Chapter 40

Friday afternoon, Sean was at his desk writing a report on Napoleon when his mother stuck her head in his room. She said, “Chief Fastman is here to see you.”

“I wonder what he wants,” Sean said looking up from his computer.

“I don’t know. Maybe you should ask him,” his mother answered.

“Do you think he’ll tell me?” Sean asked.

His mother answered, “I’m sure that he will. He came all this way just to talk to you.”

“If you’re so sure then maybe I should talk to him,” Sean said. He saved his report. It wasn’t long, but typing all of the references was killing him.

“That would be a good idea,” his mother said. She added, “You might ask him if he’s seen the Leprechauns. Mrs. Emery and I have had no luck finding them the past two days.”

“I’ll be sure to ask,” Sean said. It had been rather peaceful around the house ever since the Dwarves had gone off with the policeman who had stopped him. The only magic creature that he’d seen since then was the Gnome. He was still standing in the backyard facing the movie screen.

Lily bounded into his room and asked, “Are we going to jail again?”

“I hope not,” Sean said rising from his desk.

“I hope so. I kind of enjoy going there,” Lily said.

Sean entered the living room followed by his mother and Lily. Chief Fastman looked over at Lily and said, “Hello, Lily.”

“Are you going to take us to jail?” Lily asked hopefully.

“No, Lily. I’m just here to ask a favor from your brother,” Chief Fastman answered.

“Oh,” Lily said unhappy with the answer.

“What can I do for you?” Sean asked pleased to think that the police needed a favor from him.

With a little more desperation in his voice than he intended, Chief Fastman asked, “Can you take the Dwarves back?”

“Uh, why?” Sean asked. He had enjoyed driving around without the Dwarves climbing all over the truck for the past two days.

“Half of my officers are on the verge of nervous breakdowns. Every time they get in their patrol car, a Dwarf gets on top of it,” Chief Fastman said. His officers were driving around town like little old ladies.

Sean asked, “Why don’t you arrest them?”

“Uh, we did,” Chief Fastman answered shifting nervously from one foot to the other.

“So what is the problem?” Sean asked with a frown. It seemed to him that the police should have had everything under control.

Chief Fastman said, “We threw them in the cell last night. When we came in this morning, all of the Dwarves were sitting around the office drinking coffee and eating our doughnuts.”

“Did you forget to lock it?” Sean asked.

Looking embarrassed, the Chief answered, “They took it apart. In fact, they took apart both cells. We can’t find the bars to put it back together again.”

“Oh,” Sean said. He looked over at his mother and said, “How embarrassing.”

“Were the Leprechauns there?” his mother asked.

“We couldn’t catch them,” Chief Fastman said looking up at the ceiling. It had been like a scene from the Keystone Cops around the station house. He had personally erased the tapes taken of that little episode.

His mother said, “I’ve been trying to catch them for months. They are tricky little fellows.”

“You can say that again,” Chief Fastman said.

“They’ve got this trick they do with mud,” his mother said.

“I know what you mean. I have no idea how so much mud got into the station. It is going to take us a week to clean it up,” Chief Fastman said shaking his head.

“It sounds like you’ve had an interesting couple of days,” Sean said scratching the back of his head.

“You might say that,” Chief Fastman said. At least they had fared better than over at the town where the mall was located. They’d lost all of their patrol cars to the troll. It appeared that it didn’t like police cars. He said, “It could have been worse.”

There was the sound of banging from the backyard. It was accompanied by a couple of explosions. Sean, his mother, and Lily looked towards the back of the house. Lily said, “They’re back.”

“Uh, did you say that they took all of the bars from the cell?” Sean asked. A rather bad idea was forming in the back of his mind.

“Yes,” Chief Fastman answered drawing the word out. He afraid to hear what Sean was going to say next. He jumped when there was another bang.

“You’re not going to like this,” Sean said.

“What?” Chief Fastman asked.

As another explosion went off in the backyard, Sean said, “I think they are building their own car.”

“Oh, God,” Chief Fastman said going over to a chair and sitting down. He had visions of the Dwarves racing around on their own. It seemed to him that the noise from the backyard was getting louder or maybe it was just the pounding in his ears.

“There wouldn’t happen to be an unused road with a good bump in it around here, would there?” Sean asked. The idea of driving on a road with the Dwarves loose scared him more than he was willing to admit.

“There’s an old logging road not far from here,” Chief Fastman said.

“You might want to show them where it is,” Sean said.

“That’s a good idea,” Chief Fastman said.

Sean’s mother looked up at the ceiling and said, “That’s a very good idea, Sean. I’ll even put some benches there for them to sit on.”

Lily looked at her mother suspiciously. She asked, “What are you going to do?”

“I think a little superglue on a chair might hold a leprechaun in place long enough to catch it,” her mother answered.

Chief Fastman said, “I don’t think that is a good idea. They are tricky little fellows.”

“You’re liable to find yourself stuck to the seat,” Lily said.

“Don’t be silly,” her mother answered with a dismissive wave of her hand.

The backdoor opened and Chom walked into the kitchen. Sean, his mother, and Lily leaned over to watch him through the living room door. Chom went over to the table and picked up the salt shaker. He turned around and walked from the kitchen. Sean looked over at the policeman and said, “Chom just got some salt.”

“What does that mean?” Chief Fastman asked. He jumped when there was a loud bang from the backyard.

“I think it means that they just finished building a car,” Sean said.

“I better get out there,” Chief Fastman said.

There was another bang from the backyard and the sound of tires spinning. Sean said, “Too late. They’re gone.”

“I better go after them,” Chief Fastman said.

“I wonder where they got tires,” Sean said scratching the back of his neck.

Chief Fastman looked out the front window and sighed. He said, “Can I use your phone?”

Saturday morning, Sean was at his desk typing a second report for his history class just in case the first one hadn’t been good enough. He was particularly proud of this one. His mother stuck her head in the door and said, “Chief Fastman is here to talk to you.”

“I wonder what he wants,” Sean said looking up from his computer.

“I don’t know. Maybe you should ask him,” his mother answered.

“Do you think he’ll tell me?” Sean asked.

His mother answered, “I’m sure that he will. He came all this way just to talk to you.”

“If you’re so sure then maybe I should talk to him,” Sean said. He saved his report. It was pretty long, but at least there weren’t many references.

Lily bounded into his room and asked, “Are we going to jail?”

“I hope not,” Sean said rising from his desk.

“I hope so. I kind of enjoy going there,” Lily said.

Sean entered the living room followed by his mother and Lily. Chief Fastman looked over at Lily and said, “Hello, Lily.”

“Are you going to take us to jail?” Lily asked hopefully.

“No, Lily. I’m just here to ask your brother some questions,” Chief Fastman answered.

“I’m really disappointed,” Lily said unhappy with the answer.

“Sorry,” Chief Fastman said.

“What kind of questions?” Sean asked wondering what he might know that would interest the police.

Unable to believe the story he had been told earlier that morning, Chief Fastman answered, “I talked to Mr. Charmers this morning.”

“How is Principal Charmers?” Sean said.

“He’s worried,” Chief Fastman answered.

“Why?”

“It appears that two of your teachers disappeared.”

“Which ones?” Sean asked.

“Ms. Hawkins and Coach Slaughter,” Chief Fastman answered.

“That’s odd. They were together when I left the gym the other afternoon,” Sean said.

“When was this?” Chief Fastman asked opening his pad of paper.

“Oh, right after winning the pushup contest. I had just finished taking my shower and stopped by Coach Slaughter’s office,” Sean answered.