Little Yokozuna (12 page)

"A plane?" said Knuckleball. "Does that mean we're not just taking the garden gateways back?"

"
Just?
" laughed Owen Greatheart. "You make it sound so simple."

"There's no way we should even try it," said logical Q.J. "Now we know of
two
times that a garden gateway has re-opened to work in reverse, but at least in one of those cases we ended up in a whole new place, not the original point. How could we possibly find our way back to Boston? Squib and I went from the azalea garden to the mine, but then we ended up
here
."

"And what was the other time?" asked Libby, puzzled.

"Little Harriet," said Q.J. "Escaping from big bad Kiyoshi-chan in the middle of the night. She went right back into the garden she came out of, but who knows where she was before that or where she went from there?"

"Unpredictable," said Annie. "That's the key word with the gardens. Surprise. I don't think they have a scientific explanation in the usual sense of the word." She glanced at Kiyoshi-chan's
obaa-san,
who was still munching toothlessly on something, apparently oblivious to the conversation.

"Of course not," said Owen Greatheart. "It's obviously some kind of magic."

"I suppose," said Annie. "But think about it. In our culture, magic is not really a whole lot different than science. In all our old stories, magic is mechanical. It goes by formulas just like science or technology. If you say Open Sesame, the cave has no choice but to open. Find the right formula in the book of spells, say it on tiptoes with your eyes crossed, and presto! the evil witch turns into a toad, or whatever. It's just like moving the mouse or tapping keys on our computer keyboard. If this is magic, it's not like our kind of magic at all."

"So?" said Knuckleball. "Is there a point to this lecture, Annie Granny?"

"So" said Q.J., flicking a little larch cone off Knuckleball's left cheek, "she's just saying that, if we have a
known
destination, in the real world, we're better off with a nice slow boat."

Annie said nothing.

"But what about finding Little Harriet?" said Owen Greatheart, raising an eyebrow. "No boat or airplane can help us there."

"True," said Annie. "That's a different story."

"We have no choice," said Q.J. "We have to use the garden gateways to find her. Something has been directing us so far, whether it's been the demons themselves, the gardens, or something totally different, and whatever it is seems to want to keep us on the trail of Little Harriet. There's probably no good explanation fo that little explosion that separated us last time. I think the demons have a tendency to derange whatever they're using, even if it's this whole garden thing. I guess that
this
Garden will take us to Little Harriet, whatever the old priest said."

"I think that might be what he thought, too," said Owen Greatheart. "He didn't really say not. He just sort of said we might regret wherever we ended up, and not be able to get back."

"That's a chance we have to take," said Q.J. "Then at least we'll all be lost together, instead of Little Harriet being lost all by herself."

"I disagree," said Owen Greatheart. "Listen, I have an idea. Doesn't it make sense for only one or two of us to try the Garden? Like maybe Annie and me?"

"And what's the point of
that?
" asked Knuckleball. "I agree with Q.J. that it's bad for us to split up. We have to stick together."

"But listen," said Owen Greatheart. "Suppose two of us go, and whether or not we ever find Little Harriet, we can't get back? Then at least four of us are still here in the real world, and can hop a plane back to the States. Better only three of us lost forever, wandering some strange weird world, than
all
of us. Think of Dad, and Mom."

This provoked an uncomfortable silence. No one could deny the sense of it.

"And," said Owen Greatheart, "probably the two of us would have as much chance of rescuing Little Harriet from wherever she is, as all six of us together. I mean, the little kids might just get in the way."

"Hey!" yelled Libby.

"I can knock you over any time, you big Owen," said 'Siah, jumping on the head of his biggest brother. "In fact, I don't think you can rescue Little Harriet
without
me and Squibby."

"You
are
a scary pair," said Owen Greatheart, wrestling 'Siah in the moss. "I can't deny that. Ow!" He sat back suddenly against the garden fence, testing with his fingers for loose teeth. In the tussle 'Siah's hard head had clunked him in the mouth. "We could just use your head for a battering ram," he mumbled. "I think this tooth is loose, you little tiger."

"I have to agree with Owen," said Q.J. suddenly. "It's logical."

"Me too," said Knuckleball. "But I have to be one of the ones to go."

"Me too," said 'Siah and Libby in unison.

"No way," said Owen Greatheart. "The two oldest ones go, and the rest of you wait here. If we don't come back, then call Mom and Dad and take a plane home. Who knows? Finish that Japanese garden in the living room and one day the three of us may come strolling out of it."

"Cool," said Knuckleball, intrigued by the idea. "But I'm coming."

"No, you're not," said Owen Greatheart. "You stay here with your buddy Kiyoshi-chan."

"Try and make me," said Knuckleball. "How could you possibly; rescue Little Harriet without my expertise?

"Expertise in
what?
" said Owen Greatheart. "We don't have a clue what we'll find when we get there."

"Bear in mind," said Knuckleball gravely, "that I am the only known human being ever to have knocked the head off a demon warrior and lived to tell the tale. How can you ignore that?"

"Except for Momotaro the Peach Boy," said Kiyoshi-chan.

"Excuse me?" said Knuckleball.

"We have a very old story in Japan," said Kiyoshi-chan, "about a little boy named Momotaro, who slaughtered a whole castleful of demons. Except he didn't have a fence post. He only had a pheasant, a dog, and a monkey."

"Ha!" said Basho the
monkey
. "You mean the monkey only had a pheasant, a dog, and a
boy
."

"There's no comparison," said Knuckleball. "See? This peach kid had reinforcements. But where does the peach part come in?"

"Forget it, Knuckles. Let's get on with this," said Q.J. "We've got to make a decision, now. Little Harriet's not getting any less lost while we sit here squabbling. What's with you, Annie? You haven't said a word in at least three minutes."

Annie certainly did seem to have something else on her mind.

"Yeah, what's up, Gran?" said Knuckleball. "You've been covering something up from way back."

Annie sighed, with deep reluctance. "All right," she said. "I've got some things to explain to everyone. We can't really go on without it."

"Well, let's get it over with," said Q.J.

"The problem," said Annie, "has to do with getting home again."

"Money, you mean?" said Owen Greatheart. "If we call Dad can't he get it to us somehow? I mean, I know it's expensive and he's not made of money, but I
think
he'd want as many of us back as possible."

"Not money," said Annie. "It has to do with a conversation I overheard between Knuckleball and Kiyoshi-chan. You need to hear this, Owen. Kiyoshi-chan, try telling us again. Who were those Red Sox players you were talking to Knuckleball about? Remember?"

"Of course I remember," said Kiyoshi-chan. He felt a flush of indignation and betrayal again, looking sidelong at his friend Knuckleball. The small hurt of that afternoon had never quite gone away, though he had convinced himself that perhaps American children treated even their best friends this way. "Yazu, you mean?" he said. "And
Tonee-See?
And
Ree-ko?
And
Jimu Ro-nu-bu-ru-gu?
"

"Right," said Annie. "Owen, do you know those names?"

"Of course," said Owen Greatheart. "Yazu must be Yaz. Carl Yastrzemski, that is. And then obviously Tony Conigliaro and Rico Petrocelli. What was the other one again?" Kiyoshi-chan repeated it. "Naturally," said Owen Greatheart. "Jim Lonborg, twenty-two wins that season. How do you know so much about the '67 Red Sox, Kiyoshi-chan? My dad was a kid then. A little before your time."

Kiyoshi-chan looked completely flummoxed. None of this made any sense at all. It made him wonder again whether the American children had learned some strange dialect of Japanese that they switched into occasionally, by accident.

"No," said Annie quietly. "They're not before his time at all."

All the siblings looked at their oldest sister.

Owen Greatheart scratched his head. "OK," he said. "I give up. Explain, Annie."

"It's no riddle," said Annie. "It's just that the gardens do more than transport us across space."

Owen Greatheart squinted at her, with a somewhat sick expression.

"No," he said.

"Yes," said Annie.

"Do you mean time, Granny?" said Knuckleball excitedly. "Cool!"

"Not so cool," said Annie. "We're in 1968, Knuckles."

"So?" said Knuckleball. "That's what's so cool."

"
Think
, O brainless one," said Annie. "The coolness of it disappears when you realize what it means. How can any of us take a plane back to Boston? Mom and Dad won't even be there for years yet! We're lost in time, Peach Boy, with no way home."

Knuckleball, 'Siah, and Libby took this in with wide eyes, suddenly realizing the implications. The thought of that friendly airplane that seemed all ready to take them home whenever they really wanted it, had for a long time been an unspoken comfort to them all. Their faces began to crumble into despair. Annie got down on her knees quickly and wrapped them in her long arms.

"But there's still hope," she said. "It's only airplanes and trains and boats that can't take us across time. Do you know what that means?"

The little children shook their heads, slowly.

"It means we're
all
doing the Garden," said Annie brightly. "Together."

 

 

 

The Garden opened to receive the six American children and Basho the monkey, who had insisted on coming along. They said good-bye to their Japanese friends, thanking them for all of their help. But as Kiyoshi-chan and Knuckleball bowed their sad farewells to each other, there seemed to be a lively consultation still going on among the adults of the family. In fact, the old obaa-san seemed actually to be arguing, showing more animation than the American children had ever seen in her. When the children made it clear that they were going at last into the Garden, Kiyoshi-chan's parents were polite but distracted in their good-byes, as if something was still unsettled.

This distant sort of farewell was disappointing, but before they had even gotten beyond the mossy mound that had been their deepest penetration into the Garden earlier, the gate banged behind them and Kiyoshi-chan came bursting through.

"Kiyoshi-chan!" cried Knuckleball. "What are you doing in here?"

"I'm coming with you," said Kiyoshi-chan, flushed with excitement.

"How did that happen?"

"My grandmother said I had to," said Kiyoshi-chan, incredulously. "That I might be needed. My mother said No. My father said that it's only another garden, and that we would all be coming out again almost as quickly as we went in, so why not? My mother said that it's not only a garden. My grandmother said that she was right and my father was wrong, it's not only a garden, but that I would be all right. My grandfather didn't say anything. I think all four of them thought each other was crazy. Finally they just said Go. So here I am!"

This all came out in a breathless rush, so that when Kiyoshi-chan finished he had to stop and recover. Knuckleball laughed. "It can't get any better than this!" he said, clapping Kiyoshi-chan on the back.

"Except for finding Little Harriet," said Q.J. "That would be better."

"I know that, Quid," said Knuckleball, annoyed that she would have thought he might have forgotten it.

"No fighting," said Annie. "Let's go."

They went around the bend at last, the one they had been able to see from their first entrance into the Garden. The path was made of smooth dark river rocks, so glossy that it seemed they should have been slippery but weren't. Dark green moss grew between the flat stones, which were spaced at irregular but comfortable intervals along the path. The children were hushed as they came out of the little curve and found themselves in a long straightaway, thickly hedged on both sides and overhung with maples.

"Hm," said Owen Greatheart. "I wouldn't have thought this was here, from what I saw up on the mound. I would have expected more of a twisty sort of path right here. But I guess I couldn't really see it too clearly."

There was nothing to say to this. They walked slowly down the pathway, stepping from one smooth dark stone to the next. There were birds in the trees overhead, but because of the thickness of the foliage they were invisible. The Garden seemed a sleepy, trance-like place, for the moment.