalk? But before Binny could finish judging, it looked like the girl across the street had started to cry.

  Suddenly, Binny found herself empathizing with the girl that she’d been so annoyed with. Binny made up her mind quickly and headed for the door.

  As Binny passed Zach on her way out of the house, he started to tell her, “Mom and Dad…” but stopped mid-sentence again. This time she didn’t even need a single word to make her feelings clear about his earlier betrayal.

  Binny couldn't focus on her brother now, though. She had another mission — to investigate the mystery of the girl next door and the teal box on her lap.

  §

  “What happened?” Binny took some satisfaction in that now it was her turn to surprise the girl instead of the other way around.

  The girl looked up and wiped her eyes quickly. “What are you talking about?” She sniffled a little too.

  “Uh, this thing that you broke. The pieces all over the ground.”

  “It’s a typewriter. And I didn’t break it.” the girl responded, correcting Binny twice in two short sentences.

  Any sympathy Binny had felt for the girl was rapidly fading in the face of the girl’s corrections. They made Binny feel stupid. Of course Binny knew what a typewriter was. How could she be expected to recognize one that was far away, teal, and being used outdoors – who types outside? Now that it was in a zillion pieces it looked even less like a typewriter than she imagined it had a few minutes earlier.

  “I know it’s a typewriter. But I saw you break it.” There. That would show her.

  “You saw me? Were you watching me?” The girl seemed nervous.

  Binny backtracked. “Uh, I wasn’t watching you. I just glanced out my window and saw you break it.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I came out here and it was already broken.” The girl raised her voice.

  Binny was getting fed up with people lying to her. She wondered if she was going crazy. First Zach lied to her parents, and now this girl was lying about the typewriter. Binny knew what she had seen. The girl must have broken it. What other explanation could there be?

  Binny looked up from the mess of parts, preparing to lecture the girl on what Binny had seen with her own two eyes when it became clear the girl was about to cry again. The anger and righteousness that Binny was feeling drained out of her in a rush, replaced once again with sympathy for the girl. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. You’re the one that’s not okay, spying on people and accusing them of breaking things.” The girl’s tears were now coming no matter how hard she tried to keep them inside.

  “I’m sorry.” Binny said, not quite sure what else to do.

  Not knowing quite what to do herself, the girl sprang from the steps and ran down the hill trying to get away from Binny, the typewriter, and whatever else was bothering her.

  Binny started to go after her and yelled, “Wait! Penny!” but Penny had gotten too quick a start and was already rounding the corner, out of sight.

  §

  Troubled by her thoughts, Binny walked to the woods on auto-pilot. Even though her last visit had been pretty disappointing, it was still her only place of refuge. She had already forgotten the worst of her experience, though she did remind herself not to sit back down in her secret spot until she, or a summer rain, was able to clean it out properly.

  Wondering exactly what had happened to the typewriter, and why the usually cool-as-a-cucumber Penny had suddenly started freaking out, Binny almost tripped over Caleb, who was on his knees weeding and carefully arranging the border stones on one of the paths through the woods.

  “Careful Binny, I’m not the path, I’m just fixing it.”

  Binny laughed despite herself, her anger at her family and her confusion about Penny dissipating a bit. “Oh. I’m so sorry Caleb. Are you ok?”

  “I may be old, but I’m not falling apart. It’s going to take more than a bump from you to break me.” Caleb teased.

  Binny noticed that Caleb hadn’t stopped working when she bumped him. He kept working even when he was speaking to her. Caleb’s focus always remained on the task before him.

  Before Binny could ruminate further, she heard a loud “Ding!” over her shoulder. Something metallic had hit a tree. The sound got Caleb’s attention as well.

  Three cackling teenagers – they looked about seventeen to Binny – and a dog had appeared through the trees. Caleb stood up with surprising speed, inserting himself between Binny and the teenagers. Caleb was usually in a crouch tending to the forest, and even when he stood he seemed to stoop a bit, so his full height caught Binny a bit by surprise.

  “These woods aren’t your trash can.” Caleb’s voice, and caught the teenagers’ attention, interrupting their laughter.

  Binny cautiously peered around Caleb to see what was happening.

  One of the kids, not the tallest one, but certainly the strongest by the looks of his arms, stepped forward to respond to Caleb’s admonition. He held a large tree branch in his hand. It looked like he’d recently broken it off one of the trees, and decided to use it as a bat to hit whatever had sailed over Binny and Caleb’s heads.

  “These aren’t your woods, Grandpa.” The boy had bright red spiky hair and his face was blotchy. Binny couldn’t tell if that was its natural state or the boy was just getting angry. Maybe both.

  If the boys expected Caleb to back down, they were soon disappointed. Caleb didn’t seem to be afraid. He just looked at them calmly and sternly. In the silence their dog started barking.

  Caleb looked briefly from the red haired boy to the dog and the dog went quiet as well. Then in a more conciliatory tone Caleb continued, “Kids play in these woods. You could have hit her.” Caleb’s head nodded a bit in Binny’s direction to indicate the ‘her’ to whom he was referring. Realizing that all teenage eyes were on her, Binny receded behind Caleb trying to make herself less visible.

  A sarcastic “Sorry.” emanated from the boy.

  Caleb paused another moment, and continued, “In addition, while I’m not a grandfather myself, I do know yours, Mr. Priluck. And I don’t think he would be pleased to find out that you were drinking beer in the woods.”

  A look of stark fear crossed the boy’s face. One of the other two teenagers instinctively put the remains of their six-pack behind his back.

  After a moment Binny heard one of the other boys say to the redheaded one, “Come on. Let’s go somewhere else. This is boring.” Binny heard muted grunts of agreement, and the teenagers made their way in a different direction.

  Caleb stood still for a moment watching them
leave, and then went back to the task at hand. Binny could hear the boys laughing to themselves as they disappeared through the trees. It seemed like Caleb wasn’t going to say anything about what had happened. Binny decided she would.

  “That wasn’t nice.” Binny observed.

  “No, it wasn’t.” Caleb agreed calmly.

  Binny was getting irritated that Caleb wasn’t more upset. “They littered. They broke branches off trees. They, they,” she sputtered, “they were… drinking! Isn’t there more that we should do? Something?”

  Now Caleb paused his work for Binny’s sake and smiled broadly at her. “What should we do Miss Jordan?”

  “Call the police maybe?”

  “You have a strong sense of right and wrong, Binny Jordan. I like that about you.”

  Binny was caught off guard by the compliment, which also seemed like a criticism. “Don’t you also?” she asked.

  Caleb smiled to himself now at Binny’s retort. “Yes. I suppose you’re correct. We share that.”

  “So why can’t we do anything about it?”

  “What can we do? I can’t force those boys to grow up. They’ll have to do it on their own schedule. And maybe never.”

  “What about telling his grandfather?”

  “Well, Mr. Priluck’s grandfather likes me less than Mr. Priluck does right now. But luckily, the younger Mr. Priluck doesn’t know that. So the threat will have to do for now.” Caleb had a mischievous look in his eye as he let Binny in on his secret.

  Binny considered his point carefully.

  “There’s one thing we can do,” said Caleb. Binny’s ears pricked up. “Could you please pick up that can they threw and put it in my trashbag.”

  “That’s certainly one thing I can do,” Binny said with a sigh. It wasn’t the answer Binny was hoping for. It didn’t feel right to just sit there when someone wasn’t doing what they were supposed to. But she dutifully walked over to the tree to search out the offending litter.

  Binny searched until she found the can. A tall silver beer can. Well, it had been tall – it was crunched up now to make for better throwing – but there was no mistaking it. It was the same kind of can as the ones that were covering the floor of the abandoned car that was Binny’s secret hiding place!

  Binny tried to think of ways she could restrict entry to her hideout from teenager and dog alike as she deposited the can in Caleb’s trash bag. Caleb interrupted her thoughts, “What’s on your mind, Miss Jordan?”

  Binny liked it when Caleb called her that. It sounded so formal. Binny remembered being called “Miss Jordan” by Caleb when he worked in his flower shop. She would sit on the counter while Jay would pick out flowers for her mom. Invariably, Caleb would offer her a free blossom and call her Miss Jordan like she was one of the adults. But since Caleb had closed his shop, her Dad hadn’t taken her to buy any more flowers.

  “Oh nothing.”

  “Something’s on your mind.”

  “Just regular stuff.”

  “Oh, just ‘regular’ stuff,” Caleb responded gently, teasing her. “Don’t be too hard on your parents, they’re doing their best.”

  How did Caleb know she was angry with her parents? It didn’t occur to Binny that most ten-year-old girls are angry with their parents on a regular basis, so this line of thought might not have been that difficult for Caleb to divine. Binny closed up a bit worried about what else Caleb knew.

  “Taking care of someone, or something, is hard. You can’t always protect it from getting hurt.” Caleb motioned with his head to the boys who had been leaving their trail of destruction and garbage throughout the woods.

  “You don’t have kids to take care of. Kids aren’t the same as trees.” Binny said.

  If it bothered Caleb to be reminded that he had no children, he didn’t show it. “That’s true Binny. But don’t underestimate how hard it is for your parents to see you hurting, or how much they wish they could spare you every cut and bruise.”

  As if sensing that Binny didn’t want to dive into the embarrassing details of how dysfunctional her family had become, Caleb went in a different direction. “But something else is bothering you right now. You look like you just had a fight with your best friend.”

  At that Binny really was taken aback. “She’s not my best friend. She’s not even a friend! I was just trying to find out what happened.”

  “Who are we talking about?” Caleb asked.

  “Penny. She lives across the street from me.”

  “Ah yes. Miss Yang.”

  “Yes.” Binny confirmed.

  “Miss Yang who is most certainly not your best friend.” The corners of Caleb’s mouth were slightly upturned.

  “Right.”

  “Or a friend at all.” Caleb said.

  “Exactly.” Binny said firmly.

  Caleb grabbed a small shovel and pick and tried to dislodge a stone that could be a tripping hazard in the path. This felt like disapproval to Binny.

  Binny didn’t have a lot of interaction with her grandparents, who lived far away. Caleb had been sort of a part-time grandparent figure when she would see him at his shop, or in more recent times in the woods. And while he wasn’t family proper, she did want his approval. “She was upset, about the broken typewriter, and I was just trying to help.”

  Caleb kept working.

  “It’s not my fault that she ran off.” Binny explained.

  “I’m sure you did your best.” Caleb answered.

  “Yes. I did. My best. Wait. What are you sure I did my best at?” Binny was confused.

  Caleb answered slowly, “Well, I’m sure you did your best to let her into your ‘fortress of solitude’, so when the time came, she knew she could trust you with her feelings as well.”

  Binny had to chew on that one for a moment. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Caleb had a point. She hadn’t been very welcoming to the girl, who didn’t seem to have anyone else.

  Before she could reflect on that more, she heard someone running up the path towards them. Worried it was those boys coming back, she instinctively took a step behind Caleb.

  It was Zach. He was out of breath. In between gasps for air he said, “Binny, I need your help, Cassie’s missing.”

  10

  The Stakeout

  “What?” Binny stepped out from behind Caleb. Caleb remained silent but his eyes got a little wider as he paused his efforts for a moment.

  Zach noticed Caleb’s concern, “Uh, well, not missing exactly, she’s just gone out to play somewhere in the neighborhood and I’m not sure where.”

  “Sounds like she’s missing to me.” Binny’s hands moved to her hips.

  “Mom and Dad asked me to watch her before they went out on errands, and I was playing my game, and all of a sudden she’d disappeared. Can you help me find her before they get back?”

  “You want me to help you find her so that you don’t get in trouble?” Binny recalled her anger at her brother from earlier.

  “I need your help Binny. Please?” Zach was desperate, the apology she hadn’t allowed him to make earlier now clearly visible in his eyes.

  “Fine. I’ll help you.”

  The older Jordan siblings were about to leave the woods in search of their sister when they heard Caleb clear his throat, indicating he’d like their attention. They stopped in their tracks and looked at him expectantly.

  “I’m sure your baby sister is fine and just found something that caught her interest,” Caleb said slowly and deliberately. But, if you don’t find her in fifteen minutes, I expect you to call your parents and ask for their help. Even if it means you’ll get in trouble. OK?”

  “Yes.” They answered in unison. Then they turned on their heels and sprinted out of the woods.

  §

  “I know you made it seem like you were less worried in front of Caleb, but… you’re scared… aren’t you?” Binny got the words out between the big breaths she was drawing as they ran.

  Zach wasn?
??t sure how to answer her. He didn’t want to make her as nervous as he felt, and he didn’t want to confess to being worried about getting in trouble with their parents either. “Let’s just find her, okay?”

  “Do you think he has her?” Now it was Binny’s turn to sound nervous.

  “Knowing her, she wandered over there to play with that dog. ‘Cause she felt like it.”

  The man’s house was close by. They crept up to their familiar spot behind the man’s back fence in time to witness him entering the yard with that large dog and their little sister in tow. Binny was about to stand up and call out to Cassie when Zach shushed her.

  “What?” Binny hissed at Zach.

  “First of all, we’re spying again and I don’t want to get in trouble for that too. Second of all, you wanted to know what the man wants with her, now we’re going to find out.”

  “You’re, you’re,” Binny stammered, “you’re using her as bait!”

  “Binny, we’re right here. We can see her. She’s not going anywhere. And if anything looks fishy we can grab her up.”

  “You don’t think a strange man inviting a seven-year-old girl into his house is already fishy?”

  “Of course it is, but we need to know why.”

  Binny chewed on this for awhile. She definitely did not like the idea of leaving her sister in potential harm’s way even for a brief moment. But Cassie certainly looked in good spirits.

  “I still think you’re afraid of getting in trouble with Mom and Dad.” Binny’s whispered admonition hung in the silence between them.

  The man took the leash off his dog so the big creature could run around the fenced in back yard freely, and then turned his attention to the back door. The man used his key to unlock the sliding glass door. There was a keypad just inside the house. They could see the man pressing a sequence of keys presumably to turn off an alarm.

  And then it was done. Cassie was now in the man’s house. Binny’s heart jumped.

  As if he could tell that she was nervous over the missed opportunity to rescue their sister, Zach put his hand on her arm to keep her calm.

  Their view from the fence was such that they could see into the man’s living room and kitchen. The man had disappeared for a moment into another room and come out with what looked like a stack of paper and some colored markers. He laid them out on the coffee table and Cassie started coloring dutifully. The man then prepared a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for Cassie and placed them next to her. Cassie didn’t miss a beat and started chomping away, not pausing her coloring as she ate.

  Zach and Binny both seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, but they still weren’t sure they could trust the man. Zach said, “Well, I guess at bad guy school they showed him how to serve up a mean plate of cookies.”

  Binny caught herself laughing but interrupted it abruptly with a less charitable thought. “I still think he’s up to no good, no matter how nice he’s being.”

  “Let’s just watch for a few minutes. Maybe we’ll get a clue as to what he’s up to.”

  §

  After a few minutes it became clear that other than entertaining their sister with milk and cookies and coloring materials, the man spent a lot of time talking on the phone in what must have been a home office of sorts. But unlike the last time Binny and Zach had been spying, the man stayed inside, not coming out on his wraparound deck. There would be no eavesdropping this time, but Binny was already sure she knew what the man was doing.

  “He’s calling his boss at the government – Sam – and asking him for instructions on what to do next now that he’s lured Cassie here with junk food.”

  “Or he’s just being nice.” Zach countered.

  “Or, he’s telling the people he works for to come and pick her up and take her to their secret lab.”

  Zach tried to reassure her before she spun out of control. “Maybe, but we’re here. We won’t let that happen.”

  “Mom and Dad told her not to go anywhere with strangers.”

  “How do you know he asked her to go somewhere? Maybe Cassie she just showed up here looking for snacks and some time with the dog.”

  Binny thought about how impulsive her sister could be. “I guess.”

  “Remember last year at the park playground. Cassie was playing with that little boy she met, and then suddenly he was crying? Cassie had kissed him. Right on the mouth! Dad had to explain to her not to give ‘uninvited kisses’.” Zach did his best impression of Jay being stern.

  The corners of Binny’s mouth turned up temporarily as she remembered one of her sister’s more outrageous acts of impetuousness, but it still didn’t make her feel much better about Cassie’s current predicament. “When can we get her out of there?”

  “Now, but…”

  Binny rose, about to march towards the house when Zach grabbed her by the arm and brought her back down behind the fence. And then in a low but urgent whisper he continued, “now, but I want to get her out of there without seeing the man. I don’t want him to know we’ve been watching.”

  “Why not?”

  “If the man is just a nice guy, I don’t want him to know we were spying. And if he’s dangerous, I don’t want to have a confrontation with him. Why not just sneak away and leave him wondering what happened?”

  Other than the urgency Binny felt, Zach’s logic seemed to make sense. Except for one thing. “What about the dog?”

  Rembrandt had curled up, chewing on an old tennis ball, just outside the sliding glass door that led into the house where Cassie was doing her coloring and polishing off her dwindling supply of cookies.

  “Ugh. We need a distraction.”

  “How about a steak?” Binny joked.

  “That’s not a terrible idea actually.” Zach sounded surprised.

  “I was kidding.”

  “No, it’s not a bad idea at all. I’ll run home and get one.”

  “And leave me here? What if something happens?” Binny was getting very stressed.

  “You keep watching, see what you can figure out. And don’t worry, if something happens Cassie will probably do her disappearing trick anyway.”

  Binny contemplated that for a second and with a glance over at Cassie answered, “well at this rate the only way she’s going to turn invisible is if its triggered by a junk food overload. He just gave her huge bowl of potato chips.” Binny shook her head in disapproval.

  Zach looked at her, his eyes wide waiting for permission.

  “Fine, go. But please hurry!” she urged. Binny settled in to keep watch.

  Zach turned to go and then stopped momentarily. “Binny?”

  “What?”

  “I’m sorry about before. With Mom and Dad.”

  “Don’t bring that up now. I’m still mad at you. It would just have been nice for them to believe me and now they think I’m stupid or crazy.”

  “I don’t think you’re stupid.” And then after a pause Zach added with a smirk, “Maybe a little crazy though.”

  “Go get the steak. And hurry up before I change my mind and get you in trouble for all this!”

  Zach sped off and Binny settled in to watch, hoping the dog wasn’t a vegetarian.

  §

  The routine in the house hadn’t changed. The man was doing something in what was presumably his office and then would briefly check on Cassie every few minutes. Periodically Cassie would need more paper for coloring and would take more from the pile the man had left on the nearby kitchen counter. The routine of it calmed Binny a bit until she heard footsteps shuffling behind her. She turned around with a start.

  “Hi.”

  It was Penny. Her hands were in her pockets and she had a look on her face like she felt bad about something. Caleb’s words rang in Binny’s ears.

  “Oh, hi.” Binny offered with a smile, and motioned for Penny to sit down next to her behind the fence. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Sorry I got mad.” Penny settled down next to Binny with her legs crossed, her elbo
ws on her knees, and her hands propping up her face.

  “It’s okay. I get mad and run off all the time. I’m really good at it.” Binny joked.

  Penny laughed. A moment passed, and Penny picked up the conversation again. “I broke the typewriter.”

  “Oh. I’m sure it can be fixed.”

  The girls looked at each other and laughed some more knowing full well that there was no way that huge pile of pieces was fixable.

  “I broke other stuff too.” The resigned expression reappeared on Penny’s face.

  “Oh.”

  “Not on purpose of course. It just happened.”

  “Of course.” Binny reassured her.

  “No really, I just, I just,” Penny seemed nervous about finishing her sentence. She looked Binny straight in the eye and said, “I just touch stuff and it breaks.”

  Binny could see clearly that Penny was opening up to her and felt bad that she hadn’t done the same earlier. Binny yearned to make the girl feel better.

  “Oh, I’m clumsy too. That skateboard I broke was the fourth one. I still haven’t told my parents.”

  Penny smiled briefly, but then turned more serious, “No. Not being clumsy. Literally, I touch stuff, and it breaks. It just started happening in the last couple of days. Not always. Not every time. But a lot.”

  Binny was paying rapt attention.

  Penny continued, “I touched the remote control for the TV and it fell to pieces. I touched the ukulele my Dad sent me and it just came apart. I didn’t drop it, I didn’t smash it. I wasn’t rough with it. I just held it normally and it fell to pieces. I was so upset. My mom told me to take a break and write down my feelings. She even said I could use her old typewriter. She knows I like the sound it makes when I type. But now that’s broken too.” Penny fell silent for a few seconds but it was clear she still had something on her mind.

  Penny was back to looking at her hands, “I think the only thing I’m good at is breaking things. Breaking things into so many pieces that they can never be put back together.” Penny looked up again. “When my mom and I moved here from out-of-state, my dad didn’t come with us.” Penny started crying – big tears spilling down her cheeks.

  Binny wanted to cry herself she felt so bad for Penny. Binny went to put her arms around Penny and give her a hug, but Penny shrank away from Binny’s touch. “No, no. What if, what if I break you?”

  The thought that she might spontaneously disassemble into her component parts with fingers and eyeballs lying around on the ground struck Binny as funny for some reason. “I’m not a typewriter.” Binny responded with her chin set indicating that this simply wasn’t a possibility. Penny laughed, and Binny gave her a short but strong hug and said “See? I’m still all put together.”

  Binny wasn’t sure if it was the reassuring words, or just getting her fears off her chest, but Penny seemed to feel a little better. Binny added cheerily for good measure, “And besides, I’m sure there’s a good use for a skill like that.”

  Penny smiled a bit at the last comment. Once she had rubbed her eyes and dried her cheeks and her nose with her sleeve she looked around and asked, “Um, what are you doing here anyway?”

  “Well, it’s funny you should ask.”

  §

  “I’m in!” Penny responded emphatically.

  Binny had told her everything. It all came spilling out of her, glad to finally have someone she could talk to without getting into a fight. Cassie’s power. Trying to tell her parents. The strange man’s interest in Cassie. Zach’s plan to rescue their sister. All except for the part where Caleb told Binny she could be more open-hearted with Penny. It didn’t seem necessary to share that detail.

  “You believe me?” Binny was a little bit surprised at Penny’s immediate support.

  “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

  “But I just told you that my sister can turn herself invisible.”

  “My mom believes in magic, and so do I.”

  “She does? You do?”

  “I think lots of things are magical. And besides, you believed me, didn’t you?”

  “Binny thought for a second and answered, “Yeah. I guess I did. I mean, I do. I believe you.”

  The girls went back to monitoring Cassie and the man, waiting for Zach.

  Binny, still looking through the gaps in the fence said, “Penny, can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Your dad – does he live in an apartment?”

  Before Penny could answer, the girls heard a voice behind them. “I got it!”

  Zach had arrived with the bait.

  11

  The Soggy Tennis Ball

  “What’s she doing here?” Zach looked at Binny but motioned towards Penny.

  “This is Penny.”

  “I know.” It was clear Zach didn’t consider his question answered.

  A nervous look passed between the girls. Binny hastened to add, “She’s cool. She’s gonna help us.”

  “You told her?” Zach was incredulous, barely remembering to keep his voice down.

  “Yeah, and she believed me.” Binny shot Penny a smile.

  Zach had an exasperated look on his face. “OK. Fine. But no one else… okay?” He looked at both girls waiting for their assent.

  Both girls nodded seriously. Zach held up the steak with a grin.

  §

  “She’s got pretzels now?” The kids were on their knees with their heads poking out just above the fence so they could evaluate the scene in front of them. Zach continued, “When did she get pretzels?”

  “The man brought her pretzels when she finished plowing through the chips.” Binny offered.

  Zach was trying to formulate a plan.

  “I want to get kidnapped by this guy.” Binny and Zach swung their heads around to stare at Penny. But in an instant both were trying to stifle their laughs when they realized she was kidding.

  “We just need to figure out how to keep the man in the other room so we can grab Cassie.” Zach said.

  “He comes out to check on her every five minutes and then heads back into the other room down the hall on his phone call.”

  “OK. So we wait until the man goes back to his phone call and then we move.”

  “Who’s going to distract the dog with the steak?” Penny whispered.

  “Me.” Zach said, resigned.

  “But you’re afraid of – ”

  Zach shot Binny a look that stopped her before she could complete her sentence.

  “As soon as the man gets back on the phone, I’ll lure the dog away from the door with the steak. As soon as the dog goes for it, you two go grab Cassie, and we run home back this way through the alley.”

  After a minute or two the man had made his regular appearance to check up on Cassie’s eating and coloring. She was apparently making acceptable progress on both fronts as the man put the phone back to his ear, and headed down the hallway to his office.

  The plan was set in motion. Bending down, Zach slipped through the partially opened gate. It didn’t take long for the large dog to lose interest in his soggy tennis ball at the sight of Zach entering the yard.

  Binny thought Zach looked pretty scared, but to his credit he stood his ground as the dog approached. Binny suspected that Zach couldn’t stretch his arm to hold the steak any further away from himself without pulling his arm out of its socket.

  The dog came forward to carefully examine Zach’s offering, giving it a couple of sniffs. Everything was going exactly as planned.

  But all of a sudden, the dog lost interest in the steak, instead deciding to examine Zach. Zach took a step backwards. The dog followed. Zach wanted to get as far away as possible from the dog and flung the bait into a far corner of the yard. But the shaggy creature didn’t follow. It just took another step towards Zach.

  Zach had positioned himself such that the dog was forcing him to walk backwards, right into view of the man’s office!

  There was no mistaking t
he look on Zach’s face now. He was petrified.

  “The steak is frozen.”

  “What?” Binny said.

  “The steak is frozen.” Penny whispered again.

  “Well of course it’s frozen. He got it from the freezer.” Binny replied.

  “The dog’s not interested in it because it’s frozen.”

  Binny was immediately embarrassed at their stupidity. The dog would be interested in a steak, but a steak-flavored block of ice? Apparently not.

  “Zach’s running out of room.” Penny sounded concerned. “We need to do something.”

  Penny was right. They needed to do something before Zach freaked out and was seen by the man. Binny scanned the yard, desperate to find something, anything to help. And then, there it was. The ball. The soggy tennis ball that had no doubt spent hours, maybe even days or weeks lodged in that large dog’s mouth. At one time it had been a bright yellow. Now it was a mottled grayish-brown. Before she even realized what she was doing, Binny shot through the gate and was headed to retrieve the ball. Penny followed.

  The dog was now very confused. Should he continue to stalk his current prey or go sniff the two girls on the other side of the yard? As he was deciding, Binny raised the ball in her hand trying to catch the dog’s eye. It was so wet and slimy. She tried hard not to think about it.

  When she had the dog’s attention, Binny threw the ball to the opposite corner of the large yard, urging the dog silently in her mind to fetch it. The dog bolted for the ball, and Zach stood frozen for a moment, not believing his luck.

  Binny motioned for him to come to where she and Penny were, out of the man’s sight, before the dog could return with his quarry. The kids rushed to the door to get to Cassie before the man came to check on her. Binny got there first, trying the handle, but it was locked.

  “Let me try.” Zach pushed towards the door, extremely nervous in the knowledge that the dog was already padding back towards them, ball clenched firmly in his large mouth.

  The handle wouldn’t move. Binny didn’t remember the man locking the door after he’d closed it? Zach was getting more and more stressed. As the dog approached, all three kids were leaning against the door, frantically trying to push it open.

  Just then Penny reached her hand up to the door handle, gripping it tightly while she closed her eyes in concentration. The kids heard the sound of small metal pieces hitting the deck, the door slid open, and they fell backwards into the house in a pile.

  Their entry into the house had not been exactly quiet. Penny was the first to sit up. In her hand was the door handle. “You were right,” Penny whispered to Binny. “It is good for something.”

  Before Zach had too much of a chance to consider how Penny had broken the door handle, or to wonder what the consequences would be for vandalizing a stranger’s house, he needed to focus on a more pressing problem. The dog was a few feet from the door, and to Zach he did not look friendly at all.

  Zach grabbed at the door frame sliding it shut just before that big snout came poking through, hoping for another game of catch. But just as that danger was averted, Zach heard an insistent beep-beep-beeping. Zach recognized the sound. It was the sound he heard when they would enter their own house. It was the sound that told them they had sixty seconds to prove they had a right to be there before the police were called.

  §

  “What is that sound?” Penny whispered.

  “It sounds like our alarm.” Binny said looking up to see where it was coming from.

  “It is the house alarm. We set it off,” stated Zach matter-of-factly.

  “What?” Now it was Binny’s turn to look petrified, realizing just how many rules they had broken. Penny on the other hand appeared to be enjoying this adventure immensely.

  “In our house we have sixty seconds to turn it off. I’m guessing twenty seconds have gone by.”

  “So we have forty seconds to get out of here?”

  “Or to turn it off.” Zach was up off the floor and heading towards the keypad on the wall. Without hesitation, he started punching in numbers.

  Binny had been about to run, when Zach’s actions made her stop in surprise. How could Zach possibly know the code to the man’s house alarm?

  After Zach pressed a long string of numbers, the beeping stopped.

  Binny was so amazed she could barely mouth the question, “How did you do that?” But Zach wasn’t listening, he was looking around the room and beyond into the living room.

  Binny and Penny followed his gaze, and had barely gathered their thoughts when Zach asked, no longer whispering, “But why was the alarm on?”

  “Because there’s nobody here.” Penny offered matter-of-factly. “You turn on the alarm when you leave.”

  “What!?” Now Binny wasn’t whispering either.

  Zach walked over to the table where Cassie had been coloring. Her stack of pictures was gone. All that was left in the bowl were a few measly broken pretzel ends. “The man must have taken her while we were still in the backyard,” Zach was on the verge of tears now.

  “She’s gone.”

  12

  The Unexpected Reunion

  The kids raced through the alley as fast as they could. The relatively short trip back to their house had never seemed so long. Trees, houses, and trash cans whipped by as their footsteps crunched the gravel underneath.

  Worry multiplied at a brisk pace in Zach’s head. What if Cassie was hurt? What if she was – killed? The two possible outcomes circled each other in Zach’s mind like two predators about to pounce. It didn’t matter which won the day. Either option was unthinkable.

  When the kids rounded the corner up the hill, heaving, the car their parents had left in was now parked out front. Zach was glad they were home but also scared to death of what they would say to him. They had left him in charge. The magnitude of his bad judgment was just starting to sink in.

  As the three children arrived on the front porch of the Jordan house, their desperation was quickly replaced with absolute bewilderment as they stood in the entry way and stared into the living room.

  Their parents and the man were in the living room, smiling and laughing, and acting like old friends. Standing between the adults was Cassie, periodically getting her mop of curls tousled and her shoulders squeezed. What exactly was going on?

  §

  “Where have you guys been?” The jovial mood of the gathering changed once Julie noticed the three kids gawking from the front door.

  Penny noticed the not-so-subtle change in tone, caught Binny’s eye, and decided it was a good time to make her exit. Binny mouthed see you later at her new friend.

  “I thought we asked you to keep an eye on your sister? We were gone for barely more than an hour.” Jay demanded, his former worry quickly turning to anger.

  “It was my fault,” Binny stepped forward past her brother’s surprised face. “I distracted Zach and we didn’t notice Cassie wandering off.”

  “Both of you should know better.” Julie cut in.

  Zach closed his eyes for a brief moment and then raised his head to accept what was coming, “No. Binny didn’t distract me. And we both didn’t need to know better, because I knew better. You asked me to watch her, and I screwed up. I’m sorry.”

  Trying to relieve a little bit of the tension that hung thick between the family members, the man added with an all’s-well-that-ends-well tone, “Well, it was pretty lucky that it was me and Rembrandt she decided to visit.” Cassie smiled an “uh-huh” at the mention of the dog.

  “It’s a crazy coincidence is what it is. How long have we been neighbors and not even known it?” Jay remarked.

  Binny was trying to process the incredible scene in front of her. Not only had the man not kidnapped Cassie, but he’d taken good care of her and returned her home safely. Furthermore, her father seemed to indicate that they somehow knew this stranger? “Do you…” Binny paused having a hard time getting the words out, “Do you know each other?” B
inny’s question was almost a shout.

  “Do we know each other?” The adults in the room looked at each other and started laughing. Binny and Zach were getting visibly stressed, still not understanding what was so funny.

  Julie saw her older children’s concern and came to the rescue. “Zach, Binny, this is Dr. Huitre – your obstetrician.” The way she pronounced his last name sounded like ‘wheat’ with a soft ‘ruh’ on the end. “He delivered all three of you. Just like he delivered your sister home today.” The adults all chuckled at Julie’s joke. “He’s responsible in large part for your very existence.”

  §

  The ad-hoc ‘party’ sat down on the couch, with Julie bringing in some beverages for the adults. Cassie had tottered away, interested in some new shiny thing. Zach and Binny had slumped to the floor in the living room, exhaustion and relief washing over them. The adults reminisced.

  Binny was still a little puzzled by the conversation. Her mother had said that this man, this doctor, was “responsible in large part” for their very existence. What could that possibly mean?

  “I really should have come over sooner and introduced myself. I have seen the kids a few times around the neighborhood and put two and two together when I heard them calling to each other. Of course, now I am convinced that I could recognize every baby I deliver even years later.” Dr. Huitre laughed as Jay and Julie followed suit. Julie laughed a little too much, Binny thought to herself.

  Dr. Huitre continued, “I end up seeing a lot of the neighborhood kids thanks to Rembrandt, my Bernese Mountain Dog. He is big but really kind-hearted and gentle.”

  “Oh, you should have brought him with you.” Julie gushed.

  “I try not to bring him to the homes of people uninvited. He is sweet but a lot to handle. He is safe at home in the backyard.”

  A look passed between Zach and Binny.

  “Well it seems like he’s already gotten the seal of approval from Cassie, though we try not to send our children to the homes of people uninvited either.” Jay shot Zach and Binny a look as well.

  For a moment, Binny thought Jay knew what they’d been up to at Huitre’s house, but quickly realized he was just reminding them that the issue of their irresponsibility had not been resolved or forgotten.

  Binny’s mind was now racing. The man, or rather, Dr. Huitre, was interested in Cassie. But was that now really just because he was their obstetrician? Maybe Huitre hadn’t seen Cassie do her disappearing act. After all, he’d had Cassie in his house, all to himself, and no government people came to dissect her. The worst Dr. Huitre had done was contribute to a tummy ache.

  But what about the phone call they’d overheard the previous day? The man had talked about his responsibilities, and keeping his eyes open, and danger. He’d said he would continue the conversation the next day. That was today. That must have been the phone call he was on when Cassie was busy eating him out of house and home.

  “I bet the technology has advanced quite a bit over the last six or seven years,” Binny heard her father remarking to the doctor.

  “Well if so, it is thanks to your family in no small part,” Huitre responded.

  Binny was now really confused. Now they were talking about technology? Was it government technology? What did her family have to do with any of this?

  Huitre continued, “All that matters is that you got three beautiful children out of it. I am happy I could help in some small way.”

  “I still am not sure we ever thanked you enough for convincing us to participate in that study, Dr. Huitre.” Julie gushed.

  “Please call me Henry. My job as your doctor has been done for some time. Now I am just Henry, the guy from down the street with the big dog.”

  “OK. Henry it is.” Julie said.

  Something about this entire conversation made Binny want to barf. She wasn’t entirely sure if it was how friendly her parents were with ‘Henry’ or whether it was all the cryptic mentions of technology and studies and how they might relate to her and her siblings’ existence.

  She looked over at her brother, who still looked kind of dazed from the entire experience. He’d confronted his fear of dogs to save one sister, and he stepped up and took the blame from his parents for another. Despite herself, Binny found she just couldn’t be mad at him anymore for lying earlier in the day. He may not be perfect, but he wasn’t all that bad either. And once in a while, he was even pretty good.

  “Is the treatment now in broad use? Did it get FDA approval?” Jay was asking the Doctor.

  Huitre seemed caught off guard by the question, looking uncomfortable for a moment. Binny’s parents didn’t seem to notice but Binny did. “Good question. Luce Laboratories has many studies. I am not sure what exactly came of this one.” The doctor seemed to hit his stride a little bit, adding, “I administer the medicine, and report back on the results. They do not always worry about us ‘little people’ in the process.” The doctor made a show of laughing at his own joke. Binny’s parents laughed along with him.

  “What are you talking about?” Binny’s question punctured the conversation like a needle taking the air out of a balloon.

  “Excuse me?” Julie asked. Her tone made her disapproval clear.

  Binny paused and regrouped. “What is all this talk about a study and a treatment? What did you mean when you said he,” gesturing roughly at Dr. Huitre “was responsible for our very existence.”

  “I had something to do with it too.” Jay interjected and Huitre laughed.

  Binny’s face remained serious.

  Huitre turned in his seat to face Binny, “There are some prospective parents who really want children but nature does not always comply. I am not just an obstetrician, I am a fertility doctor. Your parents came to me to help give nature a shove in the right direction.” Huitre was smiling down at Binny.

  Binny wanted to give him a shove in the ‘right direction’.

  “What was your partner’s name again? Travida? Pravida? Oh, it doesn’t matter. We had another fertility doctor at first but her husband got some incredible once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity across the country. We were so worried about having to start the search all over for a new doctor, but Dr. Huitre,” she glanced at the Doctor, “I mean Henry,” Julie smiled, “was her partner and convinced us to stay. He had the chance to include his patients in the study of a new fertility drug and we got to participate by staying on.”

  “You took an experimental drug in order to get pregnant with us?” Binny asked, incredulous. In every corner of her brain little puzzle pieces were falling into place.

  Zach was alert now as well, sitting up a little straighter and listening intently.

  “Oh, it was not all that experimental,” Huitre laughed condescendingly. “It was a late stage trial, and your parents fit the profile. The FDA does not let us give anything too ‘out there’ to human beings.” He smiled at Binny as if to indicate that he’d answered her question satisfactorily.

  Binny was about to reply when she felt a gentle but insistent elbow from her brother. By the time she looked back at the adults, they’d already moved on to some boring discussion about the price of neighborhood real estate.

  §

  Zach and Binny were about to slink off when the adults stood up from their seats to wind down their impromptu gathering.

  “We can’t thank you enough for keeping an eye on Cassie.” Julie said.

  “It was really no problem. I was just getting back to the house from walking Rembrandt when I ran into her. I did have to distract her with junk food but only because I was finishing up a call for work. I brought her over as soon as I completed the call.” Huitre explained.

  “I promise there won’t be any more uninvited visits,” Jay motioned over to where Cassie had fallen asleep on the couch in the family room.

  “I am afraid the sugar crash is probably my fault.” Huitre chuckled.

  Binny really didn’t like how friendly everyone was being. “Oh Dad,” she interjected
, “Dr. Huitre lives in that house you always comment on when we take walks in the woods.”

  Jay’s eyes darted angrily towards Binny, and then a smile plastered on his face he added, “Oh yes. The design is so interesting and modern. So nice to get a break from the more conventional architecture in this neighborhood.”

  Dr. Huitre made his exit and goodbyes were said. Jay made dinner, they woke Cassie, and the family ate together. Like everything was normal. Like nothing had happened.

  But things had happened. Just not necessarily the things Binny thought. Her sister had disappeared. The man had made a suspicious phone call. He hadn’t hurt Cassie. That was a good thing of course. But it was strange to all of a sudden meet someone who was there at Cassie’s birth. He was there at Binny’s and Zach’s births, too. Giving their mother experimental drugs! Was her sister the result of a medical experiment with unintended consequences? What about Zach? What about Binny herself?

  The day had been such a whirlwind, Binny hadn’t had time to consider even more minor things. Like how did Zach know the alarm code at Huitre’s house? And how could she have been so wrong about Penny?

  But most of all, Binny couldn’t help but wonder where Cassie’s power had come from in the first place? She hadn’t had time to think about it earlier with all the tumult, but now she was worried. Somehow it all seemed less, well, magical than it had at first.

  Zach didn’t say much during dinner. He seemed more worried than he should be now that Cassie was safe and the mystery of the man’s identity was solved.

  Binny inquired when her parents were away from the table for a moment. All Zach said was, “When Huitre gets home, he’ll know it’s us that broke in.”

  “How? How can he know it was us?” Binny whispered a little too loudly.

  “Fingerprints? I don’t know. He’ll just know.”

  This realization crossed Binny’s face like a wave crashing on rocks. Any minute the phone was going to ring. Her father would answer it. And his face would get progressively more angry and disappointed as Huitre calmly explained that Binny and Zach had broken into his house and vandalized his back door. She could deal with her father getting angry. That happened often enough. But Binny was filled with dread at the thought of disappointing him.

  It was hard enough to digest her food while considering all the news of the day, but thinking about what was all but guaranteed to come next made her sick to her stomach.

  But the call never came.

  13

  The Perfect Plan

  Just over a hundred years earlier, the house where the Jordans currently lived had been designed with a variety of features not typically found in modern homes. Most were tailored to accommodate the presence of servants – a button in the floor of the dining room where the lady of the house could tap her foot to call her housekeeper, a small bedroom where the housekeeper would reside, and a back staircase from said room to the kitchen for ‘commuting’ to work without using the main staircase. That was reserved only for the family’s use.

  Over the years, the Jordan’s house has undergone many renovations, bringing its features more in line with modern expectations. The button in the dining room floor, no longer needed, was hidden under a rug. The tiny room had been expanded and was now occupied by Zach Jordan, the oldest of the Jordan children. And the extra set of stairs had been split in two and repurposed into a pair of closets.

  There remained an unused bit of square footage – a small stretch of hallway buried between Zach and Binny’s room that led to the former back stairs. Over the years the remodels left it walled off and now it was only accessible through small panels in the back of Zach and Binny’s closets. This forgotten space was now home to various pipes and wires that needed to travel hidden behind the walls of the Jordan house. It was also home to cobwebs. Lots and lots of cobwebs.

  “Yuck.” Binny found herself scraping at her tongue with her hand, hoping that what she’d just inhaled wasn’t a spider.

  “Shhhh.” Zach worried they would be heard.

  “Don’t worry, they think we’re asleep.”

  When Zach and Binny had been younger they’d often played in this secret hiding place. Their parents weren’t thrilled about it as it didn’t seem safe, but that didn’t stop the kids. As Zach and Binny played together less and less, the space remained mostly unused. By the time Cassie had been old enough to want to know about it, neither Zach nor Binny had told her, because they didn’t want her traipsing around either of their rooms to get into it.

  Zach and Binny spent most of their evening reviewing the day’s events and trying to realign their understanding of the new world in which they lived.

  “We need a new hideout.” Zach was trying to get the dust and cobwebs out of his hair, not liking the idea of having a spider walk on his face any more than Binny did.

  “Yeah, I’ll get to work on that right away,” said Binny sarcastically. “Aren’t you freaked out by what just happened?” Zach seemed a little too focused on making sure his hair was spider-free, and not enough on what mattered.

  “What happened?”

  “Let’s see. Our baby sister has a super power and some creepy guy has been stalking her.”

  “Maybe if one of these spiders bites me, I’ll get a super power.” Zach tried to deflect.

  “Zach!” Binny was getting exasperated.

  Finally Zach acquiesced, “He’s a doctor. He’s Mom’s doctor.”

  “Exactly. He’s been stalking Cassie, all of us, since even before we were born.”

  Zach laughed.

  Binny shot him a look cutting his laughter short. She continued, slowly now, lowering her voice, “Don’t you wonder?”

  “Wonder what?”

  “Wonder how Cassie got this power?”

  Before Zach had a chance to respond, Binny continued. “Apparently Mom had trouble getting pregnant – which by the way I’m not sure why nobody ever told me that – and went to this scary doctor to get experimental drugs. And now Cassie can turn herself invisible and the doctor who gave Mom the drugs is on the phone having equally scary conversations with some guy named Sam. Something is not right here.”

  “Mom and Dad seem to think everything’s fine.” Zach countered. Zach’s tone had softened from its usual antagonistic tone since he and Binny had been on their adventure earlier in the day.

  “Well sure, thanks to you they think everything’s fine.” Binny raised her eyebrows.

  “Right. Sorry.” Zach was contrite.

  “Well, I’m not sure they would have believed us even if you had backed me up. They seem to be lost in their own universe these days.”

  Binny’s musings had spilled out in a rush. A quiet lull descended on their conversation as neither was sure quite what to say next.

  Finally, Zach broke the silence, “Maybe we’re imagining all this?”

  “Did we imagine Cassie disappearing? Did we imagine the man talking about ‘danger’ and ‘not scaring the parents’ on his phone call?”

  “He could have been talking about something else.”

  “He wasn’t.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Zach asked.

  “I don’t know. I just am. He was talking about Cassie. I know it in my heart.” Binny continued. “That man. That doctor. I don’t care that he knows Mom and Dad. I don’t trust him. He scares me. I think he’s hiding something.”

  “He’s French, of course he’s a bit ‘mysterieuse’” Zach said in his best French accent.

  Zach and Binny broke into laughter.

  “Is that what that name is?” Binny asked.

  “I looked it up.” Zach said.

  “French or otherwise, I don’t trust him. And until Mom and Dad understand that he’s part of the problem, Cassie is in danger.”

  “Well tonight made things worse. He brought Cassie back safe and sound, and now Mom and Dad trust him completely.” Zach concluded.

  More time passed as the kids pondered their dilemma. This
time it was Binny’s turn to break the silence. “Then it’s our job to make them untrust him.”

  “How do you propose we do that?”

  “I’m not sure yet, but I know who to ask.”

  §

  “What makes you think he can help us?” Zach asked.

  The next morning had arrived. It was all Binny and Zach could do to get out of the house quietly without Cassie noticing and insisting on tagging along. Penny, who had been in one of her usual perches across the street, attached herself to Zach and Binny’s orbit like a small moon.

  “I just know that he’ll believe us.” Binny said.

  “What’s his name again?” Penny asked. Binny and Zach had been briefing her on the events of the previous night.

  “Caleb.”

  “Oh yeah. My Mom asks him for gardening advice. She’s trying to grow vegetables.” And then she added “Organically.” It was clear her mother had said the word way too often for Penny’s taste.

  “Aren’t you worried he’s going to tell someone? Someone else who might be interested in what Cassie can do?” Zach had a look of concern on his face as he wondered aloud.

  “I just know we can trust him. He’s different than other adults.” Binny answered in a way that indicated the discussion was closed.

  The kids wound their way down towards the woods, with Binny insisting they stay as far across the street as possible as they passed Huitre’s “modern” house.

  It only took a few minutes for them to find Caleb. He was crouched over the stones on the edge of a path that had become disorderly through constant traffic. “Hello children,” Caleb said, remaining in his crouch with his back to them. How did he do that?

  Binny took the lead in the discussion. “Caleb, we need to talk to you about something.”

  “Is that so?” Caleb stayed put.

  “Caleb, please.” Binny said.

  Caleb stopped what he was doing, rose slowly, and said, “OK.” His smile put them at ease. Even though he was grandfatherly, he never talked down to them or treated them like children.

  “We need your help.” Binny started.

  Caleb insisted that his legs were tired and led them to a bench a little further down the path, sat down with his palms on his legs and the children arranged in front of him and said “How can I help?”

  The kids looked nervously at each other for a moment, but Binny quickly took the reins. “We need to tell you something. Something you might not believe. And we need you to keep it a secret.”

  “Sounds like you’ve got something important on your minds.” Caleb said earnestly.

  “Do you promise? Promise to believe us, and promise to keep it a secret?” Binny started to plead a bit.

  “That’s a lot to ask, you know.” Caleb paused briefly to let his words sink in. Just as the kids started to look a bit nervous, he continued. “But I think you children are clever, and more importantly, I believe your hearts are in the right place. So, you have my promise.”

  The fact that Caleb had expressed confidence in their character made Binny feel more grown up than she’d expected. Caleb’s trust in her credibility was exciting but scared her a little at the same time.

  After a breath, Binny dove in. “Cassie can turn herself invisible.” With that beginning, the whole story came spilling out just as it had the day before with Penny. Details of Cassie’s power, Doctor Huitre’s interest in Cassie, his mysterious phone call, their parents not believing her, and the most recent information that their mother had participated in an experimental study that was very likely responsible for Cassie’s power. Binny concluded with, “Do you believe us? You promised.”

  For his part, Caleb sat silently listening and nodding, but not giving away any of his thoughts on what he was hearing throughout Binny’s passionate retelling. He was polite, but it wasn’t clear whether he believed them or not. Binny found herself trying to stuff more words into her descriptions hoping that sheer quantity of detail would stop Caleb from thinking she was crazy, or even worse, from telling other adults about Cassie.

  Finally, when the kids were all holding their breath waiting to hear Caleb’s reaction, Caleb inhaled and asked, “You’re saying she still can’t do it on purpose?”

  The kids were momentarily confused. Zach seemed the most surprised, “So that means… you believe us?”

  “Of course I believe you. Why wouldn’t I?”

  “And you won’t tell anyone?” Binny asked.

  Caleb slowly looked up at her and gave her a long look. Binny felt bad for a moment for having doubted him. Caleb continued. “Adults don’t like hearing things like this. They get agitated when the rules of their world don’t seem so certain.”

  “But you’re an adult. Why aren’t you agitated?” Penny picked this moment to jump into the conversation with one of her penetrating observations.

  A big smile slowly crept over Caleb’s face. “My dear, I’m an old man, not an ‘adult’. Children and old people exist to make adults feel useful. After all, who would the adults boss around if we weren’t here?” Caleb’s eyes were mischievous. “So you see, us old folks are a lot more willing to take the time to believe in things that adults are too busy to notice.”

  The kids laughed at this, but Zach still had a slightly puzzled look on his face. “What did you mean when you said that Cassie ‘still’ can’t turn invisible on purpose?”

  “Did I say that?”

  “You did. You asked ‘You’re saying she still can’t do it on purpose?’ Those were your exact words.” Zach countered.

  Caleb’s eyebrows were raised in amusement. “So they were. Well Mr. Jordan, one thing old people don’t share with children is excellent memories. If I said that, I misspoke.” Caleb finished his statement letting it hang in the silence, making it clear that he had nothing else to offer on the topic. Then he turned to face all three of the kids. “You said you needed help.”

  Binny jumped in. “I’m worried that the doctor knows what Cassie can do. I’m worried that…” Binny lowered her voice, “he’s told other people and they will take her away and try and see how she does it.” Binny was almost afraid to say the words aloud for fear they would come true.

  “I don’t mean to scare you kids. But I think you’re right to be nervous. Not only do adults not like it when the rules of their world are bent, but their immediate instinct is to try to find and control whoever is bending those rules.”

  Binny teared up a bit at this thought. Everything she’d been afraid of was now being confirmed by an adult – well, at least by someone who wasn’t a kid. Zach noticed how upset Binny was getting and put his hand on her shoulder. This gave her the strength not to cry.

  “Tell me more about the drug the doctor gave your mother.” Caleb said rubbing his chin in thought.

  “It was a new fertility drug. She was part of a study. The drug was from Luce Laboratories.” Zach responded calmly.

  Even Caleb, who was usually so even tempered, had a look of surprise on his face at that.

  “How did you know that?” Binny was surprised Zach knew who’d made the drug.

  “The doctor mentioned it yesterday when he was talking to Mom and Dad. He said ‘Luce Laboratories has a lot of studies out there’ when Dad asked him if the drug had been approved by the FDA.”

  Penny and Binny were just staring at Zach.

  “What? What?” Zach didn’t understand the fuss.

  Binny shook her head at Zach but continued the discussion with Caleb, “I don’t trust Dr. Huitre. At all. But my parents are convinced he’s this great guy. At this point I think my Mom would hand Cassie over to him if he asked.”

  Binny thought for a moment and then continued, “Do you think that the fertility treatment they gave my mother is why Cassie can turn invisible?”

  Caleb replied in a low voice “I don’t know what effect that drug had on your mother or your sister. But I do know that pharmaceutical companies test drugs all the time. The government makes them
keep records. Lots and lots of records. And even in this age of computers, they usually have lots of that information on paper in their archives. I think the answers to your questions, perhaps how to discredit Dr. Huitre, and what that fertility drug really was, can be found in the archives of Luce Laboratories.”

  Absorbing this, Zach with his characteristic sarcastic smirk interjected, “Oh great. I’m sure we can just hop on a plane to wherever Luce Laboratories is and find out.”

  Now it was Caleb’s turn to smirk: “As a matter of fact, you can. But you won’t need an airplane. Your bicycles will do.”

  14

  The Records Room

  The weather was beautiful yet again. The sun was high above Madrona by mid-morning when the kids mounted their bikes. They crested the top of the hill riding past an enormous dilapidated white mansion. The abandoned building was surrounded by years of untended vegetation. Only the bright teal roof tiles were visible for short stretches above the overgrown shrubbery.

  The old structure and the lot on which it was situated stretched behind a small number of retail businesses that made up Madrona’s cozy commercial district. The kids biked past all of them without stopping pedaling hard towards their target.

  Caleb had been right. While Madrona was mostly residential, the Central District – the neighborhood adjacent to Madrona on its western border – had several patches of what qualified as commercial property including the shiny corporate campus of Luce Laboratories. A dozen modern buildings housed several hundred employees, located just a couple of miles away from the spot where Caleb and the kids had formulated their plan.

  Zach and Penny had big smiles on their faces enjoying the ride. But Binny’s jaw was set in a more determined state – like she was about to do something distasteful but necessary. The wind whipped her long and haphazard ponytail.

  As they’d gotten their bikes Zach had posed the question that Binny now considered – what would they do once they got there? And to be quite honest, Binny had no real idea. But she knew that it was better than doing nothing.

  The paralyzing confusion of the previous night’s news had been transformed into a series of concrete actions. Caleb’s acceptance of their story had only strengthened Binny’s resolve to find out what was really going on. The idea that going to Luce Laboratories could somehow answer all of her questions: What drug did he give their mother to help her get pregnant? What did it have to do with her little sister’s power? Who was Huitre talking to on that phone call? erased all – well most – of Binny’s fear.

  The kids rode to the top of a small hill and picked up speed on the descent. For a brief moment Binny felt like she was flying. Flying, not quite like a bird, but like a superhero. Like a superhero on a mission.

  Binny had to laugh. Her father had spent so much time talking about superheroes and their various activities that it had now infected her imagination. She wasn’t just a superhero, she was on a superhero team with her brother and her new friend Penny. But what good were superheroes with no powers? That honor had been reserved seemingly for the person who least deserved it — her baby sister Cassie. Cassie, who was oblivious to the amazing ability she had and the danger it posed.

  It sure would be nice to have Cassie’s power right now, actually. Invisibility would come in handy if they were going to try to find out any information about what Luce Laboratories was up to. But Cassie’s power still showed up only when it felt like it. Even if Cassie could control it, Binny was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to control Cassie. They were going to have to investigate with just their basic, normal kid skills. Not much of a superhero team after all.

  The three of them arrived at the well-manicured edge of Luce Laboratories’ headquarters. It looked more like a park than some sort of business. But the sign with the Luce Laboratories logo made it clear they’d reached their destination.

  As if he’d been listening in on her inner monologue, Zach posed a question to Binny just as their bikes came to a stop. “What now?”

  What now indeed.

  §

  Lots of diagonals, slopes, and curves, made it look like the buildings where Luce Laboratories employees spent their time inventing new pharmaceuticals, were growing at odd angles out of the ground, reaching for air. Certain edges of buildings merged into paths, which then connected seamlessly with the low slung edges of other buildings. Some of the buildings connected above ground with suspended walkways that curved or followed inclines of their own. There were almost no right angles.

  Binny was no expert on architecture, but intentionally or not, the person who’d designed this tangle of buildings and paths had created the most incredible skate park she had ever seen. She made a mental note to return here with her skateboard someday. Someday, that is, when she actually had a working skateboard, she reminded herself.

  “Caleb said they would have archives. Let’s find them.” With her instruction given, Binny started pedaling.

  “The buildings have names.” Penny offered as they got closer to the nearest one. But once they saw the names, that feature seemed less helpful than she’d originally hoped. “Orpheus.”

  “What’s an Orpheus?” Binny asked.

  “Orpheus is a demigod.” Zach and Penny answered in unison – cracking each other up in the process.

  “I knew that.” Binny said unconvincingly as the other two giggled. “But why does it say Orpheus on the building?”

  The kids continued pedaling towards another building with another name on the side – “Heracles”.

  “Another demigod. They’ve named all their buildings that way.”

  Swallowing her pride a little Binny asked, “What’s the difference between a demigod and a god?”

  Zach answered without hesitation, “A demigod is what you get when a god and a human have a baby – a mortal being with god-like powers.”

  “That’s so cool.” Penny chimed in.

  “Not always. The demigods get their powers from the gods. But a lot of times the gods get angry at them for misusing their powers and end up killing them. Sometimes parents even kill their own children.”

  §

  Three buildings and three demigods later the kids were no closer to finding the archive. “Doesn’t this place have some sort of a map? At the mall there’s a map of all the stores.” Binny complained.

  “If they did, it would probably be a map of the Greek islands.” Zach snorted.

  “What’s a home plate doing over there?” Penny pointed.

  Just over the small rise of greenery, the kids found a circle of dirt. In the center of the circle was home plate. Batter’s boxes had been painted in the dirt on either side of the plate. A small bronze plaque was raised off to the side. Binny dropped her bike in the grass, wandered over to the plaque, and began to read aloud.

  “On this spot batters swung at pitches in Sick’s Seattle Stadium. Opened on June 15, 1938, Sick’s Stadium was home to the Seattle Rainiers, the Seattle Pilots, and for a few weeks in the summer of 1946 the Seattle Steelheads of the West Coast Negro League. On September 6, 1976, the Rainiers beat the Portland Mavericks 2 to 0. It was the last time professional baseball was ever played at Sick’s Stadium.”

  “We had a baseball stadium right in our backyard. And they tore it down for this? An office park?” Penny was incredulous.

  “What are you children doing here?”

  A thin woman in a white lab coat had marched up over the rise and was standing a few feet from the kids, surveying them and their bikes. In the upper left quadrant of her lab coat the name S. TRACE was embroidered. Her hair was pulled back in a severe bun. This made her face look pinched and sharp. Her eyes appeared to bug out a little bit from behind her small studious glasses. She sounded not quite angry, but certainly annoyed and impatient for an answer to her question.

  Zach and Penny started moving towards their bikes, getting the sense that it was time to leave this place. But as they still hadn’t found the archives, Binny had other ide
as. “Oh, we’re here to visit my mom.”

  A look passed between Zach and Penny, but Binny and the thin woman in the lab coat were oblivious.

  “Your mother?” The woman asked.

  “Yes.” Binny replied.

  “She works here?”

  “Yes. In the archives.”

  “The archives? We don’t have archives.”

  Zach and Penny were now looking exceptionally itchy to make a quick exit. What was Binny doing? But then the woman continued. “Oh, do you mean the Records Room?”

  “Yes, that’s it.” Binny sounded so convincing. Now it was Zach’s turn to wonder how she’d gotten so good at lying. Binny continued, “I’m so sorry. I just forgot the name of the building it’s in.”

  “Minos. The Records Room is in Minos.” The woman raised her eyebrows signifying her exasperation that the kids weren’t already heading in the direction she was pointing. “Don’t dawdle please. This is a place of business, not a playground.”

  “Yes ma’am.” Binny might as well have saluted she sounded so formal.

  The kids mounted their bikes and pedaled in the direction the woman had pointed. They were careful to avoid the grass, but they couldn’t avoid the woman’s annoyed gaze. It followed them until they rounded a corner out of sight.

  When they were sure they were far enough away that they couldn’t be heard, they burst out laughing. They giggled as they rode, amazed that Binny’s lying had not only gotten them out of trouble but had pointed them in the right direction.

  Binny laughed with the others, but underneath, her heart was racing. She wasn’t sure what had come over her. She knew lying was wrong, and she didn’t feel good about doing it. But despite her parents’ confidence in the doctor, Binny knew that something wasn’t quite right. Binny believed with all her heart that she needed to uncover the details to save her baby sister. That was more important than having to tell a small lie to some uptight lady she would never see again.

  §

  The Minos building was at the opposite end of the campus, right next to a moderately sized greenhouse. The building that housed the records room was a perfect circle with no windows on the sides. But plenty of light was let in by a glass dome that sat atop the structure. It gleamed in the summer sun.

  Binny led them carefully away from the front of the building and off to one side, out of view of the employees periodically passing in and out.

  Zach observed, “There’s no way we can get in. Did you see? The employees all have badges to identify themselves to the guards at the entrance.”

  “I know.” Binny answered curtly.

  “So are we done here?” Zach asked.

  “Did we find out anything?” Binny replied.

  “The only thing I know is that we should be eating hot dogs and watching a baseball game right now on this spot instead of wandering around all this boringness.” Penny piped up, interrupting the standoff between the siblings.

  Binny continued arguing with her brother, ignoring Penny’s attempt to change the subject. “We don’t need to get in to look around.”

  “Have you developed x-ray vision to go with Cassie’s invisibility?” Zach asked sarcastically gesturing to the solid windowless wall between them and the inside of the records room.

  “Don’t be a jerk. We can see what’s inside through the roof.”

  “Huh?”

  “Didn’t you notice that enormous glass dome on top of the building? I bet we can see everything inside through it.” Binny sounded excited.

  “I’m so sorry. I’m such an idiot for suggesting you had x-ray vision, when clearly you’ve developed the ability to fly.” Zach was looking positively triumphant. “It’s only 15 feet high or so. It will be a short flight.”

  Binny just looked back at Zach angrily, nostrils flaring.

  “Will this help?” Penny interjected.

  Zach and Binny turned from their faceoff to find Penny standing there half-carrying half-dragging a long ladder that looked like it just might get them up on the roof.

  “Where’d you get that?” Zach seemed more annoyed that Penny had interrupted his comedy routine than relieved that she’d solved their problem.

  “It was in the greenhouse.” Penny offered casually, pointing to the structure behind her with a thumb over her shoulder.

  “Thank you Penny.” Binny spoke the words with extra emphasis. “What a thoughtful and creative idea.” Binny added, looking at Zach, clearly indicating that she thought Zach had been anything but thoughtful and creative.

  §

  The Minos building turned out to be a single enormous room filled with filing cabinets, the tops of which could be clearly seen through the panes of glass that made up the domed roof. Most of the cabinets, and sometimes individual drawers were labeled with big pixilated squares. These symbols appeared to denote what was inside each cabinet.

  For a while the kids just watched. They watched Luce Laboratories employees walking up and down different sections of the Records Room. Employees would use their phones to scan the big square symbols on the cabinets to confirm they had found the right spot. They would then remove or replace folders in the cabinets. Often they would make copies of the contents of those folders at the large bank of photocopy machines along one wall. The kids watched employees come in with their security badges past the guard and receptionist at the entry desk. They watched employees leave past the same guard and receptionist, reclaiming their bags on the way out.

  After some time, Zach interrupted their reverie. “Do you know who Minos was?” He continued, not waiting for the girls to supply an answer. “He was a Greek king – son of Zeus and Europa. Every seven years he ordered seven young girls and seven young boys into this big maze called a labyrinth.”

  “They sure did like sevens.” Penny joked.

  “Why?” Binny asked.

  “A minotaur lived in the center of the labyrinth. The children were a sacrifice.”

  “I don’t see any half-bull half-man living down there.” Penny quipped.

  “It sure does look like a big maze though.” Binny sounded far away.

  §

  “There, what’s that?” Penny was pointing to a small area in the Records Room.

  Off to the side, away from all the other criss-crossing pathways through tall filing cabinets, there was one area that seemed to be walled off with its own separate door.

  While they’d probably seen a dozen people come into the Records Room, only one had gone into this special area. Access appeared to be governed by entering a code on a keypad at the door. Zach, Binny, and Penny watched closely as the light on the keypad turned from red to green after the employee had entered the correct code. When the light was green, he turned the handle and went inside.

  “Whatever’s in there must be pretty important for it to have extra security.” Penny thought aloud. “They even gave it its own additional glass roof.”

  “That’s so nobody can just climb up over the wall and into the room.” Zach suggested.

  “But they made it see-through so it would get the light from above.” Binny noted.

  “It has bars underneath the glass.” Penny observed. “That’s a lot of work to keep something locked away.”

  “That must be where they keep the records of whatever Dr. Huitre injected into Mom. I’m sure of it.” Binny said.

  “Look!” Zach whispered. It was almost a hiss.

  Binny and Penny followed his gaze to the other side of the room just in time to see the thin woman who had lectured them on the grass, talking to the receptionist and security guard at the entrance to the Records Room. The thin woman looked displeased. She was flanked by two burly men wearing dark uniforms, hats, and sunglasses. The Luce Laboratories logo was embroidered in gold on their sleeves. The receptionist kept shaking her head.

  “It’s time to go. Now!” Binny felt more panicked than she sounded, but she didn’t exactly sound calm.

  The kids scrambled down the ladder one
at a time.

  “Let’s run.” Penny insisted.

  “It’s too late, she’ll come out of there any second and we’ll run right into her and those two goons.” Zach sounded nervous too.

  “Guys. Help me put the ladder back.” Binny started moving to take the ladder off the wall.

  Zach was almost pleading now. “What are you doing? Who cares about the ladder?”

  “If we get caught, I don’t want her to know what we were looking at. And maybe we can hide in there until she moves on.” Binny’s head was nodding toward the adjacent greenhouse.

  Zach was all set to argue, but Binny’s plan didn’t actually sound half bad given their predicament.

  The kids felt as if they’d been transported into a jungle. The greenhouse was filled with plants as far as the eye could see. The humidity hit them as they entered and if they weren’t sweating already from fear of getting caught, the environment in the greenhouse did the trick. Penny waved to Zach and Binny to join her under a long table. The kids all caught their breath and tried to stay quiet, unobtrusive, and invisible.

  From their vantage point Binny could see through the glass door and had the best view of what was going on outside the greenhouse and around the corner from the entrance to the Minos building. She was busy trying to make herself smaller when she caught sight of the thin woman marching in the opposite direction, away from the Records Room with the two security guards in tow.

  “She’s leaving. She’s leaving. I think we’re okay.” Binny excitedly whispered to Penny and Zach.

  Whistling. Binny, Zach, and Penny, heard whistling. Not the whistling of the wind or the whistling of a tea kettle. This was someone whistling a tune. A jazzy tune. Or was it blues? Binny wasn’t sure. There were footsteps as well. Slow, meandering, not-in-a-hurry footsteps.

  Binny’s arm reached out reflexively keeping Penny and Zach as far under the table as she could. Cassie’s super power definitely would come in useful right about now. But it was supremely unhelpful to think thoughts like that. They didn’t have any super powers. And even if Cassie was there, she’d be the only one disappearing. That would help the three of them exactly not at all. But the whistling and the footsteps weren’t disappearing. No. They just kept getting closer.

  Ever so slowly.

  15

  The Mutant Mango

  Binny, Zach, and Penny sat huddled together under the long table, as the footsteps and the whistling got louder and louder. Finally, a pair of well-worn workboots appeared directly in front of them. The whistling continued. Binny repeated over and over in her head a silent plea for the boots to turn around and walk straight out the door. Zach was afraid to breathe.

  The whistling stopped. Before the kids could react, a face appeared, peering under the table and smiling broadly. At least it looked like a smile. It was hard to tell since it was almost completely upside down. Then the face spoke. “Seems crowded under there. Wanna come out?”

  The kids looked at each other, not entirely sure what to do. Binny was the first to emerge, with Zach and Penny following uncertainly. The face belonged to an old man with pale white skin, rosy cheeks, and white hair. If the man were a bit heavier and had a beard he might have been Santa Claus.

  He didn’t look like all the other employees. A plaid shirt completed his outfit, and his hands were dirty. It seemed clear to Binny that this man worked in the greenhouse. What did you call someone who tended to the plants in a greenhouse? A gardener? That didn’t seem quite right. “Hi.” Binny responded.

  “You can’t see much from down there, don’t you think?” The Santa man addressed the children gently, chuckling.

  The kids couldn’t help but smile. The man’s friendliness was infectious. “True.” Binny smiled back.

  “What exactly are we looking at?” Penny interjected, curiosity getting the better of her.

  “That’s an excellent question. What are we looking at?” The man seemed positively thrilled to be asked. Binny imagined that the man didn’t get many visitors in the greenhouse. He continued, “We are looking at the entire catalog of flora that we grow here at Luce Laboratories. Mostly tropical species, hence the humid environment.” The man chuckled again as he wiped a bit of sweat from his brow.

  “Why does a drug company need to grow tropical plants?” Now it was Zach’s turn to be curious.

  The man produced something large and ovoid out of his pocket as he spoke. “Another excellent question, young man.” Zach was still suspicious but couldn’t help but soften a little at the compliment. The kids recognized the object as a mango. The man pulled a pocket knife out of his other pocket and started cutting into the fruit as he answered. “Well, our job here is to create compounds that heal people. And we believe that many of these compounds already exist in nature.”

  The kids’ eyes fixated on the knife slicing through the fruit as they listened to the Santa-like man’s friendly explanation. “Long before there were pharmaceutical companies like Luce Laboratories, medicine men – and women,” he added looking at Binny and Penny, “found all sorts of plants growing that had healing properties. Have your parents ever put aloe on a burn?”

  “My mom has an aloe plant growing on the window sill in the kitchen.” Penny chimed in.

  “Exactly! Your kitchen window sill is just a miniature version of this greenhouse. Here at Luce Laboratories we just grow a lot more plants and use science to enhance the plants and find out what they can do.” The man finished slicing, put the knife back in his pocket, and offered the cutting board with several slices of juicy and tasty looking mango to Binny, Penny, and Zach.

  Binny eyed the fruit suspiciously. “What disease does your mutant mango cure?”

  The man’s eyes lit up with excitement as he took a breath looking like he was thrilled to share the answer. “Hunger!”

  There was a brief moment where the kids didn’t understand the answer and then the old man started laughing. Penny and the others couldn’t help but smile. “I forget to pack my lunch sometimes and the climate in here is perfect for mangoes. I assure you that the only special quality they have is how delicious they are. Go ahead, try some.” The man pushed the cutting board towards the kids, renewing his offer.

  Penny was first to grab a slice, and Zach and Binny soon followed. It was delicious. Juicy. Possibly the best mango they’d ever tasted. They’d done a lot of biking, climbing, and hiding, with the sun beating down overhead and didn’t realize how tired and dehydrated they were. The kids mumbled ‘thank you’s in between bites and the man couldn’t have looked more pleased. “I told you they were delicious.”

  The man continued, “My mission in life is to find the special things given to us by mother nature. They’re not usually as delicious as these mangoes, though. But they do help people fight disease.”

  Binny couldn’t tell if the man’s excitement and friendliness stemmed from his genuine love for his work or from the likelihood that he didn’t get many visitors. Binny stated more than asked him, “When you find these special things that nature makes, these miracle plants, you try to figure out what makes them special.”

  “Exactly, my dear.” The man was thrilled that he’d made his point. “We use the scientific method to find out what medicinal properties a particular plant exhibits.”

  Binny continued, “Doesn’t taking things apart or “enhancing” them to find out what makes them special, kill the thing you’re investigating?”

  Penny’s eyes widened at Binny’s challenge. Zach shot Binny a look: He also thought she was being rude to their host. Binny didn’t notice either of them. She was looking straight at the old man.

  For his part, the man didn’t seem to take offense. He just smiled more broadly, enthusiastically engaging in the argument. “Well, yes, of course, but these are just plants, my dear. And while your concern for them is admirable, when we find something special we share it with the world in the form of medicine. Our job is to find what’s special in nature and share it with eve
ryone to make the world a better place.”

  When that didn’t seem to satisfy Binny, he added, “And of course you’re right. Sometimes we have to help mother nature along. Our scientists spend a lot of time experimenting with and enhancing many of these species until they have just the right medicinal effect. This is the ‘magic’ we do here.”

  “That’s them.” The thin woman in the lab coat burst through the door to the greenhouse followed by two large men clad in black from head-to-toe. One of them had “HEAD OF SECURITY” embroidered on his chest pocket. On the other pocket was presumably his name, “G. GRATER”. His even bigger counterpart only had his name embroidered: “V. BARRIOS”. There was no mistaking it now. The thin woman was definitely angry.

  “I’m so sorry, have they been bothering you?” The woman glared at the three kids as she addressed the old man.

  The man laughed, “Oh, hello Dr. Trace. No. Not at all. I’ve just had the pleasure of showing them what we do here in the greenhouse and at the lab in general.”

  “You said your mother works in the Records Room. She most certainly does not.” Now Dr. Trace was addressing Binny, her finger pointing sharply, her face extra pinched. “This is a place of business, not a playground.”

  “There must be some confusion. The children are working on a summer science project, learning about how we can harness the power of nature to make medicine. Their mother suggested they come here to do some research. Right children?” The man was now looking directly at Binny for confirmation. A mischievous sparkle in his eye now accompanied the perpetual smile on his face.

  Quickly overcoming her surprise at the old man’s covering for them, Binny agreed enthusiastically. “Oh yes. We’re doing research. You’re doing very interesting work here.” Binny nodded towards the rows of plants nearby.

  “It’s perfect for our science project.” Penny added.

  Zach looked nervous and confused at the strange turn of events.

  The security men stood there stone faced, but had relaxed their stances a little bit. The one in charge, Grater, looked a little disappointed.

  Dr. Trace was even more annoyed than when she’d entered the greenhouse. “Who has school projects over the summer?”

  “We’re very studious.” Binny offered earnestly.

  “Little girl. You told me your mother worked here.”

  “Did I?” Binny responded looking up at the ceiling of the greenhouse pretending to be confused. But she couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from turning up in a bit of a smile at the woman the old man had called Dr. Trace.

  Zach could see that Binny’s smugness was infuriating Dr. Trace even further. “We really better get home now to write down what we learned and work on our project. Thank you so much.” Zach started pushing the girls towards the door.

  The kids mumbled goodbyes to the old man as the two large security officers parted ways to let them out. “Thanks for the mango. It was delicious.” Penny yelled back as the door closed behind them.

  This time as the kids made their escape from the thin woman, they couldn’t contain their laughter and started giggling the moment the door slammed shut.

  §

  The laughter subsided after the first few minutes of the bike ride home.

  “That was awesome!!” Penny shouted exultantly.

  “That was insane.” Zach corrected her. “We almost got in huge trouble.”

  “But we didn’t. Why is that?” The question changed Binny’s mood from giddy relief to contemplative and serious. “Why did the greenhouse caretaker cover for us?”

  “Those mangoes were amazingly delicious.” Penny was remembering how juicy they were as she said the words.

  “Seriously, why did he lie to that angry lady?” Binny repeated.

  “Seriously, they were delicious.” Penny said, imitating Binny’s somber tone.

  Zach burst out laughing at Penny’s joke. But Binny was getting annoyed. Even though Penny was a new friend, she sure did say irritating things sometimes.

  “You guys are being jerks!” Binny pedaled faster to move ahead of her brother and her friend.

  “Hey, hey, we were just kidding.” Zach offered, giving Penny a look that said maybe they should ease up on Binny.

  Binny came to a stop and turned to face the others. “We didn’t go there to eat. We went there to get answers to our questions. In case you two have forgotten, Cassie can turn herself invisible, and Mom got pregnant with the help of an experimental drug made by those weirdos at Luce Laboratories. I don’t think plants are the only things they experiment on!”

  Penny and Zach were just staring at Binny now, mouths open, not quite knowing what to say.

  “Did you hear him?” Binny continued. “In order to enhance things that occur naturally, they first dissect them to find out what makes them special!” Binny was almost yelling.

  “I don’t think he used the word ‘dissect’.” Zach said.

  “It doesn’t matter. That’s what scientists do. They dissect things!” Binny replied.

  Penny tried to be conciliatory offering gently, “He was talking about plants.”

  Binny turned on Penny angrily, “I know what he was talking about. Believe me, I know.”

  Zach and Penny didn’t know what to say to mollify Binny. She was clearly convinced.

  Binny had made up her mind about something. “We need to confront Huitre.”

  “What?” Zach and Penny raised their voices in unison?

  “Huitre is the connection between Luce Laboratories and Mom. He’s the one who gave her the drug. We need to go talk to him.”

  “You think he’s just going to tell us what he did?” Zach was skeptical.

  “I do.”

  “Why?”

  “We’re kids. Adults think that they can get away with anything. Nobody believes kids. That lady, Dr. Trace, didn’t believe us, but she believed the old man. He’ll tell us what he did because he thinks nobody would believe us anyway.”

  “I think you watch too much TV.” Penny responded.

  “I don’t want to go back into that house. We barely got away with it last time.” Zach looked decidedly unexcited for another visit to Dr. Huitre’s, and Dr. Huitre’s dog.

  “There’s no other choice. We need to protect Cassie.”

  Zach decided to try a different tack with his sister. “Okay, let’s say we go over there and he does admit what he did. Even if he tells us, how would we prove that to Mom and Dad?”

  “I’ll have your phone in my pocket recording the conversation.” Their mom had bought Zach a phone when he got old enough to start riding his bike all over the neighborhood.

  “You really do watch too much TV.” Penny interjected again.

  “I! Do! Not!” Now Binny was yelling.

  “You’re being bossy. I’m outta here.” Penny had hit her breaking point with Binny and decided to pedal home on her own.

  Zach watched Penny get smaller and smaller as she rode on alone. “You’re scaring me a little, Binny,” he said.

  “Good. You should be scared. Something weird is going on here. And if we don’t uncover it, something bad is going to happen to Cassie. I don’t trust Dr. Huitre. I don’t trust that Dr. Trace at Luce Laboratories. And I don’t trust Mom and Dad to pay attention long enough to notice that your sister – our sister – is in danger.”

  Zach was fully chastened. And determined. “OK. You’re right. I’ll help.”

  §

  It was just after lunch when Binny and Zach arrived at home to quietly grab something to eat and then slip out to confront Dr. Huitre. As they had earlier in the day, they wanted to avoid having Cassie tag along. But this time they weren’t so lucky.

  “There you are. I have to go meet your mother for an appointment downtown and I need you guys to watch your sister.” Jay ignored Zach and Binny’s protests as he headed out the door, adding “And this time, please actually keep track of where she is. I don’t want a repeat of yesterday. We’ll be back in
time to make dinner.” With that, Jay was out the door and the Jordan children were on their own again.

  “What should we play?” Cassie asked her older siblings the moment the door had closed.

  “Now what?” Zach said in a low voice to Binny.

  Binny, her face set tightly, her eyes focused intently on her little sister, responded to Zach, “She’s going to have to come with.”

  16

  The Magic Markers

  “I thought the whole point of this exercise was to keep her out of danger.” Zach kept his voice quiet so Cassie, who was right behind them, wouldn’t hear. “And now we’re taking her straight to the house of the guy who probably put her in danger in the first place? This makes no sense.”

  Binny kept walking determinedly towards Dr. Huitre’s house with Zach and Cassie trailing behind her. Zach looked at Binny for a while longer hoping that maybe his expectant stare at the back of her head would prompt a response. But after a bit he gave up, realizing that no answer was forthcoming.

  As for Binny, she felt a lot less confident than she looked. She tried to focus on just a few important facts to guide her. Her sister had the power to make herself invisible. Their obstetrician had given their mother an experimental drug before she got pregnant. If the lab, or anyone else for that matter found out what Cassie could do, they would take her away and do experiments on her. These things were clear.

  Binny’s parents’ total lack of usefulness was another thing that was clear. Whatever it was that was distracting them was clearly more important than this. But what could be more important than their children being in danger?

  Binny didn’t know why she was so certain that she and her siblings were in danger, but she was. Binny had a strong feeling. And usually, when she had a strong feeling, she was right. And that meant it was up to her – with or without help – to deal with the situation.

  Knock. Knock. Knock. Each of Binny’s knocks on Dr. Huitre’s door punctuated her thoughts. She was doing the right thing. The necessary thing. For Cassie.

  Binny fidgeted with the phone in her pocket. Zach had helped her set it to record before she started knocking. Zach and Cassie stood behind her. Zach was nervous, but Cassie had a big smile, likely inspired by the prospect of more junk food. For a moment Binny thought there would be no answer at the door. But just as she was considering what to do next, the door opened.

  Dr. Huitre was on a phone call. Again. He smiled broadly as he opened the door, winking at the kids, and motioning towards the phone against his ear. “Yes. Of course I am listening,” he said into the phone, and then mouthed the words “come in come in” to the kids as he shut the door behind them.

  Rembrandt snuffled up to Cassie as the kids entered the house. Zach stood so far back from the dog his back was almost up against the front door.

  The man disappeared down the hallway to his office, gesturing to the kids that he’d be done in a minute or two and to make themselves at home while he wrapped up his call.

  “Cassie, what are you doing?” Binny reproached her little sister.

  Cassie had marched over to the kitchen counter to retrieve the markers she’d been using the previous day. Next to them were a few sheets of what looked like scrap paper. She had helped herself and started drawing at the table. “I’m coloring.” Cassie responded, ignoring her sister’s annoyed tone.

  Binny was about to put an end to that when Zach intervened and told her it was no big deal. At least Cassie was distracted. Zach had a good point.

  Soon Dr. Huitre reappeared, his phone call apparently concluded. “So sorry about that, children. Would you like some cookies?”

  Before Zach or Binny could respond, Cassie piped up with an instant “Yes please.” Binny shook her head.

  “We didn’t come here for cookies.” Binny replied to Dr. Huitre.

  “Well, whatever the reason, I am glad you did. You are always welcome to visit. My front door is open to you children.” Rembrandt was over-excited at having guests in the Huitre home. Dr. Huitre led Rembrandt out to the backyard, closing the sliding door after the dog. Binny could sense Zach’s relief.

  Why was Dr. Huitre being so friendly? And why was he referring to the front door specifically? Did he know they had been the ones to break in? Binny steeled herself and continued. “We want to know what you did to our mother.”

  A ripple of uncertainty flashed across the doctor’s face as he arranged the cookies and brought the plate to the table where Cassie was coloring. “Did? To your mother? I did not ‘do’ anything to her. I helped your parents have the three of you. I assure you this is completely standard medical practice.”

  “But you didn’t give my mother the standard drugs. You gave her experimental ones.” Binny replied acidly.

  “Ha. Yes.” Binny thought Huitre’s frivolity sounded forced. “Well, clinical trials of new drugs are also standard. I assure you.”

  “But this one wasn’t. Was it?” Binny’s question seemed to finally shake Dr. Huitre’s confidence. He looked as if he didn’t know how to respond. Binny continued. “You know that already. Don’t you?” Binny paused gathering up her courage for her next statement. In a low voice she continued, “Why are you so interested in my sister, Dr. Huitre?”

  Dr. Huitre had retreated to the kitchen, pouring Cassie a glass of milk. But he couldn’t retreat far enough to get away from Binny’s questions. At her final statement, his shoulders slumped and he seemed to come to an internal conclusion.

  Huitre returned to the living room and sat down on the couch, motioning for Binny and Zach to sit down as well. “Please, call me Henry,” he said as they all sat down.

  “Why are you so interested in my sister, Henry?” Binny repeated.

  “Binny, Zach,” Huitre responded, looking earnestly at each of them as he said their names. “It is true that I know what your sister can do.”

  Binny’s mind went blank for a moment. She did her best to try and hide her reaction, but she couldn’t think straight. Of course she knew that Dr. Huitre must have known about Cassie, probably for much longer than she did, but to hear him come right out and say it was shocking.

  Zach, who hadn’t said a word up until now, responded calmly, “We don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Zach’s cool refocused Binny’s mind on the task at hand – getting Dr. Huitre to incriminate himself on tape. And it seemed like they were already halfway there.

  Dr. Huitre ignored Zach’s comment, presumably knowing it was untrue, and continued, “Your sister is not just special. What she can do is unparalleled.” Dr. Huitre was talking quickly and excitedly now. “I saw her, the other day, she was surrounded by beautiful swirls of light for a moment and then she just disappeared. Invisible. I don’t really know. I don’t believe in miracles, but I have no other words. Un ‘événement surnaturel’.” Huitre was so excited he started speaking in his native French. When he saw the puzzled looks on his audience’s faces he quickly added, “Oh, so sorry. A supernatural event.”

  Binny and Zach looked at each other. Not quite sure what to say. And not believing their ears. It was strange to see the doctor’s unbridled excitement. But would he reveal anything that they could use to protect Cassie?

  Huitre calmed a little bit, hunching closer to Binny and Zach as his comments took a more scientific bent. “Your little sister may be a result of genetic drift. She may represent the greatest evolutionary leap since chimpanzees and humans. She may even be the first example of a new superhuman race!”

  Binny and Zach’s mouths were wide open as they processed Huitre’s statements.

  “Do you have any pretzels?”

  §

  The seven-year-old that according to Dr. Henry Huitre might be the first example of a new superhuman race wanted pretzels. Huitre hastily jumped up to accommodate her. As soon as his back was turned, Binny turned to Zach, now more distressed than ever. Zach motioned to her to settle down. They still had a job to do. When the pretzels had been dispensed
, Huitre returned to his position on the couch.

  Zach addressed Huitre. “If what you’re saying was true, I suppose you and your good friends at Luce Laboratories would want to put her in a lab to see how she does it?”

  Dr. Huitre started laughing at that accusation. “No, no, no. It is not like in the movies. Well yes. But no.” Huitre noticed the distrustful looks on the faces of the two siblings. “Sorry sorry. You are correct, that if people knew about this, it would have a profound impact on the life of your sister.” Binny sucked in her breath, her worst fears confirmed. “But we cannot let that happen. Nobody can know what your sister can do.”

  “What you think she can do.” Binny said cautiously.

  “Yes. Of course.” Huitre allowed Zach and Binny to continue denying the existence of Cassie’s powers.

  “But you admit that Luce Laboratories is interested in Cassie?” Zach kept up the interrogation.

  “Yes. That is true. They are interested. But I am not entirely sure why.”

  “It’s because of that experimental drug you gave my mom!” Binny accused.

  Huitre sighed. “You may be right about that.”

  Binny could hardly believe that Huitre was confirming everything she had suspected. She had known there was something fishy about him, and here was proof that she was right.

  Huitre continued. “I am your mother’s doctor. And by extension I am your doctor. I would never knowingly recommend or administer any medicine that I thought would harm her.”

  “Knowingly? Knowingly? So you admit that the drug did something?” Binny’s voice kept getting louder.

  “No no. Of course not. I thought at the time, and still do, since I have no evidence to the contrary, that your mother participated in a clinical trial of a fertility drug which happily resulted in the three of you. But…”

  “But you’re not 100% sure whether this fertility drug had other effects.” Zach said quietly.

  “No. I am not sure. Because the people at Luce Laboratories have asked all the doctors who participated in the study for updates on any children born as a result of this drug trial. To report back on any ‘abnormalities’.”

  “Abnormalities? They think the drug might result in something being wrong with Cassie?”

  “Not just Cassie. All of you. But the only subject who has exhibited anything out of the ordinary has been Cassie. Unless either of you can do something you have not told me about.”

  “Of course not.” Binny immediately chimed in. Zach didn’t say anything until Binny glanced sideways at him, prompting him to agree.

  “Of course not. No.” Zach concurred.

  “It is normal for drug companies like Luce to follow up on clinical trials many years later. But usually they will articulate specific issues that might come up. Things the doctor should look for. They haven’t done that. So that is a bit worrisome.”

  “So tell them that there are no abnormalities and we can all move on with our lives.” Binny seemed satisfied with her suggestion.

  Huitre thought for a second, “The people at Luce seem determined to bring Cassie in for an examination regardless of what I say. I think we should agree to bring Cassie in for the exam under my supervision. I will be there the whole time. When they do not find anything, Cassie will be free to go and then you can move on with your lives.”

  “Your ‘supervision’ is what got us into this situation in the first place.” Binny responded sharply.

  “The abnormality they’re looking for is the ‘special power’ you think you saw Cassie perform.” Zach said. “You think the fertility treatment is responsible for this power. You think they did it on purpose. You believe that Luce Laboratories gave our mom this drug in the hope that Cassie would develop a super power.”

  Huitre’s face said everything Binny needed to know. Binny stood up, “You did this to all of us. You were in on it. And now you want to put Cassie in even more danger!”

  “Binny, I am so sorry about my involvement. But I truly believe…” Dr. Huitre tried to calm Binny down.

  Binny cut him off, getting even angrier, “You know what? I don’t really care what you believe. You expect me to let you take my sister over to Luce Laboratories to poke and prod her? I don’t trust them. And I don’t trust you. I think you’re hiding something.”

  Zach was standing now too. He put his hand on Binny’s shoulder to try and calm her down. She didn’t seem to notice.

  “What if they do find something? Or what if they pretend to find something? If they weren’t honest about the drug you gave our mom, then what makes you think they’d be honest about this? Everyone told me it was nothing. But it’s not nothing. Something’s not right here!” Binny was yelling loudly. Her hands were shaking.

  “Binny, calm down. I promise I will supervise. Nobody will get hurt. I do not believe Luce Laboratories intended or intends to hurt anyone. This is about making sure that all you kids are safe. Not to mention, I do not think we have a choice. I will call the lab. You will see. It will be fine.”

  The living room where Binny, Zach, and Dr. Huitre were sitting spanned two stories. A large modern metal chandelier hung from the high ceiling above. The chandelier was attached to a long chain that snaked through a loop in the ceiling and was connected to a spot on the wall nearby. The chandelier could be raised or lowered by pulling on the chain.

  Binny and Zach wouldn’t have noticed the chandelier except that just as Dr. Huitre said he was going to call the lab, it came flying down, landing directly on his head. Huitre hit the floor, and then his body was still.

  Everything seemed to freeze for a second. When Binny and Zach looked up, standing by the wall where the chain holding up the chandelier had been attached, stood Penny.

  They looked back down at Dr. Huitre lying on the floor, a small crimson pool forming around his head.

  17

  The Last Madrona Tree

  “Oh no. I’m so sorry. I thought he was going to send Cassie away. Is he okay?” Penny looked scared.

  Cassie had finally looked up from her intense coloring session to see what was happening.

  “Did you do that?” Binny wondered aloud, sounding more calm than she felt.

  Zach knelt down by Huitre to inspect the damage.

  “I felt bad about leaving you guys. I knew you were coming here, and I wanted to make sure you were okay. I went through the backyard, and snuck in through the broken back door. Things started getting out of hand, and you looked so upset, and he said he was gonna call Luce Laboratories, and I just touched the wall and I must have accidentally unlocked the chain.” Penny was in tears now. “Is he dead?” she wailed.

  “He’s alive.” Zach had two fingers pressed to Dr. Huitre’s neck, carefully avoiding the blood that was slowing to a trickle from the small gash on the doctor’s head. “I think he’s what they call ‘out cold’.”

  “Will he be alright?” Cassie was now peering down at the doctor too, her face creased with worry. Finally something was more interesting than her coloring.

  “That cut looks bad.” Penny was still sniffling and the look of worry hadn’t left her face.

  “I think it looks worse than it is.” Zach said.

  As the children pondered his condition Dr. Huitre started to stir.

  “He’ll be fine. See? He’s waking up. We need to leave.” Binny’s tone left no room for argument. “Now!”

  §

  Binny led them out the door, but not towards the Jordan house. Cassie was clutching the coloring she’d managed to grab before the older kids had shooed her out of the house.

  “Why are we going to the woods?” Zach asked softly, not wanting to agitate his sister further.

  “I need to think.” Binny said.

  The foursome traveled the winding path that Binny had walked on her own so many times before.

  “Ooh. Cool.” Penny stretched out the words when they arrived at the abandoned car that had been Binny’s secret hideout for so long.

  “Is thi
s where you always run off to?” Zach had a smile on his face.

  Binny looked up a little sheepishly, finally letting go of a little of the tension that had built up. “Caleb calls it my ‘fortress of solitude’.”

  “Your fortress is a little rusty.” Zach teased.

  Everyone laughed, but worry about the state in which they’d left Dr. Huitre was still in the back of their minds.

  Cassie headed towards the abandoned car intent on exploring its insides.

  “Don’t go in there!” Binny stopped Cassie in her tracks. “There’s dog poop. I haven’t had a chance to clean it out yet.”

  “Ewww.” Cassie thought better of her original plan.

  The kids sat down on a pair of logs near the car. “I didn’t mean to hurt him. I swear.” Penny was still shaken about the chandelier dropping on Huitre’s head.

  “I don’t know that you had anything to do with it. The chandelier could just be a coincidence. And besides, he was up to no good. He knew that Luce Labs was up to something, and this is the proof.” Binny brandished the cellphone in her hands.

  “Right. You recorded him!” Penny looked a little bit relieved.

  “Why does it only say 18 seconds?” Binny was starting to sound nervous.

  “What do you mean?” Zach asked.

  “The recording. The phone says the recording is only 18 seconds long.”

  Binny hit the play button. The recording ended when Huitre let them in the door. “Argh! I was holding it, I must have accidentally turned it off.” Binny looked utterly dejected. All that for nothing!

  Penny and Zach tried hard to stay quiet and not catch Binny’s eye. She was looking absolutely miserable. Penny looked up at the branches overhead. Zach chose to stay focused on Cassie to make sure his eyes didn’t wander. That’s when it caught his eye. A symbol he’d seen before.

  “Cassie, what is that?” Zach pointed at the papers Cassie was holding.

  “My coloring. Wanna see?”

  Zach eagerly took possession of the papers.

  “You’re looking at the wrong side.” Cassie said.

  Zach was holding the first sheet, but Cassie’s drawing of a pink limousine was on the back of the page he was looking at.

  “I think you guys are gonna want to see this.” Zach said.

  “You’re still looking at the wrong side.” Cassie whined.

  Binny and Penny gathered behind Zach, looking at the back of Cassie’s drawing. The Luce Laboratories logo was at the top. As were the names Julie Jordan and Cassie Jordan listed as “TRIAL PARTICIPANT” and “TRIAL