Colin Throws a Curveball
Emily should have known to stay away from Mr. Loomis’s house, but that little jerk Colin distracted her.
Mr. Loomis had been part of Emily’s neighborhood since well before she was born, and her dad joked he’d been part of the neighborhood since Lincoln was president.
Mr. Loomis was all white hair and spotty skin and watery brown eyes, and something about him made Emily think sneaky. He’d bow his head to her and then look away as he passed her on his afternoon walks, and she’d smile back and speed up.
Emily walked home from school on a nice, sunny Tuesday afternoon, tossing her new baseball up in the air and catching it. She was so focused on not dropping her ball that she didn’t hear Colin, an extremely rude and annoying classmate, run up from behind her. He snatched her baseball before she could catch it.
“Colin! Give it back!”
“Make me!” He waved it at her and took off, his blond hair streaming behind him. Her parents were going to kill her if she came home without that baseball, and she chased after him. She didn’t even notice that they were running by the Loomis house until Colin whirled around.
“Beanball!” He hurled it straight at her head. She ducked. And the ball smashed right through Mr. Loomis’s window. The shattering glass sounded louder than the world to Emily’s ears.
She felt like someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water over her head. Her heart pounded. She was so scared that she couldn’t even yell at Colin, who took one look at what he’d done and tore off down the sidewalk. She watched his red striped shirt disappear in the distance and felt helpless.
If her parents found out what happened … if she couldn’t get that ball back … if Mr. Loomis saw what she did … She didn’t know which thought was the scariest.
Mr. Loomis didn’t appear at the window. Maybe she’d been really lucky; maybe he was out.
Get the ball back, a voice in her head told her. Next weekend, her best friend Sarita was having a birthday party at Dave and Buster’s, Emily’s favorite place in the world. If her parents thought she’d broken a window, they’d never let her go, and she knew it was pointless to blame Colin. If one kid in a group broke something, everyone got in trouble. That was how it always worked.
She tiptoed to the window and peered through the broken glass. It had shattered so completely that if she was very careful, she’d be able to climb up and through the frame without slicing her hand.
And there was her baseball, sitting on an old blue and red rug. If she could get it back and get out without being caught, nobody would be able to connect her with the broken window.
She took a deep breath and hauled herself through, watching the frame to be sure she didn’t cut herself.
Broken glass crunched under her feet as she landed in Mr. Loomis’s living room. The place was dark, but daylight from outside fell on furniture that looked like it hadn’t seen a dust rag or a can of polish for longer than Emily had been alive.
It stinks in here, Emily thought as she wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans. The smell reminded her of science class; something chemical, but something else underneath it. Something that made the skin at the back of her neck prickle.
Get the ball and get out, she reminded herself.
She tiptoed over to the baseball. Just as she picked it up, the room went dark. She slapped a hand over her mouth to stop a scream.
The sun probably went behind a cloud, she told herself. Stop being such a baby.
She turned towards the window, but the window was gone. There was nothing but a solid brick wall where it had been.
And now she screamed. The noise echoed in the tiny room.
She spun around until she spotted the dark arch of a hallway, and she ran for it. Light streamed in from a window in a room at the end of the hallway.
Halfway there she tripped, hitting her knee hard. When she pulled herself to her feet, the room at the end of the hall was gone and she faced another blank wall. She choked out a sob.
Floorboards creaked upstairs, and she heard the sound of something coming down a staircase.
“Mr. Loomis?” she called out, her voice shaking. “It’s Emily Harper. I lost my ball in here.”
Nobody answered her, but the footsteps continued. She couldn’t tell where they were coming from; sometimes they sounded as if they were to her left, but other times they sounded as if they were behind her. Or in front of her. Right now.
Something entered the hall, and she was too stunned to scream again.
The creature had a large, round head and glossy black eyes that were each the size of her hand. Its small, round mouth sat under tiny nostrils and it had a long, skinny body with bare skin that glistened like fish scales, changing colors. Blue. Green. Silver. Yellow.
The room around Emily changed just as rapidly. She saw a small bed with a red comforter, followed quickly by something that looked like the examination room in her doctor’s office with bright white walls, followed by something else that looked like a science classroom, with Bunsen burners lined up next to beakers on a metal table. The changes made her dizzy and she tasted the pizza she’d had for lunch rising in the back of her throat.
And then the creature raised a skinny hand and stretched it towards her, and she found her voice and screamed again.
Another set of footsteps sounded nearby. Whoever — or whatever — this was, it was running.
And then Mr. Loomis’s voice rang out from behind her as he came into view. “Thaddeus! You’re scaring our guest. Stop that.”
He clapped his hands twice, and the creature — Thaddeus!? — blinked its huge black eyes. The room settled into the same dark, dusty environment Emily had first spotted through the broken window.
“What is that?” Emily blurted.
“That’s Thaddeus,” Mr. Loomis said, as if it should have been obvious.
“But what is he? Where did he come from?”
Mr. Loomis scowled down at her.
“Just like you, I poked around in things I shouldn’t have. But unlike you, I was old enough to know better. And that’s how I ended up with Thaddeus. He followed me home, and I can’t shake him. Not that I want to, mind you. He’s good company when you get used to him.”
“But…Thaddeus?”
“Named him after my dad. ‘Hey you’ just seemed rude.” Mr. Loomis scratched his nose. “Course, I’ve no idea if he’s even a him. Or a her. Or something else entirely.”
Emily stared at Thaddeus, who changed colors a few more times before settling on a shimmering light blue that Emily found rather pretty. He stared at her as intently as she watched him, scratching his head with a skinny finger.
“But … your house. Why did it keep changing?” Emily looked to her right and saw the daylight from the broken window streaming into Mr. Loomis’s living room again, and her stomach clenched as she remembered why she was here.
“Best as I can tell, Thaddeus shifts things around to look like places he’s seen before. First few nights he was here, I’d get out of bed and fall right down stairs that hadn’t been there before. He’s usually pretty good about controlling that now, but you got him all spun up with the breaking windows and the screaming. He’s not fond of loud noises. Who is?”
Emily’s face went hot.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Loomis. It was an accident.”
He stared down at her for a moment and something in his face warmed up.
“Well, I suppose accidents happen. Let’s make a deal, young lady. I won’t tell anyone about the window if you don’t tell anyone about Thaddeus. How’s that sound?”
“Good,” Emily said. “But …”
“But?” Mr. Loomis raised his bushy eyebrows.
Emily stared at Thaddeus, who tilted his head as if he were wondering what her question might be.
“Can I come see him again some time?”
Mr. Loomis paused for a moment before turning to Thaddeus.
“Only polite to ask him. Well, Thaddeus? What do you think?”
Thaddeus blinked his large black eyes, and his skin changed to a shiny gold color.
“Ah, you’re in luck,” the old man said. “That means yes.” He turned to Emily. “Now run along home. And feel free to use the front door this time.”
The neighborhood outside looked lush and green and cheerful as Emily walked the rest of the way home, tossing her baseball. She felt safe and happy and like the world was a bigger and brighter and much more interesting place than it had been just an hour ago.
And she really hoped she ran into that little jerk Colin again. When she did, she’d thank him. And she’d never tell him why.
