Annie's Adventures (10 page)

"I'm really glad you all could make it." Will looked relieved. Who could blame him? Without us, he'd have been stuck with just Mandy.

"We wouldn't miss it for the world," Zinnia said.

"So, you're nine now." Rebecca punched Will lightly on the shoulder.

Will rubbed his arm. Apparently, the punch hadn't been that light.

"Don't worry," Will said amiably, "you'll get there too. I mean, if you just keep getting older, it's bound to happen, right?"

Mrs. Simms showed us where to put our present, which we had wrapped as well as we could. We placed it next to the only other present.

"Who wrapped your present," Mandy Stenko shouted to us from where she was swinging upside down on the jungle bars, "your cats?"

It was, sadly, true: our present did look ratty—at least the wrapping paper did—when placed beside Mandy's perfectly wrapped one.

"
Our
mother," Annie replied with the testiness of a Georgia or a Rebecca, "was too busy coming up with inventions to save the world to bother with something as silly as wrapping a present perfectly, especially when Will's only going to rip the paper off."

Will rescued the moment by inviting us to join in the play.

But that wasn't as much fun as it normally would have been, because Annie kept yelling at us not to hang upside down or do tumbling.

"But we have tights on!" Georgia objected.

"Doesn't matter," Annie said.

This really was too much. For although Mommy would have made us wear dresses to a party, she never would have stopped us from hanging.

"A woman," Mommy always said, "should always look like a lady.
But,
" she would add, "a scientist should never let fashion get in the way."

Even if Annie was sometimes good at being Daddy, she was definitely no Mommy. So we mostly sat on our hands in chairs as Mandy had all the fun with Will. Mandy's mother had let
her
wear jeans and a T-shirt to the party, and as Rebecca put it, she looked like a mechanic.

When it was time for pizza, at least we had something to do. But Annie insisted we use utensils so we wouldn't drip on our dresses.

Our absent Mommy had been given credit by Mrs. Simms for our pretty clothes. Our absent Mommy had been accused by Mandy of being a poor present wrapper. And everywhere we looked, there were still parents milling. It made Annie try all the harder to be our parent.

Cake time was better, because everyone else had to eat with a fork also. We silently thanked the universe that it was a sheet cake. If it had been cupcakes, Annie probably would have made us use utensils for those too.

"I must say," Rebecca muttered to Annie as she ate the frosting, "you're not making this fun. We might as well be at home cleaning toilets."

It was unfortunate she said that, because Annie had yet to assign any of us to toilet-cleaning detail, and even the cats had started to complain.

But then it was present-opening time. If you can't have your own presents it is almost as much fun watching someone else open up his.

Moving from smallest to largest, Will opened Mandy Stenko's first.

"Wow," he said flatly, trying to muster enthusiasm, "a soccer ball."

"Will hates soccer," Rebecca said.

"No, he doesn't," Mandy hissed. "Didn't you all see how enthusiastic he was when Mrs. McGillicuddy gave him those trading cards? And
you,
" she accused Jackie, "you said it was the wave of the future."

"Did I?" Jackie said. "I
meant
to say it's a silly game. The only reason anyone ever plays it is if they have no imagination."

"Why do you all always have to be so mean?" Mandy asked.

"We're not," Jackie said. "We just don't see why you can never pay attention to people. If you paid attention to Will—outside of us, he
is
your only classmate—you'd know he hates soccer. Everyone knows, except for you and the McG." She turned to Mrs. Simms. "Isn't that right?"

We didn't think Mrs. Simms liked to hurt any child's feelings, but: "He hates it," she said at last, "even worse than taking medicine."

"We're sorry, Mandy," Jackie said, "we wish it weren't true, but it is."

Mandy scowled.

To break the mood, Will opened our present.

"Oh.
My.
" It was all Mrs. Simms could say at the grandiosity of it.

"I've always wanted one of these!" Will practically shouted. "Well, I didn't actually know they even made anything like this. But I always dreamed that someday someone might invent it and I knew I'd want one." He turned to his mother. "Can we set it up right here?"

"Oh, Will," that nice lady said sadly, "I don't think the Kids' Castle people would like that. Besides"—she consulted her watch—"it's just about time for the party to end. Mandy's mother is already here"—of course Mandy Stenko's mother was there; it seemed like everyone in the whole
world's
parents were already there—"so we just need to wait for the girls' parents to arrive and then it'll be time for us to go too."

The girls' parents. Hmm ... where were they?

CHAPTER NINE

We waited, the clock ticking more loudly minute by minute.

"Hmm," Jackie said, "I wonder what's keeping Daddy?"

"You know," Marcia said to Mrs. Simms, "you really can go now. We can wait for Daddy by ourselves. I'm sure he'll be along any moment."

"Don't be ridiculous," Mrs. Simms said. "What kind of hostess would I be? Besides, it's probably against the law."

"Excuse me," Annie said abruptly. "I need to go to the bathroom."

Then Rebecca created a diversion by asking if she could have some more frosting—"please!"—so Mrs. Simms didn't notice that rather than head for the bathroom, Annie raced straight for the back door.

Five minutes later, enough time for Rebecca to get frosting all over her frock, we heard the sound of a horn honking. Loudly.

It was the Hummer.

"Ooh, that must be Daddy!" Jackie said as we all put on our coats, not even bothering to peek in the goody bags Mrs. Simms handed us.

"Well, goodbye!" Zinnia piped up. "Happy birthday again!"

Mrs. Simms squinted out the back door. "Has your father grown a mustache since I last saw him?"

"Oh, yes," Jackie said. "You know ...
France
."

"I should at least say hello to him." Mrs. Simms started for the door.

"Oh, no!" Jackie said. "I mean, didn't Will say his family party is tonight? I suspect you'd want to hurry. And you still have packages to bring out to your car, you know,
out front.
We'd hate to keep you, so..."

"Goodbye again!" Zinnia said.

We rushed out before Mrs. Simms could say anything else. Then we buckled ourselves in and waited for her to totally and completely leave, meaning the parking lot as well. Because of course she was parked in front, like any normal person would be, while we were in the back.

"Some party that was for us, thanks to you," Rebecca said to Annie. "It was about as much fun as the one on New Year's Eve."

"Okay." Annie ignored Rebecca and put the key in the ignition. "Everybody ready?"

We said that we were, but when she turned the key, nothing happened.

"Are you putting your hand on the gas hard enough?" Annie called to Durinda, down beneath her legs.

"Of course I am!" Durinda said, annoyed. "You know, eventually we're going to have to devise a more efficient way of doing this. This can't be safe for everyone else, and it's certainly not safe for me."

"Well, press harder," Annie instructed.

But however hard Durinda pressed, and her grunts told us she was pressing very hard, it wasn't hard enough.

"What are we going to do?" Georgia asked.

"It's too far to walk." Petal's lip quivered. "We'll freeze to death."

"There's nothing for it." Annie picked up the car phone, a device none of us had ever used before. "I'll just have to call Pete." She went through her usual routine-call Information, wait, impersonate Daddy, beg Pete to come help out for double the pay, call him "old chap," and ring off—after which she quickly changed back into her party clothes.

"You look ridiculous," Rebecca said. "Have I mentioned that before?"

"Pretty much," Annie said, "but we can't have Pete seeing me in my Daddy-driving-the-car disguise. He'll know something is up then."

"Like he won't already." Rebecca snickered.

"That's not helpful," Annie said, then as the snow started to fall gently, we all waited in silence for Pete to come.

When he got there, we were hugely relieved. Kids' Castle had closed for the day, and soon it would be dark.

"Hullo, Eights," he said as we all got out to greet him. "What seems to be the problem with the Hummer? And where, by the way, is your dad?"

"In the bathroom," Jackie said.

"Gone for coffee," Marcia said at the same time.

"Huh," Pete said. "And here I thought you'd say he was in France."

"That's Mommy," Zinnia said earnestly. "Weren't you paying proper attention that time you came to visit us?"

"Right-o," Pete said. "Well, while we're waiting for your dad to reappear from ...
wherever he is
, why don't I look at the car for you?"

Which is what he did, moving to climb behind the wheel, but first...

"Huh," he said, the falling snow making his hair look like he had more salt than pepper in it now. "Has your dad shrunk since I last saw him? I don't remember him needing to sit on dictionaries to drive his own car."

"They're reference materials," Jackie said. "Mommy's." Then she finished lamely, having run out of lies, "I don't know how they got there."

"Never mind," Pete said, moving them out of the way. "But you must admit, it is all very strange: dictionaries appearing where they shouldn't be, your dad suddenly speaking with a British accent..."

"Is there any reason why he couldn't be British?" Annie asked irritably. She was sensitive about her Daddy accent. "Couldn't we
all
be British?"

"Sure," Pete said agreeably enough as he moved the seat back, "why not? I mean, we do all
sound
sort of British when we talk. For all we know, we
are
in England." He turned the key in the ignition, but nothing happened.

"Huh," Pete said. "I was sure you were calling me out here on another false alarm, but there really is something wrong." He popped the hood, got out, and started rooting around where we thought the engine might be.

A minute passed, two, three, the sky getting darker all the while. At last we heard a low whistle. Pete's head popped up, and then his hand. In it was a long piece of black rubber with copper wires sticking out of it.

"What's that?" Annie asked. "Did the driver somehow, er, break it?"

"By
driver
you mean your dad?" Pete asked. When Annie nodded, he went on. "No. I'm afraid this is a case of ... sabotage." He eyed us all. "First, you have me come out to the house when nothing is wrong with your car, and now you have me come out here only to find a car that's been tampered with." His gaze narrowed. "Are you sure one of you doesn't have a crush on me and is trying to capture my attention?"

"God,
no!
" we all said at once.

"Do you honestly think," Annie said, raising herself up with the pride of an adult, "that any one of us would
do
something like that?"

Pete studied us for a long time.

"No," he finally admitted. "I suppose not. But then..."

"Then
what?
" Annie said.

"Then if it wasn't any of you, someone—
some other person
—did this. Someone wanted to make sure you wouldn't get home. Or at the very least, that you'd be delayed. Do you have any idea who?"

"No!" we all said. But now we were worried. We had to get home.

"Please, Mr. Pete," Annie begged on our behalf, "is there anything you can do to fix the car?"

"Of course," he said. He got cables and did some stuff. Then he got back behind the wheel and tried the starter again. This time, it hummed.

"We don't know how to thank you," Annie said. "I mean, with a check, of course. But, er, Daddy left the house today without his checkbook..."

"No worries," Pete said. "I've always trusted your dad. But ... my, my, my, he has been gone at the coffee-bathroom for a long time." He paused. "And I really wouldn't feel right leaving until he returns."

Blasted adults! The ones you wanted disappeared on New Year's Eve and the rest kept sticking their nose in your business.

"Please, Mr. Pete." Now Annie was begging in a way we'd never seen her do before; there were practically tears in her eyes. "Please don't wait for our father to return. He can't come back to drive the car if you're here. So if you do wait, you might be waiting for—"

We were all sure she was about to say
forever
, but she never got the chance because Pete, perhaps feeling sorry for her, cut her off.

"Stop babbling, lamb," he said gently. "If it makes you fret so to have me wait, I won't do it. But do me just one favor, to ease my mind."