by Steve Cotler
“Well, I’m just your advisor. It’s not up to me. What do you all think?” Mrs. DeWitt asked.
I could tell Mrs. DeWitt loved Goon’s suggestion. She was smiling so broadly I thought her face might split apart. (Not really … but in cartoons that could happen. And then her chin would fall to the floor!)
“I adore Harry Potter,” Diana said.
“Super good idea,” Bobby Pinkerton echoed.
I looked around the room. Every kid was nodding. The cameraman videoed them all. They looked like a bunch of bobbleheads.
“Well,” Mrs. DeWitt said, “since you all agree, I think I have a way to make June’s terrific idea even better. I have a special copy of that book which I think would be a much better inclusion.”
“Lots of people own that book,” Goon responded quickly. “What’s so special about yours?”
“It’s autographed by J. K. Rowling,” Mrs. DeWitt explained. “It’s a first edition … and quite valuable. If you like, I’ll bring it in tomorrow.”
Goon didn’t say anything, but I could tell she was upset that Mrs. DeWitt had one-upped her idea. Especially since it might get on the news.
The bell rang for our next class.
“Okay. Let’s wrap this up,” Mr. Stotts said.
Georgie raised his hand.
“The chair recognizes sixth-grade co-president Georgie Sinkoff,” I said. Since I was on camera, I thought I should sound very official.
He stood, cleared his throat, and spoke very clearly: “Mr. Chairman Cheesie, I think every kid at RLS should get a chance to be a little bit famous … you know, by their idea getting a chance to be in the time capsule. Therefore, I nominate that we should ask for suggestions from all the kids in our school.”
It was an excellent idea. “Your nomination is approved,” I said, smacking the gavel on the table. (Dad told me later I should’ve called for a vote.)
“I’ll ask Mrs. Collins in the office to send a notice to every class,” Mrs. DeWitt said.
“This meeting of the Time Capsule Committee is adjourned.” I slammed the gavel down again, but this time it slipped out of my hand, flew up, and bounced off the video camera.
Nothing broke … but everyone broke up laughing.
Even the news crew.
And especially Goon.
You might think I would have to give Goon points, but you can’t lose in the Point Battle when you embarrass yourself.
I laughed harder than anyone.
I wouldn’t even mind if it got on television.
Georgie insisted I eat dinner at his house that evening. I have done that millions of times, always with just him and his dad. But this time, with everyone there for the upcoming wedding, I think he wanted someone his own age to hang with.
It was kind of fun at first. Georgie’s three brothers told lots of goofy stories from when they were kids. Then Fed’s girlfriend asked Ms. D about her first date with Georgie’s dad.
“Was it romantic?” Ava inquired.
Georgie elbowed me, then silently and secretly pretend-puked.
“It was very special,” Mr. Sinkoff said with a sly smile. “I took her to a fancy restaurant.”
“It was a burger joint,” Ms. D explained.
“I was trying to make a good impression,” Mr. Sinkoff continued, “but when I took the first bite of my hamburger, ketchup squirted out in two directions. One glob hit me on the cheek, and the other landed on the table in between us.”
“How awful!” Ava blurted.
“Not really,” Ms. D explained. “I didn’t want him to be embarrassed, so I immediately stuck my finger into the ketchup on the table”—she dipped her finger into some spaghetti sauce on her plate—“and did this.” She dabbed the red sauce onto her cheek.
Georgie immediately stuck a finger into the sauce on his plate and copied her. “I don’t want you to be embarrassed!” he said.
“Me neither!” I echoed, dabbing sauce on my own cheek.
“And me!” Georgie’s oldest brother, Jokie, shouted, saucing himself as well.
It was like follow-the-leader. In seconds, there were lots more sauce-smeared cheeks all around the table. Then Marlon, who had been hiding his pregnant cat on his lap, lifted her into plain sight and dabbed her cheek.
“Now I am embarrassed,” Georgie’s dad said.
After that, things calmed down and the conversation switched to stuff about the wedding: where to put the flowers, who’s in charge of music … you know, important for grown-ups, but maximum boring for me and Georgie.
“I’ll clear the table,” Georgie volunteered.
“Me too,” I said.
We jumped up and carried dishes into the kitchen.
“You know what bothers me?” Georgie asked, as he dumped the knives and forks into the sink.
“What?” I responded.
“Joy is the maid of honor. Okay. I get that. But …”
Joy is Ms. D’s daughter. She missed tonight’s dinner because she’s a high school volleyball and basketball star. She had a game. Her picture is in our newspaper’s sports section all the time.
“… Jokie gets to be the best man. And Fed and Marlon are ushers, but I don’t get to be anything,” Georgie said. “What’s that all about?”
“I’m in charge of the guest book. You can help me,” I offered.
“Big deal,” Georgie muttered. “I’m the youngest. I know that. But my brothers don’t even live here.”
I didn’t know what to say. Just then Ms. D and Mr. Sinkoff came into the kitchen with armloads of dishes.
“Ask them,” I whispered, jabbing Georgie in the side (not too hard) with a serving spoon.
Sometimes you need a friend to poke you a little.
He asked.
“Of course you have a special place in the wedding,” Ms. D said. “You’re the ring bearer.” She turned to Mr. Sinkoff. “Didn’t you tell him?”
Georgie’s father shrugged. “I guess I forgot.” He set down his dishes and looked straight at Georgie. “I’ve been pretty scatterbrained about things recently. But that doesn’t mean I think your role is insignificant. That ring is valuable, and it’s also very important. We can’t get married without it. Once you have it in your hands, everything depends on you.” He patted Georgie’s shoulder. “Being ring bearer is a position of trust.”
Ms. Dagreed. “You’ll keep the wedding ring in your pocket all through the ceremony. Then you’ll … Oh, you know what happens then.” She gave him a hug and went back to the dining room with Mr. Sinkoff.
I could tell Georgie was happy. He mumbled, “Cool,” and then hummed while he put stuff into the dishwasher.
The next morning, time capsule handouts were distributed to every homeroom, and by the end of school there were dozens of suggestions from lots of kids. (Most were goofy!)
The committee met briefly in the library to pick out the best ideas, and since some of the things we selected were not available at our school, Mrs. DeWitt suggested we split the final list in half and divide into two groups of four and go around town to pick up the articles. Before I could decide who was in each group (I was really getting into being a chairperson, so I figured I had that authority), Goon stated loudly, “I’m on Georgie’s team.”
My sister is very sneaky. She knew I would hate being in a group with her, so that meant I couldn’t be with my best friend. That’s why the teams ended up: Cheesie/Lana/Bobby/Diana and Georgie/Oddny/Eddie/Goon.
“You love this. You get to be with Lana,” Goon said smirkishly, smirkily, smirkingly with a smirk. I was a little bit embarrassed, so I gave Goon four points. 741–706.
Mrs. DeWitt’s final instructions were, “Collect all the items and bring them to the museum before five. Mr. Hernandes has acquired a special watertight box. He’ll catalog the items and pack everything up over the weekend, and on Monday, he’ll give the box to the construction company. We’ll have a ceremony, and then later they’ll bury it secretly when they pour t
he foundation.”
“Why secretly?” I asked.
“You wouldn’t want somebody digging it up around twenty or sixty years from now and ruining the surprise, right?”
I nodded. Lana was right next to me, nodding, too.
Mrs. DeWitt continued, “Mr. Hernandes will also put an envelope into the museum files to be opened in exactly one hundred years. Inside the envelope will be a key to the box and a map showing precisely where the time capsule was buried.”
Mrs. DeWitt was so excited she clapped her hands once. I couldn’t help it … I did, too.
“And here’s my special book, Cheesie.” Mrs. DeWitt lifted her autographed Harry Potter book out of a paper bag and showed it to me. It looked brand new … like it had never been read. She showed me J. K. Rowling’s signature, then carefully put the book back in the bag. “Do not—I repeat, do not—let this book out of your sight. It is very valuable.”
“No problem, Mrs. DeWitt. I will guard it with my life!” I stashed the bag in my backpack, stood like a soldier with a super-fierce expression on my face, and then saluted.
She laughed. “I feel confident you will not let me down.”
The two teams took off in opposite directions. My group went downtown. Georgie’s went to the harbor. We texted progress reports to each other every few minutes. Since I wasn’t with Georgie, here’s his own report.
*
Hi! Georgie Sinkoff here again.
I can’t believe Cheesie is letting me write in his book again, because of how I trashed him (HA!) last time, but anyway, here goes.
My team was:
Me = cool.
Oddny = cool.
Eddie = cool.
Goon = problem.
Most of the items on our list were a cinch to get, but our lobster thing was a giant headache. It was supposed to be something that showed how lobstering is a big deal in Gloucester.
So Eddie said, “We could take a picture of a bunch of lobster pots.”
But I said, “Nah. That’ll just look like a giant pile of boxes. What if we all stand in front of the pots, holding up a live lobster?”
Eddie said, “I’ll do it.”
Oddny said, “Me too.” She then told us how, because her dad’s a fish scientist, one time she was in a fish packing plant and stuck her arm up to the elbow (!) in a huge tub of fish guts.
I’d do it if you dared me!
But Goon refused to touch a lobster. I knew she’s a vegetarian, so I held one up right next to her face and said, “Just hold it. No one’s asking you to take a bite.”
But she refused. Finally, we just took this picture.
Okay. That’s what happened. And this time I didn’t goof on Cheesie. (HA!)
Back to you, Cheesemeister.
*
On the other side of town, Team Cheesie was very efficient. Diana, Bobby, Lana, and I picked up everything on our list without any major delays. Even so, when we got to the museum, the door was locked.
Bobby pointed to the sign on the door and said, “Closed at four-thirty.”
“Mrs. DeWitt said five,” Diana said.
I peered in the window, but all the lights were out. “Even librarians make mistakes sometimes, I guess,” I said.
“What’s going on?” Georgie shouted from down the block.
I waited until everyone was together. “We’ll take all the junk we collected back to my house. I’m sure I can get my grandfather to drive me here tomorrow before school. Georgie and June and I can carry it all.”
(I do not call her Goon in public.)
“Not me,” Goon said, texting someone about something that was obviously way more important than the time capsule. “I’ve got things to do. I’m out of here.”
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“None of your business, Runt.” She walked away.
(Goon does not play by the same name-calling rules as I do.)
Georgie and I took all the plastic bags and envelopes with the time capsule items, said “See ya tomorrow!” to the others, and started walking toward home.
“Wait up!” Oddny shouted.
I turned around. She and Lana were whispering. Lana nodded.
“We’ll walk with you a ways!” Oddny shouted. Then they ran to catch up.
I don’t want you to get all weird about me and Lana. Just because I walked with her doesn’t mean I like her. I mean … I do like her. She’s smart and a fast runner and all that. But I don’t like her. Get it?
We didn’t say anything for a while. Then Oddny asked, “When they open the time capsule a hundred years from now is too far ahead to think about, but what do you think you’ll be doing in … I don’t know, pick some number of years?”
Georgie answered almost immediately. “In ten years I will be a Navy jet pilot. Or maybe Air Force.”
Oddny went next. “I’m going to double Georgie. In twenty years I’ll be thirty-one, so …” She thought for a while. “I will be a scientist like my father, and I will be married and have two kids, and I will travel all over the world studying oceans and fish.”
I didn’t want to go next, so I waited for Lana to go. She was quiet for almost two blocks.
Finally, “In forty years—I’m doubling Oddny—I’ll be fifty-one, and I’ll be living in a big city. I mean, I really like Gloucester and all that, but if I’m going to be a doctor doing research on diseases, I think I’ll work at a big hospital or university or something.”
The others turned to me.
“I’ll double Lana. So, in eighty years I’ll be ninety-one, older than my grandfather. But maybe being that old will be different then, so maybe I’ll still be having adventures and still be writing books.”
“Yeah,” Georgie said, “the title will be Cheesie Mack Is Getting New False Teeth.”
Everyone laughed. A few blocks farther, the girls waved goodbye, and we separated.
It’s fun to think about the future. If you want to tell me what you’re going to be doing in the future, I have a page on my website for that.
When Georgie and I got to my house, we went to my room, shoved Deeb off my bed, and emptied all the time capsule items onto it.
“This is a lot of stuff,” Georgie said. “I wonder if it’ll all fit.”
I looked at everything all spread out. “And we’ll have a few more things from school … like the yearbook.”
“And some photos we have to print out.” Georgie told me about Goon and the lobsters.
I laughed. Then I got an idea. “I know how to check if it’ll all fit. Follow me.”
With Deeb right behind, we ran down the stairs to our basement. Georgie stood watching while I rummaged around until I found a cardboard box that looked right.
“This is about the size Mrs. DeWitt told me. C’mon!”
We ran back upstairs.
Surprise!
Goon was in my room, facing away from me, leaning over my bed.
“What are you doing in here?” I shouted. “Get out!”
There was a flash of light. Goon turned around. Her phone was in her hand. Without a word, she pushed past me and walked out. Then I heard her door slam … and lock.
“What was she taking a picture of?” Georgie asked.
We examined all the stuff on my bed. Only one item looked different. Mrs. DeWitt’s Harry Potter book was out of its bag, lying open to J. K. Rowling’s signature.
“I don’t get it,” Georgie muttered.
“I do,” I said, closing my door. “She’s jealous. Her copy doesn’t have a famous signature.”
“Yeah, probably …,” Georgie said, grabbing the cardboard box from me. “I am very excellent at packing. I bet you anything that I can get everything into this box.”
I didn’t bet him. He’s really good at things like that.
“Let’s have dinner at my house,” Georgie said as he placed the last item in the box … with room to spare. “I wanna see if Squirrel has had her puppies yet.”
I yelled to
Granpa where I’d be and scooted out the back door. I was a few steps behind Georgie (Deeb was way ahead), but I am totally faster than he is, so I caught up to him just as we got to the won’t-close gate that separates our backyards. Deeb stayed in my yard (like she’s supposed to) as Georgie and I jammed through the gate at the same time, hopped over the creek without getting a bit wet, and raced across the grass to his back door. I won by two steps.
We didn’t make it past the kitchen.
“Perfect,” Ms. D said, sticking her arm across the doorway to keep us from leaving the kitchen. “You are just in time to try on your wedding outfits.”
She pointed to two big plastic bags on hangers hung on cabinet handles. I could see black clothes and a white shirt inside the bags. From outside the kitchen we could hear music, laughter, and lots of talking.
“We’re too busy right now,” Georgie said. “There’s a ton of homework.”
That was sort of a lie. All we had was one set of math problems (fifteen minutes, max) and a short story to read for Core (another twenty minutes, max-max).
Ms. D didn’t budge. “None of that baloney, mister. This’ll take no time at all. Try them on.”
Jokie and Charlotte came through the door past Ms. D. The music and chatter got much louder with the door open. They picked up some chips and dip and went back out. Charlotte ruffled Georgie’s hair as she passed. The door closed, and the noise lessened.
“Yeah, okay,” Georgie muttered. “But I’m not going to try them on here and have my brothers and their friends all goof on me. We’ll change at Cheesie’s. Then we’ll come back and show you. But first, has Squirrel had her babies and can we go look at her?”
Ms. D smiled. “The answers are no and yes. Then come right back and let me see you in these clothes. I’ve got a million things to do before the wedding, and you guys are numbers one and two on my list.”
Then she ruffled the hair on both our heads. (You have probably noticed adults love to do that to kids.)
The living room was packed with a crowd of brothers, wives, girlfriends, and buddies. Georgie’s brothers grew up in Gloucester, but they now live in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, so I guess when they come back here, they want to see their childhood friends. I know I would … if I ever moved away from Gloucester.
