The air felt thick and heavy, and Hazel had to remind herself to breathe. She reached for the aquarium. “L-l-look, Bobby,” she stuttered. “This is Bess’s frog, but maybe we can help you find a frog of your own.”
“I already have a frog,” he said, snatching the aquarium back. “But you two can help me find some food for him. He’s hungry.”
“Give it back, Bobby,” Hazel said.
“I’ll give it back later, after I see him eat something,” he replied.
Bobby walked off toward the bushes where Bess had been looking for crickets before. He was still carrying her sister’s frog.
Hazel didn’t know what to do. She knew it was wrong for Bobby to take her sister’s frog and she didn’t want to look for bugs anyway. Was he telling the truth when he said he’d give the frog back after he fed him?
Hazel pretended to search the ground for crickets, kicking over rocks and dirt while she tried to think of a plan. Off in the distance, she saw the old red barn. She knew her mom and grandparents were busy cleaning it. She could easily run over and tell on Bobby, but then, he did say he was going to give the frog back. The sun beat down on her head, causing her face to sweat. She hated sweating. She hated bugs, and she didn’t think her new friend was very nice either. Hazel’s ribbon fell from her bun again. She went to pick it up and noticed a little cricket poking its head out from under a stick.
She jumped. “I think I found one, Bess!” she said. “I found a bug!”
Bobby ran over to Hazel. He set Froggenstein down by her feet. “Oh yeah. A juicy cricket. Killer will like that.”
Had he already renamed her sister’s frog? This was worse than she’d thought. He probably wasn’t planning on giving the frog back.
Hazel looked around for her sister. She knew she had to be mad. But Bess was nowhere to be found. Maybe she’d gone to the barn to tell on Bobby.
“Where’s Bess?” she asked.
Bobby pounced on the cricket, scooping it into his thick freckled hands. “She said something about going by herself to play your grandpa’s video game. She sounded crazy. Are you sure your family isn’t crazy?”
Did he just say Bess went by herself to their grandpa’s video game?” That meant the time machine!
The cricket jumped out of Bobby’s hands, and he bent down to pick it up again. While Bobby was distracted, Hazel knew it was her chance. She grabbed Froggenstein and took off up to the house, looking back every once in a while to make sure Bobby wasn’t following her. She needed to catch up to Bess, and fast.
“Hey! Where are you going with my frog?” He yelled, running after her toward the house.
She wanted to yell back that it wasn’t his frog, but she just kept running.
As soon as she got to the backdoor, she raced inside. She could hear Bobby still yelling after her.
She closed the door and ran up the stairs. “Bobby wouldn’t come into the house without asking, would he?” she wondered. “Maybe, but not up to the attic.” She decided to take the stairs two at a time, just in case she was wrong. Her heart pounded underneath her t-shirt and she could hardly catch her breath. She hoped she wasn’t already too late.
The old wooden stairs of their grandparents’ farmhouse echoed under the weight of her feet as Hazel ran up them as fast as she could. Bess was too little to do this alone. Why hadn’t she stood up for her sister sooner?
Just as she was about to open the attic door, she heard it. The familiar rumbling sounds of the time machine’s engine. The floor began to rock under her feet.
Her hand shook over the door knob. Could she make it in time?