“Yes,” said Jack. “I suspected that it was something like that when I tested the grenade in the alleyway.”
“I know,” said Wallah. “The simple things die first, then the more complex. I have perhaps another day, maybe a little more. My calculations cannot be entirely precise.”
“Then I’ll take you back right now,” said Jack, “pop you through The Second Big O onto the other side.”
“And without my help you will fail and all Toy City will die.”
“But I can’t let you die.”
“It’s a percentage thing,” said Wallah. “I will die so many will live.”
“No,” said Jack. “I can’t have that.”
“Then you will have to do more than your best.”
“Yes I will,” said Jack. “I promise I will.” And then Jack said, “Oh no!”
“I know what you’re thinking,” said Wallah, “and yes, it’s true.”
“Eddie,” said Jack. “You mean –”
“Three days at most,” said Wallah. “I’m sorry.”
“Then I’m taking you both back.”
“And if you do you’ll doom all of Toy City. You can’t do this on your own, even with the help of Dorothy. You need us to succeed.”
“But I can’t risk Eddie’s life.”
“He wouldn’t hear of you trying to save him at the expense of all the others. You know Eddie well enough – do you think that he would?”
“No,” said Jack. “I do not. Eddie is –”
“Noble,” said Wallah, “is the word you’re looking for.”
“But I must tell him.”
“I think that’s only fair. And by my calculations it is something that you should do now. And fast.”
“Fast?” said Jack.
“Very fast,” said Wallah. “Trust me.”
“I do.”
And Jack slipped Wallah back inside his trenchcoat and then Jack left that toilet at the hurry-up.
And Jack returned to Dorothy and Eddie.
Or at least.
“Dorothy?” asked Jack. “Where is Eddie?”
Dorothy looked up at Jack and said, “Why are you asking me that?”
“Because I left him here with you,” said Jack, “but he’s not with you now.”
“No,” said Dorothy. “That’s not what you did. You went off to the toilet and then you returned. And I commented on how impressed I was that you had managed to clean up your trenchcoat in such a short time. Which rather confuses me now, as it is all dirty again. But then you said that you wanted a quiet word for a moment outside with Eddie and then the two of you left. And now you’ve come out of the toilet again – how did you do that?”
Jack’s jaw did a terrible dropping, and then he gave vent to a terrible scream.
16
Jack left the Golden Chicken Diner at the hurry-up.
He sprinted through the open doors and out into the sunlit street beyond. The sunlit Californian street that was Hollywood Boulevard.
Jack was a very desperate lad. He sprinted here and sprinted there in desperation, up this way and down that way, but all to no avail. Passers-by did passings-by, but none paid Jack any heed.
Jack took now to shouting at and accosting passers-by.
“Have you seen him?” Jack shouted at a large man in a larger suit of orange plaid. “Small bear, about this size? Being led along by me, but it wasn’t me?” The large man thrust past Jack, continued on his way.
Jack started on another. Dorothy’s hands caught Jack by the shoulders. “Stop it, Jack,” said Dorothy. “You’ll get yourself arrested.”
“But I have to find him, time is running out.”
“He could be anywhere now – he was probably taken in a car.”
“A car?” and Jack made fists. “I need a car. Do you have one?”
“Of course I don’t have a car. Do I look like I could afford a car? And I’m too young to drive, anyway.”
“I’ve got to find him. How could you let this happen?” Jack turned bitter eyes upon Dorothy. “I left him in your care.”
Dorothy’s eyes weren’t bitter, but they flashed an emerald fire. “You did no such thing,” she said to Jack. “You left him with me in the hope that I could win him over.”
“You’re part of this.” Jack made fists and shook them all about. “You’re in on it. This is all a conspiracy.”
“Now you are being ridiculous. Come back inside and sit down with me and then we’ll talk about this.”
“I’ve no time to talk. They’ve got Eddie and if I can’t get to him quickly he’ll die.”
“If they’d wanted to kill him,” said Dorothy, “they could have done it there and then in the diner. Ripping a teddy bear apart would hardly have caused the customers much concern.”
Jack put his hands to his head and raked them through his hair. Knocked his hat off, stooped to pick it up, kicked it instead and watched as it rolled beneath the wheels of a passing car to be ground to an ugly flatness.
Dorothy stifled a smirk. This was no laughing matter.
“Let’s go inside,” she said.
“I can’t.” There was a tear in Jack’s left eye. “It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have left him. I should have protected him at all times. If any harm comes to him –”
“No harm will come to him.”
“That’s a very foolish thing to say.”
“I’ve said that if they’d wanted to kill him they would have. They’ve taken him captive, probably as a hostage, probably to use to bargain with you.”
“With me?”
“To get you to stay out of their affairs.”
“That’s not going to happen,” said Jack. “I’ll track this other me down and if he’s harmed Eddie, I’ll kill him. I’ll probably have to kill him anyway, but if he’s harmed Eddie, I’ll kill him worse.”
Dorothy’s green eyes fairly glittered. “You really love that bear,” she said. “You really, truly do.”
“Of course I do,” Jack said. “He’s my bestest friend. We’ve been through a lot together, Eddie and me. And he’s saved my life more then once.”
“Come back inside, then, and we’ll work out some plan together. We’ll get him back somehow.”
Jack followed Dorothy back to the diner. “I’m so sorry, Eddie,” he said.
Eddie Bear was rather sorry, too. Sorrowful was Eddie Bear, puzzled somewhat, scared a bit and quite uncomfortable also.
He was all in the darkness and all getting bumped about.
“How did I let this happen?” Eddie asked himself. “How could I have been so stupid? I’m as stupid as. How didn’t I know that it was the wrong Jack? Why didn’t I smell a rat?”
But Eddie Bear had not smelled a rat and neither had he smelled that that Jack wasn’t Jack. So to speak.
And this worried Eddie more than most things.
“I don’t understand this.” Eddie sniffed at the air. Hot air, it was, and humid, too, as can be the way of it in the boot of a car on a hot and sunlit day. Eddie sniffed the air some more and then he growly grumbled. “I’ve lost my sense of smell,” he growly grumbled. “I can’t smell anything. Why has this happened? Do I have a cold? This can’t be right – my nose has never let me down before and OUCH!”
The car, in whose boot Eddie was presently domiciled, bumped over something, possibly a sleeping policeman, and Eddie was bounced about something wicked.
“I’ll have things to say when I get out of here,” said Eddie Bear.
“And he’ll die,” Jack told Dorothy over another coffee. “He has three days left at the most. If I don’t get him back to his own world before then, he’ll die.”
“And how did you arrive at this revelation?” Dorothy asked.
“I have my sources,” said Jack. “Let’s leave it at that.”
“So we have to do something fast.”
“You don’t have to do anything,” said Jack. “I’ll do this on my own.”
“We’ve been through all that. You need me, Jack. You won’t last long here on your own. You’ll get stopped by the police, they’ll ask you for ID, you won’t have any and they’ll take you off to juvenile hall.”
Jack did grindings of the teeth. He felt utterly helpless. Utterly impotent. Neither of these were nice ways to feel. The second in particular didn’t bear thinking about. So Jack did some heavy thinking about other things. And certain thoughts entered his head. Regarding his most recent conversation with Wallah the calculating pocket.