The Animal

THE ANIMAL


"Animal !" The girl screamed the word.

"What?" Her father shouted back the inquiry.

“Animal. There is an animal here in the yard staring up at me." She screeched the words.

"What kind of animal?" His question, raised in a tone more curious than excited emanated from within the house. She meanwhile was quite shaken and stood frozen in place one foot still safely inside the garage and the other poised just across the threshold where she had placed it to aid her balance as she bent to upright the fallen garden shovel. His response obviously fell short of her expectations.

"It’s an aaaaaaannnnniiiiiiiimaaaaalllllll !" She yelled stretching out the word for emphasis. The beady little eyes still stared up at her from the furry ball lying on its back less than the shovel’s length from her foot. " I don’t know what it is." Her mind searched for appropriate words to convey the reaction the creature had managed to elicit while simply remaining silently huddled before her. "It’s a varmint of some kind." She heard his chair scrape against the floor as he at last pushed it back from the table.

"A Possum?" He hazarded a guess on his way.

"No. Not that, not a Possum." Somewhere in the back of her mind a name was on file that matched this furry frightened creature, but her own current state of astonishment kept her from voicing it. She was still trying to make sense of this unexpected discovery. The creature had dug itself the shallowest of shelters apparently knocking down the shovel in the process.

The discovery had come as she had stepped out into the garage to let the dogs in after their morning outing. The silly pets were so anxious for their ration of morning kibble that they hadn’t even noticed the animal inches away from their noses as they leaped over the shovel handle to get inside to their waiting feed bowls. Sleep still clouded her own mind a bit certainly adding to the intensity of her reaction. "It’s an animal and it isn’t supposed to be here." She said as she felt his presence behind her. She raised her hand and weakly pointed a finger at it.

"See. It just stays there and keeps staring up at me."

"What do you want me to do about it?" He asked.

Rhianna didn't have a chance to answer. She started screaming. "Daddy, it's going to get me!"

David Garret watched in horror as the creature suddenly rolled over. It gathered itself, ready to spring, hissing loudly. Now two rows of teeth like perfect tiny stalactites and stalagmites accompanied the pair of beady eyes which had become large and round with fear as the animal opened its mouth and gave a second hiss.

Rhianna almost screamed, and although she was longing to flee, she could not bring herself to run. She locked eyes with the animal and dared not move. Her father, on the other hand, could move, and did. He grabbed the shovel in both hands and shouted to his daughter to run to the house. Then he swung the shovel above his head and brought it down on the animal. The shovel hit hard and he knew the blow would kill the creature.

Twelve-year-old Rhianna rushed through the yard and into the house, joining her twin brother, Ryan, at the window where they could watch their father in safety. Jack and Jill, their two Silky Terriers, hopped up and down at their feet, barking and yapping in sporadic outbursts.

Suddenly the children watched their mother join their father in the backyard. They opened the window so they could hear their conversation through the screen.

"Honey, what's all the racket?" Karen walked briskly towards her husband. "What is that thing?" She asked when she spied the shallow burrow and the animal that was still lying there.

"I'm not sure, but I think I killed it." He said. "It felt strange, though, under the shovel. I thought I heard a tinny sound, as if I had struck something metal, and the impact wasn't anything like it should have been if it had hit a real carcass."

He stooped down to get a closer look. "I think it's a rat." He finally said. He stood up and started looking around for a stick.

"A rat?" Karen asked quizzically. "Now that's odd. I didn't think we had any rats around here."

David found what he was looking for and started to poke the animal. "Oh, Honey," he finally said as he relaxed his grip on the stick, "This is nothing more than a toy!" He bent down and reached for the beady-eyed animal and brought it up to eye level to show his wife.

"It's radio-controlled. See?" He pointed out to Karen the detachable panel located on the creature's belly.

"Who put it there?" She asked her husband.

"I wouldn't know, but whoever it was went to great lengths to make this thing appear real. It sure had Rhianna fooled. Look at the matted fur. The dried blood around its feet certainly looks authentic."

He looked up, suddenly, when he thought he heard something and glanced at the hedgerow along the south side of the yard, and then across the fenceline behind the house and along the north side. "Whoever designed this creature might still be lurking around close by. Someone had to be around to activate it a moment ago," David continued.

"It's horrible! It looks evil," Karen said. "Who would pull such a prank? Maybe the children know something."

"No, I wouldn't mention this to the children, Karen."

Karen looked at the hideous animal again and silently agreed that telling the children would not be the right thing to do.

Using the end of the stick, David fiddled with the detachable panel located underneath the animal until it came loose enough to unscrew with his fingers. "Pew," David said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "Even the stench is real." He managed to get a good look inside in spite of the strong odor. He inspected the antenna and the circuit board. He knew the board was made to receive signals from a transmitter which activates the motor that operates the toy. As he dug around, he noticed a small tape which he pulled out to get a closer look.

"So this is where the animal's hissing sound came from." David said.

Karen moved to take a peek over her husband's shoulder and together they read one word that was written on either side of the miniature tape: Jelshel. The word was weathered a bit and hard to make out.

"What could that mean?" Karen wondered.

"I'm not sure," David replied. "I wonder if this is something I should take to the FBI." David finally said after giving it a little more thought.

"David, don't you think that's a bit much? I hardly think this is a police matter much less something for the FBI!" Karen replied.

"This "Jelshel" sounds like a code name of some sort." David said. Then he turned and started towards the house. "Put that thing, that, that rat-toy in a plastic bag and put it somewhere safe where the children and the dogs can't find it. I might need it for evidence." He said to Karen as he went.

"Where are you going?" She called after him.

"I'm going to check this out on the Internet."

As David went through the back door, the twins stifled their giggles and pulled away from the window. Ryan nudged his sister and whispered, “Let’s make this look good, Rhee.” Then, to his father, he said, "What’s in your hand, Dad?”

"Never mind, son." David answered. "It's nothing."

"Did you kill the animal, Dad?" Rhianna asked him.

"Don't worry, honey. It won't bother you again," was David's swift reply.

"What kind of animal was it, Mom?" Rhianna asked her mother as Karen entered the backdoor a moment later.

"Oh, nothing much, just a varmint, honey." She answered.

The twins followed their dad into the study and watched him sit down at the computer. He asked them to go play somewhere else, so they backed off and just watched silently from a distance.

The first thing David did was enter the word Jelshel onto his computer's search engine. Nothing came up. He tried different spellings. The closest he could come to was the word Jailshell. He was amazed to find several sites that had to do with that strange word. He skipped the first one and went on to the second choice. It read, what is jailshell 2.05? He selected that one and logged on.

In a few seconds the screen appeared. He scrolled down the page and gasped. It looked like a government site alright, but he wondered why it had been so easy to access. Then it dawned on him. Everything was probably written in some kind of code. He spent some time trying to work it out, but decided it was beyond him. He'd have to borrow a book on cracking codes from the library unless he could come up with a better idea before then.

The children watched their father just long enough to satisfy their curiosity. They left him as he was accessing his email. They went into Ryan’s room and closed the door just as their two terriers crossed the threshold.

“Well, Rye, how’d I do?” Rhianna asked her brother. “I’m a pretty good actress, aren’t I? You heard Dad say, himself, that the animal even fooled me!!”

“Okay, okay, Rhee, you did a great job. I couldn’t have done it better, myself. But how did you like the look on his face when he took a close look at the mechanisms we wired that thing with?” Ryan fell back on his bed laughing. Jack and Jill, who are always looking for any reason to cavort, jumped upon the bed with him and started to lick his face.

“They fell for everything; hook, line, and sinker!” Rhianna said.

“You mean stinker!!” Ryan wailed.

“Yeah, that fart spray was the perfect gag. It really added a nice touch!” By now Rhianna was laughing too hard to support her weight, so she joined Ryan on the bed. They wriggled and laughed while the dogs jumped back and forth from one end of the bed to the other, barking joyfully.

Eventually Rhianna sat up. “What will happen if Dad actually does tell the FBI?” She asked seriously.

“Nothing. If they investigate at all, they’ll discover a couple of kids were having some fun. So what. They won’t know who did it. They’ll come to us, first, for questioning, I’m sure of that. But that’s nothing.”

Early that evening the family came together for dinner. The dogs had been already fed and put outdoors for their post prandial romp and were now lying in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining area, noses between their paws, gazing up at the foursome as they enjoyed their meal at the table.

As they were just starting on the roast pork Karen had prepared, she suddenly asked David if he learned anything on the computer.

“Well, I don’t really want to say too much in front of the kids. This really is none of their concern, but I don’t see much harm in saying that I put the word we found on the tape into the search engine. There was no such word to be found, but the engine offered me another word of similar spelling, so I went for it.”

By now he had everyone at the table in total suspense. He took a bite of pork and then chased it down with a sip of Pepsi. When he was ready again, he went on.

“What I got was a web site which I believe has been designed completely in code. It was so easy to access; I just knew there had to be a catch. Won’t Phil be impressed when I talk to him?”

“Phil?” Karen asked.

“Yeah, Dad, who’s Phil?” Ryan and Rhianna also wanted to know.

“Phil Clayton.” He said cheerfully. “He’s a former FBI agent who works at the company with me. I was hoping he’d be interested enough to check into this thing. However, in the meantime, Ryan, I want to send you on a mission to the library. I want you to pick out a book on decoding messages. I thought you might find that interesting, and it would save me some running around.”

“Oh. Um, sure, Dad. Why not? It sounds like fun.” Ryan gave his sister a sidelong glance. “I’ll bet you’d like to help,” he said to her.

Rhianna nodded. “Of course!”

“Well, that’s settled, then. You can both go after supper if it’s okay with your mom.” He said.

Karen agreed it was fine by her. “Just stay an hour, though. The library closes at 9:00 tonight, so I’ll come pick you up before 7:00.”

“I’m waiting for an e-mail from Phil now. If he chooses to help me out, he’ll be coming over tomorrow evening, so if I can get my hands on a decoding book before then, that would be a great help, kids.”

That night David spent in his study with his nose inside the decoding book Rhianna and Ryan had found at the library for him. Every now and then the children would enter the study to see how he was going.

“So far, not so good, but I’m still working on it, kids,” he would tell them.

Eventually, David came out of the room and started hunting behind furniture and under lampshades. This piqued the children’s curiosity.

“What are you looking for, Dad?” Ryan asked.

“I’m looking for a bugging device, Rye. I’m sure we’re being spied upon.”

Ryan threw his sister a look of astonishment.

“Can we help?” Rhianna asked David.

“Of course. Don’t over-look anything,” he warned. “Until we find this thing, we’re going to have to be very careful of what we say.”

“How do you know we’re being bugged, Dad?” Rhianna asked.

“I’m not sure, actually, but I don’t want to take any chances. Someone went to great lengths to disturb us by planting that tape in our backyard. Why it was done the way it was is beyond me, but I’m bound and determined to get to the bottom of this.”

The three Garrets went through the entire living room, not leaving one stick of furniture un-combed, or one inch of wall, floor, even the ceiling, untouched.

“Okay. I’m satisfied,” David finally said when the search proved fruitless. Then he walked over to the phone and picked it up. “We’re going to have to be sure this isn’t bugged, either. I have a sneaking suspicion it might be tapped.”

Ryan and Rhianna left the room at that point. They conspired in Ryan’s room, being careful to close the door behind them.

“We better watch what we say in here, too, Rye,” Rhianna said, stifling her giggles. “There might be a bug planted in here, too!”

Ryan laughed. “This is getting out of hand, Rhee. Dad is sure putting himself into this.”

“I know. I think it’s funny.”

The children stayed in Ryan’s room for a while. When they came back out, they found their father back in the study again. He had a desk drawer open and was holding his revolver in his hands.

“Dad, what are you doing with that thing?” Rhianna asked, astounded by her father’s behavior.

“I don’t want to take any chances, kids. I’m going to have to keep this thing loaded until I know for sure we’re completely out of danger.”

Rhianna and Ryan looked at each other and stifled a giggle. Ryan rolled his eyes at his sister which made it even harder for Rhianna to contain herself. Their father didn’t seem to notice. He went back to his decoding book.

That evening, after supper, Phil Clayton showed up right on time. David met him at the door and exchanged greetings.

“I really appreciate your coming over like this, Phil. I hope we make it worth your while.” David said.

“That’s quite alright, Dave,” Phil said, “I don’t mind helping a friend out in times of need. I just hope we can find this culprit and throw him in jail, whoever he is. The FBI doesn’t take well to this sort of nonsense.”

The two men went into the study and closed the door. Karen walked into the hallway and found Ryan and Rhianna with their ears to the door, trying to see if they could hear what was going on inside the study. “Why don’t you kids go out and play?” She asked. “This doesn’t concern you at all. Take the dogs with you.”

The children went outdoors as instructed by their mother. Suddenly the whole situation didn’t seem quite as funny as it did before.

“I can’t stand not knowing what’s going on in there,” Rhianna said. “Let’s peek in the window and see if we can watch from out here.”

When the children tried to get a glimpse of the study from the back window, they couldn’t see either their father or Phil Clayton anywhere. They rushed to the side window that allowed them a peek of the living room. There were the two men, alright, with their heads together. Both had very grave expressions on their faces. David was pacing back and forth, as if he were trying to decide something. Mr Clayton, on the other hand, was going through the room in much the same manner as the twins and their father had before.

“Are you worried, Rye?” Rhianna asked her brother.

“Naw. How can they find anything? They’ll give up soon and Mr Clayton will go home and that will be the end of it.”

“Are you sure? Dad seems very determined to me. I don’t think he’ll just drop this thing, Rye. At least not for a long time.” Rhianna replied.

Just then the children could hear their mother calling their names from the backdoor. “You children are needed inside,” she said when she saw them coming from around the corner .

When they walked into the room, Phil Clayton was standing with one foot on the hassock. He was leaning on his knee, holding a tablet in one hand and a pen in the other. He looked up when the children entered the room.

“I was hoping you two could answer some questions for me, please.” He said sternly. “We have a very serious case on our hands right now and I don’t want to leave any stones unturned.”

The children looked at the man, then at their father.

“It’s okay, kids. Just tell the truth and everything will be okay.” David said.

“Now,” Phil Clayton said, “Have either of you seen any strangers lurking around your property lately?”

“No,” both children replied simultaneously.

“Where were the two of you yesterday morning when your father discovered the animal in question?”

“I was the one who found the rat, Mr Clayton.” Rhianna offered. “I discovered it right after I let the dogs in.”

“I see. So you were the one who stumbled upon the rat. Then what?”

“Well, it frightened me. I don’t find animals lying around in burrows like that every day. Especially not rats. I panicked and called my dad.” Rhianna replied.

“When your dad arrived, what did you do then?”

“I ran back to the house.” Rhianna said.

“And you,” suddenly the FBI agent turned to Ryan. “Where were you young man?”

“I was standing right over there,” Ryan pointed to the window where he and Rhianna had been watching their parents during the events that followed after the rat’s discovery. “Rhianna came in and joined me.”

“Hmmm, I see.” Phil Clayton wrote something down in his tablet. Then he placed both feet on the ground and started pacing the floor. The silence that filled the room was unnerving for the children, and, eventually, Rhianna was driven to speech.

“I was wondering, Mr Clayton, um,” she began, “what do you make of this case so far?”

“I’m not sure of the details, but I have a suspect.” He answered.

Rhianna caught her breath and waited to see what the FBI agent was going to say next. There was a long silence before he said anything else.

“It’s a good thing your father hung on to that toy.” He said, finally. “I was able to get some good fingerprints off the tape that he pulled out of it, but I found even more clues on the animal, itself.”

Rhianna couldn’t trust herself to look at her brother at that moment, but she was dying to know how he was reacting to this news. She could feel her heart beating and beads of sweat were beginning to prickle the back of her neck.

“Do you know who the fingerprints belong to?” Ryan asked with a shaky voice.

“Yes.” The FBI agent looked the boy square in the eye. “According to your father, it’s someone you know.”

The children exchanged glances at that time. Horrified, Rhianna couldn’t wait any longer for the suspense to end.

“Who is it?” Rhianna asked, sheepishly.

“Well, I found three sets of fingerprints, actually, but the main prints that were the most clear belong to a man who lives in your neighborhood who we’ve been keeping an eye on for quite some time. You see, this man has been suspected of committing several crimes in the neighborhood. Now we finally have sufficient evidence to bring him in for questioning.” Phil Clayton stood directly in front of the children as he said these words.

Ryan took a step backwards and unexpectedly fell into the armchair that he had forgotten was located directly behind him. He looked up at the man who suddenly appeared ten feet tall, and felt a shudder run through his body.

“Apparently,” Phil Clayton said, “the man is a well-respected citizen of the community.” Then he shook his head and sighed. “It’s always a shame to arrest someone who is such an outstanding citizen,” he continued. “According to your father, he’s a teacher at Kennedy Junior High School.”

Ryan gulped. Rhianna felt her face growing hot.

No one said anything for a while. Then Phil said, “Your father tells me he’s one of your teachers.”

There was another long pause. Neither of the children knew what to say. They both knew the FBI agent was referring to their science teacher, Mr Picklesimer. He was the one who helped the class to build the radio-controlled animal in their science lab at school. They had been studying electronics, robotics, and mechanical engineering all year. In fact, they had spent semester after semester working on a variety of prototypes, creating all sorts of designs. The rat had been only one of many. They learned how to program memory, moods, even personalities into their creations. The rat was one of the few projects the children were permitted to take out of the classroom.

When the children didn’t respond to the news, Phil Clayton went on. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to arrest the man.”

“But what did he do? It was only a harmless prank!” Rhianna said.

“What did who do?” Mr Clayton asked.

“The teacher!” Rhianna said.

“I’m afraid there is more here than meets the eye, young lady.” Phil Clayton said. “This man, if he, indeed, is the man who is responsible for this toy, and I have good reason to believe that he is, is a spy. I have it all here on this tape!” He said and produced the tape from out of his pocket and held it up to show the children. “I also have it on the web site your father discovered. The decoding book your father tells me you brought home from the library was just the thing.”

The children looked at each other. Was there more on that tape than just simple animal sounds? Was there truly a web site named jelshel? Was Mr Picklesimer a spy? Of course not! The children had made that tape themselves. They were the ones who made up the word, jelshel, and printed it on the tape.

“Mr Picklesimer isn’t a spy!” Rhianna volunteered.

“Of course not,” Ryan piped up. In fact, not only did he pipe up, but he jumped up as well, rising to his feet in a hurry, coming to the aid of his beloved teacher. “Mr Picklesimer is the best darn science teacher a kid ever had!”

“He’s completely innocent! He’s not into espionage, he’s into robotics and animatronics!” Rhianna suddenly shouted.

“He’s into gadgets and gizmos,” Ryan appended.

“So you say. Why did he plant that toy in your backyard?” Phil Clayton wanted to know.

The children didn’t say anything. Rhianna stared at her fingers and found one nail rather dirty.

“Well, that’s what I’m going to go and find out.” Phil Clayton said. Then he turned and walked toward the door.

“Wait!” Ryan shouted.

“Don’t go!” Rhianna pleaded. “Mr Picklesimer had nothing to do with it.

“So who brought the rat home?” Phil wanted to know. “Who put dirt in the rat’s fur and poured fake blood all over its feet and sprayed the thing with fart spray?”

“We, I mean, I . . . I . . . di,” by now Rhianna started to feel guilty, but she didn’t get the chance to continue with her confession because Phil Clayton went on with his questioning. He put his face directly up to Rhianna’s and asked point blank, “Who planted the animal in your yard and pretended to be afraid so David, here, was sure to find it?”

Rhianna closed her mouth, which she suddenly found agape.

“You did a good job of that, young lady,” David spoke for the first time. “At that point, I was convinced the rat was real.”

“But he didn’t believe it for long,” Karen, who had been quietly standing at the back of the room all that time, suddenly came forward. “The next time you decide to pull a prank like this, you better make sure the window isn’t open. Your dad caught on to your little prank the moment he heard you giggling.”

The twins weren’t sure what to make of everything they had just heard. They realized that even Phil Clayton was a part of their father’s ruse against them. They looked at each other, too afraid to find out what was going to happen next. Were they going to be punished?

“Do you have the transmitter handy, Ryan?” David asked as he came forward with the radio-controlled animal that had been the start of the escapade in the first place. “Maybe you could show me how this thing works. You know, Mr Picklesimer is a real genius. Why, I remember when I was in his class . . . of course, that was years ago, when he and I were both much younger, but I recall one day in particular . . .”

Rhianna sighed with relief as Ryan went off to get the transmitter. Everything was going to be okay after all. She sat back and listened to her father’s tale. She had no idea Mr Picklesimer had been teaching school for so long. She caught herself daydreaming as she picked at the dirt under her nail and began to wonder what fun she and Ryan could have with the skunk they were building privately in their basement.



THE END