by Ahmet Zappa
Libby struggled to keep her balance as she was swept down the aisle. “No pushing each other! No shoving!” said Ms. Blackstone, to no avail. “Do you want me to turn this bus around and go back right now?”
Once everyone was off the bus and had listened to a lecture about bus-exiting safety, Ms. Blackstone led them down a path to a low concrete building surrounded by a high wall. The air felt different there to Libby—salty, heavy, and damp. It smelled different, too—she couldn’t quite put her finger on it—kind of pleasant and unpleasant at the same time. She couldn’t decide.
Ms. Blackstone took a deep breath and smiled. “Ah, I love the smell of the sea,” she said. “So briny and refreshing.” She turned to the class. “Okay, class,” she said. “I need you to stay right here while I sort out our tickets.” She headed to the ticket booth while the students milled about on the walkway in front of the building.
Now’s my chance to find Ava, thought Libby. Students were standing in groups, chatting. Some young male Wishlings were horsing around, pushing each other and laughing loudly. Libby scanned the crowd. Then she smiled as she spotted a short young female Wishling with a pin-straight brown bob that curved around her chin. Libby was smiling because the young female Wishling was wearing an AVA FOR PRESIDENT T-shirt.
“Hey,” said Libby, stepping up to her. “I’m Libby. You must be Ava.” She looked down at her Star Pendant, anticipating its golden glow.
But there was nothing.
The young female Wishling laughed. “I’m not Ava. I’m her campaign manager, Waverly.” She reached into her pocket. “Nice to meet you, Libby. How would you like a button?” Without waiting for an answer, she pressed a round flat object into Libby’s hand. Libby looked down. It said VOTE FOR AVA on it.
“Hi, Waverly,” Libby said. “And thanks for the button.” She had no idea what to do with it, so she shoved it into her skirt pocket, to Waverly’s obvious disappointment. “So what’s a campaign manager?”
Waverly smiled. “I help her write speeches, make posters, make sure she’s following the school’s election rules, and convince people to vote for her. I keep things running and make sure she’s focused.” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “And trust me, sometimes she needs it! Basically anything that needs to be done to help get her elected. It’s a really important job.”
“Interesting,” said Libby. She wondered who she would ask to be her campaign manager—if she ever ran for office, that is. Maybe Leona. She would be able to get lots of attention; she loved being in the spotlight….Scratch that. Leona would probably want to run for Light Leader herself!
“So where’s the candidate?” Libby asked Waverly.
“She’s in the bathroom,” said Waverly. “She should be out in a minute.” She leaned forward again. “So can we count on your vote?”
Libby laughed. “Shouldn’t I meet Ava first?” she asked.
Waverly peered at Libby, a scowl on her face. “Trust me, when you meet her, you’ll see she is the perfect person for the job.”
Mrs. Blackstone walked back to the group. “We’re all squared away,” she told them, brandishing a stack of tickets. “Now everyone walk single file through the turnstile. We’ll have a couple of minutes to explore a bit before we head to the sea lion show.”
Libby immediately perked up. Sea glions? She didn’t know glions could swim! She thought the big cats hated the water. This would be very interesting indeed.
The students were eager to get inside and began pushing again. “One at a time!” Ms. Blackstone warned. “Everyone take your turn!” She waggled a finger at them. “If there is any more pushing, I promise that this will be the very last field trip we take!”
Libby approached the turnstile with trepidation. It looked like that metal bar was going to hurt when she banged into it. But it moved down and out of her way easily and the next bar popped up behind her. She stood to the side to watch the other students go through. What a fun machine! She had never seen anything like it before.
When the allure of the turnstile had worn off, Libby realized she was in a room with glass walls. Behind those walls was a lot of water, and in the water were multicolored creatures in all shapes and sizes, swimming, floating, diving, bobbing. Libby pressed her forehead to the cool glass and stared, completely absorbed and forgetting about best friends and school elections. She had known that there would be some strange creatures on Wishworld, but this was incredible!
“But how do they breathe underwater?” she said aloud.
Aidan, who happened to be standing next to her, laughed. “You’re kidding, right? Fish have gills, dummy.”
“Of course I’m kidding!” said Libby, slapping Aidan on the back, a little too hard. So those were fish! She realized she should stop asking questions that could compromise her identity. She stared in silence at a vibrant yellow creature as it floated in the water in front of her, its mouth opening and closing, its strange little arm appendages fluttering up and down. It was weird and beautiful. Libby was so enthralled she completely forgot to make any wish observations. She probably wouldn’t even have known where to start. There were no fish on Starland. Its waters did not contain life-forms of any kind. It was also odd for her to see creatures in captivity. While she understood that it was probably educational for Wishlings to see them up close, it still made her feel sad to see wild creatures on display. On Starland all living creatures roamed free. Wishworld was getting odder by the starmin.
“Come, class, the sea lion show is about to begin,” said Ms. Blackstone. “Follow me.”
The class obediently followed their teacher out the door. Libby noted there was no pushing or shoving; apparently the threat of no more field trips had done the trick. They went down a pathway to an entrance that led into a small open-air stadium with rows of seats surrounding a pool of water with a platform in the middle. Libby found herself in the first row, sitting next to Waverly. Even though it was the Time of Letting Go, once she was seated, she discovered that it was warm in the sunlight. Libby removed her jacket.
“Cute outfit,” said Waverly appreciatively.
Libby smiled. She and Lady Stella had done a good job.
“Hey, could you scootch over?” Waverly asked. “I want to save Ava a seat.”
“Good idea,” said Libby. She wasn’t quite sure what “scootching” was, but she moved over so there was room between them. Waverly looked satisfied, so Libby assumed she had done the correct thing.
While Libby waited, she stared at the platform, waiting for the glions to appear. Glions were sweet and gentle large creatures with multicolored shimmering manes of hair around their faces and long, tufted tails. Then she thought she saw, out of the corner of her eye, something moving quickly through the water right in front of her, and started. She peered into the water but didn’t see anything. Must have been her imagination.
Waverly searched the crowd. The young female Wishling who had been singing on the school bus stood in the aisle, looking for a seat. “Ava! Ava! Over here!” Waverly shouted, waving wildly to her.
Was Libby seeing things, or did Ava seem to hesitate for a moment before she joined them? The young female Wishling shuffled past other students to squeeze in between Libby and Waverly.
“Ava, this is Libby,” said Waverly, “the new girl in class today.”
“Oh, yeah,” said Ava. “Libby Luncheon Meat!” She elbowed Libby in the side. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
“That’s me,” Libby said. She snuck a look at her Wish Pendant. Startastic! It was glowing.
Ava held up a fist and smiled at Libby expectantly. Libby stared at it. She vaguely remembered a Wishers 101 lesson during which they talked about the strange custom many Wishlings followed of shaking hands. So Libby grabbed Ava’s fist and shook it. It felt awkward, and Ava confirmed that by laughing.
“Very formal!” she said. “Pleased to meet you, madam!”
Libby realized she had made a mistake. She made a quick note.
Miss
ion 2, Wishworld Observation #3: Figure out mysterious Wishling greeting involving raised fists.
“So do we have your vote?” Waverly asked excitedly.
“Give her a break, Waverly,” Ava said, crossing her arms tightly. “We’re on a class trip, for goodness’ sake.”
The two girls gave each other pointed looks.
“Is something wrong?” asked Libby. Her pulse quickened. Maybe that was a clue.
“Nothing’s wrong!” said Waverly quickly. “Why would you say that? The campaign is going great!” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you from the school newspaper?”
Ava laughed. She put her hands to the sides of her mouth. “Extra! Extra! Read all about it,” she called. “Breaking election news!”
“Excuse me,” said a classmate, and they stood to let her pass by. Libby took the opportunity to turn to Ava. “So nothing’s wrong?” she asked softly.
Ava glanced quickly at Waverly, who was looking the other way. “Nothing’s wrong, really,” she said to Libby. “Well…actually…I mean…” Her voice trailed off.
“Tell me,” said Libby, leaning forward eagerly.
“Well, actually, if you want to know, I was just thinking that I wish I could win…”
“Hello, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and welcome to Applewood Aquarium!” a voice boomed.
Ava snapped to attention, her unfinished wish dangling in the air in front of Libby.
But Libby grinned. You just wish you could win the class election, she thought, finishing Ava’s sentence. The election was two days away. She snuck a look at her Countdown Clock. Forty-eight hours to go. That was two days exactly! That sealed the deal. Libby sat back in her seat with a smile on her face. The pendant had been glowing. She had figured out the wish. Now she just had to figure out how she was going to help make it come true.
But that would have to wait. Right now Libby was going to enjoy the sea glion show.
“Please put your hands together for Trainer Amy, and Felix and Oscar, our trained sea lions!” Libby and the rest of the students cheered and applauded.
An adult female Wishling in a monogrammed turquoise shirt, with a bucket in her hand and a whistle around her neck, ran out onto the platform. She blew the whistle and the strangest thing happened. Before Libby’s astounded eyes, two sleek, dark creatures jumped out of the water and sailed through the air past each other before diving back in, hardly making a splash.
“My stars!” Libby cried. “What was that? Some kind of fish?”
Waverly gave her a look. “This is a sea lion show. What do you think they are?”
“Oh,” said Libby, still confused. She sat back and took it all in. It turned out that Felix and Oscar were California sea lions, a type of marine mammal related to other creatures called seals and walruses. (That seemed to make sense to everyone else, so Libby nodded along with the crowd.) They were smart, they were great swimmers, and they loved to eat fish. In fact, Trainer Amy had a bucketful for them. The sea lions could each eat thirty-five pounds of fish a day. This was a little tough for Libby to hear, as she had been introduced to fish just moments before and was quite charmed by them. Plus, all living creatures on Starland—Starlings and animals alike—were vegetarians, so she had never seen a carnivore before in her life. She looked away as the adorable sea lions wolfed down fish after fish. The audience learned that the seals were actually furry, even though they looked rubbery. They had excellent senses of hearing and smell and special reflecting eyes that helped them see better in the dark ocean. They had a layer of blubber under their skin to keep them warm in the cold water. They could dive up to six hundred feet and spend ten to twenty minutes underwater without needing to take a breath.
And the things they could do! The tricks amazed Libby. She watched as they jumped out of the water with ease and did somersaults in the air. Libby clapped with delight as Oscar balanced a large striped ball on his nose, then tossed it over to Felix, who caught it effortlessly and jumped into the water and started swimming, never dropping it. They could stand on their front flippers and bend their tails to touch their noses. They leapt through a series of hoops, then jumped out of the water, slid neatly across the platform, and climbed up to their perches. Libby cheered along with the crowd. Oscar clapped along to the music as Felix swam quickly around the pool; then Oscar dove in to join him in matching double backflips to end the show.
Splash! Everyone in the first two rows got sprayed in the face. Libby groaned along with the others and grimaced. But truthfully, she was kind of delighted.
Once they had slowly made their way out of the stadium, Ms. Blackstone led them to the next stop on their tour—the penguin house. As soon as Libby pushed open the door, she was momentarily stunned by the smell. The warm, moist, stinky air made her eyes water. “Leaping starberries,” she muttered to herself. “That’s nasty!” As she made her way to the front of the dark room, she found herself face-to-face with another glass wall. When she saw what was behind the glass, she forgot about the stench. For in front of her were the funniest creatures she had ever seen in her life—black and white with pointy beaks, beady eyes, and stubby wings that they held out from their sides as they moved around on the rocks above a pool of water. She watched with delight as they waddled and hopped, ungainly as could be. Waddle waddle waddle waddle. HOP. Waddle waddle waddle waddle. HOP. It made Libby laugh out loud. And then, with one movement, they suddenly transformed themselves from awkward to awesome. They dove into the water and began to zoom around with seemingly reckless speed, yet they never bumped into each other. She found herself switching her attention back and forth between the adorably ungainly penguins on the top half of the exhibit and the graceful swimmers on the bottom. She felt as if she could have stood in the dark exhibit watching those creatures all day. “Aren’t they amazing?” she said to the student who had been standing next to her. No answer. He was gone. Blinking slowly, she looked around. The room was empty. The class had left the building without her.
Where did they go? Libby tried to stay calm. She ran into another building and looked around. But they weren’t in the jellyfish room (another place Libby could have stayed all day, watching the creatures’ slowly waving tentacles and the hypnotic movement of their glowing undulating bodies). She was momentarily distracted by a tank full of almost impossibly cute creatures (the sign said they were sea horses, but Libby thought they should be called galliope-fish), but then she began to search again in earnest. There was no time to linger. She was lost.
Finally, to Libby’s immense relief, an adult female Wishling, wearing a turquoise shirt and a whistle around her neck, approached her. It was Trainer Amy. “You look lost,” she told Libby. “You’re part of that school tour, aren’t you?”
Libby nodded.
“Your class is at the touch tank,” Trainer Amy said. “I’ll take you there.” With a sigh of relief, Libby followed obediently behind her. But Trainer Amy stopped for a moment. “Do you smell vanilla cupcakes?” she asked, sniffing the air. Libby smiled and shrugged.
Libby was happy to find her class (and a little put off that no one seemed to have missed her), but she forgot everything as soon as she saw the touch tank. As its name said, it was a large low aquarium filled with sea creatures you could actually touch. Libby rolled up her sleeves and wiggled her way between two students until she had some space at the edge of the tank. She plunged her hands into the water. Luckily, there was a guide who explained what everything was, because it was new to Libby. There were prehistoric-looking horseshoe crabs, shy hermit crabs, slippery sea slugs, bumpy sea stars in all sizes, sand dollars, mussels, spiny sea urchins, small sharks, and flat stingrays with mouths like suction hoses that glided through the water, flapping their soft wings. Once again she wished she could stay all day.
After Mrs. Blackstone made sure that everyone cleaned their hands (by rubbing in some stinky gel, not passing their hands under a warm light as they did at home), they had a quick lunch in the cafeteria and then boarded
the bus back to school. On the plus side, Libby had ordered something called a grilled cheese on rye and rather enjoyed it. On the minus side, she had just missed grabbing a seat next to Ava at lunch. She was hoping to sit next to her on the ride home, but to her dismay, Waverly beat her to it. Waverly was deep in conversation with Ava, who was listening with a slightly distracted look on her face. Libby chose a seat near the front of the bus and sat down. A cute young male Wishling sat next to her, his sandy brown hair falling into his eyes, and she smiled at him. As soon as the doors folded shut, the skies opened up and it began to pour. Libby was shocked to see rivulets of water run down the windows; apparently, Wishling vehicles did not have the same dry-surround protection that they had on Starland. She was intrigued by the window cleaners and watched them intently. Soon the slish-slosh of the rain and the steady whoosh, whoosh as the wipers went back and forth combined to make her feel very, very sleepy.
What a great first day! she thought. I found my Wisher and figured out the wish right away. I’m pretty sure I can help make it come true. And the aquarium was amazing.
Her last thought before she drifted off to sleep was Mission 2, Wishworld Observation #4: Don’t leave Wishworld without seeing some penguins.
Libby awoke with a start as the bus pulled to a stop. It took her a moment to remember where she was and what was going on (school bus, Wishworld, wish fulfillment).
“Nice nap?” said the young male Wishling as he stood up.
Libby nodded. She felt very refreshed, actually.
After she and her classmates got off the bus and headed to their classroom, they had to scramble to get their bags packed up before the final bell. It was time to go home. Libby, of course, had no place to go home to, so she was up for anything—hopefully something election related.
“Here you go,” said Ms. Blackstone, walking over to Libby’s desk and handing her a thick book. “Everyone, your math homework for tonight is section three, pages fifteen through seventeen.”
