“I’m gonna get you two straightened out right now or know the reason why,” Ebbs said. “First stop, the junkyard where you traded the spoons. The one on Seventh Avenue, right?”
“Yes,” Alex answered. “But why are we going there? We never stole from him.”
“Right. With him it was the other way around.”
As they parked Alex pointed to the hairy keg of a man in grease-stained coveralls sprawled on a sofa in front of the office.
“That’s Hector.”
Hector recognized Alex, but there was something about Ebbs that made him squint through pig eyes as she strode up, hands on her hips.
“You know this girl, right?” Ebbs demanded in her army voice.
“Yessum,” the junk man said, slowly getting up.
“Comes here with her brother, right?”
“Yessum.”
“Came here a while ago with some silver spoons, right?”
“Dunno about that,” Hector mumbled vaguely. “Lots of stuff comes through …”
“Stolen property,” Ebbs snapped. “I want ’em back or we’re going to the police.” She pulled out a five-dollar bill. “This will make you whole for that extinguisher.”
They left with the spoons.
“Now we’re gonna go see Chuck.”
Alex put a finger to her lips as they entered the house and headed up the stairs. “I’m coming up with Ebbs,” she called softly when they got to the attic door.
“Our invention,” Chuck said, smiling proudly as he pointed to the model.
“Yeah,” said Ebbs as she opened her purse and pulled out the tank. “And here’s one of the parts. You send her out for it?”
Chuck shot Alex a surprised look. “No.”
“Well, she got caught trying to steal it for you—for that,” Ebbs said, pointing to the catamaran. “The motor must have cost a lot. You send her out for that?”
“Did you?” Ebbs repeated.
“No,” Chuck muttered. “I got it myself.”
“Right. You stole it.”
Chuck didn’t say anything.
Ebbs picked up the catamaran and began turning it roughly in her big hands as if she might crush it. “You told me about the Institute needing new kits, so you’ve come up with one—but to do it you’ve been stealing from toy stores like some sort of Robin Hood.”
Chuck stood silent.
“Not that you’re all that noble,” Ebbs said as she laid out the spoons.
They were standing in a tight circle, Ebbs towering over them as she stared at Chuck, waiting for him to say something.
Chuck looked at her, unblinking, his head level.
Jeep was panting, his tail between his legs as he looked from face to face.
Chuck began speaking in a hollow voice. “Mother thinks I’m going to do big things.… At school they laugh at me.”
“So you steal to get even?”
Chuck’s face tightened. “Forget it, Ebbs. I’m a dud. That’s why they threw me out of Tech. I can’t do that stuff. It makes me crazy. The others think I’m dumb, and I guess I am, but I’m getting even. They can read and do math better than me, but I’m getting away with more than they ever dreamed of. And in the end when I get caught for something big I’ll jump off a bridge or take a fistful of pills or hang myself—I’ve thought it all out: I’ll do myself in.”
Alex began to sob.
Suddenly Ebbs was Captain Ebbs again, eyes glittering, chin set. “That sort of talk makes me furious,” she said. “What about everybody who has to clean up after you—the people who love you—your mother, your father, Alex? You kill yourself, their hurt lasts forever. You think talk like that’s brave? It’s cowardly, and I don’t think you’re a coward. Not being able to read fast and compute isn’t what got you thrown out. They sent you home for taking stuff—‘getting even,’ as you put it. And what’s that about? The students you stole from, the toy store owner—what did they ever do to you? And what about the other people like Alex you mess up in your wake? Worst of all, you’re stealing from yourself, poisoning your self-respect.”
Chuck’s eyes went dull. “How did you find out?”
“I wasn’t a CIC agent for nothing, Chuck. I did a little investigating, called the dean at Tech. I checked you guys out—that’s how I knew about Alex’s birthday.”
Ebbs looked down at the model she was holding. She paused, seemed surprised to find it in her hands. “This thing,” she said slowly, “the person who dreamed this up is no dud. We need folks who can think things through to their hands. You’ve got a gift, Chuck. I know it, Alex knows, Rosy knows, and this boat you’ve built proves it. Plus, you care about some really important things. Most folks don’t, so they just slog along bored and not very useful. But you’ve got something precious,” she added in a gentler voice. “So please don’t go around risking it.”
Chuck slumped and shook his head.
Ebbs put down the model, stepped close to Chuck, and put her big hands on his shoulders. “A while ago you asked me to get you to some people who are working with radar. Play by my rules,” she said, gripping him hard and rocking him slowly back and forth as she spoke. “Play by my rules and I will.”
Chuck shook himself free. “How?” he asked, his mouth twisted. “You said you didn’t work with radar.”
“Something will come up. So starting now you’ve got to play by my rules—both of you.”
“What rules?” Chuck asked, his voice half-strangled.
“Simple! No more tricks like climbing the radio tower, borrowing airplanes, stealing toy motors, or fiddling with people’s cars. Get a police record—which that car caper would have gotten you for sure had Mr. Comstock not noticed some gooey stuff by the gas flap—get a record and I’ll never be able to get you the security clearance you’ll need for what I have in mind.”
“What would I ever need a security clearance for?”
“You know as well as I do. For me to get you anywhere near Wallops, you’ll need a security clearance.”
“Why?” Chuck asked. “Why are you bothering?”
“Because I think you’ve got some special fire, and because when I make a friend I hang on to him. Maybe you didn’t choose me, but I’ve chosen you, and I’m not going to let you go ruin yourself if I can help it.”
She stared at Chuck for a long moment. “So those are my rules.”
She turned to Alex. “As for you, starting now you’re going to say no when he starts going wrong. And absolutely no more stealing!”
Alex backed away, shaking her head. “No more stealing—OK. But I can’t stop him from anything. Not even Dad can.”
“Can you say no to him?” Ebbs asked. “Can you say no to yourself? To try and save his chance and to save yourself, can you say no and at least try to stop him?”
“I guess,” Alex whispered.
Chuck lifted his head slowly to stare at his sister, wide-eyed, expressionless, like someone in a fever.
“Right!” said Ebbs. “We’re on a new page here.”