Chapter Nine
The Beans Hatch a Plan
“Is he… following the curator?” Neil asked with disbelief. “What’s wrong with him? Maybe he got whacked on the cranium harder than we realized during our last encounter. He does have that big bandage wrapped around his melon…”
“So much for his chaperoning duties,” Jack said. “I bet that doorknob is going to try to get his corncob pipe back from her.”
“Let’s go after him,” Maria suggested, without the slightest hesitation.
“Jeez, Jasper was right,” Sara said. “You’re full of gumption!”
“Chockfull of gumption,” Neil added with a giggle. He adopted his best grumbling imitation of Jasper, and lowering his voice, he growled, “You miserable lot of miscreants, you’re full to the brim with gumption, I tell you! Why, you’ve scuffed my precious floors with your newfangled sneakers, you have!”
Neil’s friends chuckled at the worthy impersonation, and he waved an imaginary broom about in the air, uttering inarticulate mumbles and grumbles as he did so.
“Look, that poor curator doesn’t have any idea how crazy Jasper is,” Maria pointed out. “His marbles have long since been spilled. He’s full on bonkers, and evil to boot.”
“Bonkers and evilness… a most heinous combination,” Jack opined, to which the others readily agreed.
“This curator may have made a mortal enemy out of Jasper, and not even realized it. She’s awfully strict, but I think I like her,” Sara said.
“So do I,” Neil agreed. “I think we all like her, after the chewing out she gave Jasper.”
“Well, we can’t let her get blindsided by that goon. He’s already blown a fuse today, and in his condition, he just might swat her down with his mahogany broom when she has her back turned. I think we’ve firmly established that he’s a thoroughly unhinged lunatic, after all,” Jack said.
The others nodded in assent. They knew what it was like to get blindsided by Jasper, and it wasn’t a fate that they would wish upon anyone. They well remembered the dark schemes he had conjured in recent days, which had led to terrible disruptions in the fabric of their community.
“So let’s go after him,” Maria once more suggested, hopping from foot to foot in anticipation.
“Okay, I’ll go with you,” Sara told her sister. Turning to Neil and Jack, she asked, “Can you guys cover for us?”
Though they were loathe to miss out on any sort of adventure, Neil and Jack agreed that it would be for the best if they divided their number for the time being. The boys would stay with the tour group, and should Ms. Waffler inquire as to the whereabouts of Sara and Maria, they would stall her.
“Plus, we should really stick around to keep an eye on Jebediah and Cletus,” Jack pointed out.
“Oafish hayseeds,” Neil muttered, swiveling his head about to look for the pair of hillbillies.
They were not difficult to spot. Being the sons of Jasper, they were genetically inclined toward girth and height alike, and they towered a full head over most of their classmates.
They could be seen some distance off, strolling about with their thumbs hitched into the sides of their denim overalls, which were smeared with axle grease and grass stains. Each of them nonchalantly chewed a plastic straw, and they wore matching ball caps that bore the logo of their team, the Summer Squashes.
As the museum was filled with things to engage the intellect, there really wasn’t much to hold the interest of these troublemakers, who despised all things pertaining to academics. They looked completely disinterested in the many exhibits that the museum had to offer, and their eyes were glazed over with boredom.
Jebediah was in the process of tripping a much smaller student, while Cletus uttered the slow guffaw that so convincingly made him resemble the offspring of an ogre. It was about as much participation as could be reasonably expected from them.
Observing their shenanigans, Sara shook her head with disappointment. Turning to Neil and Jack, she said, “Okay, wish us well. We’re off!”
“Have fun,” Neil told the sisters, and he sighed wistfully over the prospect of whatever adventures he might potentially miss.
Maria and Sara began to casually work their way toward the perimeter of the student body, weaving between their classmates as they moved toward the edge of the shuffling sea of sneaker-clad schoolchildren. Soon, they had achieved their goal, and they slowed their pace as they reached the outer limits of the herd, nearing the hallway where Jasper was pursuing Evelyn.
Moments later, the sisters maneuvered themselves to the rear, slowing their steps until they had fallen behind the others. It took some stealth to evade the notice of Ms. Waffler, but the teacher was so preoccupied with the exhibits, it did not prove to be terribly difficult.
Maria could feel her heart racing as she looked at the chaperone and all the many students who were walking ahead of her. Busy with their own amusements and discussions, they seemed utterly clueless as to the machinations of the sisters. Yet, should any one of them turn around and take an interest, they could easily alert Ms. Waffler as to what was occurring, should they choose to do so.
“Sara,” Maria whispered to her sister. “Are you ready?”
“Yep,” Sara answered in a whisper of her own. “One bumbling doorknob is in our sights and ripe for pursuit. Let’s proceed, shall we?”
They waited until they neared the hallway in question, and at the moment when they silently agreed that the peak opportunity had arrived, they scrambled for their destination. Breaking off from the large room they were in, they hustled into the hallway, taking cover behind the first suitable object they encountered – a wide stand that had a collection of colorful masks atop it.
The two of them crouched low to the floor, with their backs pressed against their newfound piece of cover. They were breathing hard from the excitement, and they peered back at the large room from which they had come. The tour group was moving on, and would soon be out of sight… they had broken away from the field trip without being detected.
Maria risked a glance around the edge of the stand, while Sara stayed put. She saw Evelyn round the hallway’s corner and carry on, oblivious to Jasper’s haphazard method of stalking. The janitor wasted no time in his pursuit, and soon he had vanished around the corner, as well.
“Okay, we can move up,” Maria reported to Sara. “They’ve both gone around the corner up ahead, and they’re out of sight. There’s no way they can see us from where they are now.”
The sisters stood up from their crouches and walked down the hallway as quickly as they could. They dared not run, for fear that the sound of their sneakers slapping the tile floor would be heard. When they reached the place where the hallway bent at a ninety-degree angle, they paused.
Leaning against the wall, they peeked around the corner. Maria went low, and her taller sister went high, and the two of them were able to finagle their heads around the turn, in what they hoped might be a covert manner.
They saw that the hallway continued for some distance, and there were closed, wooden doors to either side. Evelyn was no longer visible, but Jasper was still there. He was plodding ahead, favoring his uninjured leg. No longer fearful of discovery, he walked in the open, heading straight for a door that was at the end of the hallway.
When Jasper reached the door, he did not hesitate. Wrapping a huge hand around the knob, he twisted it open and flung the door wide, revealing what looked to be an office.
From their position of observation, the sisters could see Evelyn sitting behind a large, ornate desk within the room that Jasper had just barged into. As the door to her office burst open, she looked up from a collection of files that was spread on the desk before her.
To her credit, she didn’t seem the slightest bit flustered by the odd, unwelcome intrusion. She saw Jasper at the door, and immediately demanded an explanation.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Oh,” Jasper said, in the gravelly, conde
scending tone that the Beans had come to know (and loathe) so well. “I believe you know exactly why I’m here. Don’t you, Ms. Magellan?”
And with those ominous words, Jasper swung the door closed, slamming it shut behind him. There would be, Maria and Sara knew, no easy escape for Evelyn, no matter how confident and formidable she might be.