It was much easier walkingdown1,652 steps than walking up. Jack and Annie walkeddown and down and down and down and down anddown and down and down and down and down anddown-until finally they stepped onto the ground.
Jack noticed that the two-seater bicycle was gone. "Iguess those two people came and got their bike," hesaid.
Jack and Annie looked around. Exhibits werecovered and gates were locked. All the motion andnoise of the World's Fair had ended for the110day. The living encyclopedia had gone to sleep.
Suddenly Jack felt very exhausted.
"Home?" said Annie.
Jack nodded. "Frog Creek," he said, sighing. Jackand Annie hurried over the bridge and across theavenue. "Those guys were really nice," said Jack asthey walked through the dark, rose-scented park.
"I know," said Annie. "They acted like regularpeople. But they've done all those amazing things.""Yeah," said Jack. "They're like magicians indisguise."Jack and Annie came to the magic tree house. Theyclimbed up the rope ladder and looked one last timeout the window. The Eiffel Tower seemed to standwatch over Paris, its spotlights sweeping over thecity.
Jack pulled Merlin's letter out of his satchel. Heopened it and pointed to the wordsFrog Creek.
"I wish we could go"111Before Jack could finish making the wish, he andAnnie were bathed in brilliant white light. Jacklooked up. One of the beams of the tower's spotlightshad come to rest on the tree house. It shined on themfor a long moment.
With both hands, Annie waved wildly into theblinding light. Jack waved, too.
"Good night, magicians!" Annie shouted.
Jack laughed. Then he pointed at Merlin's112113letter again and finished his wish: "... home to FrogCreek," he said.
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin. It spun faster andfaster.
Then everything was still. Absolutely still.
Jack opened his eyes. He and Annie were dressed intheir regular clothes again. Dusky light filtered intothe tree house. No time at all had passed in FrogCreek.
"That was a great trip," Jack said softly. "Reallygreat," said Annie.
Jack pulled the guide book to the 1889 Paris World'sFair out of his backpack. He left it on the tree housefloor along with Merlin's letter. But he kept Teddyand Kathleen's book of magic rhymes.
"So. We have three rhymes left for our fourthadventure," he said.
114"Quack, quack," said Annie. "Very funny," said Jack.
"Ready?""Yep," said Annie. She climbed down the ropeladder, and Jack followed.
As they started walking through the darkeningwoods, the world felt familiar and ordinary again. "Ican't believe we just met all those guys," said Jack. "Ican't believe I actually shook hands with ThomasEdison.""You mean with Alva," said Annie. "Yeah. Alva ....
Wow," Jack said softly.
"What do you think Merlin meant when he saidthat we hadlivedall their secrets, as well aslearnedthem?" said Annie.
"Well, think about it," said Jack. "We wouldn't havegone on our mission in the first place if we didn'thave a love for adventure and responsibility-like Mr. Eiffel.""Right," said Annie. "And we sure put a lot of sweatinto our mission-when we climbed the stairs."115"And we didn't lose hope when the door of theinstitute was locked," said Jack. "We stuck arounduntil another door opened.""And you prepared us by reading from the researchbook," said Annie, "so chance favored us when weheard someone call Thomas Edison `the Wizard ofMenlo Park."'
"And chance favored us when those two people lentus their bike," said Jack.
"Actually, I don't think that was chance," Anniesaid.
"What do you mean?" said Jack.
"Did you notice that man looked more like a kid indisguise?" said Annie. "His beard and mustachelooked kind of fakey.""I didnotice that!" said Jack. "But there was so muchgoing on, I didn't have time to think about it.""And the woman talked in that funny, squeakyvoice, and the veil of her hat covered her face," saidAnnie. "And the guy told us to116spin like a whirlwind. That was a weird thing tosay, but it reminded us of the rhyme in Teddy andKathleen's book."Jack nodded slowly. Then he smiled. "You thinkthose two were actually Teddy and Kathleen?" hesaid.
"Maybe," said Annie. "On our last three missions, Ifelt like they were with us, helping us get to the rightplace at the right time.""Next time, maybe we can catch them when theyhelp us," said Jack.
Annie laughed. "Yeah, we'll try to surprisethemfor a change!""Good plan," said Jack.
A bell jingled in the distance. "Ice cream!" saidAnnie.
"Yep, that's our mission now!" said Jack.
The ice cream bell jingled again. Jack and Annieran out of the woods into the soft summer twilight. |