Promise (17 page)
Authors: Judy Young
“Wicked!” he said. “But if Dad showed up, wouldn't he see this bright thing moving around up here?”
“That's why I brought this.” Yo-Yo pulled out a roll of duct tape and wrapped some around the bright yellow end of
the periscope. “Now it's camouflaged. If you keep it next to a window frame and move it slowly, I don't think you could see it from down there.”
“We'll check it out when we leave,” Kaden said. “You can stay up here until I get down and I'll see if I can spot it.”
They went through the other items, picking them up one at a time.
“Camera,” Yo-Yo announced, “so you can have a picture of your dad.” Kaden hadn't told Yo-Yo about the photo album. But the photo of his dad holding him was at least nine years old.
It would be nice to have a current picture
, Kaden thought.
“It's only got a couple more shots on it,” Yo-Yo said. “It's left over from music camp this summer. My mom gave me a throwaway, afraid I'd break or lose her digital camera.”
“Baby wipes for you.” Kaden laughed, rolling the container toward Yo-Yo. “And sunflower seeds for Kubla.”
“You never know when you might need a flashlight,” Yo-Yo said.
“A unique flashlight,” Kaden added. “Is that what the batteries are for?”
“No, for the CD player. I can't find the electric cord that came with it but I'll keep looking. The batteries don't last very long.”
“There's no electricity out here,” Kaden said.
“I know, but you can take it home and listen there, too. It won't be heard through the intercom, not with the earbuds. So you can listen to stuff besides Gram's records,” Yo-Yo said, holding up several CDs.
Kaden reached over and picked up the last thing, the cell phone. “This doesn't work,” he said. “I tried to call you on it already.”
“I know. It's an old one and we no longer go with that server,” Yo-Yo answered. “But they say you can call 911 on any cell phone no matter whether you're hooked up to a plan or not. I threw it in, in case you ever need it.”
“Do you think I will?”
“I don't know, but he has been in prison, and even though he's your dad, you don't know what he's really like or anything, do you? I've seen these cop shows on TV andâ”
“You're right,” Kaden interrupted him, “it's probably a good idea, just in case.”
The boys had gone through all the items. Yo-Yo put a CD into the player, popped the earbuds in, leaned back into the corner, and closed his eyes.
Kaden stood up and leaned his elbows on a window frame. With a blur of flapping wings, Kubla landed on Kaden's head. A matchstick was in his beak. Without seeming to even be aware of the bird, Kaden took the
matchstick and dropped it over the side of the tower.
Kubla caught it and returned. Kaden absently tossed the matchstick out again and looked down at Yo-Yo.
“Are you awake?” he asked. Yo-Yo said nothing. He was sound asleep. Kaden dropped the matchstick a third time. This time Kubla ignored the matchstick as it dropped toward the ground. Instead, the bird suddenly flew off toward the road, screeching his warning caw over and over, shattering the calm hum of insects.
Kaden was surprised. He hadn't heard a car. He ducked out of sight. Quietly picking up the periscope, he poked it slowly upward and looked through it. He saw no vehicles parked near the barricade. But what he did see made his heart instantly begin racing. Standing just behind the barricade stood his dad holding a long stick.
Kubla dove at Dad as he stepped over the barricade. Dad waved the stick and the crow veered off out of reach. He flew to his favorite branch, still cawing raucously as Dad walked toward the tower. Worried Dad would look up, Kaden pulled the periscope from the window. He wondered why his dad was at the tower.
Maybe he's leaving something for me again
, Kaden thought, but he hadn't seen anything in his hands except the stick.
Kubla squawked harshly a few more times, then quieted.
Kaden sat out of sight, his heart still pounding.
I wonder what he's doing
, he thought. Slowly, he poked the periscope up to the window again. He saw Kubla on his tree limb, but adjusting the periscope, he could not see his dad. He crawled quietly toward the open trapdoor in the floor and put the periscope out the opening just a little. Layers of stairs, alternating with metal grate landings, zigzagged down until they reached the last landing, twenty feet above the ground. Under the landing stood Dad, staring at the ground where the last set of stairs should have ended.
Dad dropped the stick, bent over, and picked something up. As he looked at what he held, Kubla suddenly came shrieking from the tree, flying straight toward him. His wild black wings fluttered around Dad's arm, and then the bird veered off. Kubla darted up, through the crisscross of steel beams, then circled around the flights of stairs to the top, as if climbing a spiral staircase. Kaden pulled the periscope in from the hole just as Kubla flew through it. He landed on Kaden's head, his black feet pricking Kaden's scalp as they grabbed his hair for balance. Kubla made several turning jumps until the bird and Kaden faced the same direction. Then Kubla bent over Kaden's forehead holding a matchstick he had taken from Dad's hand.
“Kaden!” a voice yelled out suddenly from below. “Kaden,
are you up there?”
Kaden froze, every muscle tight and rigid.
“I know you're here. Your grandmother said you were!” Dad yelled up again. Kubla, still holding the matchstick, jumped up to the window and looked intently below. The matchstick dropped to the ground as the bird gave several brassy caws.
Kaden glanced at Yo-Yo. He was still sleeping. Thursday night, Kaden swore he wouldn't hide from Dad, but he didn't want to meet him now. Not with Yo-Yo there. Kaden didn't move.
“Have it your way.”
Kaden didn't hear another word. Finally Kubla left his watch post at the window. He hopped over to Kaden's shoulder, cooing and gurgling in Kaden's ear and pulling at his earlobe. Kaden inched the periscope past the edge of the hole in the floor and peered down. Dad was gone. He quietly moved it over to the window and scanned all around. Nothing.
Kaden waited for a while to make sure Dad was gone, took a quick peek out the window, then gave Yo-Yo a shake.
“Dad was here again. You slept through it,” Kaden said.
“What?” Yo-Yo said. He took out the earbuds and a thin trickle of music could be heard.
“My dad. He was here. Just now,” Kaden repeated.
“Really? Did you talk to him?”
“No. I wasn't expecting him to come here and I didn't know what to do.”
Yo-Yo stood up and looked out the window through the binoculars.
“I don't see his truck.”
“He didn't drive in. He walked.”
“Are you sure it was your dad?”
“Yeah. He called my name. And I recognized him from the other night.”
“The other night?”
“Yeah. That's what I wanted to tell you about. Dad was at the cabins Thursday night when Gram was at the board meeting.”
“Wow! So you've finally met him.”
“No. He was in Cabin Five and didn't know I was home. It's not that I don't want to meet him, but every time I see him, I freeze. I'm just afraid of meeting him.”
“Why?”
“I don't know. I was all ready to meet him and then Gram said he wasn't ready to meet me, and now I'm even more nervous about it. I think he is, too. I told you he left me the backpack. Well, he left a ball and glove, too, and Thursday, a photo album with pictures of him and me when I was a baby. It's like he wants to meet me, but . . .”
“Well, if he was here, he must be ready to meet you now.”
“Yeah, but I'm not sure I'm ready.”
“It's not too much different than standing up to Luke. You just have to act confident, even if you're not.”
“I guess.”
Yo-Yo looked at his watch. It was past five. “We'd better get going. My mom's going to be picking me up soon.”
Kaden took the binoculars from Yo-Yo, put them in the chest, and closed the lid. But Yo-Yo opened it back up. He reached inside and pulled out the cell phone. “Maybe you should take this with you. You know, just in case.”
Kaden took the phone and stood there looking at it in his hand. Then he shook his head and put the phone back in the chest.
“No, I won't need it,” he said, and they headed down the stairs.
Kaden returned the rope with its rock to its hiding spot, and as he walked back under the tower, he picked up the stick his dad had dropped.
“Is it the one from the muddy spot?” Yo-Yo asked.
“Yeah,” Kaden answered, but let the stick fall back to the ground. “No point in putting it back. It won't tell me anything if he walks in.”
“You could set up a trip wire booby trap. I've seen them on TV. You're walking along and all of a sudden a rope goes around your ankle and before you know it you're hanging upside down from a tree.”
Kaden said nothing but led the way down the path and over the barricade. As they walked down the road, Yo-Yo
kept up with a stream of possibilities.
“Maybe you could dig a hole and put rattlesnakes in it and then cover it all up with branches. Or set up some invisible laser beams and if someone steps through them, they set off an alarm.”
“You watch too much TV,” Kaden said.
“Yeah, well, somebody has to.” Yo-Yo grinned.
The two boys reached the back of the junk cabin, crept along the far side, and peeked around.
The white pickup was in front of Cabin Five. Mrs. Strokowski's SUV was in front of Gram's cabin and Emmett's truck was behind the SUV. Emmett was talking with Mrs. Strokowski through the car window. Gram was nowhere in sight. Neither was Dad.
“I'll stay if you want me to,” Yo-Yo whispered.
“Thanks,” Kaden said, “but I have to do this alone.”
Yo-Yo and Kaden walked around the front of Cabin One and headed toward the SUV.
“She came out on the porch and said she had company, so I told her I'd just wait in the car,” Mrs. Strokowski was telling Emmett as the boys walked up.
Kaden stood by Emmett, purposely keeping his back to Gram's cabin. Yo-Yo climbed in his mom's car, and as the SUV drove out of the circle drive, he opened the window and yelled out, “Good luck. See you Monday!”
But Kaden hardly heard. He stood there wondering if Dad was inside watching him.
Emmett turned to Kaden. “You know your dad is in there,” he said quietly.
“Yeah, I know,” Kaden said. He had been thinking about his dad but suddenly he wondered about Emmett. Emmett usually walked up to the cabins. This time he had driven. “Why are you here? Did Gram call you? Is something wrong?”
“No, I got here just a second before you did. Mrs. Strokowski called me to find out where you and Yo-Yo were. I think she's a little intimidated by your grandmother. So I thought I'd better come up. I didn't know your dad was here until I got here.”
At the word “dad,” Kaden tightened up again. Emmett took his hand for just a second and gave it a big squeeze. “You'll be all right.”
“I know,” Kaden said. He took a big breath and let it out slowly. “I'm ready.”