Boys Against Girls (4 page)

And Jake hung up.

Five
Search Party

      M
r Hatford came in the back door and put his car keys on the counter. Mother closed the door after them.

“Well, that was an interesting evening,” she said. “The PTA is sponsoring a bake sale to buy caps and jerseys for the softball team next spring. I assume you boys are going to try out?”

Wally didn't answer. Neither did his brothers.

Mr. Hatford looked around. “My, aren't we quiet tonight¡ You guys get along okay while we were gone?”

“Sure. Why wouldn't we?” asked Josh, but his voice sounded funny, even to Wally.

Mother poured a glass of ice water from the refrigerator. “Peter in bed? Did he take a bath like I told him?”

Wally, Jake, and Josh looked at each other. “Uh, I'm not sure’ Wally said.

Mother looked at him. “What do you mean, you're not sure? Did he run any bathwater or not?”

“I didn't hear any,” Wally said miserably.

“Well, for heaven's sake. I specifically asked you boys to make sure Peter took a bath.” Mother clunked her glass on the counter and started for the stairs.

“Uh … Mom,” said Josh. “He's not there.”

Mother turned around. “What do you mean, he's not there?”

And then it occurred to Wally that maybe he was¡ Maybe Peter had got tired of waiting for the boys and simply walked back home and went to bed all by himself. Of course¡ Why hadn't they thought of that¡

“Maybe he is!” he said brightly.

Mrs. Hatford walked back into the kitchen. “Is he or
not? Where
is Peter?”

Jake had already run by her to check, but a moment later he came back down. “He's not there.”

Now Mrs. Hatford sounded frantic. “Where
is
he?” She grabbed Wally by the shoulders. “Wallace Hatford, where is your brother?”

“We left him on a rock.”

Mrs. Hatford gave a screech and Father took over.

“Josh¡ Jake!” he commanded. “Get over here.”

The boys lined up.

“What happened?”

Jake stuck his hands in his pants pockets and stared at the floor. “We were horsing around over by the Malloys', that's all. We left Peter on that big rock by their driveway, and when we got back a few minutes later he was gone. We were just going over there to—”

Mrs. Hatford sat down weakly in a chair. “Well,
call
them, for heaven's sake, and ask if they've seen him!”

“We already did.”

“Then get over there immediately and
look
for him!” their father bellowed. “Don't you boys have a grain of sense in your heads? I'm going to get a flashlight and check out this side of the river; then I'll meet you across the bridge.”

“If you find out anything, call me,” said Mother. “I'm going to stay right here by the phone. Boys, I can't
believe
you'd do something like this.”

The boys spilled out onto the porch as fast as they could and broke into a run.

Wally didn't feel so good. What
had
happened to Peter? What if there
was
an abaguchie? How could a little seven-year-old kid be sitting there at the end of the driveway one minute but not the next? What if a kidnapper had come along and taken him, bunny slippers and all? He was surprised to find tears in his eyes.

The swinging bridge bounced briskly as their feet thudded across the wooden planks.

“Please let Peter be there, please let Peter be there,”
Wally whispered under his breath.

When they reached the other side, however, they stopped and looked at each other.

“Who's going to go up to the door and knock?” Josh said. “This was your idea, Jake. You've got to go”

“You were willing enough,” said Jake. And then, to Wally, “You were the one who was carrying Peter on your back. You were the one who put him down on the rock in the first place.
You
ought to go.”

This always happened. No matter how much Wally tried to stay out of trouble, he didn't.

“Oh, we'll all go,” said Josh. “We were all in on it. We'll just walk up on their porch, ring the doorbell, and ask if Peter's there. Mr. and Mrs. Malloy ought to be home by now. They're not going to lie to us.”

They started up the slope of the Malloys’ driveway, and there, on the rock, sat Peter in his bunny slippers.

“Where
were
you?” asked the three boys together.

“Here,” said Peter.

“What do you mean,
here!”
Jake demanded.

“Around,” said Peter.

“You were
not
, Peter¡ We looked and looked for
you, and went all the way home and called the Malloys. Mom's worried to death’ said Wally.

“I just went in their house for a root-beer float and came right out again’ said Peter.

His brothers stared. “You just walked in there and asked for a root-beer float?” Wally asked incredulously.

“No. Eddie came and got me and asked did I want a root-beer float. I said yes.”

Wally's shoulders slumped. So did Jake's and Josh's.

“Oh, no!” said Jake. “He spilled everything!”

“Why didn't you
tell
us where you were going?” Josh demanded.

“You weren't around.”

“Well, you never should have left that rock,” said Wally. “You can't just walk off like that.”

“You walked off and left
me
” Peter said.

“What did you
tell
the girls, anyway?” Josh demanded.

“Nothing¡
They already knew. They said you were playing wolf.”

Jake let out a howl and clutched his head.

“See?” said Peter smugly.

“We're dead,” said Wally. “We are cooked¡ Fried¡ All that running around looking scared was just an act. The girls are probably still laughing over it.”

They walked glumly back toward the house, and met their father on the bridge.

Mr. Hatford was very relieved to see Peter, and Mother was so glad that she let him go to bed without his bath after all. But to the others she said, “When you lose my trust, boys, you have to start earning it all over again. And right now, I'm deeply disappointed in you.”

Hoo boy¡
thought Wally.

Six
Chiffon

      “Y
ou guys must have thought you were so smart, playing that tape of wolves howling and trying to make us think it was the abaguchie,” Caroline said to Wally in school the next morning, poking him in the back with her pencil.

Wally turned around. “And
you
must have thought
you
were so smart to get Peter in your house so we'd have to look for him’ Wally replied.

“Caroline, are you ready to listen?” Miss Applebaum said.

“Yes,” Caroline told her, and the history lesson continued.

The boys didn't say much to the girls all week, nor the girls to the boys, Eddie said that when she went to the all-purpose room after school to shoot baskets, the boys jeered every time she missed, but
didn't say anything at all when she made a basket, which was at least half the time.

Beth said that she and Josh were standing in line at the library to check out books, and Josh wouldn't even speak to her.

Caroline didn't care whether Wally ever spoke to her or not. Eddie's idea of bringing Peter into their kitchen while his brothers went crazy looking for him was one of the best tricks Eddie had pulled yet.

•

Saturday morning, as soon as the girls were up, Mother said, “I've baked another one of my pumpkin chiffon pies, and I want you to get it downtown to the bake sale by nine o'clock. I'll come by later and buy something for our own dinner.”

“Do we all have to go?” whined Beth. “I'm reading
Mystery of the Haunted Shipwreck
, and it's so good, I can't put it down.”

“You don't all have to go, but it might be nice if you asked the women if you could help,” Mother said.

“Oh, let's all walk down,” said Eddie. “It's for the softball team, after all. Maybe we'll make some points with the teachers.”

They carried the pie carefully in the heavy cardboard box Mother had handed them. This time they walked to the end of Island Avenue, crossed the road
bridge into the business district, and went up the block to City Hall.

“Look’ said Beth, because there, going up the steps of City Hall, were the four Hatford brothers, carrying an even bigger box.

Caroline did not ask the boys if they were thinking about the time she threw their mother's chocolate chiffon cake in the river because she thought it was a trick. And the Hatfords certainly did not say anything to the girls about what they had done to Mrs. Malloy's pumpkin chiffon pie that the girls had delivered at their mother's instruction. Both mothers seemed to take to chiffon, that was certain.

Inside City Hall there was a large folding table spread with white paper. A big sign in the center said BUCKMAN ELEMENTARY PTA
.
There were trays of thick brownies, large platters of chocolate-chip cookies, lemon pies, angel food cakes—buttery squares of walnut fudge, and plates of coconut macaroons.

Evidently the Hatford boys, as well, had been told to see if they could help, because they hung around one end of the long table, the Malloy girls at the other.

“If you girls want to make yourselves useful, you could cut off squares of waxed paper so we'll have them ready when a customer orders,” said the librarian, who seemed to be in charge.

And then to the boys, “Some of the customers want to eat their purchases right here. Could you make sure the cup dispenser is full over there by the coffeemaker, with plenty of cream and sugar? The supplies are under the table.”

The Hatford boys set to work putting out cups and creamers.

More and more things were added to the table as mothers and fathers stopped in at City Hall. Customers came and went.

About ten-fifteen Mrs. Malloy walked in the front door and, not ten paces behind her, Mrs. Hatford.

“Why, hello, Ellen,” Caroline's mother said. “Just look at all this¡ I hardly know what to choose.”

“Well, the only thing I can vouch for is my chocolate chiffon cake,” said Mrs. Hatford, pointing it out. “The same one I sent once to you.”