CHAPTER 31
“Good grief, that was a close one,” Arlo muttered, wiping his smudged glasses on his equally smudged t-shirt. The kids sat crouched against the wall of a tall building, breathing hard after their escape.
This day had held many unexpected firsts for Arlo. It was his first time running away from home, though, to be fair, he never would have dreamed of doing such a thing if he hadn’t caught Junie sneaking off that morning with Granddaddy’s guitar.
It was his first time flying on the back of a flycycle, shooting an armed guard square in the face with a fabric softener pod, and running for his life through the halls of a high security building. And now, he could add dumpster diving to his list of firsts.
“Too close,” Junie agreed, and she plucked a rotten banana peel off the top of Arlo’s head. Hitching Wampus tighter against her back, Junie stood and looked up and down the unfamiliar street. Once they’d escaped the confines of the observatory and clambered out of the Stinky Pinky dumpster, they’d run, bobbing and weaving, losing themselves amongst the back alleyways of downtown Knashville.
Without any discernible landmarks, the task of finding Ribeye Gwinnett seemed more daunting than ever. Tall buildings hemmed them in on all sides. A seedy looking stranger shuffled past them in the alley, giving them a shifty side-eyed glance.
“Come on, let’s find our way back to Main Street. Maybe from there we’ll be able to figure out how to get to Ribeye’s studio.”
As the kids walked in a direction that seemed promising, Junie asked, “Arlo, do you remember anything from that time Granddaddy brought us to one of his recording sessions at Ribeye’s?”
Arlo nodded, though he was embarrassed to admit his only memory of the day hadn’t been a very good one. During the recording, he’d choked on a peppermint and begun coughing so violently that Ribeye had escorted him out of the studio, and plunked him down on a chair in the hallway. There Arlo had sat for the next two hours, forlorn and forgotten.
“Oh, wait!” Arlo exclaimed, “I DO remember something! Through the hallway window, I remember seeing two big ol’ guitar statues, standing right by the front door of the studio.”
Junie snapped her fingers, “Yes! That’s right! Good thinking, Arlo.”
The tips of his ears blushed bright pink with the praise, but Junie didn’t notice. She had turned a final corner and stumbled out onto the crowded Main Street.
From there, she wasted no time. Flagging down a business man on the sidewalk, she asked, “Excuse me, sir, how do we get to Music Row?” The man, without slowing his stride, pointed vaguely up the street.
“Thank you, Mister,” Junie hollered at the man’s back. The kids looked at each other, shrugged, and started walking in the direction he’d pointed.
They hadn’t gone more than twenty steps when, muffled within the guitar case, Wampus gave a sharp TWANG.
Not half a second later, the kids heard a loud voice shouting, “HEY!!! HEY, YOU!!! GIRL WITH THE GUITAR!!!”
Junie and Arlo whirled around in surprise, expecting to see more guards.
Instead, they saw Ribeye Gwinnett, standing next to a hotdog cart.
CHAPTER 32
“Hold on a sec, kids,” Ribeye said.
To the guy in the hotdog stand, he said, “Give me the usual, Pete. Mustard, relish, onions. Hold the ketchup. I don’t know how many times I’ve gotta ask you, hold the ketchup.”
Ribeye gave Pete a good-natured wink, slapped a couple extra dollars on the counter, and turned back to the children.
Junie and Arlo were still standing on the sidewalk, staring, mouths hanging wide with shock.
“You’d better close them mouths before you catch some flies,” Ribeye said. “It’s me, Ribeye. Don’t you remember me? I worked with your Granddad. I wasn’t sure it was you at first, but I’d recognize that guitar case anywhere.”
At the sound of Ribeye’s voice, the guitar case gave a twitch, and from within, Wampus plinked a couple perky chords.
“I hear you in there, Wampuswood,” Ribeye chuckled, giving the case a pat. “Your Granddaddy sure made some magic with that ‘ol guitar.”
At this, Junie finally found her voice, “Yes, Mr. Ribeye, yes we remember you, sir,” she stammered, “We’re just surprised to see you is all because, well, you see, we were on our way to come find you!”
“Come find me? Why?” Ribeye asked, taking a huge bite of his hotdog. Working with smarmy upstart musicians always had a way of making him hungry.
And then Junie let everything come tumbling out in one big rush. She told him about running away from home to make a name for herself as a musician. About Arlo following her. About Charlie and Cliff the Danger Ranger and Misty the Morphable crashing into them at the bus stop. About how Annaruth had a red pennant and was being held captive at the Observatory. About the guards and the slingshot and the dumpster, and—-
“Wait just a sec…” Ribeye said, holding up his hand to stop her. His eyes wide, he asked, “What did you just say about a red pennant?”
“Yeah,” Junie replied, “Annaruth was gonna hang it on some tree but she made a mistake and hung Charlie up there instead.”
“Junie, I need you to think hard. Where is that pennant now?” Ribeye asked, leaning in close and clasping the girl by the shoulders.
“I–I don’t know,” she replied, “Things went haywire at the Observatory and we all broke up and started running in different directions. I don’t know where Charlie or Cliff went, or Annaruth. I don’t even know if they got out of there. We figured—well, it was Arlo’s idea really–he thought you might know what to do.”
Ribeye Gwinnett got real quiet.
He stared off into the distance for several moments, head cocked to one side as if listening for something. He stood there, silent, long enough for Junie and Arlo to glance at each other, wondering what he was hearing, wondering if they’d made a big, fat mistake coming to find Ribeye.
Finally, he straightened up. His eyes were sharp, and his jaw set in that particular way he had when he was really cooking with gas in the studio.
“Come with me, kids,” Ribeye said, and he began walking toward Music Row with long, purposeful strides. Junie and Arlo shared one last glance between them, then high-tailed it after him.