Story Time (20 page)

Dr. Austin and Bud hopped down from the stage, leaving George with the Juku Warriors. One by one, they started to cry.

Cornelia spotted Kate standing by the back wall. She pointed at the stage and commanded, "Get up here! Now!"

Cornelia then gestured for George to join her. "I've decided we need a patriotic tableau onstage, and that you two will be in it. Since you're so good at standing around doing nothing, you will stand on either side holding flags. Do you think you can do that simple thing without losing the flags or getting them stolen?"

Kate was secretly thrilled to be moving closer to the action. She answered with cool detachment. "I think we can."

"For now, you'll have to pretend that you're holding flags." When Kate and George did not react, Cornelia screamed, "Pretend that you're holding flags!"

Kate and George extended their arms and curled their fingers around imaginary flagpoles while Cornelia positioned them on the stage. She then blocked out the positions of LoriBeth Sommers and the members of the Lincoln Middle School Band.

Cornelia looked at Mr. Kagoshima, pulled two fingers behind her head, and snapped them forward like a fly fisherman. When he did not understand her gesture, she yelled at him, "Begin! Begin!"

The Lincoln Middle School Band played. After five bars, LoriBeth Sommers began to sing. Kate listened to her miserably, growing more and more depressed with each bar. All she could think of was Lincoln Middle School and the fall musical and the role that she had been born to play—the role that the evil interloper LoriBeth Sommers had all but locked up. Kate let her imaginary flag droop as much as she dared.

At the lowest point of her misery, Pogo appeared at her side. Kate mumbled, "I hate her. She's stolen my life at Lincoln. She's stolen my part in
Peter Pan.
She's even stolen my boyfriend."

Pogo tilted her head quizzically.

Kate pointed at LoriBeth Sommers and added emphatically, "Her. I hate. I hate her."

Pogo whispered:

"Jack be nimble, Jack be quick!"

Then she disappeared.

Kate listened to LoriBeth hit her famous high note. She raised her eyes to meet George's and mouthed the words, "Play ball!"

Then Pogo was back. She appeared off to the side of the stage holding a manila envelope. Kate watched her slide a book out of the envelope and place it on LoriBeth Sommers's music stand. Kate knew the book from elementary school. It was
The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner.
Kate thought,
What on earth is she doing with that?

Cornelia was issuing orders at a frantic pace, fine-tuning the patriotic tableau. She barked at Kate and George, "Hold those flags higher!"

She told Bud, "Lower that girl's music stand, Bud! It's covering up her face."

Bud waved. "Okay." He stepped forward, tucked the
Star-Spanned Banner
book under his armpit, and lowered the music stand six inches. Before he replaced the book, however, he examined it briefly. A strange look came over his face, and a strange glow lit up his eyes.

While Cornelia conferred with Dr. Austin, Bud turned to Mr. Kagoshima and said in a very peculiar voice, "Sir? Mr. Japanese man? Oh, sir?"

Mr. Kagoshima looked up from his music. "Are you talking to me?"

"Sir, is that a tuba over there?"

Mr. Kagoshima followed his gaze to an empty folding chair, upon which sat the Lincoln Middle School Band's only tuba. "Yes," he replied. "It is."

"I'm wondering something. Do you think my head would fit into the opening of that tuba?"

Mr. Kagoshima was now totally baffled. "I-I really don't know."

Bud held up one finger, said, "I'll be right back," and ran to the exit.

Kate, still pretending to hold her flag, sidled over to George. She whispered urgently, "What is he doing?"

"I'm not sure. But I'll tell you one thing. I don't think Mr. Bud Wright is currently the captain of his own ship."

Bud burst back through the doorway carrying a blender full of protein shake.

Everyone on the roof turned to look at him. It was Susan who asked, "Bud, honey? What are you doing?"

Bud spoke, but it wasn't to Susan. "First, we need a little lubrication!" He stood at attention, raised his right arm high, and poured the contents of the blender over his head.

"Bud!" Susan shrieked. "Have you lost your cotton-pickin' mind?"

He shouted, "Bud? Who's Bud? I'm Tubby the Tuba!" He pranced over to the chair that held the tuba. He stuck his head down and his rear up. Then he started to chant, "I'm Tubby the Tuba, oompah-pah! I'm Tubby the Tuba, oompah-pah!"

He pushed his head into the tuba opening, put his arms on the sides of the chair, and raised himself into a shaky handstand, like an out-of-shape acrobat. The weight of his ample backside now pressed straight downward, and his head disappeared into the opening with a
thwunk,
followed by a wet cracking sound.

Dr. Austin stared at the tuba and the pair of legs waving from it. "Quick!" he screamed at Pogo. "Go downstairs and get a hacksaw!"

A group of adults rushed over and tried to extricate Bud's head. Susan screamed, "Merciful heavens! He's gonna die in there!"

Pogo produced a hacksaw from under her dress. She gave it to Dr. Austin with her left hand. Kate and George observed that her right hand was holding something else under her dress. "It's a book," George whispered. "She has a book under there!"

Dr. Austin positioned the hacksaw blade above the neck of the tuba and started to saw.

Upon seeing this, Mr. Kagoshima shouted, "No! No!" He forced himself between Dr. Austin and the tuba. The two men faced off in a circle of frantic would-be rescuers.

Dr. Austin raised the hacksaw high. "Get out of my way!"

Mr. Kagoshima assumed an awkward karate stance. "That's a five-thousand-dollar instrument!"

"Get out of my way or you're fired!"

"You already fired me. I work at Lincoln now."

Cornelia ran into the circle and bumped Mr. Kagoshima out of the way. Then she grabbed the tuba, and Susan grabbed Bud. They each pulled like two sides in a tug-of-war. After three mighty heaves, Bud's head popped out, spraying blood from his nose.

Pogo ran up to Bud with a roll of paper towels. She quickly wiped his face clean of the blood and the remnants of the protein shake. Only Kate and George saw a book fall out from under her dress,
Perraulfs Mother Goose.
Pogo flipped the book open with her foot and then pressed the paper towel roll against Bud Wright's nose, turning his gasping face toward the open pages. She then scooped up the book, slid it into an envelope, and ran away.

A few seconds later, Bud Wright was his old self, muttering, "Thank you, ladies. I musta blacked out there for a minute."

Dr. Austin raised his hands in relief and gratitude. "Thank you, everyone! What a freak accident! You never know
what
someone can slip and fall into, do you? We must all be more careful with drinks up here. Now please, back to your rehearsal."

Dr. Austin cast a glance at the back wall. Mrs. Hodges was standing there, ramrod straight, a look of supreme satisfaction on her face. He met her gaze and pointed down in the direction of his office.

Kate and George saw the gesture. Unnoticed in the buzzing crowd, they hurried to the mushroom cap, slipped inside, and beat Dr. Austin to the secret room by twenty seconds.

Dr. Austin closed the revolving door behind Bud Wright and Airs. Hodges. He informed his bleeding friend, "I'm not sure you blacked out up there, Bud."

Bud was still applying pressure to his nose, but he managed to speak. "I didn't?"

Dr. Austin struggled with his next words. He looked at Mrs. Hodges. "No. I'm not exactly sure what happened. But I am prepared now to take Mrs. Hodges's theories a little more seriously."

Mrs. Hodges did not speak. She did not have to. Dr. Austin spoke for her. "I am ready, regrettably, to approve a
limited
burning of Cornell Whittaker Number Two's antiquarian book collection."

He ticked off his conditions to the black-clad librarian. "First, you are not to do it alone. You could be the next victim of this ... demon. I want someone to work with you. Pogo, maybe. She's the only one around here who can keep her mouth shut. Second, I want you to take precautions. The construction workers left protective equipment behind. I want you to wear it. I can't run the risk of any more 'accidents.'"

"Certainly," Mrs. Hodges answered. "When shall we begin?"

Dr. Austin reached into his desk drawer and slid out an appraisal sheet from the Antiquarian Book Auction. He looked at the first item and winced as he read it silently: "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
The History of Spiritualism
, $7,500."

He told her bitterly. "Tonight. You can begin tonight, after everyone leaves."

At home, Kate and George sat on their back porch analyzing Bud Wright's mysterious behavior and Dr. Austin's meeting that followed. June opened the door to listen, but Kate told her, "This is a private conversation, June."

"I've already heard some of it, through the door. I'm worried about you. I really want to know what's going on."

"Nothing is going on."

But George said, "Some people have been acting really weird at the library, June."

"Mr. Barnes and Mr. Wright?"

"Yes." George looked at Kate, but Kate was staring at the ground. "June works there, Kate. She's seen things, too. She's heard things." He looked up. "Right, June?"

June shrugged. "Pogo has said some things to me. Things I don't understand."

George gave Kate a look that said, "There you go." He asked June, "Did she say anything about Jack?"

June turned pale. She finally whispered, "Jack and Jill went up the hill."

Kate pursed her lips and nodded firmly, like she had just made a decision. "Uncle George, can you leave us alone please? I need to speak to my mother privately."

George's eyes widened in surprise. "Sure," he muttered. Then he stood up and walked quickly into his side of the duplex.

June sat down in George's spot and waited.

Kate began, "This can't go on, June. I'm treated horribly at that place. I don't care what kind of 'condition' you have. You're my mother. You need to do something about it."

June waited a long time before answering. "We don't have any money, Kate. So we don't have any choices."

Kate turned and spoke through clenched teeth. "You
chose
to get divorced, June. That's why I don't have a father. You act like you're the victim of everything. Well, you're not. You've made your
choices,
and I'm the one paying for them."

"I didn't choose to get a divorce. It was all your father. He wanted out. He left me."

Kate tried again. "Okay. So you chose to get married, then, and to have me. Will you at least admit to that? Didn't you have something to say about that?"

"Yes."

"Well, then, June, that makes you responsible for me. You need to help me. Now."

June met Kate's gaze. "I know you're angry. You have many reasons to be angry. Good reasons. I thought this magnet school was a great opportunity for you. I really did."

Kate interrupted to ask, "And was it a great opportunity?"

"No. It wasn't. I was wrong. It's only made you miserable. And slightly green."

Kate looked at the backs of her hands.

June squeezed her eyes closed. "I want you to know that I am trying very hard these days. It may not show. But I'm trying to be there for you."

Kate thought about getting up and going inside. Instead, though, after picking her words carefully, she said, "I know you tried that one time, at the science fair. I never thanked you for that. So, thank you." She added, "But that's not enough, June. You have to try harder."

"I know," June agreed. "And I will. I'll try harder."

Kate stood up and shivered. "I guess that will have to do for now. I'm freezing. Good night."

"Goodnight."

Kate went inside, but June did not. She sat alone on the porch, in the cold night air, under the blackening outline of the oak tree. Her thoughts swirled and crashed around inside her head, like the ghosts in the Holographic Scanner.

On Wednesday afternoon, Kate reported to the County Commission Room for her job as personal assistant to Heidi. She watched Heidi rehearse her entrance—as a smiling and waving orca—from a closet next to the dais.

Heidi stopped practicing long enough to snap at Kate. "You are late! I need my makeup case. Go get it!"

Kate looked around the room idly. "Where is it?"

"I don't know where it is. That's your job. Try Whit's office."

Kate shook her head adamantly. "No way. I'm not going in there."

Then Heidi actually smiled. "You're not afraid of Whit, are you?"

"Don't make me laugh."

"Well, then..."

Kate shrugged, exited the room, and turned right. Cornelia was dead ahead, outside of Whit's office. There was no avoiding her.

Cornelia passed Kate in the hallway and commented, "Still no uniform, I see."

"I'm saving every penny," Kate assured her. "I'm even skipping meals."

Cornelia ground her jaws, but she let the matter drop and continued on her way.

Whit was standing in front of a mahogany desk in an office that was an exact copy of his father's. Kate took two steps inside and told him, "Heidi said she left her makeup case in here."

Whit looked around lazily. "That must be it, there on the floor." He pointed to a spot right in front of him, but he made no effort to pick it up.

Kate walked quickly to the spot, but Whit was quicker. He darted to the door and closed it. He told her, "Wait. I want to watch you pick it up."

Kate looked down at the makeup case. Then she looked up at Whit. "Forget it. I'll just tell her you're still using the eyeliner."

She started back toward the door, but Whit blocked her. He pointed his finger at her and snarled, "You really think you're something, don't you? You don't even belong here. I know all about you. You got in because that goofy little uncle of yours lives at the same address."