Samantha Smart (34 page)

Samantha decided to print out copies for everyone–Jason had got her a nice new color printer for her birthday to go with her laptop. She tried to smile as she handed them out to her friends.

It was about three in the afternoon, the party-goers having been in attendance for a few hours now and having begun to grow depressed by their hostess’s steady air of mourning. There was great anticipation of something better to come when the doorbell of the Brooklyn brownstone rang unexpectedly.

Who could that be?
Samantha wondered. Everyone she had invited to the party was here–Jason was out with their mother for another hour, and seemed to have his own key now anyway (an intriguing recent development). She decided as she walked to the door that it must be one of Todd’s friends, come to meet him and facilitate his escape from his little sister’s boring party. She undid the chains and deadbolts and opened the door–and promptly fainted.

*

The next thing she remembered was a wet tongue licking her face–it was the best birthday present she could have asked for. Impossibly, when she opened her eyes, she saw Polly, furiously licking her and whining with excitement.

“POLLY!” everyone screamed with joy (and bewilderment). Samantha got up onto her elbows and blinked, wondering if she was dreaming. Behind the hero dog stood Professor Smythe–with Agent Stiles. They were both grinning, and all of the party guests looked very confused. Todd was especially perplexed, still totally unaware of what was going on but glad that Polly was back and that the mood of the party had just taken a dramatic upswing.

“Where–where did you find her!?” Samantha whimpered happily, hugging Polly tightly and smiling through her tears.

“Oh, eh–Agent Stiles here has some connections in the, er, Brooklyn Animal Control department,” Smythe fabricated, casting glances at Todd, who was still not in on their schemes. “They picked her up from a spot near where you lost her.”

“It’s all right, Samantha,” Stiles smiled, sensing the birthday girl’s nervousness. “We’re all friends here, now. The Professor here has explained everything, and my... people are in your debt. We’ve actually been watching the Slanes for quite a while now, and we believe that you and your friends have done a brave, important service to all of us. We’ll, ah, talk about it more later, at your convenience, of course.” She smiled and looked up at the party-goers. “Good work, Alpha Team!” She gave the ‘thumbs-up’ sign.

They were, of course, invited in for cake and ice cream, even Polly, though they didn’t allow her any of the chocolate cake, because everyone knows that chocolate is especially bad for dogs. Todd’s questions about who Alpha Team was and who the Slanes were were brushed off, and though Samantha’s mind was now brimming with questions about the fate of their enemies and the rescue of Polly, she decided to leave them for later and try to truly enjoy her birthday party, which was, at least in her mind, a thousand times better than it had been an hour before. In the midst of the celebration, the phone rang.

“Hello?” Samantha said, picking up and giggling through her answer.

“Samantha?” It was her father. Now she was even happier. “You sound like you’re having a good time,” his voice said good-naturedly.

“Hi, Dad!” she beamed. “Yeah, I’m having the best birthday ever! Thanks for the present, and thanks so much for calling... ”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” her dad acknowledged. “What have you been up to?” he asked.

Samantha looked around her, at her fellow time-travelers, her dog who had somehow been miraculously rescued from a “time-hole,” a Professor of forensic anthropology who owned a time machine, an agent who allegedly worked for the F.B.I. and her oblivious older brother who was stuffing cake into his mouth and watching Marvin attempt to break-dance on his leg that had been wounded by a boy-band singer-turned-man-eating-shark.

“Oh, you know, nothing much,” she laughed.

THE END