Kate's preliminary duties were over, so she sat on a chair in the back George approached, sheepishly, and sat down. He stammered, "Kate, that thing back there with Heidi? It wasn't what you think."
"Since when do you care what I think?"
"Since always."
Kate snorted. "Don't say anything more about it. And I won't, either."
They sat in silence for two minutes. Kate tried to remain angry, but when Heidi took her place before the crowd, she could no longer contain herself. "Uncle George, why is she dressed all in white, like a Swiss milkmaid, to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear?"
George, eager to be forgiven, answered slowly and comically, "I do not know."
"Shouldn't she be dressed in brown? Or like a bear? You know? Maybe even a brown bear?"
"That's the outfit she wore today. That's what she wears every day. She's just weird."
"Maybe. But maybe not. Maybe today is National Swiss Milkmaid Day, and the rest of us forgot to dress for it."
"Yeah, maybe."
Dr. Austin entered and raised his arms for silence. "Welcome, all, to a Story Time in the lobby. We all hope our next one will be a Story Time on the roof." He pointed straight up. "On our newly renovated wooden stage."
Dr. Austin extended both arms magnanimously. "We are all here because we love and value reading."
He paused and looked around the lobby until he spotted June. He gave her the prearranged signal to step forward. But, although she visibly tried to do so, June could not move her feet. Instead, her head rolled back on her shoulders until she was looking straight up. Her gaze fixated on one of the four chandeliers that hung on seventy-foot steel chains from the ceiling.
Cornelia came up behind her and gave her a shove, starting her on her way. June managed to move through the crowd with her head down until she reached the front. Then she handed over the envelope and turned to go.
But Dr. Austin held her there by the wrist as he informed the crowd, "The results for today's tests are just in. They are right here in this envelope. I have not yet seen them." He looked to June to verify that fact. "Havel?"
June shook her hanging head, whereupon Dr. Austin released her wrist. June retreated in a panic as Dr. Austin continued, "I will share them with you now."
He muttered to himself, "I see. I see." Then he proclaimed, "Our King's County students have outscored their counterparts in Connecticut on The Connecticut Assessment of Student Skills, and they have outscored their counterparts in New Mexico on The New Mexico Test of Mathematical Concepts. Congratulations to all."
Cornelia stepped forward and gave the applause sign. The parents all recognized it and responded.
Dr. Austin waved to them. "Now we have a very special treat for you. Our students in grades one and two, aka the Juku Warriors, would like to show you how they have been spending their time at the Whittaker After-School Preparatory."
Dr. Austin signaled the new Math 6, a heavyset woman sitting uncomfortably in a tight gi. The Juku Warriors ran out and lined up. "A lot of American schoolchildren can name the fifty states in the United States," Dr. Austin told the crowd. "But how many can name the forty-seven states in Japan?"
A little girl in a gi raised her hand.
George whispered to Kate, "I rehearsed this part with them."
The little girl shouted, "They're not called states!"
Dr. Austin feigned surprise. "No? What are they called, then?"
"Prefectures!"
The parents in the audience laughed.
"I see. Can you name them?"
The little girl shouted, "Sure!" and all seven Juku Warriors broke into a loud recitation: "Aichi, Akita, Aomori—"
The recitation went on, but Dr. Austin talked over them, explaining how students in grades three to five, the Cram Crew, work with their Japanese counterparts.
"Fukui, Fukuoka, Fukushima..."
The audience waited patiently while the children named all forty-seven. Then Dr. Austin asked, "By the way, can any of you count to ten?"
The children started to count in English, but then they quickly switched to Spanish, then French, then something indecipherable. When they finished, Dr. Austin explained to the crowd, "Cambodian, ladies and gentlemen."
Cornelia stepped forward again to lead the applause. Then Dr. Austin sat down and let his wife take over the show.
Cornelia beamed a smile at Heidi, standing off to the side, book in hand. She declared, "How rare it is to be named after your mother's favorite book and to come to embody the spirit of that book"
Kate leaned over to George. "What? Her favorite book was The Gross, Disgusting, Nasty Girl?"
Kate then watched, thoroughly unimpressed, as Heidi Whittaker Austin delivered a sickly sweet performance of Brown Bear, Brawn Bear, What Do You See? At the end Heidi bowed and curtsied to the crowd. It was Kate's cue to get up and distribute the worksheets.
Dr. Austin got up, too. After another quick pitch to the parents for the Whittaker After-School Preparatory, he read aloud the directions. Kate retreated to a distant table and watched as the children, somberly and diligently, began looking for the b sound in words.
17. Singing at an Inappropriate Time and in an Inappropriate Place
After the last of the audience members had departed, Heidi stomped over to Kate. "I hope you're not thinking of going to the audition today, because you don't have a chance!"
"Calm down," Kate responded, as if to an escaped mental patient. "Now what are you talking about?"
Heidi hissed, "You are going to the audition today, aren't you?"
Kate was startled to realize that, until that moment, she had totally forgotten about the Orchid the Orca audition.
"Fortunately," Heidi said, "you won't have to embarrass yourself. I have work for you to do." She pointed toward a large stack of books and papers on her desk "Take those into the office and type them up. Neatly. Put my name at the top." Heidi then flounced away.
Kate took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She pronounced the word "Whatever" softly to herself. Then she walked to Heidi's desk, picked up the pile of materials, and carried them into the office.
Kate sat down and prepared to type, but she felt a sudden chill and spun around.
Whit was standing in the doorway staring at her. "You're my sister's assistant," he said. "Bad luck for you."
Kate had no intention of conversing with him, but she did answer civilly, "Yeah."
Whit raised his eyebrows. "Shall I put in a word with Mother and have you transferred to me?"
Kate racked her brain for just the right insult, something to crush him like a cockroach. But she lacked the energy to reply at all.
Whit took a step closer, so close that Kate could smell his aftershave. Her nose wrinkled in distaste as he lowered his voice, "You improve the scenery here. You increase the number of hot girls, from none to one."
Kate redoubled her efforts to find the perfect cockroach-crushing remark, but before she could think of it, Cornelia entered the office.
"Whit, honey, we have an engineer from Technon to help you set up your science project."
"Aw! Does he really need me to be there?" Whit complained.
"Oh, Whit!" Cornelia laughed. "You are so funny! You come on now." Cornelia headed out; Whit followed, sighing theatrically.
Kate again prepared to type. But she hadn't made a keystroke before she heard George's voice behind her. "Hey, I figured you were going to audition for that Orchid the Orca part."
Kate managed to grunt, "Hey, you figured wrong."
"Come on, Kate. Do you mean you really don't want to do it?"
"No. I'd rather work at my personal assistant job to keep you in your dream school."
George stepped up to the desk "You know, Kate, aside from my uncanny ability to spot redundancy, repetition, and repetitiveness at any distance, I have an even more valuable skill. Did you know that I can type eighty words per minute? With no mistakes? Not even stupid ones?"
Kate finally looke
d at him. "You're that fast?"
"Come on. Vacate the chair."
George sat down in her place. He shuffled some papers. Then his fingers started to fly.
Kate didn't want to distract him, but she had to know something. "Uncle George, why is there an essay in your handwriting in that pile?"
George kept typing, but he answered, "I was hoping you wouldn't notice."
"It was right on top."
"Naturally." He did stop. "I thought ... if I was nice to Heidi, then she'd be nice to you."
Kate rolled her eyes. "Well, that didn't work!"
George told her, with utter sincerity, "I'm really sorry I got you into this, Kate."
Kate pointed at the keyboard, so George resumed his manic typing. "I'm not sure who got me into this. Ma and Pa? June? Anyway, it wasn't you. You're a kid. I'm a kid. They're the grown-ups."
"But I could have taken your side, right from the beginning. If I had said no, then our house wouldn't have gotten lassoed into the Whittaker district. But I was only thinking about me."
Kate shook her head. "Don't feel bad about that. I only think about me. All I cared about was being the star of Peter Pan. I never thought about what you wanted for a minute."
George paused. "I guess I wanted to be a star, too. A test-taking star, since I'll never be any other kind."
George resumed his furious typing. Kate turned away in time to spot someone running past the door. She leaned out and saw Bud Wright cramming into Elevator #1 with a black-and-white fish costume. She asked George, "Hey, did you ever go to Bud Wright's Swim-with-a-Dolphin Aquatic Park?"
"Yeah. It's a county science requirement. Every fifth grader has to go or they can't graduate to middle school."
Kate sneered. "Some science lesson, right? You watch a big, extremely depressed fish swim around in a circle all day."
"Actually, orcas are not fish. They're aquatic mammals. Like dolphins."
"And Mr. Bud Wright was standing there at the door with these stupid i LOVE ORCHID THE ORCA T-shirts. God, that poor fish."
"Aquatic mammal."
"Yeah. I hate to even say her name. It's such an insult. She's a wild creature, Uncle George. She's, like, the Amazon queen of the ocean. She's not some cute little character in a fairy tale."
George reached over dramatically and pressed the print button. "That's it. Six five-paragraph essays, all neatly plagiarized by Heidi the Milkmaid. Let's go."
Kate smiled for the first time all day. "Okay. Let's go."
Kate and George hurried into Elevator #3 and rode up to the County Commission Room. They burst through the door just as Heidi was finishing her audition.
Cornelia turned and stared at Kate quizzically.
Susan Singer-Wright announced, "Oh, good! Here's another auditioner. Go ahead, honey. You're next."
Heidi sniggered and tossed a copy of Orchid the Orca in Kate's general direction. It landed on the floor, and that's where it stayed.
Kate pointed George to a seat; then she walked in front of the dais. She looked over the panel of judges seated before her. There was Susan Singer-Wright, looking distracted; the new Reading 8, looking nervous; and Walter Barnes, looking asleep. Kate woke him by announcing loudly, "Ladies and gentleman! I am Kate Peters. And, as you shall soon see, I am also your choice to play Orchid the Orca!"
Then to everyone's surprise, and George's delight, Kate broke into a song from Peter Pan. She visualized her backyard and the big tree and the flying harness. She glided gracefully in place, forward and back, and let the words of "Never Never Land" pour out.
She sang with all the longing inside her for Lincoln and her old way of life. Kate would have continued to belt out the song, but Cornelia leaped to her feet.
"That's enough of that! There is no singing in this role. And no dancing! This is completely inappropriate. If it were a singing role, Heidi would have sung, and sung beautifully. The girl is not even reading from my book."
Cornelia looked pointedly at Susan Singer-Wright. Susan shrugged, banged her gavel, and asked the other judges, "Who votes for Heidi to play Orchid the Orca?" All three dutifully raised their hands. "Who votes for the other girl?" No one moved, so Susan stated the obvious. "Heidi wins."
George walked over to Kate, deliberately stepping on Heidi's copy of Orchid the Orca along the way. Kate laughed, bowed deeply to the judges, and started out with him. But before they could leave, the new Reading 8 spoke up. "I think Heidi should have an understudy, though. I vote for Kate Peters for that."
Kate looked back at her, stunned.
So did Cornelia. Her jaws ground violently. But then she smiled. "Yes. Why not? What a good idea. All Broadway stars have understudies. Heidi Whittaker Austin should have what all stars have."
Kate made a slight curtsy to acknowledge the news. Then she and George backed out through the door. As soon as they got into the hallway, Kate grabbed George under the elbow, the way Pogo had grabbed her. She whispered, "No talking! I don't want to talk about what just happened. Ever. I just want to show you something. Something secret."
18. A Language That May or May Not Be Gibberish
An evening thunderstorm was approaching when Kate and George emerged on the roof. She led him to the mushroom cap and showed him how it bent back on a hinge.
The electricity in the air made the hairs on George's head tingle. He smiled at Kate, very curiously, and then followed her down the iron ladder.
At the bottom, Kate fumbled until she found the green lantern. Only then did she break her silence. "Pogo took me here today."
"Pogo? The mute librarian?"
"Yes. Ever since that business with Whit and the book, it's like she wants to tell me something, but she can't. So she's trying to show me, instead."
"Okay. So what did she show you?"
"A secret room. I think it was built behind one of the Whittakers' offices."
George pictured the building plans from the King's County website. He calculated the distance and direction they had traveled and concluded, "It must be behind Cornell Number Two's."
Kate nodded in the dim light. "That would make sense. Some of his stuff is in there."
She took George's hand in hers and reached forward, whispering, "Behold." They pushed the wall and felt it rotate inward. George gasped. Kate confirmed his thought. "That's right. A secret passage."
George held on tightly to Kate's hand as they slipped into the narrow space behind the bookcase. Kate held up the lantern to let him take in the room and its objects. George turned his head slowly, following the glow of the lantern.
Suddenly, Kate's eyes snapped wide open, and she stifled a scream. George whirled around to see why. He fell back against Kate, horrified, because a black figure was now blocking the secret passage. Then the figure spoke:
"Jack and Jill went up the hill."
"Pogo!" Kate exhaled. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."
In a trembling voice, George marveled, "She speaks?"
Kate thought about that. "Sort of."
"Well, can I ask her questions?"
"You can try."
George straightened himself up and asked, "Whose room is this? What is it used for?"
Pogo replied:
"For many a stormy wind shall blow
E'er Jack comes home again."
"I thought so," Kate explained. "You can ask her questions, but her answers won't match them."
Lightning flashed on the roof. It was dimly visible through the rotating door. Pogo took the lantern from Kate and led them around the bookcase into the center of the room.
She held the light high to illuminate a portrait hanging on the left wall. It was a likeness of Cornell Whittaker Number Two, like the one in the lobby, except that he was wearing a black robe and a black floppy hat.
"Why is he dressed like Mickey Mouse in The Sorcerer's Apprentice?" George asked.
Pogo didn't answer.
Kate approached the floor-to-ceiling bookcase, rose up on her tiptoes, and pull
ed out a leather-bound book. "Check this out, Uncle George."
Kate pointed back to the portrait. "It's his. He wrote down everything. All of his weird doings."
George commented, "I wish we could check it out. We could take it home and read it."
Kate looked hopefully at Pogo. "Could we?"
But Pogo, by way of reply, took the book away from Kate, hopped up, and popped it back onto the shelf.
Pogo then moved the lantern to shine on the Holographic Scanner. George bent to look closer at its glass top. He ran his fingers over the bronze plaque and read aloud, "Ashley-Nicole Singer-Wright.' You hear that name a lot around here. She's all over the school's website, too. She invented some type of amazing holographic tape. One piece of it can store more information than all the computers in the Pentagon."
"What good is that in a library?"
"It's extreme overkill for a library. But for the Pentagon, it's cutting-edge technology."
George pressed his fingers down on the glass top. "This must be it. This must be the scanner that she used for her experiments." George leaned over and picked up the electric plug. "I wonder if it still works."
Pogo moved her hand, as if to stop him. She whispered:
"Will you wake him? No, not I,
For if I do, he's sure to cry."
George said, "I'm sorry. What was that one?"
But Pogo would not repeat it.
The lightning flashed again, followed closely by a clap of thunder.
"Uncle George, she seems to want to communicate with us. So why does she keep talking gibberish like that?"
George replied in his knowing voice. "That's not gibberish, Kate. Everything she's said is from Mother Goose. She's speaking in Mother Goose rhymes."
Kate grabbed her own hair and pulled it. "But why?"
"Because of what you said. She's grateful to you. She's trying to warn you about something, in the only way she can."
Pogo turned away with the lantern, leaving them in darkness. They hurried to follow her back through the secret passage. One by one, they took hold of the iron rungs of the ladder and climbed up into the brighter and brighter flashes of lightning.