Rick

by Alex Gino

  “He’s the traitor who told on me,” said Jeff.

  “You could learn a thing or two from your friend, Jeffrey,” said Stacey. “I don’t see his mom getting called in to talk with the principal and a police officer about her son starting a fire at school.”

  “That freak isn’t my friend anymore,” Jeff muttered.

  Stacey shrugged. “Your loss.” She winked at Rick.

  “I hope you have fun with your new friends,” Jeff said with a sneer before Stacey dragged him off.

  “Thanks, I think I will,” said Rick.

  The next day’s Spectrum rehearsal meeting was held in the auditorium. A giant piece of paper stuck to the wall listed the cabaret program order and who was in the crew. Kids gathered around it, gabbing about who was performing when. Others were gathered around Ellie, the stage manager, asking a thousand questions. Rick stood by the door, watching the excitement.

  “You made it!” said Ronnie, giving Rick a high five.

  “Yeah, well, this pretty awesome guy told me I needed to make some new friends, so here I am.” Rick shrugged, but his delight showed in his smile.

  “Do you have a talent?” Ronnie asked.

  “What?”

  “It’s a talent show. Do you have a talent? If you don’t, we could use another stagehand, but it would be cool if you had a talent.”

  “Well …” Rick could see quarters spinning in his mind and could smell their oily metal. Then he spotted Kelly glaring at him from across the room. “Never mind.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “Rick, if we’re gonna be friends, you’ve got to share how you’re feeeling. Otherwise, I’ll never know you.”

  “Oh.”

  “Good one, huh? My moms say that to each other. Except they don’t just say friends. They call each other partners in love and life.” Ronnie shook his head as if to get the words out of his mind. “So, what’s your talent?”

  “It’s nothing big. But I spin quarters, and I can get five going at once, maybe six. Plus I’ve been working on a new coin trick where I stop the coin spinning with my finger and it stays standing up.”

  “Oh! I saw you doing that in homeroom. It looked really cool. You have to do it!”

  “Umm …”

  “That is, if you want to.”

  Rick pictured himself onstage. He hadn’t tried out for the fourth-grade play because Jeff would have made fun of him for doing it.

  Then Rick remembered that he was done with Jeff and he was never going back, not even if Jeff begged him to.

  “I do,” said Rick, surprising himself more than Ronnie. “I really do.”

  Ellie called the group together into a large circle. “Okay. We only have today to rehearse, so we’re not going to see everyone’s talents. Instead, we’re going to focus on transitions. Getting on and off the stage, Melissa’s emcee notes, that sort of thing. We’ll go through Yaya’s finale once or twice, since this is the only time most of us will get to practice with him, and then we’ll take it from there. Any questions?”

  “Yeah,” said Ronnie. “Is it too late to add one more act? It’s short, I promise.”

  “Theater thrives on spontaneity.” Ellie affected a posh British accent.

  “What?” said Ronnie.

  Ellie dropped the accent. “It’s fine.”

  “Well, Rick here spins quarters!”

  “Spins quarters?” Kelly sounded dubious. “What kind of talent is that?”

  “It’s super cool!” said Melissa. “I’ve seen him do it! He even tried to show me once, and I was terrible at it.”

  “Rick, can you show us?” asked Ellie. “Anybody got a quarter?”

  Rick took a handful of quarters out of his backpack and made them into a small stack on the edge of the stage.

  “He comes prepared!” exclaimed Yaya.

  Rick set the first quarter going. The second coin skittered right off the stage, but Rick didn’t worry about it. He set four more spinning in a row, the first one still finishing its dance as he set the last one loose.

  “Wow!” said Green.

  “That’s really cool,” said Sam. Others nodded and agreed as well.

  “I told you!” said Melissa.

  Kelly shrugged. “Yeah, I guess that’s a talent.”

  “So,” said Ronnie, “is it too late to add him to the show?”

  “What do you think, Spectrum?” asked Ellie.

  The cheer was as brief as it was sudden, but it was unmistakable. And it echoed in Rick’s mind. He’d never been cheered for before, and it made him want to cheer right back. “Hurray for the Rainbow Spectrum!” he called out.

  “Hurray for the Rainbow Spectrum!” the group responded.

  “I appreciate your enthusiasm,” said Mr. Sydney. “And that was quite impressive, Rick. But today needs to be the last day for sign-ups.”

  “Yeah,” said Sam. “We need to design and print the programs.”

  “If there are no other dramatic reveals, we need to get moving. Ronnie, get Melissa situated and let’s run through this thing.” Ellie took a black marker and drew an arrow between two acts in the second half and added in Rick’s name. “That’s better anyway, to break up the two couples singing.”

  “We’re not a couple,” said Seeley.

  “Yeah,” said Trish. “We just wanted to sing together.”

  “Okay, but try to tell me Mika and Talia aren’t going out.”

  Mika blushed and Talia giggled. Then they raised their already interlocked hands as one.

  “I wish we had time to see everyone’s acts,” said Xavier.

  “We will, next Tuesday,” said Mika. “There’s no reason we need to stay backstage the whole time, is there?”

  “We can reserve the front row for performers,” said Talia.

  “Well, some of us will have fabulous outfits we’ll want to do a big reveal for.”

  “Yaya, you can head back into the dressing room to prepare for the finale.”

  “And I’ll be videoing the whole thing,” said Mason, with a thumbs-up to Yaya.

  “Great,” said Ellie. “I’m glad we’ve worked out all the details. Now, can we get moving, people? Time is flying.”

  And with that, Melissa read the introduction to the audience and introduced Xavier, Yaya, and Zoe onstage. They would start off the show with a performance of “Willkommen,” the opening number from the Broadway musical Cabaret. From there, the performers took turns being announced by Melissa and heading onstage, only to turn right back around and get off again.

  Melissa didn’t have a piece in the script for Rick, but her ad-lib was just as good as any of the introductions Sam and Tracey had written. “And now Rick will set your heads spinning with his coin tricks!”

  “That was perfect,” said Ellie. “More of that, Melissa, and next Tuesday is going to be phenomenal!”

  There was only Mika and Talia to bring onstage after Rick, and then it was time to practice the grand finale. Yaya had gotten into his Miss Kris outfit: an electric-blue dress, silky white wig, and two-inch chunky silver heels.

  “You look amazing, Yaya!” said Green.

  “Totally like Miss Kris!” said Mika.

  “I’d let you ‘Rock My Heart’ any day,” Devon said, referencing Miss Kris’s latest hit.

  “Thank you, thank you!” Yaya said with Miss Kris’s lilt. “It’ll be even more fabulous next week with makeup.” He invited everyone who wanted to dance in the finale to line up. Most of the kids joined, as did Mr. Sydney and his boyfriend, Minh, who had come to help out.

  “Do you wanna?” Ronnie asked Rick.

  “I don’t know. Do you?”

  “Maybe, but I asked you first.”

  And that’s when Rick realized that Ronnie wasn’t asking whether Rick thought the dance was cool. He was asking whether it looked like fun to Rick, and once Rick understood the question, he knew the answer as well.

  “I sure do! You coming?”


  Rick and Ronnie hoisted themselves onstage, ignoring the steps at either side. Yaya showed them the dance, which was pretty simple: step to the left-left-right-right-left-left-forward-back. Clap-clap-clap-clap. Throw your hands up and shake with joy. Jump right and do it again.

  Once everyone had it down, Xavier and Zoe joined in front, ready with a more complicated routine. Yaya started the music and joined in. He began the song at the back of the stage and meandered through the crowd during the first verse with a dark cloth draped around him. Right before the start of the first chorus, he landed at the front of the stage, pulled off the cloth, and broke into a dance. It started simply, like the one everyone else was doing, then turned into Xavier and Zoe’s steps, and then branched into a dance all his own, moving in ways Rick hadn’t known were possible for a person with bones. Everyone cheered when the dance was through.

  “Great job, everyone. We are going to make so much money for the book fund!” said Ellie. “No regular meeting next Tuesday. Instead, be here at four thirty to help set up, if you can. Doors to the auditorium will open at five forty-five, and the show will start at six. Invite your friends and family!”

  Rick looked around for Ronnie, thinking they might walk to the bus together. But in scanning the room, he missed who was right next to him.

  “Hey there.”

  Rick jumped twice in surprise. Once because there was someone so close, and a second time because it was not Ronnie but Melissa.

  “Oh, um, hi.”

  “That was really cool what you did with those coins there.”

  “Thanks.” Rick hunted for something to say. “Do you, uh, still play checkers?”

  “I haven’t played checkers in years,” said Melissa.

  “Oh.” Rick’s shoulders dropped.

  “I’ve moved on to chess. Maybe I could teach you how to play.”

  Rick looked up, not expecting Melissa’s smile. “That would be cool.”

  That’s when Kelly approached from behind and looped her arm through Melissa’s. “Melissa doesn’t want to talk to you.”

  “Actually,” said Melissa, disentangling her arm from Kelly’s, “I do.”

  “But it’s my job as your best friend to protect you.”

  Melissa lowered her chin so that she was staring at Kelly from under a deeply furrowed brow.

  “What?”

  “No, Kelly,” said Melissa. “No, it’s not.”

  “Your choice.” Kelly raised her hands and backed away.

  “Sometimes even really good friends can be difficult. How did you deal with that Jeff kid for so long before firing him?” Melissa winked.

  “Wait, what? How did—?”

  “How did I know?” asked Melissa. “Let’s just say good news travels fast. Glad to have you with us, no matter what some people think.” Melissa tossed her head Kelly’s way. “Chess. Someday soon.”

  “You got it,” said Rick.

  Rick found Ronnie and they walked to the bus stop, along with Green, Leila, and Sam, all of them singing “We Are All Beautiful” together, stepping to the left and right and clapping down the block.

  Rick had had a soda-fizz feeling in his stomach all morning and he couldn’t quite place why. He was going to Space Con with Grandpa Ray, which was exciting, but it felt like something more than that. He packed his Bzorki ears and cape in his backpack as his stomach fizzled.

  Rick rode the rackety, crackety elevator up and knocked on the door with a tap-TAP, tap-TAP, tap-TAP, like the opening of the Rogue Space theme song.

  Grandpa Ray answered the door like it was any other day, in his slippers, gray sweatpants, and white T-shirt.

  “Oh,” said Rick, the sound of disappointment out of his mouth before he was aware of feeling it.

  “Oh?” Grandpa Ray echoed.

  “I just thought that you might already be in costume.”

  “You’re not,” Grandpa Ray countered.

  “Well, no. But I thought you’d, you know, be excited about it.”

  “I’m over the moon!” Grandpa Ray said in an airy kind of way, an uncontrolled grin filling his face.

  “So why aren’t you ready?”

  “I guess I didn’t want to disturb you.” Grandpa Ray dropped his grin and shrugged.

  “Huh?”

  “Well, you’ve never seen me … dressed up before.”

  And that’s when Rick realized that the soda-fizz feeling in his stomach was excitement. “And now I have to wait even longer!”

  Grandpa Ray laughed. “In that case, I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’ve got everything laid out. You get ready too.”

  Rick put on his cape and ears, and then he flipped through television channels until he landed on a show about how things are made. The episode was about aluminum foil. The shiny liquid-metal river captivated Rick, and once it cooled into a brick, he enjoyed watching the metal pressed out over and over, until it was flexible enough to be rolled up. Then it was rolled out thinner and thinner, until it was like metal paper.

  The final product was being rolled onto a cardboard tube when Grandpa Ray emerged from the bathroom. He wore a long black dress with a thick red sash over his shoulder, a red wig back in a bun, and lots of large silver jewelry, like Senator Smithfield wore when she addressed the Pristine Council.

  He looked perfect to Rick. It was as if Senator Smithfield were really there, but with Grandpa Ray’s beaming face. The Citruvian temple ridges he had drawn on with makeup looked just like they did on the show, and he had even replicated the scar on his right cheek that Senator Smithfield had gotten as a girl.

  Rick realized he had been staring, and worse, his mouth was open. He closed it and tried to think of something to say. “You look amazing! Better than amazing! You look like Senator Smithfield!”

  “Why thank you!” Grandpa Ray gave a quick spin. “It does feel pretty great to put out the old garb. And thank goodness this wig held up all these years. I had to dig pretty deep in the closet this morning to find her.”

  “It’s just like on the show!”

  “Passed by a lot of memories on the way.” Grandpa Ray nodded slowly.

  “I’m sorry,” said Rick.

  “Don’t be. First off, it’s not your fault. But more importantly, some of the memories were sad, yeah, but most of them were fantastic. Your Grandma Rose was pretty special.”

  “So are you.”

  Grandpa Ray dabbed a tear away. “Okay, no more mushy stuff. I’ll ruin my face. Speaking of which, have a seat and I’ll give you a few Bzorki touches.”

  Rick wasn’t sure what Grandpa Ray meant until he pulled out a metal box that unfolded into layers of makeup.

  “Wow,” said Rick. “You sure have a lot of that stuff.”

  “Well, I haven’t gone out in a while,” said Grandpa Ray, “but I still like to put on a look from time to time.”

  Grandpa Ray loaded up the soundtrack from last season’s Rogue Space and plugged his phone into a cylindrical speaker, humming along as he applied a range of colors to Rick’s face. Rick didn’t have much basis for comparison, but Grandpa Ray seemed like an expert. He acted like one of the people who put on makeup in commercials. When he was done, he held up a hand mirror. “What do you think?”

  Rick looked like a Bzork, right down to the cheek lines. He grinned, and the lines stretched out wide.

  “Wow! Grandpa Ray, you’re really good at this.” Rick admired himself in the mirror. “And look at you. If I didn’t know you, I would wonder if you were Aida Benson!” Aida Benson was the actor who played Senator Smithfield.

  “Why, that’s quite the compliment. But I want to make one thing clear to you. No matter how I look, I want you to know that I’m always your Grandpa Ray.”

  “I know that,” said Rick.

  “Well, some people who wear skirts and makeup are women. Me, I’m a guy, no matter how I’m dressed. This is a costume, like yours.”

  “Cool,” said Rick. “There’s one thing, though.”

  “What’
s that?”

  “I know you’re still my Grandpa Ray, but it might look a little funny if I call you that at Space Con.”

  “Good point. When I went out with Rose, she just called me Ray and it wasn’t an issue.”

  “What if I called you Grandma Ray?” Grandpa Ray wasn’t his grandma, but Rick couldn’t imagine calling his grandpa only by his first name.

  Grandpa Ray’s face went firm and the lightness of his smile was gone. “You absolutely may not call me Grandma Ray. I won’t have it!”

  “I’m sorry!” Rick hadn’t meant to say anything wrong.

  “I won’t have it,” Grandpa Ray repeated as a sly grin trickled across his face. “Not when Gamma Ray is sitting right there as a possibility!”

  “Gamma Ray!” Rick didn’t know whether to give Grandpa Ray a high five or a hug, so he did both.

  They had a wonderful time at Space Con, wandering among the booths and admiring people’s costumes. They got to hear some of the current Rogue Space writers talk about the history of the show, and Rick even got an autograph from the actors who played VerDurZal, the three-headed sage of Kendor Prime. But Rick’s favorite part was watching Gamma Ray fill up every inch of his body and share himself with the world.

  Driving home, Grandpa Ray asked, “So, how are things going with that friend of yours?”

  “Who, Jeff?”

  “Who else?”

  “He’s not my friend anymore.”

  “Oh really?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What happened?”

  Without even closing his eyes, Rick could see the Spectrum sign and the thin line of orange ember where the paper had burned. He told the story. The whole story, including going to Principal Baker with Ronnie. Jeff hadn’t shown up for school the next day, and later Rick had heard that Jeff had been suspended for a week.

  “Well, sounds like a win-win for you,” Grandpa Ray observed.

  “Huh?”

  “Not only did you get rid of a terrible friend, but it sounds like you’re making a new one.”

  He wondered if Ronnie would be his friend. Maybe Green too, and some of the other kids in Spectrum. Maybe even Melissa.

  After the car grew quiet, Grandpa Ray turned on an oldies rock station and hummed along with songs that Rick recognized but didn’t know the names of, with crashing cymbals and winding guitar solos. Neither of them spoke again until the end of the trip. Instead, they both dove deep in the caverns of their minds with distant smiles on their faces.