The Secret of Rover (23 page)

“
David!
Oh my
God
!”

“'Cause we only have fourteen dollars! That's all I meant, Kat!”

“Oh my
God
. I don't
know
you!”

But Alex did not seem to care. “David,” he said. “I'm sorry to interrupt you. But would you please stop that rustling noise?”

“I'm not. It's Katie.”

“I am not scuffing!”

“Well, whatever it is you're doing, please stop. It isn't necessary to make noise everywhere we go. I think that city children sometimes forget—”

“Uncle Alex.”

Something in David's voice stopped Alex in midsentence and he whipped around to face his niece and nephew. They were not rustling. In fact, they were not walking at all. They were standing stock-still, with faces
white as death. And from the woods to their left came a steady, stealthy dry noise, like the scuffing of old leaves.

Neither Katie nor David could have predicted that the sound of one small pistol would be so loud. It was so loud that it was as if they hadn't even heard it. It was rather that they felt it in their chests.

Alex had pointed the muzzle at the sky, and the bullet went straight up and disappeared. Birds they hadn't even known were there shrieked and fled in a whirl of noise and feathers. For a long moment, the boom hung in the air, echoing off the surrounding mountains. And to their left, an unseen something bounded away through the underbrush.

They all listened to its retreating footsteps until they could hear them no more. The stillness that followed was complete.

At last Alex spoke. His face was ashen, but his voice was firm. “Katie, David,” he said. “I'd like both of you to know that that was a deer.”

“Um, right,” said David.

“David, I have lived on this mountain for fifteen years,” Alex said. “I know a buck when I hear one. Are we ready to go on now?”

“Sure,” said Katie.

“I'll bring up the rear this time.” Alex waved the pistol. “There will be no further need for this. I'll be putting it away now. Kids, proceed.”

They did. But they managed to meet each other's eyes,
and their raised brows signaled that they were thinking the same thought.

A deer?

As they rounded the twists and turns of the creek, Katie and David could see the sunlight flash off the bright metal object that their uncle continued to grip in his hand.

The sun was fully up—and Alex's gun was finally stashed away—by the time they reached the road. The creepiness of their walk faded in the brightness of the day and the normalcy of pavement and cars.

The plan was to meet Mike at the bridge. He had arrived before them and had found a spot to park. As soon as he saw them trudging toward him down the road he stepped out of his cab and leaned against the side, his massive arms folded, watching.

“He doesn't look very friendly,” said David while they were still out of earshot.

“I imagine he wants to take a look at me,” said Alex. “It's a little unusual to take a taxi from Vermont to Washington DC. And from what you say, he's concerned about you. He probably wants to make sure I'm really your uncle.”

“What do we do?” asked Katie. It would be awful if Mike tried to separate them.

“Don't do anything,” said Alex mildly. “He's just being responsible. I'm sure I'd feel exactly the way he does, if I were him.”

Nobody said another word until they reached the cab. Then Alex and Mike shook hands. “I appreciate you coming out to talk to us,” said their uncle.

Mike gave him a steely look but did not reply. Instead, he turned to David.

“How're you doin', kid?”

“Good. Thanks.”

He turned to Katie. “You?”

“I'm fine, thank you.”

“You two kids want to go to Washington with this man?” Mike demanded with a penetrating stare.

They assured him that they did, and he sighed heavily. His sharp eyes peered for a long while at Alex, then at David, then back to Alex.

Then, unexpectedly, Mike's features relaxed. He unfolded his arms, stood up straight, and clapped Alex on the shoulder. “Well,” he said, looking Alex straight in the eye, “one thing's for sure—no, two things. One, those kids are a lot cleaner. They're lookin' better. And two, he looks just like you.” With a jerk of his head Mike indicated David. “You got that same face. Let's talk about this trip. Where're you folks wantin' to go?”

Alex opened the door of the cab and indicated with a glance that Katie and David were to get in. As they did they heard him say, “First to the Bank of the North, in Melville.” And then the door closed. Hearing nothing, for some time they watched the two men talk.

At length Mike and Alex shook hands, and then Alex got in the back with the children. “We're on,” he said, looking relieved. “It'll be a long ride—about ten hours.” He glanced at his watch. “It's a little after nine right now. We'll get there at dusk if we're lucky. But Mike's a good guy.” He chuckled. “To tell you the truth, I think he just wants to keep an eye on me.”

Now Mike, who had been walking around to the driver's side, opened his door and lowered himself behind the wheel. The whole car sank as he did so. “OK!” he announced cheerfully. “First stop, Melville. Next stop: Washington DC.”

Mike turned the key and the motor sprang to life. He backed the cab into position, swung out into the road, and they were off, rolling smoothly down the same route the children had walked just two days before. David looked at Katie and Katie looked at David, and each knew they were thinking the same thing: cars. It's amazing how fast you can move when you drive.

Melville was just waking up when they arrived in town. The sun sparkled on the town square where Mike had left them two days earlier and gleamed on the brass fittings of the Bank of the North. David couldn't help noticing how relaxing it was not to worry whether anyone was looking at them.

“I'll just be a minute,” said Alex, hopping briskly out of the cab, which Mike had parked in an open spot. David
and Katie watched their uncle sprint up the bank's white marble steps and disappear through the heavy wooden doors.

Mike turned heavily around in his seat and for a moment they worried that he was going to question them. But instead he smiled. “Now,” he said, “what kind of radio do you kids like?” And for the next few minutes they busied themselves reviewing the on-air options in Vermont.

Then the door was opening and their uncle was returning. He patted the pocket of his jeans reassuringly. “All set,” he said and handed an envelope to Mike, who removed a metal box from under the passenger seat and locked the money inside.

Both men asked Katie and David about bathrooms and both kids shook their heads. Mike hitched his thick arm along the back of the seat and screwed his head around, squinting over his shoulder at the road behind him before backing out of his space.

Katie sighed for an instant, just savoring the blessedness of being in a regular place where people had ordinary concerns. Over in front of the market the grocer was sweeping the sidewalk. He was getting ready to open up. The post office was being painted. A black SUV with a crooked fender was pulling out beside them; the driver was probably thinking about getting that fender fixed. It was normal. It was nice.

Then they swung into the road and in no time at all
they were past the square, rolling out of town, and headed south toward Washington.

It was great to be in a regular car with two adults. The dank and smelly trucks in which they had ridden on their way north seemed like a distant memory on this sunny and comfortable trip south. Mike, who had been so taciturn on their first ride with him, turned out to be a cheerful and voluble talker. And gradually the uneasiness Katie and David had felt ever since Yonkers began to seem silly and faded away.

So it took a while for Katie to realize that their uncle, sitting at her right, was not sharing in the happy mood the rest of them were enjoying. Glancing up at his solemn face she realized that what was luxuriously normal to them must feel very strange to him. She stared until he turned and met her eyes.

“Thank you,” she said awkwardly. “For all this, I mean.” As soon as the words were out she realized that she should have said them sooner.

David looked over, surprised. “Oh yeah,” he said. “Yeah, thanks. I guess this is pretty weird for you, huh? Being out here and everything.”

Alex had stiffened in surprise at Katie's words, but now his startled face softened in grateful pleasure. For a minute he blinked, not replying. Both children earnestly hoped he wouldn't cry.

“There's no need for either of you to thank me,” he
said at last, feelingly. “And yes, it's a little weird. It's very weird,” he corrected, “but not bad.”

Glancing in the rearview mirror David could see Mike staring at them.

“You two run away from home?” he queried sharply. “Is that it?” None of them replied, so Mike continued. “Well, it's a good thing he's taking you back. I know things can get rough with parents and kids, but running away is never the answer. Got kids myself. Say”—Mike turned to Alex—“how come you're livin' on that mountain, anyway? You like bein' all by yourself?”

Katie was indignant. She liked Mike, but this was rude. Even David—who was not exactly Mr. Tact—had known not to ask Alex about his solitary way of life.

David, though, just eyed their uncle curiously. It was true that he hadn't asked, but he certainly wanted to know.

“I was . . . ,” began Alex stiffly. “I live there because—well, before I lived there, I was . . . I was attached to someone. To a lady.”

Now Katie and David both eyed their uncle. This was
quite
interesting.

“I wanted to marry her,” Alex continued, “but she . . . she . . .”

“Another guy,” finished Mike. “Dude, that's rough.”

“Certainly not!” Alex retorted.

Go Alex, thought David, pleased by this display of backbone.

“Beg pardon?” said Mike.

“There was no one else,” continued Alex, stammering. “But she—she had a bright future ahead of her and—and a crowded and busy one. And I'm—I don't like a fast life,” he finished lamely.

No kidding, thought David.

“So she—she—” And here Alex faltered. Mike jumped in to help.

“So,” he offered, “I'm guessing she went her way and you went yours.”

“Yes,” said Alex, relieved.

“Rough, dude. Rough. Like I said. But it looks like you got a good setup anyways. How're you fixed? You pretty comfortable up there?”

Katie and David were amazed. Mike, who didn't know Alex at all, had managed to ask a question that they, his niece and nephew, wouldn't have touched with tongs. What's more, he'd gotten an answer.

And now Alex positively brightened. With obvious pride, he began to explain how he managed in his small house.

They all had questions about this and Alex, warming to his topic, answered every one. Then Mike talked about Vermont, where he had been born and raised, and Alex told how things had been when
he
was growing up.

Then David and Katie wanted to know what their mom
had been like when she was a kid, and what Alex had thought of their dad when they'd first met. And the miles disappeared beneath the wheels of the swiftly flying taxi.

None of them wanted to stop for proper meals, so when the bread and cheese were gone, Katie and David and Mike began looking for drive-through restaurants.

“Drive-through food,” said Alex sternly. “I accept the need for such a thing on a day like today, when we're in a very big hurry. But I hope you children aren't eating that junk all the time. It's very heavily processed. And if you can't even take a couple of minutes to sit down and eat like human beings, then you have to ask yourself—”

“Mega Burger!” Mike announced, interrupting. “Beg pardon, Alex. But there we go, kids. Next exit.”

Katie and David looked at each other. They had always loved Mega Burger, but seeing Nose in a Mega Burger jacket had kind of killed their appetite for it.

“No, thanks,” said Katie.

Their uncle looked very proud.

Mike looked curiously into his rearview mirror. “Sum'pm wrong with Mega Burger?” he demanded.

“It's a long story,” said Katie.

“Taquito Frito is better,” said David.

“Well, OK,” said Mike. “But those burgers are right here and I'm hungry now.” He gunned it past the exit.

“Taquit—”Alex just sighed and looked out the window.

They did find a Taquito Frito, but as Mike had predicted, it took a while to get there. By the time they did everyone was hungry. Katie, David, and Mike selected enormous combos featuring delectable fried tacos stuffed with savory fillings, and cheese-slathered sides of spicy rice and creamy beans. To wash down this feast everyone ordered tall, icy drinks, sweet with syrup. Alex, however, studied the menu with pain in his eyes and ultimately selected a salad and a cup of coffee.