Secret Admirer

by Ron Roy

  It was Dink’s turn. He made the word sekret. “Eighteen points, please,” he said.

  “No way, blue jay,” Josh said. “Secret is spelled with a C.”

  Dink laughed. “Who says?”

  Just then they all heard horns tooting down in the driveway. Doors were slamming. People were laughing.

  “What’s going on?” Josh asked.

  Ruth Rose got to the window first. “Mrs. Wong is here!” she said. “And Mr. Linkletter!”

  Dink and Josh ran to the window. “Who are those other people?” Dink asked.

  “Oh my gosh,” Josh said. “I think that’s Mr. and Mrs. Spivets!”

  A kid on a bicycle rode into the driveway.

  “It’s Leonard, Mrs. Wong’s nephew!” Dink said.

  “Come on!” Josh cried. They all clamored down the stairs and ran outside, tugging on their jackets.

  Josh’s parents were in the yard, too, chatting with the others. Brian and Bradley were standing next to Mrs. Wong’s car, peeking in the windows.

  “Hey, Dad, what’s going on?” Josh asked.

  All the grown-ups looked at Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. Mr. Linkletter stepped forward, holding Mr. and Mrs. Spivets’s hands.

  “My aunt and uncle have something to say to you three,” Mr. Linkletter said.

  Mrs. Spivets had white hair and pink cheeks. She wore a blue sweater decorated with big white snowflakes. Her hat and mittens matched the sweater. She smiled at the three kids.

  “Hello, dears,” she said. “I am over eighty, and I have never received such a thoughtful gift. Thank you!”

  She showed them a silver chain around her neck. Dangling from the chain was a silver tube. “I was so thrilled to see my note to Eb, which you discovered up in that horrid attic! Now I can keep it with this one.”

  Mrs. Spivets opened the little tube and pulled out a small piece of paper. She handed it to Ruth Rose. “Read it, my dear.”

  Ruth Rose read: “My darling Flo, make me the happiest man in the world and marry me. Your secret admirer.”

  Mr. Spivets cleared his throat. “I wrote that note when I was twenty!” he said. “And my dear wife kept it all these years.”

  “My sweet Ebenezer asked me to marry him on Valentine’s Day 1950,” Mrs. Spivets said. “I sent him my answer by pigeon, but it got lost until you sweethearts found it!”

  Mrs. Spivets turned to her husband. “Give them their gift, dear,” she said.

  Mr. Spivets handed Dink a small package, wrapped in red tissue. Dink passed it to Josh. “He likes to open presents,” Dink explained.

  Josh pulled the wrapping paper off. Inside was the book they’d seen in the hotel attic: How to Train Homing Pigeons.

  “Cool!” Josh said. “But, um, well, we don’t have any pigeons.”

  “Yes, you do!” said Mrs. Wong. She opened the rear door of her car. Leonard reached in and pulled out a small wire cage. Inside were the three pigeons from Furry Feet.

  “One for each of you!” Leonard said.

  “Thank you!” Ruth Rose said.

  “Awesome!” Josh said.

  “This is so amazing!” Dink said.

  “They’ll need a place to sleep,” Mr. Linkletter said. He walked over to his big old station wagon and opened the back. Inside was the pigeon coop from the Shangri-la attic. It had been cleaned and painted. Fresh straw lined the floor. Clean dishes for water and food were attached to the side.

  “This is the best Valentine’s present I ever got!” Josh said. “Even better than red cupcakes!”

  Josh’s father and Leonard wrestled the coop out of the station wagon. “Where do you think we should put it?” Josh’s dad asked.

  “Up in the barn!” Josh said.

  Everyone walked to the barn. Leonard carried the coop. Mrs. Wong carried the pigeons. Mr. Spivets held his wife’s hand.

  Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose were still standing in the driveway.

  “We got pigeons!” Josh said. “I can’t wait to train mine to deliver notes.”

  “I’m naming mine Flo, for Mrs. Spivets,” Ruth Rose said.

  “I’m calling mine Eb, for her husband,” Dink said.

  Josh didn’t say anything.

  “Josh, what are you going to name your pigeon?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “I’ve thought of two names,” Josh said. “But I’m having a hard time choosing between them.”

  “Between what and what?” Dink asked.

  Josh raced toward the barn. “Between Dink and Ruth Rose!” he shouted over his shoulder.

  DID YOU FIND THE

  SECRET MESSAGE

  HIDDEN IN THIS BOOK?

  If you don’t want

  to know the answer,

  don’t look at the bottom

  of this page!

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