“WELL, who won today?” Mrs. Doane asked. Her cheeks dimpled as she smiled.
Johnny's grin spread from ear to ear. “We did! Seven to six! Where's Michael, Ma? I have to tell him about it!”
“Oh? And what did you do — get a home run or something like that?” she chuckled.
“No. But I got two hits. And I scored the winning run!”
“Well! How about that?”
Johnny looked around anxiously. “Where is he, Ma? Where's Michael?”
“He went for a walk with Sand.” Suddenly her smile left her face. Her brown eyes grew worried. She walked to the window and pulled the curtain aside. “Oh, dear!” she said. “Those black clouds are coming this way fast. It'll be raining hard in a few minutes.”
Johnny grew worried, too. He forgot about the baseball game. Right away the only thing he was interested in was Michael. He saw a streak of lightning dart across the black distant sky. He heard the soft roll of thunder.
He went up to his mother. “Mom, where did Michael go for a walk? Did you see him?”
She pointed out the window. “Down the road toward the Turner farm. But he should be coming back any minute. He must have been gone an hour or more. Maybe he's visiting the Turners.”
“What if he isn't?” Johnny said.
She turned and put comforting hands on his shoulders. “Oh, quit worrying your little head about Michael. Sand is with him. And you know that Sand takes care of him almost as well as any one of us.”
She looked at him that way for a while. Then she gently took her hands off his shoulders and looked out the window again. Johnny saw the smile fade a little. He saw the two tiny lines of worry come to the corners of her eyes.
She's just trying to make me believe she isn't worried, Johnny thought. But she is. She's as worried as I am. I bet that Michael didn't go to the Turner farm. The Turner farm is two miles away. He never walked that far with Sand, unless Mom or Dad or I was with him.
“Phone to them, Mom. See if he is at the Turners'.”
She phoned. After a few moments she put the phone down. “He isn't there,” she said softly.
“I'm going after him,” Johnny said. He started for the door.
“Johnny, wait!” cried his mother. “I'll go with you! And put on your raincoat!”
“Oh, Ma! You can't come with me!” said Johnny. “I can run a lot faster than you can! You — you'll just slow me up!”
She stared at him. A tear shone in her eye and she dried it with the bottom of her apron. “But how would you know where to look, Johnny?”
“I'll know,” he said. “I'll get my slicker, and Michael's, too.”
He ran to his bedroom closet, yanked out the slicker, put it on, and pulled the hood over his head. Then he took out Michael's, folded it, stuck it under his slicker, and ran out of the house.
Johnny felt big drops of rain strike his cheeks and his raincoat. They bounced on the walk. He ran out to the road and down the way his mother had said Michael had gone.
The road was long and narrow and spotted with holes. On one side were deep woods, getting darker all the time. On the other side was a ditch lined with pussy willows, cattails, and chokecherry trees. Johnny scared up a pair of black crows perched on one of the trees. Caw! Caw! the crows screamed as they flew off.
The rain came down harder and harder. It quickly washed the road and filled up the holes. Lightning pierced the sky and thunder boomed. Johnny kept running, his shoes kicking up a spray of water until his pant legs were soaking wet.
Kee … rack! Tr … r … urnble! The sky opened wide and the rain fell heavily. I can't stop, thought Johnny. I can't! They might be at the bridge!
The bridge was far ahead of him. He could barely see the white posts on both sides. If Mom said that Michael should have been home by now, maybe he and Sand were under the bridge. It was a steel bridge. A shallow creek flowed underneath it. Johnny had taken Michael and Sand there often. He had set his minnow trap in the water. The trap caught minnows and Johnny let Michael hold them in his hand for a while before putting them in the water pail to take home to his father.
The creek was shallow most of the time. There were places you could easily walk across. But when it stormed, the creek rose high. It roared like a lion and twisted and frothed like a dragon.
At last Johnny reached the bridge. “Michael!” he shouted against the noise of the storm. “Michael!”
The only answer he received was the beat of the heavy rain. He crawled between the steel cables and started down the steep rocks. His heart pounded. Tears mixed with the rain on his cheeks. If Michael and Sand are not here, then the rain must've …
Wuff! Johnny's heart skipped a beat. Wuff! Sand's bark!
“Michael! Sand!” Johnny cried.