To Curious Heights

Chapter 11:

  Two Meetings

  Having run through the damp darkness for quite some time, Harold, Doug, Wayne, Winston, and Samson finally stopped to catch their breath.

  “Okay...” Harold wheezed. “I think we lost them.”

  “For now, at least,” said Doug.

  Wayne wiped the mist off his glasses. “So what exactly happened back there?”

  “They were having some freaky cultish ceremony in that church,” said Winston.

  They all started walking again as Winston and Doug shared the details of their misadventure, up to the point where they entered the sanctuary. Samson chimed in here and there with irrelevant comments and observations.

  “That’s some seriously creepy stuff,” said Wayne.

  “Oh, it’s probably just for show,” said Harold. “I doubt they’re trying to be creepy.”

  “Yeah, but what’s that worth?” wondered Wayne. “It’s not like any cult tries to be creepy.”

  Harold shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t extensively studied cults.”

  “I have,” said Wayne.

  Harold looked at Doug. “So did you get your letter back?”

  “Well, I found the room where they were keeping the laptop, and the letter was in it, but I didn’t have time to get it out so I took the whole thing.”

  Harold looked at the rolled up robe in Doug’s arms and gulped. “So that’s what you’ve got under there.”

  “I’m afraid so,” said Doug.

  “I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing,” said Harold as the boys reached the end of the tunnel they were walking in.

  They arrived in a huge open area, rectangular in shape, with several levels above and below. Each wall had a tunnel that branched out of it, and water flowed from the tunnels into a pool nearly a hundred feet below. A few light bulbs, scattered about the walls, added some illumination. A sidewalk sized outcropping surrounded the walls all the way around, providing ground for the boys to walk on.

  “Ok, do we have any clue where we’re going?” asked Wayne.

  Doug pointed to the tunnel on the right side wall. “I think my condo is in that direction.”

  “You think?” asked Wayne.

  “It’s as good a guess as any,” said Doug “I think we’ve been going mostly straight this whole time, so that should be where it is.”

  They all started to walk around the edge, making their way toward the tunnel.

  Winston looked at the pool below and rubbed his hand through his greasy hair. “Why don’t we throw it in there and end all this right now? Then we can just take the CD back to the Colonel.”

  “They’ll come after us either way,” said Wayne.

  “Yeah, we probably shouldn’t destroy state police property,” said Doug. “But it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get rid of this.” He pulled out his credit card and tossed it into the water below. “It’ll be easy to replace. And maybe if I don’t say anything, my parents will assume the excess charges came after I lost it.”

  “You threw it away just for that?” asked Harold.

  “No.” Doug shook his head. “More because, if something happens, I don’t want the wrong people getting their hands on it.”

  Samson nodded. “Smart thinking, Doug. Lorne would probably have a field day with that money card.”

  “Actually, I was thinking of Winston,” said Doug.

  Winston shrugged. “Well now we can’t buy a bus ticket out of here.”

  “Oh...” Doug gave a look of mild regret. “I didn’t think of that.” He shook his head and waved forward. “Let’s keep moving.”

  The boys walked around the corner and entered the next tunnel.

  Samson shuddered. “Are we gonna run into any crocodiles?”

  “No, Samson,” said Wayne. “There aren’t any crocodiles in sewers.”

  “There aren’t?”

  “Nope. It’s alligators that live in sewers.”

  They reached the end of the tunnel and came upon a ladder that led upward.

  Harold pointed above. “Up, up, and away.”

  The boys climbed the ladder and found themselves in another tunnel.

  It didn’t take long for them to reach the end of this tunnel, where they found themselves at the edge of a pond surrounded by well-trimmed grass.

  “Fore!” a man yelled in the distance as a golf ball flew in and smacked into Winston’s foot.

  Winston screamed and fell to the ground.

  Doug winced. “Are you all right, man?”

  Winston slowly rose from the ground and limped forward. “I suppose there are worse places it could have hit me.”

  “At least now we know where we are,” said Harold.

  Muscling up what energy they had left, the runaways jogged the remaining distance over the rolling hills of the golf course and back to Doug’s condo. As soon as they had reentered the home, Doug dropped the laptop on the kitchen table. “Alright, help me pull the all blinds down.”

  “You don’t think having all the blinds down would look suspicious?” asked Winston.

  “I’d rather have them be suspicious than see us in here,” said Doug.

  “Winston has a point,” said Wayne. “Nobody else has all their blinds down.”

  Doug sighed. “Fine. Let’s just pull all of them down on the first floor. But don’t forget to stay out of view from the other windows.”

  In half a minute, the first floor’s blinds were drawn, along with a few on the other floors.

  “So they’ll probably be blocking our calls again, huh?” said Doug.

  “They were doing it even after they got the laptop back,” said Wayne.

  “Wayne!” Harold gave a look of terrible disappointment.

  “How do you know that?” asked Doug.

  “Harold tried calling home while we were at dinner last night,” said Wayne.

  Winston glared at Harold. “You little weasel...”

  “Wayne, what gives?” Harold shook his head.

  Wayne shrugged. “What? They weren’t supposed to know?”

  “I thought we had an agreement!” said Winston.

  “Look, it’s in the past and it didn’t work anyway,” said Harold. “Let’s worry about what we’re gonna do now.”

  “And just what will that be?” Winston enquired.

  Harold sat down in a chair at the kitchen table. “I talked to Ruth Chavez at the pool about us getting a ride home. She said her dad’s going back tomorrow night and there’s a chance we could ride with him. She’s putting a plan together and I’m supposed to meet her at the lighthouse at eleven.”

  The others took seats as well.

  “Is that what she said?” asked Wayne.

  “Yeah, you could have heard for yourself if you talked to her with me.”

  “Sorry.” Wayne scratched the back of his neck.

  “No, I get it,” said Harold. “You want to stay for the Synth Sages concert.”

  Wayne frowned. “Harold, that’s not it.”

  “Well her dad’s not leaving until after the show, so you won’t have to miss it anyway.”

  “Harold, I said that’s not it!!!” Wayne shouted.

  Doug and Winston shared wide-eyed glances as they noticed the conversation getting tense.

  “Yeah, he said that’s not it!” yelled Samson.

  “Then tell me what it is,” said Harold.

  “Yeah, tell him what it is!” yelled Samson.

  “Alright, fine.” Wayne sighed. “It’s because of Ruth.”

  “What about her?” asked Harold.

  Wayne cleared his throat. “At the beginning of last year, Ruth and I sat next to each other in math class and started to become friends. After a few months, I realized I had a crush on her.”

  “I see where this is going...” said Winston.

  Wayne continued. “I kept it to myself for a while, but then Valentines Day came around. I thought it was a good opportunity, so I got her a real nice valentine with some chocolates;
a lot nicer than the ones I gave to everyone else. And inside I wrote about a paragraph telling her how I felt.”

  “What happened after that?” asked Harold.

  “The next day, she traded seats with somebody else. I don’t think we’ve said more than a couple words to each other since. And we never discussed the valentine.”

  “Wow, man.” Harold shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

  “Maybe she lost it and never read it,” said Doug.

  Wayne laughed. “Yeah, sure.”

  “I would have asked for the chocolate back,” said Winston.

  Harold furrowed his brow. “How come you never told me about this?”

  “I figured she should be the first one to know,” said Wayne. “And since the incident with the valentine... Well, I try not to think about it too much.”

  “I see.” Harold nodded. “So you were just avoiding her at the pool.”

  “Yeah, I mean I understand she didn’t feel the same way,” said Wayne “That’s fine. It’s just the way she reacted...”

  “It makes it awkward to be around her,” said Doug.

  Wayne nodded.

  Samson walked up to Wayne and put his hand on his shoulder. “I hope you can be happy again, Wayne.”

  Wayne chuckled. “Thanks, Samson. I’ll be fine.”

  Harold stared at Wayne, reflecting on this new revelation. He wondered if Wayne had been too shy to share it before or if he himself had been too self-centered to notice. He then stood up and looked around the kitchen. “So what’s for dinner?”

  Doug got up and walked to the kitchen counter. “I don’t suppose we’ll be able to make it to The Cat’s Meow again.” He opened the kitchen cabinet and looked at a row of unopened cereal boxes inside. “So cereal, I guess.”

  The boys all waited at the kitchen table as Doug distributed bowls of old cereal, without milk.

  “I always find it hard to eat when I’m nervous,” said Harold.

  “What are you nervous about?” asked Wayne.

  “Just everything,” said Harold. “Right now I’m worried about whether Ruth can help us or not.”

  Samson nodded. “That must be pretty nerving.”

  Winston nudged the laptop with his finger. “Hey, have we figured out what we’re gonna do with this thing yet?”

  “Let’s keep it here until I hear back from Ruth,” said Harold.

  “Why don’t we just turn it into the cops?” asked Winston. “They’ll probably just take us home. Then we won’t even need Ruth’s help.”

  “Because we might get blamed for stealing it,” said Harold, slightly agitated.

  “You know that won’t happen,” said Winston.

  “Won’t it?” said Harold. “You think Lorne and the guys will just take the blame? Sprocket will probably pull one of his stupid hypno-tricks to frame us. I should know they work. And even if that didn’t happen, we’d probably get tangled up and questioned for days. I don’t want to get publicly involved with this thing.”

  “I don’t know, Harold. Winston may have a point,” said Doug.

  Harold started to sound desperate. “Guys, I already told Ruth I’d meet up with her tonight. Let me just see what she has to say!”

  “I’m with Harold,” said Wayne. “Let’s hold on for a bit.”

  Harold looked at Wayne with a faint, relieved smile, while Doug shrugged.

  Winston pulled out his Gamebu and started playing. “Whatever.”

  Once he finished his cereal, Harold stood up and put his hand on Wayne’s shoulder. “Thanks.” He pushed his chair in. “I’m gonna try to get a nap before I head to the lighthouse. Make sure I’m awake by ten fifteen.”

  Wayne nodded. “Will do.”

  Harold walked up to the bedroom and lay down in his bed. After adjusting his position a little, he closed his eyes.

  “Harold!” yelled Wayne.

  Harold jolted up and rubbed his eyes. It was dark out the window and Wayne was standing at the foot of his bed.

  “It’s ten fifteen,” said Wayne.

  Harold stretched his arms. “It feels like I just lied down.”

  “Sorry about that.”

  “No, it’s fine. Thanks for waking me up.” Harold pulled himself out of bed, slipped on his shoes, and made his way down stairs. When he got to the first floor, he found Doug sitting in a chair, peering through the blinds, with the lights off. “Does it look safe out there?” asked Harold.

  “Well, there are a handful of kids walking around like they’re looking for something,” said Doug. “I’d say it’s a safe bet they’re members of The Order.”

  Harold walked to the window and peeked out with Doug. It was as Doug had said. “Didn’t the run-in with the cops put any kind of stop to them?” Harold wondered.

  Doug shook his head. “I don’t know. I wasn’t there to see what happened.”

  “I guess they probably won’t let up any time soon.” Harold walked over to the kitchen counter and picked up one of the walkie-talkies. He clipped it on his belt and looked at Doug. “I’ll buzz you if I run into any trouble.”

  Doug nodded. “Be careful.”

  “I’ll do my best.” Harold slid out of a sliding door at the back of the kitchen, which led onto the back deck. He walked down the stairs from the deck and ran onto the golf course. Constantly looking back and forth to check for prowling kids, Harold tried as much as possible to stick within the small clusters of trees and shrubs which peppered the course.

  Before long, Harold came across the pond where he and his friends had emerged from the sewer. He started to make his way around the edge of the water. Just as he neared the opening of the sewer tunnel, Harold heard footsteps coming from inside. He quickly ducked behind a nearby bush.

  Out of the tunnel walked a slightly hunched, middle-aged man. The man sported a well-worn open trench coat and medium-long hair, which looked as though it hadn’t been washed in quite some time. Harold watched and waited as the man walked around the pond and over the crest of a distant hill, silhouetted by the light of the moon. Harold almost got up to continue, but he spotted the shapes of two boys walking elsewhere in the distance, so he ducked back down for another minute.

  While he was crouched, Harold noticed a white golf ball by his knee. He picked it up and observed that the words “straight arrow” were written on the side. He put the ball in one of the cargo pockets of his shorts and took off towards the lake.

  After about ten minutes, Harold descended a steep hill onto the sandy beach shore and approached the tall beacon of light, which sat on a small peninsula of rock and sand. The lighthouse was surrounded at its base by a short circular wall of stone. Harold, still very much on the lookout, sat on the wall, facing the lake. He stared off into the wet expanse and listened to the soothing sound of the waves. He almost forgot his troubles, and would have begun daydreaming had a voice not interrupted him.

  “Harold!” It was Ruth.

  Harold looked back. “Oh hey, Ruth.”

  Ruth hopped on the wall and sat next to Harold. “Whatcha lookin’ at?”

  “Just the horizon.”

  Ruth nodded and looked out.

  “I like to pretend it’s the ocean.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “I don’t know, really. I guess it makes me feel like anything could be out there.”

  “Interesting...” Ruth reached into her pocket and pulled out some folded paper.

  “What have you got there?” asked Harold.

  Ruth unfolded what turned out to be three pieces of paper, along with a ticket, and handed them to Harold. “It’s the plan for how you’ll get out of here... And one ticket to the Synth Sages concert tomorrow.”

  Harold looked over the writing and drawings on the papers. “There’s a lot of stuff here.”

  “It’s not as complicated as it looks.” Ruth adjusted her glasses, brushed her hair out of her eyes, and pointed to the top of the first page. “This will take at least three people.”

  “O
kay. There’s five of us,” said Harold.

  “One person is going to have to get backstage at the concert to meet my dad. That should probably be you.”

  “What’ll your dad be doing?”

  “He’s going to introduce the band at the beginning, and then he’ll play guitar during the encore. I’m not kidding.”

  “Well that’s exciting for him.”

  “Yeah. But he’ll have so much security that there’s no way you’ll be able to approach him.”

  “So what do I do?”

  “He’s going to have a dressing room. Your best bet is to get in there during the encore and wait for him to come back.”

  “I have a feeling that might not go over so well,” said Harold. “Can’t you just ask your dad to take us home for me?”

  “If I do that, he’ll just say no. The only chance he’ll say yes is if he’s faced with the situation.” Ruth continued. “Now to get on the stage is going to require your friends’ help. All the security is based out of the police station, so somebody is going to need to get in there to make sure that you don’t have any problems with the guards or the security cameras.”

  “How are they supposed to get in there?”

  “I didn’t figure that part out. One of you should be clever enough to come up with something.”

  “Perhaps...”

  “Also, at some point you’ll have to actually cross the stage, preferably on the catwalk above. Your friends will need to distract the sniper.”

  “There’s a sniper?!”

  “Yeah, on top of the police station.”

  “They wouldn’t shoot a kid, would they?”

  “No, of course not, but they’ll see you and make sure somebody takes you out of there.”

  “Alright.” Harold scratched his neck. “What’s the third part of the plan?”

  “You need a key to get into the dressing room.”

  “Where do I get that?”

  “There’s a locksmith who lives in a shed in the woods about a mile from town. He should have a duplicate.” Ruth pointed at the papers. “I have the directions written there, along with the key’s designation.”

  “Should they just ask him for it, or what?”

  “He’s blind. So if one person distracts him, then the other can sneak in and get the key. There are a few doors on the back of the amphitheater that only open from the inside. You should have one of your friends drop the key off to you there.”

  Harold looked over the papers, wide-eyed and overwhelmed. “Okay then...”

  “Got it?” Ruth smiled. “I have a few more suggestions written down there, but you can look over them on your own.”

  “Okay. I just have one question.”

  “Sure.”

  “What do I say to your dad when he walks in?”

  “That is a great question... I have no idea.”

  “No, really. You’d know a heck of a lot better than me.”

  “Pray about it.”

  Harold winced and let out a faint laugh.

  “I can show up then and try to help but, to be honest, that will be the biggest obstacle.”

  Harold accepted the circumstances and nodded. “Well, I guess this is the only chance I’ve got.”

  “You oughta try. I know how much Sally means to you.”

  Harold blushed. “Wait, you do? You mean you know...”

  “Yeah, I’ve kind of figured you liked her for a while now.”

  “Does she know?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Harold stared across the lake. “Good.” He still wanted to be the one to share the news.

  “Well, Harold,” Ruth stood up, “I’d better get back before anyone notices that I’m gone.”

  “Okay, if you must.” Harold hopped down from his perch and walked with Ruth back away from the water. He had his eyes on the ground until his feet landed back on grass. He looked back up at Ruth. “Hey, one more thing about Sally...”

  “What’s that?”

  “Do you have any idea if she... You know... Feels the same?”

  Ruth thought for a moment. “Honestly, Harold, she’s never said anything to me about it. I don’t really know if that sort of thing is on her mind right now.”

  Harold looked down and nodded. “Okay.”

  “But if it was, I could imagine she might.”

  Harold lifted his head and smiled. Whether it should have or not, this comment almost made him feel like he had superpowers. But Harold’s enthusiasm was suddenly interrupted when he spotted two boys walking up a hill in the distance. “Ruth, duck!” He grabbed Ruth and pulled her down behind a bush.

  Ruth panicked. “What? Why?”

  Harold peeked over the bush. “Two kids up there.” He pointed. “I think they’re part of Lorne’s gang. They’re still after us.”

  “Still?” What for?”

  “It’s a long story, which neither of us have time for right now.”

  “Will that make the plan harder for you?”

  “Probably... But I’ll still give it a go. Let’s just wait here until they’re out of sight.”

  Ruth nodded.

  Harold folded the papers and stuck them in his pocket. “So you came up with this whole plan just today?”

  “We’ve been here for three days already. I was bored.”

  “But how the heck did you figure all of this out?”

  Ruth shrugged. “Being close to my dad gives me access to a lot of information. None of it is too far if you know where to look. And research is sort of my gift.”

  Harold looked and saw that the kids had escaped the horizon. “Alright, we’re good to go.” He and Ruth stood up.

  Ruth waved goodbye. “I’ll be rooting for you Harold.”

  “Thanks, Ruth.” The two took a couple steps in separate directions until Harold stopped and looked back. “Hey, Ruth.”

  Ruth turned. “Yeah, Harold?”

  “I’m sorry to bring this up, but I have to ask you one more thing.”

  “Sure, what?”

  “It’s about Wayne.”

  “Wayne who?”

  “Wayne—“

  “Oh, right!” Ruth tugged on her shirt collar. “With the hood and the glasses.”

  “Yeah. He told me about last Valentines Day...”

  “Oh.” Ruth looked down and waited for words. “I didn’t react well to that.” She looked at Harold again. “I should have talked to him about it to his face instead of avoiding him. Is he upset?”

  “I don’t know how upset he is anymore, but he definitely still feels awkward about it.”

  Ruth thought for a moment. “Could you tell him I’m sorry?”

  “Yeah, I’ll tell him.”

  Ruth smiled “Thanks.” She turned to go. “Be safe, Harold.”

  Harold nodded and waved. “Bye, Ruth.”

  Ruth walked along the beach toward town as Harold ran back to the golf course. He ran over a couple hills and into a set of trees. After another minute of walking, Harold prepared to step back into the open, but stopped when he saw a familiar figure in the distance. It was Lorne.

  Harold decided to follow as Lorne dipped over the crest of a hill. When Harold had reached this crest, he crouched behind a shrub and peered down the slope, where he saw Lorne walk onto the green of one of the holes. On the green stood the man whom Harold had earlier watched emerge from the tunnel. The moonlight illuminated his face, which looked like it had taken more than a few blows over the years.

  Harold ran softly among trees down the hill and crouched behind some bushes near the bottom to get a closer look. He watched as Lorne stopped in front of the man.

  “You’re five minutes late.” The man tapped his watch.

  “Your watch is five minutes fast,” said Lorne.

  “Ha. Funny.” The man looked a little nervous as he pointed at Lorne. “I thought you said you had it.”

  “Yeah, we have it. I just don’t have with me this second.”

  “You don?
??t?!” The man shouted. “What the hell did you think we were meeting for?”

  Lorne scratched his neck. “Did you ask me to bring it? Sorry, I don’t remember.”

  The man grabbed Lorne by the shirt. “Come on, kid, where is it?!” Harold could see sweat dripping down his face.

  “Don’t touch me!” Lorne shoved the man off.

  The man stopped and forced himself to calm down. “Where is it right now? I need to bring it back by Sunday.”

  “It’s at our secret hiding place where we keep the rest of our treasure. I can get it to you on Saturday. How’s that?”

  “Kid, that wasn’t our deal. Our deal was that you give it to me today.”

  Lorne shrugged. “My bad. Since I’ll be stopping by the hideout, I’ll throw in a few more items at no extra charge.”

  The man took a deep breath. “You really have it?”

  “Yes!”

  “And the disc is still in the drive?”

  “Last I checked.”

  “Listen kid, I know this is just money to you, but if we don’t get this... If we do get it...” He paused for a moment, and then waved his hand. “You know what, never mind. I’ll see you here on Saturday.” He turned to walk away. “Be here at 5:00am. Before the sun comes up.”

  “Sure. See ya.”

  The man took a few steps, then stopped. “Oh...” He turned around and started to walk back toward Lorne. “A little piece of advice...” He reached in his coat pocket. “If you’re gonna be involved in this type of work...” He pulled out a revolver and placed it in Lorne’s hand. “You’re gonna need better equipment.”

  Lorne looked down at the gun and then up at the man. Not a word was spoken. With a faint smirk, the man turned and walked out of sight. Lorne stared at the gun for a moment, then put it in his pocket. He walked quietly back toward the resort. The second Lorne was out of view, Harold ran as fast as he could to the condo.

  When Harold reentered the vacation home, he found the other boys gathered around the den on the second floor. They were all competing in a game on the Nantendu 96 which involved weird looking kids snowboarding in the grass.

  Wayne raised his voice excitedly. “So then he says, ‘It’s not my fault, officer. The dingo made me do it!’”

  Doug shook his head. “I don’t know what it is about your jokes, Wayne, but I don’t get any of them.”

  Harold reached the top of the stairs and caught his breath. Everyone except Winston turned to look at him.

  “How’d it go?” asked Wayne.

  Harold walked over and dropped Ruth’s plans on the coffee table in front of the others. “Read this. I have to pee.”

  The boys paused the game and crowded around the plans to look them over. Meanwhile, Harold ran up the stairs, into the bathroom, and closed the door. He quickly did his business and then went back to the others. “That’s the plan Ruth came up with,” said Harold, on return.

  “We see that,” said Doug.

  “What do you think?” asked Harold.

  “I think this plan is rather convoluted,” said Winston.

  “Yes, quite,” said Samson.

  Winston looked sternly at Harold. “Explain to me why we should go through this instead of taking the laptop to the police and having them take us home.”

  “Like I said, I don’t want to get tangled up in that mess and it isn’t a sure bet, anyway,” said Harold. “I want to get home and be over this as fast as possible.”

  “Why do we need to do it as fast as possible?” asked Doug. “It seems to me that this plan is at least as risky, and we’d have a way harder time explaining ourselves if we get caught.”

  “Wayne?” Harold looked at his friend in hope of a defense.

  Wayne shrugged. “Why don’t you just tell them, Harold?”

  Harold kept looking at Wayne and thought about what Wayne had shared with them earlier. “Alright.” He turned to the others. “My friend Sally is moving to Nepal on Saturday and I promised I’d be there to say goodbye.” He carefully observed the others’ reactions. They looked a little confused. “I know it sounds silly, but...”

  “What’s silly about that?” Doug interrupted.

  “Well, I guess it just means so much to me that it seems kind of selfish,” said Harold. “I know I’m right to care, but at the same time, it consumes my thoughts more than it should. Anyways, I was at her birthday party the day before camp when her family broke the news.”

  “Sounds like news wasn’t all they broke,” said Winston.

  “Yeah, this girl sounds like she’s more than a friend to you,” said Doug.

  “Yeah, well I wanted to tell her that I liked her at the party,” said Harold, “but I didn’t get the chance.”

  “So that explains why you’ve seemed so detached all summer,” said Doug.

  Samson nodded, “Yeah, you’ve been a real sour swan.”

  “Do you think we’re goblins or something?” asked Winston. “Why would you be afraid to share this with us?”

  “I don’t know, it just seems so personal,” said Harold. “I didn’t know if you guys would understand.”

  “I know you haven’t known us as long as Wayne,” said Doug, “but we’re your friends, Harold. You can trust us.”

  “Agreed,” said Winston.

  Harold smiled. “Thanks, guys.” He looked at Wayne.

  “I told you you could tell them,” said Wayne.

  “To be honest, none of our options right now are good,” said Doug, “so we can go with this one if it helps you.” He looked down at the papers. “This plan is nuts, though. Do you really think we can pull it off?”

  “We’ve made it this far, so I think we have a shot,” said Harold. He kneeled down at the coffee table and spread the papers out. He ran his finger over the plans. “Doug, I think you and Samson should go get the key to the dressing room.”

  Doug nodded.

  “As long as I don’t have to go near the spacemen,” said Samson.

  “You won’t,” said Harold. “Wayne and Winston, you guys should go to the police station to make sure the way is clear.”

  “So you’ll be going backstage, then?” asked Wayne.

  “I will,” said Harold.

  “Okay, this is all well and good, but...” Winston pointed at the floor, toward the kitchen table. “What about our friend downstairs?”

  “I’m going to carry it in my backpack,” said Harold.

  Doug winced. “Are you sure? You know if you get caught with it, that’ll blow your chance to see Sally.”

  “I can live with that,” said Harold. He stood up, walked to the back window and peered through the shades. He stood there for a minute before speaking again. “I saw Lorne meet up with someone on the golf course.”

  “Who was it?” asked Wayne.

  “Some older looking guy with long, greasy hair and a crappy trench coat.”

  “Maybe it was Rotten Gregg,” said Winston.

  Harold shook his head. “I think it was one of the Prodders. I listened to their conversation from the bushes. They were talking about the laptop.”

  “What did they say?” asked Doug.

  “Lorne was supposed to have it with him, but he pretended he forgot. He said he’d get it to the guy on Saturday. The guy seemed pretty desperate.”

  Wayne shuddered. “So it’s true.”

  “Seems that way,” said Harold. He took a deep breath. “And before the guy left, he gave Lorne a revolver.”

  “A revolver, as in a gun?” Winston asked nervously. “One that shoots bullets?”

  Harold nodded.

  “He’s gonna kill everybody!” shouted Samson.

  “I doubt that. But it’s not good.” Harold walked back to the center of the room. “Anyway, I think we should stay here until the concert starts tomorrow. With all of the people there, our way should be mostly clear then. And that gives us less time to get caught.”

  “That sounds reasonable.” Doug got up and leaned on the railing over
looking the first floor. “I think we have enough cereal to last until then.”

  Harold nodded, then silently walked up the stairs to the third floor.

  Winston picked up the Nantendu controller and resumed playing the game, while Samson stared into space. Winston looked over at Samson and elbowed him. “We’re still playing!”

  “Oh, right!” Samson picked up his controller and joined Winston. He looked at Wayne. “What about you, Four-eyes?”

  Wayne picked up his controller, considered whether to continue playing, then put it down again. “I think I’m done.” He stood up and walked upstairs.

  Wayne entered the bedroom to find Harold kneeling at his bedside with his forehead lying over his folded arms. “What are you up to?” asked Wayne.

  “Oh!” Harold jerked his head, then stood up and took a seat on the edge of his bed. “I was asking God to make this all work out somehow.”

  “Well, He should be good for it,” said Wayne

  “Yeah.” Harold looked at the floor. “Ruth has no idea how I’m gonna convince her dad to take us home.”

  “We don’t need to know that right now,” said Wayne. He turned to leave the room. “I’ll let you get back to what you were doing.” He made it to the door when Harold spoke again.

  “Hey, Wayne.”

  Wayne stopped.

  “I asked Ruth about what happened with you.”

  Wayne froze.

  “She said she’s sorry.”

  Wayne looked back and smiled. “Thanks, Harold.” He looked forward again and exited the room.

  Harold got up, turned off the lights, then walked to the window and stared into the night. The next day would either end very well or very poorly, but whatever happened, it would not be easy.