Excerpt: Kitty the Knitter and the Runaway Track Star

Roger jumped up and ran over to the car just as we were getting out. “Did you hear?” He was practically shouting. “Wally’s missing!” Wow, news travels fast. We had just heard it, and we were probably one of the first. How had Roger heard about it already?

“What did you hear?” Dad had grabbed Roger by the shoulders and had his face just inches away. Roger started leaning back, but Dad kept a firm grip on his arms. It looked like they would both fall down any minute.

“Sam! You’re scaring him.” Mom put her hand on Dad’s shoulder. He reluctantly let Roger go and mumbled an apology. Roger was looking pretty stunned, and he started backing up. He’s not usually intimidated by my parents, but Dad was looking wild eyed and frantic. Heck, I was scared of Dad right now. Elizabeth was standing by the car and looked like she was ready to run in case Dad turned on her for answers.

Roger was at a safe distance before he finally answered, “I heard from my aunt that he was missing. No one has seen him since this morning.” He was breathing hard, but it was more from excitement than fear now. “I heard someone had seen him running on the track with a dog at his heels.”

“Was it a brown shaggy dog with a short tail?” I asked. “We saw a dog like that on the track last week.”

“Yeah! It was. They were both running on the track, when, after about two times around, they both ran off of the track and...well... just kept running.” We must have all looked stunned or stupid or something because he took another step back. “He didn’t even take his stuff with him.” Roger finally finished his news and started to walk back to the porch...fast.

“What stuff?” Elizabeth had already reached the porch and was waiting for Dad to unlock the door.

“Huh?”

“What stuff did he leave behind?” Elizabeth asked again.

We were all settled at the table with our iced tea before Roger finally answered her. “He left his gym bag with his wallet, cell phone, towel, and a water bottle. The guy who saw him running said he just kept on running, so it’s not like he was forced to leave it behind or anything.” Roger took a long sip of iced tea.

“Who saw him this morning?” Dad was starting to get that funny look again.

“I think it was the grounds maintenance man.” Roger answered without making eye contact with Dad. “It was someone who worked there.”

Mom got up and put her glass in the dishwasher. She turned around and spoke as if she were reading a book or something. It was kind of eerie the way she was looking at us but not looking at us.

“Whatever it is, I am sure Wally is fine. He probably just remembered he had to do something and ran off to do it. He will probably realize later that he left his things and go back to the track to get them.” She sounded like she had memorized a speech. She didn’t sound very convincing, but we all latched on to this idea because it sounded positive. No one wanted to think something bad had happened to Wally.

“What about that dog?” Elizabeth piped up. “The Brentwoods don’t have a dog.” Aahh, the voice of reason. Well, not really, but it was a really good question.

This time Dad had the convincing answer. “It was probably just a stray that had attached himself to Wally. That is why it responded to his whistle last week.” Okay, that sounded plausible.

“Well,” I said as I stood up. “I am going to my room and work on my blanket. Come on.” I was halfway to my room when Elizabeth yelled from the kitchen, “Me too?” “Yes! You too.” I yelled back. We needed to talk.