Someone in Trouble

Chapter 17: His Rotten Plan

"Hey, guys," Stephanie said, "have you noticed Robbie acting strange?" Sitting on top of the brick wall she looked askance at the other kids loitering with her on a peaceful afternoon.

"When isn't he acting strange? Humph," Stingy dismissed the question with a wave of his hand while the other kids giggled in agreement.

"No, really," Stephanie insisted. "Don't you think he's been kind of grumpy lately?"

"I think that's how he normally is," Pixel said. "It's his default setting."

"Why, Pinkie?" Trixie asked. "Are you worried about Robbie or something?"

"There isn't anything to worry about, is there?" Ziggy asked, already growing concerned. "What's wrong, Stephanie, is he sick?"

"No, Ziggy," Stephanie assured the boy. "At least, I don't think so? He does seem tired a lot of the time."

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Trixie drawled and pointed down the walk. "Here he comes now."

The kids all turned to see Robbie coming down the lane. His normally more expressive style of walking was a little less punctuated than usual. He didn't swing his arms side to side and his hands weren't even balled up into fists. His shoulders sagged a little rather than being hunched up around his ears. Even his clothing looked a bit rumpled and worn today. He narrowed his gaze at the kids with a slight frown for their collective stare.

"What are you looking at? Is there something on my face?" Robbie asked. Truth be told he had some dark shadows under his eyes.

"Hey, Robbie," Stephanie said, "no, we were just— Ah," she glanced around at the other kids, checking if they saw the same things she did, but none of them appeared all that concerned.

"Just 'ah?' Are you going to sneeze?" Robbie prodded Stephanie with a touch of irritation in his tone that made Trixie and Stingy snicker a little. The man shot a hard look at the other kids and they quieted down.

"Are you— feeling all right?" Stephanie took the plunge and asked him directly. Robbie squinted at the question and straightened his shoulders.

"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.

"You just look a little— tired?" Stephanie suggested in a delicate voice. The other kids offered her no help. They were drinking up the delightfully uncomfortable conversation she'd brought upon herself.

"Ah," Robbie said. "Yes, well." He smoothed out some wrinkles in his vest and straightened his cufflinks. "I've been working on something special is all."

"Special? Like a surprise?" Ziggy asked, his interest piqued.

"For me?" Stingy asked, also intrigued.

"Yes," Robbie said, "for all you little br—... bright-eyed and bushy-tailed kids."

"Wow, you really did it just for us? That's so nice of you!" Stephanie relaxed and hopped off the wall.

"Yeah, sure," Robbie said, "whatever."

"What is it?" Ziggy started to bounce in place. "Is it a swimming pool full of chocolate?"

"Or a big trampoline?" Trixie asked.

"Can we see it now?" Pixel asked.

"Me first!" Stingy said, rushing to get ahead of the others. He nearly ran straight into Robbie in his hurry to call dibs. "Where is it, where's my surprise?"

"It's not far," Robbie said. "We'll just cut through the park here and you'll see."

The kids cheered at Robbie's goodwill and fell into line behind the man. Leaving the hardtop of the town center they entered the park and tramped through the grass and between the trees. Despite the excited chatter going on behind him Robbie maintained a stately pace, not in any apparent hurry, which made Stingy all the more impatient behind him.