Swindle: Chapters 4–8

As long as Griffin could remember, his father had been tinkering with some invention in there.

Griffin pressed a button, and the telescoping aluminum shaft whirred outward. He worked the control in the opposite direction and the pole receded into itself.

He was too young to get a part-time job. He couldn’t even hand over the sixty bucks from the Babe Ruth card without confessing the whole Rockford house escapade.

“I think I can get more” Palomino replied smugly.

“Specimens from the famous T-206 set frequently sell for six-figure amounts. The legendary 1909 Honus Wagner card recently went for over two million. This misprint, showing the Bambino in a Red Sox uniform, is just as rare. The people at Worthington’s think it could be the second card in history to break the million-dollar barrier.”

Yes, Palomino had tricked him by implying that the card wasn’t real. It was shady, underhanded, unethical, and even sleazy.

Yes, Palomino had tricked him by implying that the card wasn’t real. It was shady, underhanded, unethical, and even sleazy.

When the media people had gone, Griffin ventured up to the store.

Reluctantly, the Doberman backed away, and Griffin entered.

“Oh, come down off your high horse.” The dealer sneered. “You were after money, just like I was after money...."

“We appreciate your business. Please do not come again,” the dealer heckled gleefully as Griffin turned and ran out the door.

“Shhh,” whispered Griffin. It was lunch recess and the playground was crowded. “A heist.”
“Like in the movies? A robbery? That’s stealing!”

“Not stealing,” Griffin amended. “Stealing back. There’s a big difference.”

“S. Wendell,” Ben said with a sigh. “Never trust anybody whose name sounds like swindle.”

“Can’t you tell?” Darren Vader jeered, poking the stick at the bridge of Griffin’s nose. “I’m field-testing my new invention, the DumbPick. Sorry, I thought your head was a coconut.”

“There was a lot of that going around.” Griffin clucked disapprovingly, raising his voice to reach some of the other sixth graders nearby. “Nice show of solidarity, you guys—leaving Ben and me to stand up for the kids in this town.”

“Well, I didn’t miss it for any dumb reason like that,” said Logan Kellerman haughtily. “I have an audition for an acne cream commercial. I had to stay home and rehearse.”

He deliberately avoided Griffin’s searching eyes as he took the seat next to his friend.

Every second he’d spent with the nurse, Ben had been dreading this conversation.

Ben could barely muster the strength of will to shake his head no.

The same dogged go-getter qualities that forged The Man With The Plan made Griffin as stubborn as a mule when he was angry about something.

The same dogged go-getter qualities that forged The Man With The Plan made Griffin as stubborn as a mule when he was angry about something.

“Kate Mulholland has been working with Sanjay Jotwani for less than two months, and already she’s landed a part in a heartburn commercial,” Logan was lamenting.

Now Ben listened with rapt attention.

In that instant, all his doubts and misgivings about the robbery burned away.

“What do you think about the fence?” Griffin mused.

Savannah regarded them dubiously, but she set the rabbit down.

“Sorry,” she said, catching herself. “But what kind of a heartless person imprisons an elegant and noble animal behind a fence?”
“The kind who doesn’t want his elegant and noble animal eating any pedestrians?” Ben suggested drily.

“Sorry,” she said, catching herself. “But what kind of a heartless person imprisons an elegant and noble animal behind a fence?”
“The kind who doesn’t want his elegant and noble animal eating any pedestrians?” Ben suggested drily.

Savannah nodded grimly. “To him, this beautiful dog is just another Keep Out sign. We’ll see about that. Luthor, sweetie,” she called in a loving tone, “come and say hello. I’m a friend.”

“You’re right,” she intoned to Griffin. “I can feel the resistance. The poor thing has been taught to be hostile and angry.”

“Part of the cruelty of a guard dog’s training is the way his world becomes all confrontation and conflict,” Savannah explained. “We have to bring out the playful side of his personality, which has been suppressed for so long. The imagination, the whimsy, the fun.”

“Part of the cruelty of a guard dog’s training is the way his world becomes all confrontation and conflict,” Savannah explained. “We have to bring out the playful side of his personality, which has been suppressed for so long. The imagination, the whimsy, the fun.”

Their noses were pressed to the screen as they painstakingly followed the path of a huge finger.

Over the past seventy-two hours, the boys had memorized his every hangnail and skin wrinkle. But the four-digit sequence continued to elude them.