“What time is it?” Philip asked when he and Emery left the garage.
“I don’t know. Gotta be near dinnertime.”
“We need to find out where Leon put the bag.”
“Go see if your mother’s ready for dinner.”
Philip hurried inside, Emery right behind him. His father sat on the sofa, a weary look on his face.
“Where’s Mom? When are we eating?”
“We may never eat again, Philip. At least until your mother finds her piece of jewelry.”
Philip sniffed the air. “Nothing’s cooking?”
“Nope.”
“We’ll be back.” He and Emery scooted out the front door.
“My cousin lives three blocks away, you know,” Emery pointed out as the boys rushed down the sidewalk.
“I know where he lives. Let’s run.”
Stopping impatiently at each corner to be certain no cars were coming, the two boys raced up in front of Leon’s house a few moments later. Philip banged on the front door.
“Suppose they’re eating or have company or something,” said Emery.
“Doesn’t matter. They’ll probably be happy to get Leon out of the way.”
“Good point.”
“Hi, guys!” Leon bubbled when he opened the door. “Wow! You guys never came to get me before.” He looked at Philip. “Got more cleaning to do?”
“No, Leon. You cleaned too good.”
“Yuk yuk. Yup, that’s me. Leon, the too-good cleaner.”
Emery interrupted. “Where’d you take the white bag, Leon?”
“Over to Gordon’s . . .”
“Take us,” cried Philip. “Now. As fast as you can.”
The boys didn’t allow Leon a moment to speak. They shushed him whenever he tried and pushed him forward when he slowed down.
“Why are you . . . don’t push . . . I’m going . . . all right,” Leon sputtered as he led his friends on. “There. There, all right? Sheesh.”
“That’s where Gordon lives?” asked Philip.
“Yeah, but . . .”
Philip shushed him. “No buts. That’s where you took the white bag? All the way there?”
“It wasn’t heavy, but . . .”
“I said no buts,” Philip shouted. “You stay here. Don’t move. Don’t do anything.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Emery. “Stay here, Leon.”
Leon shrugged, and the boys crossed the street.
The house the boys approached was smaller than the other houses on the block and looked a lot older. It had a front porch and lots of grass on both sides. A man came out of the house onto the porch and sat down. The boys paused as they stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the house. The man wasn’t young. He was short and had gray hair. He wore a blue button-up shirt and gray pants.
“You talk,” said Emery. “I don’t want to.”
“We just tell him we want to see Gordon, and we ask Gordon for the bag. Must be his son.”
“Or grandson.”
“Maybe. You see any white bags around?”
Emery scanned the front of the house. “Nope.”
Philip slowly advanced along the walkway leading to the front porch. The man noticed him and Emery and smiled. “Can I help you?”
Philip stopped short of the two steps leading up to the porch. “Hi,” he began.
“You got a white bag?” Emery burst out.
“Emery, shut up.”
“White bag?” the old man asked, perplexed.
Philip went on. “We’re friends of Leon. Can we see Gordon?”
“Oh. Leon, yes. He told you about Gordon?”
“Yeah,” said Emery. “Can we talk to him?”
“Yeah, we want to ask him something,” added Philip.
The old man looked surprised and laughed. “You can try. Gordon,” he called. “Come here, Gordon.”
A short ruff came from inside the house, and a moment later a brown and black dachshund slithered through a square, hinged panel in the front door of the house. The boys stared at the dog, who stood out of range of the door as it swung back into position.
They heard the man laugh and looked his way. “Go ahead and talk to him. Ask him anything you want. Come here, Gordon.” The man patted his lap and the long, low dog padded over and stood up so his front paws were on the man’s leg. The man lifted Gordon into his lap, and the dog waddled in a clumsy circle and settled down to face the boys.
Emery spoke first. “That’s Gordon?”
“Sure. Your friend Leon likes to visit him.”
“My friend Leon is a nut,” Philip cried. He grabbed Emery’s arm and pulled him down the walkway and across the street. They marched up to Leon.
“Your friend Gordon is a dog?” asked Philip. “You sent me and Emery across the street to talk to a dog?”
“I didn’t send you. You went.”
“You told us you had a friend named Gordon,” said Emery. “How could you give a bag of Philip’s junk to a dog?”
“It’s not junk,” snapped Philip. “Not all of it.”
“I didn’t say I gave it to a dog.”
“You said you gave it to Gordon!” Philip shouted.
“No, I didn’t.”
Philip tried to remember exactly what Leon had said.
“What did you say then?” asked Emery.
“I said I had a new friend Gordon, and I do. He’s better than a people friend. He doesn’t tease me or yell at me.”
“We don’t tease you or . . .” Philip stopped because he heard himself screaming as he spoke. “Well, we don’t tease you, anyway.”
“Where’s Philip’s white bag of stuff?” asked Emery.
Leon pointed across the street.
“You gave it to Gordon?” Philip cried. “You just said you didn’t give it to Gordon.”
“I didn’t say I gave it to Gordon. What would a dog do with it? And you call me dumb. I said I took the bag to Gordon’s. I gave the bag to Mr. Sorino. The man you talked to.”
“What did you give it to him for?” asked Philip.
“Go tell him you want the white bag back,” Emery ordered.
“Sure,” said Leon. “Why didn’t you ask me to do that before?”
Philip threw his arms up and started across the street again.
As the three boys walked, Emery asked, “What’s he want a bag of junk for?”
“Stop calling it junk!”
Leon explained. “He told me he finds good stuff and gets money.”
“Just go ask him for the white bag,” said Philip, in no mood for explanations. He stopped at the beginning of the walkway and waved Leon ahead.
“Hi, Leon,” said Mr. Sorino, giving a quick wave of his hand. Gordon still sat on his lap. “Your friends wanted to talk to Gordon.” He laughed, and Leon laughed along with him.
“Did they go woof woof woof?” Leon asked between laughs.
“I’ll woof you, Leon,” Philip said under his breath. “Get the bag.”
“The bag I gave you came from this boy.” Leon pointed at Philip, who gave Mr. Sorino an embarrassed smile. “I don’t know why he wants it back. It’s all junk.”
Philip glared at Leon a moment before saying, “There’s something in it. My mother lost something, and it’s probably in the bag.”
Philip’s heart took a happy jump when Mr. Sorino said, “Well, we don’t want your mother to lose anything. Let’s go look.”
The boys followed Mr. Sorino and Gordon around back and through a small door into a building that had once been a garage but no longer had the big, roll-up door that let the car go in and out. The two boys stopped and stared. All kinds of stuff, old and new, broken and not broken, lay on the floor and atop a handful of tables.
“Leon was nice enough to make a contribution to all of this. I was about to open your bag when I got hungry,” Mr. Sorino explained. “I just finished a sandwich when you boys showed up. You can take the whole bag with you if you want.”
“I gotta find a green pin in it in a hurry,” said Philip.
“Yeah, otherwise we won’t eat,” said Emery.
“Won’t eat?” Mr. Sorino looked puzzled, but merely said, “Let’s look then.”
Mr. Sorino lifted the bag onto the one empty table in the room. He gently tore open a hole in the side of the bag and began to dig out Philip’s stuff.
“It’s green,” Philip said, his heart beating harder. “Jewelry.”
“Ooop!” Mr. Sorino exclaimed, his eyes wide. He dug inside and came out with a green pin that sparkled in the light shining through a side window. “This must be it. How’d it get in there?”
“Yeah, Leon,” said Emery. “How’d it get in there?”
Leon moved his eyes around the room without looking at his two friends and didn’t answer.
“Well?” asked Philip.
Leon shrugged. “I guess it got scooped in. There was a lot of junk, you know.”
“Here,” said Mr. Sorino. “If you want to look through your stuff and take what you want, do it.”
Philip grabbed the pin and said, “I gotta get this home. Can I come back tomorrow morning and look through my stuff?”
“Sure. It’ll be right here.”
“Thanks a lot, mister.”
“Are you going, too, Leon?” asked Mr. Sorino.
Leon looked into the angry eyes of Philip and Emery. “No, I’ll play with Gordon a while.”
Philip and Emery left the garage and hurried back to Philip’s house.