A Traitor Among the Boys Read online

“Could we have a little less grandeur, Caroline, do you think?” said her teacher.

  ▪

  Peter came over after school.

  “Do I get some cookies?” he asked.

  “Do you get cookies? How about a whole handful?” said Beth, leading him out to the kitchen.

  She had already started a batch of double-chocolate-chunk cookies, her own special creation with little bits of coconut in them, and they were almost ready to take out of the oven.

  “You really are a baker, aren't you!” Peter said admiringly.

  “Yep. I think I'll go to culinary school or something,” said Beth. “You know what I'll call my bakeshop when I get one, Peter? Malloy's Masterpieces, maybe. Or Beth's Breads or just Breads and Brownies or something. How does that sound?”

  “It sounds wonderful!” said Peter. “I know what / want to be, too.”

  “What?”

  “A spy! Or a detective.”

  “Hey, you'd make a great spy,” Beth told him.

  “You put that snow up on our porch, didn't you?” Peter went on. “Jake was really mad!” He watched as Beth opened the oven door. Eddie and Caroline came out in the kitchen too, and they all waited for the first batch to cool.

  “So what happened?” asked Caroline.

  “Dad made us clean it all off this morning before we went to school,” Peter said.

  “Aw, poor you!” said Caroline.

  Eddie poured Peter a glass of milk. “Well, who knocked down our snow fort? We were mad!” she said.

  Peter waited till a saucer with two large cookies sat in front of him, and then he said, “How many cookies do I get if I tell you something else?”

  “All you can eat!” Caroline said quickly, picking up a cookie herself and blowing on it.

  “Jake and Josh and Wally are going to sneak out of school early tomorrow and go to the swinging bridge and build a big wall of snow so you can't go across, and then they're going to hit you with snowballs.”

  “Peter, you're a wonderful brother to us,” said Eddie, exchanging looks with her sisters. “Give him another cookie, Caroline!”

  ▪

  The next morning while the girls were eating breakfast, Eddie said, “Okay, I've got it. When school's out, we don't come home the usual way; we walk down to the business district and use the road bridge to get to Island Avenue. The boys can wait at the end of the swinging bridge all night if they want to, but we'll be home having cocoa, laughing our heads off.”

  And they broke into laughter right then.

  ▪

  It began snowing a little before noon, however, and the next time Caroline looked out the window of her classroom, the flakes were coming down so thick and fast, they looked like giant white flowers. By two o'clock, several inches had accumulated on the window ledges, and the wind had picked up.

  The principal's voice sounded over the school intercom.

  “Students,” he said, “there's a sudden winter storm warning for this area, and we have decided to close school an hour early—”

  Every classroom erupted in cheers.

  “You are all to go directly home, unless you have specific instructions as to where else to go in an emergency. The forecasters are predicting a foot of snow with gusting winds, and I repeat: all students are to go directly home.”

  All the kids in Caroline's class hurried to get their coats, laughing excitedly and staring out the hall windows at the approaching blizzard. The sky was gray and looked like broiling broth in a kettle.

  “Have a nice snowdrift!” Wally said to Caroline.

  “Have a nice avalanche,” she replied.

  “Have a good frostbite,” said Wally.

  “Same to you,” said Caroline.

  There was no need for the girls to take the road bridge back to Island Avenue because, with the coming storm, everyone was intent on simply getting home. The snow seeped into their sneakers. Out on the road, cars were already sliding about, skidding when they tried to stop and acting crazy.

  The swinging bridge creaked and swayed as the girls made their way across, and they had to keep brushing snow from their faces so they could see. They made their way up the hill behind their house and let themselves in the back door.

  There were no sounds from inside, however. No smell of hot cocoa waiting. No music. No rustling sounds coming from their mother's desk.

  “Mom?” Caroline called.

  No answer.

  Beth went upstairs to check but soon came down again. “She's not here,” she said. “I can't find any note. She almost always leaves a note.”

  “And her car's gone,” said Eddie. “Look at the calendar. Maybe she had an appointment.”

  Caroline went to the little study off the living room and checked Mrs. Malloy's engagement calendar.

  Noon, it said. Fisher's Gallery, Elkins.

  Caroline looked at the desk clock. It was already half past two, and Elkins was thirty miles away.

  Eighteen

  Lost …

  ”We're out of cookies!”

  Peter's bellow filled the house.

  “Then eat crackers or something. Don't stand there shouting!” Wally told him.

  But Peter was indignant. “Why don't we ever have cookies like the Mailoys do? Yesterday they had coconut cookies with big hunks of chocolate in them! The day before that it was peanut butter.”

  Jake, Josh, and Wally came to the doorway of the kitchen and looked at Peter.

  “How do you know?” asked Josh.

  “They gave me some.”

  The boys continued to stare.

  “Do you mean you go over there every day and they give you cookies?” asked Jake.

  Peter nodded. “Big ones, too! And sometimes they're still warm!”

  Jake sat down at the table next to Peter. Wally and Josh sat down across from him.

  “Uh-oh,” Peter murmured.

  “Okay, tell us everything,” said Josh.

  Peter pressed his lips together and thrust himself against the back of his chair, arms folded across his chest.

  “Listen, Peter, the Malloy sisters don't just invite you over for cookies every day for nothing,” said Josh.

  “I won't telir Peter declared.

  “Tell what?” asked Wally.

  “How they kidnapped me.”

  “They kidnapped you?”

  “I won't tell because they let me go,” said Peter.

  “Yeah, they kidnapped you and fed you cookies and let you go if you did whati” asked Jake.

  “If I didn't tell you what I told them. And I won t!

  Wally was furious. “You told them everything we were planning to do to them, didn't you? You're a snitch, Peter!”

  “I am not! You said we were going to treat them like sisters, and I was just being nice.”

  “You told them we were going to knock down their fort, didn't you! That's why they were out there waiting to ambush us!” said Jake. “You went over there and told them!”

  “I did not! I called them up.”

  Wally moaned. “You are a snitch!”

  “A traitor to your brothers,” said Jake.

  “A weasel,” said Josh.

  Peter started to cry, and the boys immediately felt sorry.

  “Oh, never mind,” said Josh. “But the only way you can make it up to us is to call the girls and tell them you won't be giving away our plans anymore. You've either got to be in the brotherhood or you've got to go over there and live. You can't have it both ways.”

  “You mean I could go over and live with them?” Peter asked, brightening.

  “No!” the boys all bellowed together.

  “But you have to decide if you're for or against us,” said Wally.

  Peter thought some more.

  “For,” he said finally, without enthusiasm.

  Wally handed him the telephone and dialed the Malloys’ number.

  “Hello,” Peter said when someone answered. “I have to tell you I can't come over there
anymore and give away secrets because I have to be a brotherhood.”

  Jake started to laugh. The boys waited.

  For a long time, it seemed, Peter simply sat there with the telephone to his ear without saying a word.

  “Who is it? What's she sayingV Jake asked when he couldn't wait another minute. “Boy, she must really be giving him an earful.”

  Peter looked at his brothers and held out the phone.

  “She's crying,” he said.

  The boys stared at each other.

  “Crying?” asked Josh. “Who?”

  “Beth. Her mother's gone in the blizzard,” Peter said.

  Josh took the phone. “Beth? This is Josh. What's wrong?”

  Wally sat at the table without moving. He had known the Malloy girls when they were angry, embarrassed, amused, and delighted, but he had never known one of them to cry. What were you supposed to do if a girl cried? If she was your sister?

  “Yeah,” Josh was saying. “Yeah…. Gee, I don't know…. Yeah, I can imagine….”

  And finally, to the surprise of the others, he said, “Listen, do you want us to come over?”

  When he hung up, Josh said, “Their mom went to Elkins this morning, they think, and hasn't come back.”

  “What time did she leave?” asked Jake.

  “We were trying to figure that out. Eleven, maybe. Eleven-fifteen. They tried to call their dad at the college, but he's at a meeting somewhere and they can't find him. They're scared.”

  Scared? What were you supposed to do when a sister was scared? Wally didn't know that either. He looked out the window and could see nothing but snow. They had a reason to be scared.

  “Well, that was dumb. Who would go driving in West Virginia in a blizzard? What are we supposed to do about it?” said Jake.

  “Maybe it wasn't snowing when she started out. No one knew there was going to be a storm like this,” said Josh. He turned to Wally. “Why don't you come with me? I don't want to go over there by myself. Peter, you want to come?”

  “You said I couldn't go over there again,” Peter warbled.

  “Just forget what we said, okay?”

  “Listen, you guys, you're not going to leave me behind,” said Jake. “If you're going, so am I.”

  So all four boys bundled up, and—holding on to each other so that they could see in the blinding snow—they crossed the road, eased themselves down the hill to the swinging bridge, and then … step by step … made their way across.

  “It's a whiteout!” Jake breathed when they reached the other side. “That's what they call it in the Arctic when you can't see anything but snow.”

  “Can we find the way up to their house?” Peter whispered, frightened by the wind's fury.

  Josh, who was in the lead, stumbled at last on a step and realized he was at the Malloys’ back door. A moment later the four boys tumbled into the Malloys’ kitchen.

  Beth's and Caroline's eyes were red.

  “We don't know whether to call the sheriff or not,” Eddie said, stone-faced. “We can't reach Dad. Earlier they said he was at a meeting, and now the department answering machine comes on and says that all classes have been canceled.”

  The boys took off their jackets and piled them by the door.

  “Are there mountains between here and Elkins?” asked Beth.

  “There are some fair-sized hills,” said Jake, “but she still should have been back by now if she'd wanted to beat the storm.”

  The phone rang and Caroline grabbed for it. It was Mrs. Hatford. The boys could hear her voice all across the kitchen.

  “Caroline, IVe been calling home and no one answers. I'm worried. I just heard that the schools let out early. Have you seen our boys?”

  “They're over here,” Caroline told her. “They came because … because—” And Caroline could not stop the tears. “Because our mother's m … missing, Mrs. Hatford. She went to Elkins this morning and we think she's lost in the blizzard.” Caroline's voice ended in a sad little squeal.

  “Oh, my goodness!” said Mrs. Hatford. “Have you called your father?”

  “He's at a meeting. We can't find him either,” Caroline wept.

  “All right, here's what we'll do. I'll page my husband on his beeper, and I want all you kids to stay right where you are,” Mrs. Hatford said. “Don't go out, and stay by the telephone. I'll call as soon as I get some news. Put Jake on, please.”

  Caroline handed the phone to Jake.

  “Jake, I want all you kids to keep together now,” said his mother. “Stay inside, right where you are. I'm going to find your father and tell him about Mrs. Malloy. Meanwhile, everyone in Buckman is coming to the hardware store for snow shovels and sand and flashlights and batteries, and no telling when we'll close tonight. I'll stay as long as they need me. But I want you boys to help the Malloys in any way you can.

  “We will,” Jake told her.

  The seven sat awkwardly around the kitchen table.

  “I suppose we could play a game or something while we're waiting,” Wally said at last.

  No one answered.

  “We could always bake cookies!” Peter said brightly.

  No one responded to that either.

  Finally Beth got up woodenly and placed the cookie jar on the table. “Have some,” she said.

  Eddie put a jug of cider on the table and some plastic cups. But only Peter seemed hungry. He opened the lid. There were lemon squares and chocolate clusters, oatmeal raisin and butterscotch bars. But only Peter took a cookie. Only Peter drank some cider.

  “What if she's lost in the snow?” Caroline began. “She doesn't even know the roads here in West Virginia. How long can she sit inside a car without freezing to death?”

  “Oh, Caroline, shut up!” said Eddie. “Just shut up.” But her own voice was shaky.

  Nineteen

  … And Found

  The phone rang again. Eddie answered, it was Mr. Hatford.

  “Eddie, I just talked to my wife. She says your mother went to Elkins today and hasn't come back. Do you know what time she left?”

  “All we know is that she had an appointment at a gallery at noon. That's what it said on her calendar.”

  “Then I'd guess she left by eleven—maybe even before it started to snow. The only gallery I know in Elkins is the Fisher's Gallery. Is that where she went?”

  “Yes.”

  “I just called there, but they're closed. I'm heading out that way now in my Jeep, with a plow on the front. I'll take the road she would have traveled and see what I can find out. It's bound to be slow going, but I've got my cell phone. As soon as I know anything, I'll call. In the meantime, you kids sit tight.”

  “Okay. And thank you,” Eddie said. She hung up and turned to the Hatfords. “Your dad's going to look for her in his Jeep.”

  “What if he gets stuck in the snow?” asked Peter. Now it looked as though he might cry. He'd started to eat another cookie but put it back down on the table.

  “Let's play Monopoly,” Beth suggested, trying to hide her worry.

  “I'll make popcorn,” said Eddie without enthusiasm.

  “I could make hot chocolate,” said Caroline.

  Everyone seemed grateful for the distraction. Beth set up the board at the kitchen table, Eddie made the popcorn, and Caroline got down the mugs for cocoa. Soon they were choosing pieces, drawing cards, passing Go, and buying properties. But their eyes traveled frequently to the window, their ears listening for the phone. When it rang at last around four, they all jumped. Once again Caroline answered.

  “Caroline, I've just come from a meeting and heard that everything is closing early today. Things okay there?” asked her father.

  “No!” Caroline said. “Mom's missing!” And suddenly she began to sob.

  “What?”

  Beth got on the phone next and explained what had happened, how the Hatford boys had come over to keep them company, and that their dad was heading for Elkins in his Jeep.

  “I'll be
home as soon as I can get a ride with someone in a four-wheel drive,” her father said. “My car's completely snowed under.”

  The seven began playing Monopoly again, but when an hour had gone by and still there was no call, no Mr. Malloy, the Monopoly game stopped. No one felt like playing anymore. Half the popcorn went uneaten. Half the cocoa was left in the cups.

  Then the lights went out. The refrigerator stopped humming. There would be no TV. No radio.

  “We will all die,” said Caroline softly.

  “Caroline, shut upl” Beth scolded.

  “Is the phone still working?” Eddie asked.

  Beth checked. It was. She called the weather bureau. There was a travelers’ advisory. The storm was letting up, it said, but people were advised to stay inside, not to drive unless they had to. Road conditions were treacherous. There had been accidents….

  The house grew colder. Eddie and Beth went upstairs and returned with armfuis of blankets. Each of the seven wrapped up in a blanket, and they all hunkered down on the floor beside the living room window, waiting for the blizzard to pass. Another hour went by. Six o'clock. Six-thirty….

  “Now Dad's missing,” Caroline gulped.

  “Oh, he'll be all right,” Eddie said. “It's Mom I'm—” She didn't finish.

  “Well, our dad's been out in lots of storms,” said Wally finally. “He's a pretty good driver. He'll find her.” But he didn't sound at all sure.

  “Yeah,” said Jake. “If anyone can find your mom, it's Dad. He's got all sorts of stuff in his Jeep—two-way radio, cell phone, beeper, first-aid kit, ax …”

  “Ax?” squeaked Caroline.

  “In case he has to chop someone out of a wrecked car,” said Peter.

  “Be quiet, Peter,” murmured Jake. And then to the girls, “If Dad didn't think he could find her, he wouldn't have gone out.”

  And Josh added, “We won't leave here until he does, okay?”

  Beth looked over at him. “I'm glad you guys are here,” she said in a small voice.

  “So are we,” Josh told her.

  But Caroline sat leaning against the wall in her blanket, nothing showing except her eyes. “This is the way they will find us,” she said in a pitiful voice. “Seven icicles wrapped in blankets. Seven frozen bodies, too cold and weak to move. Seven people who might have become famous when they were grown, but—”