Streetlamps were coming on as Jack, Annie, andDipper walked away from Jackson Square. When theycame to Bourbon Street, vendors walked thesidewalks, calling out, "Ice cream!""Lemon pie!""Ham biscuits!""Hmm. Sounds good," said Annie. "There seems tobe lots of good food in New Orleans.""Best in the world!" said Dipper.
People were sitting outside dance halls andrestaurants, laughing and talking, eating anddrinking. Outside and inside, musicians were blaringaway on their instruments.
70"Hey, there's Dipper! Sing something for us,Dipper!" the ice cream lady yelled.
Dipper waved and kept going.
"Hey, girl, can you play that trumpet?" a man calledto Annie.
"Not till the time's right!" Annie shouted.
"When's that?" the man said.
"She'll know it when she feels it!" Dipper shouted.
At the end of the block, under a streetlamp, a triowas singing in harmony. It was Little Mac, Happy,and Big Nose Sidney.
"Look, Dipper, it's your friends again," said Annie.
"I see 'em," said Dipper. But he ignored the threeboys and crossed the street.
Dipper led Jack and Annie down a narrow alley tothe back of a shabby, run-down building. Goodcooking smells came from inside. "Y'all wait for meoutside this greasy spoon," he said, and he slippedthrough the back door.
71"What's a greasy spoon?"asked Annie.
"Smells like it must be a restaurant," said Jack.
Annie put down the trumpet. Jack put down hisbag. They sat on the back steps of the greasy spoon.
While they waited in the muggy twilight for Dipper,Jack wiped his forehead. He was starving and achedall over.
Soon Dipper pushed open the back door with hisfoot. He was carrying a big bowl and a tall glass. "Igot us some gumbo stew and some lemonade toshare!" he said. "Talk about good!""Oh, man, thanks," breathed Jack.
Dipper sat between Jack and Annie on the steps. Hepulled spoons out of his pocket for each of them. "Digin, y'all!" he said.
Together the three of them tackled the gumbo stew.
They all ate their fill of spicy chicken, ham, tomatoes,okra, onions, and rice. When the bowl was empty,they shared the tall glass of lemonade. Then they satback on the steps and heaved big sighs. Jack feltstuffed and happy.
72"Mighty fine," breathed Dipper.
"Mighty fine," echoed Jack.
"Mightyfine," said Annie.
"Nothing tastes as good as gumbo after a hard day'swork," said Dipper. He stood up. "Well, I have toleave y'all now. Thanks a million for your help today.
And don't forget to thank Teddy and Kathleen forsending y'all to find me." Before Jack and Annie couldstop him, Dipper climbed down the steps andvanished into the dark.
"Dipper?" called Jack.
There was no answer.
"He's gone again!" said Annie.
"And we totally failed in our mission for Merlin,"said Jack. "We didn't help Dipper get on the right pathto give his gifts to the world.""I know. We have to find him. Come on," saidAnnie. She hopped up and headed after Dipper.
"Wait, the trumpet!" said Jack. He grabbed themagic trumpet and his bag and followed her.
When Jack left the steps, it was too dark for73him to see where Annie had gone. Thunderrumbled in the distance. The air felt heavy and thickas if the storm were about to break at any moment.
"Annie!" Jack called.
"Here!" Annie called back from the front of therestaurant. Jack joined her. Together they peekedthrough a window that looked into a large kitchen.
Dipper was alone, washing a mountain of dishes.
"Why's he doing that?" whispered Jack.
"Hey, Dipper!" said Annie.
Dipper turned and smiled. "You caught me," hesaid. He looked embarrassed.
"Why are you washing dishes?" asked Annie.
Dipper shrugged. "Got to pay for our dinnersomehow," he said.
"We'll help you," said Annie.
"We love washing dishes!" said Jack.
Dipper laughed. "Then come on in, potato heads,"he said. "I could use some help."Jack and Annie slipped through a side door into thehot, steamy kitchen.
74Jack put down his bag and the trumpet. He andAnnie picked up dirty plates from the counter. Theybegan scraping leftovers into a garbage pail. Theyscraped fish heads, oyster shells, crab legs, shrimptails, chicken bones, grease, and gravy off dozens ofplates.
The work was messy and smelly. But Jack andAnnie worked hard to keep up with Dipper. Everytime he took a plate from them, he smiled and said,"Thank you." He never frowned or complained oreven seemed tired.
"Dipper," said Annie while they worked, "your lifeseems really hard. How do you stay so cheerful?""Why not? It's more fun to be cheerful than sad," hesaid.
"Don't you ever feel like getting mad orcomplaining about stuff?" said Jack.
"Sure I do, I'm human," said Dipper. "I feel all kindsof things. All day long I feel things. You could say Ihave a rich life. I might not get to have everything.
But I get to feel everything!" He laughed.
75"I'm the same way," said Annie.
"I thought so," said Dipper. "That's why I surewould like to hear you play that trumpet sometime.""Maybe you will," said Annie.
By the time they finished washing dishes, rain wasfalling outside.
"Where to now?" said Jack.
"One more treat for y'all," said Dipper. "Let's leavethis greasy spoon and head back down to the river. Tothe River Café for dessert! Come on.""We better not," said Jack. "The waiters there don'tlike us.""Don't worry about them," said Dipper. "You'rewith me now."Jack and Annie followed Dipper outside into therain. The wind was blowing harder now. "Uh-oh,"said Dipper. "Here comes the storm! Let's hurry!"Thunder cracked and rain began to pour down. Thethree of them got soaked as they hurried through thealley back to Bourbon Street.
The street was empty now. Partygoers and streetmusicians had fled from the storm. The7664restaurants and cafés had taken their chairs andtables inside. Lightning lit the sky, and thunder shookthe ground. The wind was blowing hard, picking upsticks and leaves and trash.
"We have to find cover!" said Dipper. "Run!" He andJack and Annie bowed their heads against thedownpour and ran up Bourbon Street.
"Dipper! Over here, man!" someone yelled. It wasLittle Mack.
Little Mack, Happy, and Big Nose Sidney werewaving to Dipper from the doorway of a darkbuilding on a corner. Dipper, Jack, and Annie ranacross the street through the pounding rain.
"Get over here, out of the street!" shouted LittleMack. "Before you get hit by lightning!""Thanks, fellas!" said Dipper.
Soaking wet, Jack, Annie, Dipper, Little Mack,Happy, and Big Nose Sidney all crowded together justinside the dark building, looking out at the storm.
"Who lives here?" asked Dipper.
77"Nobody. It's been empty for years," said Happy.
"Used to be a blacksmith shop," said Little Mack.
"Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop?" said Jack. Heimmediately stepped out of the shop and stood underthe eaves.
"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" asked Little Mack.
[Image: Little Mack, Happy, Big Nose Sidney,Dipper, Jack, and Annie.]
78"We read this place is haunted!" said Annie.
"Y'all believe in ghosts?" asked Little Mack.
"No, not really," said Jack.
"But I thought you said they gave you the heebie--"started Dipper.
"No, no, I was kidding," Jack said quickly. He didn'twant Dipper's friends to know he was afraid ofghosts.
Lightning split the sky again. Another crash ofthunder shattered the night. The wind blew so hardthat shingles blew off the roof across the street andcrashed to the sidewalk.
"Whoa! Come inside, man, we gotta close the door," Dipper said to Jack.
"Hold on," said Little Mack. "We have to go.""We do?" asked Happy.
Little Mack whispered something to Happy and BigNose Sidney.
"Oh, yeah, he's right," said Happy. "We have toleave. We'll see y'all later.""Y'all are scared to stay here, aren't you?" saidDipper.
79"No, man. We forgot we have an important gig toplay," said Big Nose Sidney.
"Oh. Suddenly y'all have got an important gig. Isee...," said Dipper.
"Yeah, we'll have to try to make it through thestorm. See y'all! Come on, fellas!" said Little Mack.
The three boys hurried out of the blacksmith shopand turned the corner.
"They left 'cause they're scaredy-cats," said Dipper,chuckling.
"Yeah," said Jack, "scaredy-cats."Thunder cracked the sky again, the loudest crack sofar. It seemed to shake the whole block. Roof shinglesflew through the air.
"Come back inside!" said Dipper. "It's dangerous outthere."Jack took a deep breath and stepped back intoLafitte's Blacksmith Shop. |