A Spy Among the Girls (5 page)

B
eth had just put her books on the dining room table when there was a knock at the door.

“Oh, that's probably Josh,” called her mother. “He phoned and said he'd be over.”

“Over
here
?” Beth cried, her cheeks growing pink, and she ducked into the downstairs bathroom to brush her hair.

“He's coming to see
you,
not your hair,” Caroline said. “Josh already knows you have hair.”

The knock came again, and Beth answered. There stood Josh in his black-and-silver jacket, his dark hair windblown.

“Well… hi,” Beth said. “Come on in.”

“Were you busy or anything?” Josh asked. “You aren't having dinner or something?”

“No, we don't eat till Dad gets home,” she told him,
and led him through the hall into the living room. Then, because Eddie was sprawled on the couch reading the comics and Caroline was watching TV, Beth took him into the dining room and they sat somewhat awkwardly at the big table.

Caroline turned the sound down on the TV so that she could hear what they were saying.

“So what are you doing tomorrow?” Josh was asking Beth, and she seemed flustered.

Was he asking her out the next day? Caroline wondered. Was that any way to ask a girl to go somewhere with you? How was Beth going to tell him that, actually, she and her sisters had invited every kid from second to sixth grade over at three o'clock to see an abaguchie? That Josh wasn't the only one who had received the “secret” message?

“Well…I…um…I'm going to be busy all afternoon, I think,” Beth said.

“All afternoon?” Josh said teasingly. “It won't take
that
long to show me the abaguchie, will it?”

Uh-oh,
thought Caroline, and glanced over at Eddie on the couch. What was this, a spy among them? Eddie put down the comics and listened too.

“So what's the deal?” Josh insisted. He just wouldn't quit. If Beth told him they wanted to see who was gullible enough to show up on Saturday, Josh certainly wouldn't come.

“Well, it's…it's sort of a project with my sisters,” Beth said hesitantly. “It's going to take most of the afternoon.”

“Homework? Something for school? Anything I can do to help?” Josh asked.

Eddie suddenly rose from the couch and went to the doorway. “As a matter of fact, Josh, there is,” she said. “Since you're the best artist in school, it would really help if you'd draw a picture of what you think the abaguchie looks like.”

Beth and Josh looked at each other, and Caroline came in from the living room. It was a great idea, because Josh had done the scenery last month for the community play, and if the girls could involve him in the experiment, maybe he wouldn't go around telling everyone what they were doing.

“The abaguchie is a
school
project?” Josh asked.

Eddie nodded.

“I thought you guys would know already what the abaguchie looks like. In fact, I thought you had it out there in your garage.”

Caroline stared at Beth, who stared at Eddie, each wondering what to say.

“You kept the message secret, I hope,” said Eddie.

“Peter told me you invited him too,” Josh said. “He couldn't read the word
abaguchie
. Then Jake and Wally said
they
got invitations.”

“I
knew
we shouldn't have given them to the second-graders,” Beth said.

“Aha!” said Josh. “You invited the whole school? So what
are
you up to?”

Eddie looked helplessly at her sisters. There was nothing to do but let Josh in on the secret. Well, not
all
of it, perhaps. “Josh, it's really, really important that you not tell anyone what we're doing, because it's all part of my experiment for the science fair. We're going to keep a record of who shows up. Sort of a psychological study of second through sixth grades—how many kids come from each grade.”

“You mean, who's dumb enough to believe you've got an abaguchie in your garage?” asked Josh.

“No, it doesn't have anything to do with smart or dumb.”

“Who's the most
gullible,
” said Caroline.

“But if you go around telling people it's an experiment, no one will come, and we were hoping, by saying the message was secret, that each person would decide for him- or herself whether to come or not.”

Josh thought it over. “And you'd show my drawing of an abaguchie to anybody who comes by?”

“Yes. I figured we had to show them
some
thing,” said Eddie in a small voice. “We tried to make a picture of it ourselves, but it came out really bad.”

“Well, actually, Jake and I haven't come up with an idea for the science fair either, so I guess if I drew the picture, it could be my project too, couldn't it?” said Josh.

Eddie replied agreeably, “Sure! Ask Jake if he wants to help record names and ages and stuff when the kids show up, and he can be in on it too.” Anything to keep the boys from telling.

“Okay,” said Josh. “We're in. Give me a big sheet of paper, the bigger the better.”

Eddie exchanged smiles with Beth and Caroline, then went upstairs and returned with a blank poster board, and Caroline got her set of colored markers with the fine-pointed tips. By the time Josh finished, it was a weird and awful animal that could be found nowhere on earth. It had two tails and silver quills down the ridge of its back. There were scales along its sides, bloody fangs protruding from its horrible mouth, and huge yellow talons on each foot. The eyes were bloodshot, and the ears curved like horns.

Ha!
thought Caroline.
They haven't seen anything yet
.

“Would you all like some pop and chips?” came Mrs. Malloy's voice from the kitchen. “We won't be eating for another hour or so. Josh, would you like to stay for dinner?”

“No, thanks. I've got to go pretty soon,” he said. “I'll just take a pop.”

Eddie quickly smuggled the drawing up to her room, and Caroline collected the colored markers. They sat around the dining room table eating chips, talking about school and snow, which teachers were the best, which were worst, and which hills around Buck-man were best for sledding.

Finally Josh said he'd better be going.

“You won't tell any of your friends what we're doing?” Eddie asked.

“Just Jake,” Josh promised. “Well, and Wally, maybe. He'd have to know.”

Beth said goodbye to him at the door, and when he
had gone, she gave Eddie a high five. Eddie, however, looked worried.

“I still wish we hadn't told him,” she said. “Once he tells Jake and Wally that we invited practically everyone, anything could happen. But we didn't have a choice.”

“Jake needs a science project as much as you do, remember,” Beth said.

“That's true. I just wish I was a partner with anyone but the Hatfords,” Eddie said. “They've been bad news ever since we moved to Buckman.”

“People can change,” said Beth.

“And I'm going to make Wally Hatford fall in love with me,” said Caroline.

“Oh, please!” groaned Eddie.

“Did I hear you say you were doing a science project with the Hatfords, Eddie?” Mrs. Malloy called from the other room.

“Yeah, it's sort of a people study, like you suggested,” Eddie said. “I'll tell you all about it later.”

“So, what do Beth and I do tomorrow?” Caroline asked.

Eddie lowered her voice to a whisper. “Well, Jake and Josh and I have to record the names and ages and grades of each kid, only
I
will be interested in whether they're boys or girls. I don't care about their ages.
I'm
going to prove that more boys show up than girls— that boys are more gullible. But Jake and Josh don't have to know this. You can line up the kids to go in the
garage, Beth, while Caroline takes them in one at a time to show them Josh's picture of the abaguchie.”

“Great! The kids will take all their disappointment out on me!” said Caroline.

“Just tell them they participated in a psychological study, and that someday, when I'm a great scientist and I publish the experiment, they'll be famous,” Eddie told her.

“I thought you were going to be a doctor of sports medicine or a professional baseball player,” said Caroline.

“A doctor-scientist who plays baseball,” said Eddie.

Caroline went up to her room and lay down on the bed. Beth and Eddie were getting all the attention these days. Actresses liked to be center stage, and she wanted to get on with her career. She reached under her mattress and pulled out the valentine card she had bought for Wally Hatford. On the envelope she wrote
For My Beloved,
and on the inside she signed the verse
Achingly yours
. And
then,
after she'd admired it for a while, she put her mind on the abaguchie.

Eight
The Experiment

B
ecause it's stupid, that's why!”

Jake and Josh faced off in their bedroom when Josh came back from the Malloys’. “Experiments are supposed to be about chemicals or electricity and stuff. They're not supposed to be about abaguchies,” Jake said.

“It's not about abaguchies, it's about people,” Josh told him, sitting down hard on one of the beds.

“Eddie's just luring kids over with that note about the abaguchie. She's trying to see which grade is the most gullible.”

“I still think it's dumb,” said Jake.

“You have a better idea? What project have
we
come up with for the science fair? Nothing. At least we could go in on this with her,” Josh argued.

Wally was standing in the shadows outside his brothers’ room, listening to the whole thing. He hated
it when he was left out of things. “So what's happening?” he asked finally, stepping into the room.

“What do you want, Wally?” Jake snapped, throwing a rolled-up sock at him. “Get out.” When Wally got mad, he threw words around. When Jake got mad, he threw socks.

“If it's boys against girls, us against the Malloys, then you've got to let me in on it,” Wally said.

“I don't have to do anything but die and pay taxes,” Jake said, repeating something he'd heard his dad say once.

“And do a science project,” Josh reminded him. “If you're not going to help with the project, I'll take Wally. I said you'd be coming, and we've got it all worked out what each person's going to do.”

“Oh, all right,” said Jake reluctantly. “But I don't like the way we keep getting tangled up with the girls. I wish the Bensons were back. We always thought up good science projects when they were here.”

“What do you mean? We were never in sixth grade until now!” Josh exclaimed. “We never had to do a science experiment before, and you know it.”

Jake sighed. “Okay. What do we have to do at the Malloys’?”

“Well, you and Eddie and I have to record each kid's name, age, and grade, and whether they came because they talked to someone or came on their own. That will figure in the final results.”

“Are we going to take Peter?”

“He wanted to see the abaguchie, didn't he?”

“What do
I
get to do?” asked Wally.

“You can help Caroline take the kids into the garage and show them the picture I drew of the abaguchie,” said Josh.

“Great!” said Wally. “If any fifth- or sixth-grade guys show up, they'll murder me when all I can show them is a picture!”

“Just tell them they're part of a great experiment,” Josh said.

The next afternoon the boys set out for the Malloys’, Peter skipping briskly over the planks of the swinging bridge.

“You really want to come, Peter?” Josh asked, knowing that the experiment would be more reliable if every kid came because he wanted to.

“Sure! I want to see the abaguchie!” said Peter.

“You really think the Malloys captured it?” asked Jake.

“Of course! The girls wouldn't lie,” said Peter.

Jake gave a low groan.

The sun was bright and warmed the wool stocking caps on their heads as they trudged up the bank to the old Benson house where the Malloys were living.

The girls were briskly setting up two card tables on the back porch. They put a large vat filled with hot cocoa on one; there were three chairs and three notebooks at the other table for the record takers.

“We figured everyone should get a little something, so we're passing out hot chocolate,” Beth explained.

“Where's the abaguchie?” asked Peter.

“We'll get to that in a minute,” said Eddie. “Come over here, Peter, while we record your name.”

Jake and Josh and Eddie sat down at the second card table, and all three recorded Peter's name, his age, and the grade he was in at school.

“Did you show the secret message to anyone, Peter? Or talk to anyone about coming over here?” Eddie asked.

“Only Jake and Josh and Wally,” said Peter. He kept looking around. “Is the abaguchie chained up? It won't bite me, will it?”

“It's in the garage, Peter,” said Caroline, motioning for him to follow, and she and Wally led Peter to the garage.

This is so dumb,
thought Wally as he entered the garage with Caroline. He should have kept his mouth shut and just stayed home. Why was it important for him to do things with Jake and Josh when what they did was really stupid? Going anywhere with Caroline Malloy was double stupid.