Red Racer!

The children woke far too early after their late night arrival at the Aubergine house. Raised voices roused them, and they started up in alarm. They peered out the windows (which were just pruned away places in the shrubbery wall) fearful that the entire Capsicum Guard surrounded the house. They were relieved to see no bright red faces or green uniforms, but their anxiety could not entirely be relieved, as a mob of country people, hundreds of farmers of various species, milled about outside. Lady Aubergine was there, standing between the mob and the door. The children feared the worse, and rushed out to face it.

“Good morning sprouts,” she greeted them. “I’m sorry if we woke you. You really should go back to bed, it’s early yet.”

“Have they come for us?” Gerhardt blurted.

The lady laughed and smoothed his hair. “Actually, they’ve come for me. I was just going to explain why they needn’t bother.”

“We’ll defend you!” Mirabelle said, glaring at the assembled host.

“No need, my dears-”

She continued speaking but none of the children heard a word. What they heard was the sound for which they had strained their ears for weeks. They heard the throb of an engine.

A dozen eyes turned to the violet sky, searching.

The thrumming grew louder. All eyes now scanned the northern sky. At last she sailed into view, a bright red dirigible the children had never seen before, coming at them at a fast clip.

Adolphus whistled. “Where’d they get that? That’s a Renard racer! Custom though. That’s not in the catalog.”

“How do we know it’s them?” Gerhardt said. “It could be someone else.”

The sleek little ship hovered over the mob. Some of them ran, a few fell to the ground, but most stood their ground, watching. Herr von Hedwig’s amplified voice boomed out.

“Disperse immediately. This ship is armed. We will open fire if you do not disperse and release the children.”

He repeated the threat in German, English, and French, and was starting in Latin when the hatch in the side of the ship flew open and Madame von Hedwig appeared.

“Whoa!” Their father’s voice shouted. There was a clatter. Madame leaned out the open doorway, waving frantically and shouting their names. Herr von Hedwig’s hand snatched the back of her utility belt and pulled her back into the ship.

The children waived manically, but Claire said, “Quick, show them nothing’s wrong!” She ran to the closest farmer and shook his hand, then the fellow next to him, than embraced that man’s wife. Gerhardt and the twins did the same, but Bettina just kept waving, tears streaming down her face.

Adolphus signaled the port where he know the pilot to be stationed, beckoning to be followed. He directed the ship to touch down on the rocky slope behind the house. By the time the ship was ten feet from the ground there was a von Hedwig child on each guy line, with Bettina pulling the end of Gerhardt’s. Their parents leapt from the racer and hugged them all at once, and then individually, and then all at once again.

They laughed and cried and embraced, leaving Captain Charette to anchor the ship and disembark all on her own, which she did with great good humor, as she did most things.

She smiled at the proceedings, loaded a short double-barreled shotgun, and walked to the front of the house. The von Hedwigs, ever alert to the presence of weaponry, gathered themselves together and followed.