The Boy from Left Field

by Tom Henighan

  Of course, that Babe Ruth baseball would be just the kind of thing they’d go for! And hadn’t Mr. Rizzuto been told that “others” were paying Mr. Wingate for special information on Toronto and the islands?

  Hawk squirmed in his seat and wondered if Mr. Big was connected to more than his stolen glove. It was really important that they get in touch with Elroy and convince him to help them out.

  Then Panny said, “Thanks, Dr. Sam. Great information. Up until now, all I knew about the triads was that their members had to swear funny oaths, like ‘If I rob a sworn brother I will be killed by five thunderbolts!’ But what do you think? Could this Chinese guy that Martin saw be connected to the Rippers? Could the Rippers really be working with a triad gang?”

  The professor shrugged his shoulders. “Anything’s possible, cousin Panny,” he said. “If there’s big money in there somewhere, there could some gang stuff involved, Chinese or otherwise. The Rippers might just be the lowest rung on the ladder. Which is all the more reason for you kids to stay clear of it. I don’t want either the Rippers or the Sun Yee On, or anybody else for that matter, to come around and give any of you a good spanking!”

  At that instant, Chew-Boy stood up and barked. They all jumped, hearts in their throats, and seconds later burst out laughing.

  “I hope that isn’t a bad omen,” the professor said. “Anybody want another egg tart?”

  Chapter 14

  Kids on the Warpath, Slowly

  Outside on the street, the kids went over their plans.

  “So, Professor Sam doesn’t want us to go after that gang,” Albert said. “I guess we’d better take his advice, right, Panny?”

  Panny looked thoughtful, but Martin frowned and spoke up with passion. “After all our trouble?” he protested. “Just to let the gang get away with it? No way!”

  “We don’t want to end up in the Don River,” Albert said. “And besides, the police won’t like it, and our parents will kill us if the criminals don’t!”

  “Nobody’s going to kill us,” Panny assured him. “Look, boys, it’s only Friday. Albert and I have very busy Saturdays. I have music lessons and Chinese school, and he has chess and art classes. And I’ll bet Hawk here has some more studying to do with his dad. So let’s do it this way. We don’t rush off right now or tomorrow. We meet on Sunday morning outside of Elroy’s house. It has to be early, in case his mum makes him go to church. From what Martin says, we should be able to convince him to help us. At the very least we might get him to break with the gang. When we hear what he says, we can decide what to do. Either we go to the police or we try something ourselves … or maybe a little of both! How about it, guys?”

  Hawk nodded enthusiastically. He was anxious to see his dad. Monday, the deadline set by Charles, the Ferret Master, was coming around fast. He just couldn’t tell the kids about the Ferrets, although he was bursting to. They were all working together to get his glove back, to help Elroy — and now maybe there was a connection with Mr. Big and the lost Babe Ruth baseball. He couldn’t dump his Ferret problem on them, too — they might even laugh at him. No, he would get advice from his dad about that one. He had real respect from his friends and he wanted to keep it. And he trusted his dad so much more now.

  “Should we meet behind the Dumpsters opposite Elroy’s house?” he asked.

  “Right, Hawk,” Panny agreed. “Let’s make it nine o’clock. We’ll figure out how to get hold of Elroy without his mum being around when we size up the scene. Just call me if anything comes up between now and then, okay?”

  They all agreed and split up right there, scattering in various directions. Hawk headed east toward Mr. Selim’s restaurant. He would check in with his mum and then go on to his father’s. Jim had promised to meet him at his house around seven. He would stay there overnight and finish up his studies on Saturday. He was due to give Ms. Calloway an outline of his talk on Monday morning. If only the Ferrets weren’t threatening him it would all work out so well!

  When he got to Mr. Selim’s he was surprised to find that his mother wasn’t there. Their dusty little room had a funny feel to it, as if it was especially empty and vacant at that moment. Then he noticed that his mother’s old suitcase was gone, along with most of her meagre stash of clothing. There was no note, so he ran in search of Mr. Selim.

  Hawk found him in the big steaming kitchen that smelled of curry, baked nan, and tandoori chicken. A young Indian man, busy tending stewpots and ovens according to Selim’s instructions, winked at Hawk.

  “Ah, young man!” Mr. Selim smiled at him. “I have a message for you from your mother. I’m glad you’re here because she was rather frantic to find you before she left. She had to leave suddenly, you see, because a lady friend of hers came with a car to take her to Ottawa. A ‘once-in-a-lifetime chance,’ your good mother said. So she made me promise to find you and tell you to go on to your father’s house as planned, and stay there for the weekend. She’ll telephone him along the way and explain everything. I am so relieved that you made it easy for me!”

  Hawk nodded. He felt worried about his mother, and nervous about her plans. Did this mean she was getting ready to take him to Ottawa with her? His dad had said he didn’t have to go, and Hawk hoped his dad would get his way. He was sad that his mother was leaving Riverdale, but he sure didn’t want to move to Ottawa with her.

  “Bring your dad to eat here some time,” Mr. Selim said, shaking hands with Hawk and turning back to his kitchen supervision.

  Hawk packed his clothes and schoolbooks into a small knapsack and hurried out of the restaurant, through the back lot, then down the long side street that connected with the main thoroughfare. There the traffic swarmed and buzzed, as if everyone, fed up with the long work week, was pushing into the weekend as fast as possible.

  Hawk ran, heading straight for The Pocket and his father’s house, and got there before his dad arrived home. He sat breathless on the back steps, watching the busybody in the house behind the back fence shake her head and mumble to herself, looking quite upset that he appeared to be locked out of his father’s house and was just sitting idly there.

  It wasn’t long before his father arrived, looking pensive. But he quickly brightened up when he saw his son sitting there on the steps. Hawk noticed that his father often had to pull himself out of his blue moods, to escape from whatever thoughts were preoccupying him, before he could focus on just being there with his son. But Hawk had also decided, some time before, that what really mattered was that his father always made the effort to connect with him. That was the good thing; that was what made Hawk happy.

  Soon they had settled down to sandwiches and study. Hawk had to answer a lot of questions about what they had studied already: What were the main divisions of the Ojibway-Cree Nation? What geographical areas did they occupy? What was the relation of their nation to the Iroquois Federation? How were young men initiated into the tribe? What were some of the main totem figures? What was the Medewin Medicine Society? What form did the sacred scrolls take?

  Hawk answered all these questions in detail. He loved learning about the past, especially that of his people, and he wanted to please his father. He was also determined to give a good presentation to his class. When there was a pause in the questioning and Hawk saw how pleased Jim was with his new knowledge, he decided the time had come to talk about his problem with the Ferrets. “Dad, there’s something I’ve got to tell you about my new class,” he began.

  The story was harder to get out than he had expected. He stumbled a few times, hesitated, and found himself close to tears. But his father’s strong eyes held him steady.

  “Go ahead, son,” Jim said. “Just tell it like it is.”

  Hawk told him about Charles and his messages and threats — the skull and crossbones, the Monday deadline — and how he didn’t know who else might be in the gang. Albert? Maybe even Panny? He put on a brave face, trying to conceal from his father how scared he was, but he knew he hadn’t fooled Jim for a moment.<
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  “That little twerp really called you Pocahontas?” his father asked, with a disgusted smile. He shook his head. “Needs a good kick in the butt, that’s what he needs. But don’t worry about your friends, son. From what you’ve told me about them, you can be sure they’re not part of it! No, I’ll tell you exactly what’s going to happen. I’m going over to see Ms. Calloway before school on Monday. You’re going to tell Panny and Albert about this and go to Ms. Calloway with them. I suspect little Charlie-pants-bully is going to have some explaining to do to his teachers and his parents before that day is out!”

  Hawk felt a rush of relief come over him at his father’s words. The rest of the evening they spent watching a movie, Ivanhoe, about the adventures of a Saxon knight in the Middle Ages. It had some great moments, and Hawk especially liked the scenes that showed the storming of a castle and a big tournament. His dad enjoyed the movie, too.

  The next day they went to the zoo, and Hawk saw the lions and tigers and learned the Native names of some of the North American animals. Later, they played baseball in the backyard, with the old lady behind the fence glaring at them the whole time.

  That night, Hawk was restless. He was eager to see Panny, Albert, and Martin the next day, but was glad that he hadn’t heard any bad news from them. Everything must still be on. He had explained to his father that he wanted to meet the boys early, fibbing that they were going to Chinatown for dim sum with Panny.

  “Well, you can set the alarm and go,” Jim had said. “Just be back here in the afternoon. This will be a good chance for you to tell your friends about Charles and his nonsense. I know they’ll back you up one hundred percent.”

  Hawk nodded. He felt badly that he couldn’t tell his father what was really happening — about the Rippers, about Panny’s idea of splitting Elroy from the gang and helping him, and about the gang connections between the Rippers and Mr. Big. But he knew that if he did tell him, Jim wouldn’t let him go.

  He tossed and turned in his bed for a while, but finally dozed off. The next thing he knew, the alarm was blaring in his ear. He turned it off and crawled out of bed. It was morning and he was ready for his Sunday adventure.

  Chapter 15

  Closing in on the Gangs

  It was a sunny Sunday, getting warm fast, and the streets were still pretty empty of traffic. Hawk had been too excited to eat before he left, so by the time he had trudged through the just-waking city and got to South Riverdale he was starving.

  Luckily, a few blocks away from Elroy’s house Panny came zooming up the street, greeted him, and pulled a couple of bags of food out of her overstuffed panniers. They sat on the steps of an old deserted warehouse and Hawk dug into the food.

  “I thought you might be hungry — and the two other guys even left something for you. They’re watching the house already from behind the dumpster. How did your time with your dad go?”

  “It was great.” Hawk gave her a shy look, hesitating. “But I have to tell you guys something. It’s about school.”

  “I hope it’s not bad. Your dad’s not pulling you out of our class, is he?”

  “No. It’s something that happened. But maybe I could eat first.”

  Hawk started stuffing himself with the cold shrimp shumai, won ton chips, and pork dumplings that Panny handed over. “Here, have some orange juice, too,” she told him with a smile. “Don’t want you choking to death before I hear your big secret.”

  Hawk swigged some of the orange juice and without a pause began rattling off his story to Panny. She sat there, wide-eyed, listening to his account of Charles’s bullying tactics, and, as he concluded, he mentioned his Monday “deadline.” Panny jumped to her feet, wheeled her bicycle up and down in a frantic motion, and said, “Ms. Calloway will soon put a stop to that!”

  When she had calmed down a little, she added, “I’m surprised that we didn’t hear about all that stuff. Of course I knew that some kids hung around Charles, but I didn’t know he was a little fascist leader. I thought they were just taken in by his fake cool. Poor Hawk, I’m sorry for you. I’m glad your dad’s going in tomorrow. We’ll all talk to Ms. Calloway and Ms. Clarke about this. It’s just the kind of thing our teachers hate most — bullying. They hate it even more than they hate smart kids who don’t cheer for others and are ‘all about me’!”

  Hawk felt a great wave of relief and was suddenly lighthearted and happy. He almost wanted to get up and dance around. He had friends who would help him, and teachers who could protect him. He walked beside Panny, a smile on his face, as she pushed her bike in the direction of the narrow street that led to Elroy’s house.

  “Nothing happening so far in the house with the brown curtains,” she told Hawk. “Not a car moving on that street yet. The printer’s shop is closed, of course, and so is the showroom. It was smart to come down here and catch Elroy on a Sunday. Let’s just hope he gets out of the house alone at some point and his mum doesn’t drag him off somewhere.”

  “To church, for example,” Hawk said. “Remem-ber, he’s from the South and they go to church a lot down there.”

  “Well, we’ll just have to pray that he doesn’t,” Panny said, giggling. “I brought Chew-Boy, by the way. He’s guarding Albert and Martin right now.”

  They turned down the bleak, empty street and Hawk caught sight of Elroy’s house, looking smaller and more desolate than he remembered. More paint seemed to have peeled away and the porch appeared to sag even more than it had a few days before. Across from the house, the Dumpster looked forlorn and deserted.

  “The guys are hiding out — that’s good,” Panny said. “And here’s Chew-Boy, wondering where I was all this time.”

  The small, fluffy, white ball of energy raced toward them, trailing a long leash behind him. Panny jumped off her bike, swept the dog into her arms, and gave him a brief kiss. When she put him back down he pranced up and down for a minute, then followed along happily as she led the way to where they boys were hiding.

  They were seated on a small piece of plastic sheeting, their backs resting against two big knapsacks. They had cellphones in hand and were immersed in playing some kind of video game.

  “Just what I like to see,” Panny scoffed. “Our super-spies watching the house for Elroy’s every move. He could be back in Jacksonville by now for all you’d know!”

  Martin grunted and got to his feet. “Don’t worry, Panny. We’ve been looking over there every minute or so. It’s as quiet as a graveyard. We had enough trouble keeping Chew-Boy from following you. When I heard your voices just now, I let him go.”

  “One sure thing is that we won’t be seeing any of the Rippers this morning,” Albert said. “They’re probably all still in bed … which is where I’d like to be, too.” He yawned and stretched and peered around the Dumpster at the house across the street. “Got any more shumai, Panny?”

  “Nothing left!” she answered, and proceeded to tell them about Hawk’s troubles at school with the bully, Charles.

  Martin and Albert shook their heads in disgust, but before they could say anything, Panny reminded them all why they were there. “Sure, Charles is a snake, but first things first. It’s almost 9:30. If Elroy comes out with his mum, I’m going to follow them. I’m the only one he hasn’t met, so I can track them without being suspected. Then, when I see a chance to split the boy from his mum so we can talk to him, I’ll text you.”

  “Let’s hope something happens soon,” Martin said. “After being captured by the Rippers once, I’m not finding spying like this too comfortable.”

  They settled down and waited, a little restless but conserving their energy as best they could. They had no idea what they might have to do in the next few hours.

  After what seemed ages, and when they were almost ready to try something bolder, like going up to the house and knocking on the door themselves, something finally happened.

  A low gasp from Albert, who was watching the house at that moment, brought them all to attention.

  �
�Two old ladies,” he said. “Heading out somewhere.”

  “And one of them is Elroy’s mother,” Hawk said. “I recognize her.”

  Two older black women, well-dressed in dark colours and wearing old-fashioned Sunday hats, had stepped out on to the porch. They stood chatting for a moment and then strolled off together toward the main street.

  “It’s church for sure,” Albert said. “Now, if Elroy is smart, he’ll still be in bed.”

  “We’ll give him half an hour,” Panny said. “Then we’ll go over and get him.”

  The three boys gaped at her.

  “You weren’t planning to wait here all day, were you?” she challenged them.

  But they didn’t have to go over, and they didn’t have to wait very long. Five minutes later the front door opened and a sleepy-eyed Elroy, stretching his arms and yawning, came out on the porch and stood for a minute looking up and down the street.

  “Remember our plan,” Panny whispered. “Two in each direction to cut him off. You say he’s a fast runner, so we’ve got to block off his escape.”

  “Maybe he’ll just pull out a gun and kill us,” Albert said.

  “Are you serious?” Panny said. “This is Elroy, not that Ringo freak. He helped Martin to escape, remember? And he’ll soon see that we’re the best thing that could have happened to him.”

  “Look! He’s starting to move,” Martin said.

  “And so are we,” said Panny. “Martin and Hawk, you try to cut him off. Albert and I will block this end of the street.”

  Hawk sprinted away, out into the narrow street, Martin right beside him. They ran right past Elroy, turning to block his path. Elroy stopped in his tracks.

  “Hey, Elroy!” Martin shouted. “We just want to talk to you.”

  Elroy turned around and began to jog the other way, but not too fast. “Ain’t got nothin’ to say!” he shouted back. Suddenly he stopped, spotting Panny and Albert walking toward him on the sidewalk, barring his way.