At least Bubba was brave. He didn’t cry. But he did walk slower and slower, until Saucy had to take his backpack for him. He stopped counting blocks about the time she turned west. She almost pulled him down the last block, counting each house, straining to see house numbers.
118 Baxter Street. The white house shone under the streetlight.
She gently pulled Bubba up the steps onto the porch. She whispered, “We’re at Aunt Vivian’s house. I’ll try the doorbell.”
Buzz! Buzz!
Saucy waited. No lights came on, and no one came to the door.
“What’s wrong?” Bubba asked.
Saucy shrugged and rang the doorbell again. Buzz! Buzz!
This time, when no one answered, Saucy said, “You wait here, and I’ll get the key.” She dropped both backpacks beside him.
The streetlight shone brightly onto the porch. Bubba crawled into the shadows, pulling the backpacks with him, and whispered, “I’ll keep an eye out.”
A wraparound porch circled the entire house. Saucy tiptoed around it, wincing each time a board creaked. If she remembered right, the key was above the back door. She dragged a lounge chair to the door, climbed onto its arm rest and groped around. Something metal fell to the porch floor. Saucy jumped down and crouched at the door. She listened.
Did Aunt Vivian always sleep so soundly?
She crawled forward carefully, sweeping the floor with her hands. Finally, she felt the key. This time she picked it up.
She walked back around to the front door. Bubba was leaning on a corner post, keeping deep in the shadows. She gave him a thumbs-up, took a deep breath, and turned to the door. It wasn’t anything special, just a plain white door to match a plain white house.
Saucy opened the door and stepped inside. Slumping against a wall, she accidently knocked off a picture frame. She snatched at the thing, bobbled it, and finally caught it. She sank to the floor. Saucy turned the frame over. It was a cross stitch picture with letters. She held the picture up until it caught a streak of light. Stitched in blue were the words, “Home, Sweet Home.”
From the doorway, Bubba asked, “Where’s the dog?”
Wrong question, Saucy thought. Where is Aunt Vivian?
12
The Cookie Man
Saucy hugged the cross stitch sampler. What would it be like to have a “Home, Sweet Home”? She stood up and looked at the other pictures on the wall. There was a black and white of Daddy, Aunt Vivian, Grandma and Grandpa from a long time ago. An oval frame held a wedding picture of Daddy and Momma. Saucy touched the picture, wishing she could feel the satin of Momma’s dress. And on a small table was a square frame with a picture of Daddy and Krissy on their wedding day. Krissy wore a short, pink dress –not white, not satin–but she seemed to glow like every bride should glow.
“I’m hungry,” Bubba said.
Saucy held the sampler at arms length and studied it. If it said, “Home, Sweet Home,” well, she would believe it. They would make themselves at home.
She went back out and grabbed their backpacks. Everything in Aunt Vivian’s small house was blue. She had framed family pictures on almost every wall. In the guest room, there were pictures of Saucy and Bubba when they were babies. The beds were neatly made up with blue bedspreads; the walls were pale blue, and blue towels hung in the bathroom. At home, nothing matched; here, everything matched. Aunt Vivian’s bed was tall with a fancy blue bedspread. Bubba wanted to jump on it, but Saucy worried they’d mess it up. The kitchen and dining room were white with blue everywhere. Blue and white platters were set up on stands. Saucy wondered if they were old, or maybe antiques.
“Don’t touch those,” she warned Bubba.
Aunt Vivian lived alone, so the house was small and easy to search. No one was home.
Saucy made sure the blinds were closed before turning on the small light over the stove. No sense making the neighbors wonder why there were lights on at Aunt Vivian’s house.
She opened a can of pork and beans and microwaved them for supper. By now, all Bubba could do was yawn. They had forgotten pajamas. Saucy opened a dresser in Aunt Vivian’s room and found old T-shirts to sleep in. They fell into the twin beds in the guest bedroom.
The next morning, they woke about 10 a.m. It was Monday morning. They should be at school right now. What would they do all day? Saucy had no idea. She hadn’t thought any farther than getting to Aunt Vivian’s house.
Saucy found cold cereal for breakfast, but there wasn’t milk. They ate it dry and drank water. After breakfast, Saucy washed the dishes.
Bubba pulled the blinds up a few inches, smashed his nose against the kitchen window, and peered out.
“Stay away from the window, ” Saucy said. She let the blinds back down.
“Why?”
“Neighbors can’t know we’re here.”
“Why not?”
“Because Aunt Vivian is gone. They’d know we were runaways.”
“Oh.”
“Let’s call Daddy.”
“I don’t know his cell phone. Do you know what it is? You’re the numbers man.”
Bubba said, “When we call at home, the number is saved on Krissy’s cell phone. I never looked at it.” He crunched his dry corn flakes for a minute. “Since Aunt Vivian is gone, what will we do here?”
“I don’t know.”
“When will Aunt Vivian be back?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know much,” Bubba said.
“I know it’s Monday, and Aunt Vivian should be working at the school today. So, it’s weird she’s not here. But I also know that Jack, her dog, isn’t here, so he must be at a kennel. That means Aunt Vivian has gone somewhere for a couple days. Some kind of trip.”
“How long will we stay here?”
“Until I’m sure Daddy is home. Then, we’ll call home and talk to him.” This running away business was turning out to be much harder than she thought. She didn’t know what to do next.
“Let’s go out. I’m tired of being locked inside.”
Saucy considered. “At four o’clock. Kids are out of school by that time, and we won’t look weird. We can find a grocery store.”
They spent the day watching TV. Bubba kept creeping to the window and peeking out the blinds. By four, Saucy was sick of corn flakes, sick of Bubba, and sick of TV.
“Let’s go buy some groceries.” Aunt Vivian’s cabinets had vegetables, noodles and Chinese stuff. Saucy didn’t like most of it, or if she liked it, she didn’t know how to cook it. They needed food she could microwave or stuff to make sandwiches.
They left by the back door. After peeking out windows and making sure no one was around, Saucy made Bubba crawl through the bushes along the side of the house and come out at the sidewalk. Meanwhile, she climbed over the back fence into an alleyway and raced around the corner to meet him. She watched the windows of the neighboring houses but didn’t see anyone.
Pulling out her compass, Saucy decided they should go west. They walked two blocks and found a busy street.
“There.” Bubba pointed to a gas station with a food store attached.
They strolled down the sidewalk, taking their time. It was a beautiful fall day, with turquoise blue sky and crisp air. Cars whizzed by, but she’d been right to wait. No one paid attention to a brother and sister walking home from school.
But Saucy paid attention to everyone. It was her job to keep Bubba safe.
At the store, they discussed what to buy.
“Chocolate milk and chocolate chip cookies,” insisted Bubba.
“No. White milk and bread and peanut butter.”
“OK. Crunchy peanut butter,” Bubba said.
“Yuk. Not crunchy.”
“OK, smooth, but you gotta get chocolate chip cookies.”
“No way.” Saucy picked up a movie star magazine. She wondered if her hair could ever look as curly as the cover girl’s. Used to her reading sprees, Bubba sat down beside her and took a calculator from
his back pocket. For a few moments, they were engrossed in numbers and letters.
Saucy read an article about the newest animated movie that would be out next week. Maybe if they were careful, she and Bubba–
Where was Bubba? Saucy dropped the magazine and whirled around.
Near the back of the store, where the sales clerk couldn’t see, a man in a business suit was kneeling beside Bubba, holding out a package of chocolate chip cookies. “It’s OK. I just paid for it. You can have it.”
“Wow, thanks!” Bubba took the package and tore it open.
“Wait!” Saucy crossed the store in an eye’s blink and snatched the cookies from Bubba, and thrust them at the man. He had a thin mustache, and he licked his lips funny. Saucy shuddered. Somehow she knew that if this man took Bubba, she would never see her brother again. “We don’t want your cookies.” Saucy took Bubba’s hand. “Let’s go, right now.”
Bubba wailed, “I just want a chocolate chip cookie.”
The man smiled, licked his lips again, and offered them to Bubba again. Saucy’s stomach did a flip. How could she get so interested in some magazine that she would lose track of where Bubba was or who he was talking to? She was supposed to keep him safe.
Through clenched teeth, Saucy said. “Not now. Mom said to hurry home, and we’re late.” She grabbed Bubba’s hand and tugged.
“Mom?” Bubba looked puzzled.
“Remember?” Saucy insisted. “Mom said we’d get in trouble if we’re late.” She turned to the man. “Sorry, mister, but we gotta go. My brother and I aren’t allowed to accept candy or cookies from a stranger.”
She dragged Bubba outside. With a straight back, she waited for the light to turn green, and marched him across the street. When they stepped up the curb on the other side, she turned. The man-in-the-suit was standing in the doorway watching them. Scared, Saucy looked at Bubba. His face was curled up in ange,r and he yanked his hand away from her.
“You’re mean! I just wanted a cookie.”
Saucy’s voice trembled. “Bubba, that man is bad. He wants to kidnap you.”
Bubba’s eyes got big and round. “Why do you say that?” He looked back at the store.
The man-in-the-suit waved to them. The thin mustache curved upward in what the man probably thought was a smile, but Saucy thought was a snarl. If he ever managed to kidnap Bubba, the man would take him where she could never find him.
Bubba lifted his arm to return the wave, but Saucy angrily pushed his hand down. “Don’t even look at him!”
13
The Neighbor
After leaving the store, it took Saucy and Bubba thirty minutes to find a new store. Saucy insisted they just buy the groceries and hurry out. It took another thirty minutes to circle back around to Aunt Vivian’s house. By then, it was six o’clock and they were ready to sneak back into the house and settle down to more TV.
But a neighbor was raking fall leaves. He wore jeans and an old T-shirt that stretched too tight over his belly. He’d already finished the front yard and was working on the side yard nearest Aunt Vivian’s house. He had a full view of both the front walk and the back door.
They had to walk past Aunt Vivian’s house and circle back around to the alley. They crawled under some bushes to wait. Bubba whined, and Saucy squirmed. But the neighbor was determined to bag every single leaf in his yard. It was a big yard, empty except for a dog house on the far side of the yard. Bubba counted fourteen trees. Fourteen trees and billions of leaves.
By the time the man filled twelve black bags with leaves his shirt was streaked with sweat, and he was puffing. Saucy thought maybe he would finish and go in soon. Bubba had to count each bag, but he got bored and started counting how many times the man raked.
“Shh,” Saucy warned.
Bubba frowned and was quiet for a minute. Then he started counting the red berries on their hiding bushes. Wearily, Saucy pointed to his calculator. Distracted by the calculator, he was quiet for a few minutes.
When he got tired of that, Saucy pulled out her notebook and found a clean sheet. Together, they wrote out the budget for their trip:
Bubba’s Budget:
Words by Saucy, Numbers by Bubba
Day 1: Start with $100.00
Small notebook, 50 pages $ .63
One Sprite $ .55
One ice cream sandwich $ 1.01
Two bus tickets 2 x $16.69 $33.38
Hot chocolate and advice $2.00
Total food: $ 3.56
Total transport: $33.38
Total bed: Free
Total misilanus: $ 0.63
Grand total: $35.57
Balance: $64.37
Day 2:
Cookies–Chocolate Chip $2.49
White Milk $1.89
Peanut butter (smooth) $2.59
Bread $.89
Tax $.39
Total $8.25
Balance $56.18
Saucy finished the words, and Bubba checked the numbers. In just two days, they had spent over half their money. Saucy wondered how long they could stay here at Aunt Vivian’s.
The neighbor was still working. He piled the twelve bags into a wheelbarrow and pushed them around to the street. It looked like he was done. Saucy hoped he would go inside. Instead, he stretched his arms skyward, sighed, and went to the back yard to finish raking there.
Saucy wanted to cry. She was so tired of keeping Bubba quiet and hidden. She decided to risk crawling through the shrubs to the door. When she explained this to Bubba, he took off crawling, kicking up a cloud of dust.
She closed her eyes against the dust, but suddenly, Saucy sneezed.
From the neighbor’s yard came a bark. A small border collie with a bright red collar charged out of the dog house. It barked at the bushes where Saucy and Bubba hid, then charged closer.
Saucy pulled Bubba back and hugged him. She hissed at the collie. It backed away growling.
“Hey, what’s going on? What did you find?” The neighbor hitched up his jeans and walked toward them.
Saucy and Bubba backed away. The dust was soft under Saucy’s hands.
Thankfully the back door of the neighbor’s house opened and a scrawny girl came out, letting the screen door slam behind her.
The man looked around. “Maria, when is Vivian coming back?”
“Tomorrow or the next day. I’m supposed to get her mail until then,” the girl said. “Mom says to tell you supper is on the table, and you have to get washed up or you can’t eat. And she said to tell you to hurry because it’s her bowling night and you promised you would come right in and not make her late.”
The man looked at the bushes, then back at his house. “Come on, Tex. Let’s go eat. Leave the rabbits alone.”
He turned and went into his house, pulling the collie with him.
Bubba jerked away from Saucy and raced for the back door of Aunt Vivian’s house.
She tried to call out, “Stop!” Or, “Don’t let them see you.” But if she did that, the neighbor would hear her. She just sat in the dust and cried silently. It was all too much. A heavy, heavy weight sat on her chest, and she could only sit and cry.
Hearing her, Bubba came back and took her hand. His big blue eyes were the only clean things on his face.
“You’re not supposed to cry,” he whispered. “You’re the big sister.”
Saucy wiped her eyes and felt the grimy dirt on her own face. When Daddy cried, she had hated it, too. She took a deep, shaky breath. She pressed her lips together and made a decision: Bubba must never see her cry again. “I know. I’ll take care of you. But you gotta let me take care of you.”
Bubba nodded. “You’re the big sister.”
Together, they gathered the sacks of groceries and crept back to the house where Saucy unlocked the door, and they went inside to hide for the night.
After they washed their faces, they ate peanut butter sandwiches for supper. They watched TV, but with the overhead lights off, so the neighbors wouldn’t get suspic
ious.
It had been an awful day. Bubba had been fidgety and bored until they went out. But going out was scary. The cookie man had almost tricked Bubba. When they walked away, Bubba kept looking back at the man and smiling. Even after she explained the cookie man was a kidnapper, Bubba kept waving. Did he do it to make her mad? Or did he not understand the danger?
It made her mad. She had to stay alert for dangers, and Bubba wasn’t helping. He wouldn’t listen, and she couldn’t watch him all the time. It was too scary trying to take care of Bubba.
“How long till Daddy comes home?” she asked.
Bubba punched numbers into his calculator. “This is Monday night, and he’s supposed to be home on Thursday night. That’s 72 hours.”
It was too long, too much to ask. How could she keep Bubba safe for 72 more scary hours?
14
The Phone Call
The next morning–Tuesday–Saucy and Bubba were both grouchy. It would be their third day away from home. Saucy pushed back her bowl of soggy cornflakes, and watched Bubba shovel his into his mouth and pour more into his bowl. He was disgusting. Milk dribbled onto the front of his shirt.
Saucy said, “Your shirt’s dirty and it stinks. Let’s wash clothes.”
“It’s not dirty. I don’t want to wash it,” Bubba complained. He shoved back his chair and put his bowl into the sink.,
Saucy followed him. “Oh, yeah?” Saucy backed him up against the cabinet and reached for the top button of his shirt.
Bubba screamed: he ducked down under her hands and tried to scramble away.
Saucy grabbed at the back of his shirt. He dropped to all fours and crawled away. “My shirt isn’t dirty!” he yelled.
The phone rang. Hanging onto Bubba’s shirt, Saucy whirled around and grabbed the phone.
Time seemed to stand still. No one was supposed to be home at Aunt Vivian’s house. Saucy should have just let the answering machine pick it up.
Bubba squealed and tried to squirm away from Saucy.
Krissy’s voice said, “Vivian? Is that you?”
Saucy jabbed the phone’s off button. “Shh! That was Krissy. I think she heard you.”
Bubba’s eyes got big.
Saucy and Bubba Page 6