‘We don’t have a dog. Especially one called … what was the name?’ Kenneth lifted his head and looked at Jenny.
‘Regaf?’ Jenny looked at Sean.
‘No, that doesn’t sound right,’ Kathy offered.
Sean had his eyes closed. ‘I think it was Relgalf.’ He opened his eyes, looking for affirmation from everyone else.
‘Yes. That sounds like it,’ Jenny said.
‘What the hell is a Relgalf?’ Kenneth asked.
‘It seemed to me that Kenny was sending a message to Jason. He said – “please tell Jason”. Maybe we should ask Jason what this is about.’ Sean offered.
‘Good idea,’ Jenny said as she ran out of the study. She returned a few moments later with Jason, Jackie, Kathy, Mrs. Martin, Janet and Andy in tow. Jenny led Jason by the hand to sit in the leather chair at the desk.
‘Guess what?’ Jenny said to Jason.
‘What?’ Jason asked, his legs swinging aimlessly from the chair as he wiggled his bottom towards the back of the chair, trying to get comfortable.
‘We just spoke to Kenny.’
‘Really? Why didn’t you call us so we could speak to him?’
“Yeah! Why didn’t you allow us to speak to him?’ Jackie chimed in.
‘Well, he had to hang up suddenly, so we didn’t get a chance to call you. But he did leave you a message, and we need your help to understand it,’ Jenny said as she reassuringly rubbed Jason’s arm.
‘Will you let me speak to him if he calls back?’ Jason grumbled.
‘Maybe. We are trying to find out where he is so we can go and get him,’ Jenny said soothingly.
‘OK.’ Jason frowned. ‘So what was the message?’
‘He said Relgalf mustn’t lie in the mud in the back garden,’ Jenny said.
‘Ah, a code! Trust Kenny,’ Jason said triumphantly.
‘A code?’ Kenneth said.
‘Yup. We play games with codes all the time. It’s our way of speaking without anyone else understanding what we are saying.’ Jason beamed. ‘Tell me what he said.’
‘That was it, wasn’t it?’ Jenny said, turning to Kenneth.
Kenneth shook his head, ‘No, there was more. I think you had asked him if he knew where he was.’
‘Yes. I asked him if he knew where he was and he said something about a dog.’
‘I need more than that.’ Jason looked around the room. ‘Does anyone remember exactly what he said?’
Mr. Martin lifted his hand, ‘I think I recall the whole conversation.’ Everyone looked at him. ‘I used to teach English Literature, so I tend to remember things like this.’ Kenneth nodded his head. Mr. Martin recounted the conversation verbatim.
Jason looked up in the ceiling, ‘Pigs … That means that he is using Pig Latin, at least one version of it. There are different versions of Pig Latin. The most popular one takes the first letter or syllable of all words and puts it at the end of the word.’
‘Really?’ Kenneth said.
‘Yup. For example, “please help me” would be “easepl elphe eme”.’
‘And you understand this?’ Kenneth asked, looking at Jason and Jackie quizzically.
They giggled, ‘Of course. We use it in school all the time. Takes a lot of practice though,’ Jackie answered. ‘Kenny probably didn’t use this version because you wouldn’t understand and it would be too obvious to the bad men that he was using a code.’
Jason continued, ‘The other version inverts a whole word.’
Sean reached for a pen and letter-sized pad. ‘The only word that sounds wrong in this context is Relgalf.’ Sean wrote it down and inverted it. ‘Flagler! You kids are geniuses!’
‘So we know he is somewhere on or near Flagler Street,’ Kenneth said, leaning closer to Jason. ‘What else?’
Jason beamed, ‘We don’t have a link fence in our back garden. So that means that he is using word links to try and tell us where he is.’
‘Links?’ Kenneth asked. ‘You mean linkages?’
‘Yeah, I guess,’ Jason said haltingly.
‘Links? Linkages? You mean associations?’ Jenny asked.
‘Yes. That’s the word,’ Jason said.
‘Word associations. OK, we need to write down what Kenny said and see if we can work out what the word associations are.’ Mr. Martin repeated the conversation, and Sean scribbled down each word.
‘Bwoy, where did you learn to write?’ Marshall asked.
‘Hey, as a mathematician I only learnt how to write numbers. Never had to write words,’ objected Sean.
‘Your handwriting is as bad as a doctor’s,’ Marshall quipped.
‘Can you read it?’
‘Just barely.’
‘Good. Well shut up and let’s get down to the business of figuring out where to find Kenny,’ Sean responded, and then turned and smiled at Marshall. Everyone stood huddled around the desk staring at the notepad.
‘Jackie, do you have a blackboard that we can use? It would probably be easier if we can write this on a board so everyone can see it.’
‘Sure Daddy. I have one in my room.’
‘Great. Let me go and get it. It will be faster.’ Kenneth bounded out of the room, and returned a few minutes later. He quickly set up the blackboard and wrote Kenny’s words in block letters in yellow chalk.
PLEASE TELL JASON TO MAKE SURE THAT RELGALF DOES NOT LIE IN THE MUD PUDDLE IN THE BACK GARDEN. BY THE LINK FENCE. HE DOES IT TO TRY AND STOP THE FLEAS, BUT IT WILL MEAN I HAVE TO BATHE HIM WHEN I GET HOME. I KNOW IT’S BIZARRE. PIGS MOM. NO, I THINK I’LL HAVE TACO BELL NEXT. NO. I KNOW, I’LL HAVE BURGER KING, A HUGE WHOPPER.
He turned to Marshall, ‘Is that more legible?’
‘Absolutely. I can stop crossing my eyes now.’
A murmur of laughter rippled through the room. Everyone stared at the words, trying to understand what they meant, hoping they would lead them closer to Kenny. After several minutes, Kenneth looked at Jackie and Jason.
‘Anything?’
Jason shrugged his shoulders, ‘I think this one is for you grown-ups.’
Jackie shook her head, ‘Kenny has put together a real doozy. You’re going to have to pull a George to solve this one.’
‘Pull a what?’ Kenneth asked.
‘A George. Don’t you know what a George is?’
‘No.’ Kenneth looked inquiringly around the room at all the adults, each shook their heads in bewilderment. Kenneth looked at Jackie.
‘How can you not know what a George is? Well, let’s see, how can I explain this? I thought everyone knew what a George was.’
‘Jackie, can you just tell us what you are talking about,’ Kenneth said as patiently as he could manage.
‘It’s like a different way of doing things.’ She looked around the room expectantly at all the faces, but was greeted with blank looks. Jackie scratched her head. ‘Oh, I know!’ She got up from beside Jenny and walked up to the blackboard and drew a vertical line and then connected a horizontal line to the bottom of that line. She wrote the letter A at the top of the vertical line, ‘If someone wanted to travel from this point A, to B,’ she wrote a B at the open end of the horizontal line, and a C at the point where the two lines met, ‘they would normally travel along these two lines, passing through C.’ She turned and looked at everyone. They all nodded in unison. ‘A George, would be to travel along this line.’ She drew a straight line directly from A to B, forming a right-angled triangle. She turned triumphantly, with a broad smile on her face. The smile faded as everyone sat with blank faces looking at the blackboard. ‘Don’t you get it?’ she asked exasperated, throwing her hands in the air.
‘No,’ Kenneth said.
Sean got up and walked to the blackboard. ‘I do,’ he whispered. He stood in front of the board for a few moments, and then turned to the group, ‘Thinking outside of the box. That’s what a George is.’ He smiled at Jackie. He patted her on her head. ‘I get it. Thanks Jackie.’
Jackie beamed and walked back to Jenny and sat down beside her. Sean stood looking at the words. He started drawing circles around some of the words, and connecting them with lines. Kenneth started to speak, but Lisa waved at him and put her finger over her lips. After a few minutes, Sean whistled.
‘Are you sure these kids are yours?’ He turned and looked at Kenneth. He smiled, ‘Do you have a map of Miami around?’
‘Yes, I think there is a map in the car. What do you mean, are these my kids?’ Kenneth said while gesturing to Jason to go to the car and get the map.
‘Because they are geniuses,’ Sean laughed, drawing a few chuckles from the group.
Jason returned with the map and gave it to Sean. He fell to his knees and opened the map. Everyone gathered around the map. Sean ran his finger over the map.
‘I thought so. Wow! Dis bwoy is good.’ Sean looked up beaming.
‘What?’ Jenny asked.
Sean looked at her with a large smile on his face, nodding his head slowly.
‘Bwoy! Stop smiling like a Cheshire cat and tell us where my bwoy is!’ she said and slapped Sean on the shoulder.
‘OK. OK.’ He pointed at a spot on the map.
‘What is that?’ Kenneth asked.
‘That is Flagler Dog Track.’
‘How are you sure that Kenny is there?’ Jenny asked.
‘Because in addition to this being the location of the Dog Track, this is also the address of Flagler Flea Market!’
‘So?’ Jenny said.
Sean pointed to the words on the blackboard, ‘He lies in the mud to keep away the fleas … I know it’s bizarre.’ Sean said.
‘I don’t get it.’
‘Another name for a market is a bazaar,’ Sean said triumphantly.
‘Wow! Kenny is smart,’ Jason commented.
‘How can we be sure?’ Kenneth asked.
‘I bet if we checked, we would find Wendy’s, Burger King and Taco Bell restaurants in the area. Probably within a street or two,’ Sean offered.
‘That should be easy enough to check. Let me call directory assistance.’ Kenneth reached for the phone. After a few minutes and a few questions he put down the phone, ‘There is a Burger King and Taco Bell on NW 37th Avenue, and there is a Wendy’s on NW 7th Street, all within a five minute walk of Flagler Dog Track,’ he looked at the map and pointed, ‘in fact, they are across the road.’ Kenneth looked at Sean and nodded, who acknowledged likewise. Kenneth took Jenny’s hand in his and kissed it. He looked Jenny in the eyes, ‘Let’s go and get our son.’