We spotted the rest of the guests heading down the bottom of the Golden Path on their way to the gatehouse. Some of them had already gathered outside the door.
“What are they all doing?” Olivia asked me.
I had no idea. The gatehouse was a small building attached to a stable where we housed donkeys. There was no reason for guests to be there.
“Livia!” the duchess shrieked when she saw us. “What happened to you?”
“What’s going on?” Olivia asked.
“You tell me, young lady. You’re covered in mud!”
“Oh my goodness, you’re right.” Olivia feigned surprise.
“You were with him.” The duchess snapped her fingers in my face. “Boy! Boy!”
“He’s not deaf, Mother,” Olivia said.
“Well, then he should be able to hear this clearly,” the duchess pronounced. Her face was sharp and beautiful, and very frightening when she was angry. “Stay away from my daughter.”
“Daddy!” Olivia turned to her father, who had been standing by ineffectually. For such a large and powerful man, he didn’t seem quite equipped to deal with an argument between the duchess and Olivia.
“Oh, Everly, there’s no need to be harsh,” the duke offered. “This boy doesn’t know what you’re saying.”
“Yes, he does!” Olivia said, now angry at both her parents.
I’d just been screamed at, insulted, and argued over in the space of about a minute, and I still had my own family to worry about. I decided it’d be best to bid the Bradshires farewell.
“Buh—bb-buh-buh—” I stammered as a means of excusing myself, and made all the necessary bows as quickly as I could.
“I’m sorry, Marlin,” Olivia mouthed as I waved and backed away. I nodded to show everything was fine but decided I wouldn’t be talking to her anytime soon. It was always best to leave the guests alone. Though I did need to push through a horde of them to get to the gatehouse.
“Little Marlin,” said Leedo Flute, who was guarding the door, “they just dragged your father back here on a gurney. Guess the jaguar got him after all.”
A hollow pain opened in my chest. “Wh-wh-WH-what?” I gasped.
Leedo’s grim face was beset by twitching. His right eye wrinkled involuntarily and his lip jerked up.
“Bah-ha-ha-ha!” he laughed uproariously. My face soured and I pushed him hard in the gut. He grabbed my arm with his strong, thin hands and easily tossed me to the side.
“I’m only joking, little Marlin. He’s right inside there and has been asking for you about a quarter of an hour. Where have you been?”
I pushed by him and through the wide wooden door. Leedo slammed it shut behind me.
Ronan Rackham turned around, his face tensed and eyes wide. All the nights in the bush had ravaged his nerves, and loud noises tended to startle him. I always thought of it as his Jungle Look.
Several days of stubble was shading his chin, and sweat from his forehead streamed into a bushy mustache. The khaki sleeves on his shirt were rolled up, and I could see the thick forearm veins that popped out even when he held a teacup.
My father was an old man. He had turned sixty just last winter, but he looked like men half his age. The only place his years showed was in the wrinkles near his eyes when he smiled. He liked to say that he’d lived an entire life before having children, and Tim and I were his second life.
The Jungle Look melted into a smile.
“Marlin!” he bellowed. “Where have you been?”
“Ay-ay-uh-uh-uh,” I stuttered.
“Yes, where were you?” repeated Tim with a smirk, trying to start trouble. “Tell us.”
Father ignored him. He pulled me close and mussed my hair with a dirty hand. Then he hooked both our heads into his elbows and drew us into his chest. “Boys, boys, boys!” he chanted as he smothered us in his shirt. We gasped for breath and giggled, relieved at his good mood. “You would have been eaten alive out there!”
Tim and I broke free and we mock battled him, punching his arms and shoulders as he pressed us backward by our necks.
“I wish you two had been with me,” he said. “You’d be dead, of course, but it would have been a nice way to die.”
“So you killed the jaguar?” Tim said, grabbing hold of his arm. “Can I have its skull?”
“Well . . .” Father gave us a small smile and glanced at Manray Lightfoot, one of our newer employees, who was carrying a chain into the gatehouse stable. “First I want to see that Paw. Have it out!”
The Paw. He never told us where he got it, or what it was, but that never mattered. It was a dry and crusty thing that looked something like a lemur’s hand. Its tiny knuckles were balled up in a fist. The thing was ghastly to look at, and it smelled awful. But I would do anything to have it.
“Right here,” Tim said, and pulled it out of his breast pocket. Tim always kept it close when he had it, which was most of the time.
“Good,” Father said. “We’re about to have a game.”
Sometimes Father challenged us to do something that required bravery or smarts. The winner got to hold the Paw until he did something especially bad or the other one did something especially good. Then it was transferred again.
I usually got it only when Tim did something bad, and then I’d quickly lose it; I never had it for more than a day, because Tim won most of the games. He was stronger, faster, and braver. Plus he could talk.
“What’s the game?” Tim asked excitedly. He’d had the Paw for the last two weeks straight. I tried not to drive myself crazy by counting, but Tim kept a count, and made sure I was duly informed every evening at dinner.
“The game is afoot,” Father said, snatching the Paw from Tim. “And closer than you think.”
Just then the door banged open.
“Mr. Rackham,” Leedo complained. “it’s mad out here!”
“Captain Rackham!” the guests called out. “Captain Rackham!”
“What do you want me to do?” Leedo threw up his arms.
Father gave us a knowing look. “Slight pause for interference,” he said. “We mustn’t leave a bunch of sweaty snobs waiting.”
“Yes, Father. You should go out there,” Tim said, feigning worry. “I tried to control the group as best I could, but Marlin abandoned us when we were on the tour, and it wasn’t easy leading the whole thing by myself.”
He threw me under the carriage, the tattler. I tried to put together a statement in my mind explaining my absence in the fewest words possible, leaving out the bit about letting a guest be mauled by an elephant, of course.
But Father casually patted Tim on the shoulder and said with exaggerated patience, “You get better with experience.”
Then he winked at me and walked to the gatehouse door.
Tim’s jaw dropped. I knew he’d make me pay for it later, but it was worth it.
The gatehouse door opened and the red setting sun blazed behind the crowd, casting everyone in silhouette. They waved and called out, “Captain Rackham! Captain Rackham!” pushing each other for a better look. This was always my favorite part of Greeting Day. A special pride welled up in me, hearing them cheer him. Tim and I stood to either side of our father, soaking up all the glory we could.
“Hello and welcome,” Father said quietly. “Thank you all for journeying to our zoo.” Immediately the chattering crowd went silent. I’d seen him use this trick before. Father never had to shout to get attention. “I’m so sorry that I wasn’t able to greet you properly at the docks. But I trust that my sons Marlin and Timothy hosted you admirably.”
Tim blinked hard and his mouth twitched. Father had said my name first.
“I would have joined you,” he went on, “but my latest expedition went on longer than I hoped. I promise I’ll make it up to you with the wonderful—”
“Another adventure, Captain?” a voice called from the crowd.
Father furrowed his brow and searched the silhouettes for the source of this interruption. A large, round, familiar shape separated itself from the others and approached us.
Slowly, Father unknitted his brow and curled his lips into what had all the features of a smile but was missing some vital ingredient.
“Your Grace,” Father said through his teeth, and dipped into a deep bow. The guests near the gatehouse bowed and tipped their hats too. The duke’s smile was genuine, and he laughed and waved at the guests.
“Good to see you, Admiral,” Father said stiffly. “And Your Grace. So many titles now, hard to choose just one.”
Guests in the crowd chuckled at this.
“I’ve brought my family with me!” the duke said loudly, as if he were onstage and performing a show for the other guests. He gestured to one short and one tall silhouette to my right. “Let me introduce my wife, Everly, the Duchess of Bradshire, and my daughter, Lady Olivia.”
Olivia and her mother made their entrances like they were accustomed to this sort of thing. They came to the front of the gatehouse and curtsied first to the crowd and then to my father. The duchess refused to make eye contact with any of us, but Olivia shot me a smile. My plan to avoid Olivia and the Bradshires was not off to a good start. But I smiled to let her know I was enjoying her mother’s discomfort as well.
“And these are my sons, once again, Timothy and Marlin,” Father said flatly. We looked at each other, not knowing what to do, until Father pinched us. Then we bowed.
“Beauties and the Beasts!” a guest wearing a green driving jacket called out. The duke chuckled at this, and the rest of the group followed suit. I suppose our two families together did make quite a sight. One was the height of English society, and the other made a living running a zoo in the jungle. But Olivia, in her muddy dress, looked like she belonged more with our lot.
“We’re delighted to be here,” the duke said.
“And delighted you’re still in business,” added the duchess while looking over my father’s shoulder.
“Why wouldn’t we still be in business?” Father bristled.
“It’s a lovely resort, Captain Rackham,” interjected the duke. “Even more grand than in the pamphlets we’ve seen. We are just delighted to be here and—”
“You’ll have to excuse us, Your Grace,” Father said, much louder than necessary. “And to you all, I apologize as well, but I have urgent business to attend with my sons.” He shot me a look. “I will properly greet you tonight at the Welcoming Gala. Leedo, please show the guests to their cabins.”
Leedo sighed with exasperation, and Father gave him a quick kick in the shin.
“Captain—” the duke protested, but Father pretended he didn’t hear and pushed Tim and me back into the gatehouse. Leedo was unenthusiastically addressing the crowd as the door closed.
“England not big enough for them?” Father said to himself. “Have to lord over my land as well?”
He spun violently and punched the wall, cracking it.
Tim and I jumped back and locked eyes. Father stayed facing the damaged wall. I watched his enormous shoulders rise and fall as he breathed. Never once had Father turned his strength on either of us, but I’d seen him crack enough walls to imagine what it’d feel like.
“Don’t mind me, boys,” Father said. “Just a bit of business between me and that one is all. Come on, now.” Father slapped our backs. “Game’s afoot, and it’s a good one.”