It took a moment, but this time there came an answer. His voice was clear, but when he said his name, it was almost as if it were a question. “Ollie?” Then he lifted his head and looked directly at Lefty. “I belong . . .” But he trailed off and looked away again.

Clocker shuffled a little closer. “The hole you’re digging, Ollie— What is it for?”

Ollie raised his head once more.

“To forget,” he answered. He placed his patchpaw to his chest. “To forget this.” He pressed against his bell, a single faint chime sounding.

“I can take it out,” he explained. “It’s a pretend heart. It doesn’t do anything. Not really. It’s just an old bell. It’s just pretend.” And for a mournful moment Ollie felt a surge of hate at the idea of pretend. “It’s fake! It’s phony! It isn’t real! It’s just pretend!”

Again, Clocker knew to say nothing.

“But hearing it . . . ,” Ollie went on. “I don’t want to hear it anymore. If I don’t hear it, then maybe I’ll forget.” Ollie looked into the hole. Then he looked at the others for a long time, his shoulders sagging. “I can’t forget,” Ollie said at last. “I guess I’ll never ever be able to.”

They were junk; they understood.

In the distance they could hear a frantic metallic plucking sound. Ting! Ting! Ting!

Ollie whirled around.

Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!

Tinny? he wondered. Then, “TINNY!”

The little can bounced into the center of them. He was jumping up and down and ping-ponging off the different Junkyard Gang members, flicking his pull tab so feverishly he sounded like he was sending some kind of crazy Morse code.

“Ting-ta-ting-ting-ting. TaTaTaTaTa ting-ting-ta-ting.”

Ollie was superglad to see his friend, but he had no idea what Tinny was trying to tell him.

“I speak Can,” said Topper. He listened closely, trying to grasp the rat-a-tat-tat of Tinny’s message.

“W at’s e saying?!” typed Keys.

“Gimme a sec. I’m trying,” said Topper. “Okay. Something about a kid, a Hume named Bilky.”

Bilky? “No, it’s Billy!” Ollie corrected. “Billy! He’s my kid! Is he okay, Tinny?!”

Topper grew increasingly grim as Tinny began ting-ing again. “He’s in trouble,” Topper said at last. “Big trouble.”

“Where is he?” Ollie demanded, jumping up.

“Ting-ting-ting ting-ting-ting.”

Ollie felt frantic. “What’s he saying? What’s he saying!”

“I’m tryin’ . . . the . . . old carnival! The one that caved in!” Topper turned to the others. “Zozo’s got him,” he said ominously.

“Zozo?!” they all repeated, just as ominously.

“Not good,” added Pet Rock.