Charlie and Frog

by Karen Kane

  Charlie sighed with relief and lowered his hand. Frog continued to hold her tiara, ready to stab Dex in the eye. Charlie tapped her arm. Frog dropped her hand and grinned at Charlie.

  Everyone was signing and talking to Chief Paley at the same time. Charlie looked at his watch.

  “Chief Paley!” Charlie said. “We have to catch the next gondola! The Founders’ Day Dinner is about to start!”

  “We need to get going, too,” Dex said.

  “Yeah,” Ray agreed.

  “You two aren’t going anywhere until I know if a crime has been committed,” Chief Paley said. “Charlie and Frog, you two go. Enid and Aggie can tell me what’s going on.”

  Charlie and Frog had unanswered questions that would have to wait. They had three minutes to catch the gondola.

  Aggie signed something fast to Charlie and Frog. Frog nodded but Charlie didn’t understand. So Enid spoke into English what Aggie had signed.

  “Watch out for Tony!”

  “Shirt,” Oliver ordered, handing Charlie the Castle School for the Deaf shirt he had just ironed. “Deodorant.” Oliver threw a bottle on the bed as Charlie pulled off his sweaty T-shirt.

  “Deodorant? I’m ten!”

  “Deodorant doesn’t care that you’re ten. Deodorant cares that you’re smelly. Look, I have to help in the kitchen. Afterward you and Frog need to tell me everything, all right?”

  Oliver hurried out of the room.

  Charlie splashed water on his face and combed down his hair. His cowlick ignored the comb. Charlie thought about Aggie. He and Frog still hadn’t learned what Aggie had been looking for in the book A Dead Author and Her Secret Treasure.

  Why had Aggie thought it would be at the Naked Ewe?

  Who was Tony?

  And why did they have to watch out for him?

  Charlie dabbed cold deodorant under his arms and pulled on his iron-warmed shirt. Frog came out of her bedroom wearing her tiara and long earrings, a longer necklace, six bracelets, her emerald ring, and Aggie’s red flower. It was, after all, a special day.

  Mr. Castle paced by the front doors, waiting for the first guests to arrive. Mrs. Castle stood over Grandpa as he sat in a chair and finished writing his speech, his bandaged ankle elevated. Charlie and Frog watched wide-eyed from their station at the name-tag table.

  People trickled into the castle. Then they streamed and then gushed. More and more people arrived for the Founders’ Day Dinner to celebrate the place they called home. The air was a whirlwind of hands and arms and hugs. More hugs than Charlie had ever seen before. Bear’s tail never stopped wagging.

  Alumni came over to get their name tags. They oohed and aahed over Frog, how big she was, how beautiful she looked in her tiara and jewelry.

  Frog had taught Charlie how to sign “nice to meet you.” Charlie was busy sliding one palm over the other palm, signing the number 1 with both hands, touching them knuckle to knuckle, and then pointing to each person he met. “Nice to meet you.”

  Charlie and Frog handed out name tag after name tag. Charlie searched the entire time for one that said “Tony.”

  A man came up and spelled his name. JERRY LEVY. Frog looked for his name tag, but couldn’t find it. The man corrected himself and fingerspelled another name. Frog found the name tag with “Gerald Levy” on it, and handed it to him.

  Frog explained. Jerry was his nickname, Frog wrote.

  Charlie thought about what Frog had just written: Jerry was his nickname.

  Like Frog was a nickname for Francine.

  Charlie had been looking for a name tag with “Tony” on it. But if Tony was also a nickname…Charlie grabbed his notebook and pen.

  We should be looking for a name tag with “Anthony” on it! Charlie wrote.

  Frog gave Charlie a puzzled look. She reached for the notebook and pen.

  But Anthony is a man’s name, Frog told him.

  Right, Charlie replied. But Tony is a man’s name. And Tony is a nickname for Anthony.

  Frog shook her head. Aggie didn’t sign, “Watch out for T-O-N-Y.” Aggie signed, “Watch out for T-O-N-I.”

  Enid had interpreted what Aggie had signed for Charlie. So Charlie only heard what Aggie had signed. But Frog saw what Aggie had signed. When you hear the names “Tony” and “Toni,” they sound the same. When you see the names “Tony” and “Toni,” they look different.

  Frog continued writing. But you’re right! Toni is probably a nickname for a woman named—

  Just then a silver-haired woman wearing huge diamond earrings approached the table. It was the same woman Charlie and Frog had seen in Junk and Stuff. The woman fingerspelled her name. Frog gave Charlie a sidelong glance before she found the woman’s name tag: Antoinette Penny.

  Antoinette Penny turned away without even a thank-you. Frog grabbed Charlie’s arm.

  Toni is a nickname for Antoinette! That has to be her!

  Are you sure? Charlie was doubtful. I mean she was rude, but she doesn’t look like someone—

  Like someone to watch out for? Frog finished his sentence. Just because you LOOK good doesn’t mean you ARE good. Even if her diamond earrings are amazing. Besides, Frog added, I looked into her eyes—her eyes were NOT good!

  Charlie and Frog watched Toni mingle in the great hall as they continued to hand out name tags.

  Finally Grandpa Sol called the crowd together, ready to give his welcoming speech. Two men helped him climb the stairs to a chair on the stage that had been set up.

  “Can everyone please find a seat? We’re about to begin.” As Grandpa signed, a man spoke into a microphone, interpreting for those who were sign-impaired.

  People shuffled around, looking for their seats.

  A woman approached Toni and gestured to a chair. Frog stood on her tiptoes to catch the conversation.

  Toni said her back hurts, Frog told Charlie. She said she prefers to stand. I don’t believe her!

  But Toni didn’t just stand. Toni was slowly edging out of the great hall.

  Where’s she going? Charlie asked.

  I don’t know. Frog watched Toni as she moved along the wall. But we’re going to find out!

  Toni glided past the Flying Hands Café and out the front door.

  • • •

  Charlie and Frog trailed Toni as she circled around the castle and slipped inside the back entrance. They waited a minute. Then they followed Toni inside, through hallways, and up the narrow back stairs.

  A light turned on.

  Toni was in Grandpa Sol’s study.

  Charlie and Frog watched her through the slightly cracked-open door.

  Toni was scanning the bookshelves.

  She’s looking for the Dead Author book! Frog wrote.

  Charlie could hear snatches of Grandpa’s words being interpreted into English downstairs: “Our school…home for Deaf children…in their natural language.”

  Toni bent down, hands on her knees, and studied books on the bottom shelves. Suddenly she straightened and turned around. Charlie and Frog jerked away from the door. They waited, hearts pounding, ready to run.

  Nothing happened.

  They inched forward to peer through the crack again.

  Toni’s head was tilted back as she searched the top shelves. She moved the ladder over and began to climb. She climbed really well for someone old. She was right in the middle of the alumni book section.

  She’s going to steal the book! Frog wrote. She must not know it’s blank inside. Thief!

  How do you sign “thief”? Charlie asked.

  You’ll see!

  “We will continue…help our children…find their power within…” Grandpa’s words echoed in Charlie’s ears.

  Charlie and Frog watched Toni reach for A Dead Author and Her Secret Treasure. She tucked it in the bag hanging on her shoulder, and then climbed down with both hands.

  Frog flew into the room with her diamond tiara pointed outward. Charlie followed with his key.

  “Thief!” Frog yelled in ASL
. “That book is not yours!”

  Toni reeled back. She gripped the edge of a chair to steady herself. She glared at Charlie and Frog.

  Frog was right. Toni did not have good eyes.

  Toni clutched her bag and shouldered past them out the study door. Toni was getting away—but Charlie’s key and Frog’s tiara were only for protection. To catch Toni they needed help.

  Charlie and Frog ran toward the top of the stairs of the great hall. What does Vince Vinelli say to yell when a crime is being committed? Fire! But yelling fire when there is no fire in a crowded hall would not be very sensible. So instead:

  “Help! Thief!” Frog yelled in ASL.

  “Help! Thief!” Charlie yelled in English.

  Grandpa stopped his speech as the crowd buzzed. “What? Where?” they signed.

  “What’s going on?” Grandpa Sol signed to Frog as people hurried up the stairs toward them.

  Just then Chief Paley strode through the front entrance of the great hall. She held Toni by the arm as Aggie followed behind them, the Dead Author book lifted high in the air.

  The Founders’ Day Dinner had been a smashing success. When it was over, Frog’s family gathered in their apartment, along with Charlie, Chief Paley, and Aggie. The interpreter from the celebration joined them so that everyone could understand each other.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” Oliver told the interpreter, “because I need a break.”

  Mrs. Castle signed first.

  “I want to know what happened,” Mrs. Castle said. “Now.”

  “Be calm, dear,” Mr. Castle said.

  “Don’t tell me to be calm!”

  “Charlie, why don’t you start,” Grandpa Sol said before Mrs. Castle could say anything else.

  “Well,” Charlie said as the interpreter signed. “It all began the day I went to the library and met Aggie—”

  But Aggie was bursting to tell the story.

  “I told a secret!” Aggie said. “Again! This time I had to make it right before it was too late.”

  “That story my dad told us,” Frog said, “that was you! You’re the one who told the secret about the manuscript D. J. McKinnon was writing. And I bet Toni was the person you told. And Toni was the one who burned it!”

  “The frenemy!” Oliver said.

  “It was Toni.” Aggie nodded. “D.J. forgave me for telling her secret—but she also forgave Toni for burning it! I couldn’t believe it. How does someone forgive something so awful? But D.J. did—she said she didn’t want hate in her heart. But not me.” Aggie shook her head fiercely. “I couldn’t forgive Toni. But then, last week, Toni called me. She said she wanted to put what had happened behind us, before another Founders’ Day Dinner went by.”

  “But why now?” Charlie asked. “After all this time?”

  “People can change,” Grandpa Sol said. “Maybe she really did want to make amends.”

  “I never gave her a chance,” Aggie said. “I told Toni I would never forgive her. I told her D.J. had hidden a secret treasure that only people who truly loved her would be able to find—so she never would. I said it to be mean. I said it to hurt Toni.”

  “When planning revenge…” Oliver began.

  “…be prepared to dig two graves,” Chief Paley finished.

  Aggie sighed. “That is so true. Because when I saw Toni’s nephew, Dex, on the phone behind her, I knew I was in trouble. I knew Toni would send someone like him to look for it. I came as fast as I could to the village. But the book was gone. And Sol was gone, too!”

  “Bear and I helped Aggie while she waited for Grandpa and tried to find the book herself!” Millie said. “See, I can keep a secret!”

  “Sometimes,” Oliver agreed.

  “All the time!” Millie said. Bear barked in agreement.

  “Enough,” Mrs. Castle said.

  “Listen to your mother,” Mr. Castle said.

  “You know I go on my hike every year, Aggie,” Grandpa Sol said.

  “And next year you’re taking a cell phone with you,” Mrs. Castle said. “No arguing.”

  “Aggie, what was in the book?” Frog signed what Charlie had been thinking.

  “That’s where I come in,” Grandpa Sol said. “When D.J. knew she was dying, she asked me to help her plan her last mystery—a final gift to her readers. I made sure her headstone was inscribed the way she wanted. Harold Woo shelved the special book she had made in the village library.”

  “You never told me!” Frog said.

  “The fun is figuring it out,” Grandpa Sol said. “And I knew you would eventually. But what was hidden inside the book needed cleaning and repair. Miss Tweedy would not have approved of D.J.’s secret book and its special Dewey decimal number. I tried to talk to Miss Tweedy about it when she became acting librarian. I worried she might get rid of the book now that Harold Woo was not there. But I couldn’t talk to her because she was still too upset about Harold dying so suddenly.”

  “Plus she hates anything with the word ‘dead’ in it,” Charlie added.

  “So true!” Grandpa Sol said. “I decided to wait until I could return the book and the treasure inside of it, and then explain everything to Miss Tweedy. I had planned to be home before any alumni arrived. I didn’t plan, however, to step in that hole and twist my ankle.”

  “What treasure?!” Charlie asked.

  “What treasure?!” Frog signed.

  Aggie pulled out the library book A Dead Author and Her Secret Treasure from her large purse. She handed the book to Charlie and Frog.

  Together they opened it.

  Frog gasped.

  Inside the book was a red scarf. Not Aggie’s red scarf—a different red scarf.

  Charlie held the book while Frog lifted the scarf out with both hands. She nestled it to her cheek. She breathed in deeply. Finally Frog raised her head and looked at Grandpa Sol.

  “Yes.” Grandpa Sol nodded. “That scarf belonged to D. J. McKinnon.”

  A huge smile lit up Frog’s face. Eyes shining, she hugged the red scarf before wrapping it around her neck.

  “She wrote all of her books wearing it!” Frog said.

  “She even had Dorrie McCann wear a red scarf whenever she needed to believe in herself,” Charlie added as the interpreter signed.

  “D.J. wanted her readers to feel the same way about their own power,” Grandpa Sol said.

  “So she hid the scarf and left a clue on her headstone how to find it,” Frog said.

  “Exactly,” Grandpa Sol said. “Fans who have found it kept it a secret, so each person could find it in his or her own time. Harold Woo watched over the book and scarf. Fans who deciphered the code would come to the library, find the book, and wear the scarf. They would spend a few moments feeling their own power with the memory of their beloved author. That’s why the scarf needed to be cleaned and repaired by Enid. It was worn-out because of love.”

  “What happened to those two men?” Mrs. Castle asked Chief Paley. “The ones who tried to steal the scarf?”

  “Well,” Chief Paley said, “Dex and Ray were vexed—no, that’s not the right word.” The chief thought for a moment. “Dex and Ray were infuriated when they found out the treasure they had been hunting for turned out to be just a scarf. I told them one man’s trash is another man’s treasure—”

  “D.J.’s scarf isn’t trash!” Frog said.

  “It’s called a metaphor,” Oliver said. “Calm down.”

  “I informed Dex and Ray,” the chief continued, “that it was in the best interest of our village that they leave town and not come back—ever.”

  “But what about Toni?” Charlie asked. “Toni stole a book!”

  “I told Chief Paley I wouldn’t press any charges,” Grandpa Sol said. “Toni has to live with herself.”

  “Grandpa, why did you leave a note to D.J. inside the book?” Frog asked.

  “That was me talking to my friend,” Grandpa Sol said. “I miss her. I wanted her to know I was still keeping her secret safe and wo
uld have it back again soon.”

  “Why did you have a blank copy of D.J.’s Dead Author book in your study?” Charlie asked.

  “That was D.J. and her sense of humor. She knew I like to have a copy of every book written by alumni. So she made two copies of her book. In one book she hollowed out the pages, and hid her scarf inside of it. The other copy she gave to me.”

  “I miss her, too,” Aggie said. “She was the kindest person I ever knew.”

  “And the most amazing writer,” Frog said.

  “Her book was pretty good,” Charlie said.

  “You mean great,” Frog signed.

  “True that,” Chief Paley agreed.

  “That’s why I needed to make sure her scarf was safe,” Aggie said. “Thank you, Charlie and Frog. Thank you for caring about me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Aggie repeated the first sign Charlie had ever learned.

  “You’re welcome,” Charlie and Frog signed.

  “And me and Bear!” Millie said. “We helped!”

  “And Millie and Bear!” Aggie hugged them both. “You make the best peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches!”

  Frog unpinned the red flower from her shirt.

  “Here, Aggie,” Frog said. “This is yours. Charlie and I found it at D.J.’s grave. We didn’t know if you had left it on purpose.”

  “I did leave it on purpose,” Aggie said. “I made it for D.J. years ago. She gave it back to me before she died. But now it’s yours to keep.”

  “Really?” Frog’s smile, if it was possible, stretched even bigger. “Thank you! But wait—what about Charlie? He found it, too!” Frog turned to him. “I know! We’ll share the flower, fifty-fifty! I’ll wear it Mondays, you can wear it Tuesdays—”

  “I’m good,” Charlie said as the interpreter signed. “You can wear it for both of us.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Definitely,” Charlie said. “And Aggie, you dropped this.”

  Charlie handed Aggie her knitting bag.

  “Thank you!” Aggie said again. She reached inside her bag and pulled out her own half-knitted red scarf. “Now I can finish this and have my own scarf to remind me that I have power—power to make different choices.”