Who Was That Masked Man Anyway? Read online

“Yeah.”

  “See, Tom, you can get over.”

  “Franklin? Mr. Wattleson?”

  “Okay, Frankie, out of the way. This kid your friend Mario?”

  “Yeah. Mario, this is my brother, Tom.”

  “Oh.”

  “Mario, that thing set? I’m coming over.”

  “But my mother —”

  “Franklin? Where are you hiding?”

  “Tom, hurry! She’s up the stairs. She’s coming down the hall.”

  “Okay, kid. Steady it.”

  “Frankie, it’s cracking!”

  “Tom!”

  “Franklin, are you in here?”

  “Tom! Tom! Are you all right? Tom?”

  “Stupid board! Frankie, why didn’t you tell me it was cracked!”

  “What is going on … ?”

  “Miss Gomez, help! My brother, Tom, just fell out the window. He’s barely holding on —”

  “Fell? Out the window? What are you talking about? What is going on here?”

  “Hurry! My brother fell out of the window! He’s holding on to the sill!”

  “Let me see…. Oh, my God! Who is that?”

  “It’s my brother, Miss Gomez! Tom, hold on! Mario! Call the police!”

  “Frankie, for God’s sake, reach down and grab me, will ya? I’m losing my grip.”

  “I’m trying, Tom! Miss Gomez! Help!”

  “Franklin, put your hands around my waist. Tighter! Brace yourself! Tighter. I’m going to lean out…. Mr. Wattleson, I’m trying to grab you by your belt. I’ve got it. Now, pull, Frankie … pull!”

  “I’m pulling!”

  “Hold on, Mr. Wattleson! Hold on! Ease in. There!”

  “Tom, you okay?”

  “Mr. Wattleson, are you all right?”

  “Yeah. I’m all right.”

  “I don’t understand. How did you manage to fall out the window?”

  “I …”

  “It was an accident.”

  “I assume it was an accident, Franklin, but —”

  “Hi, Ma.”

  “Franklin, I just was at your school and — What is going on here?”

  “Mrs. Wattleson, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Esmeralda Gomez. I’m —”

  “Tom, what is going on? … Why are you sitting on the floor? Who is this woman? What is she doing here?”

  “Frankie!”

  “Mario, please, be quiet! Tom, will you answer me?”

  “I fell out of the window.”

  “You what?”

  “I fell out of the window, and this lady —”

  “But you’re laughing!”

  “Frankie! Hey, Frankie!”

  “Mario, for goodness’ sake! What is it?”

  “Mrs. Wattleson, Frankie said to call the police. So I called them and the fire department. They said they’ll be right over, and I think I hear the sirens.”

  “I don’t understand any of … I thought there was a meeting at —”

  “Mrs. Wattleson, I’m Franklin’s sixth-grade teacher. I came over because I wanted to talk to you and your husband about Franklin, who —”

  “Ma!”

  “Frankie, I am trying to talk to —”

  “Mrs. Wattleson! Hurry! There are firemen out front!”

  “Tom, please stop laughing for a moment!”

  “Oh, hi, Pop!”

  “What in God’s name is going on around here? I come around the corner, and there are cops and fire engines standing outside…. Who is this woman?”

  “Frankie’s sixth-grade teacher.”

  “Mr. Wattleson, how do you do? My name is Esmeralda Gomez —”

  “Look, Tom, I don’t want you sneaking women —”

  “Pop!”

  “Don’t bother me —”

  “But Pop —”

  “For God’s sake, what is it. Frankie?”

  “The cops just smashed in the front door, and the firemen are bringing up the hoses.”

  “CHET BARKER, Master Spy!”

  “Da-dum, da-dum!”

  “The makers of Oriental Oat Pies bring you another thrilling adventure of Chet Barker, Master Spy! Chet Barker, smart and full of potential, fearless and well prepared. Chet Barker, soaring out of dim history to right the wrongs of life. He fights for what’s right on land!”

  “On the sea!”

  “And in the air! With his faithful and loyal sidekick, Skipper O’Malley, Chet Barker — restored to his own, rightful room — believes that justice is worth struggling for!”

  “Da-dum.”

  “And now, for today’s adventure, The Wedding Night Caper!”

  “Frankie, I’m not so sure we should be doing this.”

  “Mario, when the adventure’s done and after the commercial, there’s always a piece at the end.”

  “I know, but putting that microphone under Tom and Miss Gomez’s bed —”

  “Mario, she’s Mrs. Wattleson now.”

  “You still got left back.”

  “Well, everything else worked. Mr. Swerdlow out. Tom back in his own room. Him being happy again. The war over. Then him and Miss Gomez getting married.”

  “Took them six months.”

  “They wanted to be sure. Anyway, I got my own radio.”

  “I know. Still … listening to them this way doesn’t seem right. Not when they just got married. If my mother —”

  “Mario, we got a new board. You can get back to your room quick. You know what your trouble is, Skipper? You don’t have faith.”

  “In what?”

  “Radio. What time is it?”

  “ ’Bout eleven.”

  “They should be there….”

  “Frankie … what if they find the microphone?”

  “They won’t.”

  “And they might just want to be — you know — private.”

  “We’ll only listen for a few minutes…. Ready?”

  “Suppose.”

  “Okay, Skipper, turn the Atomic Remote Relay Radio speaker on!”

  “TOM, I’m really happy. I am.”

  “Me too.”

  “But you know … there’s one thing I never told you.”

  “Oh?”

  “It’s sort of strange….”

  “You don’t have to tell me.”

  “I know…. But, well, it wasn’t long after I learned about Mitch being killed.”

  “Honey …”

  “No, I want you to hear this. You know how … awful it was — and how I felt. Well, one day I was sitting in a park. Penny Bridge Park. I was crying. Just so miserable. I wasn’t seeing anything. Then, all of a sudden — when I looked up — there, right in front of me — I couldn’t believe it. A little person. Maybe a child. Or an elf. With a long coat down to his toes. And a hat on. A man’s hat. And he was masked.”

  “Masked?”

  “It was so extraordinary I could hardly believe what I was seeing, and then, it — in this squeaky voice — he said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll look out for you. Everything will be okay.’ Then he began to spell something.”

  “You kidding?”

  “And the next moment — he was gone. Ran away.”

  “Honey, you must have imagined it.”

  “I’ve often thought I did. But every now and again that moment comes back into my mind. The thing is, it must have been real. And it must have been a kid. But then, I keep asking myself, Who was that masked kid, anyway?”

  “OH, MAN, Frankie, you did it!”

  “Shucks, Skipper. ’Tweren’t nothing. Nothing at all.”

  Avi’s work spans nearly every genre and has received nearly every major prize, including the Newbery Medal for Crispin: The Cross of Lead and Newbery Honors for Nothing But the Truth and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Avi lives in Colorado. You can visit him online at www.avi-writer.com.

  Also by Avi

  The Barn

  Escape From Home: Beyond the Western Sea

  Book One

  Int
o the Storm: Beyond the Western Sea

  Book Two

  The Man Who Was Poe

  Midnight Magic

  Murder at Midnight

  Nothing But the Truth

  Perloo the Bold

  Romeo and Juliet Together (and Alive!) at Last

  Something Upstairs

  The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

  The author express thanks to the following for permission to quote excerpts from historic radio broadcasts. CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT, “The First Show in the Series,” September 30, 1940. Copyright © 1971, The Radiola Co. Used with permission. THE SHADOW character, copyrights, and trademarks are owned by The Condé Nast Publications. THE LONE RANGER, “Bus Titus Resigns,” courtesy of Palladium Limited Partnership. SKY KING, “The Land of the Diamond Scarab,” as heard on ABC radio on July 14, 1947. Copyright © 1987, The Radiola Co. Used with permission. THE GREEN HORNET, “The Woman in the Case,” copyright © 1944, Charles Michelson, Inc. Used with permission. Excerpt from BUCK ROGERS, April 4, 1939. Copyright © 1971, The Radiola Co. Used with permission.

  Permission to quote from the following textbook is gratefully acknowledged. On the Long Road. Copyright © 1940, renewed, Silver Burdett Company. Used with permission.

  This book was originally published in hardcover by Orchard Books in 1992.

  Copyright © 1992 by Avi. All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  This edition first printing, August 2014

  Cover art by Ryan Andrews

  Cover design by Yaffa Jaskoll

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-73253-6

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.