Trouble Magnet (9 page)

Rice Krispies tumbled into the bowl. “That's all right.”

All right? I slid down to the floor. I put my elbows on my knees and covered my face with my hands.

“When you didn't come, I just started walking,” Darci said.

I shook my head. “Mom's going to kill me!”

“Why?”

I looked up. “Are you gonna … you know, tell her?

“Tell her what?”

“That I forgot to walk you home.”

Darci cocked her head as if that thought hadn't even crossed her mind. “Should I?”

“Prob'ly, yeah … but … will you?”

Darci shrugged and took a bite of cereal.

“You can if you want to,” I said. “I won't get mad.”

Just then I heard an engine out in the driveway. “Someone's here.” I sprang up and ran to look out the window, thinking maybe Tito got one of his high school friends to give him a ride. But it wasn't Tito.

“It's King Kong.”

King Kong was Ledward, Mom's boy friend. I don't know why I called him that, except that he was a hundred feet tall. His real name was Ledward Young. He was half Hawaiian and half a bunch of other stuff.

“He's here to fix up your new room,” Darci said.

I groaned, remembering that disaster. Time to move in with the bugs.

Ledward parked his old army jeep on the
grass. It didn't have a top, like a convertible. He unfolded himself as he got out, wearing shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and rubber slippers, like everyone else.

“Hey, boss,” he said when I got outside.

“Hey.”

Standing next to Ledward, I felt like a mouse. He told me one time, when
he
was in fourth grade he was as tall as his teacher. But the most amazing thing I'd learned about him was that he'd gone to school with Mr. Purdy and Uncle Scoop. They were all friends then, and were still friends now.

“Daniel treat you all right today?” Ledward asked.

“Who?”

“Mr. Purdy is what you'd call him, I guess.”

“Yeah, he's cool. He calls our class boot camp.”

Ledward laughed. “That would be him.”

“He has a tattoo.”

“He's a good man. The best.”

I nodded, remembering the food fight and
the centipede, and how Mr. Purdy hadn't even chewed me out or sent me to the principal's office for any of it. Except there was that classroom greeter job. I frowned. I'd have to shake Shayla's hand and say “Welcome to class, Shayla.” Every day.

“Grab the toolbox off the backseat,” Led-ward said. “Let's go look at that storage room.”

“Is Mom really making me move out there?”

“You don't want to?”

“Would you?”

“Sure. It would be like having my own place. Look at the view you got … mountains, river, the street. Better than what you have now, ah? Unless you like looking at the backyard.”

He was right. All I could see from my old room was Darci's rusty swing set. Maybe the storage room would be okay after all. If we could get rid of the bugs.

Ledward's toolbox weighed about fifty pounds. But it smelled good, like oil. I set it on our garbage can. The hinged lid was puffed up now. The trash was starting to overflow. But it didn't stink too bad. Yet.

Ledward winked. “You ready?”

“No.”

Ledward opened the door and flipped on the light. “Find a broom, boy. We got work to do.”

J
ust after noon the next day, Julio, Maya, Willy, Darci, and I found two half-empty paint cans and three corroded aluminum beach chairs in the garage. We dragged them out and sat on them along the edge of our driveway.

And waited.

Stella was arriving.

Mom and Ledward had gone to the airport to pick her up in Ledward's jeep.

“I've never seen a nanny before,” Maya said.

“She's not a nanny! Jeese!”

“What is she, then?” Julio asked. “A babysitter?”

I leaned forward and put my head in my hands.

Maya bent close and whispered, “I bet she's pretty.”

“Hey, Willy,” Julio said. “Since she's a mainlander just like you, she won't even know what's a shave ice.”

Willy humphed. “Or kimchee.”

Julio laughed and slapped his knee. “Man, you should have seen the look on your face, ho, so funny!”

“How old is she?” Maya asked.

“Fifteen,” Darci said. “Tenth grade.”

Julio jumped up. “Here they come!”

My eyes were glued to Ledward's jeep as it came down the street. It was like a parade
was coming, and we were waiting to see the queen.

Ledward honked as he pulled into the driveway.

Mom waved.

I gaped.

Stella from Texas was in the backseat. Wow, she was like a queen, all right. She glanced at us, brushing her long, windblown blond hair out of her eyes. A suitcase sat on one side of her, and a cardboard box on the other.

“She
is
pretty,” Maya whispered.

Julio gawked. “Ho, man.”

Stella just looked at us. Her eyes were light blue, and when she looked at me, I felt like she could see everything I ever in my life tried to hide.

I kept staring. I couldn't help it.

Ledward parked and turned off the engine.

“Is this the welcoming committee?” Mom asked.

I blinked and stumbled up. “Uh … yeah.”

“That's so
nice,
” Mom said. She got out and
hugged me. Over her shoulder, I saw Stella pull her hair back, revealing a glinting gold dot at the bottom of one ear.

“Thank you, Calvin. And thank all of
you,
too,” Mom said to the rest of the welcoming committee.

Julio, Maya, and Willy gave Mom shy grins.

Darci was speechless, for once.

Stella stood up in the back of the jeep. She wore tight jeans and a blue shirt with white snap buttons. When Ledward reached up, she took his hand and stepped to the ground.

“These are my children,” Mom said. “Calvin and Darci.”

Darci asked, “Are you going to be my sister?”

Stella looked down at her. “Why would you think that, darlin’?”

Ho! She talks funny.

“And these three live in the neighborhood,” Mom said. “Julio, Maya, and Willy.”

Stella studied them.

Willy's mouth hung open, and I couldn't blame him. Stella's eyes were like magnets. You couldn't escape.

Willy looked down when Stella raised an eyebrow.

“Do you have a horse?” Maya asked. “I mean, in Texas?”

Stella turned to Maya, like, What kind of a stupid question is that? “No, I don't have a horse. But I have … I mean, I
had
… a parakeet. I guess it's my mom's now.”

“What's a parakeet?” Julio asked.

“A small bird.”

“Well,” Mom said, clapping her hands once. “Want to see your new room, Stella?”

Stella shrugged.

Mom, Stella, and Darci headed into the house. Ledward grabbed the suitcase and box and followed them, making a face at me that said Yow!

Julio whistled low.

That night at dinner, Mom did all the talking. Darci watched Stella nibble. I shoveled my dinner down, keeping my eyes on my plate.

Mom reached over and put her hand on Stella's. “We are so happy to have you come live with us for a while.” She glanced at me and Darci. “Aren't we, kids?”

“Yes!” Darci said, giving Stella her best smile.

Stella half smiled back, then glanced at me.

I held my fork in midair. “Uh, yeah. We're, uh, happy.”

Stella's eyes narrowed, her half smile still plastered on.

I coughed and lowered my fork.

Stella turned to Mom. “They won't give me any trouble, will they?”

“These kids?” said Mom. “No trouble. No trouble at all.”

That night, I lay on my back on the top bunk in my new room. In the corner just above my head, a small black spider slept in its web. “You like this room, spidey?”

The spider didn't move.

“That bad, huh?”

I turned over on my stomach and mashed my pillow up under my chin. The window was a black square of night. When I turned the light off, maybe I'd see the river.

Someone knocked and opened my door. “May I come in?”

“Sure, Mom.”

“Wow,” she said, looking around. “You and Ledward really got this place cleaned up. It looks great, don't you think?”