– CHAPTER FOUR –
Mr. Clarke and Cody, Keegan’s 13 year old brother had made supper back at Keegan’s house and Keegan's parents and siblings were getting ready to eat. Cody boogied to rap music from a radio as Mr. Clarke stirred a big pot of spaghetti sauce. On the adjacent burner, a big pot of pasta bubbled away. Cody leaned out the kitchen door and bellowed at the top of his voice.
“Keeeeegaaaan! Jackieeee...Mommmm. Suppeeerrr!”
Mr. Clarke winced and put his hands to his ears.
“Cody, I could have done that myself! Goand tell them.”
At that moment Jackie, Keegan's eleven year-old sister burst into the room. She was wearing a baseball cap back to front, a Baltimore Orioles T-shirt and track pants. She had red hair, freckles and an infectious grin. In a flash she sat at the table.
“I thought you said it was ready, Toady?” she grinned at her brother. Cody patted his father on the shoulder. “Feed her Dad before she starts eating the furniture.”
Mr. Clarke slid a plate of pasta and sauce in front of Jackie and said. “Just wait for your mother.”
As Jackie wound the spaghetti around her fork, Mrs. Clarke entered the kitchen and sat at the table.
“Where’s Keegan?” she asked no one in particular.
Cody placed a plate in front of his mother and then counted off on his fingers in a mildly sarcastic voice.
“Uhhh...let me see now. Could he be searching for treasure...? Just like he does every summer or he could be finding stray animals, or he could be building a fort …………… ….no. Hold on. He did say he might go over to Parker’s place. Maybe he stopped by to check out Parker’s new wheels.”
At that moment the back door opened and Parker walked in. He was a tall, black 13 year old. Like Cody, he was dressed in cut-off jeans. He wore a NY Knicks Tshirt and was wearing Nike sandals.
“Nope. Alternative suggestion required Cody dude!”
“Oh hi, Parker.” greeted Mrs. Clarke. “So you haven’t seen him either?” Parker shook his head. “My optical visionaries have not scoped the subject in question Mrs. Clarke.”
“I guess that means you haven’t seen him Parker?” smiled Mr. Clarke. “Well, if he’s not home in five minutes I’ll call Mr. Shama. He seems to spend most of his time at his store.”
Parker grinned. “How about – if he’s not home in five minutes can I eat his spaghetti?”
“If he’s not home within the next five minutes you can have his spaghetti and desert Parker and he can go to bed on an empty stomach.”
“Well, I hope he’s not in any trouble.” Mrs. Clarke said to her husband. “You remember the last time he went missing. He climbed that big tree at Jones meadow and couldn’t get down. We didn’t find him until well after dark.” Cody between mouthfuls of spaghetti said. “You have to admit guys. It’s pretty difficult to get into trouble in Ocean Park.”