Who Won the War? (2 page)

W
hy, Wally wondered, when his mom worked in a hardware store, did the Hatfords have a rickety old ladder that had to be held on both sides when anyone climbed it? And why, when their dad was up on the ladder, did Jake and Josh get to hold it while he—Wally— had to scoop up the smelly muck that Mr. Hatford was hosing down the rainspouts?

Even though Wally was wearing his dad's work gloves, he hated the feel of soggy leaves, dead bugs, sharp twigs, and mold in his hands as he dumped it all into a trash barrel. When his father came down from the roof at last, Wally took off the gloves and threw them on the grass. Then he sprawled on the back steps beside the twins, who acted as though
they
had done all the work.

If I was the oldest boy in this family, there would be some changes around here
, Wally thought. Jake and Josh
shouldn't get the best jobs just because they were going into middle school in the fall. Peter, of course, being the youngest, didn't have to do half the work the others did, while Wally, in the middle, ten years old, got the short end of the stick. Again.

Peter appeared at the back screen.

“Eddie Malloy wants you to take her to Knob Hill and the old coal mine and Smuggler's Cove,” he said.

Jake jerked upright.
“What?”

“That's the message,” said Peter.

“
When?
When does she want to go?”

“I dunno.”

“Just Eddie?”

“All of them. Caroline and Beth, too, I guess.”

“Why?”Jake
asked.

Peter shrugged, lifting his small bony shoulders as high as they would go and then letting them drop.

“Did she call or come over?” asked Josh.

“She called.”

“Peter,
think!”
Jake demanded. “Was that all she said?”

“Yes!
I told you! They want to see Knob Hill and stuff before they go.”

“Go
where?
asked Wally.

“Back to Ohio,” said Peter. “They're moving.”

Like tires losing air, Wally and the twins sank slowly back into their sprawl on the steps. It was official, then. The Malloys were going home. After a year of Hatford tricks and teasing to drive them away, it had finally happened. The girls were going back.

“Well, hey! All
right!
It's about time!” said Jake, but no one else was cheering.

Peter came out on the steps and sat down beside his brothers. He and Wally looked somewhat alike. They had round faces and stocky builds, while the twins were string-bean skinny and already taller than their friends. “There won't be any more chocolate chunk peanut butter cookies,” Peter said mournfully.

“Peter, don't you understand?” said Jake. “Once the Malloys are gone, the Bensons will be back! Our friends! They'll be living in their own house and it'll be just like old times! Nine guys together again! Laughs galore!”

“Hip hip hooray,” Josh said without expression.

“I don't know what's wrong with the three of you,” Jake said. “Don't tell me you're going soft. Don't tell me you're going to
miss
those girls!”

Wally wasn't sure he would
miss
them, exactly, but he'd certainly know they were gone. He'd used to think he would be supremely happy if he never saw Caroline Malloy and her sisters again. If he never had to feel Caroline poking him in the back with her ruler as she sat behind him at school. Never had to listen to Caroline bragging about how she had been moved up a grade—to
his
grade—because she was so “precocious” or watch Caroline stand up in front of the class to read a story and sound like she was an actress in Hollywood.

But now he wondered if, once she was gone, it would be like a big empty hole in the sky, like when the wind had blown down their locust tree and left only space where branches had been.

“So what are we going to do?” Wally asked Jake. “You know no one's supposed to go near that old mine. And she'll probably want to go up Knob Hill at night.”

One of Jake's eyebrows tipped low toward his nose at one end and rose way up, like a question mark, at the other end. “You know what I think?” he said. “I think they're up to something. I'll bet Eddie's got some trick up her sleeve. I think she's trying to pull some big stunt on us before they go. And Smuggler's Cove? They've already been there! Done that! Oh, she's got it all figured out, you can bet.”

No one spoke for a minute. Then Josh said, “Jake, you wouldn't trust the Malloys no matter what! How do you know that Eddie doesn't just want to be friends?”

Jake turned and stared at his twin, both of them dark with summer tans. “You think all Eddie Malloy wants is to be our
friend?.
”

“Why not?” said Josh. “Maybe she's trying to get the most out of Buckman before they leave.”

“Maybe the girls just want to show there are no hard feelings,” said Wally.

“Yeah, and maybe the Pope's Protestant!” said Jake.

But even Peter chimed in. “Why do you always think the Malloys are bad?” he asked.

Jake rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay! Eddie's a kind and loyal friend. So we'll show them a good time! So we'll take them up Knob Hill and leave them there, for all I care! Tell her yes.”

Wally looked around. “Who are you talking to?”

“Anyone!
I'm
not going to call her back. She didn't ask for me, did she, Peter?” said Jake.

Peter thought for a minute. “She asked if
anybody
was around.”

“Okay. So, Wally,
you
call her,” said Jake.

Wally had known that this would happen. No matter how much he wanted to stay clear of the Malloys, something always happened to rope him in. But not this time!

“Nope!” he said. “Not me.
I
never went around bragging about going in that coal mine or climbing up Knob Hill at night.”

“Josh?” said Jake.

“Huh-uh,” said Josh.

“Okay, Peter,” said Jake. “Call Eddie back and tell her yes.”

The boys went into the house and sat at the kitchen table while Peter dialed the Malloys' number. Wally sat with his chin in his hands. This was not going to end well, he was sure of it.

“Hello?” said Peter. “Eddie?” There was a pause. Then, “Jake said for me to call you. He said yes, he'll take you up Knob Hill and leave you there.”

“Peter!” yelped Jake, springing from his chair. He grabbed the phone from his younger brother. “Joke! Joke!” he said to Eddie. “Sure, we'll show you around. Just let us know when you want to go.”

Wally decided to mark off each day on his calendar until the Malloys were gone. Every day there wasn't a disaster was one less day to worry about.

But when Wally woke up the next morning and went downstairs, the Malloy girls were sitting on his
front porch. Wally stared at them through the window, then turned and raced back upstairs and into the twins' bedroom.

“They're here!” he yelled.

Jake almost tumbled out of bed. “Huh?” he said. “Who?”

“The Malloys! They're sitting on our front porch with a picnic basket!”

“What?” yelled Josh, awake now.

All the commotion must have wakened Peter, because by the time Jake and Josh and Wally had pulled on their jeans and T-shirts and padded downstairs in their stocking feet, Peter was sitting out on the glider in his Donald Duck pajamas, the girls around him, laughing and talking.

“So where are we going today?” asked Beth pleasantly when she saw Peter's brothers. “Smuggler's Cove, Knob Hill, or the old coal mine?”

“Uh …,” Jake mumbled.

“We've brought a picnic basket,” said Caroline. “Chicken salad sandwiches and grapes.”

“And chocolate chunk cookies!” crowed Peter, wriggling his toes.

“Great!” said Jake, rubbing his eyes. “Let's make it Smuggler's Cove.”

“Did you guys just get up?” asked Eddie.

“Of course not,” said Jake. “You have to wait a minute, though, 'cause we've got to let Mom know where we're going.” The rule was that they had to call their mother at the hardware store if they were going
to be gone for more than an hour. Wally followed his brother inside.

“I don't like it!” Jake said. “This is a setup!”

Wally didn't know what to think. With Jake on the phone in the kitchen, though, and Josh and Peter out on the porch with the girls, he had a mad impulse to make a run for the stairs, dive into bed, and pull the covers over himself for the rest of the day. But maybe Mom would say they couldn't go and that would solve it. Maybe she'd say they hadn't finished their chores.

Jake came back from the kitchen.

“What'd she say?” asked Wally.

“To take Peter,” said Jake morosely.

“Is that all?”

“Take Peter and have a good time.”

And so, with a blanket tucked under his arm, Jake led the group down the porch steps. Wally carried a jug of water, and Josh took a bag of trail mix.

If they crossed the road in front of the house, they could go down the bank to the footbridge that led to Island Avenue and the house where the girls were staying. But this time they stayed on their side of the river and started down the road. After a mile or two, they would cut through a field and then the woods, and finally they would reach a rocky inlet circled by pine trees. Here the river lapped gently against the bank, and the crevasses between the rocks looked deep and forbidding. Smuggler's Cove was called that because according to legend, thieves used to smuggle knives and whiskey and furs down the river and hide them in
the cove till they could find buyers in town. True or not, it was a good place to camp or have a picnic.

Well, okay, we're going on a picnic
, Wally told himself.
That's all. Nothing to worry about.

As they headed into the woods, Josh said, “Peter says you guys are really going to move back to Ohio. Is it for sure?”

“It's for sure,” said Beth. “Dad's taken his old job back at the college, and he'll have our house ready for us when we get there. The Bensons will be here on the thirty-first. In fact, Mr. Benson's already back to start training the football team. He's staying at a hotel till the whole family arrives with their furniture.”

Peter chugged along, still wearing his Donald Duck pj's, but he had put on his sneakers, too. “I'd rather have you than the Bensons,” he said.

“Peter!” Jake exclaimed. “You're nuts!”

“Oh, you'll be glad to see them come back,” Eddie told Peter. “You and the Benson guys have been friends for a long time. You won't even miss us once we're gone.”

This was too easy, Wally thought. The Malloys were being too polite. There was probably poison on the grapes or something. And then he realized that he was sounding more and more like his brother Jake.

Three
Picnic, Sort Of

W
hoever would have thought, Caroline wondered, that the Hatfords and the Malloys would be having a normal—no,
even pleasant
—picnic together without their parents? What she meant was that when parents were around, you more or less
had
to be polite, but here they were, not a mom or dad in sight, and they were acting like friends. They chose a mossy spot to spread the blanket.