Freddie Ramos Hears It All

by Jacqueline Jules

  When Mom was worried, she hugged just as much as she yelled. I got squeezed a bunch before Mom was ready to hear my side of the story.

  “I’m glad you care about others,” she began, “and you always want to help.”

  Whew! Mom was seeing things my way! My TV time was safe.

  “Checking the cellar is Mr. Vaslov’s job, not yours, Freddie. I’m calling him right now.”

  Uh-oh! Would Mr. Vaslov tell Mom that he had just been here with me? I held my breath as I watched him walk up with his big set of keys. Luckily, Mr. Vaslov was more upset about his mistake than mine.

  “I’m sorry,” Mr. Vaslov told my mom. “This was my fault. The door should never have been left unlocked.”

  Mr. Vaslov jiggled the handle to make sure no one could get inside the cellar without him. Sometimes grown-ups don’t have to tell you not to do something again. They make it impossible.

  “Who is this?” Mom asked.

  We all stopped thinking about the cellar to look at a boy standing a few feet away. He had dark hair and puffy red eyes.

  “This is Alexis.” Mr. Vaslov introduced us. “He’s my great nephew.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Mom said.

  Alexis only nodded. His nose was just about as red as his eyes. Now I knew who had been crying behind Mr. Vaslov’s door. I just didn’t know why.

  “How long are you visiting?” Mom asked.

  “The weekend,” Mr. Vaslov spoke for Alexis. “We’re going to the Air and Space Museum tomorrow.”

  “Really?” I asked. “My class went there today on a field trip.”

  I stared at my shoes, thinking how my friends saw the museum while I was too busy with Zapato Power.

  “There are lots of neat things there,” I added.

  “Would you like to go again, Freddie?” Mr. Vaslov asked. “You could be our guide.”

  I looked at Mom. Having superpowers only changed some things. I still had to ask my mom before I could go anywhere.

  “You are always so thoughtful!” Mom told Mr. Vaslov. “Freddie loves airplanes and spaceships.”

  ¡Fantástico! I was getting a second chance to see the inside of a cockpit and everything else I’d missed.

  What’s more, I might get the chance to find out why Alexis had been crying.

  Then there would be only one mystery left. Who was making noise in the cellar?

  6. Back at the Museum

  In the morning, Mr. Vaslov drove us to the museum. Alexis was a different person—all smiles and no sniffles. He talked on and on about making model airplanes with his dad.

  “When we’re finished, we hang them from my bedroom ceiling.”

  “I know.” Mr. Vaslov nodded. “That’s why your father asked me to take you to the Air and Space Museum.”

  My dad was a soldier and a war hero. We never got a chance to make things together. I wondered if Alexis knew how lucky he was to have a dad in his life. Then I thought back to his crying and his puffy red eyes. His life wasn’t perfect either.

  “We’re here!” Mr. Vaslov pulled open a glass door, and we moved into the gigantic hall with the airplanes overhead.

  “Hey! Alexis!” I pointed. “Just like your bedroom at home.”

  “Not exactly.” He laughed.

  Mr. Vaslov was a lot more relaxed than Mrs. Blaine. No counting heads at all. He let Alexis read as many signs as he wanted without pushing him to hurry up. And he let me go inside the nose of a Boeing 747 twice.

  In one of the rooms, Mr. Vaslov and I got interested in pictures of the space walks.

  “Look at those huge backpacks,” I said. “Are they engines? Do they make the astronauts fly?”

  “They float, not fly,” Mr. Vaslov explained. “There’s oxygen in the packs to keep the astronauts alive.”

  “That makes sense,” I said. “But a flying backpack sure would be awesome.”

  Mr. Vaslov winked. “I’ll keep it in mind, Freddie.”

  Science museums are great places to get ideas for new inventions. Mr. Vaslov and I were so busy talking that we didn’t notice Alexis wasn’t nearby.

  “WHERE IS HE?” Mr. Vaslov shouted. His eyes got as big as his round glasses.

  “Don’t worry!” I said. “I’m good at finding kids in this place.”

  ¡No hay problema! I found Alexis in the next room, standing in front of something that looked to me like a ginormous kite.

  “The Wright Brothers Flyer.” He pointed. “The first plane! So cool!”

  “It is!” Mr. Vaslov agreed, putting his arms around Alexis in a bear hug.

  Alexis was having too good a time to realize how much he had scared us. It was nice to see him smiling, but I still wondered why he’d been so unhappy the day before.

  I got my chance to find out during lunch.

  Mr. Vaslov bought us hamburgers, and we sat down in the table area with our trays.

  “Drat!” Mr. Vaslov said. “I forgot to get napkins.”

  “I’ll get them,” I offered.

  While I was over at the counter pulling napkins from a metal box, Mr. Vaslov leaned his head toward Alexis. I could tell they were about to start a private conversation. All I had to do was rub the buttons on my wristband to listen in. Should I? It was really tempting. Too tempting! My fingers moved almost by themselves. Then my ears started hurting.

  “Don’t feed your doll chocolate ice cream.”

  “Gross! They put mustard on my sandwich!”

  “I don’t like pickles!”

  Blocking out the other people in the lunchroom and hearing Mr. Vaslov took all my concentration.

  “I’m so happy the operation went well,” he told Alexis. “The doctor says your mom is recovering nicely.”

  So that’s what was wrong! Alexis was worried about his mom. If my mom had to have an operation, I’d be sad too.

  I turned off my super hearing and went back to the table to eat my hamburger. Alexis and Mr. Vaslov stopped talking as soon as I sat down. That made me feel funny.

  Later on, we went to the gift shop. I bought a postcard of a red airplane and one of the moonwalk showing astronauts wearing those fancy backpacks that looked like jet engines.

  With Mr. Vaslov’s help, Alexis picked out a model airplane covered in green and gold glitter. Alexis wanted it for his mom in the hospital. I knew that because I was eavesdropping from across the store.

  “Good choice,” Mr. Vaslov said. “Your mom will love it.”

  As we left the museum, I kept wanting to say something to Alexis about his mom. But since I wasn’t supposed to know she was in the hospital, I had to keep my mouth shut. Having superpowers is really complicated.

  7. The Mystery Returns

  “Want to hang out again tomorrow?” Alexis asked when we got back to Starwood Park.

  “Sure!”

  I couldn’t wait to spend more time with Alexis. We’d had so much fun at the museum playing with all the dials and buttons.

  As I walked back to my building, I thought about things we could do together. Did Alexis play soccer? Did he like animals? Would he like my guinea pig, Claude the Second?

  “WAAAEEE! WAAAEEE!”

  Not again! I ran down the cellar steps and knocked on the basement door.

  “Anybody there?” I called.

  Just like last time and the time before, the crying stopped. And the door was locked tight. Mr. Vaslov had made sure of that. I had to go home and leave the mystery for another day.

  In the morning, Alexis came over right after breakfast. The first thing we did was feed Claude the Second.

  “Look at that!” Alexis was impressed. “He stands up and squeaks for his food!”

  “Do you have a pet?”

  “I keep asking.” Alexis sighed. “And Dad keeps saying, ‘one day.’ Maybe he’d let me get a guinea pig. It stays in a cage and doesn’t run around like a cat.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  “Yes,” Alexis admitted. “I’d love a kitty.”

 
When we were done playing with Claude the Second, Alexis looked out the window.

  “It’s sunny. Do you like soccer?” he asked.

  I grabbed my ball, and Alexis grinned. He seemed just as happy as I was that we liked so many of the same things.

  We went outside to the grassy area between buildings. Alexis played on a soccer team, and he knew practice drills. I didn’t even think about turning on my super speed. Using Zapato Power for sports was like cheating.

  We kicked the soccer ball for over an hour. Then we sat on the steps of the storage cellar to rest. Mom saw us through the window and brought us a snack.

  “This trip is turning out to be nice,” Alexis said with his mouth full of cookies. “I thought I’d hate it.”

  “How come?” I asked.

  Alexis hung his head. “My mom had an operation on Friday. My parents sent me here so my dad could spend more time at the hospital.”

  Suddenly I felt like a sneaky snoop. If I had just waited, Alexis would have told me why he’d been crying on Friday. Now it was too late. I had to ask a question I already knew the answer to.

  “Is your mom all right?”

  Before Alexis could tell me, something got our attention.

  “WAAAEEE! WAAAEEE!”

  The crier in the storage cellar was back. Who or what was it?

  “WAAAEEE! WAAAEEE!”

  “It sounds like a hungry animal,” Alexis said. “Once, our neighbor’s cat got stuck under my house. It cried just like that.”

  If Alexis was right, this was an emergency! A job for a hero with super speed. ME!

  “I’ll get Mr. Vaslov to unlock the door!”

  “And I’ll get food,” Alexis said.

  He went in one direction, and I went in the other.

  Hmm…Mr. Vaslov wasn’t in his toolshed. Where should I look next? Maybe my Zapato Power hearing could help. I rubbed the buttons on my wristband and circled the buildings.

  “Watch out for the dog poo!”

  “Want to play jump rope?”

  “If you don’t share, I’m going to tell Mamá!”

  At first, all I heard was kids playing outside. Then I followed a voice that sounded like Mrs. Ramirez in 20G. She was on her doorstep, crying out to our neighbor Mrs. Tran in 21G. Something was wrong!

  I stepped around the corner, so I could hear without being seen. With Zapato Power, listening in on other people was too easy.

  “¡Mi gatita!” Mrs. Ramirez sniffled. “Where could she be?”

  “Don’t worry,” Mrs. Tran said. “We’ll find your sweet kitty.”

  So Alexis was right. We did have a hungry cat to rescue. If I could find Mr. Vaslov with the keys, I’d be a hero!

  I ran around the buildings again. No sign of Mr. Vaslov. My super speed wasn’t helping! I was ready to try a phone. Then I heard Alexis call my name.

  “Freddie! Come look!”

  Alexis was standing by the open cellar door, waving. Mr. Vaslov was beside him.

  “We solved the mystery!”

  8. Cat Trouble!

  Mr. Vaslov had been in his apartment when Alexis went back for food. They rescued a little black cat before I had a chance to help.

  “Now I know why we didn’t see her before,” Mr. Vaslov said. “Cats hide when they’re frightened.”

  “So how did you find her this time?” I asked.

  There had to be a good reason why Alexis got to be the hero and not me.

  “We gave her some leftover chicken,” Alexis said. “Poor little thing was starving.”

  Alexis pointed at the kitten while she gobbled food. “Look! She doesn’t have a collar. She must be a stray.”

  Mr. Vaslov nodded. “That might explain why she was stuck in the cellar by herself.”

  “She needs a home!” Alexis said. “I want to keep her!”

  Yikes! The cat had to belong to Mrs. Ramirez. Alexis didn’t know he was about to take somebody else’s pet. This was the kind of thing a hero was supposed to stop. But Alexis was my friend. What was I going to do?

  “Let’s give the kitty a name.” Alexis leaned down to stroke the cat. “Do you have any ideas, Freddie?”

  A name? Alexis was getting attached. If I didn’t act fast, he’d be crushed when he found out the truth. How could I explain? Alexis didn’t know I had super hearing, and Mr. Vaslov didn’t know I had been snooping.

  Then I thought about Mrs. Ramirez crying at 20G. Sometimes you go for the problem you can solve and leave the rest for later.

  I scooped the cat up in my arms.

  “Freddie!” Mr. Vaslov called after me. “WHERE ARE YOU GOING?”

  I raced around the corner with the little black cat, ready to hear Mrs. Ramirez thanking me, telling me I was a hero.

  Except when I got there, I saw Mrs. Ramirez hugging another cat. And it wasn’t a little black kitten like the one in my arms. That cat was gigantic, with white fur sticking out all over and a don’t-mess-with-me face.

  “See,” Mrs. Tran soothed. “I told you we’d find her.”

  “MEOW!”

  The black kitty cried and squirmed in my arms. She didn’t seem to like me much.

  At that moment, I didn’t like me too much either.

  Mr. Vaslov came running up. Alexis was right behind him.

  “Sorry!” I cried. “I made a mistake!”

  The black cat wiggled down to the ground. “Meow!” She ran away.

  Mr. Vaslov put a firm hand on my shoulder. “Let Alexis get the kitty. We should talk.”

  It was time to admit I’d messed up. Not just with the cat but the field trip too.

  “My super hearing gets me into trouble. I’m using it too much!”

  Mr. Vaslov rubbed his stubbly chin, listening quietly. “I see.”

  Some grown-ups make it easy. They tell kids what to do. Mr. Vaslov made me figure things out on my own. Not so easy.

  “I can’t control myself!” I added.

  “Are you sure?” Mr. Vaslov raised his bushy eyebrows.

  That was a good question. I didn’t use super speed when I played sports with my friends.

  “Not really.” I scratched my head. “Maybe I could wait till I’m sure super hearing will solve a problem, not make one.”

  “Good plan, Freddie.” Mr. Vaslov smiled.

  Just then, Alexis came back. “The kitty’s hiding again! Can you hear her?”

  Mr. Vaslov turned to me with a wink. “I can’t, but maybe Freddie can.”

  The cat wasn’t crying anymore. My super hearing wasn’t helping. Running all over Starwood Park didn’t work either. Finally, brainpower helped me figure it out.

  “Of course!” Alexis agreed. “She’s hungry!”

  The kitty was by the cellar door, finishing her food.

  “You should call her Star,” I told Alexis, “for Starwood Park.”

  “Perfect!” he said. “It will remind me how I found her here with you!”