We were on the way to the fire station when screaming and shouting pierced the air. It was Ezra’s mom. She was crying and calling his name out loud. Around her were the kids who had been playing hide-and-seek before. They were also calling him.
Reuven pulled Itzik out of the group. “What’s going on?”
“We were playing hide-and-seek and Ezra vanished. At first I thought he had found a really good hiding spot, but after he didn’t turn up for a while, we started looking for him. We can’t find him. His mother is afraid that maybe he ran into the road and got run over. He is so little that a car wouldn’t see him at all!” Itzik ran to join the searchers.
I didn’t know what to do. Should I go call the police to save Aviva or stay to help find Ezra. I was probably the last person to have seen him. Reuven was determined. He said that there were lots of people looking for Ezra and we wouldn’t be of much help, but Aviva’s life was in danger, and every moment might be crucial. He saw that I was still upset, so he said we would also tell the police about Ezra and they could send out search dogs, which would find him in a jiffy. Again, I was impressed by Reuven’s quick thinking, and I was glad he was with me. I still wasn’t sure if we’d go back to being friends, but at least at the moment he was speaking to me calmly, which was a step in the right direction.
We had almost reached the fire station when we heard shouting again. This time it was of joy and excitement.
“They found Ezra!” shouted Itzik as he ran past us.
“Who found him?” Reuven shouted.
“Aviva. Your sister! Didn’t you know?” Itzik’s voice was fading in the distance.
We quickly did an about-face and ran after Itzik. There was a large crowd near my house. Ezra’s mother was holding him in her arms. He looked on the verge of fainting and kind of bluish, but his eyes were open. In the middle of the crowd, Aviva stood beaming. She enjoyed being the center of attention. Reuven and I cut our way through the crowd.
“Aviva. Are you okay?” asked Reuven anxiously. That was what I had wanted to ask.
“One hundred percent fine,” laughed Aviva, and smiled a huge smile. Her beautiful face glowed.
“Tell me what happened!” demanded Reuven.
“Where did you find Ezra? How did you escape? Where is the spy?” I shot the questions at her. She smiled and cheerfully replied,
“After escaping from the spy’s apartment, I went back to the yard. I wanted to climb up the tree to see what he would do when he got back. Suddenly I heard some faint sounds. At first I couldn’t tell where they were coming from. Then I saw an old refrigerator and heard sounds coming from inside. I opened the door and there was Ezra, almost totally suffocated. I picked him up and brought him here. Whoever left that refrigerator open is nuts! If I ever catch him, I don’t know what I’ll do!” She reddened with anger as she said that last sentence. I lowered my gaze and kept mum. What could I say? That I hadn’t realized that I’d left the door of the refrigerator open? Why would I be to blame anyway? Was it my refrigerator? I wasn’t the one who had thrown it out. If anyone was guilty of anything, it was the spy. Not me. Anyway, nothing horrible happened. They found Ezra, and he was alive and well. There was no need to make so much fuss about nothing.
“But how did you manage to escape?” Reuven asked.
“Thanks to him,” said Aviva, pointing at me. I was stunned. Me? A moment ago I was an irresponsible criminal, and now I was a savior and hero? I had no idea why she said that. Reuven, on the other hand, was brutal. It turned out that the way he had spoken to me on the way here had not been a sign of a resuming friendship.
“Because of him!? Maybe you mean to say that because of him the spy caught you. This coward left you there and ran like a scared rabbit!” fumed Reuven.
“No. I mean that thanks to him I managed to escape,” repeated Aviva.
“Thanks to me?” I asked in a quivering voice. I couldn’t understand how and what I had done. Deep in my heart I knew that Reuven was right, but I was glad that Aviva was covering for me. Maybe she liked me! My heart leaped for joy.
“Yes! Thanks to you. Do you remember that you once explained to me how to open a locked door from the inside?” she asked. She smiled and winked at me.
“But it wasn’t for real. I had just read about it in a book. I never really tried it myself,” I said when I remembered the conversation.
“Well, it works!” Aviva said enthusiastically.
“What are you talking about?” Reuven asked, annoyed. “What works?”
“At first, after the spy locked the door, I was terrified and didn’t know what to do. I thought I would choke from the smell. Then I saw the newspapers scattered on the floor and I remembered what Motti had told me once.”
“What did you tell her?” demanded Reuven. “What can this creep actually know?”
Aviva ignored him and continued. “Between the door and the floor is a small gap. I slid the newspaper through this space. Then I took a hairpin from my hair and straightened it out.”
“Get to the point already!” Reuven was really impatient, and I began to smile. I knew what was coming.
“Using the hairpin, I pushed the key until it fell onto the paper. This was the scariest part, because it could have rolled away, but I was lucky. It fell right onto the middle of the paper! I pulled it so the key slid under the door. Then I opened the door, got out, and locked it behind me. I left the key in the lock so the spy wouldn’t suspect anything.”
“And he gave you that idea?” asked Reuven in disbelief, emphasizing the “he” with scorn.
“Yes! He,” Aviva repeated Reuven’s word but in a soft, lilting voice, “was smart not to stay there, otherwise the spy would have caught him too.” Aviva smiled at me and my heart pounded like crazy again, and this time it was not from fear. Reuven was embarrassed. He admired his big sister, and I saw that he couldn’t let go of his anger at me. His eyes flicked back and forth between Aviva and me for a few seconds, until he made a decision and said out loud in a conciliatory tone that, if that’s the way it was, he would forgive me, and it seemed I was not as stupid as I looked. At that moment, I felt that I couldn’t possibly get a greater compliment.
“So we’re friends again?” I asked Reuven hesitantly.
“Yes. Despite everything, you have your uses.” For the first time since the incident with Ofra, Reuven smiled at me. “But there is one little condition.”
“What?”
“You have to tell me who you like.” Reuven laughed and looked at me and Aviva.
I blushed, and Aviva kicked Reuven. “Enough, you idiot! He doesn’t like anybody. Make up and be done with it.” We shook hands and swore allegiance to each other. Now that we had made up, it was time to get back to our main mission.
“How did the spy catch you?” Reuven asked Aviva.
“There was a ton of dust under the bed, and it got up my nose. I couldn’t help it. I started sneezing one after the other, and he heard me.”
“And what happened before that?” he asked.
“He was listening to that program about searching for relatives,” replied Aviva.
“He didn’t broadcast anything?” Reuven asked. “I don’t know. Maybe he did after he locked me up. But immediately after the program, he left the apartment in a rush,” said Aviva. “I could hear his footsteps. He was really hurrying.”
We thought in silence. Why was he listening to this program? And why did he have to leave in such a hurry immediately after it finished?
I remembered a conversation I once heard between Dad and Fischel. They were talking about how messages for spies were often embedded into regular radio programs. It would sound like an innocent bit of news, but it was actually a code that a spy who knew about it could understand. That was it! Between all the information about searching for relatives, there had probably been some instructions for the spy, and he had left to carry them out. Reuven and Aviva agreed that this was the logical explanation.
“And another thing. I saw a huge suitcase on the bed,” said Aviva.
“A big black suitcase with copper clasps and iron reinforcements at the corners,” I said quietly. I had also seen the suitcase and had no doubt whose it was.
“Exactly. A gigantic suitcase!” enthused Aviva. “You could stuff a person in there with no problem.”
I nodded my head in agreement. Of course I knew that. Because it was my mother’s suitcase!