by Jef Aerts
I thought about what I’d promised Yasmin. It was going to be months before I could do a good kick with my broken leg again.
In the dawn light, a cloud of thrushes passed over us. Sprig was still too frozen to look up at the hundreds of birds. But Jadran saw them.
“We have to go that way!” he shouted.
“Maybe you still can catch up with them,” I said to fire him up a bit.
Jadran hadn’t been expecting that. For a moment, he hesitated, and then he pushed the wheelchair with full force after the birds. The wheels grated on the concrete as we went around the corner. There were bags of garbage all over the sidewalk, but Jadran skillfully zigzagged between them. Even after the thrushes had disappeared over the roofs, he went on running.
“I’m the horse and you’re the carriage!” He whinnied.
“Then we should be the other way around. The horse goes in front of the carriage.”
Jadran turned the wheelchair and stood between the two handles so that he could pull me along. He galloped off down the street. I looked back the way we’d come.
Jadran kept going until we’d left the town behind.
That was when I saw the Volvo again. The red car was slowly following us. Sometimes it stopped at the roadside and waited until I could hardly see it. Then it drove forward a bit, turned down a side street, and reappeared out of the next one.
Now I was sure of it: We were being followed.
Maybe it’s Murad, I suddenly thought. But then why was he waiting so long to step in?
A shivery sensation ran down my spine. Or maybe it was Dad!
It had to be Dad! Even though he lived in Russia now. It must have been such a shock for him when he saw our photos and heard that we’d run away from home. So he’d jumped on the first plane. But how had he found us so quickly?
Jadran wasn’t paying attention to the Volvo. Which was just as well. I had no idea how he’d react if he knew someone was on our trail. But I was sure he’d blow his fuse.
I looked back again. There was no sign of the Volvo.
“You can slow down a bit now.” I did my best to sound as normal as possible.
“Slow is for snails,” replied Jadran, throwing his full weight behind the wheelchair. Startled, Sprig spread his wet wings and took off.
“Hey, Giant!” I was almost catapulted onto the ground.
Just when I’d settled back into the wheelchair, the phone beeped. I fished it out of my jacket. The battery was at thirty percent. Would Yasmin never stop sending me these messages?
It works perfectly! I just went in the bathtub with your mask and that tube. I could see my toes underwater. X.
I reread the words three times. And every time I felt colder.
Suddenly I understood everything. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t realized before! I’d answered Yasmin very early this morning, and now that Volvo had turned up again. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Every time I sent her a message, the police could track the signal. I’d seen them do it on TV. And so the driver of the Volvo knew exactly where we were.
I’d almost fallen for it. Yasmin wasn’t really worried about us. She didn’t want to go snorkeling with me at all. Her X wasn’t a kiss. It was a bomb, like in a game of Battleship. As long as Yasmin kept planting crosses, they could find us in no time.
And I’d had enough of it.
I’m onto you! This is my last message, you traitor!
There was a creek at the side of the road. The water was covered with dry leaves.
“Look, Giant!” I shouted. “Sprig is looping the loop.”
Jadran turned his head to look at Sprig, who was floating on the wind.
I aimed Yasmin’s telephone and tossed it into the creek. It landed on the leaves and lay there until the blue light went out.
Then it sank, trailing bubbles in its wake.
“WHAT TIME IS IT?” ASKED Jadran.
“Twenty-three minutes to eight,” I guessed.
“Then I’m hungry!” Jadran raced on like a rabid bear. “I’ve been hungry for seven minutes!”
We saw a store along the road. Jadran sprinted all the way and rushed into the parking lot. The little supermarket was about to open. Sprig landed on the roof and ruffled his feathers. He still hadn’t entirely recovered from being sick.
Jadran parked the wheelchair in front of the glass doors and paced up and down. He rattled off the list of his regular breakfast items: “Bread, white and brown. Jam. Chocolate milk.”
“Money,” I said.
“You can’t eat money.”
“We’ve almost run out.”
Jadran counted the coins he still had left. Behind us, a car turned into the parking lot. I didn’t even have to look to know which car it was. I caught a glimpse of the driver in the side mirror. That black hat. The fur collar. But for the first time I also clearly saw a face.
It was a narrow face with big, expressive eyes. The driver of the Volvo was not Dad or Murad.
It was a woman.
And she knew us only too well.
The lights inside the store went on. Jadran pressed his nose to the glass. I was shaking, but I knew I really had to think of something.
“I don’t want to go in there in the wheelchair,” I said. “I want to walk.”
Jadran frowned as if I’d just said something really dumb.
“On one leg?”
“Go on, Giant. If you help me, it’ll work. I have to practice, Dr. Mbasa said. And you’re my number one nurse.”
Jadran snapped out of it. He hooked his arm into mine and pulled me up. It was really painful and for a moment I thought my injured ankle was going to crumple. But he held me up.
“Good job, little guy,” he said. “You can do it!”
Hanging onto Jadran, I limped into the store. The wheelchair stayed outside next to a bicycle rack, so that our pursuer could clearly see that we were inside. Jadran pawed at just about all of the bread rolls and pastries, before finally choosing a packet of chocolate bars.
When we’d paid, I said we’d better take the exit at the back of the building. That way at least we’d stay out of sight of the Volvo. Jadran didn’t usually get too many chocolate bars, and he was so happy that he didn’t ask any questions.
There was a discarded shopping cart by the door, which came in handy.
“Help me get into that cart,” I said. “It’ll be faster.”
Jadran already had his fingers in the packet of chocolate bars. Stuffing one of them into his mouth, he lifted me into the cart. It was really uncomfortable. My leg stuck up and out at an angle, like a flagpole.
“And now let’s get outta here!”
Jadran had no idea what was going on. “What about the wheelchair?”
“We’ll come get it later.”
Luckily he didn’t object. We followed a street at the back of the supermarket. The wheels of the cart jerked about on the rough surface.
I didn’t dare to look back until the supermarket was some way behind us. In the parking lot, I could just make out the back of the Volvo.
“You’re acting weird,” said Jadran. “Something’s up, isn’t it? Something I’m not allowed to know about.”
“You’re always allowed to know everything, Giant.”
“So why did you want to get into this shopping cart?”
“Oh, you know, I just …”
“You think I’m dumb.”
I clasped my fingers around the metal wire. “Okay, then, if you really want to know, I think someone’s watching us.”
Jadran clapped his hands. “You see! I saw right through you, Josh. Everyone knows you’re in a wheelchair. It’s too obvious. That’s why you left it behind!”
I sighed and smiled at the same time. “Right again, Giant. The wheelchair was way too noticeable. And that’s why I’m jammed into a shopping cart now.”
The street went more to the west than the south. But I didn’t know if that really mattered. Our goal seemed farther away than ever. And I
wasn’t going to be able to put up with being folded in two inside a shopping cart for long.
“Where’s Sprig?” asked Jadran after he’d gobbled down his fifth chocolate bar.
I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about him! All that business with the Volvo and the shopping cart had made me completely lose sight of the crane.
“He’ll be flying after us somewhere,” I said.
Jadran swung the cart around with a jolt. The branches of the oak trees along the side of the road were swaying back and forth. There was no sign of a bird in the sky above us.
“We forgot him,” said Jadran.
“He’ll find us.”
Jadran shook his head. “Sprig doesn’t know where the south is. You saw that for yourself, didn’t you? He’ll get lost!”
Jadran pushed the shopping cart back in the direction we’d come from.
“Wait. We can’t go back. We’re being followed, Giant. Someone’s coming after us.”
“How do you know that?” he asked.
“I saw them. Yesterday at that sunken road. Last night at the bus stop. And back there in the parking lot. It’s always the same red car. Someone’s watching us.”
Jadran tightened his lips. “You saw them. And you didn’t say anything?”
“I wanted to tell you, Giant. But …”
Jadran pushed down on the handle with his full weight and lifted the shopping cart up on its back wheels. I tilted back, with my legs in the air.
“Brothers always tell each other everything!” he shouted. I was scared stiff. His voice sounded as deep and powerful as when he copied Dad. “We do everything together!”
The shopping cart crashed onto its four wheels. My plaster cast bounced onto the metal edge. Jadran hunched over the handle and started muttering to himself. I knew that I’d better not ask him anything.
I breathed in deep and blew warm air over my hands. I tried to kid myself that I wasn’t absolutely freezing.
And then suddenly there they were. The trumpets sounded out of nowhere.
Krrroo krrroo krrroo!
At first there were just a few cranes, but before long they were hanging in a big group above us. Jadran and I looked up at almost the same time. The shadows of the birds left dark trails on the grass.
“Is that Sprig?” I asked. “Has he flown away with them?”
Krrroo krrroo krrroo-ee!
It was impossible to recognize Sprig among all those birds. And we couldn’t hear his squeaking either because of all the noise.
We gazed at the flapping wings. Jadran gulped when one of the birds dropped to the back of the group and another one caught the wind and flew up front. He read the letters they were writing.
The big crane ABC.
He plucked their words out of the sky.
“Sprig!” he screamed. “Wait for us, Sprig! We’re coming too!”
JADRAN SLIPPED TO THE GROUND and sat leaning against the shopping cart. He banged the back of his head against the bars.
Boom! Boom!
“Stop that, Giant!” I shouted. “We don’t even know if Sprig was with those cranes.”
“Bye,” mumbled Jadran. “He didn’t even say goodbye.” He stood back up, took hold of the handle of the cart, and, with a jerk, swung it around on its axis.
“Let go of the cart!” I braced myself and tried to scramble out, but I fell back into the cart. Breathing calmly wasn’t going to help soothe Jadran now. And Mom’s soft little words certainly wouldn’t do any good.
“I’m not going back!” He pounded on the handle of the cart. “I don’t want to be in the room next to Guillaume’s.”
“Of course we’re not going back! Just help me get out of the cart. Then we can think about what we’re going to do.”
But Jadran tipped the shopping cart onto its back wheels again and spun it wildly around. I went slamming into the side.
“You’re hurting me!” I turned around and bashed his hands with my fists so that he’d have to let go of the shopping cart. But he just grasped the handle even more tightly.
Jadran turned the cart in a circle on the asphalt. I jolted back and forth. The plaster creaked. He was spinning me around so fast that I felt sick. I was in a vortex.
Jadran’s own little tornado.
“Lemme out!” I screamed.
I thought I was going to puke.
Jadran suddenly stopped turning around and let the cart thud to a stop. His face brightened up. He blinked a few times and then swallowed.
“I’m going to miss you, Max,” he said in Mom’s clear voice.
“I’ll miss you too,” he made Dad reply. “But I want to move on.”
“And what’s going to happen to Jadran?” whispered Mom. “And little Josh? He’ll be able to talk soon!”
Jadran came and stood next to me, leaned over the edge of the cart, and looked at me like I was an infant in a stroller. He looked like Dad, I noticed for the first time, with that frown and the hint of a moustache.
Jadran reached out his hand and gently stroked my neck. But it was not his hand that was touching me.
Those soft fingers belonged to Dad.
We were startled by a loud honking. Jadran looked up, annoyed. I quickly pushed away his hand.
“Move!” I said. “The cart’s blocking the way!”
But this car did not want to go past. The red Volvo parked and flashed its lights. The door swung open. A woman in an army jacket got out.
“M-M-Mika?” stammered Jadran.
She walked toward us with her arms open wide. The wolf on her wrist was howling.
“Hey, guys!” she said. “I’m stoked to see you two.” She gave me a wink, but she looked really, really worried.
The magnet did its job. Jadran finally let go of the cart and threw his arms around Mika.
“Me too,” he said. “I’m stoked too. And you too, huh? We’re always stoked to see Mika.”
Mika stroked her hand over my plastered leg, which was sticking out of the shopping cart.
“You okay?” she asked.
“You were … just in time,” I groaned. I felt like crying, but I was too shaken up for that.
“Come on, I’ll rescue you from this cage,” she said.
Mika opened up the trunk and took out the wheelchair. Then she slid her arm under my armpit, just like she’d done when we found Jadran at the lake.
“Give me a hand?” she asked my brother.
He didn’t have to be asked twice. Together they lifted me out of the shopping cart. He didn’t even seem surprised to see Mika turn up here. Just a minute ago he’d been a wild man and now he was acting like an excited little kid again.
He started rattling away. “Sprig’s gone. He went with the cranes. He’s left us behind, hasn’t he? And we’ve already come so far!”
“I don’t think so,” said Mika. “He likes you way too much for that.”
Jadran laughed sheepishly. “Do you know where he is then?”
“He’s waiting for you guys.” Mika nodded toward the supermarket. “Over there on the roof. Like a good little puppy dog.”
Jadran looked at me, beaming. “Sprig’s not gone. He likes me way too much, huh?”
I didn’t know what to do with my face.
Mika pushed the wheelchair toward the supermarket. Jadran ran ahead of us with the shopping cart. It was almost impossible to keep up with him.
“It was you,” I said to Mika when I was sure my brother wouldn’t hear us. “You saw us at that sunken road.”
Mika just nodded. She tightened her scarf around her neck.
“You found us ages ago, so why didn’t you do something? Everyone was looking for us. Even the police …”
Mika stopped and crouched next to the wheelchair.
“I was supposed to stop you,” she whispered. “But I couldn’t do it. The two of you looked so … together. So wonderfully together. I was scared I might break something. It was doing Jadran good, and I hadn’t seen him so self-confident for
a long time.”
My brother skipped ahead of us. He put his feet on the base of the shopping cart and rolled away down the street.
“You could have let Mom know,” I said.
“What do you think I’ve been doing? She calls me three times a day.”
“So she knows?” I could hardly believe her.
“Not everything. I told her I was following you and that there was no need for her to worry. Everything still seemed to be going okay, and I definitely didn’t want to force you to do anything. I told her to ask the police to stay out of it for the time being. That would get Jadran too excited. And she knew I’d step in at the right moment.”
“And that moment’s now?” I slumped in the wheelchair.
Mika stood up and started pushing me again. “I actually wanted to stop you last night at the bus stop. But then I got a call and I lost the two of you. I didn’t have the tractor to follow anymore, and I couldn’t see the crane in the dark. I didn’t dare tell your mom. I just drove around crying all night.”
“But then how did you find us again?” I asked, although the answer wasn’t hard to guess.
“Yasmin,” we both said almost at the same moment.
“This morning I called your place. I wanted to explain to your mom what had happened, but Yasmin answered. She heard that I was panicking and she tried to comfort me. And then she let on that she’d been in touch with you the entire time.”
“Ha! I knew it!” I slid forward to the edge of the seat. “Yasmin wasn’t just sending me those messages for no reason. The police picked up the signal every time I replied. So of course you could find us.”
Mika chuckled. “Yasmin didn’t need the police for that. She can trace her smartphone easily with the computer if it’s lost—or if someone else has run off with it.”
I could hardly breathe. So Yasmin knew exactly where we were? And she’d been following us the whole time? In the trees beside the road, some crows were cawing pushily. I wished I could swat them away.
“What now?” I asked Mika. “Will you let us finish our journey? We’ll go get Sprig and then …”