The Goatnappers

by Rosa Jordan

  “YEAH!” Chip and Luther cheered together.

  Ruby started to protest. “He doesn’t have his pajamas or—”

  “He can wear mine,” Chip interrupted.

  “Please, Mama?” Luther asked in his most cajoling voice.

  Ruby had a hard and fast New York City way of speaking—she and Luther had lived there until last summer, when they’d come to stay with her folks—but she had a soft side, too. Justin had noticed more than once that inside Ruby was as sweet as her own candy. One smile from her son could set her purring like a mama cat. He didn’t have to turn around from the sink to know she would say yes to whatever Luther wanted to do.

  After Ruby and Kate left, Chip and Luther went to Chip’s room to look for pajamas, leaving Justin alone with the sink full of dirty dishes. Normally, because of the hours their mom worked, the kids did the cooking and cleaned up afterwards. But tonight, Mom picked up a towel and started drying.

  Justin debated about bringing up the subject of a bicycle again. She hadn’t really let him finish before. He shot a quick look at her. Some of her dark blonde hair had come loose from the braid she wore at work and was curling around her face. She looked a little more relaxed now, and the worry lines had vanished. She was also humming, which was a good sign.

  “Mom? About the bicycle …”

  The humming stopped abruptly, and the worried look came back.

  Justin hurried on before she could say anything. “I was thinking about Little Billy. Do you think maybe I could sell him for enough to buy a bike?”

  Mom shot him a surprised look. “You’d really consider selling him? After all, Kate did give him to you for Christmas.”

  “I already talked to Kate about it,” Justin interrupted quickly. “She knows I love him. But the thing is, I need wheels. She said as long as Little Billy goes to a good home, it’s okay with her if I sell him.”

  Unfortunately, just as Justin said that, Chip and Luther burst in.

  “Sell Little Billy?” Luther asked in disbelief.

  “You know, Justin, maybe that’s not such a bad idea.” Mom looked thoughtful. “He’s related to our goats, so we can’t use him for breeding. He’ll have to be sold eventually anyway.”

  “You can’t sell him!” Chip howled.

  “He’d hate being sold!” Luther added. “He’d have to leave his family.”

  Mom knelt down so she could look Chip and Luther straight in the eyes. “You know, boys, farm animals have a job to do, just like people. A year from now, Go-Girl and Honey will be giving milk. But Little Billy, well, he’s a billy. So we have to think of what he’ll be good for.”

  Then, because she obviously didn’t want to talk about it anymore, she stood up and said, “If you boys want to go to the cattle auction with us tomorrow, you’d better get your bath right now. And then to bed.”

  “But, Mom—”

  “I said it’s time for your bath. Now go on, both of you.”

  Justin was relieved that the conversation was over. Mom understood that at this point in his life a bike was more important to him than a pet goat, no matter how cute the goat was. If he wanted to sell Little Billy to buy a bike, it would be okay with her.

  2

  CATTLE AUCTION

  Justin was loading the calves into the back of his mother’s pickup when Ruby and Kate passed the end of the Martin driveway. Between them pranced Old Billy, who was hitched to a homemade cart filled with boxes of the handmade chocolates. Justin had been doubtful about his sister and Ruby’s candy business at first, but he had to admit that they seemed to be making a go of it. He waved at them as they turned onto the highway toward town.

  Justin closed the tailgate and climbed into the back with the calves. Chip and Luther peered through the sideboards at the frightened animals.

  “It’s okay, Blackie,” Chip crooned. “It’s all right, Baldy. Don’t be scared, Buck. You’re going for a nice ride.”

  “Get in, boys,” Mom said. “No, not in the back. Up here with me.”

  Chip and Luther climbed into the cab next to Mom, then got up on their knees and turned backwards so they could see the calves through the rear window.

  “Sit down, you two,” she ordered. “And fasten your seat belts.”

  As Mom drove slowly toward the auction grounds, Justin stroked the calves to calm them down. He liked them, but he wasn’t sorry to see them go. It had been his job to feed and water them night and morning. Now that he would have ball practice after school, he was glad that chore wouldn’t be waiting for him when he got home.

  Justin had been to the cattle auction with Mom a few times before, but he still couldn’t understand the auctioneer. The man spoke so fast that his spiel came out sounding like one long word. Even when he went on for five minutes, he didn’t seem to take a breath until the last word, which he said in a super-loud voice: “Sold!”

  They had to wait through the sale of several horses and a lot of cattle before the Martins’ calves came bawling into the ring. Justin couldn’t keep up with the auctioneer’s steady patter. He had no idea what the first or final bids were. All he heard clearly was the crash of the auctioneer’s gavel on the podium and the words, “Sold to Number 75!” Justin glanced at Mom. From her smile he could see that she was satisfied with the price.

  “I have to go to the office to pick up the check,” Mom said. “You boys wait in the truck. I’ll only be a few minutes.”

  Their pickup was parked behind the auction barn, near where they had unloaded the calves. The boys were halfway there when they saw their calves, or rather, the calves that used to be theirs. Chip and Luther asked if they could go say goodbye to the calves.

  “Okay,” said Justin. “But come right back.” He headed for a nearby pen that held a restless black stallion. The beautiful horse reminded him of the one on the covers of the Black Stallion books he used to read. Justin wondered if, like the Black in Walter Farley’s books, this one had once been a racehorse.

  While watching the stallion prance around the pen, flinging his long mane back and forth, Justin could hear Chip and Luther shouting to the calves. “Bye, Blackie,” Chip said. “Bye, Baldy. Bye, Buck.”

  When Justin looked over, a calf was pushing its nose through the fence against Chip’s hand. Just then, a battered red van with “Butch’s Baby Beef: the Best of the Best” painted on the side backed up to the corral next to the loading ramp. A man with a belly hanging over his big silver belt buckle—probably Butch from Butch’s Baby Beef—opened the gate at the top of the ramp so he could drive the calves up into the van.

  But when he tried to force them up the ramp, the calves ran from one side of the pen to the other, then huddled on the side near where Chip and Luther were standing.

  “Hey!” Butch shouted to a man in the van. “Give me a hand here.” Together they finally herded the terrified calves up the ramp.

  “It’s okay. You’re going to your new home,” Luther called out to the calves, as if they could understand and this would make them feel better.

  “Going to the slaughterhouse, that’s where these babies are going,” Butch said as he slammed the van door shut.

  “Slaughterhouse?” Luther echoed.

  “Yep,” Butch said. “They’re heading for my cold storage locker, and from there, right onto somebody’s table. Folks pay top dollar for homegrown beef like this.”

  “You mean you’re going to EAT them?” Chip cried.

  When Justin heard Chip shriek in that particular ear-splitting tone, he knew it meant trouble. It had never occurred to him that the younger boys didn’t know the calves were going to be killed to put meat on people’s tables. He thought surely by now they understood that’s what happened to calves, unless they were females who might become milk cows or breeders.

  “Me or somebody else,” Butch said nonchalantly.

  “No!” Chip screamed.

  Butch looked surprised. “Why, don’t you boys like steak? Hamburger? All-beef hot dogs?”

&
nbsp; “No!” yelled Luther. “I’m a vegetarian!”

  Butch climbed into his van and started the motor. “You’re nuts, that’s what,” he growled at Luther. “Anybody that don’t eat meat is plain crazy!”

  Just then Chip picked up a handful of gravel and flung it at the van.

  “Why, you little devil!” yelled Butch. “I oughta give you a licking!”

  Before Justin could do anything, Chip answered with another handful of gravel. At the same time, Luther threw a rock, which fortunately Butch didn’t see, because it made a good-sized ding on the side of the van.

  Justin sprinted toward them. “No, Chip!”

  He grabbed Chip’s arm and shook it so he dropped the fistful of gravel, then caught Luther just in time to stop him from smashing the van’s taillight with an even bigger rock.

  “You’d better do something with them brats!” Butch bellowed, but he didn’t stick around to see what Justin might do. He gunned the engine, and the van took off so fast the tires spun, spraying gravel all over them.

  “What’s going on here?” Mom came running up, out of breath. “Were you boys throwing rocks at that man?”

  By then Chip and Luther were bawling like two-year-olds, noses snotty and tears streaming down their faces. Justin looked over their heads at Mom. “Nothing serious,” he said. “I’ll tell you later.”

  Mom knelt down and wiped away first Chip’s tears, then Luther’s. “You boys are just tired,” she said. “And hungry. How about we stop at McDonald’s and pick up some hamburgers?”

  “Nooooo!” Chip screamed, the word coming out like a long howl.

  “No way!” Luther sobbed.

  Mom stared at them as if they had spoken in some foreign language, then looked up at Justin. “What,” she asked, “is this all about?”

  “They don’t want hamburgers,” Justin translated. “Just french fries. And milk shakes.”

  3

  PET PARADE

  Justin had expected that with Mom working only six days a week at Mr. Hashimoto’s nursery instead of the seven she had worked at the dairy, they would see more of her. But it hadn’t turned out that way, because weekends were the busiest time at the nursery. She worked all day on Saturdays and Sundays, then had Mondays off, when they were in school. Justin didn’t mind, because he was old enough that he didn’t need his mother around every minute. And one really good thing about her new schedule was that she didn’t have to leave for work until 8:30. That meant that he and Kate no longer had to fix breakfast and get Chip ready for school.

  Now that Mrs. Martin and Luther’s grandfather worked at the nursery, Chip, Luther, and Lily had started going over there after school as soon as they’d finished giving the goats their treats. That was another big plus, because while the younger children played at the nursery, Justin and Kate had quiet time to do homework.

  Schoolwork had been a struggle for Justin ever since he started ninth grade. By working extra hard before Christmas, he’d brought his grades up enough to meet the academic requirements for the varsity baseball team. But just barely. He knew that once the after-school practices started, he wouldn’t be able to play ball every day, mind Chip morning and afternoon, and get his assignments turned in on time. Mom’s new job had started just in time to take the babysitting chore off his hands.

  Today, though, Chip, Luther, and Lily were lingering at the goat pen longer than usual. Justin could tell when he walked by that something was going on, because the three of them were hanging on the corral fence chattering like monkeys.

  Justin headed for the house to get started on his homework, then changed his mind and started across the road. He wanted to talk to Mom again about the bike. If he waited till supper, Kate and Chip would rattle on nonstop and he wouldn’t be able to get a word in edgewise. There had only been one car in the nursery parking lot. Even in Florida not many people put out spring plants in February. Maybe he could catch Mom between customers and ask her to loan him money for a bike until he found a buyer for Little Billy. After-school practice started next week, and he had to have a bike by then.

  The cashier’s counter at the nursery was under an open-air shed filled with potted plants and early-blooming flowers. Just as Justin approached, Lily, Chip, and Luther dashed past him like a trio of midgets and lined up at the counter.

  “Can we take the triplets to the Pet Parade?” Chip asked.

  “All three?” Mom asked. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “One?” Lily asked.

  “Maybe one,” Mom agreed.

  “Little Billy!” Luther shouted.

  “What about Old Billy?” Mom asked.

  “Grandpa says no,” Luther explained. “Old Billy’s too ornery. Only grown-ups can make him pull the cart, and grown-ups aren’t allowed in the Pet Parade.”

  “Oh.” Mom looked from one kid to the other. “Is that what you all had in mind? Little Billy pulling a cart in the parade?”

  “Yes ma’am,” Chip answered. “Come on!” he shouted to the others.

  The three of them darted off together in the direction of Mr. Wilson, who was on the other side of the nursery watering plants. Lily stopped and backtracked when she saw her father heading for the cashier’s counter.

  “Hi, sweetheart.” Mr. Hashimoto gave her hug. “How’s my girl?”

  “Okay, Daddy, and guess what? Next Saturday’s the Pet Parade and I—”

  “No pets!” he said sharply. “You know how I feel about dogs.”

  Lily rolled her eyes. “I know. And cats poop in the potting soil, and you can’t stand to see rabbits in little cages. But the Martins have goats and, well, come, I want to show you—”

  “No goats!” shouted Mr. Hashimoto. “Lily, if you have brought a goat into this nursery—”

  “No, Daddy! I just want to ask you something!”

  Justin and his mother watched as Lily led Mr. Hashimoto toward the front of the nursery. There by the main entrance was a small, brightly painted cart filled with flowers. Chip and Luther were already there with Mr. Wilson.

  “Looks like they have in mind putting Little Billy in the Pet Parade pulling that small cart,” Mom said. “Of course, Little Billy does belong to you, Justin. Do you mind?”

  “Not really,” Justin said. “Only I was thinking—”

  Just then Mom spotted a customer gesturing to her for help. “I’ll be right back, Justin,” she said. First the man asked for prices on some potted plants, and then he started asking a million gardening questions. Mom had only worked at the nursery for a short time, but she knew a lot about plants. She had planted a garden at their house for as long as Justin could remember. He hung around awhile, but finally gave up and went home.

  Needless to say, the only topic of conversation at dinner that night was the Pet Parade. Mr. Wilson was going to make a harness for Little Billy and—Justin should have guessed—Mom assigned him to go to town on Saturday and get them entered in the parade. Justin sighed, wondering when he was ever going to be able to live his own life.

  “I couldn’t care less about that stupid Pet Parade,” Justin grumbled to Mom later, after Chip had gone to take his bath. “I really need to sell that goat so I can get my bike.”

  “Well, a lot of people come out for that parade, and all of them are animal lovers,” Mom reminded him. “Maybe somebody will see Little Billy and want to buy him.”

  Justin shrugged, figuring she was just saying that to make him feel better. After the parade, he planned to scope out the prices at Mr. Richey’s bike shop.

  Getting Little Billy to town was a lot easier than Justin had expected. Kate and Ruby had deliveries to make, so they walked ahead with Old Billy hitched to the big white cart Mr. Wilson had built. It was filled with boxes of chocolates wrapped in white with gold bows, and Ruby’s trademark, a dime-store ruby, glued in the middle of each bow. Little Billy followed eagerly, either because he trusted Old Billy, who was his father, or because he hoped to get a taste of the candy.

/>   Once in the parade, Little Billy was a sensation. The miniature cart he pulled, which was painted all over with flowers, rolled smoothly, and the bells Mr. Wilson had sewn onto his harness jingled gaily. Luther walked on one side, Chip on the other. Lily marched along in front of Little Billy, slipping him corn chips to keep him following close behind her.

  Everybody oohed and aahed and even cheered when they went by. If it hadn’t been for the little girl with six kittens in a doll carriage, each one in a doll dress of a different color, Little Billy surely would have taken first prize instead of coming in second. Justin thought that was pretty good, considering how many pets there were in the parade, but it bugged Lily, who said dressing kittens in doll clothes was stupid. Naturally Chip and Luther agreed.

  By the time the parade was over, Ruby and Kate had finished their candy deliveries. Justin asked them to keep an eye on Lily so he could take Chip and Luther to the bathroom.

  While he was waiting outside the gas station bathroom, he heard somebody call his name.

  “Hey, Justin!”

  His friend Brad came screeching up on what was possibly the most beautiful racing bike Justin had ever seen. It was metallic gold, with every bell and whistle you could think of.

  “Wow!” Justin exclaimed. “Where’d you get that?”

  “From my dad.”

  “But you already had a bike! The one your mom got you for Christmas.”

  “You know how they are,” Brad said. “Whatever one gets for me, the other one tries to top.”

  “But two bikes?” Justin still couldn’t believe it.

  Brad pushed a handful of floppy brown hair out of his eyes. “Dad was really mad when Mom thought of a new bike before he did. And she started screaming when he brought this one over. But he said he had it on order from way before Christmas and couldn’t send it back.”

  Brad looked miserable. Much too miserable, Justin thought, for a boy who had two bikes.

  “Mom called him a liar, and he called her a—well, you know how they’ve been since the divorce. They fight about everything.”