Is Anybody There? by Eve Bunting

Author:Eve Bunting [Bunting, Eve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-06-204446-4
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 1998-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

10

Although she’d borrowed my alarm clock, Mom slept late the next morning. She didn’t even have time for a cup of coffee before she left for work. I thought maybe she’d woken up a few times in the night. I had.

It was Nick who had to phone and arrange for the locksmith to come out. While we waited, Nick said he had something for me and he’d run up to his apartment and get it. I thought maybe it was a Christmas gift, but what he had was a set of Campagnolo pedals, packed side by side in a foam-lined box like precious jewels.

“You didn’t get them yet, did you?” he asked.

“No. I didn’t have time to check with Henry yesterday, though. They might be in.” I couldn’t take my eyes off the shine and gleam of the Campies, their classy, elegant lines. “I was going to ride down there this morning.”

“I found these in a bike shop over by school,” Nick said. “If Henry has yours, I can take them back.”

“This was the secret last night?”

“Sure. How could I hand them over in front of your mom?”

I touched the clean, cold metal with the tip of a finger. It was nice of Nick to do this. But he needn’t think helping me would make me stop suspecting him. And the pedals were part of the bike, the bike that was my gift to Mom. I’d saved and worked for this all year and I especially didn’t want him horning in.

“You owe me some bucks,” Nick said. “If you want them, that is.”

So this was a business arrangement. OK then. “Thanks. I’ll be able to get the bike finished this afternoon.”

“You’re welcome,” Nick said.

The locksmith came then. She was young, but seemed to know her stuff, and soon we had new keys for the front and back doors.

“How many will you need?” she asked, looking at Nick.

“Three,” I said. “We always leave one for Miss Coriander and Miss Sarah.”

Nick held up four fingers. We got four of each. And Nick took the old keys off his ring and slid the new ones on. So maybe the fox still had a key to the chicken coop.

It was already ten o’clock and I called Henry, half hoping the Campies would be there, waiting for me in his shop, so I could ask Nick to take his back. Getting them from Nick did make a difference, no matter how I tried to make myself believe it didn’t. But they hadn’t come, and Henry told me he didn’t expect a delivery tomorrow, Christmas Eve. “I’m real sorry, Marcus,” he said. “Why don’t you come down and I’ll find you the next best thing?”

“I don’t need the next best thing,” I said. “I’ve got the best.”

Henry said, “Buying from the competition, huh?” Then he said, “Great, Marcus. And don’t worry about the ones you ordered. I can sell them and get bigger bucks too. I always lose out on cash when I sell to a friend.

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