The Secret of Rover

by Rachel Wildavsky

  Nice as it was outside, Katie simply felt better indoors and she breathed easier once her uncle locked the door. Ever since his warning, shadowy figures had seemed to watch her from the darkened woods, and the flickering of the fireflies seemed like reflections from their bright, hidden eyes. The cool air was refreshing, but she reached up to close the window, wanting it, too, to be sealed and locked.

  As she raised her arms, the short sleeve of her T-shirt slid back on her left shoulder and the corner of her eye seemed to catch its slithering motion. She gasped and slammed the window shut, her heart pounding in fear.

  David and Alex turned in alarm to see her pale, staring face.

  “I saw something. It must have been just my sleeve,” Katie said miserably.

  “Are you sure?” demanded David.

  “I think it was,” she said. Because if it wasn’t, then what she had just seen was the quick, stealthy movement of someone in the woods.

  Their uncle strode to the door and threw it open. “Who’s there?” he barked.

  Not so much as a twig snapped in response. For a moment Alex simply listened to the silence and stillness that met his gruff call. But then—and without taking his eyes off the woods—he reached for a cupboard that hung by the door. Pulling it open, he drew out a pistol. Gripping the weapon in both hands, he cocked it.

  The unmistakable sound of a firearm clicking into shooting position ricocheted through the silent woods.

  Neither David nor Katie so much as breathed. They had never been so close to a gun before.

  Alex closed and locked the door. When he turned around to face them, his expression was grim.

  “Neither of you is to touch this gun,” he said.

  “No problem,” said David. As if they would.

  “I’m a man of peace,” continued Alex, looking unhappy.

  “Understood!” said David.

  “I cherish the quiet of my mountain.”

  “We believe you!” said David.

  “But sometimes, when you live alone, you need a weapon.”

  “Uncle Alex,” said Katie, jumping in, “we’re not arguing!”

  Alex sighed. “Everything looks good out there,” he said. “What did you see, Katie?”

  “Probably just my own arm,” she confessed, embarrassed that she had reacted as she did. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t see anything. Sorry I yelled.”

  Alex looked relieved. “You’re tired,” he said. “And everything you’ve been through has made you jumpy. It’s time for bed.”

  Wearily Katie laid herself down. She was beyond tired. She was so tired, she was broken.

  No sooner did Katie’s head touch the pillow than she felt it begin to swirl, spinning her down, down, downward. But despite her weariness—just before she slipped into unconsciousness—she distinctly heard the click of the cupboard as her uncle opened it and put the pistol away. And she also heard the fastening of the window latch as he locked it for the night and carefully turned it tight.

  That was not the last they were to see of their uncle’s gun. Early the next morning, just before they left the little house on the mountaintop, Alex again opened the cupboard, then slipped the weapon into his pocket.

  He thought that Katie and David did not see this, but they did. They exchanged a look, but neither of them said a word.

  The rest of their preparations went quickly and smoothly. Alex produced a backpack into which he put his phone, a bottle of water, some homemade bread, and a fat hunk of Vermont cheese. The children added their map, which was now badly bedraggled, and their flashlights, which would need new batteries. And then Alex brought indoors the things he usually kept out, turned the key in the lock, and led the way.

  Katie and David followed their uncle along the bank of the stream, heading down the same path by which they had arrived two days before. The morning was clear and cold. Sun shone where they walked by the water, but daylight had not yet chased the shadows from the woods. They could see only a short distance into the forest on either side of them.

  It was deeply still in there, and the darkened woods were silent.

  Katie gratefully savored the warm sunshine on her shoulders and averted her eyes from the blackness on either side of them.

  Alex appeared to be absorbed in thought, and they tramped along in silence.

  David was the first to break it. “Um, Uncle Alex?” he asked.

  “Mmm?” said Alex.

  “Do you have money and stuff like that?”

  “David!” Katie exclaimed. Talk about a mood-breaker. Really, her brother had no manners.

  “I mean, for the taxi. Because, like, the last time this guy drove us we didn’t have enough to pay him.”

  “That’s incredibly rude!”

  “It’s OK, Katie,” said her uncle. “If you’re going to live as strangely as I do, you have to expect questions. And the answer is yes. I have money from Rover, just the way your parents do. And the first place we’re going to ask your taxi to take us is to my bank in Melville. Katie, it isn’t necessary to scuff the leaves that way. Let’s try to enjoy the silence of a mountain morning.”

  “I’m not scuffing,” said Katie.

  “Well, David, then. Please pick up your feet.”

  “Right,” said David absentmindedly. “That’s good about the money, Uncle Alex. It’s a good thing you’re so normal.”

  “David! Oh my God!”

  “’Cause we only have fourteen dollars! That’s all I meant, Kat!”

  “Oh my God. I don’t know you!”

  But Alex did not seem to care. “David,” he said. “I’m sorry to interrupt you. But would you please stop that rustling noise?”

  “I’m not. It’s Katie.”

  “I am not scuffing!”

  “Well, whatever it is you’re doing, please stop. It isn’t necessary to make noise everywhere we go. I think that city children sometimes forget—”

  “Uncle Alex.”

  Something in David’s voice stopped Alex in midsentence and he whipped around to face his niece and nephew. They were not rustling. In fact, they were not walking at all. They were standing stock-still, with faces white as death. And from the woods to their left came a steady, stealthy dry noise, like the scuffing of old leaves.

  Neither Katie nor David could have predicted that the sound of one small pistol would be so loud. It was so loud that it was as if they hadn’t even heard it. It was rather that they felt it in their chests.

  Alex had pointed the muzzle at the sky, and the bullet went straight up and disappeared. Birds they hadn’t even known were there shrieked and fled in a whirl of noise and feathers. For a long moment, the boom hung in the air, echoing off the surrounding mountains. And to their left, an unseen something bounded away through the underbrush.

  They all listened to its retreating footsteps until they could hear them no more. The stillness that followed was complete.

  At last Alex spoke. His face was ashen, but his voice was firm. “Katie, David,” he said. “I’d like both of you to know that that was a deer.”

  “Um, right,” said David.

  “David, I have lived on this mountain for fifteen years,” Alex said. “I know a buck when I hear one. Are we ready to go on now?”

  “Sure,” said Katie.

  “I’ll bring up the rear this time.” Alex waved the pistol. “There will be no further need for this. I’ll be putting it away now. Kids, proceed.”

  They did. But they managed to meet each other’s eyes, and their raised brows signaled that they were thinking the same thought.

  A deer?

  As they rounded the twists and turns of the creek, Katie and David could see the sunlight flash off the bright metal object that their uncle continued to grip in his hand.

  The sun was fully up—and Alex’s gun was finally stashed away—by the time they reached the road. The creepiness of their walk faded in the brightness of the day and the normalcy of pavement and cars.

  The plan was to m
eet Mike at the bridge. He had arrived before them and had found a spot to park. As soon as he saw them trudging toward him down the road he stepped out of his cab and leaned against the side, his massive arms folded, watching.

  “He doesn’t look very friendly,” said David while they were still out of earshot.

  “I imagine he wants to take a look at me,” said Alex. “It’s a little unusual to take a taxi from Vermont to Washington DC. And from what you say, he’s concerned about you. He probably wants to make sure I’m really your uncle.”

  “What do we do?” asked Katie. It would be awful if Mike tried to separate them.

  “Don’t do anything,” said Alex mildly. “He’s just being responsible. I’m sure I’d feel exactly the way he does, if I were him.”

  Nobody said another word until they reached the cab. Then Alex and Mike shook hands. “I appreciate you coming out to talk to us,” said their uncle.

  Mike gave him a steely look but did not reply. Instead, he turned to David.

  “How’re you doin’, kid?”

  “Good. Thanks.”

  He turned to Katie. “You?”

  “I’m fine, thank you.”

  “You two kids want to go to Washington with this man?” Mike demanded with a penetrating stare.

  They assured him that they did, and he sighed heavily. His sharp eyes peered for a long while at Alex, then at David, then back to Alex.

  Then, unexpectedly, Mike’s features relaxed. He unfolded his arms, stood up straight, and clapped Alex on the shoulder. “Well,” he said, looking Alex straight in the eye, “one thing’s for sure—no, two things. One, those kids are a lot cleaner. They’re lookin’ better. And two, he looks just like you.” With a jerk of his head Mike indicated David. “You got that same face. Let’s talk about this trip. Where’re you folks wantin’ to go?”

  Alex opened the door of the cab and indicated with a glance that Katie and David were to get in. As they did they heard him say, “First to the Bank of the North, in Melville.” And then the door closed. Hearing nothing, for some time they watched the two men talk.

  At length Mike and Alex shook hands, and then Alex got in the back with the children. “We’re on,” he said, looking relieved. “It’ll be a long ride—about ten hours.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s a little after nine right now. We’ll get there at dusk if we’re lucky. But Mike’s a good guy.” He chuckled. “To tell you the truth, I think he just wants to keep an eye on me.”

  Now Mike, who had been walking around to the driver’s side, opened his door and lowered himself behind the wheel. The whole car sank as he did so. “OK!” he announced cheerfully. “First stop, Melville. Next stop: Washington DC.”

  Mike turned the key and the motor sprang to life. He backed the cab into position, swung out into the road, and they were off, rolling smoothly down the same route the children had walked just two days before. David looked at Katie and Katie looked at David, and each knew they were thinking the same thing: cars. It’s amazing how fast you can move when you drive.

  Melville was just waking up when they arrived in town. The sun sparkled on the town square where Mike had left them two days earlier and gleamed on the brass fittings of the Bank of the North. David couldn’t help noticing how relaxing it was not to worry whether anyone was looking at them.

  “I’ll just be a minute,” said Alex, hopping briskly out of the cab, which Mike had parked in an open spot. David and Katie watched their uncle sprint up the bank’s white marble steps and disappear through the heavy wooden doors.

  Mike turned heavily around in his seat and for a moment they worried that he was going to question them. But instead he smiled. “Now,” he said, “what kind of radio do you kids like?” And for the next few minutes they busied themselves reviewing the on-air options in Vermont.

  Then the door was opening and their uncle was returning. He patted the pocket of his jeans reassuringly. “All set,” he said and handed an envelope to Mike, who removed a metal box from under the passenger seat and locked the money inside.

  Both men asked Katie and David about bathrooms and both kids shook their heads. Mike hitched his thick arm along the back of the seat and screwed his head around, squinting over his shoulder at the road behind him before backing out of his space.

  Katie sighed for an instant, just savoring the blessedness of being in a regular place where people had ordinary concerns. Over in front of the market the grocer was sweeping the sidewalk. He was getting ready to open up. The post office was being painted. A black SUV with a crooked fender was pulling out beside them; the driver was probably thinking about getting that fender fixed. It was normal. It was nice.

  Then they swung into the road and in no time at all they were past the square, rolling out of town, and headed south toward Washington.

  It was great to be in a regular car with two adults. The dank and smelly trucks in which they had ridden on their way north seemed like a distant memory on this sunny and comfortable trip south. Mike, who had been so taciturn on their first ride with him, turned out to be a cheerful and voluble talker. And gradually the uneasiness Katie and David had felt ever since Yonkers began to seem silly and faded away.

  So it took a while for Katie to realize that their uncle, sitting at her right, was not sharing in the happy mood the rest of them were enjoying. Glancing up at his solemn face she realized that what was luxuriously normal to them must feel very strange to him. She stared until he turned and met her eyes.

  “Thank you,” she said awkwardly. “For all this, I mean.” As soon as the words were out she realized that she should have said them sooner.

  David looked over, surprised. “Oh yeah,” he said. “Yeah, thanks. I guess this is pretty weird for you, huh? Being out here and everything.”

  Alex had stiffened in surprise at Katie’s words, but now his startled face softened in grateful pleasure. For a minute he blinked, not replying. Both children earnestly hoped he wouldn’t cry.

  “There’s no need for either of you to thank me,” he said at last, feelingly. “And yes, it’s a little weird. It’s very weird,” he corrected, “but not bad.”

  Glancing in the rearview mirror David could see Mike staring at them.

  “You two run away from home?” he queried sharply. “Is that it?” None of them replied, so Mike continued. “Well, it’s a good thing he’s taking you back. I know things can get rough with parents and kids, but running away is never the answer. Got kids myself. Say”—Mike turned to Alex—“how come you’re livin’ on that mountain, anyway? You like bein’ all by yourself?”

  Katie was indignant. She liked Mike, but this was rude. Even David—who was not exactly Mr. Tact—had known not to ask Alex about his solitary way of life.

  David, though, just eyed their uncle curiously. It was true that he hadn’t asked, but he certainly wanted to know.

  “I was . . . ,” began Alex stiffly. “I live there because—well, before I lived there, I was . . . I was attached to someone. To a lady.”

  Now Katie and David both eyed their uncle. This was quite interesting.

  “I wanted to marry her,” Alex continued, “but she . . . she . . .”

  “Another guy,” finished Mike. “Dude, that’s rough.”

  “Certainly not!” Alex retorted.

  Go Alex, thought David, pleased by this display of backbone.

  “Beg pardon?” said Mike.

  “There was no one else,” continued Alex, stammering. “But she—she had a bright future ahead of her and—and a crowded and busy one. And I’m—I don’t like a fast life,” he finished lamely.

  No kidding, thought David.

  “So she—she—” And here Alex faltered. Mike jumped in to help.

  “So,” he offered, “I’m guessing she went her way and you went yours.”

  “Yes,” said Alex, relieved.

  “Rough, dude. Rough. Like I said. But it looks like you got a good setup anyways. How’re you fixed? You pretty comfortable up th
ere?”

  Katie and David were amazed. Mike, who didn’t know Alex at all, had managed to ask a question that they, his niece and nephew, wouldn’t have touched with tongs. What’s more, he’d gotten an answer.

  And now Alex positively brightened. With obvious pride, he began to explain how he managed in his small house.

  They all had questions about this and Alex, warming to his topic, answered every one. Then Mike talked about Vermont, where he had been born and raised, and Alex told how things had been when he was growing up.

  Then David and Katie wanted to know what their mom had been like when she was a kid, and what Alex had thought of their dad when they’d first met. And the miles disappeared beneath the wheels of the swiftly flying taxi.

  None of them wanted to stop for proper meals, so when the bread and cheese were gone, Katie and David and Mike began looking for drive-through restaurants.

  “Drive-through food,” said Alex sternly. “I accept the need for such a thing on a day like today, when we’re in a very big hurry. But I hope you children aren’t eating that junk all the time. It’s very heavily processed. And if you can’t even take a couple of minutes to sit down and eat like human beings, then you have to ask yourself—”

  “Mega Burger!” Mike announced, interrupting. “Beg pardon, Alex. But there we go, kids. Next exit.”

  Katie and David looked at each other. They had always loved Mega Burger, but seeing Nose in a Mega Burger jacket had kind of killed their appetite for it.

  “No, thanks,” said Katie.

  Their uncle looked very proud.

  Mike looked curiously into his rearview mirror. “Sum’pm wrong with Mega Burger?” he demanded.

  “It’s a long story,” said Katie.

  “Taquito Frito is better,” said David.

  “Well, OK,” said Mike. “But those burgers are right here and I’m hungry now.” He gunned it past the exit.

  “Taquit—”Alex just sighed and looked out the window.

  They did find a Taquito Frito, but as Mike had predicted, it took a while to get there. By the time they did everyone was hungry. Katie, David, and Mike selected enormous combos featuring delectable fried tacos stuffed with savory fillings, and cheese-slathered sides of spicy rice and creamy beans. To wash down this feast everyone ordered tall, icy drinks, sweet with syrup. Alex, however, studied the menu with pain in his eyes and ultimately selected a salad and a cup of coffee.