Sam had learned from Ms. Nelson, who knew French, that ‘petit gars’ meant ‘little guy’—and it wasn’t meant to be mean. It was like calling each other bro, or dude, the way the big boys did. “Hi,” he said.
“You are always playing here,” Oriane said, looking up at the trees, and then around at the branches and leaves and shrubs. “Is it very fun?”
Sam knew now that his friends had not gone away because she came. But he wasn’t ready to tell her about Squeak and the others yet. It washissecret. Sam liked having a thing that was his own. Almost his own. Alejo and Mom knew, but that was different, because Squeak and Bandit and the others didn’t pop out if Mom and Alejo came down the path. They came to play withhim. He couldn’t be a shifter, but he could be Squeak’s and Ratty’s and Bandit’s human friend.
He could see that Oriane was waiting for him to answer. “I like it,” he said. And it was true!
They went inside. Sam was so hungry he ate three tacos. After dinner Mom asked about their homework, and when they said they were done, he got to play some moreAnimal Crossing.
He went to sleep content. It was Friday, which meant tomorrow was Saturday, and he would get to play in the garden and draw. Everything was good.
When he came out to breakfast in the morning, Alejo went up to Mom while she was fixing waffles, and talked to her in that low grownup voice, but it wasn’t angry or mean. Sam liked the way Alejo rubbed his hand up and down Mom’s arm, the way she did to Sam when he got what Granny Godiva called butterflies in the stomach. It had always felt more like lava than butterflies.
As soon as Sam was done eating, he got his drawing things and ran out into the garden. “Come out, come out,” he called softly.
Nobody came out. Disappointed, Sam turned away, then caught sight of Oriane at the end of the rose garden, before the trail down to the beach. Was she with someone? Yes. A grownup. Uh oh, was itheragain? It was hard for Sam to recognize details at a distance, especially when he was running, and his glasses joggled on his nose.
He rounded one of the big rose bushes taller than him, and stopped short when he saw that woman with the cranky face who tried to say that squirrels were pests. He didn’t have to talk to her. But Oriane didn’t know she didn’t have to talk to her!
He turned to tell her that, but the woman said to him, “Little boy. If you hurry, you can get some of the ice cream before it disappears.”
Ice cream? Sam blinked. “What?”
“Free ice cream,” said Cranky Woman, pointing down to the street. There was a big van with a sign on the side, depicting an ice cream cone, and above it, the word FREE!
“Only for kids under ten,” the woman said. “Better grab it fast.”
“I am thirteen,” Oriane said.
“Nope. The deal is for ten and under only,” the woman said, pointing to Sam.
Something Sam could have, and big kids couldn’t? He looked down at the truck, its back doors wide open. Sam could run down, get his ice cream, and run back, and never go near the house. Or talk to that cranky woman.
He ran, slipping and sliding down the path. So far, no other kids had come out of their houses, though he knew some big kids lived farther down. He went slowly up to the van, where a tall skinny man with ears even bigger than Sam’s sat on the fender. “Like ice cream, kid?” he said. “It’s your lucky day!”
Inside was another man. This one was short and round. He was opening a box of chocolate ice cream bars.
“Come on in and pick your flavor,” the round man said.
Sam hopped up into the van and headed for the boxes—then the light shining in vanished, and the doors slammed. “Hey!”
For a moment, he was alone with boxes of ice cream sandwiches and ice cream bars. Then the van’s side doors opened, the two men got into the front, and started the engine. “Hey,” Sam yelled. “Let me out!”
“Hang on, kid,” Tall Guy called back, and made the van go.
Sam lost his balance and fell to the van floor. Ice cream bar boxes slid around him.
“You’ll be out in a few,” the Short Guy said to Sam, twisting around. “Eat some ice cream! It’s all yours!”
“I want to go home,” Sam said.
“You will go home. In a little while,” Tall Guy said.
Sam felt a scream building up inside him, but who would hear it? His breathing started getting choky, and he made himself slow down and count, the way Mom had taught him. He knew he wasn’t supposed to get into cars with strangers. Well, this van had been stopped, and there was free ice cream. Maybe it was a trick. And he fell for it, just like a five-year-old.
Once again the choky feeling started, but he breathed and counted. Nothing bad was happening yet. Mom had said, “If you find yourself in a situation you don’t like, don’t think about the stuff you don’t have. Then you’ll just feel worse. Think about what you do have. And use it.”
It was his fault for getting into the van. And once he saw Mom again, he would be grounded, but that was okay. But first he had to get away. So what did he have? He had himself. He had his words, but those men were ignoring him. He had a loud voice, and he could scream. But nobody would hear.
