Cody and the Fountain of Happiness

by Tricia Springstubb

  “There are some things I’d like to show you,” she said.

  “All right,” said Payton.

  In the bathroom, Cody held up Wyatt’s anti-pimple soap.

  “He uses this every day. He is very clean.”

  Payton’s mouth did a funny little twisty thing. Next, Cody showed her Wyatt’s exercise bar.

  “He works out every day. Ask him to show you his muscles.”

  Next stop on the Tour of Wyatt was the computer.

  “He sits here for hours each day,” said Cody. “You may not have noticed, but he is a genius. If you want someone to help you get an A+ in science, Wyatt is your man.”

  Payton sat down in the chair and twirled it around. Apricot and cinnamon perfume spun out on the air.

  “Your brother seems nice,” said Payton. “Too bad he’s so shy. Everybody calls him Quiet Wyatt.”

  “Quiet!” said Cody. “He’s not the least bit quiet! He’ll talk your head off if you let him.”

  “One thing I so hate is a show-off,” said Payton.

  “Show-off!” said Cody. “The last thing he is is a show-off!”

  “I like in the middle. Not too shy, not too conceited,” said Payton.

  “The middle!” said Cody. “That’s exactly where Wyatt is!”

  Now she had to sit down, too. Convincing someone to fall in love really took it out of you.

  When Wyatt got home later, Payton gave him a big smile. Wyatt got very interested in his shoes.

  “We so had a great day,” she told him.

  “Okay,” he told his shoes.

  “Your little sister’s like the world’s funniest and cutest. She adores you?”

  “Huh.”

  “Well, I better get going.”

  Out of conversation, Wyatt just nodded.

  When Payton was gone, he opened the fridge and stared into it so long you could practically watch his hair grow.

  Cody wiggled her toes. If you did this just right, the dolphin on the ring looked like it was swimming.

  “Payton is interested in you,” she said.

  Wyatt spun around. His face wore the same naked-baby-bird look as Spencer’s when he took off his glasses.

  “She didn’t say that,” he said. “She said that?”

  He started to put her in a headlock. But then he changed his mind. Instead, he poured them both tall glasses of chocolate moo-juice. And even though it wasn’t quite exactly perfectly five o’clock, he let Cody play My Darling Pets on the computer.

  You might think, What a nice way to end the day. And you would be right.

  Except it was not the end of the day.

  By the time Mom came home, Wyatt and Cody had already eaten half the mac and cheese they’d made to surprise her.

  “What a day!” she said. “First inventory. Then a most embarrassing incident.”

  “Poor Mom.” Cody patted her arm. “Did you fart? Or bump into a display like I did last time I came to work with you, and all those running shoes fell down like a shoe blizzard?”

  “No,” said Mom. “Not that.” She opened her work binder. “This.”

  She held up the note Cody had made that morning. There was the big red circle, with the words CRABBY CUSTOMRS and MEAN OLD WHIM-WHAM MR. O. in the middle. And there was the fat slash through it all. It looked so professional, Cody felt a surge of pride.

  “You found it!” she said.

  “No,” said Mom. “Mr. O’Becker found it when he was checking my binder.”

  “Oh.” Cody felt herself shrinking. Shrink-shrink-shrink, till she was mouse size. “That was not the plan,” she squeaked.

  Wyatt took the note and busted out laughing.

  “OMG,” he said. “This is excelente!”

  “I’m glad someone thinks it’s funny,” said Mom.

  But then the corners of her mouth curved upward. She pulled them back down, but sproing!

  “His face!” Mom said. “You should have seen the man’s face!”

  And then she started laughing, too. She leaned back and laughed till her arms got all dangly. Cody hated to be left out, so she did some fake laughing, which is even harder than fake crying. But then Mom pulled herself together.

  “Lucky for you, Cody Louise, Mr. O. has children and grandchildren. He was upset at first, but he got over it. I think.”

  “I was trying to help,” said Cody.

  “I know.” Mom put a scoop of mac and cheese on her plate. By now it was all gluey, but Mom ate it anyway. “From now on, promise me you’ll think things through before you act.”

  “You mean like Spencer? He thinks and thinks till you want to bop him one!”

  “I’m not talking about Spencer. I’m talking about you.” Mom held up her fork like a pointer. “I know you meant well. But it’s possible to do the wrong thing for the right reason.”

  That made Cody’s brain sputter. What was Mom talking about?

  But Mom’s fork was still in the air. “Do you promise?”

  In this life, some questions are not questions. And the answer to them is always “Okay.”

  Payton Underwood was a love magnet.

  When Cody opened the cat carrier, MewMew trotted straight to her and licked her hand. When Payton sat down, the cat curled up in her lap. Payton rubbed her monogram, and she purred like a miniature lawn mower.

  “Usually she’s a shy scaredy-cat,” said Spencer. “Like me.”

  Payton tilted her head. “Scaredy-cat?” she said. “You? You look way brave to me.”

  Boom.He was in love, too.

  When it was time to go inside for lunch, MewMew was sound asleep under the maple tree.

  “Should we bring her in?” asked Payton. “She looks so peaceful, I hate to disturb her.”

  “No need,” said Cody. “She won’t go anywhere.”

  “She’s hypnotized,” said Spencer. “We did it.”

  “Really?” said Payton. “You’re just one surprise after another!”

  Spencer gazed up at her with swoony, love-struck eyes. It was enough to make you lose your appetite, except that Payton fixed peanut-butter-and-marshmallow sandwiches.

  Cody checked on MewMew every few minutes. On and on that cat snoozed. A butterfly landed on her and fluttered its wings. That is butterfly for “What a large and furry rock!”

  When Spencer and Cody went back outside, MewMew stood up, stretched, and sat on Cody’s foot.

  “She’s hypnotized, all right,” said Spencer in a voice of joy.

  Payton brought them Popsicles. Her phone sang its little song, the way it did every two minutes.

  “Yo, Michael,” she said, flipping her hair.

  Pause. Hair flip.

  “Oh, right? Like I believe that?”

  Pause. Hair flip.

  “Keep talking, why don’t you?”

  Payton giggled.

  “Be quiet, why don’t you?”

  Which, if you were paying attention, was the exact opposite of what she’d just said.

  Not that it mattered.

  Worry began to nibble Cody’s insides. What if blabbermouth Michael had really big muscles instead of beginner muscles, like Wyatt? What if he used soap that smelled good instead of like old dead fish? What if Payton fell in love with him instead of Wyatt?

  Cody got so worried, she forgot all about her Popsicle till a chunk fell on her toes.

  “Follow me,” Spencer told MewMew. “I command you, O faithful cat.”

  He walked backward, and MewMew followed him. He walked sideways, and MewMew followed him.

  “You are in my power,” he said. “You will do my bidding forevermore.”

  MewMew stuck out her tongue and licked his Popsicle.

  If this were a cartoon, at that very moment a lightbulb would have flashed over Cody’s head.

  Because suddenly she knew how to make Wyatt’s dream of love come true.

  It was so simple. Why hadn’t she thought of it before?

  But wait.

  She’d prom
ised Mom that from now on, she’d think things through before she acted. And if anyone kept her promises, it was Cody.

  What could go wrong? She tried to wiggle her stuck-together toes. If the plan didn’t work, things would stay just as they were. Which would be too bad, but not a disaster. That was the worst that could happen. Right?

  Ta-da! Her toes unstuck. The dolphin on her ring leaped for joy. Cody ran to tell Spencer the plan.

  “You’re not going to make me croak whenever I hear the word frog, are you?” asked Payton. “Or scratch like a chicken every time I see corn? I saw that on YouTube.”

  “No way,” said Cody. “We take hypnotizing very seriously. Right, Spencer?”

  “Right,” he said.

  If only he’d stop taking off his glasses and putting them back on, as if he hoped that next time he looked, he’d see something different.

  What he saw was: Payton lying on the swirly bedspread on the grass. With her head on Wyatt’s pillow with its X-Men pillowcase.

  “This pillow smells like a chemistry experiment,” she said.

  Cody didn’t explain that was a combination of Wyatt’s anti-pimple soap and his own one-of-a-kind self. It was important that the subject be relaxed, with a clear and open mind.

  “Please hand over your cell phone,” said Cody. “We cannot be interrupted.”

  “Yike-ster,” said Payton. “You guys areserious.”

  “Please.” Cody turned to her assistant. “Cue the calming music.”

  Spencer turned on Wyatt’s iPod and set it beside Payton’s ear.

  “I love this song,” said Payton.

  Overhead, the leaves of the maple tree rustled softly. The scent of honeysuckle drifted on the air. Payton yawned. She slid her feet out of her sparkly flips.

  “Oh, wow,” she said, and yawned again. “I was up late last night. If I’m not careful, I’ll fall sound asleep.”

  Spencer and Cody looked at each other. It was already working!

  “You are slipping into a light trance,” Cody said softly. “Do not resist.”

  “Umm.” Payton snuggled into Wyatt’s pillow and sighed. “Oookay.”

  “We may be misusing our power,” Spencer whispered.

  “The two of them are meant for each other!” Cody whispered.

  “Maybe we should think about this some more,” Spencer whispered.

  “Too late!” Cody whispered.

  “What are you whispering about?” Payton whispered.

  “Nothing,” they whispered together.

  Next door, a sprinkler gently swished. The tiny iPod voice sang, and a bird up in the maple tree joined in. Payton made a sound like a sweet piglet rolling in mud. Cody bent closer, examining the subject. Payton was snoring!

  “I’m not sure. . . .” began Spencer, but Cody gave him the zip-lips signal. She turned off the music.

  “Payton Underwood, hark to our command,” she said. “When you wake, you will remember one thing. One thing and one thing only.”

  Payton’s eyelids fluttered. Cody pointed a your-turn finger at Spencer.

  “Umm,” he said. “Uh. Umm.” His shoulders smooshed up around his ears. “You do it,” he told Cody.

  “When you wake, you will be in love,” said Cody. “You will love someone who has loved you faithfully and truly, lo these many years.”

  Payton lay still as a statue. She was ready. Ready to receive their command!

  “When you wake,” said Cody, “you will be in love with my brother, Wyatt.”

  “Wyatt?” Payton rocketed to life. “Wyatt’s in love with me?” She said this the same way you’d say, Martians are landing on my roof right this minute?

  “Uh-oh,” said Spencer. He jumped up and backed away.

  “How can Wyatt be in love with me?” said Payton, her cheeks growing rosy. “I so hardly know him!”

  It seemed possible Payton hadn’t been in a trance after all.

  “Uh-oh,” said Spencer, louder this time.

  He began to peek under bushes. Then he disappeared inside the garage. He was trying to hide! He was pretending that this whole thing was Cody’s idea and that he’d had nothing to do with it! Some friend he turned out to be!

  “Wyatt?” Payton could not stop saying his name. “I never dreamed?”

  “Oh, well, never mind.” Cody tried to change the subject. “How about Popsicles all around?”

  “Who’d have guessed in a million years that Quiet Wyatt was in love with me?”

  A sound like a person getting swallowed by a boa constrictor made them turn. Guess who stood behind them, his eyes googling out in a not especially attractive way? Guess whose jaw hung open so you could probably see his tonsils if you went a little closer, which you definitely, absolutely would not want to do at this moment?

  Ding ding ding, you win! It was Wyatt, home from doctor camp.

  In this life, there are moments when the earth might as well open up and swallow you right down, because you are already doomed to death.

  But then that traitor Spencer said, “Uh-oh!” one more time. And his voice held such heartbreak and desperation, they all looked at him.

  “What’s wrong?” cried Payton.

  “MewMew!” said Spencer. “She’s gone!”

  Even though she was deaf, they shouted her name.

  “MewMew!” That was Wyatt.

  “MewMew, where are you?” That was Cody.

  “MewMew, come back!” That was Spencer.

  Payton said she was sorry? But she had to go home?

  “Ha,” said Wyatt after she left. “She obviously wants to get as far away from me as possible.”

  Cody waited for him to say this was all her fault. Or maybe he’d skip talking and get straight to strangling her. But instead, Wyatt kicked a rock. Then another one.

  “Who cares about Payton, anyway?” he said.

  “You,” said Cody sadly. “And I’m really, really sorry. I wanted to hypnotize her the same way we hypnotized MewMew, but . . .”

  But they hadn’t really hypnotized MewMew, either. They just thought they had. And then they’d forgotten her, and something must have scared her, and she’d run away. And who knew where she was now, frightened and confused and lost? And old and deaf and not exactly very smart?

  Cody’s insides felt crumbly. It was like she was lost, too, even though she was standing in her own backyard.

  When Wyatt hooked an arm around her neck, she braced for the headlock. But instead, he pulled her close.

  “We’ll find that gato,” he said. “I promise.”

  Magic happened. He was still Wyatt, but for a moment, he was Dad, too. Cody mashed her face against his T-shirt and held on tight.

  But then she remembered Spencer and turned around.

  He stood there, looking so miserable that she felt lost all over again. But then . . .

  “It’s your fault!” He shook his finger in her face. “You act like you know everything! But you don’t! You’re just a big fat faker!”

  His words were poison arrows flying through the air. Ouch! Ouch!

  “You don’t know how to hypnotize!” Spencer said. “You tricked me! And now MewMew’s lost! She’s in mortal danger!”

  Cody opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her voice was broken.

  “I will never be your friend again!” howled Spencer. “I wish I never met you! Never! EVER!”

  “Hey, go easy,” Dad-Wyatt said. “This is no time for fighting. We have to pull together. We need to think like that cat. Where would she go if she ran away?”

  Cody and Spencer locked eyes. Two brains, one thought. Just like that, they both began to run.

  Cody was faster than Spencer. She sped down the street. If only, if only! By the time she got to the pine tree where she’d found MewMew that very first day, Cody could hardly breathe. She threw her arms around the trunk and peered up into the branches.

  An annoyed squirrel peered down at her.

  Cheee! it said, which is squirrel for “No w
ay, José.”

  Spencer and Wyatt raced up, faces full of hope. But Cody only shook her head sadly.

  “We better tell GG,” said Spencer.

  Climbing GG’s front steps was like going up Mount Everest with hundred pound weights on your feet. GG had raised MewMew from a tiny kitten. They’d belonged to each other longer than Cody had been alive!

  GG was wearing her yellow TO LIVE IS TO DANCE T-shirt. But when she saw their faces, she didn’t look like dancing.

  “Bummer,” she said. “What happened?”

  “MewMew’s lost!” Spencer blurted out. “She ran away!”

  “Oh, no.” GG rummaged for her glasses, even though she was already wearing a pair. “Oh, dear.”

  Cody hung her head. Every poison-arrow thing that Spencer had said was true. This was all her fault.

  GG put a hand on Cody’s shoulder. She put the other one on Spencer’s shoulder. She was a GG bridge, linking them together.

  “MewMew is a scaredy-cat,” GG said. “She won’t go far. She’ll find someplace good and safe and wait till we find her.”

  Cody peeked at Spencer, but he refused to look back. Part of her thought, I don’t blame you for being mad at me. But another part thought, Who needs you, anyway, you old sniffle-puss? And that was so confusing, she decided to stop thinking for a while.

  GG said they’d hunt around here. Wyatt promised to call later. Then Cody and her brother walked home slowly, eyeballing every shrub and lawn chair and parked car. They asked one person after another if they’d seen a fat, striped cat. “No, sorry,” they all said.

  By the time they got home, Mom was there. When she heard the news, she quick-quick changed from her kitten heels to her neon-green walking shoes. Just before they fanned out over the neighborhood, who should ride up on her bike but Payton Underwood.

  “I feel so responsible?” she said. “And besides, I adore that cat. Can I help look?”

  Even though Mom, an official grown-up, stood right there, Payton looked at Wyatt. He cleared his throat several times, like he was about to make an important speech in front of an enormous crowd.

  “Sure,” he said.

  Wyatt went left, Payton went right, and Mom and Cody went in between. Cody looked up into every tree. She checked behind garbage cans and on strangers’ porches. The world is full of hiding spots. You could never imagine how many till you searched for a cat.