She sure was ready She had on her beast furs made from what animal I have no idea and her snakeskin pouch There were smudges of red paint on her forehead and under her eyes Belly come she said Sniff Kabungo To Kabungo sniff just means follow Maybe because dogs follow a scent by sniffing That’s just a guess I sniffed Kabungo across Main Street through Mr Banbury’s backyard and down the alley It was dark in the alley About all I could see was the snakeskin pouch sparkling in the starlight All I could hear was the crunching of leaves underfoot So I followed the sparkle and the leaf crunch and just tried my hardest not to run into any of the trees that lined the alley It’s a good thing Kabungo has tiger eyes Finally she pushed through some branches and Here said Kabungo She pointed at a long orange building with a yellow sign The Sunset Club The Sunset Club isn’t really a club It’s a retirement home for older people My Uncle George has an apartment there It smells like peppermints This is Jo’s Ocean I said
Kabungo shook her head In she said Sniff Shh I sniffed her around the building to the fifth window on the ground floor It was a surprisingly warm night for October so most of the windows were wide open In she said again softly Shh Shh Ocean K I whispered You can’t go in there But it was too late She sprang through the window like a wildcat I leaned through it trying to pull her back when she reached out pulled me in and plopped me on the floor For a ten-year-old Kabungo is mighty Kabungo I hissed We’re breaking the law But she just shook her head and said No breaks Belly Carful Shh And she tiptoed across the room
I squinted It was dark but I could still make out a few things I could see a fish tank A pair of armchairs A bookcase full of books Hmm I thought as I weaved my way through the furniture There’s something familiar about all this I was too nervous though to figure out what I don’t like breaking the law
I followed Kabungo into a kitchen down a hall and into a dark room She was moving really slowly now almost like she was hunting I moved even slower Because it was so dark I could hardly see I bumped into something Something soft I was pretty sure it was a bed I waited for my eyes to adjust It was a bed My ears twitched I could hear snoring Someone was in the bed My nose twitched I sniffed the air It smelled like Peppermints Now I knew whose apartment it was and who lay snoozing in the bed I wondered what on earth Kabungo could want in my Uncle George’s apartment And then I didn’t have to wonder because I could see Okay lots of older people run out of teeth It’s no big deal They just go out and buy new ones false ones I didn’t realize my Uncle George had false teeth but he must have because there was a nice shiny pair sitting in a glass of water on his nightstand As my Uncle George snored Kabungo slowly reached into the glass of water and snatched his teeth Snatched
