The Rightful Heir (29 page)

B
ENJAMIN AWOKE
earlier than he usually did on Saturdays. Following his usual but pleasant routine,
he walked upstairs to see his mom making biscuits and gravy. “Good morning, honey.” She looked like she'd gotten a horrible night's sleep, but Benjamin didn't want to say anything.

“Hi, Mom. Dad still sleeping?”

“Yep, snoring away. Neither of us could get any sleep last night. They were probably miles away, but did you hear all those coyotes howling all night?”

Benjamin hid his concern. “No, I don't hear much of anything down in the basement.”

“Lucky you. Well, breakfast will be ready soon.” Carol yawned loudly as Tom walked in the kitchen looking groggy.

“G'morning, son.” He exaggerated a yawn. “Would you mind grabbing—”

“I'll get it right now.” Benjamin raced downstairs to grab his shoes, and the collar.
Coyotes! I wonder if the others heard them
. He ran down the driveway to the fox den to make sure things were okay. He hurried through the tunnel to the main hall. It was very quiet. The animals were all asleep—except one. Squeak sat by the pool, trying to see his bobtail reflected in the water.

Benjamin decided to let them sleep. As he started to leave he saw Squeak about to call out to him. He put his finger to his mouth and waved Squeak over to the tunnel. His little feet pattered across the floor. “Good morning, King Benjamin!” he
whispered.

“Good morning, Squeak. Any word from the others yet?”

“No, Sire. Nothing.”

“Is everybody safe in here?” Benjamin looked at the many sleeping bodies.

“Yes, we're all safe. Is anything wrong?”

“My mom just told me she heard coyotes in the pastures all throughout the night.”

Squeak gasped, “Yes, yes! We all heard them, too. They sure were excited about something! Most of us tried to get to sleep early in case the others came back in the night, but we couldn't.”

“I sure hope everything went okay. I'll come back later to check on everybody.” The morning light started to shine through the hole in the ceiling.

“Okay, Sire. I'll come and get you if they come back.”

Benjamin chuckled at the thought of a bobtailed field mouse coming into the house to meet him, and how his mother would react. He looked serious. “No, Squeak. You'd better stay here. The kingdom
needs
you!”

Squeak puffed out his chest. “Oh…right, Sire! I'll stay here and keep watch!”

“Very good.”

Benjamin grabbed the newspaper on the way back to the house, noticing that the deliveryman had missed the box altogether.
Could the coyotes be working with the snakes? Or would Farangis's mother just eat them all?

Benjamin had a good breakfast, always aware of the bracelet in his pocket.

“Well, thanks for breakfast, Mom. I'm going to do my homework now.”

His parents were amazed. “You are?” Tom asked. “On a Saturday morning?”

“Yeah,
sure!” He put his plate in the dishwasher. “What time's the reunion tomorrow?”

“An hour after church,” Carol said. “We'll probably stay in town until it's time to go to the park.”

“Oh, I can't wait to see everybody again!”
Especially Cousin Jon
.

“Where is Ben and what have you done with him?” his dad asked with an arched eyebrow. Benjamin laughed and went downstairs to his room. The barrel he'd worked on the night before was on his desk. He'd painted it some, but in all honesty it looked worse than Mrs. Dyer's goofy Trojan Horse.

R
OSCOE AND
C
LEMENTINE LED THE CROWD
through the cold, wet pasture. “Ya know,” Clementine remarked, “this walk gets shorter and shorter.”

Roscoe smiled. “Yeah, but something new happens every time.
Whoop!”

Clementine's head tilted. “What's the matter? You got the hiccups or something?”

“What do you mean? I'm perfectly fine.
Whoop!”

The pig stopped in his tracks, stopping everyone behind him as well. “Did you…did you just
whoop?”

“Uh…I dunno. Maybe. What'd it sound like?”

The pig snickered in disbelief. “Are you serious? I know I heard you do that!”

Roscoe squeezed his lips together and puffed out his cheeks. “Hmmm.… Nope. I don't think you heard anything.
Whoop!
Hey, what's that up there?”

“What's what?” Clementine looked but saw nothing.

“Hang on!” The goat raced through the pasture whooping madly, jumping up and down and kicking the air with his hind hooves.

Clementine
and the others eventually reached him. “What was all that about?”

“Sorry,” the fainting goat was embarrassed. “I just needed to get that out of my system. It's such a rush being a wild goat! And their leader, too!…
Whoop!

Clementine was dumbfounded. “Their
leader?!”
Roscoe flashed a goofy grin and trotted off.

Two
HOURS HAD PASSED
and Benjamin's Trojan Pig was fully covered in a coat of pink and white paint. He tried to reassure himself about his choice of colors, then remembered fat Francis in the cave.
Yeah, I'm actually the king of a pink and white pig
. He had his dad screw in some feet from the legs of an old recliner in the tool shop and painted them black.
Now if I can just put a decent face on this thing.…

He coated the rim of a plastic cup with super glue and stuck it to one end of the barrel.
Not bad!
Next he painted the cup pink, painted eyes above it, and stood back to admire his handiwork.
Hmmm, what's missing? Oh! A tail!
In the storage room next to his bedroom he found a dusty old phone nobody had used since he was a baby.
And it's white!
He nailed its hardened, curled cord to the back end of the barrel.
Perfect!
“Even Clementine would think it looks good!” The cup popped off the face and clattered across his desk, leaving the pig snoutless.
Then again, maybe not
.

The doorbell rang. Benjamin glanced up. His mom's muffled voice sounded unusually excited. Her heels clacked across the floor. “Ben, someone's here to see you!”

Who now?!
Climbing the stairs he wondered if Officer Hunter could be back.
But what could she want? I told her the truth! Well, except for the part about talking to the old lady's dog, but.…

His mom had a sly smile when they passed in the hallway. “She's waiting.…”

Oh
no! It is Officer Hunter!
He rounded the corner of the front room and gasped. “Huh-huh-hi!” He could barely get the simple word out of his mouth.

“Hello.” Jessica stood with her arms crossed, biting her lip.

“Hi.”
You already said that, stupid!

She hesitated. “Um…what were you doing at my house the other night?”

Benjamin's blood froze. “Uh…uh…I-I was just looking at, uh…y-your dog.” He glanced behind him to see if his mom was listening. Carol's head quickly vanished behind the wall.

“My dog is missing.”

Benjamin didn't know how to reply. “He…he is?”

“Yes, he is!” She stared into his eyes. “And do
you
know where he could be?”

“Gosh…I don't know where he is.” He honestly didn't know exactly where Mac was, at
that
moment. “But I'd help you find him, if you'd like.”

That eased the tension out of her face. “Yes…I could definitely use the help.”

“Okay then. Let me just tell my mom I'm going with you to look for Ma—your dog.” He hoped she hadn't caught his slip. How would he know her pug's name?

“I'll be outside with my bike.” Jessica opened the front door. Benjamin watched her through the large window as she left the porch.

Oh, man! Jessica Howell was in my house!
Benjamin shook his head so he could think clearly. He peeked around the corner of the kitchen. His mom was at the table. “I'm going bike riding with Jessica.”

She looked up. “You are?”

“Yeah, her dog's missing so I'm gonna help her find it.”

“Oh. What kind of dog does she have?”

“A pug!”
he quickly answered, then ran to the front door and out on the porch. Jessica sat on her bike next to Carol's car. She looked as beautiful as ever.

She stared at him impatiently. “Ready?”

“Yep.” He leaped on his bike and they pedaled down his driveway.

“Let's see if anything is down that way,” Jessica said, heading south.

It was a cool autumn morning. Orange and yellow leaves fell around them softly from the tall hedges on both sides of the dirt road. Benjamin pretended to look for Mac, but he knew the direction he'd be coming from and it wasn't this one. Then Jessica put him on the spot. “So why did you want to see my dog—at eleven o'clock at night?”

He nearly crashed into her. “Sorry…ummm…well, I was out riding my bike—”

“You ride your bike late at night?” She looked skeptical.

“Uh, oh yeah.” He tried to sound macho. “Sometimes I do. You know, if I can't sleep or something.”

Jessica shrugged. “I just read if I can't sleep.” Benjamin laughed nervously. “So you just saw my dog and decided to get a closer look?”

“Okay…” Benjamin tried to open up to her. “I've seen him a lot from the school bus—”

“Yeah, he's always waiting for me to get home.”

That hit too close to home. “To tell you the truth, I used to have a pug that looked just like him.”

Jessica turned in surprise and stopped her bike. “You did?”

“Uh huh, one little black foot and all.” He smiled as he slowed to a halt.

“Wow! I wonder if they're related?”

“Ummm…I wouldn't be surprised.”

They
rode on through the never-ending hedgerows, a light breeze cooling them.

“I remember the day we got him. There were three or four other puppies—”

Benjamin crashed his bike into the ditch.

“Are you okay?” Jessica got off her bike to help him.

He was embarrassed and had a blood-stained rip in one knee of his jeans. “Yeah, I'm fine.” A sensation went through him as she touched his shoulder.

“Oh! Sorry!” She snatched her hand away and clasped her other one.

No! Put it back on!
He got back on his bike. “So your dog had brothers and sisters?”

“Yeah. They were all so cute!”

“How long ago did you get him?”

“Oh, I think we got Mac four years ago.”

“Mac, huh? That's a good name.”

“And he's such a good dog.” She was silent for a moment. “What happened to your dog, Ben?”

He felt off balance, hearing her say his name. “Uh…he died.”
But how?
Hearing her sad and caring “Awwww,” he decided to tell her. “Yeah, about a month ago. It was really sad.”