Freestyle with Avery (17 page)

When we got back to the Hulberts’ house, someone opened the door before Jason even touched the doorknob. A policeman stood there in his uniform, smiling at all three of us.

“Dad!” Frankie threw his arms around the officer’s legs.

“Hi, Fred,” Jason said. “Avery, this is my foster dad, Fred. Fred,
this
is Avery.”

Fred gave me a big, strong handshake. “Pleasure to meet you, Avery. Jason’s told us so many wonderful things about you.”

“Thanks,” I answered, feeling my mouth creep into a little smile.

“Yeah, okay, Fred.
Thanks
,” Jason muttered and led the way into the house.

Inside it was warm and smelled like chocolate—chocolate cake, to be exact. “Bonnie’s been baking,” Fred announced to us. “She wanted you guys to have something
sweet for after the stories. And let me tell you, you’re in for a treat! Bonnie’s the best baker in the entire world, in my humble opinion.”

Bonnie pointed her wooden spoon at Fred. “Now, you stop that!” she ordered, in a voice that meant she really didn’t want him to stop that at all. Jason looked like he could just about die on the spot. As for me, I couldn’t
wait
to have a piece of homemade chocolate cake. Bonnie’s hot chocolate was so fantabulous, I figured her cake would be out of control. What did Dad call it? Nirvana!

And guess what? I was right.

We all sat down and got a big piece of what Bonnie called her famous “Better Than Your Momma’s Chocolate Cake.” There were three layers. The top was a moist chocolate cake, the middle was a fluffy chocolate mousse cake, and the bottom was a rich, thick chocolate torte. Sugary, homemade fudge frosting separated the layers and smothered the outside. Most of the cake went right into my stomach, but some of it was chilling out on my face. I learned this factoid from Fred.

“Jason, your friend has grown the most impressive goatee … and it only took as long as dessert!” A goatee was a little tuft of a beard, right on the chin. Dad tried to grow a goatee one summer, but my brothers and I took one look at his stubbly chin and said, “Absolutely not, dude!”

I laughed and wiped my face right away. “It’s a delicious goatee,” I told Bonnie.

“Why, thank you very much.”

“Yum in my tummy!” Frankie declared. “Jason, will you play checkers with me?”

Now if I were Jason, I probably would’ve said, “Do I have to?”

But Jason just smiled at Frankie. I think he was going to say okay, but Fred spoke up first. “I’ll play checkers with you, buddy. Jason’s got company right now.”

Frankie grumbled. “Fine.” But he honestly looked at me like he wanted me to melt into slime on the floor. I wanted to get away from that table and FAST.

“Jason, why don’t you and Avery go down to the basement to check on Radley?” Bonnie suggested. Wow, first the chocolate cake and now a clever getaway plan! That woman deserves a medal, I thought.

We took our plates over to the counter and headed downstairs. I was pretty psyched about seeing Radley again. The feeling was mutual. As soon as Radley saw us he started snaking through his ferret maze at warp speed.

“Welcome to Ferret World,” Jason announced.

“No kidding!” I said.

Jason had set up half of the basement like an enormous ferret jungle gym. It looked like the coolest amusement park ever, but for ferrets … and Radley had the whole place to himself. There was a fluorescent-colored tube maze that Jason built all the way up to the ceiling. He’d taken fleece ferret hammocks and hung them in different layers so Radley could crawl up and jump down or bounce. There were even little tents on the ground with ferret balls rolling by.

For a teeny-tiny second, I wished I could be a ferret, just to try out Ferret World. “Radley probably doesn’t ever get bored in a place like this,” I told Jason.

“I think he’s just putting on a show for you, Ave. Radley’s usually way more mellow.”

Then I got an idea. “Truth or dare?” I asked Jason.

“Hmm. Dare.”

That was what I was hoping he’d say. “All right.” I couldn’t hide my smile. “I
dare
you to hold Radley up and pretend to be snowboarding with him?”

“WHAT?” Jason looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or be afraid … very afraid.

“Just do it,” I insisted.

I helped him position Radley on top of a chair holding Radley’s arms out like a boarder’s. Jason posed like he was doing the same. “Now …” I grinned. “Say FLEAS!”

“Huh?” Jason looked up like a deer in the headlights and I snapped my camera.

“Hah! Gotcha!”

“Hey!” Jason protested.

“Sorry, I had to trick you.” The truth of the matter was I really wanted to sneak a picture of Jason to e-mail home to the BSG but he’d been so uncooperative about pictures that trickery seemed the only way!

“Okay. My turn. Truth or dare?” Jason asked.

My stomach flipped. Uh-oh. I had NOT counted on this type of revenge.
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
I thought as my mind started racing over the possibilities of what Jason could ask me. “Truth!” I said quickly … even though I knew nothing was safe.

“Okay. How come on the gondola today you weren’t mad at those guys?”

“What?”

Jason slinked Radley through his hands and avoided my eyes. “You know … when they were talking about you not looking like your dad … you just answered them. Even though they were kind of being jerks, don’t you think?”

“Well, I dunno,” I admitted. “I guess I never thought of it like that. I hear it all the time—I mean, I am adopted. So I don’t look like my dad. Which is why those guys were confused.”

“But it was pretty rude of them to say that.” Jason seemed like he was trying very hard to explain a point that meant a lot to him as he gently put Radley back into his ferret gym.

I sighed. “Look, here’s the thing. I know I could get mad that those kids weren’t more …” I searched for the perfect word and then it came to me. “
Considerate
. But my mom always tells me that I am who I am. Sure, I’m adopted. And I’m also a Madden. I’m from Korea and I’d really like to go there someday to learn more about what it means to be Korean. I mean, you need to be proud of who you are … and, if
you’re
proud of yourself, other people will be too. You know?”

Jason nodded. “That’s so …”

“So … ?”

“Mature.” He grinned.

Wow. I’d never ever in all twelve years of my life on this PLANET been called mature by someone
my age
! In fact, it was usually the opposite. I wanted to run up and hug him and then I thankfully came to my senses. No way. Way way WAY no way.

For about ten seconds neither of us said a word and the only sound in the room was Radley squirming around his gym. “Truth or dare?” I asked to break the strangeness.

“Um … truth.”

Then finally I asked him the question that had been on my mind for days. “What happened to your parents?” I knew it was personal, but for some reason I also knew that Jason wouldn’t mind talking about it to me. It was just one of those things … a gut feeling.

“I’m not sure, actually.”

That wasn’t the answer I was expecting. I opened my mouth to say
Sorry—never mind
, but then Jason started talking about it.

“I always thought my parents had these boring, boring jobs when I was little. My mom worked at the town library and my dad was a computer repair guy. We moved around a ton when I was younger, and Mom and Dad were always going away on ‘business’ and leaving me with my grandparents in Durango. I don’t know what kind of business trips a computer dude and a librarian had to go on, but whatever. Then a bunch of years ago, when I was four, they said they were going camping and left me with my grandparents. The whole way there my mom seemed pretty upset though. She gave me an extra long hug good-bye, I remember. They left that day and drove into the woods, and then it was like … I dunno … they disappeared. I haven’t heard from them since … and,” he said quietly, “nobody has any clue about what happened to them. The police found their car with all their stuff in it but my parents were gone. No notes, no nothing.”

The hair on the back of my neck was standing straight up. “What do you think happened?”

“Gramps thinks it might have to do with the government, but who knows, really. I keep wondering if they’re alive … if they’ll find me again someday. But I try not to get my hopes up. Besides, things have been pretty good for me here. I loved living with Gramps and Grammy, but they were getting too old to take care of a teenager. I still get to see them when I take the bus to Durango once a month. Anyway, the Hulberts are awesome. Grammy found them herself through social services and thought they’d be perfect for me. She was right. And Frankie’s a great kid. I mean, it’s hard to be new. But other than that, things are cool.”

Jason’s story would blow anyone else’s I knew right out of the water. It was like something out of a movie. Now there was no doubt about it—Jason was seriously the bravest person I’d ever met. Who cared if he was shy around other kids sometimes? “I’m really glad you told me that, Jason.”

“I’ve never told anyone before,” he admitted.

“Well … your secret’s safe with me,” I promised. And it was.

“You want to go visit Ollie now?” Jason asked.

“Definitely!” Enough secrets and mushy stuff for one night—there was a red-tailed hawk to visit! I put on my coat and gloves but still felt kind of shivery. Something about being near this hawk gave me goose bumps. I couldn’t imagine what Jason must feel like when he trained him.

As soon as we opened the door to the shed, I heard
Ollie fluttering on his perch. Jason pulled a string and the overhead light came on. It was dim, but we could see.

“There you are, Ollie.” Jason spoke to Ollie like he was talking to a person. It was different from the funny way we talked to Radley and Marty. “Are you hungry?” Jason turned to me. “I was reading
Oliver Twist
when I found him. He was so hungry … he reminded me of Oliver.” So that was how Ollie got his name! I wondered if Jason knew that an ollie was also a sweet boarding trick.

All of Jason’s hard work feeding Ollie definitely seemed to be paying off. “I can’t believe how big he is. I feel like he might be bigger than just a few days ago,” I said.

“Yup. It’s almost time to let him go. He needs to be free.”

Jason put on his leather glove and started to pick up Ollie’s swivel. I felt my heart beat faster. “Wait … are you freeing him tonight?”

Jason shook his head. “Nope. Tonight is just a little exercise. That’s why I brought this.” He held up an almost empty package of hamburger meat. “Ollie hasn’t ever had to hunt for his own food in the wild, so as long as I keep a little burger with me he’ll come right back.”

Wow. Jason was so smart. His gramps sure taught him a lot about hawks.

We walked—quiet as mice—out of the shed with Ollie perched on Jason’s left arm. Jason led us through the grove of trees to an open space, a frozen creek, and the River Trail. I didn’t have any trouble seeing where I was going. The moon was almost full and—believe me—it was humongous! For some reason, the moon always looked
bigger in Colorado. The whole way there, Ollie kept looking around like he was ready for his next adventure to begin. I knew just how he felt.

“Is it all right to let him fly at night?” I asked. Lucky me, I got to be in charge of holding the old package of hamburger. Gross!

“Usually we sneak out during the day. Sometimes I come home from school on my lunch break. But I haven’t worked him today, and he needs the exercise.”

Jason checked Ollie’s anklets and jesses. Then he checked the swivel where they were attached, and he unclipped Ollie so he could fly free. I stood as still as a statue. The last thing I wanted was to startle Ollie as he started to practice.

Jason reached into his bag and took out a stick with a cord rolled around it, sort of like a ball of kite string. With one hand and his teeth he tied the string around what appeared to be a bunny stuffed animal with a bushy white tail. “This is the bait. Ollie goes right after it and brings it back to me.”

“And gets a hamburger reward?”

“Exactly. He needs to be hungry when I fly him or he might keep going. The hunger will bring him back.” Jason whirled the fake rabbit on a string around his head. It really was like a kite! It went higher and higher. When it was far enough away, Jason tossed Ollie off his fist. Ollie flapped his wings and flew upward after the lure.

Once he caught it, Jason let him take it farther, holding onto the stick and string. Then Jason blew a sharp blast on his whistle. He blew again. Ollie flapped down, feet first as he got closer.
Wham
! He landed on Jason’s gloved
fist—hard! I was surprised that Jason didn’t fall over himself. But he only made a little flinching face when it happened. Otherwise he didn’t even move!

“Atta boy. Good boy.” Jason took a ball of the partly frozen hamburger, and tucked it into the
V
of his thumb and forefinger.

Immediately, Ollie bent down and pecked at the meat. His razor-sharp beak tore out chunk after chunk.

“It seems like he’s almost ready to be released.”

Jason nodded. “He is, and I have it all planned. I’m going to take him up Bear Creek for the release. It’s near where I found him, so hopefully he’ll fly right back to his friends and family.”

I half smiled and looked at the lure. “Is Ollie going to think that rabbits fly?”

A smile crept onto Jason’s face. “I hope not. But he’d go for a small bird, if it was slow enough. That’s how hawks keep their prey healthy … by hunting for the weaker birds. It’s the whole balance of nature thing.”

“Just like wolves make deer or elk herds stronger by taking the sick or weak animals for food.” I’ve read tons of books about wolves, and I even got to meet some face-to-face when I visited Montana with the BSG.

Jason smiled at me. “I’ve never met a girl who knows as much about animals as you do. It’s … cool.”

“I know!” I smiled back but then looked down. We were having so much fun, and it was like we barely even had to say anything. Was it possible to make a new best friend in just a couple of days?