The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past (7 page)

“
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 or taking anything from strangers, no matter what they
say. And use my
brain
.” The last sentence she added proudly but she didn’t seem
entirely clear on what her parents had meant by that.

“
See?” Zach gestured to
his baby sister, who was trying to look responsible.

Sensing the tide of the conversation
was not going her way, Binny changed the focus: “She doesn’t know
how to use her brain. I’m not even sure she has one.”

“
She knows the rules. And
technically, talking to a stranger and petting his dog isn’t
against the rules.” Zach paused and lowered his voice a touch as if
he was about to say something important. “I guess what I’m saying
is, Cassie’s no dumbass.” Zach folded his arms and smirked, his
stint as the helpful older brother over, now refocused on his
favorite pastime – irritating Binny.

Zach’s reference to the
dumbass detector particularly enraged Binny. “Number one, you’re a
JERK. And number two
she’s
a jerk. And, she STOLE my mirror – AGAIN! You two
can go…” Binny was already storming off before her last sentence
was completed.

As Binny headed upstairs she barely
heard her brother’s parting advice. “Don’t bother them, they’re
busy.”

Zach then turned back at his youngest
sister with a look that said, “What’s with her?” Cassie was happy
to get some positive attention from her older brother. She realized
it was at her sister’s expense, but given her sister’s bossiness,
that seemed appropriate.

§

The Jordan parents’ room was on the
third floor of the house. It had been the attic at one time, and
was converted into a large bedroom with a balcony that overlooked
the neighborhood as well the lake above which Madrona
sat.

Binny was on a mission. Dispensing
with the usual formality of knocking on her parents’ door, Binny
went straight for the handle, about to launch into a diatribe about
her sister’s dangerous behavior, and her brother’s general
awfulness. But the door was locked, and made a lot of noise as she
angrily twisted the knob.

“
What is it?” her father
barked from behind the door. He sounded angry.

“
What is it honey?” her
mother followed in a softer tone.

“
Can I come in please?
They’re being horrible!” Binny complained.

“
Not now, Binny, we’re in
the middle of a discussion. Could you please go downstairs. We’ll
be down in a bit.” While the firm tone of her father’s request
didn’t seem to leave much room for debate, Binny pressed forward
anyway.

“
Pleasepleasepleaseplease.
I just need to talk to you.”

This time it was Binny’s mother who
responded: “Sweetie. We’ll be down soon. I promise. We can talk all
you want in a few minutes. Just give us a few minutes,
please.”

Binny turned the handle a couple more
times in frustration.

“
A few MINUTES, Binah!”
her father was yelling now.

“
Fine.” Binny tramped back
down the stairs, making her steps extra stompy. If her parents
wouldn’t listen to what she’d been through, then at least she would
make them listen to her going down the stairs.

She got to the bottom of the stairs,
just out of her parent’s view, and slumped to the ground. She heard
the door upstairs open, a pause, and then her father say “she went
downstairs” to her mother before he relocked the door. Her parents’
voices went back to being unintelligible murmurs. Defeated, Binny
went back to her room.

§

It was well after two in
the afternoon before Binny emerged. Her skateboard no longer
functional, she was reduced to watching skateboarding videos. She’d
ignored her father’s call to eat something, and banished Cassie
from her room when she came by wanting to play “pop star”. She told
her mother that she’d rather go to summer school than play a game
of chess. Not that anyone but Binny was counting, but it had
been
way
longer
than a “few minutes” until her parents had seen fit to seek her
out. But after a while all this sitting and ignoring everyone was
pretty draining. She needed to get away. Get clear of her insanely
annoying family.

Like many relatively
modern cities, the greater metropolitan area in which the Jordans
lived was laid out on a grid, making navigation and maintenance
easy. But the people who settled the Madrona neighborhood at the
end of the 19
^th
and beginning of the 20
^th
century realized the value
of the lush natural vegetation, as well as the beautiful views of
the lake and white-capped mountains in the distance. The
neighborhood plan was laid out mimicking the ebb and flow of the
natural landscape — paths through Madrona to the lake were dotted
with teardrop shaped parks and large expansive wooded areas. The
lake, the opposite shore, and the mountains gleamed in the distance
on clear days.

While some of these nature spots were
no more than small patches of green with a convenient bench or two,
there were swaths of woods where you could lose yourself if you
really needed to. Despite Binny’s strenuous and frequent efforts to
find peace by getting justice from her parents, when they
inevitably let her down, the woods gave her their own form of
peace. Needless to say she was a frequent visitor
lately.

Binny snuck out of the
house to avoid seeing her family. She made it all the way out to
the front gate, but immediately regretted glancing up the street:
Cassie and the girl from across the street were now
playing together
on the
sidewalk. It wasn’t that Binny was dying to play with either of
them. But why was the neighbor girl always inserting herself into
Binny’s life? Cassie might be an annoying little sister, but she
was Binny’s annoying little sister and therefore Binny’s private
domain. And what was a ten-year-old doing playing with a seven year
old anyway? That was pretty weird. And speaking of weird, did that
girl not own a pair of shoes?

Her wooded destination temporarily set
aside, Binny walked over to where Cassie and the girl next door
were playing. Apparently Cassie had convinced the neighbor girl to
pretend to be her chauffeur. They were standing next to a parked
car with Cassie reciting the various destinations where she’d like
to be driven in her “limousine”. Binny reflexively ran her hand
over the front of her pants pocket to feel for the outline of her
mother’s mirror. It was still there. One small thing that was
hers.

“
And then I’ll need you to
drive me to my sold out concert this evening,” Cassie issued her
instruction in an offhand but serious tone.

“
Yes ma’am”, the girl
responded, equally serious.

“
You know she’s not
allowed to go too far from the house.” Binny interjected, feeling
it was her responsibility to remind Cassie and the neighbor girl of
the rules.

“
Ma’am, it’s one of your
fans.” The girl said to Cassie, staying in character.

“
Oh driver, you know I
love my fans, but I just don’t have time to sign autographs right
now.”

“
I’m sorry, but she can’t
sign any autographs right now. Perhaps I could offer you a free
ticket to her concert this evening? It’s sold out you
know.”

Binny was incredulous. “I don’t want
an autograph. And I don’t want tickets to her concert. And you know
why? Because there is NO concert, she’s NOT a star, you’re not her
chauffeur, and this ISN’T a LIMOUSINE!” Binny shouted, hands on her
hips, her face full of indignation.

“
Give her a backstage pass
as well.” Cassie waved her hand towards the neighbor girl,
signaling her to take care of it.

Binny couldn’t sit through another
minute of Cassie’s make-believe. It was bad enough that her sister
lived in her own warped world. But to have the girl next door
pretending with her…

“
You know what, I was just
trying to make sure you didn’t get hurt. But now, I don’t care. Do
whatever you like. Break all the rules. Go wherever you want.” Next
Binny said to the neighbor girl: “She’s your problem. I’m leaving!”
Binny turned her back on them both and quickly resumed her original
course down the hill.

§

Technically, the city owned the
Madrona woods, having purchased the land from nearby homeowners in
the early 1900s. But for as long as most of the current residents
could remember, Caleb Adams – a neighborhood fixture – had tended
to these woods. Caleb owned Madrona Bouquets. By virtue of his
flower shop, Caleb knew everything about everyone – birthdays,
anniversaries, and even when spouses were having fights and flowers
were required to smooth things over. It was one measure of how much
Caleb was respected that his neighbors trusted him with their
wishes for their loved ones.

Caleb didn’t appear to have a family.
Nobody had ever remembered him being married. So even though he was
busy running Madrona bouquets, Caleb had plenty of spare time on
his hands and a need to keep those hands busy. When he retired and
closed his shop the previous year, he had even more time to focus
on his favorite hobby – taking care of the neighborhood forest.
Dogwalkers, parents with small children, and couples out for a
romantic stroll, would invariably run into him, his battered milk
crate filled with tools and a large black garbage bag he would use
to remove anything he found that didn’t belong.

Caleb was even taller than his
silhouette made him appear, as his long arms seemed to weigh down
his shoulders, giving him a bit of a stoop as he walked. A faded
blue baseball cap with an embroidered white “S” set in a baseball
diamond sat on top of his close-cropped tight almost white curls.
The emblem on the cap didn’t appear to belong to any particular
team – even the most ardent baseball fan couldn’t identify it.
Under the cap, the dark skin of Caleb’s face was etched with what
seemed like a thousand lines.

To the kids in the neighborhood, Caleb
seemed both ancient and ageless, like one of the trees in the
forest. While the nearby families flowed in and out of the official
and unofficial capillaries of the Madrona woods, Caleb was rooted
there, unmoving and dedicated to his mission.

§

It was really entirely too much. Was
it not enough that her brother was a jerk, her sister was annoying,
and her parents were locked in a room with each other, ignoring
her? Ignoring their job as parents! Did they even care that Cassie
was making friends with strangers and their strange dogs? If only
her parents would get more involved. At the very least they could
punish Zach and Cassie for being so rude to Binny. That would
certainly be a step in the right direction.

But while her parents, her
brother, and her sister were all avoiding their responsibilities,
that girl next door, with her strange piles of rocks, and her dirty
feet, was forcing her way into Binny’s life. Binny had spent
countless hours playing Cassie’s butler, chauffeur, and all manner
of servant, manager, agent, and fan. Binny said no
just this once
and all
of a sudden the neighbor girl was taking her place? It made Binny
want to –

“
Ruvh Ruvh Rrruvvvh.”
There was a dog barking at her. There was one last lone house at
the end of their street before the woods swallowed any additional
pavement. It was built in a “modern style”. She knew that because
her father would always complain about it when they walked by it on
the way to the woods. He would say “who thought our neighborhood
needed all this glass? It doesn’t belong. Why would someone put
this in the heart of Madrona?”

She wasn’t sure whether it
belonged or not or what the heck her father was so upset about, but
she did finally see where the barking was coming from. It was that
dog. The dog that Cassie was petting. And then it struck her – this
was where that man with the dog
lived
. Great, Binny thought, another
house in the neighborhood I need to avoid. She wasn’t sure she
could tell the difference between an angry bark and a playful bark,
but it kind of seemed to her like the latter. But she wasn’t about
to test out her theories – she picked up her pace and headed
straight for the entrance to the woods, as the dog’s barking
faded.