Excerpt from TIMOTHY AND THE DRAGON'S GATE
by Adrienne Kress
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“Also, we should talk about the ninja,” added Mr. Shen.
Timothy and Sir Bazalgette looked at Mr. Shen.
“What ninja? asked Timothy slowly.
“I’m being followed by a ninja,” replied Mr. Shen gravely.
“Repeat that?” This was getting to be too much for Timothy.
“What exactly do you mean by you are being followed by a ninja?” said Sir Bazalgette.
“Just what I said. Everywhere I go, coming here tonight, there he is, following me,” replied Mr. Shen with a shrug.
“Does this happen to you often?” asked Sir Bazalgette.
“Not particularly, no. I only noticed for the first time last week.”
“But he is a ninja; it is possible he’s been following you for longer than that.”
“True, ninjas are pretty stealthy, but . . .”
“But . . . “
“I’m a dragon.”
“That’s your excuse for everything! said Timothy in exasperation. “What does that mean anyway?”
Mr. Shen smiled slightly. “It means that I know when I am being stalked by a ninja.”
The conversation was going nowhere, and Timothy was getting fed up. “Fine. So if he’s following you,” he said, “he’s probably somewhere outside the house right now.”
“Probably.”
“Well, why don’t you show him to us, then?”
The reasonableness of this suggestion was not lost on Mr. Shen, and so the three of them went upstairs to peer out one of the darkened windows of the second floor. Mr. Shen scanned up and down Wither Way, and then with a sharp movement pointed toward the garden across the street. A dark figure, barely a shadow, moved abruptly from behind a garbage can and hid itself among the shrubbery.
“That reminds me. Timothy,” whispered Mr. Bazalgette, “don’t let me forget to take the trash out.”
Both Timothy and Mr. Shen turned slowly and stared at the architect.
“Sorry.”
From Timothy and the Dragon's Gate Copyright © 2009 by Marion Dane Bauer.
Illustrations copyright © 2009 by Caroline Jayne Church. All rights reserved.
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