The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past

Chapter 11 - The Soggy Tennis Ball

“What’s she doing here?” Zach looked at Binny but motioned towards Penny.

“This is Penny.”

“I know.” It was clear Zach didn’t consider his question answered.

A nervous look passed between the girls. Binny hastened to add, “She’s cool. She’s gonna help us.”

“You told her?” Zach was incredulous, barely remembering to keep his voice down.

“Yeah, and she believed me.” Binny shot Penny a smile.

Zach had an exasperated look on his face. “OK. Fine. But no one else… okay?” He looked at both girls waiting for their assent.

Both girls nodded seriously. Zach held up the steak with a grin. 

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 “She’s got pretzels now?” The kids were on their knees with their heads poking out just above the fence so they could evaluate the scene in front of them. Zach continued, “When did she get pretzels?”

“The man brought her pretzels when she finished plowing through the chips.” Binny offered.

Zach was trying to formulate a plan.

“I want to get kidnapped by this guy.” Binny and Zach swung their heads around to stare at Penny. But in an instant both were trying to stifle their laughs when they realized she was kidding.

“We just need to figure out how to keep the man in the other room so we can grab Cassie.” Zach said.

“He comes out to check on her every five minutes and then heads back into the other room down the hall on his phone call.”

 “OK. So we wait until the man goes back to his phone call and then we move.”

“Who’s going to distract the dog with the steak?” Penny whispered.

“Me.” Zach said, resigned.

“But you’re afraid of – ”

Zach shot Binny a look that stopped her before she could complete her sentence.

“As soon as the man gets back on the phone, I’ll lure the dog away from the door with the steak. As soon as the dog goes for it, you two go grab Cassie, and we run home back this way through the alley.”

After a minute or two the man had made his regular appearance to check up on Cassie’s eating and coloring. She was apparently making acceptable progress on both fronts as the man put the phone back to his ear, and headed down the hallway to his office.

The plan was set in motion. Bending down, Zach slipped through the partially opened gate. It didn’t take long for the large dog to lose interest in his soggy tennis ball at the sight of Zach entering the yard.

Binny thought Zach looked pretty scared, but to his credit he stood his ground as the dog approached. Binny suspected that Zach couldn’t stretch his arm to hold the steak any further away from himself without pulling his arm out of its socket.

The dog came forward to carefully examine Zach’s offering, giving it a couple of sniffs. Everything was going exactly as planned.

But all of a sudden, the dog lost interest in the steak, instead deciding to examine Zach. Zach took a step backwards. The dog followed. Zach wanted to get as far away as possible from the dog and flung the bait into a far corner of the yard. But the shaggy creature didn’t follow. It just took another step towards Zach. 

Zach had positioned himself such that the dog was forcing him to walk backwards, right into view of the man’s office!

There was no mistaking the look on Zach’s face now. He was petrified.