Free The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past by Hillel Cooperman

he didn’t even see
the huge dog right next to his sister.
    This was definitely the pair that
Binny had been worried about. Zach stopped in his tracks still a
few feet from his target.

    §

    Binny didn’t know how crying worked,
but if there was a tank somewhere in her body that stored tears, it
was now empty. Dry as a bone. She simply couldn’t cry anymore. Her
eyes were puffy, and her whole body slumped as she reversed her
course through the forest, trudging back towards home.

    §

    “ It’s time to come home,
Cassie.” Zach called to his sister. He tried to sound assertive and
at ease, but the nervousness in his voice was still slightly
evident. His trepidation was surprisingly coming less from the
large dog, than from the dog’s owner, who seemed just a little too
comfortable around Zach’s baby sister.
    Cassie kept petting the dog. Had she
not heard him? Zach got an inkling of how his parents must feel
when Cassie ignored them. The moment stretched out for Zach as he
wondered how he would get his baby sister away from the man without
having to get any closer to either the man or the dog. Zach felt a
nervous anger rising in him — Binny was right to be concerned. The
man seemed to be waiting for Cassie to respond.
    After an uncomfortably long pause, the
man finally broke the silence. “Cassie, you should listen to your
brother.” The dog seemed to take that as a cue and started heading
back down the hill, pulling the man behind him. As the man started
after his determined pet, he added, almost as an afterthought,
“Take good care of your sister, Zach.”
    Whether it was the relief
of the man and the dog leaving, Zach didn’t know. But it took a
couple of seconds after they had left for Zach to realize that the
man knew his name. The man knew his name . What might normally have been
an offhand remark now felt like a warning. How did the man know his name?

    §

    Binny had no interest in seeing
anyone, let alone the strange man who had been talking to her
sister. But there he was, coming down the hill towards her. Didn’t
he have anything better to do than patrol the neighborhood with
that big dog of his? Binny didn’t trust him. And she certainly
didn’t want him to see her like this.
    Binny walked faster and kept her head
down. She couldn’t tell if the man was looking her way, because she
was doing her best to avoid eye contact as she walked past. Only
when she was clear of him did she realize she was almost on top of
her sister and her brother, standing right where the man had just
come from.

    §

    When Binny arrived, Zach was yelling
at Cassie for straying too far from the house. He was pretty
angry.
    “ You were more than two
houses away from home.” Zach lectured his baby sister.
    “ No I wasn’t.” Cassie
responded angrily.
    “ One. Two. Three. Four.”
Zach counted the houses up the street. “Four is not two. It is
four. And the rule is two. Not four.” Zach was really upset
now.
    “ Binny said I could break
all the rules.” Cassie was now pointing at her sister.
    “ You said what?” her
brother turned to Binny accusingly. Binny’s eyes widened as she
sputtered in defense.
    There was something different in her
brother’s voice. “I didn’t say that. And I told that girl next door
to keep an eye on her. It’s not my fault that she didn’t
listen.”
    “ Yes you did!” screamed
Cassie. You said I could break all the rules and go wherever I
want. You said it! You said it!”
    “ Are you insane??” Zach
glared at Binny.
    “ I, I, I…” Binny
stuttered.
    “ What is that smell?” Zach
started wondering. “Is that you? You smell awful.”
    Cassie didn’t miss a beat and held her
nose with a loud “Pee-yoo”.
    “ I sat in dog
poop.”
    Zach started laughing, and it turned
out Binny’s tear tank wasn’t empty after all. At the sight of Binny
sobbing, Zach stifled further laughter and turned serious,
awkwardly trying to comfort her with a soft, “Sorry. Sorry.