WHEN ARCHER GOT HOME FROM SCHOOL THURSDAY afternoon, he was surprised to see Amy Pitsitakas following him away from the bus stop.
Maybe she’s taking a different route home, he thought. He kept walking.
But when he turned the corner onto Allen Court, he knew something was up. Amy should have gone straight, across Pekoe Street and onto Earl Grey Road. Archer turned around in a huff. “Are you stalking me, Amy?”
Her hands flew to her chin. “Why, yes, Archer Keaton,” she said. “You’ve caught me. But, in a way, it feels good that you finally know.” She ran to him suddenly and threw her arms around his neck. “Marry me, Archer Keaton!”
Then she fell away, cackling. She even rolled on the ground. Archer got over his shock at last and erupted into a series of his own honking, nasal laughter.
“Oh my gosh!” he said with a snort. “You freaked me out!”
He helped her to her feet, and eventually the laughter diminished and they wiped their eyes.
“But really,” he said, “what are you doing?”
“Kaylie must have told you,” she said.
“Uhm . . . no, she didn’t say anything to me.”
“She said you were taking care of Rigby’s exotic animals,” Amy explained. “She texted me, I guess around lunchtime. She told me I should come. I asked Rigby. He said he didn’t care.”
“Oh, well, that’s beautiful,” Archer said. “More hands make less work. I have to feed, water, and clean up, you know?”
“That’s no trouble,” she said. “I love animals. Kaylie knew that. How come you didn’t?”
Archer looked at his wrist. “Oh, look at the time,” he said, rushing toward his house.
“No you don’t!” Amy ran after him.
They charged up Archer’s front steps and into the living room. Buster and Kaylie were both already there.
“Brosef!” Buster said. “I can’t wait to see these gnarly critters.”
“Kaylie!” Archer said, pacing the living room. “This was supposed to be just you and me.”
“I know, Archer,” she said, her pigtails bouncing. “But Buster wanted to come too. Besides, he plays too many video games!”
“Dude,” Buster said, “so not cool.”
“Well, she’s right,” Archer said.
“Bogus,” Buster said.
“So, can Buster come?” Kaylie asked.
“I guess so,” Archer said.
“It’s a party, then,” Amy said.
“Starting to look that way,” Archer said. “I hope Rigby’s got enough cookies.”
“Did you say cookies?” Buster asked. “Rock on!”
With Doctor Who alert on his shoulder, Archer barked orders to his new helpers. At first, he had to repeat himself quite often due to the volume of gasps and explanations.
“Gorgeous, yep! Just gorgeous!” This from Amy.
“Righteous lizards!” Buster.
And lots and lots of “Awwww!” from Kaylie. Eventually, everyone settled into actually feeding, watering, and cleaning. “Amy, put some extra bamboo into the red panda pen. He eats more than you’d think. Oh, and make sure the heat lamp is on medium.”
“Medium,” she repeated. “Got it!”
“Dude, these guys are crazy!” Buster said, tossing mealworms into the meerkat pen. “Archer, come look.”
Archer wandered over and peered inside. To him, meerkats looked like big weasels or mongooses. Wait? What is the plural of mongoose? Mongeese? Archer had no clue, but the four of them were some cute little devils. They liked to stand up on their hind legs, and their faces, with dark brown eyes and constantly sniffing little pug noses, took on the most curious expressions.
“Watch this!” Buster said. He tossed in a mealworm. A meerkat snatched the food right out of the air.
“Whoa,” Archer said. “That is cool.”
“Check it.” Buster tossed in several mealworms at a time. The meerkats bobbed and darted, snagging each one before it could reach the safety of the bedding below.
“That is amazing!” Archer said. “Oh, and hey, did you try to take out the . . . uh . . .”
“The poop tray?” Buster asked.
“Yeah, the poop tray. Was it too heavy?”
“Naw,” Buster said. “It’s all good.”
Archer moved on to see how Kaylie was doing with the fennec foxes. He found her sitting on her knees, absolutely captivated by the big-eared desert dwellers. “I fed them the beetles like you said,” Kaylie explained. “They made a crunchy sound when they ate. Kinda gross, huh? I wouldn’t eat a beetle.”
“I don’t know,” Archer said. “Probably high in protein.”
“Ewww,” she said. Then her eyes traveled to Archer’s shoulder. “Oh, ohhh! Is that Doctor Who?”
“Sure is,” he said. “She’s a barn owl.”
“Tyto alba,” Kaylie said. “The common barn owl. Wait, did you say she?”
“Yeah, she’s a pretty little lady, isn’t she?”
“Those black button eyes and the soft white feathers, and gosh, she has a heart around her face.”
Archer cocked his head sideways. The owl did the same. Sure enough, Doctor Who had a very distinct, tawny-colored heart outlining her pure white face.
The afternoon went on like that, and it wasn’t long before the crew finished its chores. Surprisingly, it didn’t feel like a chore to Archer. And given the way the others were chattering excitedly, it probably didn’t feel like a chore to them either.
After making sure all the pens, cages, hutches, and tanks were secure, the group funneled out into the long part of the hallway. They turned at the stairs, but Archer lingered. “Hold up a sec,” he said. “Amy, c’mere. See that door?”
“Yep,” she said. “I wear glasses but can’t hardly miss something like that. Why?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But there’s something weird about it. Kaylie and Buster, head upstairs for a minute.” He led Amy over to within a foot of the door. “Do you hear anything?” Amy listened, slowly moving her head closer to the door. “I . . . don’t hear . . . Wait,” she said. She put her ear to the door and waited, her expression first curious, then uncertain, finishing out with a dose discomfort. “That’s kind of creepy.”
“I know,” he said. “Wish I knew how to get in.”
“Eww, really?” she said. “I don’t like that faint beeping sound. Makes me think of a hospital.”
He shrugged, and they went back to the stairs to begin their journeys home.
Archer lay in his bed and looked forward to a night of regular old dreaming. He’d done Dreamtreading two days running, so he needed at least a twenty-four-hour break. There was a faint knock on the door.
“Come in.”
The knob slowly turned, and a pink fuzzy slipper appeared, followed by the rest of Kaylie. “Nighty night, Archer,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Night, Kaylie,” he said. “Thanks for what?”
“Taking us to see the animals. I loved it.” She ran over and gave Archer a huge fuzzy footie-pajama hug.
He let her go, smiled, and patted her shoulder. “See you tomorrow,” he said.
“I can get you in,” she said.
Archer sat up. “What?”
“That door in Rigby’s basement,” she said. “I know how to get you in.”