Hide and Seek

Keisha Carter set out five pieces of bread and buttered them. Using a biscuit cutter, she made a hole in the center of each piece and settled them butter-side-down into Daddy’s hot pan.

“Please get Grandma the ice pack from the freezer,” Daddy said as he cracked eggs into the empty spaces.

Keisha stood on her tippy-toes and felt for the ice pack. “Did she have yoga last night?”

“Yes. According to Bob, she was showing their instructor the new move she’s made up. Cat-falling-off-counter or something like that. She strained her back a little.”

Big Bob, as all the kids called him, worked as a vet tech at the Humane Society, was the leader of their 4-H’s Wild 4-Ever Club and always put his yoga mat
next to Grandma’s at Yoga You Can Do. But he was
not
Grandma’s boyfriend.

“Take it right up and ask her if she wants breakfast in bed. And please find Razi for me. You don’t want to be late for school. Tell him I’m making toad-in-the-hole. That’ll get him going.”

As Keisha hurried down the hall, she heard the phone ringing in the office. Grandma usually answered the phone on school mornings, but she was upstairs groaning.

“I’ll get it,” Keisha called back to Daddy in the kitchen, so he didn’t have to leave the eggs. “Carters’ Urban Rescue,” she answered, a little out of breath.

“Oh dear. Oh, the poor little deer.”

“Excuse me?” Keisha asked.

“I have a deer here that needs rescuing.”

“Do you live in the city?” Though the Carters had rescued a lot of animals since they set up their business, it wasn’t often they got a call about a deer.

“I should think so. I’m right on the edge of Huff Park.”

Huff Park was less than a mile from the Carters’ home.

“Is the deer injured?” Keisha sat down at the desk and opened the “animal info” file drawer. She yanked out the file labeled “deer.”

“Well, no. Not precisely … Good heavens, look at the time! I’ll miss my bus.”

Keisha felt her stomach grumbling. “If the deer isn’t injured, why does it need to be rescued?” she asked, hoping to hurry the call to an end for the lady who was about to miss her bus
and
for her empty stomach.

“Because he can’t get the pumpkin off his head!”

Keisha was so surprised, she didn’t know what to say.

“Hello? Did you hear me? If I miss the 7:42, I’ll be late for work. And I’m the one who makes the coffee. Dr. Trimble says it is the only civilized cup of coffee he gets in a day.”

Keisha did not know the difference between civilized coffee and uncivilized coffee, but in the end they were supposed to be talking about a deer, weren’t they?

“About the deer …,” Keisha prompted.

“I live at 422 Joan Street. The street dead-ends at the park. In a few months, we’ll have cross-country skiers trampling my perennial beds. I’m looking out my back door right now and he’s … he’s taking the trail that leads to the baseball diamonds. Oh, the poor deer. How will he eat? How will he drink? Please come out and get this pumpkin off his head.”

“But how did he get—”

“Every Halloween time, I put it out for birds with
the seeds right in it. He must have been after the salt on the seeds, poor thing, and it got stuck on his head. There’s nothing I can do about it now, and being late for work and having Mary Nell make the coffee won’t help the deer’s plight. I just don’t understand why it’s stuck so fast. Isn’t there
something
you can do?”

“Well, I can tell my dad—”

“Your dad? Isn’t this … I thought I was calling Carters’ Urban Rescue.”

“You are. We’re a family business.”

“A family business that rescues wildlife? What will we think of next? Well … please relay this information to your father and see if he can do something for that poor, unfortunate deer. I really must dash. Good day, young lady.”

Keisha heard the phone disconnect. She sat still for a minute, trying to figure out how a deer would get into the city in the first place. Then she remembered that Big Bob had once explained that deer could come into the city by traveling through “wildlife corridors,” or stretches of nature that weren’t proper forests. Wildlife corridors could be a city cemetery or urban garden, even a bunch of empty lots.

As Keisha flipped through the information they had on deer, she felt something cold and wet on her lap. The ice pack!

The lady on the phone wasn’t the only one who would be late. Keisha still had to do her hair. Up the stairs, past the baby’s room, where Mama sat in the rocking chair letting Paulo wake slowly by turning the beads on her necklace … Keisha called into her six-year-old brother Razi’s room: “Your toad-in-the-hole is on the kitchen table!” She didn’t wait for an answer. She kept running, past her own room with the ribbons displayed on her bed. She didn’t know which one to put in her hair this morning. In fifth grade, it was so much more important to make the right choice.

“Grandma Alice?” Keisha knocked on the doorframe even though the door was open. “Sorry about cat-falling-off-counter. It looked good when you showed it to me yesterday.”

“Mmmmmm.” Grandma tried to roll over to face Keisha. “I don’t think Grandma-falling-in-toilet-in-middle-of-night helped matters any,” she said.

“Oh no. Did Razi forget to put the seat down again?”

“I would say so.”

“I guess that means I should bring your toad-in-the-hole upstairs.” Keisha started to leave but then stopped in the doorway. “I’m going to wear my purple hoodie,” she told Grandma. “Ribbon color suggestions?”

“Ohhhhhh.” Grandma shifted to lying on her back. She stared at the ceiling. “Are you feeling sassy, classy
or Tallahassee?” Grandma felt your color choices should reflect your mood. A Tallahassee mood was very rare for Keisha. It was somewhere between bold and daring. Her friend Aaliyah was Tallahassee every other day. As for Keisha, she favored classy. But she didn’t know her mood today. She was too busy running around.

“I’m not sure.”

“Tie it up with butter yellow, and while you’re at it, don’t forget to butter the top of my toast.”

Keisha started back down the hall. No matter how early she woke up, there was always something that kept her from getting ready in the morning in a leisurely fashion, the way Mama said getting ready should be done.

“Are you going to have science lab?” Grandma called out after Keisha had left the room.

Keisha’s decision to turn back while rushing forward almost caused her to run into Mama and the baby.

“Yes.”

“Well, wear the green, then. Marcus likes green.”

“What is this? Wearing green for Marcus?” Mama handed Keisha baby Paulo, who was now busy sucking on a set of plastic keys.

Keisha buried her face in Paulo’s soft, springy hair.
Grandma was so terrible at keeping secrets!

“Why haven’t I seen your brother this morning?” Mama wanted to know.

“He might be hiding.”

Mama peered into Razi’s room. She took the baby back. “You’re the only one who can fit under there, Ada. Please get him to come out.” Mama and Daddy called Keisha by her pet name, Ada, when they needed her to do something grown-up, like chase away one of Razi’s bad moods. Ada meant “eldest daughter” in Igbo, the language Mama learned growing up in Nigeria.

Keisha didn’t bother to turn on the light. She just slid under Razi’s bed. He was pressed up against the far wall with his back to her.

“Razi-Roo?” Keisha whispered. “Daddy’s making toad-in-the-hole for breakfast. We have to eat it now or we’ll be late for school.”

Razi gave a big snuffle but he didn’t say anything. When Razi didn’t say anything, it was a bad sign.

“Are you upset about Grandma?”

“Why did she yell at me?” He gulped, trying to swallow his tears. “I was fluffing her pillow like Mama does when we’re sick!”

“She told me you forgot to put down the toilet seat.”

“But
I
didn’t forget.” Razi was not trying to hide his crying now. Keisha put her hand on his back and pressed
just a little so he knew she was there to hear him.