Snapdragon Alley

  They watched as the bus made its turnaround and rode off back down Visitation. Everything was just as Alex had described; the long row of decrepit red row houses, the abandoned factory, and in between, the vacant lot where they thought Snapdragon Alley should have been. Argus led the way into the lot, picking his way around outcroppings of former foundation. Far off at the other end of the lot, they could see the bent figure of an old man carrying something like a vacuum cleaner around the lot. Sapphire pointed him out.

  "Uh-oh", she said, "something crazy on aisle seven", and the other kids laughed. She kicked a few rocks and stuck her hands in her pockets. She looked at Alex, who didn't have to say 'told you' for her to know exactly what he was thinking. Argus was thoroughly enjoying himself, as he leaped from one spot to another, bending down, peering into crannies and under stones, pushing aside weeds, and generally acting like he was looking for something in particular.

  "Find anything?" Alex called out.

  "I think so", Argus declared, and he ran back holding up something green and shiny in his hand. It looked like an ornament, a tiny stained-glass dragonfly.

  "Keep it for me?" Argus asked his brother, and ran back off. Alex put the little treasure in his pocket. He knew about Argus and his collections. Such things were terribly important to his brother.

  Sapphire nudged him, and gestured toward the old man, who was now approaching them as rapidly as he could with his age and that heavy bit of equipment he was carrying. Alex could now see it was a metal detector.

  "Hey, you kids", the old geezer shouted.

  "Uh-oh", Sapphire said again. "Looks like trouble now."

  The old man repeated that phrase every few steps until he finally got up close to them. Sapphire had thought he'd be one of those smelly homeless guys but it turned out he was a clean old man, dressed way out of date but neatly, clean-shaven. He didn't have a mean face but he was scowling.

  "What are you kids doing here?" he asked. "This is private property".

  "Nothing, sir", Alex volunteered.

  "Are you looking for something?", Sapphire asked, as pleasantly as she could. "Maybe we could help you find it"

  "No!" the old man shouted. "and no", he continued, answering the second question. He looked down around the ground where they were all standing, and shook his head.

  "I'm never going to find it", he muttered. "Been looking for months."

  "What is it?" Sapphire asked, but the old man just shook his head and didn't answer. Alex drew out the tiny glass artifact from his pocket and held it out to the man, reluctantly. He was hoping it wouldn't get snatched away, but the old man, after glancing at it, shook his head again.

  "Nope. Not it", he murmured, "But thanks. Thank you for asking". He almost smiled, though he was trying as hard as he could not to.

  Argus came running up, shouting.

  "Alex! Sapphire! You're not going to believe it", and when he got up close to them he stopped and held out his hand. Resting in his palm was a small, thin copper ring.

  "A washer?" Alex asked.

  "Good find", Sapphire said sarcastically, but the old man dropped his machine and stepped over to the little boy and nearly yelled,

  "Let me see that!".

  Argus took a step backward, but composed himself and kept his hand out steadily and let the old man bend over it and examine the ring.

  "May I?" asked the old man gingerly, and Argus nodded. He took the ring from the boy and held it up to the sky. It sparkled as he turned in a circle, and then, holding the ring with his thumb and index finger on the top and bottom, he seemed to be aiming it at a spot on the abandoned factory wall.

  "It's no use", he said, after a few moments. "If only Charlie was here. Charlie would know what to do."

  "Charlie?" Alex gasped.

  "Charlie Kirkham", the old man said. "That guy knew all about the magic stuff".

  Chapter Nine - Mason Henry

  "Charlie Kirkham was my uncle, our uncle!" Alex cried out.

  "Yeah", said Argus, although he could barely remember Uncle Charlie, who'd vanished into thin air two years before and was since presumed dead. Alex alone was certain that Charlie was still alive, though of course he could never explain why he had this feeling, or where Charlie might have gone or why. He had all sorts of theories about the mystery - a secret life, a hidden treasure, a criminal flight - but nothing that really fit with the actual man, who was a fairly simple, regular guy; a bus driver, a bowler, a handyman, a casual sports gambler, a boy who never quite grew up into his six foot two, two hundred twenty pound body.

  Charlie's older brother Robert, Alex and Argus' father, had a long list of disapprovals when it came to his younger sibling. Charlie was never smart enough, or bold enough, or disciplined, strong-willed, or ambitious enough - the traits that Robert had in over-abundance and the only ones he valued. Alex used to chuckle when his dad complained that Charlie didn't have any drive - after all, he drove a bus all day! What more could his father want?

  Alex's mother, Mary, was sure that Charlie had gotten in trouble with his gambling, had met up with some "bad characters" who had "made an end of him". She had watched way too many crime shows on TV. She tried not to mention the man, "so as not to upset the children", but when she did it was with a sigh and to expect his corpse to come floating down the Wetford River any day.

  But Alex believed his Uncle Charlie when he told him he never gambled serious money, because he never had any, just a few lousy bucks here and there on the Sea Dragons football team. There was another side of Charlie that maybe only Alex had ever seen, and only rarely, when during a long lazy game of catch, Charlie would start chattering about things he'd seen that no one knew about, things he couldn't talk about, things that nobody would believe.

  "I'd believe you", Alex reassured him, and Charlie smiled and nodded.

  "I believe you'd believe me", he laughed.

  "So tell me", Alex pleaded.

  "Another time", said Charlie, and so it happened the same way the few times the subject came up, but that promised other time never came. One morning Charlie Kirkham boarded his bus for the last time. He drove to the end of the line, walked off the bus, and was never seen again.

  "My Uncle Charlie disappeared", Alex told the old man, "do you know where he is?"

  "I wish I did", the old man replied. "I really wish I did". He shook his head sadly.

  "The last time I saw your Uncle", he continued, "was right about where we're standing now".

  "But I'm forgetting my manners", he said. "Here I am talking with the nephews and niece of Charlie Kirkham and we haven't even been properly introduced"

  "Actually", Sapphire spoke up, "I'm no relation, just a friend. Sapphire."

  "Sapphire!" the old man said, "what an extraordinary name, and what a perfect fit! Indeed. Mason Henry, that's me", and he held out his hand and shook Sapphire's.

  "Alex Kirkham, and my brother Argus", said Alex.

  "I'm Argus", said the little one, pointlessly.

  "Very pleased and honored to meet you both", said Mason Henry, shaking their hands in turn.

  "What were you trying to do with that ring?" Sapphire asked, "and what did you mean about magic?"

  Aha", said Mister Henry, "right to the point. Yes, of course. That must have seemed awfully strange. You probably think I'm off my rocker", he chuckled. "But just you wait. Just wait. When you hear the rest, you'll really think I am! But why are we standing out here in this empty lot. Come along, my house is just over there, at the edge of the field, the last house in the row. Would you like some milk? I probably don't have any. But I have soda. Do you like soda? What do kids drink anyway? I have no idea. I haven't talked to an actual child in years!"

  They followed Henry to his house, one of the worn-down structures that lined the left side of what must have been Snapdragon Alley, although the sign on that narrow street read Trent Blvd.

  "Hardly a boulevard", Sapphire commented as they crossed it. The street was barely more
than a ditch.

  "True enough", said Mason Henry, "but then again I once saw a dirt road curving through the middle of a vast sugar beet field that was called John F. Kennedy Boulevard. We're at least a little more modest here."

  The inside of the house was as dilapidated as the outside, containing two old dusty and overstuffed chairs in the front room with their stuffing leaking out, and a rickety aluminum table in the kitchen, with two folding chairs beside it.

  "Sorry there's no good place to sit", the old man said, rummaging through the fridge for a few cans of Coke.

  "It's okay", said Alex, who was really kind of shocked at the dirt and disorder all around. This was decay of a kind he had never experienced before.

  "It's just me here now", Mason Henry continued. "Henrietta's been gone about two years now."

  Sapphire and Alex exchanged glances, warning each other not to laugh at the idea of a Henrietta Henry. Brief nods assured each other they wouldn't.

  "That's too bad", said Argus. "I'll bet you miss her".

  Once Again Alex was struck by the fact that his little brother, barely out of diapers as far as he was concerned, always seemed to say exactly the right thing at the right time.

  Alex and Sapphire picked up the folding chairs and everyone moved into the front room, where they sat in a half-circle around the big picture window that overlooked the vacant lot. Mason Henry gestured out the window.

  "It's all still there", he said mysteriously. "I believe it. Can't see it, but I believe it."

  "What's all still there?" Sapphire asked.

  "Snapdragon Alley", Mason Henry replied. Alex nearly choked on his drink. He was certain that none of them had mentioned that name until now.

  Chapter Ten - The Spot

  "I don't understand", said Alex. "There was a Snapdragon Alley on the bus map two years ago. Before then it was never there, and since then it's never been either."

  "It was on a map?" Mason Henry seemed genuinely surprised. "That might be the strangest thing of all. On a map?"

  "Well, why wouldn't it be?" Sapphire wanted to know, "if it was a street and it was there, then why shouldn't it be on a map?"

  "Well, considering it's not really a street", Mason Henry murmured, "and the little fact that it's not strictly what you might call 'there' ..." his voice trailed off.

  "Now I'm even more confused", said Alex. "Either something is or it isn't. Either it's there or it's not."

  "How to explain", Henry began, "how indeed to explain." He rubbed his chin and started out the window again.

  "It's yours!" Argus suddenly spoke up. "That land out there is yours."

  "Yes, it is", said Mason Henry. "It really belonged to Henrietta, but I suppose it's all mine now"

  "You're the one who won't sell", Sapphire put it. "My father works for the city and he told me about it."

  "Never!" flashed the old man angrily. "I'll never sell and I'll make sure they never get their grubby paws on it too. If only I could make sure, that is." He paused, and then quietly said, "One thing happeneth to them all ..."

  "But why?" Alex asked

  "Because of Snapdragon Alley", Argus quietly told him.

  "Did you ever hear of The Spot?" Mason Henry looked at all three of the children in turn.

  "Depends", Sapphire replied. "Is it a nightclub?"

  "No, no, no", Mason Henry said, "it's a place, a magical place, you might say, in this world but not only in this world, in other worlds as well, and at the same time. It's a crossroads, a junction, an intersection where realities meet"

  "Like parallel universes?" Alex had read his share of science fiction.

  "Not quite", said Mason Henry. "There is only one universe."

  "Other dimensions?" Sapphire asked. She had read exactly the same books as Alex.

  "Facets, you might say", the old man shrugged. "More like facets. When you think dimensions you think direction and shape. It's not quite that. It's a vantage point, a view. If you look the right way, at the right time, you can see it, all of it, very clearly and very much right there", and again he pointed out the window.

  "So the ring", Argus said softly, and then more loudly he added, "can you tell us what it looks like?"

  "In a way, my dear boy", beamed Mason Henry, and he gave Alex a look signaling his great impression of the little one.

  "The way Henrietta saw it, you would think it's nothing special, not really. Just a little housing development. Cute little houses, with lawns and picket fences. Maybe a dozen or so. A little park in the middle with a playground for the children. The road itself is more of a path - Snapdragon Alley, that is. No cars on it. No parking. Odd thing, that."

  Mason Henry was silent for a moment.

  "But then again", he continued, "the way Charlie saw it was nothing like that at all. He said it was like a big open warehouse, all windows all around and no doors you could see, just all green glass and filled with plants and creatures he could not describe."

  "Were there any people in there?" Alex asked. He was thinking, how can anybody live in a place that isn't even there, or at least isn't visible. Are the people invisible too? Did they all just vanish like Uncle Charlie? Is he one of them? Is he still there?

  "Hard to say", said Mason Henry, and he shook his head. "I can't even say one thing that's for certain about that place".

  "Sounds like my house", Sapphire said.

  Everyone laughed, but the room was full of tension now. Alex was not the only one harboring a million questions.

  "I know what you're thinking", Mason Henry said. "To tell you the truth, I haven't ever even seen the place myself. I just know what Henrietta and Charlie told me. I've been looking, I can tell you that. Well, you saw me, out there scavenging around. I'm certain there's a way to do it. Charlie could. Henrietta could."

  "You said something about magic", Sapphire reminded him, and the old man shook his head.

  "Is it magic or is it only some kind of advanced science?" he asked the air in general. "There's a famous saying about that, I think"

  "The only thing I know for sure", he continued, "is that there is a way. I used to see Henrietta carrying around certain objects. I would ask her about it and she'd tell me it was none of my business. Kept me in the dark, I don't know why. There are things you're better off not knowing, she'd say. It can't do you any good, and what you don't know can't hurt you. But some times, she'd get so excited she couldn't help herself. She'd yell for me. Mason, come here. Come quick. Snapdragon Alley is back again! But I could never see it."

  "It comes and goes", Argus muttered, "but how did she know?"

  "She was looking all the time", Henry told him. "She never figured it out completely. One day she'd be carrying around a blank book, another day it was a compass, then again a watch, or a globe, or an hourglass. I've kept all those items", Henry said, and pointed to a cabinet by the wall, where on shelves behind glass doors those very items sat.

  "I take them out like she used to do, and I carry them around like she used to, and I come home and I put them back on the shelf"

  "Like she used to", Argus finished the sentence.

  "Exactly", agreed Mason Henry.

  "And Uncle Charlie?" Alex wanted to know. "How did he find the place?"

  "Oh, Charlie seemed to know all about it", said Mason. "From the very first day he showed up here, driving that 63 Venezia. He'd get off the bus and take a stroll around the edges of the lot. He had a ring that he'd hold up to his eye, just like I did today. He'd hold it up and move his head around, then stop, and walk straight in that direction. He'd go right across the lot. Then he'd head back to the bus and turn it around for the return trip. Some days he came as a passenger, not the driver. And sometimes when he'd walk across that lot he'd simply vanish. I saw it happen once myself. That's how we first found out about it, Henrietta and me. Up until then it was just an empty lot to us, like it is to everybody else."

  "It was Henrietta got to talking to Charlie, got him to tell her what it was, and the
n he showed it to her. He told her some, but far from everything about it, and she told me even less."

  "It's too bad", Alex said, but secretly he was thrilled. More than ever he was convinced that Uncle Charlie was still alive. He felt he knew for a fact now that Charlie was merely in some other dimension, or facet as the old man called it, and that all they had to do was figure out the secret and they could go there too and find him.

  It might be easier said than done, he admitted. Considering they had no idea whatsoever.

  On the way back home on the very same bus that Charlie Kirkham used to drive, Sapphire voiced the thought that worried each of them.

  "The old man might be crazy", she said.

  "That's possible", agreed Alex.

  "Likely, even", Sapphire added. "If we told anyone what he told us today, that's the first thing they would say."

  "And then they'd say we should never go back there ever again", said Alex. "I know that's what my parents would say. My mom never even wants to hear Uncle Charlie's name, and my dad would say it's just like Charlie to wander off into some unproductive and unlucrative dimension". He laughed.

  "That's why we can't tell anyone", said Argus

  "Agreed", Sapphire said.

  "Heck, we can't even tell anyone anything about today", said Alex. "Remember, we told mom we were just taking you to the playground."

  "I need to think", the little boy said, and he turned his head toward the window and stared at the passing shops and streets.

  When they finally arrived home, they found their mother hadn't even noticed they'd been gone. Back in their room, the boys collapsed on their beds, exhausted, but neither one could help but look at the artist map, and at that point at the end of the 63 line.

  Chapter Eleven - Kindergarten

  The mystery was interrupted by school. The fifth-graders were suddenly swamped with homework and exams, and even Argus felt that kindergarten was an unwelcome burden. It was the first time he'd ever resented it. While his friends Max and Molly and Ayesha were happy to be back skipping around on the blacktop, Argus' mind was far from tag and jump-rope. He had caught the fever, and instinctively he knew it, knew that what he was feeling now was the same thing that had once caught hold of his Uncle Charlie and never let go. This was the thing that led him to drive a bus, that impelled him to secure the 63 Venezia route, that sent him to that corner of the city, even on his days off. Once he had been bitten by the bug, he was a goner.