Arcade and the Golden Travel Guide

by Rashad Jennings

  We all got up and gathered around Celeste. My jaw dropped when I read the word on the plaque.

  Forgiveness.

  And below it, just like on the other two plaques, it said Arcade Adventures.

  “What’s forgiveness got to do with a bridge?” Doug chewed the last crust of cinnamon bread.

  “Arcade, didn’t Miss Gertrude say something about building a bridge?” Zoe took out a notebook and began scribbling notes.

  “Yeah! She asked if I wanted to build a bridge. Something about restoring a relationship, but I didn’t get it. It’s not like I had a relationship with Mr. B to restore.”

  “Yeah, I thought that was weird too.”

  I dug in my pocket and retrieved the golden envelope. “If there’s a plaque, maybe there’s another clue to go with it.” I opened the envelope and pulled out another folded paper.

  Hole number twelve: To truly live, you must forgive.

  I scratched my head. “Can forgiveness build a bridge? Hmmm.”

  We all just sat there for a moment, and then my phone rang. It was Dad!

  “I wonder why Dad’s calling so early. Didn’t he have to work late last night?”

  Zoe shrugged. “You better answer it.”

  I pushed myself away from the table and ran into the living room. I flopped onto the couch. Zoe joined me. I put it on speaker.

  “Hey, Dad! How come you’re up?” My heart thumped and thumped in my chest.

  “I had yesterday off. It sure is quiet without you and Zoe here.”

  “Isn’t Milo keeping you company with his obnoxious bawking?” Zoe pinched me on my upper arm. “Ouch!”

  “You okay, bud?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. How’s Mom?”

  “Mom’s been busy. Hey, I have to tell you something. Lenwood Badger is out of jail.”

  “Lenwood?” I tried to sound calm, even though I already knew that since he was living right down the street.

  “Yes. He’s out on bail. Mom and I are making arrangements to bring you and Zoe back here, so we can keep a better eye on you.”

  “No!”

  “What?”

  Zoe grabbed my arm. “Hey, Dad, Zoe here.”

  “Oh, hi, sweetheart.”

  “Hey, Dad. We’re totally safe here. We’ve all got each other’s backs. I’d really like to stay if possible. I mean, how can that guy know that we’re all the way in Virginia? And anyway, he was just a dumb suitcase thief.”

  “Good try, Zoe. I agree with you somewhat, but your mom won’t. Anyway, I just wanted to give you a heads-up. We’ll be in touch with Weeda and figure out the best time to fly you back here.”

  “Why don’t you guys come here?” That was a surprise coming out of my mouth.

  Zoe pinched me again.

  “OW!”

  There was silence on the other side of the phone. “Hmmmm. I’ll give that some thought. I have a little break coming up, but not sure about Mom . . .”

  “Plus, Doug really loves Virginia. We can’t mess up his vacation.”

  “I think Doug loves being anywhere you guys are. I’ll talk to Mom tonight though, and let you know what we’ve decided.”

  “Yes, sir. I do miss you and Mom.”

  “We miss you both too.”

  I hung up and Zoe sat there with her arms crossed. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Speed up the process of getting the golf course fixed?”

  Zoe held out a fist. “Let’s do it!”

  We ran back to the kitchen and shared the plan.

  “We gotta tell Jacey!” I gathered my phone and the clues, and we all grabbed water bottles for the hike. We took off out the back of Derek’s house, around the Cimarron woods, to the backyard at Miss Gertrude’s. We scribbled a “text” on a piece of paper and entered the time and date on the top.

  “This is kinda fun,” Doug said. “Communication. Old-fashioned, like.”

  I wrote the note:

  Project will take place sooner than planned. Stay tuned . . .

  I lifted the flowerpot and found a business card for a place called Darden Hoist & Crane. A note was scrawled at the top.

  David Darden is a friend of mine. He will do the job for free. Call him.

  “Dude! Check this out! Miss Gertrude is the bomb!” I showed the card around.

  “We’ll call him when we get to the bakery,” Zoe said. “Let’s go.”

  Virginia could really use a subway. These two-mile runs were wearing me out!

  The Virginia humidity wasn’t too high, so I couldn’t figure out why Derek, the basketball star, was falling behind. I held up so I could talk to him. He was looking at something on his phone screen.

  “Whatcha readin’, Derek?”

  “I’m reading about how to fix that bridge. It’s fascinating how suspension bridges work.”

  “You’re kind of an engineer type, aren’t you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  I stopped to walk a little. “You’re interested in scientific design. Physics, geometry, that kind of stuff.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. It fascinates me.”

  “I wish you could meet Scratchy, my friend in New York. He loves fixin’ things. You two would make short work of that bridge, I bet. He’d for sure have all the tools we would need.”

  “Yeah, my mom doesn’t have a lot of tools.”

  “Maybe Miss Gertrude knows a tool guy.”

  “Miss Gertrude knows everyone. And everyone loves her. Well, except for Mr. B. I wonder why he doesn’t like her?”

  “Who knows? He’s the one who’s crazy. Hey, Derek, you think you’d want to go to the library after we hit the bakery? I bet they’ll have a book on building suspension bridges.”

  Derek stopped to catch his breath. “The library’s another two miles from the bakery, Arcade. How we gonna get there?”

  “The bus? Or maybe we can help Mrs. Green on another delivery and she’ll drop us off.”

  “HEY! SLOWPOKES! YOU TRYIN’ TO DITCH US?” Celeste was now running backwards.

  Derek shoved his phone in his back pocket. “I wish you would move back here, Arcade. Life sure picked up when you came back.”

  How am I gonna tell Derek that I have to go back early?

  CHAPTER 28

  Scones and Cranes

  Hey, Jacey! I’m glad you decided to come help your mom after all.” I had texted her before we left to make sure she’d be at the bakery. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she slept in after last night’s adventure.

  She smiled. “I’m an early bird. Can’t help it.”

  “Do you have some time to . . . plan?” I looked around. There was a crowd, as usual. Jacey took off her apron and hung it on a hook on the wall. “Sure. I wasn’t really scheduled today, so Mom has plenty of help. You want some blueberry scones?”

  “Does anyone ever say no to that?” Doug asked.

  Jacey laughed. “Never.” She skipped toward the back and brought out a huge stack of scones. “Do you want to sit outside?” She took us out to some picnic tables on the side of the bakery that I had not noticed before. One happened to be open with a nice shade umbrella over it.

  “I’ve been calculating costs,” Jacey said, as we all sat down around the scones. “I think with the bakery money, we can provide the paint and hardware for the small repairs. I don’t know if we’ll have enough to rent a crane . . .”

  I slid the business card in front of her. “Miss Gertrude knows a guy who will do it for free.”

  “WHAT?”

  Whenever she does that, I jump. Can’t help it.

  “Wow—Arcade! See how God provides? This is FANTASTIC! Shall we give him a call?”

  “Hold up,” Zoe held her hands out. “First, we have to decide when we’re going to do this. And it has to be soon. Arcade and I may be returning home earlier than expected.”

  “NO! Please, NO.” Celeste crossed her arms and frowned.

  “We’re working on an extension,” I said.
“But just in case, we have to get this thing done fast.”

  Jacey’s eyes lit up. “Jackson said that Mr. B would be gone next Tuesday through Friday. Should we start on Tuesday?”

  “I don’t see any other choice.” I reached for a scone and broke it in half. “We also have to fix a bridge.”

  “A bridge?”

  Celeste pulled the picture up on her phone. “This used to be a suspension bridge. See the cables?”

  Jacey’s eyes grew wide. “Oh. That’s a mess! What do we need to fix that?”

  “I’m gonna figure that out. Arcade and I are going to the library after this.” Derek was looking more and more like an engineer than an NBA point guard lately. “But for now, I’m thinking we need some lumber and some suspension cables.”

  “Mmmmm. Sounds expensive,” Jacey took a bite of a scone and stared up at the puffy clouds. “But we’re gonna do it. It’ll all work out.”

  “I think I need to move to Virginia so I can eat at this bakery every day.” Doug shoved a whole scone in his mouth.

  Jacey laughed. “Hey, did you guys walk here? Would you like a ride to the library?”

  “Girl, you just read my mind.” Celeste rested her head on the picnic table.

  We planned for a few more minutes, and then Jacey went to go ask her mom to give us a ride to the library. She came back with an older boy. “This is my brother, Jaden. He’ll drive you to the library. And he’s going to call his best friend, Jackson, at Forest Games and Golf and find out a little more about Mr. B’s ‘vacation’ next week.”

  The young man jingled some keys and pointed to a bakery van in the parking lot. “You’ll have to pile in there. I have some cakes to deliver to an office party. I think it’s cool what you’re doing for Mr. B.”

  “Jaden also knows where we can get some wood to fix the bridge! Isn’t that great?”

  Jaden dropped us off at the library before he delivered his cakes. It was nice to revisit the Forest Public Library. The regular librarian, Mrs. Chambers, wasn’t there, but there was a guy named Patrick filling in. He took us right to the section we needed—books about suspension bridges.

  “You ever been to the Golden Gate Bridge?” Patrick asked. “Man, that’s a trip! Sometimes the thing is shrouded in fog. Good thing they painted it orange.”

  “Wait. The Golden Gate Bridge is orange? Then why do they call it the Golden Gate?”

  He plunked the books down on the table. “You can read all about it in here, my friend. But it’s best to see it in person. You’ll shake your head in disbelief.” Patrick walked away, and each of us grabbed a book and started studying.

  Derek pored over the book about how to build a suspension bridge. “This looks fairly simple. It’s not like we’re gonna have cars driving over it.”

  “Zoe and I are going to go look at some landscaping books,” Celeste said. “Maybe we can plant some flowers for Mr. B to add some color to the windmill course.”

  While we were researching, I got a call from Jacey.

  “Hey, Arcade! So, here’s the scoop. Jackson says that he overheard Mr. B booking a flight to New York next Tuesday. He’ll be out of the state! Jackson says we’ll have to do the work at night, since Forest Games and Golf doesn’t close until nine o’clock. Can you do that?”

  Work at night? What will we tell Aunt Weeda?

  “Yeah, we can do it.”

  “Great!” I could practically see Jacey’s smile through the phone. “Jackson said he could get some of the employees to help with the project. They’re tired of working at such a dump.”

  “That’s DOPE!” Goosebumps rose on my arms and legs. “I guess we are really doin’ this!”

  My Triple T Token flashed for a second and sent a warm shot through my torso.

  “Can you call the crane company?” Jacey asked. “Because that’s probably what we’d want to do first. Get that windmill out of the creek. Then we can patch and paint . . .”

  I pulled the card out of my pocket. “I’ll do it right now.”

  For some reason, when I dialed the crane company, my heart started racing and my hands got clammy.

  I guess this is really happening!

  “Yeeeeelllllow! This is Dave at Darden Hoist and Crane. How can I help you?”

  “Uh, hello. My name is Arcade. Miss Gertrude gave me your name as someone who might be able to help me pull a windmill out of a creek?”

  “Arcade! Yeah! I remember you! How’s it goin’, man? Gertrude told me your plan. It’s been a long time comin’ for those brothers. Just tell me what time and when.”

  “Ummm, okay. Hey, thanks! I really appreciate it. Looks like we’re scheduled for next Tuesday, right after they close. How about nine thirty?”

  “I gotcha down on my schedule. I’ll get in and out of there quick. Man, Forest Games and Golf. I remember when it was called Arcade Adventures. It was so much nicer back then. If only those brothers could have got along . . .”

  Brothers? Who are these brothers he keeps talking about?

  “Thank you for your . . . generosity, Mr. Darden.”

  “You can call me Dave! Say, how are your parents doin’? I went to school with Abram and Dottie, you know.”

  “No, I didn’t know that. They’re doing fine. Just busy, working their New York jobs and all.”

  “Well, you tell them I said hi, will ya? And I’ll see you next Tuesday. Nine thirty, sharp!”

  Well, that was easy! I turned to Derek, who was still studying books about bridges. “We got ourselves a crane. You think you can build a suspension bridge?”

  Derek jumped to his feet. “Positive! I’m gonna practice with some Popsicle sticks at home.”

  Doug popped him on the back. “Tell you what. I’ll eat the Popsicles for ya.”

  Derek laughed. “Couldn’t do it without you, brother.” Then he gave Doug a high-five.

  Brothers? What brothers could Dave Darden be talking about?

  We checked out ten books. They ranged in topics—everything from woodworking, painting outdoor furniture, metal repair, suspension bridge-building, and landscaping, to a couple of books about the history of the Golden Gate Bridge. Turns out it is orange! International orange, to be exact.

  “Let’s leave a note for Miss Gertrude.” Zoe slowed as we returned to Cimarron Road through the backyard of Miss Gertrude’s house. “We need to make sure she can keep an eye on Mr. B and let us know when he leaves on his trip.”

  “We’ll meet you at the house.” Celeste was getting tired and was in a hurry. Derek and Doug followed her, dragging along with their books.

  Zoe and I sat down on the back steps. She pulled a little notepad out of her pocket and began scribbling.

  “When you’re finished, I need to add something.”

  Zoe handed me the notepad. “Go ahead.”

  I wrote a simple question:

  Does Mr. B have a brother?

  Then I folded it and placed it under the flowerpot.

  Zoe gave me a funny look. “Well? Are you going to tell me what you wrote?”

  I looked around. “Yes, when we get back to the house. I feel like we need to get out of sight.”

  We ran through the trees behind the houses in the cul-de-sac.

  Zoe stopped and breathed in deep. “I love these woods. They remind me of when I was little. I never thought things would change so much.”

  “Me either. Do you like anything about our new life, Zoe?”

  We walked along, slower now. It was nice, just talking with my sister.

  “Yes. I like my high school. I’m excited about all my classes. And I love how independent I feel when I’m taking the subway.”

  I nodded. “I like that too. Anything else?”

  “Well, this doesn’t make sense, but I like discovering all the new things. It’s not comfortable, like here in Virginia, but it’s exciting. I think I grow when I’m not in my comfort zone.”

  I stopped and looked at her. “Yeah, you seem a little taller. Or maybe that’s
just your hair sticking up.”

  “You know what I mean, lame brain.” Zoe stuck her leg out to try to trip me, but I jumped over it.

  “HA! Missed me!”

  I started to run, and Zoe chased. We ran right into a cloud of gnats. Several of them ended up in my mouth.

  “Gross!” Zoe swatted and ran faster but the gnats kept swarming her head. “That’s the one thing I don’t miss about these woods! Bugs!”

  We ran faster, and the swarm lagged, but then we got tired and they caught up. “Almost there, Zoe! I’ll open the screen door and you can dive in the house!”

  We ran faster. Soon we could see Derek’s house in the distance. We almost made it, when the gnats turned to glitter.

  CHAPTER 29

  Happy Birthday, Arcade

  Zoe and I hit the ground, coughing and spitting.

  “Ugh! Glitter! Pfffft!” Zoe wiped her mouth and shook the gold stuff off her hands.

  “It’s better than gnats!” I did a little bit of sputtering myself. The Triple T Token heated up, and I pulled it out from under my shirt. “Guess we’re going somewhere uncomfortable. Prepare to grow a couple of inches.”

  We stood up and brushed dirt and glitter off our clothes. Derek’s house was sooo close, I wanted to run in and grab everyone to join us. But the doors quickly appeared, and so did that coin slot. I didn’t dare delay. I’d done that before and had been sorry.

  “I’m glad you’re here with me, Zoe. I know I tease you a lot, but I—”

  She put her hand over her mouth. “Don’t say anything nice to me right now. I want to be annoyed.”

  “You WANT to be annoyed? O . . . kay.” I reached for the token and pulled it off the chain. “So . . . are you in agreement that I should drop the token into this coin slot?”

  “DO IT ALREADY!

  Zoe’s screech startled me, and I dropped the token. It went right in. I made a parting motion with my hands, and the doors opened. Zoe stomped in.

  “NOW or LATER?”

  A new choice? This is getting even more interesting.

  But in order to keep Zoe annoyed, I had to pick something else.