The Kidnapped King Read online

  “What a lovely idea!” Dink’s mother said. “Will the kaleidoscope belong to you someday?”

  “On my fifteenth birthday, my father will give this to me,” Sammi said. He frowned. “At least he would have, but now…I don’t know what will happen.”

  Dink felt badly for Sammi. He couldn’t imagine what he would feel like if his parents ever got kidnapped.

  Dink’s mother sat on the bed next to Sammi. She took his hand. “Sammi, I’m sure your parents will be found soon,” she said. “Didn’t you tell us that your father’s friends are searching every corner of your country?”

  Sammi nodded. “But his enemies are clever,” he said. “They may have taken my parents far away from Costra.”

  Dink’s mother gave Sammi a hug. Then she laid his pajamas and slippers on his bed. The pj’s were red silk, and the slippers were purple velvet with floppy gold tassels.

  “Pretty snazzy,” Dink said, grinning at Sammi. “I usually sleep in an old T-shirt and shorts!”

  Just then, the front doorbell rang. Dink’s mother left the room.

  “Watch,” Sammi said, kneeling on the floor. He unscrewed the large end of the kaleidoscope and poured out all the pieces of glass. They made a red, yellow, and blue mound on the rug.

  “It comes apart!” Dink said. He picked up some of the glass. The thin pieces felt smooth in his fingers.

  A knock came at the door to Sammi’s room. Joan Klinker poked her head in. “Hi, Sammi,” she said.

  Sammi smiled and scooped up the glass. “I’m showing Dink my kaleidoscope,” he said. Dink helped Sammi put the kaleidoscope back in its box.

  “Fine, Sammi,” Joan said, looking at her watch. “It’s almost eight. How about a short French lesson?”

  She dropped a yellow book on Sammi’s bed. “Will you excuse Sammi for a little while?” she said to Dink.

  “Can’t he stay?” Sammi asked. “Dink can have a lesson with me!”

  Joan Klinker looked at Dink for a moment, then said, “Sure. Why not?”

  “Great!” Dink said. He sat next to Sammi on the floor. Joan perched on the bed and opened the yellow book.

  “First, some colors,” Joan said. She pointed at Dink’s shirt. “Blue. But in French, we say bleu. Repeat, Sammi.”

  Sammi said, “Bleu.” To Dink, it sounded almost the same as “blue.”

  Joan pointed at Dink. “Now you, please.”

  “Bleu,” said Dink, trying to imitate Sammi.

  “Good!” Joan put a hand on Sammi’s folded pajamas. “Red,” she said.

  “Rouge,” said Sammi.

  To Dink, it sounded almost like “rooj,” so that’s what he said.

  Joan Klinker held up the yellow book. “Jaune,” she said. “Le livre est jaune. The book is yellow.”

  She pointed at Dink. “Can you say jaune?”

  Dink blushed. “Joan,” he finally said.

  “No, Joan is my name,” the tutor said.

  Dink tried again. “Zhone,” he said.

  Sammi laughed. “That’s okay,” he said. “It took me a month to learn to say jaune.”

  “Now we will do some numbers,” Joan said.

  A half hour later, she closed the yellow book. “That’s all for tonight,” she said. “Tomorrow we will continue.”

  She checked the locks on Sammi’s window, his bathroom door, and the door out into the hall. Then she turned and smiled. “Bonsoir, Sammi.”

  “Bonsoir, madame,” Sammi answered.

  After Joan left, Dink stood up and yawned. “Night, Sammi. I’ll wake you up for breakfast.”

  Dink headed into the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He smiled at his reflection in the mirror. Tomorrow, he decided, he’d learn how to say “My toothbrush is purple.” In French!

  The next morning, Dink washed his hands and face, then tapped on Sammi’s bedroom door.

  “Rise and shine!” Dink said. “We’re having pancakes and sausages for breakfast!”

  There was no answer. Dink opened the door and peeked in. Sammi’s bed was mussed, but he wasn’t in it.

  “Sammi?” Dink said, glancing around the empty room. Where could he be? Dink wondered as he headed down the stairs.

  “Mom, Sammi’s not in his room,” Dink said.

  Dink’s mother stopped spooning pancake batter into a frying pan. “He’s not? Where is he?”

  “I don’t know, Mom.” Dink shoved open the back door and looked around the yard. “Not out here either,” he said.

  As Dink pulled the door shut again, his hand struck something sharp.

  “Mom, look at this!” he yelled.

  The wood around the door lock was shattered. Jagged slivers of wood stuck out. A few wood splinters lay on the floor under Dink’s feet.

  “Oh, my goodness!” his mother said. “Someone forced the door open!”

  She turned and hurried up the hall stairs. Dink followed his mom into the guest room.

  “Sammi?” his mom called. “Sammi, please answer! If you’re hiding, please come out.”

  But Sammi did not answer.

  “I’m calling Officer Fallon,” Dink’s mother said. “And Joan Klinker! Why don’t you run next door and find out if Ruth Rose’s family saw anything?”

  Dink charged down the stairs and out of the house. He tore into Ruth Rose’s yard and banged his fist on her door.

  Ruth Rose opened it, munching on a piece of toast.

  “Have you seen Sammi?” Dink asked, out of breath.

  She shook her head. “Why, is he missing?”

  “Yes!” Dink said. “Someone broke in…Sammi’s gone!”

  “WHAT?” Ruth Rose yelled. “You mean he was kidnapped?”

  Suddenly, Dink heard a siren. He left Ruth Rose with the toast in her hand and raced back to his front yard.

  A police cruiser roared around the corner and whipped into his driveway. As the siren died, Officers Fallon and Keene burst out of the car.

  Dink’s mom came flying out of the house. Her face was white. “Thank goodness you came,” she told the officers. “I think our house guest has been kidnapped!”

  Just then, a yellow taxi pulled up in front of Dink’s house. The rear door flew open, and Joan Klinker climbed out.

  “What has happened to Sammi?” she called, running across the front yard.

  “We don’t know,” Dink’s mother said. “He’s not in the house, and the lock on our back door has been forced open.”

  Joan Klinker put her hand to her mouth. She swayed, then started to topple. Officer Keene caught her just before she fell.

  “Bring her inside,” Dink’s mother said, running for the front door.

  “Take a look around,” Officer Fallon told Officer Keene. Then he helped Dink’s mother take Joan Klinker into the house.

  Ruth Rose appeared through the hedge that separated their yards. She was dressed in blue bib overalls, a blue shirt, and blue high-top sneakers.

  “Is Sammi really gone?” she asked Dink. “This isn’t a joke, is it?”

  Dink shook his head. His mouth was so dry he could hardly swallow. “I think it’s real,” he said, remembering what Sammi had told them about his father’s enemies.

  “But how could anyone just walk in and take him?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “Our back door lock is busted,” Dink said. “They must have gotten in that way.”

  Ruth Rose’s mom and dad joined them as Dink explained.

  “Let’s all search the street,” Ruth Rose’s dad suggested. He went to organize the neighbors.

  Just then, Josh arrived with his dog. “What’s going on, Dinkus?” he asked. “Why’s the cruiser here?”

  “Sammi is gone,” Dink said. “We think he’s been kidnapped!”

  Josh’s mouth dropped open. Then he grinned. “This is a joke, right?”

  Dink shook his head. “Come on, I’ll show you where the kidnappers broke the kitchen door.”

  Dink started for the front steps. But before he reached the door, it opened. Joan
Klinker and Dink’s mother stepped out.

  “Are you sure you’re all right, Joan?” Dink’s mother asked. “Won’t you stay for a while?”

  Joan Klinker shook her head. “I have to make some phone calls,” she muttered. Then she hurried into the cab and it pulled away.

  “That poor woman,” Dink’s mom said, heading back to the kitchen.

  As Dink climbed the porch steps, something shiny caught his eye.

  He bent down and picked up a small piece of yellow glass.

  “What’s that?” Ruth Rose asked.

  Dink stared at the yellow sliver. He remembered where he’d seen others just like it.

  “This came out of Sammi’s kaleidoscope!” he said.

  Inside the house, Officer Fallon examined the piece of glass. “If this came out of the boy’s kaleidoscope, how’d it get to your front steps?” he asked.

  “The top unscrews,” Dink explained. “Sammi likes to take the glass out.”

  Josh and Ruth Rose stood silently in Dink’s kitchen. Pal lay at Josh’s feet, snoozing. Dink was sitting at the table with his mom and Officer Fallon. Officer Keene had left to organize a search.

  Officer Fallon sighed. He left the piece of glass on the table and stood up.

  “Green Lawn isn’t that big,” he said. “We’ll find the boy. I’ll make sure every possible way out of town is checked. Try not to worry, okay?”

  Dink’s mother grabbed her car keys. “I’m going to drive around and look for him,” she said.

  “Can we come, too?” Dink asked.

  His mother shook her head. “You can help by staying by the phone,” she said. She looked at Officer Fallon. “Do you think the kidnappers would telephone here?”

  Officer Fallon nodded. “They might try to make contact. But kidnappers usually wait a few days before calling. They like to get the family worried so they’ll hand over more ransom money.”

  Dink watched his mother and Officer Fallon leave. He heard the front door lock click into position.

  “Look at this,” Dink said. He showed Josh and Ruth Rose the damaged back door.

  “Boy, this is creepy!” Josh said.

  “Poor Sammi,” Ruth Rose said. “He must be so scared!”

  “Let’s go check out his room,” Dink said. “Maybe we’ll find some more clues.”

  The kids hurried toward the stairs. Pal followed them into Sammi’s room, his long ears brushing the floor.

  Sammi’s sheet and blanket were tangled, half off the bed. Dink walked over to the bureau. There was the kaleidoscope box and two small mounds of colored glass. Each mound was a different color.

  “This is the kaleidoscope,” Dink said, removing it from the box. “See, he took all the glass out.”

  Josh touched the jewels that decorated the kaleidoscope. “Are these real?” he asked.

  “Sammi said they were,” Dink answered.

  Ruth Rose was examining the pieces of glass. “Where are the yellow pieces?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?” Dink asked.

  “The piece we found is yellow,” she said. “But all I see here is red and blue. No yellow.”

  “That’s weird,” Dink said. “Let’s look around.”

  The kids began to search Sammi’s room for the yellow glass. Pal waddled around, sniffing everything.

  Dink checked in the bathroom while Josh went through the clothes in the closet. Ruth Rose got down on her hands and knees and looked under the bed.

  “Well, if there’s yellow glass in this room, I don’t know where it is,” Josh said. He stepped away from the closet.

  “WATCH OUT!” Ruth Rose yelled, stopping Josh in his tracks.

  She snatched something from the carpet where Josh was about to step. It was another piece of yellow glass.

  Just then, the phone rang.

  Dink ran down the stairs and grabbed the phone on its third ring.

  “Hello?”

  Dink listened for a minute, then yelled up the stairs, “Hey, guys, it’s Officer Fallon. He wants to know if Sammi’s pajamas and slippers are in his room. Can you look?”

  He waited. Ruth Rose came to the top of the stairs. “No pj’s or slippers,” she said.

  Dink spoke into the phone. “We can’t find them.”

  After a minute, Dink hung up the phone. He climbed the stairs to Sammi’s room.

  “What’s up with the slippers?” Josh asked.

  “Ron Pinkowski found a gold tassel near the river by his bait shop,” Dink said. “Sammi’s slippers had gold tassels on them.”

  “But what—”

  “And one of Mr. Pinkowski’s boats is missing,” Dink interrupted.

  He stared at his two friends. “Officer Fallon thinks the kidnappers took Sammi away in a boat!”

  “What kind of boat?” Josh asked. “The water in Indian River isn’t very deep.”

  “But it’s deep enough for a row-boat,” Ruth Rose said.

  Dink thought about the river near Ron’s Bait Shop. They’d all waded there before. The water was only up to their knees.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Maybe they took Sammi downriver in a small boat. When they got to the deep part, they could have put him in a bigger boat…”

  “…and taken him out to sea!” Ruth Rose added.

  The kids stared at each other. Dink thought about poor Sammi, afraid of noises and animals, tied up in some boat.

  “We have to do something, guys,” he said. “Let’s go see if we can find more clues at the bait shop.” He ran down the stairs to the kitchen.

  Ruth Rose hurried after him, with Josh and Pal right behind her.

  “Your mom told us to stay put,” Josh reminded Dink.

  “I know, Josh.” Dink was scribbling on a pad. “I’m telling her where we’re going,” he said. “We’ll probably be back before she sees this. Come on!”

  The kids cut through the dining room and headed for the back door.

  Suddenly, Pal barked and began straining on his leash. He pulled until Josh let him have his way. Pal headed for the living room, and the kids followed.

  “I think he smells something,” Josh said. Pal had his nose on the rug, sniffing at something small and shiny.

  “It’s another piece of glass!” Josh said, snatching it away from the dog’s nose.

  “This is the third one,” Dink said. He looked at the stairs going up to the bedrooms. “Sammi dropped one in his room, one down here, and another one on the front steps…”

  “SAMMI LEFT US A TRAIL!” Ruth Rose suddenly yelled.

  “I’ll bet you’re right,” Dink said. “The kidnappers must have brought him down the stairs and out the front door. Come on, let’s look for more!”

  The kids hurried out the door and into the front yard. Pal snuffled with his nose along the ground while the kids searched with their eyes.

  “Nothing,” Dink muttered after a few minutes. “The trail ends here.”

  Suddenly, Pal yanked on the leash.

  “Whoa, doggie,” Josh said.

  But Pal kept pulling. He dragged Josh to the road. At the curb, Pal’s nose went right into the gutter.

  “Look!” Josh said. He held up a fourth piece of yellow glass.

  Dink and Ruth Rose ran over. “Sammi must’ve dropped it when the kidnappers loaded him into a car,” Ruth Rose said.

  “And I bet the trail picks up again down at the river,” Dink said. “Let’s go!”

  With Pal loping along behind them, the kids hurried down Woody Street. They cut past the elementary school, then crossed Duck Walk Way toward the river.

  Inside his shop, Ron Pinkowski was feeding the bait shiners in one of his huge tanks.

  “Hey, I heard about that boy disappearing,” Ron said when he saw the kids.

  “He didn’t disappear,” Josh said. “He was kidnapped!”

  Ron nodded. “That’s what Officer Fallon said. And they stole one of my rowboats!”

  “Can you show us where the boat was?” Dink asked.


  “Sure, come on.” Ron took the kids outside. “Right over there,” he said, pointing to a line of upside-down boats along the riverbank. There was an empty space between two of the boats.

  “They broke my padlock and took a pair of my brand-new oars, too.”

  “Thanks, Mr. P,” Dink said.

  The kids hurried over to the row of boats and searched for yellow glass. Pal sniffed the ground for a few seconds, then flopped under a tree and closed his eyes.

  The kids examined the ground where the boat had been. They didn’t find any glass at all. “Let’s look in the driveway” Dink suggested.

  They walked back to the road, then worked their way down to the boats again.

  Josh found a nickel, but there wasn’t a piece of yellow kaleidoscope glass anywhere.

  “That’s weird,” said Dink. “If Sammi left a trail back at my house, why didn’t he drop another piece of glass when he got here?”

  “Maybe he ran out of glass,” Josh said.

  Ruth Rose shook her head. “How could he? He took all the yellow glass, remember?”

  “You know,” Dink said, “something about the yellow glass is bugging me. Why did Sammi leave a yellow trail? Why not red or blue?”

  “Well, he had the colors in separate little piles,” Josh said. “So maybe he just grabbed the closest pile and it was yellow.”

  Ron Pinkowski walked over. “What’re you kids looking for?” he asked.

  Dink explained about the trail of yellow glass. “You didn’t see any, did you?”

  “Nope. Just that tassel thing, and I gave it to Officer Fallon.”

  “Did you hear a car last night?” Ruth Rose asked.

  Ron grinned. “The way I snore? A tank could drive down here and I’d snooze right through it!”

  “Let’s go back and see if my mom is home,” Dink said. “She might have found out something. Thanks, Mr. P.”

  The kids and Pal hurried back to Dink’s house. His mom was on the phone, looking worried. She made a motion forthe kids to sit.

  They did, with Pal at their feet. A minute later, Dink’s mother hung up the phone.

  “That was Officer Fallon,” she said. “The police are searching everywhere. They’re checking the train station, the airport, and every boat on the river, but so far, they aren’t having any luck.”