The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past (16 page)

Binny motioned for him to come to
where she and Penny were, out of the man’s sight, before the dog
could return with his quarry. The kids rushed to the door to get to
Cassie before the man came to check on her. Binny got there first,
trying the handle, but it was locked.

“
Let
me
try.” Zach pushed towards the
door, extremely nervous in the knowledge that the dog was already
padding back towards them, ball clenched firmly in his large
mouth.

The handle wouldn’t move. Binny didn’t
remember the man locking the door after he’d closed it? Zach was
getting more and more stressed. As the dog approached, all three
kids were leaning against the door, frantically trying to push it
open.

Just then Penny reached her hand up to
the door handle, gripping it tightly while she closed her eyes in
concentration. The kids heard the sound of small metal pieces
hitting the deck, the door slid open, and they fell backwards into
the house in a pile.

They had been less than silent in
their entrance. Penny was the first to sit up… in her hand was the
previously unmoving door handle. “You were right,” Penny whispered
to Binny, “It is good for something.”

Before Zach had too much of a chance
to consider how Penny had broken the door handle, or to wonder what
the consequences would be for vandalizing a stranger’s house, he
needed to focus on a more pressing problem. The dog was a few feet
from the door, and to Zach he did not look friendly at
all.

Zach pulled grabbed at the door frame
sliding it shut just before that big snout came poking through,
hoping for another game of catch. But just as that danger was
averted, Zach heard an insistent beep-beep-beeping. Zach recognized
the sound. It was the sound he heard when they would enter their
own house. It was the sound that told them they had sixty seconds
to prove they had a right to be there before the police were
called.

§

“
What is that sound?”
Penny whispered.

“
It sounds like our
alarm.” Binny said looking up to see where it was coming
from.

“
It is the house alarm. We
set it off,” stated Zach matter-of-factly.

“
What?” Now it was Binny’s
turn to look petrified, realizing just how many rules they had
broken. Penny on the other hand appeared to be enjoying this
adventure immensely.

“
In our house we have
sixty seconds to turn it off. I’m guessing twenty seconds have gone
by.”

“
So we have forty seconds
to get out of here?”

“
Or to turn it off.” Zach
was up off the floor and heading towards the keypad on the wall.
Without hesitation, he started punching in numbers.

Binny had been about to run, when
Zach’s actions made her stop in surprise. How could Zach possibly
know the code to the man’s house alarm?

After a stressfully long string of
numbers, the beeping stopped.

Binny was so amazed she could barely
mouth the question, “How did you do that?” But Zach wasn’t
listening, he was looking around the room and beyond into the
living room.

Binny and Penny followed his gaze, and
had barely gathered their thoughts when Zach asked, no longer
whispering, “But why was the alarm on?”

“
Because there’s nobody
here.” Penny offered matter-of-factly. “You turn on the alarm when
you leave.”

“
What!?” Now Binny wasn’t
whispering either.

Zach walked over to the table where
Cassie had been coloring. Her stack of pictures was gone. All that
was left in the bowl were a few measly broken pretzel ends. “The
man must have taken her while we were still in the backyard,” Zach
was on the verge of tears now.

“
She’s
gone
.”

12

The kids raced through the alley as
fast as they could. The distance back to their house had never
seemed so long. Trees, houses, and trash cans whipped by as their
footsteps crunched the gravel underneath.

Worries bounced aggressively around
Zach’s mind. What if Cassie was hurt? What if she was – killed? The
two possible outcomes circled each other in Zach’s mind like two
predators about to pounce. It didn’t matter which won the day.
Either option was unthinkable.

When the kids rounded the corner up
the hill, heaving, the car their parents had left in was now parked
out front. Zach was glad they were home but also scared to death of
what they would say to him. They had left him in charge. The
magnitude of his bad judgment was just starting to sink
in.

As the three children arrived on the
front porch of the Jordan house, their desperation was quickly
replaced with absolute bewilderment as they stood in the entry way
and stared into the living room.

Their parents and the man were in the
living room, smiling and laughing, and acting like old friends.
Standing between the adults was Cassie, periodically getting her
mop of curls tousled and her shoulders squeezed. What exactly was
going on?

§

“
Where have you guys
been?” The jovial mood of the gathering changed once Julie noticed
the three kids gawking in the entry way.

Penny noticed the not-so-subtle change
in tone, caught Binny’s eye, and decided it was a good time to make
her exit. Binny mouthed a “see you later” at her new
friend.

“
I thought we asked you to
keep an eye on your sister? We were gone for barely more than an
hour.” Jay demanded, his former worry quickly turning to
anger.

“
It was my fault,” Binny
stepped forward past her brother’s surprised face. “I distracted
Zach and we didn’t notice Cassie wandering off.”

“
Both of you should know
better.” Julie cut in.

Zach closed his eyes for a brief
moment and then raised his head to accept what was coming, “No.
Binny didn’t distract me. And we both didn’t need to know better,
because I knew better. You asked me to watch her, and I screwed up.
I’m sorry.”

Trying to relieve a little bit of the
tension that hung thick between the family members, the man added
with an all’s-well-that-ends-well tone, “Well, it was pretty lucky
that it was me and Rembrandt she decided to visit.” Cassie smiled
an “uh-huh” at the mention of the dog.

“
It’s a crazy coincidence
is what it is. How long have we been neighbors and not even known
it?” Jay remarked.

Binny was trying to process the
incredible scene in front of her. Not only had the man not
kidnapped Cassie, but he’d taken good care of her and returned her
home safely. Furthermore, her father seemed to indicate that they
somehow knew this stranger? “Do you…” Binny paused having a hard
time getting the words out, “Do you know each other?” Binny’s
question was almost a shout.

“
Do we know each other?”
The adults in the room looked at each other and started laughing.
Binny and Zach were getting visibly stressed, still not
understanding what was so funny.

Julie saw her older children’s concern
and came to the rescue: “Zach, Binny, this is Dr. Huitre – your
obstetrician.” The way she pronounced his last name sounded like
“wheat” with a soft “ruh” on the end. “He delivered all three of
you. Just like he delivered your sister home today.” The adults all
chuckled at Julie’s joke. “He’s responsible in large part for you
even existing.”

§

The ad-hoc ‘party’ sat down on the
couch, with Julie bringing in some beverages for the adults. Cassie
had tottered away, interested in some new shiny thing. Zach and
Binny had slumped to the floor in the living room, exhaustion and
relief washing over them. The adults reminisced.

Binny was still a little puzzled by
the conversation. Her mother had said that this man, this doctor,
was “responsible in large part” for their very existence. What
could that possibly mean?

“
I really should have come
over sooner and introduced myself. I have seen the kids a few times
around the neighborhood and put two and two together when I heard
them calling to each other. Of course, now I am convinced that I
could recognize every baby I deliver even years later.” Dr. Huitre
laughed as Jay and Julie followed suit. Julie laughed a
little
too
much,
Binny thought to herself.

Dr. Huitre continued, “I end up seeing
a lot of the neighborhood kids thanks to Rembrandt, my Bernese
Mountain Dog. He is big but really kind-hearted and
gentle.”

“
Oh, you should have
brought him with you.” Julie gushed.

“
I try not to bring him to
the homes of people uninvited. He is sweet but a lot to handle. He
is safe at home in the backyard.”

A look passed between Zach and
Binny.

“
Well it seems like he’s
already gotten the seal of approval from Cassie, though we try not
to send our children to the homes of people uninvited either.” Jay
shot Zach and Binny a look as well.

For a moment, Binny thought Jay knew
what they’d been up to at Huitre’s house, but quickly realized he
was just reminding them that the issue of their irresponsibility
had not been resolved or forgotten.

Binny’s mind was now racing. The man,
or rather, Dr. Huitre, was interested in Cassie. But was that now
really just because he was their obstetrician? Maybe Huitre hadn’t
seen Cassie do her disappearing act. After all, he’d had Cassie in
his house, all to himself, and no government people came to dissect
her. The worst Dr. Huitre had done was contribute to a tummy
ache.

But what about the phone call they’d
overheard the previous day? The man had talked about his
responsibilities, and keeping his eyes open, and danger. He’d said
he would continue the conversation the next day. That was today.
That must have been the phone call he was on when Cassie was busy
eating him out of house and home.

“
I bet the technology has
advanced quite a bit over the last six or seven years,” Binny heard
her father remarking to the doctor.

“
Well if so, it is thanks
to your family in no small part,” Huitre responded.

Binny was now
really
confused. Now
they were talking about technology? Was it government technology?
What did her family have to do with any of this?

Huitre continued, “All that matters is
that you got three beautiful children out of it. I am happy I could
help in some small way.”

“
I still am not sure we
ever thanked you enough for convincing us to participate in that
study, Dr. Huitre.”

“
Please call me Henry. My
job as your doctor has been done for some time. Now I am just
Henry, the guy from down the street with the big dog.”

“
OK. Henry it
is.”

Something about this entire
conversation made Binny want to barf. She wasn’t entirely sure if
it was how friendly her parents were with ‘Henry’ or whether it was
all the cryptic mentions of technology and studies and how they
might relate to her and her siblings’ existence.

She looked over at her brother, who
still looked kind of dazed from the entire experience. He’d
confronted his fear of dogs to save one sister, and he stepped up
and took the blame from his parents for another. Despite herself,
Binny found she just couldn’t be mad at him anymore for lying
earlier in the day. He may not be perfect, but he wasn’t all that
bad either. And once in a while, he was even pretty
good.

“
Is the treatment now in
broad use? Did it get FDA approval?” Jay was asking the
Doctor.

Huitre seemed caught off guard by the
question, looking uncomfortable for a moment. Binny’s parents
didn’t seem to notice but Binny did. “Good question. Luce
Laboratories has many studies. I am not sure what exactly came of
this one.” The doctor seemed to hit his stride a little bit,
adding, “I administer the medicine, and report back on the results.
They do not always worry about us ‘little people’ in the process.”
The doctor made a show of laughing at his own joke. Binny’s parents
laughed along with him.