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

she slowly let herself be herded
home.
    “ He says goodbye.” The man
said to Cassie, winking, making Binny doubly uncomfortable and
suspicious.

    §

    As the man receded back down the hill
from where he came, Binny scolded Cassie, “You shouldn’t be talking
to strangers. And that dog could have bitten you. And give me back
my mirror!” Her concern over her sister talking to the strange man
had now abated slightly, and the original complaint retook its
primary place amid her list of injustices.
    “ The dog was friendly.”
Binny whined.
    “ Give me my
mirror.”
    “ It’s not your mirror.”
Cassie shot back while handing it over to Binny.
    The two sisters marched up the hill.
Once the mirror was firmly ensconced in her pocket Binny finally
had a moment to look up only to see that smiling messy looking girl
from across the street standing at their gate.
    “ Sorry about your
skateboard, but that was a really nice slide. Have you been
practicing that one?” The girl asked Binny.
    Binny couldn’t detect any trace of
sarcasm in the girl’s voice. But she was quite certain that the
girl was just practiced at hiding it, making her comment extra
annoying.
    “ I have to go inside now.”
Binny responded as she turned Cassie towards the Jordan house with
a firm hand on her shoulder.
    As they distanced themselves from the
neighbor girl, and Binny looked down at the broken skateboard in
her scraped up arms, a thought suddenly occurred to her. If the man
was walking his dog, why did he choose the exact spot where her
sister was standing to end the walk and head home? It was almost as
if he’d come there just to see her baby sister. She wasn’t entirely
sure why, but Binny had a feeling the man had some sort of interest
in Cassie. While she was only ten-years old and didn’t know
everything, Binny did know that the man’s curiosity about her
seven-year-old sister could not be a good thing.

5

The
Fortress of Solitude

    “ You really shouldn’t be
talking to strangers.” Binny lectured her younger sister as they
walked into the house. “It’s dangerous, and Mom and Dad would be
very upset if they knew.”
    “ Stop bossing. ” Cassie wasn’t screaming
quite yet, but she was clearly on her way.
    “ What’s she bossing you
around about?” As the girls walked into the house they encountered
their brother, back in his prone position in front of the
videogame. The only thing capable of tearing his attention away was
the possibility of messing with Binny.
    “ She was talking to a
strange man and petting his dog. And the man was weird and scary.”
Binny reported.
    Zach popped up from the floor,
assuming the role of investigator. “Were you talking to a weird and
scary stranger?” Zach asked Cassie, hand stroking his chin with
mock seriousness.
    “ No! I WASN’T!” she
yelled, and then in a more conciliatory voice added, “And the dog
was very nice.”
    “ Well Binny, she says the
dog was very nice. Maybe you should stop bossing?” Zach knew just
how to get a reaction from his eldest sister. Cassie appending a
“Yeah, you’re so bossy” didn’t help matters.
    Now having sprouted a fresh layer of
righteous anger on top of her concern for her sister, Binny
retorted, “Fine, you know what? I’ll go tell mom and dad that she’s
been talking to strangers and petting strange dogs, and we’ll see
what they have to say.”
    “ Don’t do that. They’re
busy.” Zach suddenly turned serious.
    “ So what? They’re not too
busy for this.”
    Where Zach had been the tormentor a
moment earlier, he now tried to be the peacemaker. “Look, we can
handle this ourselves.” He turned to face Cassie, “Cassie, you
know, Binny’s not really being bossy, she’s just worried about you.
Tell Binny what the rules are for you when you play
outside?”
    Cassie recited as if she’d
heard them countless times, “No crossing the street. No going more
than two houses away from our house. No going anywhere with
strangers