Story Time

by Edward Bloor

  Kate walked over to George, who was seated with his science 6 teacher and classmates. She said, "George Melvil? You're wanted in the office for a picture with your Honorable Mention ribbon."

  Science 6 smiled nervously, but he made no objection. George hopped up and followed Kate. He whispered, "What was that about?"

  "Do you really want to hear this speech?"

  "I'd rather have slivers of bamboo shoved under my fingernails."

  "Me, too. Let's get the flying machine and get out of here."

  June was waiting outside the office with the rope already coiled up and ready. Kate and George grabbed the rest of the equipment, and the three of them hurried out. Kate waited for June to say something about the incident with Whit.

  June did not.

  Kate decided that she would not, either.

  When the Geo Metro pulled into the driveway, the right side of the duplex was shaking noisily.

  George turned to Kate, puzzled. "What are Ma and Pa doing here now?"

  The noise stopped as soon as Kate, George, and June got out of the car. Ma and Pa stepped out onto the front porch in their clogging gear. Pa pointed at George, and Ma called out, "How'd you do at that genius science fair, Georgie? Did you win again? I bet you did."

  George walked over to them while Kate and June unloaded the car. He reached up through the porch railing and handed his mother the ribbon. "I won this."

  Ma and Pa started to whoop.

  George interrupted them. "Wait a minute. Why are you home so early?"

  Pa raised up his shoulders sheepishly. "That big lady, that Mrs. Whittaker-Austin, she told us to get out"

  Ma picked up the story. "She said we was bothering you kids too much, so she changed our hours."

  "She switched us to the graveyard shift," Pa said. "Midnight to six. I guess there ain't nobody to bother then."

  "That's right," Ma cackled. "There ain't nobody to bother in a graveyard! Except the ghosts!"

  George's eyes suddenly filled with tears. "Listen: I don't want you two working as janitors, on a graveyard shift, just so I can go to that place. I don't want that."

  Ma waved his objections away. "Go on, Georgie! It don't matter to us. And it's only three nights a week"

  Pa agreed. "It's not gonna interfere with our clogging at all."

  "No. This is not right. I don't want this."

  Ma and Pa both laughed through his protests. As they went back inside, Ma said, "You just keep winning those ribbons and passing those big tests, Georgie."

  "You'll be in a genius college soon," Pa added.

  All George could do was repeat, "This is not right."

  George spent that night brooding. He thought about Kate's treatment at the Orchid the Orca auditions. He thought about his own treatment at the science fair. He thought about how shabbily Ma and Pa and June were treated all the time. Just before the stroke of midnight, he came to a decision.

  Starting the next day, George stopped doing well on his standardized tests. He stopped writing good five-paragraph essays. George's seat slowly but surely began to slide downward through the rows in his classrooms.

  George had made up his mind. He wanted out.

  23. The First-Ever Story Time on the Roof

  Early Friday morning, during the first part of The Montana Math Assessment, Kate received a note telling her to report to Cornelia on the roof.

  As soon as Kate stepped off the service elevator, Cornelia cornered her. "Today is the first-ever Story Time on the Roof. Everything must go perfectly for Heidi. You will make sure that it does. You can start by getting the cart of books from Walter Barnes. Do you understand?"

  Kate assured her, with calm detachment, that she understood. She went down to the first floor, where she found Walter Barnes asleep. She wheeled his cart away quietly and brought it upstairs.

  When Kate returned, Cornelia studied the contents of the cart and exploded. "That narcoleptic old fool! Where is it? Where is The Three Billy Goats Gruff? That's the one book that Heidi is reading, and it's the one book that is not on the cart! What is the matter with him? What is the matter with you? Now get out of here, and don't come back without it!"

  Kate descended again to the first floor. She checked the shelves for The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Then she checked the computer catalog. No luck Her detachment soon gave way to fear of Cornelia's wrath.

  Then she remembered where she had seen a copy of the book. It was in the secret room, on the Holographic Scanner.

  She took Elevator #2 to the eighth floor. Then she crept up the stairs to the roof. She peeked out and saw that Heidi and Cornelia were far away, so she crept to the mushroom cap and bent it back. She slipped inside, closed it behind her, and climbed down to the bottom.

  Kate was alarmed to find the door to the secret room open and the glow of a lantern seeping out from it. She stepped inside, not daring to breathe, but she relaxed when she saw Pogo.

  Pogo was leaning over the face of the Holographic Scanner with a large envelope in her hand. Kate watched her slide a book across the glass and then pop it quickly, like a hot potato, into the envelope.

  Pogo picked up the lantern and started out. But she pulled up in an openmouthed, silent shriek upon seeing Kate.

  Kate whispered, "It's just me, Pogo. I'm sorry to startle you."

  In reply, Pogo held up the manila envelope.

  "I need to ask you a favor," Kate said. "I need to find a copy of The Three Billy Goats Gruff or Mrs. Whittaker-Austin might kill me. She's really on a rampage."

  Pogo held the envelope higher. Then she spoke:

  "Will you wake him? No, not I,

  For if I do, he's sure to cry."

  Kate struggled to understand. "What are you saying? Do you have the book?"

  Pogo nodded yes.

  "What? Is it in that envelope?"

  Pogo bobbed and nodded some more.

  "Okay, then, can I have it?"

  Pogo shook her head no, vehemently. She pointed to herself, and then to the envelope, and then to herself again.

  "You?" Kate interpreted. "you will give her the copy of The Three Billy Goats Gruff?"

  Pogo nodded yes with bone-jarring enthusiasm. Then she pointed to the exit, indicating that Kate should leave.

  Kate whispered, "Thank you," and slipped out. She moved swiftly and silently, retracing her steps back to the lobby.

  Later, when she arrived back on the roof, she saw that Walter Barnes had relocated there. He was now sitting by the stairwell wall with his head leaning heavily against the white cement blocks. He held the remains of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in one hand. Kate placed a set of t-sound phonics worksheets on the cart next to him. As she did, she noticed a large manila envelope sitting there, too.

  At five o'clock, parents and children started arriving for the first-ever Story Time on the Roof. They exited the service elevator to find a semicircle of folding chairs awaiting them, a cozy island of safety among the boards, nails, and tarps strewn near the still-unfinished stage. The adults took seats and pulled the smaller children onto their laps.

  At precisely 5:15, the door to the stairwell opened. George walked out followed by a giggling line of Juku Warriors. As soon as the line halted, George announced, "We were supposed to spell a very large word for you today, but we decided that we would sing it for you instead. So here is how it goes."

  George gathered the boys and girls on either side of him. Then, in a surprisingly confident voice, he led them in a spirited rendition of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

  George and the children bowed at the end, and the parents all laughed, whistled, and clapped.

  Just after the noise died down, Dr. Austin, Cornelia, and Heidi emerged from the service elevator. Dr. Austin waved to the children and welcomed certain parents by name.

  George took a seat in the audience as Dr. Austin joined the Juku Warriors. They began by reciting the forty-seven prefectures of Japan. When they reached, "Yamagata, Yamaguchi, Yamanashi,"
Dr. Austin began his pitch for the Whittaker After-School Preparatory.

  He apologized for the construction debris, saying, "This rooftop project has disturbed things around here. That's for sure. But it will all be worth it. We will be hosting many more Story Times on the Roof, including one for the First Lady of the United States next month."

  The parents broke into spontaneous applause.

  "And, we hope, one for her husband after that," Dr. Austin added.

  They clapped again.

  Cornelia then stepped forward to take over the proceedings. Dr. Austin made his way toward the back In order to do so, however, he had to pass the sleeping figure of Walter Barnes. Hoping no one would see him, Dr. Austin nudged the book cart into Walter Barnes's leg, waking him up and, in the process, causing the manila envelope to fall to the ground. "Pick that up, Walter!" he hissed. "And for heaven's sake, stay awake."

  Kate watched from ten yards away, leaning against the four-foot-high roof wall. She was planning on looking down at the river during Heidi's performance, but Pogo suddenly appeared beside her. Pogo was holding a second manila envelope under her arm. There was obviously a book inside this one, too, and she showed it to Kate. It was the antique Perrault's Mother Goose.

  Cornelia introduced Heidi loudly as "the winner of the very competitive Orchid the Orca contest. Heidi will soon play the part of Orchid the Orca for the First Lady of the United States. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, with no further ado, here is Heidi Whittaker Austin."

  Heidi skipped out from behind the stairwell wall dressed as usual in her white crinoline. She waved to the children and called, "Who's ready for a story?"

  The parents smiled and waved the children's hands for them.

  "Today's story is called The Three Billy Goats Gruff! Do any of you know this story?"

  Some of the children responded with bashful nods.

  Heidi turned to select the book from the cart. Even from Kate's distant vantage point, she could see the look of exasperation on Heidi's face when she could not locate it. Heidi looked around for her mother, who, in turn, looked around for Kate.

  Kate suddenly felt ill. She considered running for her life across the crowded roof. She considered a wild leap into the river. But she was spared having to make either choice by a sudden commotion.

  Kate looked in the same direction as everyone else. Then she saw what they all saw.

  There, posed in the stairwell doorway with The Three Billy Goats Gruff, was Walter Barnes. His jacket was now off, and his shirt was open, revealing a sallow, sunken chest. His tie was loosened and turned around, hanging behind him. He had drawn two large circles, apparently with strawberry jelly, on his cheeks. His eyes blazed maniacally behind his thick glasses and seemed to give off a red glare.

  Kate looked at the adults in the audience. Most of them seemed surprised, but amused. Dr. Austin's eyes, however, opened wide in shock, while Cornelia's narrowed in anger.

  The children drifted closer to their parents, their eyes still on the doorway, when, in a booming voice, Walter Barnes dropped the book onto the cinders and intoned, "Trip, trap! Trip, trap! Trip, trap! Who's that tripping over my bridge?"

  The children all stopped moving and listened, instantly entranced by the sight of the character and the sound of his voice. Walter Barnes broke away from the doorway and strode among them—strutting, fretting, emoting every ounce of drama from the tale of the three billy goats and the ugly troll.

  Kate watched Heidi walk off petulantly, sit next to her mother, and stare down at her feet. But everyone else on the roof watched Walter Barnes delightedly, totally absorbed in his virtuoso performance.

  Walter Barnes finished with a great flourish, posing ramrod straight, like a comical statue. The audience, young and old alike, burst into enthusiastic applause.

  He responded to the crowd's adulation with a brief encore, articulating slowly and deliberately, "Jack and Jill went up the hill."

  Upon hearing those words, Pogo took off from her spot next to Kate. She scooted along the perimeter and disappeared behind the stairwell wall. Only Kate saw Pogo's hand reach out from behind the wall to deposit a book on the cart. An antique book, opened to a certain page.

  Walter Barnes took a final bow. Then, as if it were part of the act, he leaned over and started to shuffle sideways, like a baggy-pants vaudeville dancer, toward the book cart. He moved in an unwavering line, as if the cart were an electromagnet and his head a metal ball. His head clanged into the cart, cushioned slightly by the opened book lying atop it. Then he collapsed into his seat, seemingly as deeply asleep as he had been before.

  Kate looked around at the people on the roof. Clearly, no one had any idea what to do next. Dr. Austin continued to stare at Walter Barnes with his mouth open. Cornelia and Heidi continued to fume. Kate stepped away from the wall. She held her hands up high over her head and started to applaud. Immediately, all the kids and parents did so, too.

  The ovation seemed to snap Dr. Austin out of his trance. He waited until the wave of clapping had subsided and then walked before the crowd with his own hands raised high. He shouted to them, like a master of ceremonies, "One of King's County's finest librarians, ladies and gentlemen. A fixture here at the Whittaker Magnet School, Mr. Walter Barnes."

  Cornelia recovered, too, but not in a happy way. She stormed over to Walter Barnes and, as discreetly as she could, started berating him for interrupting Heidi. Then she berated him for not listening to her. Then she poked him, and she discovered why he wasn't listening.

  Walter Bames was dead.

  Cornelia started screaming. She ran toward Dr. Austin in hysterics, pounding clumsily across the roof.

  Pogo approached the book cart on tiptoes. She scooped up The Three Billy Goats Gruff and Perrault's Mother Goose. She slid both into a large envelope; then she tiptoed back.

  At her husband's side, Cornelia was bellowing, "He's dead! Oh my god, I touched him. I touched him and he's dead!"

  Dr. Austin pushed and pulled Cornelia as best he could toward the service elevator. He motioned frantically for Heidi to get in, and they all disappeared.

  Kate watched them go and then turned back to the audience. After a series of hushed exchanges and anxious looks, the parents and children funneled quietly toward the stairwell. The first-ever Story Time on the Roof had come to an inglorious end.

  Kate stared at the supine figure of Walter Barnes. She felt a pang of sympathy for the old librarian. But that pang was quickly replaced by another feeling, a feeling that something big had just happened. She didn't know what it was exactly, but she did know this: It was something that the Whittaker-Austins, with all their money and all their power, could not control. It was a first chink in their armor. Perhaps it was a door to a door to a door that would lead her out of there.

  24. The Weirdness Is Rising

  On Saturday afternoon, June signed for a FedEx delivery addressed to Kate Peters. She carried the package up the front stairs and knocked on the bedroom door.

  Kate opened the door sullenly, but upon recognizing the FedEx logo, she quickly brightened. "What's that?"

  "I don't know. I don't have my glasses on. What's the return address?"

  Kate took the package. She read her own name. Then she read "King's County Library System" as the return address.

  June blinked in surprise. "Oh? I thought that it might be from your father."

  That had not occurred to Kate. But now that June had said it, and now that it was obviously not from him, Kate filled up with resentment. She snarled, "I guess you're wrong," and slammed the door.

  She heard June's voice from the other side. "Kate? I didn't mean it like that. I really thought it might be from ... him. That's why I said it. It was stupid of me."

  Kate leaned her back against the door and exhaled. Then she mumbled, just loud enough for June to hear, "All right. Don't worry about it. Forget it."

  When the sound of June's footsteps faded from the landing, Kate ripped the tab on the
package and opened it. She reached in, pulled out a leather-bound book, and held it up wonderingly in her hand. She whispered, "Cornell Whittaker Number Two's diary. Pogo? You sent this to me?"

  Kate flopped forward onto her bed, opened the diary, and started to read. She pored over the pages of neat handwriting for an hour, punctuating the silence in her room with occasional utterings, such as "Oh my god" and "I don't believe this."

  Finally, at 4:00 P.M., she picked up the phone and called Molly. "Listen: Can you come over here tonight? And can you bring your grandmother's scrapbook? The one about the Whittaker Library?"

  "Sure. I guess so. Why do you want the scrapbook?"

  "I just got a FedEx package delivered to me with Cornell Whittaker's diary inside."

  "No way!"

  "Yeah. I'm telling you, the weirdness is rising."

  Molly's parents dropped her off right after dinner. Kate was sitting out front, driven there by the syncopated pounding of the Tri-County Cloggers on the back porch. But tonight she welcomed the noise. She hoped to talk to Molly about things that no one else should hear.

  Molly sat down on the stoop next to Kate and pulled two items from a canvas bag: her flute and her grandmother's scrapbook.

  Kate held up the diary. "Check it out. You're not going to believe some of the stuff in here."

  But she had no sooner opened the leather-bound book when she heard a door open and felt a light tread on the porch boards. George leaned over the railing and asked casually, "Hey, what are you guys doing?"

  He stared at the odd pair of books on the girls' laps while Kate fashioned a reply. "It's, like, girl talk, Uncle George. Please excuse us."

  George nodded thoughtfully. "I see. Girl talk about the Whittaker Library? And whatever that other book is about?"

  After a long pause, Kate offered a compromise. "If I let you stay, will you promise not to be a know-it-all? Not to talk ninety percent of the time and insist that you are right one hundred percent of the time?"

  George took offense at that. "I won't talk at all if you don't want me to. And you two can be as wrong as you like. I don't care."