asked, peering outside the window.
I walked over and peeked out. It sounded like a large truck was coming up the driveway.
“They’re early tonight,” I whispered.
A shadow fell on the wall. We instinctively took a step back.
We didn’t hear voices, only sounds of the truck engine, doors opening and shutting, creaking hinges, something heavy being dragged or moved. Doors slamming shut. Then urgent footsteps. We strained to listen, but it was hard to make anything out. Whoever was out on the driveway wasn’t talking.
“What the hell?” Tim said.
“Shhh,” I whispered. “It’s the full moon crowd.”
“Who the heck are they?”
“I’ve no idea.”
“Does this happen every full moon night?”
“Yes, but usually after midnight.”
“This is freaky, you know that, eh?” Tim asked.
“Yes.” I looked at him desperately. “I know.”
“I think your aunt’s in the drug business.”
“Drugs?” My eyes widened.
“Maybe we should call the cops.”
“No!” I said too quickly. “I don’t want to get into—I mean, I don’t want her to get into trouble.”
Tim raised an eyebrow.
“Maybe she’s just having friends over for a late supper,” I said.
“Seriously?”
“Maybe they’re having a secret full-moon dinner out on the lawn,” I said, grasping at straws.
Tim’s eyes widened. “Is your aunt into crazy full-moon orgies?”
“Well….”
“I don’t care what they’re doing, as soon as these old geezers quiet down, you and me are getting out.”
“But they’ll spot us.”
“Not if we get out on the quiet,” Tim said. “I’m not staying stuck down here, while they’re partying it up upstairs. We’ve got our own party to go to, remember?”
He’s right. I didn’t want to stay cooped down here either.
“Hey,” I said, “let me make sure everyone’s inside first and the front door’s closed, so we don’t bump into anyone in the yard, okay?” I whispered, signaling him to be silent.
He nodded.
I walked over to my door and put my ear to it. Not a sound from outside. No one came to the basement other than me anyway. All I had to do was tiptoe up the stairway and peek into the kitchen to see if I could see or hear anything. I quietly turned the doorknob.
Will I finally get to see these full-moon strangers?
“There’s gonna be a w-e-r-e-w-o-l-f,” Tim sang in a low voice behind me.
“Shhh….” I said, trying not to giggle.
“If I see one, I’ll knock it out,” Tim said with a wink. He stationed himself behind me, holding out his bottle of rum like a weapon. I pulled the door open. And my heart jumped straight into my mouth.
Standing outside the door with her hands on her hips and her dog at her feet was the formidable Mrs. Rao.
Behind her, Ashok was holding my kitchen mop upside down.
Seeing Tim, Mr. Raj Kapur let out a volley of barks.
“No!” I cried out, horrified.
“I knew it!” Mrs. Rao roared, pointing at Tim. “I knew we had an intruder! Get out before I set my dog on you!”
Mr. Raj Kapur didn’t waste a second. He rushed toward Tim, barking like mad. Tim jumped onto the bedside table near the window. Mr. Raj Kapur balanced himself on his short hind legs and jumped on the table after him.
Tim struggled to open the window. Now on the table, Mr. Raj Kapur jumped once, then twice. The third time, he sunk his teeth into Tim’s left bum cheek, which I’d found oh so cute only minutes earlier.
“No!” I cried. “Get down, Mr. Raj Kapur! Let him go!”
“Get him!” Mrs. Rao shouted, gesturing madly. Ashok waved his mop with a wild look in his eyes but didn’t budge from his safe spot behind Mrs. Rao.
“Argh!” Tim said, clutching his bottom. “Damn dog!” He let out a wild kick.
Mr. Raj Kapur went flying across the room with a piece of Tim’s jeans tucked tightly between his teeth. He smacked right onto Mrs. Rao’s stomach. She doubled over from the force and slammed into Ashok, knocking them both down to the floor.
She sat on the floor on top of Ashok, her legs spread apart, her chest heaving, her hair askew, looking half-shocked, half-enraged. The mop was now on her head and Mr. Raj Kapur was on her lap, a fiery, barking ball of fur.
Squashed underneath them both, Ashok looked terrified. With considerable effort, he squirmed out from under his heavy-set boss and stood up shakily. Then he put his hands together and started to prance around Mrs. Rao like he was engaging in a strange worship ritual. I guessed that was the closest he could come to saying sorry.
Mr. Raj Kapur wasn’t done yet, though. He jumped off his owner’s lap, spat out the cloth, and, snarling like a mini tiger, ran back to the table as fast as his stubby legs could take him, and readied to take another shot at Tim’s bum cheek.
“Get away, you piece of crap!” Tim shouted, half-way out of the window now. He twisted his body a few times to wiggle out. The bottle of rum in his pocket slipped out and came crashing on the floor, sending glass shards everywhere.
“Shoot,” Tim said, looking down at the mess. The smell of cheap rum filled the room and the red booze oozed across my carpet. Mr. Raj Kapur stopped his barking immediately, sniffed the spill, and started to lick it.
“No-o-o-o!” Mrs. Rao screeched, waving her hands, still on the floor, her face a dark crimson now. “Don’t touch that! Come here, my baby. Come here!”
I looked up to see Tim almost out of the window, his feet dangling on the ledge.
“Be careful, Tim!”
“Get out of there, Asha!” he yelled. “Follow me! Get out!”
His shirt tore on the window ledge.
“Jeezus!”
“Tim!” I brought my hands to my face.
When he’d come into my room through the window earlier that evening, he’d looked debonair, like a knight in shining armor coming to rescue me. Now, he looked like a scruffy thief trying to make an ungainly escape.
“If I see you again, I’ll have you arrested! You hear me!” Mrs. Rao shook her fist at Tim’s disappearing back. “You criminal! You thief!”
Mr. Raj Kapur stopped for a second to bark half-heartedly at no one in particular and went back to licking the spilled liquid.
Mrs. Rao struggled to get up. Ashok gingerly offered a frail hand to help her up, almost getting pulled down as he did.
“It’s Tim from school, Mrs. Rao,” I said to her. “He’s not a thief. He’s harmless. He’s my friend.”
“Oh, is that right?” Mrs. Rao snapped. “Is this what happens when I let you go to school? You let intruders in? You ungrateful tramp! I never let any of the other girls go to school. This is how you repay me for treating you so well? Well, I don’t ever want to see that boy or any other boy in my house again, you hear me?”
I nodded, trembling, worried what punishment she would mete out on me now.
“And when I say, stay in your room, I mean stay in your room!” She glared. “I don’t want to see your face till seven tomorrow at breakfast, you hear!”
Something outside banged, startling us all into silence.