The Secret of Rover

by Rachel Wildavsky

  “Alicia, call them!” Katie begged.

  Alicia had already dialed, but in despair she held up the phone. They heard it ringing, and ringing, and ringing . . .

  For once, they did not push their uncle Alex away. In the terrible aftermath of the phone call to Katkajan—in the anguish of not knowing what had happened to their parents and their sister—they yielded at last to his earnest and bumbling sympathy.

  It was time for sympathy now. Now they needed it.

  “Call them,” Katie had pleaded. “Call the police again.” And Alicia had, and she had called them again after that. But there had been no answer. Then she had called the ambassador to Katkajan, and had told him to call the Katkajanian president.

  “But it might still be a while before we hear,” she said gently.

  “So?” implored David. “So what do we do?”

  “We wait,” said Alex. “We just wait.” He stepped between Katie and David and put an arm around each of them. Overcome, they sank into his hug.

  “Go back to the safe house,” Alex continued. “You’ve done everything you could possibly do. We’ll know when we know. And kids,” he added. “You . . . you . . .” He stopped.

  “What?” said David.

  “Kids,” Alex said, his voice breaking, “you were splendid.”

  “You, too, Uncle Alex,” said Katie, her words muffled by her uncle’s shirt.

  “No, not like you,” he said through tears. “I’m awed by you. I’m just in awe of my niece and my nephew: my two wonderful children.”

  And then, though they lingered for a little while, there was really nothing else to do or say. So at about ten o’clock, Alicia called Tyrone, and the car came for David and Katie and they returned to the safe house.

  They left not knowing. They did not know what had happened when the police had broken down the door of the little gray house in Katkajan. They did not know whether their mom and dad and Theo were dead or alive. And perhaps worst of all, they did not know when they would know.

  David and Katie had thought they would not sleep. They did not want to sleep. But the decision was entirely out of their hands. Despite their reluctance to close their eyes, sleep pulled them into a black, unconscious pit.

  When David’s eyes finally did open, it was broad daylight and the clock said ten. Seconds later he was downstairs and breathless for news. But Katie had beat him by twenty minutes, and she told him right away that there was none. Uncle Alex had promised to call as soon as he heard, but there had not been so much as a word.

  “It’s been more than twelve hours,” Katie said. “That can’t be good.”

  David made no reply. He could think of nothing to say.

  Bright sunshine sparkled across the table. Katie had poured a bowl of cereal, but it looked like dust to her and she could not eat it. The newspaper was spread open and David was staring at the comics, but she knew he was not reading the words.

  “David,” said Katie, carefully crushing a sugary lump beneath the back of her spoon.

  “Huh?”

  “David, what are we going to do if they’re dead?”

  “Thanks,” he said gloomily.

  “I’m not being negative, David. I’m being a realist. We tried, but we might have failed. We need a Plan B. We need to know what we’re going to do if our parents never come home.”

  “You and your plans.”

  “Right. Me and my plans.”

  David sighed, but his answer was quiet and calm. “We’ll live with Uncle Alex, I guess,” he said. “I figure he’ll probably move here. To take care of us.”

  “Right,” said Katie.

  David continued. “He’s not, you know, at his best in the city. But he’ll learn.”

  “Good,” said Katie. “That’s what I was thinking too.”

  And at just that instant, the front door opened. A moment later, Alex walked into the kitchen. He was wearing the same clothes he’d had on the night before. He looked awful, and a musty odor hung about him. But there was a strange little smile on his face and his eyes shone with joy.

  For an instant Katie stared, electrified. Then she leaped to her feet, throwing her arms wide, sending her bowl and its contents flying.

  “THEY’RE ALIVE!”

  Uncle Alex burst into happy laughter and David let loose with an earsplitting whoop that brought the security guard running.

  “Where’s the paper?” cried David. “Gimme that—” He thrust aside the comics and began hunting frantically for the front page.

  “It’s not in there,” gasped Alex, who was still laughing and, in fact, seemed unable to stop. Doubled over, he laid his hand on David’s shoulder. “Slow down!” he said. “Slow down; you’ll tear it. Just wait. I’ll tell you everything!”

  “David!” cried Katie, who was literally hopping up and down. “Sit or he won’t tell us!” And with a final, irrelevant shriek she plopped into her seat.

  “It’s not in the paper, David,” repeated Alex, finally recovering. “Though it will be. This is big news, kids—big, and not just because of your parents. Though, of course, that’s the most important—”

  “Where are they?” said Katie.

  “What happened?” said David.

  “Let me talk!” said their uncle.

  With difficulty they silenced themselves, and Alex began.

  “OK, this kidnapping,” he said, apparently struggling for the right place to start. “Your parents’ kidnapping was part of a plot: a big insurgency that tried to topple the government of Katkajan. See, your parents were supposed to be leverage. The kidnappers found out they wanted to adopt. So they knew the guys who invented Rover would be in Katkajan, and they figured if they grabbed them, then the United States would pressure the Katkajanian government to give up.”

  “And you couldn’t have explained this, oh, a couple of weeks ago?” Katie hadn’t meant to interrupt. But despite her joy over the rescue of her parents and her sister, her anger flared as she remembered how she and David had been pushed aside.

  Alex ignored her. “But we caught the kidnappers!” he continued. “You caught the kidnappers. The police got there just in time! We were right: That crashing that we heard on the phone was them, breaking down the door. So they saved your parents and Theo, and they stopped the plot. It’s over!” he concluded giddily.

  “So where are they?” repeated Katie. “Mom and Dad and Theo?”

  Now Alex’s face fell. “I’d better not exaggerate,” he said, apparently remembering something. “I’m getting careless. It isn’t quite over.”

  This didn’t sound good, and the children’s smiles vanished. “Whatever it is,” said David flatly, “I don’t want to hear it.”

  “It’s not about your parents or your sister,” said Alex quickly. “It’s about the Katkajanians. You know they’re all in jail—all the guys who did this.”

  “Trixie and the rest. Right,” said Katie.

  “Well, they can’t just stay there. They have to have trials. I wasn’t going to mention this on such a happy day, but unfortunately, you’ll be involved in that.”

  Oh. That was no problem. “Uncle Alex,” repeated Katie, “where are Mom and Dad?”

  But her uncle was still thinking about Trixie. “I’ve already had to go down to the police station,” he continued, “to identify the ones I saw—you know, the ones who followed us that night. Well, you’ll have to do that too, and I know it will be painful, after all you’ve been through.” His brow furrowed. “You’ll have to testify and answer a lot of—”

  “Excellent,” said David crisply. “And no problem about ruining the happy day and all that. It just makes it happier.”

  “It makes it perfect,” agreed Katie, thinking about their house, and the photo of her father with the slash through his eye. “I want to see them again,” she insisted with an urgency that surprised even her. “I want to see them, when they’re locked up and we’re not.”

  Alex looked surprised, but he looked impresse
d, too. “Well, you will,” he said. “You’ll see them in a court of law.”

  “But where,” said Katie again, “are Mom and Dad and Theo? I’m asking and asking and asking,” she added, starting to realize that she was. “Are they still in Katkajan?”

  “No, they’re not,” said Alex, and as he turned to this question at last, a look of suppressed glee crept over his face.

  He had another secret. Katie didn’t think she could stand it. Once again she jumped to her feet and this time, she seized her uncle’s arm and shook it.

  “Don’t even think about not telling!” she cried.

  “They’re right here in Washington.”

  Katie gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth.

  “So we’d better get to see them,” said David. “Like, yesterday.”

  “They’ve just landed. You’ll see them in about one hour.” But the smug look remained plastered across Alex’s face. If anything, it was worse.

  “Tell us now!”

  Their uncle laughed again. He couldn’t seem to stop laughing this morning.

  “Guess where you’ll be seeing them?” he asked. “At the White House!” he sang. “You’re going to see your parents, and you’re going to meet the president!”

  “I don’t get it,” said David.

  “I told you,” said Alex. “A big plot was stopped. This Katkajanian story is huge! The president’s holding a press conference later this morning so he can tell the public all about it. But before he talks to the country, he wants to meet you.”

  This time the children were simply too stunned to speak. There was a moment of total silence as they processed this amazing news.

  “We’d better get dressed!” And Katie dashed from the room.

  In a daze, David rose to follow her. As he did so, though, he remembered something. “Uncle Alex,” he said.

  Alex looked up expectantly. A crazy grin still played about the corners of his mouth.

  “Uncle Alex, about Rover?”

  The grin evaporated.

  “I believe your questions have been answered, David,” said his uncle severely. “As I’ve already said, anything else that you now want to ask about Rover will be subject to ‘need-to-know—’”

  But David cut him off. “About Rover,” he repeated. “Pretty cool machine, Uncle Alex. Really, way cool.”

  And Alex looked rather pleased to hear it.

  When the State Department provided them with clothes, it must have known that such a day would eventually come. Katie found a dress in her closet and David found a jacket and tie.

  “Do I have to—” David began.

  “Yes,” Katie said firmly.

  Hurry, hurry. As quickly as they could, they washed up and wriggled into their outfits. Then they were downstairs and outside. It was a glorious fall day. Uncle Alex, who had hastily showered and changed, paced in front of the door.

  Someone else was there too, crouched in the driver’s seat of a familiar-looking police car with badly scratched paint. It was Tyrone.

  Katie and David were delighted to see him. Characteristically, though, he was all business. Tyrone received their excited greetings with a wordless nod and without relaxing his grip on the wheel.

  It did not matter. For once even Alex was wearing his watch. There was not a moment to linger. They hustled straight into the car, Tyrone revved the motor, and they were whisked away through the morning streets.

  This time they drove the speed limit—not that they noticed. Familiar and famous sights flashed by—river, monuments—but they seemed to see nothing. Their eyes strained ahead for the most famous building of them all: the White House.

  At last it loomed before them. On day trips to the city they had often peered between those gates for a glimpse of the stately and gracious home of the president. It was thrilling now to see the gates part and to enter the green and well-tended grounds.

  Then everything became a blur.

  The car stopped on a circular driveway; gloved hands opened the door; they passed through an arched entryway. It was bright and cool. Katie noticed through a haze of excitement that the place seemed half office, half house; David noticed with disappointment how small it all was.

  Where were their mom and dad?

  Smiling men and women were offering them drinks. Soldiers were everywhere, in splendid uniforms with polished rifles held stiffly at their sides.

  Katie and David and their uncle were all asked to sit and wait, and they did. Phones rang. Yet more people came and went and smiled.

  Where were their mom and dad?

  Now they were asked to pass through carpeted, narrow corridors. In offices along the way people seemed to be working. A gloved soldier was ushering them into yet another room.

  Mom and Dad? Their hearts lifted, but inside this new room there were yet more chairs and again they sat.

  David, suddenly inspired, reached into Alex’s pocket, removed a cell phone, and began dialing.

  “Hey,” said Alex, too distracted to protest for real.

  “I’m calling Mom and Dad,” said David.

  “Calling them where?” demanded Katie.

  “On their cell,” replied David. “Maybe they got it back.”

  “Good luck,” she said crossly, and she sat back in her chair.

  David finished dialing and put the phone to his ear. And suddenly—very, very loud and very, very near—rang the notes of a now quite familiar song.

  You are my sunshine . . .

  But they did not hear it through David’s phone. They heard it through the wall.

  All three of them leaped up. The guard, startled, tightened his grip on his weapon.

  “Where are they?” Katie’s voice trembled. “They must be right here! Mom? Dad? Mom and Dad!!!”

  And then they were there, hurrying in from the hall, wild-eyed and clutching their ringing phone. They were there in the living flesh, laughing and crying and hugging and kissing until all four of them nearly tumbled to the ground.

  Four?

  “Careful!” warned Mr. Bowden. “Careful! We’ll crush her!”

  David and Katie both gasped. For there in their father’s arms, barely visible within her many layers of soft wrappings, was a tiny fifth Bowden. Gently, their dad tilted the bundle and their mom lifted the blankets away from her face. Theo gazed at her brother and sister with bright and knowing black eyes, but they could barely see her for the tears that filled their own.

  “She’s a beauty,” boomed a familiar voice. And when they looked up, right behind their parents, Katie and David saw the president: the president of the United States. Beside him was Alicia, and both of them were smiling from ear to ear.

  The president wanted to meet Theo, too, but she cried when he tried to hold her, which made everyone laugh. Then Alicia tried to hold her and it worked, and everyone tried not to stare at Alex, who looked as if he might explode from pure pride.

  But the president had words for Katie and David. “I’ve been wanting to meet the heroes who helped us defeat the Katkajanian insurgency,” he said, shaking their hands. “Thank you for coming to see me today. This celebration wouldn’t be complete without you.”

  “Happy to help, sir,” said David, then he blushed to the roots of his hair. Happy to help, sir. Yuck!

  But the president tactfully changed the subject. “I understand the two of you took quite a road trip,” he said.

  “We did,” said Katie. “And oh, Mom and Dad, we did some bad stuff, too. We stole,” she said.

  “Flashlights and crackers,” said David airily, his blush fading. “We needed ’em.” His face clouded slightly. “And I guess some money, too, and some other stuff . . .”

  “It’s OK,” said their mother. “We’ll go over all of it later and we’ll pay it back.”

  The president did not seem concerned. “What did you think of our War Room?” he asked. “That’s quite an operation, isn’t it? You know, you’re pretty unusual kids, getting to see that. Most people don�
��t even know it’s there.” He chuckled. “It’s pretty well tucked away.”

  Katie coughed politely. “South on Sixteenth Street,” she said. “Left by the brick hotel with the columns. Three blocks and then another left, then a quick right at the—”

  But then she had to stop because Alex looked so annoyed, the president looked so shocked, and everyone was laughing so hard.

  “Gonna have to move it now,” the president muttered. “Well.” He coughed and moved on. “I know you had some help from some heroic police officers,” he said. “I’d like both of you to know that a Mr. Tyrone Jackson will be receiving an award for special service.”

  That was excellent. Tyrone had been great. David wanted to tell how the cruiser had leaped over that front lawn. “Mr. President, he was fantastic. He—”

  But David did not finish, because everyone’s eyes had turned to the door, where an escort had just arrived with another couple: a nervous-looking woman whom they did not know and an enormous man who was bursting the buttons of a shiny blue suit.

  “Mike!” Katie and David launched themselves at the taxi driver, who never even swayed when both of them landed on him at once. Then they had to meet the woman, whose name was Betty and who was Mike’s wife, and they had to introduce Mike to their parents and their sister and Alicia, and everyone needed to shake hands all around.

  “I know you all have a lot of stories to tell,” said the president, “and I’ve got one to tell, too, to all those reporters who are waiting in our press room. So I won’t keep you, though I do hope I get to hear the details someday. And you, sir,” said the president, turning respectfully toward Alex. “Will you be heading back to the Green Mountain State?”

  At this everyone looked at Alex. And when they did, they saw that somehow he had slipped over to Alicia’s side and had taken her hand. What’s more, he was blushing a deep, ruddy red and Alicia’s face was shining.

  “Not . . . not . . .” Alex was unable to speak. Then he lifted Alicia’s hand and, grinning, held it out for all of them to see. Glittering on her finger was an enormous diamond engagement ring.