I think my real mother and father were killed in a plane crash when I was little. Like we were all flying someplace neat like Disney World, and this plane got engine trouble and crashed.
And while it was going down my real mother and father held me in their arms and protected me so I wouldn't get hurt when we hit, and I wasn't but they were both killed.
So then the police advertised if anyone wanted to adopt a little kid whose real parents were killed in a plane crash, and that's how I came to live with my mother and father, because they didn't have any kids of their own. But they've never told me I was adopted and that my real father was an astronaut and my real mother was a movie star who gave up her job so she could be my mother. I think that's what happened.
If they were my real mother and father and loved me, I wouldn't want to run away, would I? So that proves it.
When Tania told me her uncle was going to give her a hundred dollars so we could run away, that was keen. He said we should take a cab out to where he lived, and he would pay the driver, and then he would give us the money and we could go anywhere we liked.
Tania and I talked about it a lot, and we decided we would go to Alaska, like I wanted, but first we would go to Disney World, which was closer and which we had never seen. All the kids we knew had been, and they were always bragging on it.
"When should we go? " Tania asked me. "I think we should set a time because Mother wants me to start taking piano lessons."
"I think we should go before school starts," I told her.
"Like if we go during vacation, we could leave in the morning, and then they probably won't know we're gone till that night. But if we go after school starts, then they'll call our parents right away when they take attendance and we're not there."
"That's very true," Tania said. "We should have a head start before they notice we've gone and maybe call the police. Chet, what do you think I should wear? " I didn't know what she meant and shrugged.
"What you always wear, I guess," I said. "Like shorts and a T. , "No," she said, "I can't wear that for traveling. Maybe I'll wear jeans and my nylon jacket because the nights might get chilly. And I'll put my dress-up things in my suitcase."
"Suitcase?" I said. "What do you need a suitcase for? It'll just get in the way."
"I'll need more clothes than what I'm wearing, and so will you. Have you got a suitcase?"
"I got like a bag," I said. "It's cloth but it holds a lot."
"Then you should pack it, Chet," she said. "And don't forget all your favorite things."
"Like what?"
"Well, maybe your little radio. And what about your stamp collection?"
"I forgot about that," I said. "It's in big books. I guess I'll have to leave them. I can always start a new collection when we get to Alaska."
"How long do you think it'll take us to get there?"
I thought awhile. "It depends," I said.
That night I looked around my bedroom and Tania was right, I did have a lot of favorite things. Like I had a rock I had found that looked like it had gold in it, and some swell shells I had picked up on the beach, and a plastic skull I had bought at a flea market with my allowance. I knew I'd never be able to take all that stuff with me, and I felt like crying but I didn't.
Then something started that I couldn't figure out. It was the beginning of August, and Tania and I were talking almost every day about running away and making plans. Right then it seemed to me that my mother and father got a lot more friendlier.
Like Mom was bubbly almost all the time and would make jokes and kid around with me. And my father would ask me what I had done that day, and he even g bill bought me a really cool fishing cap with this Ion that shaded your eyes. They both seemed a lot nicer, and one night we all went to Bobby Rubino's for ribs.
I didn't know why they were acting like that. I told Tania about it, and she said they were probably just going through a phase.
"What's a phase?" I asked her.
"It's like a thing that doesn't last long," she said. "And then they go back the way they were."
I didn't understand, but I didn't tell Tania that because I didn't want her to think I was stupid.
Then something really unreal happened.
We had a nice ficus tree on our front lawn, and one morning Mother asked me to give it a good soaking with the hose because the leaves were beginning to look dried out and the tips were yellow. So after she left to go shopping, that's what I was doing when this great silver Infiniti pulled up in front of our house.
The guy driving it lowered his window and motioned to me. I went over but not too close because I didn't want to be kidnapped and held for ransom.
But the man didn't look like a kidnapper. I mean he was well-dressed and all, and he didn't try to drag me into the car or anything like that. And he was smiling.
"Hiya, sonny," he said. "Hot work on a hot dayright?
"Yes, sir," I said.
"Say," he said, "am I at the right place? Is this Mabel Barrow's home?" , I nodded.
"Glad to hear I'm not lost," he said, still smiling. "Do you know if Mabel is home?"
"No, she's gone into town."
"You sure?" he said.
"Sure, I'm sure," I said. "She's my mother so I should know."
"No kidding?" he said. "You're Mabel's son? Well, I'll be damned.
What's your name?"
"Chet. It's really Chester, but I like Chet better."
"So do I, Chet," the man said. "And your father is Gregory Barrow-right?
I nodded again.
"And I suppose he's at his job out at Mcwhortle Laboratory.
Am I batting four hundred?"
"Uh-huh," I said. "He won't be back until tonight."
"Sorry I missed him," the man said. "I'm an old friend of your father's. We went to chemistry school together. Well, I'll just have to come back another time."
"What's your name?" I asked him. "So I can tell my folks you came by while they were out."
"Listen, Chet," he said, "you like surprises, don't you? "
" Some.
"Well, what I want to do is surprise your mother and father.
You know, just walk in on them some night unexpectedly. I haven't seem them in years. Will they ever be amazed! So what I'd like you to do is not tell them I stopped by this morning. Because that would spoil my surprise. Okay?"
"Sure," I said. "I won't tell them."
"Atta-boy," he said, still smiling. He dug in his pocket and took out some money. He held a five dollar bill out to me.
"Here," he said, "this is for being so helpful."
"Nah," I said, "that's all right."
"Take it," he insisted. "Buy your girlfriend some ice cream.
You've got a girlfriend, haven't you?"
"Sort of," I said.
"Sure you do," he said. "A good-looking dude like you.
Take the money, Chet. You deserve it because you've been so polite and you're not going to tell your mother and father I was here and ruin the surprise."
"Okay," I said.
So I took the five dollars, and he waved and drove away. I looked at the bill. It had Abraham Lincoln's picture on it. I knew who he was.
I put the money in my pocket and decided I wouldn't buy ice cream with it until Tania and I got to Disney World.
DR. CHERRY NOBLE made no decision, I planned nothing, and yet I suddenly became aware that I was spending more and more time with Chas Todd. I'd drive out to his studio two or three evenings a week, and sometimes visited on Saturday or Sunday afternoon.