Pa froze, unaware that Kate had been listening. He grinned sheepishly. "You can't go by nothin' I say, Kate. I was just a security guard."
"But you said they fired him because he was talking about ghosts. Right?"
"Aw, I don't know nothin' about it, Kate. Not really. I should've kept my big mouth shut. It's just that ... that was the rumor."
Kate walked back to the car in order to think. After a few more minutes, the Tri-County Cloggers arrived and tramped inside, freeing Mrs. Brennan to leave. But Kate no longer felt like asking her about the library or the Whittakers or anything else. She gave both Molly and her grandmother a quick hug good-bye and hurried inside.
Kate spent the next thirty minutes trying to log on to her computer to write an e-mail to her father. After much frustration, she did manage to send off a message via the American Schools Abroad Program's website.
Then Kate reached her arms up and stretched. She leaned her head so far back that she was looking upside down, and right at June. Kate snapped upright, turned, and glared at her mother. June was on the landing with another FedEx package. Kate snapped, "How long have you been standing there?"
"I didn't mean to startle you," June said.
"Good job!"
June held out the package and spoke in a gentle voice. "Kate, we got this today. It's from Asia."
Kate snatched the package away, ripped it open, and dumped out its contents. She knew immediately what those contents were—the letters she had written to her father, at least a year's worth. They were bundled together under a sheet of paper bearing the letterhead of the American Schools Abroad Program. It read:
To: Miss Kate Peters
Re: Mr. Charles Peters
Be advised that Mr. Peters no longer works for the American Schools Abroad Program. We do not know his current whereabouts.
Kate stared at the pile of letters, each filled out in her own handwriting so meticulously and so hopefully. Tears filled her eyes and spilled out onto the top one.
June placed a hand on Kate's shoulder and tried to think of some comforting words to say. But before she could, Kate took hold of the hand and removed it. Then Kate gathered up the pile of letters and walked into her room.
Week Four
29. A Plea to Help the Indigent
The students who exited the Whittaker Magnet School on Monday afternoon had changed in one dramatic way: They were all dressed exactly alike. The boys now wore tan slacks, blue blazers, and striped ties. The girls now wore frilly white dresses.
Kate and George emerged last, looking out of place in their jeans and T-shirts. As they walked past the office, Cornelia stepped out and blocked their paths. "Why are you two out of uniform?"
"We're still trying to scrape together the money," George answered. "Would it be possible for us to return our copy of The Whittakers of King's County: A Biographical History? "
Cornelia leaned over him. She answered coldly, "All sales are final."
George started to walk away, but Cornelia's big hand stopped him. She checked her watch. "I'll tell you what, let's settle this matter right now. Come with me." She grabbed each child by an elbow and steered them across the lobby to Elevator #3.
Kate and George stood like shackled prisoners in the elevator and rode up to the eighth floor. Cornelia forced them to walk ahead of her into the County Commission Room. To Kate's complete surprise and utter horror, the room was filled with people she knew: Ma and Pa, dressed in their most outrageous clogging outfits; the other four Tri-County Cloggers; Mr. Kagoshima; and, lastly, LoriBeth Sommers.
"Uncle George," Kate whispered. "Am I losing my mind? What are they all doing here?"
"They're here for a rehearsal maybe? For the First Lady's visit?"
Cornelia made Kate and George stop in front of the dais. She announced, "I would like to take a minute of everyone's valuable time in order to make a plea for charity. It is important that we who have give to those who have not. These children standing before you lack even the basic funds to buy their school uniforms."
Cornelia reached over to the table and grabbed a large plastic cup. She held it up so that all could see the writing on it: BUD WRIGHT'S SWIM-WITH-A-DOLPHIN AQUATIC PARK. She then handed the cup to Kate. "You may circulate among the generous people who have come here today. I'm sure they will help you."
Kate looked out over the crowd. The first people she made eye contact with were Ma and Pa. Each of them was holding up a dollar and waving it cheerfully.
"We don't have to take this, Kate," George whispered. "We can leave right now. Just walk out, and I'll follow you."
But Kate responded coolly. "You go sit down, Uncle George. I'll take care of everything."
Several people along the aisle stuffed dollars into the cup. LoriBeth Sommers, with a triumphant smile, fished out a dime and tossed it in. Mr. Kagoshima put in a dollar. "I'm sorry," he told her. "I wasn't listening. What is this for, Kate?"
"It's for you, Mr. Kagoshima. It's to help pay your expenses for bringing the Lincoln Band to Whittaker."
Mr. Kagoshima blinked. He took the cup wonderingly. "Oh, really? Well, then, thank you, Kate."
"Thank you, sir." Kate then joined George in a seat near the back.
Susan Singer-Wright banged her gavel to start the meeting. "We are here today to organize a very special program for the First Lady's visit." She consulted a schedule. "We will begin the program with our national anthem played by the Lincoln Middle School Band under the direction of their conductor, Mr. No-ree-oh Kah-go-shee-ma. Is that correct, sir?"
Mr. Kagoshima half rose. "That is close enough, ma'am."
Susan smiled. "I must say that it is a nice touch that you are a multicultural conductor."
"I try, ma'am."
"It says here that you will be joined at the fifth bar of the song by the vocals of Miss LoriBeth Sommers. Where is Miss Sommers?"
LoriBeth stood up, waved, and smiled. A skinny girl with close-cropped brown hair, she was dressed all in green, except for a brown belt and a pair of brown slippers.
Susan smiled back and told her, "You might want to wear something else for the First Lady, honey." She looked back at her schedule. "We will then have a performance of native American folk dancing by the Tri-County Cloggers."
Ma and Pa started whooping. The rest of the Tri-County Cloggers joined in. Cornelia stared at them until they stopped.
Dr. Austin raised his hand. "I wouldn't call it 'native American.'"
"Why not?" Susan asked.
"Because they are not Native American Indians."
George arched one eyebrow toward Kate to acknowledge the redundancy.
"Call it 'authentic American folk dancing,' instead," Dr. Austin suggested.
Susan picked up a pen and amended her text. "Whatever you say, Dr. Austin." Then she added, "Heidi will perform next. I'll leave that to Mrs. Whittaker-Austin to describe."
Cornelia pointed a big finger at the schedule. "Dr. Austin and I have decided that the message of Orchid the Orca is too important to be lumped in with all these other activities. Therefore, Heidi's performance has been relocated to this room. Just after the First Lady meets with the dignitaries and just before she goes up to the roof, she will experience Heidi's stunning performance." Cornelia stopped to look at Bud Wright. "During which, Orchid will plead for the government to end her loneliness."
Bud shouted, "Amen to that!"
The meeting ended immediately after so that the performers could rehearse. Kate and George tried to leave quietly, but Cornelia was waiting for them at the door. "How much money did you two collect?"
"I collected a little bit," Kate said. "But I set the cup down and lost it."
"What?"
"Or somebody stole it. Sorry."
Cornelia pulled herself up to her full height. "All right. I've done all I'm going to do for you two. You don't appreciate a thing!" She looked at Kate. "You couldn't pass a test if your life depended on it." Then she turned to George. "And you! Have you suf
fered brain damage? What has happened to your test scores?"
Kate could feel George start to tremble beside her.
Cornelia lowered her voice to a menacing whisper. "Your parents signed a contract. I might add, they signed it without reading it. Failure to honor that contract will result in the loss of your house to the county. And you know what that would make you?..."
Cornelia turned on her heel and left.
Kate was not at all affected by Cornelia's threats, but she took one look at George and saw that he was falling apart. "Don't listen to her, Uncle George," she whispered. "She's just a big bully." Kate grabbed George by his skinny shoulders and squeezed him hard, as if she were literally holding him together.
30. The Attempted Destruction of a $5,000 Instrument
Cornelia hurried upstairs and burst through the door ready to direct the rehearsal for the First Lady's performance. She first sought out Bud and Susan and placed them in charge of security badges for the event. She spoke to them sharply for two minutes about the credentialing procedure.
Kate's first assignment from Cornelia was to bring up the rolling refrigerator from the basement. She was on her return trip in the service elevator when her ears picked up the unmistakable sound of clogging. The elevator doors opened and she beheld all six of the Tri-County Cloggers in fall swing. They were rehearsing one of their routines on the newly finished rooftop stage, which seemed barely able to endure such a pounding.
Kate rolled the refrigerator past the erect, watchful figure of Mrs. Hodges and continued on to the back wall.
She heard Susan tell Bud, "Honey, I'm a country girl at heart, but this is just too cornpone for words."
"I'm sure the Doc knows what he's doin'," Bud answered.
When the cloggers stopped, Bud directed them over to Susan to collect their security badges for the big day.
The Juku Warriors were next to rehearse. George wrangled his seven charges onto the wooden stage, where Dr. Austin and Bud awaited them. Dr. Austin spoke to their smiling faces with chilling severity. "Listen to me, all of you. This will be the most important thing you have done in your lives. Isn't that correct, Mr. Wright?"
Bud, not expecting a question to be tossed his way, was caught unawares. He told them, "That's right, you youngsters. You can help to drive up the real estate values of your homes."
Dr. Austin counted off two items on his fingers. "We will begin with the prefectures of Japan game; then we will do the GRE vocabulary words. Remember, we want to show the First Lady how much fun we have. It will be like Bubble Time. Do you remember Bubble Time? It will be just like that."
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 t
he 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."