Wednesday afternoon, I was sitting out on the porch reading (but I actually was completely spaced out, just watching cars drive down the road;) when Sydney came out and sat down next to me. She was supposed to start a summer job watching one of our neighbors kids, but they had gone on vacation right at the beginning of summer so she had a few weeks to relax. She leaned back in her rocker, and took a deep breath. “T.J., do you have plans for this weekend?”

  I turned to look at her, shutting my book. “Why?”

  “Do you?”

  “I don’t know, I was going to meet the fellows at the park, probably. That’s all that I know of.” I was watching her closely. She crossed her legs, uncrossed them, and crossed them back, folding creases into her pants. “What’s up?”

  “Stenway… We wanted to know… How do you…” She sighed and pressed her hands into her eyes. “Do you want to go to a baseball game with us?”

  I stared at her. “For real?” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Honestly, what would make her think I wanted to hang out on their date?

  Sydney was a step ahead of me. “You’re not a third wheel or anything. It’s not a date. He’s feeling bad about, well, ignoring us for a few weeks. And really, he could use a break.” I nodded at that. The reporting around the vanishing top half of the statue had been crazy the past few days. A day away from work would be good for him. “He got the tickets and everything.” Sydney was still talking. “Really, I think it would be good. Please, Tyler, please say you’ll come. It will be so awkward since he already has three tickets, and if you say no, it’ll be like…”

  “Yes, I’ll come. It sounds fun,” I lied.

  “Really!” She uncrossed her legs and sat up. “It sounds fun?”

  “Well, no. But you’re right, he could use the break.”

  “Oh good.” She leaned back and sighed. “I don’t think it sounds fun either.” I rolled my eyes at her. The things we do for love. “But it’ll be good for him.” She brightened up. “Maybe it will rain!”

  “Yeah, and then we’ll be stuck in Delphi with nothing to do.”

  “Oh, right.” Sydney looked confused for a second, then regained her balance. “I’m sure he’ll figure something out.” She hopped up from the rocker. “I’ll call him and let him know.” She ran back inside and I was left to imagine a whole day, in a city I wasn’t familiar with, with Stenway and Sydney.

  Saturday morning didn’t get off to an entirely great start. Sydney woke me up at seven to make sure I was ready for the day. Seven. A.M. Terrible. She made me pack a backpack of extra layers, so I threw my Super’s book in there as well. She could make me go to a baseball game, but she couldn’t make me be interested. She made me brush my hair, too, after cleaning the brush out. Gross.

  We got on the bus with Stenway a little bit after eight, and I sat quietly for the whole ride, flipping through my Super’s book, as Stenway and Sydney chatted. It wasn’t even gross or anything, I just wanted to read. Sydney kicked me a few times towards the end of the ride, so finally I pretended to be tired of reading and closed my book. I looked up to catch Stenway watching me closely. He jerked away as soon as I made eye contact, pointing Sydney’s attention to something along the roadside.

  I didn’t know my way around Delphi at all, so once we reached the terminal, I knew I had to pay attention to where Stenway was going. I did have a tendency to get left behind. Sydney had discussed this with me before the trip, and told me that if I ever realized I wasn’t with them, to just stay put. Unless I felt unsafe. Then I was to look for signs to the nearest bus or train stop and go there. Pretty simple, but I did not want to get lost today. We turned right out of the terminal on the sidewalk, and Sydney slipped back to walk behind me. Stenway glanced back over his shoulder at me, then checked his watch. “Would you ladies like to get something to eat before the game starts? There’s supposed to be an amazing soda shop around here somewhere.”

  I started to say, “I’m not hungry,” but Sydney cut me off.

  “Yes, that sounds wonderful!” She nudged me forward. “Come on, Tyler.”

  So we went. It was a neat little place, with a long tiled counter wrapping around the service area, and small booths along the opposite wall. The only seats left in the place were three on the very end of the counter, and I ended up sitting in the middle. Sydney and Stenway both got sodas, but I hadn’t been kidding when I said I wasn’t hungry, so I just got a scoop of chocolate ice cream. We talked about the black and white photos that were lining the walls, laughing at the old fashioned hair styles and outfits. I finished my ice cream before either of them were close to done, so I hopped up to use the restroom. I was on my way back, looking at even more of the black and white photos, when I noticed that Sydney had slid over into my seat. I rolled my eyes. They said this wasn’t going to be a date. I took a step towards them, then stopped when I hear my name.

  “... know Tyler, she’s going to hate this.”

  “I know, but we talked about this, Sydney. It’s got to happen.”

  “I know, I know, but you know how sensitive she is. Especially when anything you do ‘interferes with’ her and my relationship.”

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  What were they talking about? I slid back inside the door frame of the hall and cupped a hand around my ear. Sydney was still talking. “She’s going to be so mad. At least she won’t be disappointed about missing a baseball game.”

  Stenway laughed, but it sounded nervous. “Did you bring what I asked you to?”

  Sydney nodded. “Yeah, will this work?” She pulled something out of her coat pocket; I couldn’t see what it was. I didn’t like this. I slipped back down the hall and silently pushed the bathroom door open, and pulled it closed with a bang, like I had just come out of it. I walked back up to the counter, and took Sydney’s seat.

  “You guys about done? I’m curious to see how big this baseball stadium is.” Whatever Sydney had had in her hand, it was back in her pocket now. Maybe I could get a look at it on the way out the door.

  “Just about.” Stenway slurped dramatically through his straw and Sydney giggled. “You ready?” He held his hand out to her and spun her around on the stool so she could hop off. I slid down from mine and tried to get behind her as we made our way to the door, but she held the door and Stenway moved out in front, and I had to take up the middle position. “We’ll have to hurry if we are going to make it on time.” Stenway glanced down at his watch. We bustled down this street and that, the sounds of traffic and people getting quieter at each turn.

  Every few minutes, I glanced back at Sydney, theoretically to make sure she was keeping up, but really I watched her sink her chin lower into her coat collar with every passing moment. What was going on? And how long were they going to be able to keep it up for?

  I was sure we weren’t headed for the ball park, at this point. There was no noise of people, and a car only passed by every now and then.

  Suddenly, Sydney screamed. Stenway whipped around and took a step back, then laughed nervously as a cat landed on a door step between me and Sydney, and hissed loudly. “Just a cat, Syd. You okay?”

  “Oh, yes, I’m so sorry, I lost my head, I was thinking about something else…” Sydney rambled off into silence.

  Stenway looked at me brightly. “Almost there!”

  Finally, we stopped outside of an old bookstore. It was one of those shops where the door is set far back from the sidewalk, so that you can sit at a little table, or do some shopping, inside, but right next to the road. Stenway glanced at me. “Have to get something from in here real quick.” Sydney laughed. I turned to look at her sharply, and her face had gone white.

  Seeing Sydney scared made me more nervous than I had been on my own. I stepped back from Stenway and towards her. “Syd, what’s going on?” I reached out to her, but a hand from behind stopped me.

  I turned to look up at Stenway. His face was grim but determined. “Come on. You too, Syd.” He pushed me in front of him towards the door. Sydney scampered around him to walk beside me. I didn’t look at her, partly because seeing her scared would make me more scared, and partly because I was furious with her. Stenway reached between us to knock on the door.

  “Closed.”

  Sydney and I jumped at the sound of the voice. It sounded like someone talking through a can. I peered around and found a little round speaker, just beside the doorknob.

  Stenway knocked again, this time on a different part of the door.

  “Closed.” The voice bit out, again.

  Stenway reached for a different part of the door, and rapped a third time. This time, the voice snapped out something different. “Identification format, please.”

  Stenway leaned forward. “Bio-identification.”

  Underneath the speaker, a tiny metal tray tilted out, like the book drop on a library. Carefully, Stenway peeled a small plastic film off of it, folded the film around something I couldn’t quite see, and slid it back. As the tray slid back into place, he listed a string of numbers, which the voice repeated back to him, then was quiet for a few moments. Finally, it said “Accepted.”

  Stenway leaned forward again. “And two guests.”

  “Identification format, please.”

  “Bio-identification.”

  Again the little tray slid forward, and he picked up two pieces of film. He handed one to Sydney, who reached into her pocket and pulled out a little white scrap of paper. I craned over to see what it was. A hair? Sydney stuck it to the film and closed it, just like Stenway had done, and turned to hand it back to him. He finished folding a little piece of paper with something bright red on it into the little bit of film he had, then placed it on the tray. “Sydney Kelly.” The tray tilted up, and then right back down. He took the little packet from Sydney’s hand and placed it on the tray. “Tyler Kelly.” The tray slid forward again. We waited.

  I glanced back up at Sydney but she’d turned her face from me. When had she gotten a hair of mine? I didn’t shed all that much. “Accepted.” The word jolted me out of my thoughts. “Proceed.” The door swung open and we stepped inside. Sydney grabbed hold of my arm tightly. I got the feeling she wasn’t worried about me trying to run away. Stenway led us to the back of the darkened shop, passing by half empty shelves, towards a small glow of light.

  An old grey haired lady sat in the small yellow circle, looking down at a machine that was gently chugging away. She glanced up as we approached, and murmured “Almost ready.” Finally she held something out to Stenway. “You know the way? Make sure you put these on.” He waved a hand and she pushed a little button, opening a small door behind her and to the left.

  “Here.” Stenway shoved something down over my head, and it fell onto my chest. I looked at it. It looked like one of those passes that Mom and Dad had to wear to get into the lab at work. It had a little picture of me, my name, my age, my school, my height and eye color… I looked over at Sydney’s. Her’s had less information, and also hers was on a little red card. I glanced back down. Mine was on a blue background, and Stenway’s was yellow.

  I looked up at him. “What is going on?”

  “Come on. We’re going to be late. Leave this here.” He started to take the backpack off of my back, but I clung on. “Come on, T.J. We really have to hurry.”

  “Not until you tell me what’s going on. Sydney?” I glanced over at her, but she had already shed her coat and hat and stuffed it into a little cubicle by the open door. She wouldn’t look at me.

  Stenway finally succeeded in yanking the bag off my back. He whipped his hat off and thrust it into the bag, and pulled out my Super’s book. “All those questions you have about the men investigating Mr. Left? If you play your cards right, you might get some answers. Now come on.” He tossed my book at me, shed his coat and threw it and my bag on top of Sydney’s little pile. “Let’s go.”