The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past by Hillel Cooperman Read Free Book Online

just looked at him,
puzzled.
    “ My dog’s name is
Rembrandt,” the man interrupted himself.
    “ Hi Rembrandt” the little
girl said as she continued to pet the dog, a little more
enthusiastically now.
    “ Rembrandt, he likes to
play hide and seek, so I was wondering if you knew of any good
spots nearby to hide out.”
    Cassie thought for a moment, then
asked: “Dogs play hide and seek?”

    §

    A trip to the hospital seemed to be
approaching Binny with frightening speed, but her back foot felt
glued to the back of her skateboard. As her foot pressed down on
the back of the board, Binny tried to lean forward to get the front
of the deck firmly back on the ground. Somewhere in her brain she
knew that this wouldn’t do anything more than delay her epic fall
by a few more seconds. But her survival instincts had taken
over.

    §

    The man was getting nowhere. The
little girl had no idea what he was talking about and this tiny
spot on the Madrona hillside was quite unremarkable. No trenches.
No trap doors. No empty tree trunks. As a child, the man had read
all of the Sherlock Holmes stories translated into his native
language. And in his current profession he’d found one of the
famous fictional detective’s most famous quotes particularly
useful: “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains,
however improbable, must be the truth.”
    As the man reviewed the events of the
previous day and his observations of the area, the voice inside his
head telling him there must be another explanation grew ever more
quiet. If there was nowhere for the little girl to hide, and there
was nothing shiny nearby that could have produced that flash of
silver light, then the inescapable conclusion was that the little
girl was the first human on earth with a –
    “ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”

    §

    Binny screamed as she hit the ground.
The skateboard had decided that Binny was no longer interesting
company and shot out from under her like a missile. For her part,
Binny was happy for the separation, landing squarely on her butt on
the patch of grass running down the edge of the sidewalk. Binny
slid several feet to come to a stop right in front of her sister,
the strange man, and his large dog.

    §

    “ My god. Are you ok?” The
man crouched on one knee to see if Binny was hurt, a loud snapping
sound punctuating his question.
    Binny winced harder at that sound than
she had at her own crash landing. She was not much worse for the
wear thanks to the patch of grass that she lucked onto. But the
same couldn’t be said for her skateboard. Her fourth
skateboard.
    “ I’m fine.” Binny
responded to the man, putting her hands behind her and raising
herself onto her feet, slightly wobbly from her fall, and trying to
hide even that from the man. Binny moved closer to and slightly in
front of Cassie, who was still communing with the dog, oblivious to
Binny’s explosive entrance.
    “ Cassie, Dad wants us to
go inside now.” Binny said to her sister, keeping her eyes firmly
fixed on the man, who was now slowly getting up from his supportive
stance. He was taller than he seemed when she was at the top of the
hill. Binny put her hand on Cassie’s shoulder, instead of the ear
pulling she had envisioned.
    “ I don’t want to go
inside. I’m having fun.” Cassie whined.
    “ You should do as your
sister says, Cassie,” the man encouraged. Even though he was
helping her cause, Binny didn’t like how familiar the man was being
with her little sister – the way he said her name, which Binny
belatedly realized she herself had carelessly revealed.
    Rembrandt finally settled matters by
pulling on his leash.
    “ Looks like Rembrandt is
ready to go home.” The man said. “Are you sure you’re ok?” he
added.
    “ I’m fine, thanks. Let’s
go Cassie.” Binny scooped up the battered halves of her skateboard
and shooed Cassie up the hill towards the entrance to their
house.
    “ Bye Rembrandt!” Cassie
waved cheerfully as