George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt (5 page)

F
inally, the day came when the doors slammed on the last vanload of Eric, Annie, and Susan's belongings, and they were standing in the street, saying goodbye to George and his parents.

“Don't worry!” said George's dad. “I'll keep an eye on the house for you. Might tidy up the garden a bit.” He gave Eric a firm handshake, which made the scientist turn rather pale and rub his hand afterward.

George's mom hugged Annie. “Who's going to kick a ball over my fence now?” she said. “My vegetable patch is going to find life very quiet.”

Annie whispered something in her ear. Daisy smiled. “Of course you can.” She turned to George. “Annie would like to say good-bye to Freddy,” she told him.

George nodded, not wanting to speak, in case his voice wobbled. In silence, the two of them went through George's house and out into the backyard.

“Good-bye, Freddy,” cooed Annie, leaning over the pigsty. “I'm going to miss you so much!”

George took a deep breath. “Freddy's going to miss you too,” he said, his voice squeaking from the effort of holding back the tears. “He really likes you,” he added. “He's had a really great time since you've been here. It isn't going to be the same once you're gone.”

“I've had a great time as well,” said Annie sadly.

“Freddy hopes you don't find another pig in America that you like as much as him,” said George.

“I'll
never
like another pig as much as Freddy,” declared Annie. “He's my best pig ever!”

“Annie!” they heard Susan calling through the house. “Annie, we have to go!”

“Freddy thinks you're the best,” said George. “And he'll be waiting for you when you get back.”

“Bye, George,” said Annie.

“Bye, Annie,” said George. “See you in space.”

Annie walked slowly away. George climbed into the pigsty and sat on the warm straw. “It's just you and me now, Freddy, my cosmic pig,” he said sadly. “Just like it was before.”

 

After Eric, Susan, and Annie had left, it seemed horribly quiet in the backyard. The days stretched on and on, each one pretty much the same as the last. There was nothing particularly wrong with George's life these days. The horrible Dr. Reeper had left the school, and now that George had won the big science competition, he had found some friends to spend his lunch breaks with. The bullies who had given him such a hard time when Dr. Reeper was around tended to leave him alone these days. At home, George had his computer, so he could find out interesting stuff for his homework—or about science in general, in which he was more and more interested—and send e-mails to his friends. He regularly logged on to the various space sites to read about all the new discoveries. He
loved looking at the pictures taken by space-based observatories, like the Hubble Space Telescope, and reading accounts of space journeys by astronauts.

But although this was all really fascinating, it wasn't the same without Annie and her family to share these discoveries with. Each night, George looked up into the sky with the hope of seeing a shooting star fall toward Earth, as a sign that his cosmic adventures were not yet over. But one never came.

Then one day, just as he had given up hope, he got a very surprising e-mail from Annie. He'd written to her lots of times, and in return received rambling messages full of long, boring stories about kids he'd never met.

But this message was different. It read:

George e-mailed her right back.

But her reply was short.

George just sat there, staring at the screen, in shock. There was nothing he wanted more than to go and see Annie and her family in Florida. He would go in a heartbeat even if there wasn't an adventure. But how? How would he get there? What if his parents said no? Would he have to run away from home and hide on an ocean liner to get there? Or sneak onto an airplane when no one was looking? He'd slipped out into space through a computer-generated portal when he wasn't supposed to. But getting to America suddenly seemed far more complicated than fishing someone out of a black hole.
Life on Earth…,
he thought.
Much trickier than life in space.

Then he had a good idea.
Gran. That's who I need
. He e-mailed her.

The answer pinged back in just a few seconds.

Sure enough, just an hour later, there was a ferocious banging on the front door. George's dad went to open it, but as soon as he did, he was barged out of the way by his mother, who was waving a cane and looking very angry.

“Terence, George must go to America to stay with his friends,” she announced, without so much as a hello. She brandished her walking stick at George's dad.

“Mother,” he said, looking furious, “how dare you interfere?”

“I can't hear you—I'm deaf, you know,” she said, thrusting a notebook and pen at him.

“Mother, I am very well aware of that,” he said through gritted teeth.

“You'll have to write it down!” said Gran. “I can't hear you! I can't hear a word you say.”

George going to Florida—or not—is none of your business,
he wrote in her notepad.

Gran looked over at George and winked craftily at him. He flashed a quick smile back.

George's mom had come in from the garden and was wiping her muddy hands on a towel. “That's very odd, George,” she said quietly, “because it was only this morning that we opened a letter from Susan and Eric, inviting you to visit during your summer vacation. How does your gran know about this already?”

“Um, perhaps Gran is psychic?” said George quickly.

“I see,” said his mom, giving him a funny look. “The thing is, George, Eric and Susan told me they were asking us first, before you knew about the invitation, in case it wasn't possible for you to come. They didn't want you to be disappointed if it didn't work out. And, you see, we just can't afford the fare, George.”

“Then I'll pay for him to go,” retorted Gran.

“Oh, you heard that, did you?” said George's dad, who was still scribbling away in the notebook.

“I lip-read,” said Gran hastily. “I can't hear a thing. I'm deaf, you know!”

You can't afford to send George to America!
George's mom wrote in her notepad.

“Don't you tell me what I can and can't do!” said Gran. “I've got pots of money, all hidden under the floorboards. More than I know how to spend. And if you silly people won't let him go by himself, then I'll fly out with him. I've got some friends in Florida whom I haven't seen in years.” She grinned at George. “What do you say, George?” she asked.

With a huge smile on his face, George nodded at her so many times, his head looked like it might fall off. But then he turned to his parents to see how they were taking it. He couldn't believe they would agree to any of this, especially since it meant traveling on an airplane—something his mom and dad didn't approve of, in theory.

But Gran had thought of that problem already. “You know,” she said airily, “I don't see why it should be just George and I who get to go away. After all, Terence, you and Daisy haven't been anywhere exciting for a very long time. There must be somewhere you'd like to go—somewhere in the world you could do some good; somewhere you could really make a difference, if only you had the time and the ticket to get there.”

George's dad gasped, and George realized that clever Gran had spoken right to his heart.

“Isn't there something you'd love to do?” she persisted.

Her son wasn't looking angry anymore but hopeful instead. “You know,” he said to George's mom, “
if
George did go to Florida for summer vacation and Mother would help us out with the airfares, it would mean that we could go on that other trip ourselves—the eco-mission to the South Pacific.”

She looked thoughtful. “I suppose we could,” she mused. “I'm sure Eric and Susan would take good care of George.”

“Excellent!” piped up Gran, intent on closing the deal before anyone could change their minds. “It's a plan. George goes to Florida and you can have a vacation—I mean, save the world,” she corrected herself quickly. “I'll buy the tickets for everyone and we'll be off.”

George's dad shook his head at his mother. “Sometimes I think you only hear what you want to hear.”