Brass Monkeys (41 page)

Ray chuckled. “Can’t do it, man. I’m working for Adjana now and I gotta get back ‘cause we’re in a big fight for our lives down there.”

“Wait, I thought Ming was a prisoner and all that?”

“She is. We still got loopy Strobe and Fundabore too, but we’ve had some big setbacks. The first bad thing happened on the way to the cliffs right after our battle at Ming-daddy’s school. The Stormies caught the truck carrying Ming and the others. We managed to hold onto them, but in all the jumping and jiving around, McGinty’s book got lost or captured. Not sure which. Second, we’d been holding onto the roller coaster station—Perkins and his boys had captured some weapons in the city—and we’d been doing real good. But just before I left, we lost control of half the station. I was lucky to get out. So beyond our half of the station, we only control one road out of town, part of the cliffs where the rope elevator is, and the Blue Grotto. The Stormies got all the rest.

“Wow, that sounds kind of bad.”

Ray nodded bleakly. “It is. Anyway, I’m supposed to stay around until tonight so I can find out whether or not Jack and the rest got their jobs. And then I got one last thing to take care of. You probably can guess what’s that about.”

I stared at him. “You’re talking about the last part of my mission, right?”

“You got it. But before we talk about it, I wonder if I could get something to eat? Man, food is running short down there, and I really worked up an appetite bringing Jack and the others up.”

I grinned. “C’mon with me. You’re getting a home-cooked meal at my place.”

So that was how Raymondo came to my house and had Christmas dinner with us. And how I learned about the last part of my mission.

Mom got off early from work that afternoon, and when she came in around 3:00, she was surprised to find me home so soon. I know I kind of stunned her when I jumped up and gave her a huge crusher of a hug. Normally I wouldn’t have done that in front of a friend, but I was so happy to see her I couldn’t help myself.

“Wow,” Mom gasped. “What’s this all about?”

I could feel my throat tightening up, and I knew I was going to get emotional if I tried to explain the hug. To cover myself, I jumped right in and began introducing Ray. I said he was a new friend of mine at school and I was hoping he could stay for dinner.

She grinned. “Looks like you guys have already been into things.”

“Just a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” I said. “You know, to sort of hold us until you got here.”

Christmas was still four days away, and I knew Mom had originally planned on having our big dinner on Christmas Eve, but I started talking like a madman trying to convince her to bump everything up. I hinted strongly that Ray might not be able to have a Christmas of any kind, and I told her I’d also been bragging up her cooking to him.

I’m sure Mom knew something was afoot, but she never let on.

Being the champ she is, she just grinned and said Ray would get a great meal tonight no matter if it was a Christmas dinner or not.

But then a few minutes later, when she and I were alone, she got a little glint of mischief in her eyes and said, “Look, if you want your Christmas dinner tonight, just tell me how much you like your new school. Who knows, if you’re convincing enough …?” I knew she was going to do the Christmas dinner all along, but I thought her little game was kind of cute.

“Mom,” I began, and I was glad I could say it truthfully, “it’s the most amazing, fantastic, out-of-the-box school I’ve ever gone to.”

She smiled with such genuine happiness, I was glad I’d said it.

“You get your Christmas dinner tonight,” she said. “In fact, I think we’ll have a little party.”

If I live to be two hundred and ten, I’ll bet I never have a better Christmas. Mom had gotten a tree the night she and Doris went shopping, and Ray and I started decorating it. It must have been about six-thirty when I heard the sound of a car engine. I looked out and saw Alvin’s red Jeep come slewing into the drive.

“What the heck?” I muttered. Frowning, I watched Weeser, Alvin, and Harriet get out.

“I asked them to come,” said Mom. She must have seen my frown. “I hope it’s okay? I mean, you guys get along so fabulously.”

“Oh yeah, we do,” I said. “Fabulously.”

Watching Harriet walk gracefully to the door, I felt that familiar tingle right down in my bones. She looked so pretty.

Mom went to greet them at the door. Feeling shy about seeing them, I went into the living room and joined Ray. He was on a stool hanging up a fat Styrofoam snowman on the tree. He glanced over and saw Harriet and nearly toppled over.

“There’s Harriet,” he whispered, “and your other two buddies!”

I nodded. “This will be interesting, because they don’t remember anything either. Plus, they’re mad at me for some other stuff that happened up here.”

Ray grinned. “Great, and here you practically saved their butts down below. Their Amberlight for sure.”

It turned out I was wrong about Harriet and the others being mad at me. When they came through the living room door, I knew right away something drastic had happened. Harriet walked straight over and gave me a hug. Just like that. Mom gave me a little look as she headed to the kitchen, and I heard Ray murmur, “Ring-a-ding.”

I could tell Harriet and the others didn’t recognize Ray at all, so I introduced him as an exchange student from Brazil who was here to “study American education and the current monkey population.”

Ray let out a guffaw at this, but then covered by falling into a coughing fit.

I got some sharp, suspicious looks from Harriet and Weeser, but Alvin simply stepped forward and shook hands with Ray.

“There aren’t any monkeys in northern Michigan,” said Alvin, “unless you count the present company.” He said it with a straight face, so I wasn’t sure how much he understood.

Then Alvin stuck out his big paw to me and we shook hands. “Are we still friends, Tonka-bud?” he rumbled. He just about squeezed my hand to death.

“Of course,” I said. “Why not?”

“Why not?” said Weeser. “Because back at school we acted like lowdown, nefarious—”

“Scuz-butts,” said Alvin. “And we’re sorry.”

Harriet leaned in and fixed me with a look from those golden-brown eyes. “Look, we know something happened today,” she whispered. “We don’t know for sure what it is, but we think you do and it’s driving us—”

“Buggy, bonkers, and bats,” added Weeser.

I exchanged a look with Ray, then said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But where’s your new friend, Mr. Sincerely Barry Branson?”

Harriet expelled her breath. “Out of our hair, I hope. He got mad at us because we were talking to you.”

“He says he’s not going to help us fight Ming,” said Alvin. “I told him she was already gone anyway. So then he got mad and started saying how dumb we were compared to his other buddies. The big gasbag.”

“He’s not as smart as he let on, either,” said Weeser. “He didn’t even know about the book,
The Last of the Mohicans
. He spent most of his time telling me that asthma is an imaginary disease, and how pathetic my vocabulary is.”

Alvin hitched up his pants. “So where’s the food?”

“Right behind you,” I said, pointing at a table by the wall.

Alvin, Weeser, and Ray headed for it.

Harriet grabbed my arm and fixed me with a laser look.

“Are you going to tell us what happened?”

I almost reached out and took her hand, but I held myself back. “Of course,” I said. “I’ll tell you as soon as we’re alone.” I didn’t think she’d remember those were the words she used when we were unloading the trailer on that first day, but she did. Her eyes sparkled.

“You remember so much,” she said.

I nodded and there was a bit of sadness in my voice when I said, “Yeah, I remember … quite a bit.”

We had an absolutely great dinner party. Mom had a neat fire going in the fireplace and everyone pitched in to finish the tree. When we reached the top, we couldn’t get the angel up there, so Alvin hoisted Weeser on his shoulders.

“Put that little fardex right at the top,” said Alvin, and Weeser did.

It was right about then that Mom pulled off her biggest surprise. Another car drove in and Alvin groaned.

“Oh no,” he said, “it’s my folks and some of the new teachers.”

Mom smiled at me. “Alvin’s dad is on the school board, and he and the other board members have just hired a principal and three new teachers. And since the board wanted to make them feel welcome in the community, I invited them to come over and join us. It’ll be a wonderful opportunity for you kids to meet the teachers. They could be very important in your lives.”

Ray and I exchanged a comical look over this.

Jack, Lilah, and Teddy, along with Haggerty, came in, accompanied by Alvin’s mom and dad.

“Cover for me if you have to,” said Ray in my ear. “Remember, Jack and the others think I came from the high school to pick them up at the airport.”

Alvin’s mom introduced everyone until she got to Ray and me. I jumped in quickly and explained that Ray was a new exchange student up at the high school. Alvin’s mom turned and started to introduce me, but Jack stopped her.

“I think we already met this young man earlier today,” he said. “Weren’t you the one who came running outside, yelling and carrying a trumpet?”

I grinned weakly. “Yeah, I was just goofing around.”

Mom shot me a steely-eyed look.

“Right,” said Jack dryly. “I thought that might be it.” He looked around and I could tell he was antsy already and thinking about leaving. Mom, bless her heart, came to the rescue with food and then more food. Presently everyone seemed happy and content to stay right where they were.

Now here’s the funny part that only Ray and I could appreciate. All during the evening, Lilah, Teddy, and Jack kept giving Ray, Harriet, and me fishy looks.

All of a sudden Teddy blurted out, “You know, it’s amazing, but I keep thinking I’ve seen you kids before.”

“Really?” I said. “Wow, that’s interesting.”

Right there is where Harriet really got hot on the trail. She definitely knew there was some gigantic puzzle here, but she couldn’t quite see it yet. Alvin and Weeser had funny expressions, like maybe they suspected something, but only Harriet was close. The only other person who was really suspicious was Lilah. She kept looking at me, and whenever I met her gaze, she smiled and looked away.

Finally Jack said they had better be going because of school tomorrow. Haggerty cleared his throat and added, “But a wonderful Christmas party is just the ticket to make one feel welcome in a new community.”

“Oh my, yes,” I heard Jack murmur, “just the ticket.”

Then, right before they left, there were two more funny moments. I was helping Lilah with her coat when she turned and fixed me with those dark eyes.

“What kind of music do you like, Eugene?” she asked, and she surprised me by using her voice, because most of the evening she had seemed shy about it.

I looked right into her eyes and said, “Spanish. ‘Malagueña’ is my favorite song.” Teddy started to sign all this to her, but she waved him off. She knew right away what I had said. Boldly, I raised my voice so the others could hear and added, “But there’s another song I really like.

Maybe you’ve heard it? It’s called ‘The Young Shall Ride Unicorns.’“

For a moment the room went stone silent. Jack stared hard at me. Harriet too.

Lilah got my last words from Teddy’s flashing hands and then studied me with an almost fierce intensity. I saw a light flash deep in those dark eyes. “You’ll have to teach me that one,” she said with a smile. “Maybe in band class?”

“Sounds great,” I replied.

Then, at the very end, I did one last dumb thing, and I have to admit it was right up there with the biggest dufus things I’ve ever done. I went to get Jack’s winter coat from the closet. I grabbed one that I thought was his and started to help him into it. He almost had the thing on before a terrific burst of laughter from the others stopped him. I realized I had accidentally pulled out one of Mom’s old jackets, a strange maroon thing with a big fuzzy collar.

“Whoa, what am I doing?” I said.

By this time everyone was looking and laughing their heads off. Jack reddened as he struggled to get his arms out and, of course, he ended by pulling out the pink lining of the sleeves. This made Teddy laugh so hard he was slapping his knees.

Fortunately Mom hurried to the rescue with Jack’s coat and smoothed things over. When Jack, Lilah, and Teddy went on outside, I heard Jack say to them, “The mother is nice, but that is one annoying kid.”

Ray came over and lowered his voice. “Flame on, Bumpus-man. You’re funnier than a monkey on a stick.”

“Just as long as I don’t become one,” I said, and Ray laughed.

Ray and I followed the others back into the living room. The adults started out talking about the mysterious disappearance of Ming and the others, and that was interesting, but then they got on the subject of taxes and problems with the city sewer system. Harriet gave me a look, then nodded toward the den. I checked to see what Ray, Alvin, and Weeser were up to, but they had already lost interest in the conversation and were lying on the floor watching cars explode on TV.

I followed Harriet into the den, and I barely got inside the door when she grabbed my shirt front and gave me a real serious look.

“If you value your life, Mr. Eugene Wise,” she said, “you’d better tell me what’s going on. I can’t take it another minute.”

I nodded. “You’d better sit down. I don’t know how long this will take.”

I told her everything, or almost everything. I might have left out a few details, but the more I told her, the more she seemed to recall.

“It’s coming back to me now,” she kept saying, “and I remember that!”

Several times she burst out laughing, but when I came to how we were trapped in Ming’s school, she grew quiet and somber. I started to say something about that final room and those frightening black chairs, but she stopped me.

“You don’t have to tell me,” she said. “I remember that part. It was so … awful.”