The New Year Dragon Dilemma Read online

  Dink thought about the laptop he’d seen in the snack bar at the aquarium. “Dad, how can you draw a picture on a computer?” he asked. He told his dad and the others about the strange picture he’d seen on the laptop.

  “Most computers have an art function,” Mr. Duncan said. “It allows you to sketch and color. What kind of laptop did the man have?”

  “I don’t know,” Dink said. “But it looked like a real simple drawing, like a little kid would make. There was a stick-figure person in it.”

  Just then Holden walked in. He was wearing his white sweater and jeans. “Hi, everyone,” he said. “You kids ready?”

  “Hi, Holden!” they all said.

  “I’m sure that Lily will be Miss Chinatown!” Ruth Rose said. “I just have a feeling! Did she call you yet?”

  Holden shook his head. “Nope. But even if she isn’t chosen, I’ll still see her. We made a plan a few days ago. We’re gonna meet at the dragon’s head when the parade ends.”

  “I can’t wait to see the dragon!” Dink said.

  “And I can’t wait to drive Holden’s pedal-bike thing!” Josh said.

  “No way!” Dink’s father said.

  “Anyway, we’re walking,” Holden said. “It’ll be too crowded for my Green Machine.”

  Dink’s father paid the bill, and they split up. Holden and the kids walked toward Market Street, where the parade would begin. It was getting dark, and lights were coming on in shops and restaurants.

  “I read that it takes one hundred people to carry the dragon in the parade,” Ruth Rose said.

  “That’s right,” Holden said. “Wait till you see it! Two hundred legs all dressed in red, walking along under the dragon. The thing looks like the world’s longest centipede!”

  The closer they got to Market Street, the more people crowded the way. Finally, at the corner of Market and Second Streets, they saw a string of parked floats. All the floats were built on flat truck beds, decorated with flowers arranged in beautiful shapes. Dink saw a tiger in a jungle, temples, forests, and famous Chinese heroes, all formed by different kinds of blossoms and greenery. The floats glowed from lights hidden among the flowers.

  It was mostly dark, but the block was lit with special spotlights. The smell of tasty Chinese food filled the air. Vendors were selling everything from food to balloons to miniature dragons. Little kids in pajamas held their parents’ hands. Dink noticed a row of blue portapotties under a tree.

  “Stand here and we’ll get a great view,” Holden said. They were behind a four-foot-high fence that would keep people out of the path of the parade. “Everything will come right by us!” he said.

  “Wow!” said Josh. “How many floats are there?”

  “I don’t know, but this is one of the biggest parades in the world,” Holden said.

  “Which float will Miss Chinatown ride on?” Ruth Rose asked.

  Holden pointed to one covered in blue and white blossoms. In the center was a white swan, at least ten feet tall. “That one,” he said. “She rides on the swan and throws candy to the kids.”

  “Cool!” Josh said. “Chocolate, I hope.”

  “The whole swan is made of blue and white flowers,” Holden said. “Lily told me there are fifty thousand blossoms on this one float.”

  “Guys, look!” Dink said. Off to the side stood a huge warehouse. The doors were open, and a bunch of people were carrying the dragon outside.

  “That’s where they keep the dragon all year,” Holden said. “They create the floats in there, too.”

  The dragon was the length of five school buses. It was decorated with colored cloth, buttons, ribbons, glass beads, and all kinds of things that twinkled in the light.

  “It’s so pretty!” Ruth Rose said. “I thought it would be a scary dragon.”

  “Does it breathe fire?” Josh asked Holden.

  “No, but check out the lights,” Holden said. Colored wires twisted into ropes made stripes along the dragon’s body. Lights were wrapped around the ropes, making all two hundred feet of the dragon’s body shine.

  Dink thought it looked like a giant magical puppet.

  The dragon’s head was taller than Holden. Its mouth was open, showing fangs and a long red tongue. Big glass eyes glistened. Two dragon horns sprouted from its head.

  “We call him Gum Lung,” Holden said. He laughed. “Don’t ask what it means, because I don’t know!”

  The men and women who had brought the dragon out of the warehouse began to prepare it for the parade. Some of the people had dragon masks perched on their foreheads. All of them wore bright red pants.

  “They’ll climb underneath Gum Lung and walk him once the parade begins,” Holden said. “First there will be fireworks, then Gum Lung comes by, then the floats will drive by. The swan float will be first, carrying Miss Chinatown.”

  “I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’s Lily,” Ruth Rose said.

  Holden smiled. “Thanks. My fingers have been crossed for a week!” he said.

  Suddenly the night exploded with loud bangs. Dink ducked, not knowing what the sounds were. But then he saw an enormous blue shape twinkling in the sky.

  It was the fireworks. The parade was beginning!

  Dink laughed, but he put his hands over his ears. The fireworks were loud, but all the screaming and clapping were even louder.

  Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose were squeezed together next to Holden. They were in the front of the crowd.

  “Here comes the dragon!” Ruth Rose said.

  Gum Lung came toward them. The one hundred men and women underneath were doing fancy steps, making the dragon appear to be dancing. The carriers made it slither and wriggle, like a snake. Music blared from speakers.

  “This is awesome!” Josh shouted into Dink’s ear. “We need to get one of these dragons for Green Lawn!”

  Dink smiled, thinking about the little parades he’d seen back home in Connecticut. The dragon they were watching here would hardly even fit on their Main Street.

  As the dragon passed by, one of the carriers stepped out from under its belly. He ran to the front of the dragon and stuck his whole head in its mouth. Everyone laughed and cheered as the man pulled his head out and ran back to his place under the dragon.

  “They do that every year to prove the dragon is happy,” Holden explained. “If the dragon was angry, he’d bite the guy’s head off!”

  A second person with red legs ran up and put his head in the dragon’s mouth, then jogged back to his position underneath. He waved to the cheering crowd.

  “You want to try that, Josh?” Dink asked.

  “No way!” Josh said. “The dragon looks hungry!”

  The crowd laughed as a third person came out from underneath the dragon. He or she was short, with a dragon mask on. But instead of running up to the dragon’s head, this person ran toward the back of the dragon.

  A few other people noticed, too, and started pointing and laughing.

  “Bet he’s heading for the porta-potty!” someone behind Dink joked. The figure disappeared in the darkness behind the dragon’s tail.

  The dragon passed. Then the crowd burst into cheers and applause again. “It’s the Miss Chinatown float!” Ruth Rose cried.

  Dink felt Josh and Ruth Rose move closer to him. His belly was up against the fence.

  The swan float crept slowly forward, only a few feet at a time. Dink knew that a truck was pulling the float, but the truck’s cab had also been covered in blossoms. A small hole allowed the driver to see the road.

  “There she is!” someone yelled.

  Miss Chinatown, dressed in a gold silk robe, stood behind the swan’s head. Dink recognized the fancy clothing he’d seen on the flyer. A black sash was wrapped around the girl’s waist. A silk purse hung over her shoulder. She was wearing a white mask, with her hair tucked under a golden crown. In the center of the crown, gleaming under the lights, was a ruby the size of Dink’s fist.

  Miss Chinatown held on to a golden rope that ca
me from the swan’s mouth, like a horse’s reins. She waved her other hand at the people.

  Dink wondered if the girl wearing the mask was Lily. He turned to say something to Holden. But the person behind Dink was a woman holding the hands of her two children. Holden was nowhere to be seen.

  Miss Chinatown reached into her silk bag and pulled out a handful of wrapped candies. She tossed them into the crowd. Everyone tried to catch some.

  “More, more!” the crowd cried.

  She threw handful after handful of candies toward the cheering people.

  “She looks so beautiful!” Ruth Rose shouted above the noise. “I hope it’s Lily!”

  “Me too,” Dink said. “Have you seen Holden?”

  “Wasn’t he right behind us?” Josh asked.

  “I thought he was,” Dink said. “But now he’s gone.”

  The kids turned to check the people behind them.

  There were several tall men with black hair, but none was Holden.

  Suddenly the festivities were interrupted with more loud bangs.

  “More fireworks!” Josh yelled. “Cool!”

  Everyone looked at the sky, where thousands of tiny purple lights cascaded down toward the ground. A few more fireworks exploded, and then the spectacle stopped.

  Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose looked back at the swan float as it slowly moved past them.

  “Hey, where’s the candy lady?” one of the kids behind Dink called out.

  “Where is she?” asked Ruth Rose. “Where’s Miss Chinatown?”

  No one was standing behind the swan’s head tossing candy.

  Miss Chinatown had disappeared.

  “Where did she go?” Josh asked.

  “Where did who go?” said a voice behind the kids.

  It was Holden. He was out of breath, as if he’d been running.

  “I had to make a porta-potty call,” he said. “Did Miss Chinatown take off her mask yet?”

  “She’s not on the float!” Ruth Rose said. “She’s gone!”

  Holden looked confused. “What?”

  “Look,” Josh said. He tugged Holden’s arm to bring him closer to the fence. “Miss Chinatown was there throwing candy, then after the fireworks, she was gone. Just like that!”

  Holden stared at the swan float. Suddenly he vaulted over the fence and raced after the float.

  Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose watched him run to the front of the truck cab and wave his arms. The truck stopped, and the driver’s door opened. A woman wearing denim coveralls stepped out and began yelling at Holden.

  By now the crowd around the kids had noticed that something was wrong. Dink heard voices saying, “What’s going on?”

  “Where’s Miss Chinatown?”

  “What’s that guy doing in front of the float?”

  There were dozens of other floats behind the swan float, all waiting for the parade to continue. Drivers were stepping out of their trucks. Some were tooting their horns, as if this were an ordinary traffic jam.

  People in the crowd began to get upset. Some guy yelled, “This is a bogus parade!”

  A little kid asked, “Isn’t there any more candy?”

  Another kid answered, “Duh, Billy, the candy lady took off!”

  Dink suddenly remembered something Holden had told them earlier. He said he hadn’t heard from Lily in two days. No phone calls, no text messages. He had said he was worried about her. Now she was gone—or at least Miss Chinatown was gone.

  “Come on, guys,” Ruth Rose said. She grabbed the top of the fence, wedged one sneaker toe against it, and threw her other leg over.

  “What’re you doing?” Dink asked.

  “We’re supposed to stay with Holden,” Ruth Rose said. “Besides, I’m not missing this!” She pulled her other leg over the top of the fence, then dropped to the ground on the other side.

  “Me either!” Josh said. He followed Ruth Rose over the fence.

  Dink watched his two friends run toward the swan float. Gulping a deep breath, he followed them.

  When Dink reached the float, Holden and the truck driver had stopped yelling at each other. Dink joined Josh and Ruth Rose, who were standing behind Holden.

  “I didn’t see Miss Chinatown at all,” the driver was telling Holden. “I was just watching the road in front of me. I don’t know anything about whatever happened behind me!”

  Just then two police officers approached. “What’re you kids doing inside the fence?” one of them asked. A name tag on his uniform jacket said OFFICER GOODMAN.

  “We came to help our friend,” Dink said, pointing at Holden.

  “They’re with me,” Holden said.

  “Yeah? And who are you?” the other officer asked Holden. Her name tag read OFFICER FEIST. “And what’re you doing here? That fence is meant to keep folks out!”

  “Um, I’m Holden Wong,” Holden said. “I’m looking for my girlfriend, Lily. She was—”

  “WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!” an angry voice interrupted. “THIS PARADE MUST PROCEED! WHY HAVE YOU STOPPED THE FLOAT?”

  Dink jumped at the loud voice. He turned to see a man storming up to the group. He wore a suit the color of vanilla ice cream. His white hair was swept back off his forehead. He had a thin white mustache and a red face. His dark eyes flashed anger as he charged toward the float.

  “Excuse me, sir,” Officer Goodman said. “Who are you?”

  The man glared at Officer Goodman. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. “Dr. Winston Worthington,” he said finally. “I am the parade manager. Now please answer my question! Under whose authority did you stop this float?”

  Dink looked up at the angry man’s red face. A blood vessel in his forehead was bulging, like a small snake under the skin. Dr. Worthington’s eyes darted around the group, looking for someone to blame. His hands had formed into fists.

  Dink knew he’d never seen this man before, but somehow he looked familiar.

  “Um, I stopped the float,” Holden said. “My girl—”

  “And you are?” Dr. Worthington asked.

  Officer Feist stepped forward. “Sir, Miss Chinatown has disappeared off the float,” she said. “This young man thinks it was his girlfriend.” She looked at Holden. “What’s her name?”

  “Lily Chen,” Holden said. “She—”

  “Miss Chinatown disappeared?” Dr. Worthington interrupted. His red face turned pale. “But that’s impossible!” He turned to the float driver. “How do we get up on this thing?”

  “Easy peasy,” the driver said. “There’s a ladder.” She walked to the opposite side of the float. A small ladder was attached to the truck. It was partly hidden in blue flowers, and so narrow only a small person could climb its rungs.

  “I’m not climbing that silly thing!” Dr. Worthington said. “There must be another way. How do the workers get up and down?”

  “There’s a ramp in the back,” the driver said. “This truck hauls freight when it’s not used for parades. Come on, I’ll show you.”

  The woman hurried to the back of the float and unhooked a rear section of the truck’s bed. It made a ramp, which the driver lowered to the road.

  Dr. Worthington marched up the ramp, quickly followed by the two police officers and Holden.

  “Come on, guys!” Ruth Rose whispered. Following her lead, Dink and Josh clambered up the ramp. They all stood in the middle of the huge swan. Its wings spread above them, completely covered in white flower blossoms. The thousands of blossoms gave off a thick, sweet smell.

  “She was right here!” Holden said. He took a step forward. “Lily’s not very tall. She must have stood on that box so we could see her.”

  Something crackled under Holden’s foot. Dink looked down and saw wrapped candies scattered on the floor. Just behind the swan’s neck stood a wooden box the size of a large toy chest.

  “Well, I can see that she’s not here, but how did she get off the float?” Officer Goodman asked. “I mean, nobody saw her climb down that ladder, ri
ght?”

  “She wouldn’t just leave,” Holden said. “Someone must have taken her!”

  “But who? She was alone on the float, right?” Officer Feist asked.

  “Enough talking!” Dr. Worthington spluttered. “Can we just get my parade moving again?”

  “Sir, we have a situation here,” Officer Goodman said. “Once we figure out what’s going on, the parade will continue.”

  Dink felt Ruth Rose nudge his arm.

  “Look,” she murmured in his ear, and pointed toward the floor.

  Dink looked. He saw only the box and a bunch of wrapped candies.

  Then he noticed something else. A piece of black silk was sticking out from under the box. Dink recognized the sash. The last time he’d seen it, the sash had been tied around Miss Chinatown’s waist.

  Dink and Ruth Rose moved at the same time. They grabbed the edges of the box and lifted it aside. A small figure wearing a golden robe lay on the floor. The candy purse had been pulled over her head. The black sash was tied around her wrists.

  “Lily!” Holden yelled. He leaped forward, but the two police officers grabbed his arms and stopped him.

  “Let us, Mr. Wong!” Officer Feist said.

  The two officers knelt next to the girl. One of them removed the bag from her head. Her eyes were closed. Shiny black hair had fallen over her face. They untied her hands.

  “Is this Miss Chen?” Officer Feist asked Holden.

  Holden stood with Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. His arm touched Dink’s shoulder, and Dink could feel him trembling under his white sweater. “Yes,” he said. “Is she okay?”

  Lily opened her eyes. She looked around at the group. Dink could tell she was frightened.

  The officers helped her sit up. She looked at Holden and smiled.

  “Miss Chen, are you all right?” Officer Feist asked.

  Lily nodded. “I’m okay,” she said.

  “Can you tell us what happened?” Officer Goodman asked.

  “The crown is gone!” Dr. Worthington shouted. “Where is the ruby? I am responsible—”

  “Please, sir,” Officer Feist said, looking up at Dr. Worthington over her shoulder. “We’ll handle this.”

  Suddenly Dr. Worthington stopped yelling. He brushed past Dink to the edge of the float. Dink watched him stare into the night, as if his mind was a thousand miles away. His face was no longer angry. It was blank.