CHAPTER 8
Sinda stared out of the car window. She couldn’t yell because her mouth was taped. She couldn’t open the car door because her hands were taped together in front. She wasn’t really scared. But she knew she was in BIG trouble this time.
She remembered falling in the exhibit building, but when she got up, she couldn’t see her sisters. She began to walk around the lobby and spotted the couple they were chasing. They were walking out of the main door of the exhibit building. Here was Sinda’s chance to do something on her own and show how grown up she was. Sinda ran out of the building and saw the couple heading for a parking lot. She thought, “I could get their car license number and then the police can arrest them. Dad said to always trust the police.”
Sinda ducked behind shrubs and trees until the couple got to the parking lot. Then she hid behind different cars--popping up to see their new direction and then popping down to avoid being seen. Popping up once more, Sinda saw the woman opening the driver’s door of a grey car. But where was the man?
A hand from behind covered her mouth and Sinda was dragged to the car. She and the man got into the back seat and he taped her mouth and her hands. He was quite strong.
“Joan, let’s get out of here!”, the man yelled. Joan was driving too fast and the car weaved back and forth to avoid hitting parked cars. Sinda rocked from side to side in the back seat. She was trying to look out the window to see where they were going.
Finally the car straightened out and Sinda noticed the main gate of Fair Park. Sinda started kicking the seat in front of her with her feet and hitting the window with her taped hands.
Suddenly, Sinda heard screaming. She turned her head and saw Cheri and Lynda running after the car. They were screaming to anyone that would listen. “Help us! That’s our sister Sinda in that car! She’s being kidnapped! Help!” A crowd was gathering.
Sinda looked out the front of the car and could see that the traffic light at the corner of the Fair Park entrance and Martin Luther King Boulevard had turned red. Yippee! The grey car had stopped and Sinda thought that the crowd could now catch them.
Joan yelled, “We can’t get caught, Pablo, especially with the girl in the car. We have to meet at 10:00 tonight. The light is turning green. Quick! Shove her out of the car. Maybe that will give us time to get away.”
The man grabbed her and threw her out of the car and onto a hard street. Ouch, that hurt! She couldn’t scream because her mouth was still taped. She couldn’t stand up because her hands were still taped.
Suddenly hands lifted her up by her arms. Other hands ripped the tape off her mouth and began undoing the tape on her hands. Boy, that was much better but her mouth hurt from ripping off that tape.
Lynda and Cheri ran up and started hugging Sinda. “You’re all right,” the sisters said together. One person in the crowd said, “Let’s call the police and they can try to stop the car. Someone call 911.”
Lynda whispered to Cheri, “We can’t get the police involved. Mother can’t find out what we’ve been doing. Follow my lead.” Cheri nodded her agreement.
“Ha! Ha! Wasn’t this a great practical joke?” Lynda yelled.
Cheri hesitated. Lynda repeated, “Wasn’t this a great practical joke? It was definitely better than last years.”
“Yes,” Cheri finally replied. “This is the best practical joke we have ever pulled. Happy Birthday, Sinda.” Cheri jabbed Sinda with her elbow and winked.
Sinda clapped her hands, jumped up and down, and yelled, “Oh, you guys are always joking. This is the best birthday ever.”
Before the crowd could decide what to do next, Lynda had grabbed Sinda’s and Cheri’s hands and they all ran away down the sidewalk. They ran for a couple of blocks and dashed into a fast food restaurant and hid in the ladies restroom. The girls were huffing and puffing by this time.
Lynda cautiously opened the door of the restroom, sneaked towards the front of the restaurant. No one had followed them.
Sinda and Cheri came out of the restroom. Sinda said, “I’m hungry. Can we get a cheeseburger and fries?” Lynda laughed. “Okay. We have a little money left. Thank goodness you’re back to your old self--always hungry or thirsty.”
“Cheri, you call Mother to pick us up and I’ll buy Sinda a cheeseburger and us something to drink,” Lynda directed. The sisters spent the next twenty minutes waiting for Mother and talking about the recent events. Lynda and Cheri had spotted Sinda in the grey car as it had rounded the front of the exhibit building and headed toward the front gate. They had hatched their plan on the run.
The girls were flush with their success of foiling the kidnapping of Sinda and finding out when the couple would be meeting next. They agreed that this recent adventure would have to be a secret from Mother, at least for now. They sure had something exciting to tell Dad when he called next. He would be really proud of them!