Chapter 4: The Balloon

Mabel's feet stopped on the path.

Linus's hand tightened around her mitten.

The man held out the balloon and smiled wider.

"Come on, honey. Daddy's waiting in the car."

He had very nice teeth for a man who smoked a pack a night.

Mabel looked at the parents crowded along the fence.

Moms in puffy coats. A dad with a stroller. Two grandmas.

In her first life, she had learned one useful thing from the Ainsworth house.

When rich people did something terrible, they did it quietly.

So you made it loud.

Mabel filled her lungs and pointed straight at him.

"STRANGER!" she screamed. "That's a STRANGER! He's not my daddy's friend! I've never seen him before!"

Every head on the sidewalk turned.

The man's smile froze.

"She's confused," he said to the nearest mom. "I'm her uncle."

"I don't have an uncle!" Mabel shrieked. "He was watching my house last night! He smokes red cigarettes!"

The man's hand went to his coat pocket.

A pack of red and white cigarettes was poking out of it.

The mom with the stroller saw it too.

"Hey," she said. Her voice went hard. "Hey. Who are you here for?"

"Somebody call the police," said one of the grandmas, already dialing.

The dad left his stroller and stepped in front of the gate.

Two more dads closed in from the left.

The teacher came running down the steps in her cardigan.

The man looked at all of them.

He let go of the balloon.

Then he ran.

The pink balloon floated up over the school, turning slowly.

The man sprinted down the sidewalk, cut between two parked cars and burst into the street.

A police cruiser came around the corner at exactly that moment.

He ran straight into the side of it.

He bounced off the door and sat down hard in a slush puddle.

The cruiser's door opened.

Mabel's freckled brother climbed out, put his hat on, and looked down at the man in the puddle.

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