“I don’t understand.”
“Max came in yesterday and started watching our operation. He noticed us putting in extra components and asked why. We told him about the four-wheel drive, and he said that the cars don’t need it. He said he wants our company to start being more cost-effective, and since we’re using his money, he gets to call the shots.”
“Oh, boy,” I said.
“I argued with him for about an hour, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Maybe you could show him that it doesn’t work.”
“He doesn’t care. It makes no difference to him if we sell an inferior product. He just wants us to sell as many as we can as soon as possible. This company’s always been known for quality. If we start selling people this stuff, what happens next year when I want to start making something else?”
“Maybe you could put in the four-wheel drive and he won’t notice.”
Nelson shook his head. “He’s got a new rule. All cars have to get his approval before they go out to be sold.”
“This is bad.”
“What exactly am I supposed to do?”
We were to see much more of this as the days went on. Throughout the city, businesses that sold things now had “price scales,” where friends of Max paid less for everything, while everyone else paid top dollar for the same things. For instance, Max’s friends got to play a round of golf for five tokens, while I had to pay 10 tokens. I knew I needed to call a city council meeting to discuss a new law regarding this practice. This was discrimination or something. Even worse, the course was now called “Putt to the Max,” in honor of its new financial backer. There was a huge sign right in front of the course.
But it was at an evening film shoot that things really came to a head. I was sitting on a lawn chair just close enough to the set to observe without being in the way. Pete was getting a scene ready when Max showed up with a script in his hand. “Okay, I’ve made some changes.”
“What?” Pete said.
“I’ve just made a few small revisions on this scene. I think it works a whole lot better.” Pete took the script from Max, gave him a nervous smile, then scanned the pages. His mouth immediately turned down, then his eyes widened in horror. He seemed to calm himself, and then looked back up at Max, faking a smile.
“You know, Max … I don’t think we can do this.”
“Why not?”
“This is … um … kind of disgusting, and there’s some bad language in here.”
“Yeah, I know. I thought the character of Ginger needed some more … umph. She was too flat.”
Hearing her screen name, Valerie immediately wanted the scoop. “Wait a minute. What did you do to Ginger?” Valerie grabbed the script from Pete and started scanning it.
“Max,” Pete said, “this is supposed to be a family film. I don’t use that kind of language in my films.”
“How do you know? You’ve only made one.”
Valerie wasn’t yet done reading the page, but she was already shaking her head and saying, “I’m not saying this … I’m not doing this … I’m definitely not saying that …”
“Listen to me,” Max said. “This will make the movie seem more real. People use this kind of language in real life. You want this movie to be realistic, right?”
“Not if I have to embarrass myself and my family,” Pete said.
“Your family? What’s your family got to do with it?”
“I’ve been telling them all about how well this project is going, and they can’t wait until they get to see it for the first time. I am not going to have them come here and hear that stuff coming out of anybody’s mouth.”
“No way, Max,” Valerie added. “I’m not saying this stuff. Forget it.”
“Oh, come on, Val. I’ve heard you say stuff your momma wouldn’t be too proud of.”
“Well, I’m not putting it on film,” Pete said. “Now get outta here.”
Max smiled his evil smile. “You guys don’t get it, do you? I’m running the show here. Pete might be the director, but there’s nothing going on without me. If you don’t say what I want you to say, there’s no movie.”
“Fine. Then there’s no movie,” Valerie said. Pete snapped a look toward her.
“Wait, wait,” Pete said. “Let’s just take the script and talk about it for a second. I think we can come to some kind of agreement.”
“I think we can too. And I think we’ll do it my way.”
“But Max …”
Max gave him a stern look. “We will do it my way.”
There was a long pause. Everyone looked at Pete.
“I can’t.”
“All right,” Max snapped. “Then I guess there’s no movie.” He looked around at the cast and crew. “None of you are getting paid any more. Which pretty much means, that’s a wrap, people! Everybody can go on home!” He left quickly.
Valerie and Pete looked at each other, then Valerie rolled her eyes and packed up her makeup and left. Pete and the rest of the crew soon followed.
A day later, we held a scheduled town meeting. Thirty of 31 people showed up. There was nothing on the agenda until Max stood up to make a motion. I had no idea what he was going to suggest, and I was horrified when he finally uncovered his agenda. He wanted to officially change the name of the town to Maxboro. We had no laws regarding the name of the city, so legally he could bring it before the city and call for a vote. All he needed was a majority consensus. He stood up in front of the crowd and took the vote. All the people who owed him money raised their hands. The final vote was a reluctant 16 to 14 in favor of switching the name to Maxboro, but I could see that everyone was fed up with Max’s changes.
I was determined to put this on the agenda in the upcoming city council meeting. We had to put a stop to this, but for now, the city was officially named Maxboro.
Our church had more people in it than I had ever seen there before. It was practically the only place in Kidsboro that wasn’t run by Max, and this apparently appealed to a lot of us. I counted 15 people. I sat between Jill and Scott.
Joey had something to say today. He came out with fire in his eyes. Perhaps he had been inspired by one of his dad’s sermons. Perhaps he had read something in the Bible. But more than likely, he had seen what was happening in Kidsboro—and he wanted to say something about it.
He slapped his Bible on the front cover and immediately had us turn to Joshua chapter seven. He told the story of Achan. Joshua commanded the Israelite troops, and he sent 3,000 men out to conquer this tiny little place (with a tiny little army) called Ai. The Israelites got there, and the 3,000 men were defeated. Joshua was shocked, and so he asked God, “Why did you let this happen?” God told him that because Israel had disobeyed Him, He let their army be defeated. Joshua didn’t know what God was talking about, so he went back to his men and asked, “Who disobeyed God?” Finally, Achan confessed, saying that he had stolen some things from God.
“Can you believe this?” Joey said, and I could almost hear his father’s voice coming out of him. “An entire army was destroyed because of one man!” Joey went on, and though he didn’t use the most poetic language or organize his thoughts in the most effective way, he made an excellent point. “We have an effect on our society. Whether we know it or not, our actions affect others. We have a responsibility to live an honorable life—if not for ourselves, then for the benefit of others.” I immediately thought of the lawsuit against Nelson, a selfish act that had ended up causing the entire town to go into a tailspin. One single act.
“Amen!” I heard from behind me. Mr. Whittaker was sitting in the back row, gleaming with pride at Joey’s revelation.
Joey went on to tell the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. “Jesus had no food to offer the people, so He asked around for help from the crowd. One boy came up with just five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus took what the boy gave, and He performed a miracle, feeding all 5,000 with this little bit of food. Can you see how one small, unselfis
h, honorable act helped the whole crowd?”
Joey finished his spirited sermon, and I wanted to stand and cheer. We sang a hymn, took up an offering, and we all filed out. Before everyone left, I suggested that we get together on Monday and talk—the 15 of us, and anyone else who wanted to come. I wanted to tell them not to invite Max, but I thought that might be rude. Besides, I think that was understood.
On Monday, everyone still seemed to be energized by Joey’s sermon. We’d all had some time to think things over, and I was hoping this meeting would generate some ideas. All 15 people showed up including, surprisingly, Valerie. Before we even started the meeting, Scott came through the door. “Um …” he said with a frown, “I think there’s something we need to go see.”
The entire group filed out, and Scott led us to the out skirts of the town. We stopped when we saw what Scott was pointing to. There, 30 feet in front of us, were Max and Jake pounding a sign into the ground that read: “Welcome to Maxboro.” Underneath, in small letters, it said, “Land of Opportunity.” My shoulders drooped. Jill’s eyes were glazed over as though she was about to cry. Scott bit his lip. Nelson looked down at the ground with his hand on the back of his neck. Alice cracked her knuckles as if in preparation to hit something. We were completely silent as we all stared at this spectacle, wondering what had become of our city.
Finally, Kirk spoke up, “I’m gonna go home.” A couple of others agreed and followed. They drifted toward their individual homes.
“Wait!” I said. They all stopped. “Hang on a second. I’ve got an idea.” I’d gotten everyone’s attention, though they didn’t look hopeful. “Why don’t we make our movie?”
Pete shook his head. “Ryan, I don’t have the money to pay anybody since I won’t go along with Max’s changes.”
“I know, but … Kirk? Valerie? What do you say? You can work for free, can’t you? Scott? The rest of you guys in the crew? I’ll help out too.” Everyone sort of stared at me blankly. “Come on, now. We need something to give us our town back.”
Scott looked around, and when no one else volunteered, he said, “All right, Pete, I’ll be your stuntman for free.”
“Thanks, Scott,” I said. “Anybody else?”
“I’ll do it,” Kirk joined in.
“Yeah, me too,” Valerie said. Soon, everyone in the cast and crew had agreed to work for free in order to finish the movie.
Pete got a sudden burst of energy and shouted, “All right!” and pumped his fist in the air.
“All right!” I repeated, and suddenly everyone forgot about going home. Instead, they went straight to the movie set. Maybe with this one unselfish act, we could get our town back.
That first day of filming again was extraordinary, almost magical. Pete was sharp and creative, while Valerie and Kirk put more energy into their performances than I had seen up to this point. Scott was asked to swing from a tree and crash into a pile of garbage, and he didn’t even complain. When he emerged from the bags, he had a banana peel stuck to his shoulder. He laughed right along with the entire crew.
A good portion of the day was taken up filming an intense scene with Kirk, Pete, and Valerie. In it, Kirk was supposed to face off against Rock Bockner for the final time. They attempted to do the scene, but Pete started giggling for no reason at all. Then they tried again, and Pete did it again. Another take, and Pete smiled, making Kirk giggle. Soon, none of the actors could even speak a word without the cast and crew laughing uncontrollably. They did the scene 17 times before they finally got it right. But number 18 was perfect. And no one complained about numbers 1 through 17.
I was still laughing when Jill came up behind me. “I got it!” she exclaimed.
10
COMEBACK CITY OF THE YEAR
JILL PULLED ME INTO HER office and closed the door behind us. “I found the proof.” She opened a folder. “I went to Alice to see if she had any of the evidence left from the trial, and she did. This.” She held up a sheet of paper and I looked at it.
“The medical instruction sheet?”
“Right. From Dr. Yohman.”
“It looks real.”
“Sure it does. It’s on letterhead, it has a lot of long, medical-sounding words on it, and it even has what looks like an adult’s signature on it. But I know one of the secretaries at Dr. Yohman’s office, so I called her. She told me that Jake is indeed a patient of theirs, but that he didn’t come in at all on the day of the accident.”
“Really?”
“And he hasn’t been in since that day, either. But listen to this. He was in the office the day before the accident.”
“For what?”
“She couldn’t tell me that. But guess what he could’ve done while he was at the doctor’s office?”
I was catching on. “Stolen some of their stationery.”
“Exactly. Then he forged the doctor’s signature thinking that nobody would check into it.”
“Are you sure Jake never went into the doctor’s office that day?”
“Positive.”
“All right. Tell you what,” I said. “I can’t go with you, but go get Alice, then Jake. Then I think you should all pay a visit to Dr. Yohman.”
Later on, I heard about what happened, and I wished I had been there. Alice pulled Jake out of his clubhouse by his ear. Jill said he didn’t seem to be having any trouble with his ankle, which was interesting. Alice suggested handcuffs, but Jill thought that was a little over the top. So she simply pulled him by his arm to Dr. Yohman’s office, which was only a few blocks away. Jake protested, but a quick ear pull from Alice shut him up. He mumbled something about police brutality, and Jill whispered to her to take it easy on him. He was, after all, someone who liked to sue.
Jill said Jake’s eyes got wide when he discovered that their destination was Dr. Yohman’s office. He figured out pretty quickly what was going to happen next. Jill asked the secretary if they could see the doctor for a minute. Then they all sat down—one big, happy family—in the waiting room. Jake squirmed in his seat the entire time.
The doctor came out and asked what this was all about.
“Dr. Yohman,” Jill said.
“Yes?”
“Do you know Jake here?”
“Oh, yes. Hello, Jake. How are you doing?” Dr. Yohman said with a smile. Jake couldn’t seem to return the smile.
“Jake had us believe that you diagnosed his condition as pulled ligaments in his ankle. In fact, he gave us this to prove it.”
“This is not my signature.”
“It’s not?”
“That doesn’t look anything like my signature. And what is this diagnosis? This doesn’t make any sense. ‘A stretched cardiac ligament on the anterior side of the ulna bone.’ Cardiac refers to the heart, and the ulna is a bone in your arm.”
“So, you didn’t write this?”
“No. In fact, whoever did write it could be in a lot of trouble. Forging medical documents is against the law.”
“Really? Wow.”
Dr. Yohman got a call, and went back into his office. Jill looked at Jake. “So, Jake, do you have something to tell us?” Alice stepped forward and leaned down into his face, close enough to bite his nose if she’d wanted to.
Jake admitted to everything, except Max’s involvement. I think he must have been scared of what Max might do to him if he ratted on him.
Alice and Jill interrogated Max anyway. Max told them he was just the lawyer, and lawyers have to defend innocent people, guilty people, and even sometimes people who fake injury to make money. He Was “shocked” that Jake had lied to him.
Jake’s crime was bad enough to earn him immediate banishment from the city. Jake was gone, never again to be a citizen of Kidsboro, and he had no idea that I had helped do it to him. It was perfect.
However, we couldn’t lay any blame on Max. At least we’d discovered that the lawsuit was a fraud. Nelson’s money was immediately returned to him, and right away, he went to Max’s house to pay back his loan.
As he said, “I don’t want to be in debt to that snake any longer than I have to be.” The next line of cars produced by Nelson Motors had four-wheel drive, air bags, antilock brakes, and even tiny little cup holders. They were the best cars yet.
I approached Jake cautiously as he was taking his stuff out of his clubhouse. He sneered at me. “I bet you’re happy.” I didn’t answer.
“You might actually get a decent night’s rest for once, huh?” I kept my mouth shut, but he kept talking. “I wouldn’t get too comfortable, though. You know what I found out? Your dad left California. About a month ago.”
What? My dad loved California. His job was there. Why would he leave?
“Nobody knows where he went,” he chuckled. “Hey! Maybe he’s on his way to find you.” He turned away and chuckled again to himself. For a moment I had trouble breathing. What if he was trying to find us? And what if Jake had contacted him somehow?
Jake turned back around. “And don’t worry, Jim. I’ll be back.”
I decided this had gotten too serious to keep to myself anymore, so I told my mom about Jake and his news that Dad had moved from California. I was afraid she would make us pack up and leave right then, but she suggested something else instead.
We got down on our knees next to my bed and prayed together for a long time. We asked for God’s protection. We cried a little bit, but afterward I think we both felt better. We felt assured that God would take care of us, and for the first time since I’d seen Jake again, I was able to sleep peacefully.
Two weeks later, Kidsboro was back. Loans had been paid off, and the bank had plenty of reserve cash. The city council voted to create our version of a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which is a government organization that makes sure that if a bank runs out of money, the people who have their money in it don’t lose it all.
The Fight for Kidsboro Page 16
