“Okay.”
I gripped my empty token chain with one hand and closed my eyes.
I don’t want to go up or down. Or high or low. No more going around or back or even sideways. I just want all this to be . . .
I spied the small red light up ahead. I ran for it.
“OVER!” I hit the button as hard as I could.
I hear noises, like the doors are opening, but the fog remains. I smell sea air. Cold wind whips through my hair and chills me to the bone, even through my thick hoodie. The fog droplets coat my face. I can almost drink them.
“Brrrrr!” Zoe crowds in next to me and feels for my face. “Where have you taken us this time, Mr. Travel Guide?”
“I’m not the guide. It’s the token.”
“You’ve been the one choosing.”
“Yeah, but it’s been determining the destination.”
“That makes no sense.”
“And yet it does.”
“Arcade,” Jacey says in a little voice, “where are we?”
“I don’t know. If only this fog would clear . . .” I reach out my hand and try to bat away the moisture droplets. As I do, the cloud that’s been surrounding our heads moves. A ray of sunshine drifts in and illuminates our location.
“ARCAAAAAAAAAAAADE? Are we on a BRIDGE?” Doug is behind me.
“DOUG, listen to ME!” It’s Derek. “This is a suspension bridge, I can see the outline of the cables. We’ve been building them all week. You know it’s safe. You can RELAX.”
“It’s okay, Dougie. I’m right here by you.” Oh, good. Celeste won’t let him fall into . . .
Wait a minute? What is under us?
It doesn’t smell like sea for nothing. The sea rages below.
“Yo, Derek! You close by?”
“Yeah, Arcade, I can see you. Comin’ over now.” Derek is next to me in seconds.
“Dude,” I whisper, “I don’t want to freak Doug out, but I think we’re on the Golden Gate Bridge. Am I right?”
Derek’s face is dripping with moisture from the fog. “Yeah. I see one of the towers. It’s the Golden Gate, all right.”
I nod. “Okay, that’s cool. We’re tourists. We’ll just gather everybody together and walk to the end. There’s a nice welcome center on the San Francisco side. I read that in a library book.”
Derek keeps looking around, turning his head left, then right. My glasses are now completely fogged over, so I hope he has a clue which direction it is to San Francisco.
“Which way should we walk, Derek? You’re the bridge-master.”
All of a sudden, the air clears, and blue sky and bright sunshine cause me to squint. Derek grabs my arm and digs his fingers in.
“Uh . . . Arcade?”
“Yeah, boss. What is it?”
“I don’t think the welcome center’s open yet.”
“What do you mean, yet?”
“Well, before you can have a welcome center, you have to be ready to welcome guests.”
“Yeah, and we’re the guests!”
Derek shakes his head furiously. “Nuh-uh.”
“What do you mean, ‘Nuh-uh’? We’re here, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.”
“Arcade, we’re not crossing today. In fact, it’s probably not gonna happen for a while.”
Zoe taps my shoulder. “Arcade, take off your glasses and LOOK!”
I whip them off. My vision isn’t great, but it’s better without all the fog on the lenses. I stare up at the massive tower with the steel cables draping off both sides. Roadway extends beyond us for a few yards, but then I see . . . nothing.
“Tell me the road doesn’t end there.”
I wipe the water off my glasses with my sleeve, put them back on, and look in the opposite direction. My stomach does some major flips.
It’s the same view the other way! The road extends for a while then ends. Neither road connects with anything.
Derek puts his damp hand on my shoulder. “The reason the welcome center isn’t open is because it doesn’t exist yet. And the reason it doesn’t exist yet, is because the BRIDGE ISN’T FINISHED YET!”
This is CA-RAAAAZY.
“Arcade?” Celeste groans. “I can’t pry Doug’s fingers off this cable.”
“Hey, Doug?” I say gently, trying to take his mind off the horrors of our predicament.
“Yeah, friend. I’m h-h-ere. N-n-n-ot going anywhere.”
“Oh, good. Well, I was reading a library book about this place. The Golden Gate Bridge . . .”
“Yeah. C-c-c-california. H-h-how come it’s so c-c-cold in C-c-california?”
“Well, we’re right at the Golden Strait, on the windy, foggy coast. That’s why they call it the Golden Gate Bridge, you know. Heh-heh. Has nothing to do with the color.”
“Y-yeah. C-c-cool.”
“And since we’re here while they’re still building the bridge, it’s important for you to know that they’ve installed a safety net right below us. I read about that. So, no worries, right, friend?”
I look over at Doug’s stiff frame, grasping the steel. He relaxes for an instant, and Celeste succeeds in prying his fingers off the cable.
“Shake your hands out, bud,” she says, “before they cramp.”
Doug shakes and takes a deep breath in, then out.
Okay, token. We’ve seen California. You can take us home now.
“ARCADE LIVINGSTON! GIVE ME THE TOKEN!”
A man emerges from the fog on one side of the ramp. A Badger brother.
Which one are you?
I hold my hands out. “I DON’T HAVE IT! I PUT IT IN THE COIN SLOT!” I hold up the empty chain, and it flashes a light beam in his direction, knocking him off his feet.
“THE TOKEN IS MINE!” The other Badger brother emerges from the fog, passing the one still on his back on the ground. “It will return, Arcade. And then, you will HAND IT OVER TO ME.”
Zoe grabs my hood from behind. “Run, Arcade! I have your back!”
“Yeah! We GOT YOU!” Derek and Celeste jump between me and the Badgers.
I turn and run. Knowing there is no way over this bridge.
Feet stomp behind me and my friends scream, “GO ARCADE! GET OUTTA HERE! WE’LL KEEP THEM BACK.”
A fog bank blows in, covering the path in front of me.
How much longer can I run? And then what?
My glasses fog over again, and I wipe them with my sleeve.
Lord, I need help! Show me a way out of here! Show me a way over this bridge!
And then the cloud moves, and sunlight once again clears the view. It’s an amazing sight. Blue sky, blue water, brown hills . . .
I just wish there was a gray road ahead. But there is that net . . .
I look up and spy a cable that isn’t attached to the road yet. I’m coming to the last few steps before the road ends. I turn my head and see all my friends running just a few steps behind me. Behind my friends, another cloud has moved in. I can’t see the Badger brothers anywhere.
“Derek!” I yell, closing in on the end. “We’re going to jump, grab that cable, and drop into the net.”
“NO!” Everyone yells at once.
“Okay, then, any other ideas?”
And right then, an electric shock flows through my body. It feels like getting hit by lightning—well, maybe. Zoe points to my chest, where the Triple T Token has landed back on the chain.
“Let’s get outta here!” She holds out her hands to catch the fog, which has turned into glitter.
Huge elevator doors, in international orange, rise at the end of the roadway.
Much better than swinging from a suspension cable!
Now the coin slot rises up right at the end of the road too. I pull the token off the chain . . . and someone grabs it from my hand!
“I TOLD YOU, IT’S MINE!”
This Badger brother tilts his head back and lets out an evil laugh. It’s the same laugh I hear sometimes when I go through the doors.
“NO, IT’
S MINE!” The other brother tackles him right on the edge of the roadway. One wrong move and both of them will tumble off the bridge. With the token.
“YOU DON’T DESERVE IT! YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO HAVE IT!”
“YES . . . I . . . WAS!”
It’s a full-on wrestling match now. The doors are fading, and the coin slot is blinking like it’s going to short out.
And then I remember what the old lady at the library told me, weeks ago, when she first put the chain with the Triple T Token around my neck:
“You’re name’s Arcade? Then this is for you.”
Yes. It is for me. My name’s on the back!
My heart pumps, and I clench my fists. I step forward, take a deep breath, and jump right into the middle of the wrestling match.
“Arcade, DON’T!” Zoe reaches forward to grab me.
But she doesn’t have to join the fight, because the token jumps right back into my hand!
“HEY! GIVE THAT BACK!” One of the brothers stands and tries to take the token. The other jumps up and pushes him toward the edge. He falls, grabs his brother’s leg, and they both tumble out of sight and into the fog!
“OH, NO!” Jacey covers her mouth.
I can’t see a thing through my wet glasses, except the pulsing coin slot, blinking even more now and beginning to fade away.
“I need to put the token in before it’s too late!” I throw the token in. Then I put my palms together and pull them apart. The doors open, but the entrance to the elevator is a short leap out from the roadway.
Oh. No.
“Come on, Dougie! You can do this!” Celeste grabs Doug’s hand.
Lord, help him over!
Doug closes his eyes and leaps, and we all follow him into the huge, foggy elevator.
“To truly live, you must forgive.” A woman’s voice echoes throughout the elevator. I look around for her, but I can’t see a thing. “Oh, how I wish they’d forgive . . .”
CHAPTER 35
The Last Plank
We landed back on Derek’s bridge at Forest Games and Golf. It was just like all the other times through the doors—no time had passed. The crowd, now unfrozen, watched as Jacey took a picture of me on the bridge.
“Last plank! Last plank! Last plank!” the crowd was chanting and encouraging Derek.
They were waiting for Derek to secure that last plank so that the bridge would be complete. Derek looked over at me and whispered, “Do you see them anywhere?”
I turned in every direction. No sign of the Badgers.
I shook my head and bent down to talk to Derek. “They fell off the bridge, I think. I couldn’t see with the fog so thick. They may be hanging in a safety net in about the year 1935. I don’t really know how all this works.”
Derek quickly secured the cables to the plank, sweat streaming down the side of his face. “Well, I’m glad we’re almost finished, so we can get outta here.”
I glanced over to where Zoe, Doug, Celeste, and Jacey were standing, right at the edge of the bridge, looking a little shell-shocked.
“Arcade, smile!” Jacey held up her phone and clicked a picture.
“That can’t get out to anyone, remember? Anonymous!”
“I know,” she said with a wink. “I just want it to remember this awesome week.”
Ten minutes later, Derek stood and put both hands up in a victory pose.
“DONE! Who wants to walk over the new Forest Games and Golf bridge?”
People lined up. I stepped aside. I was kinda done with bridges for now. I walked over to the pole which now served as the bridge tower so I could take a picture of the golden plaque:
Forgiveness
And clue three came to mind:
To truly live, you must forgive.
Forgiveness must be a tough bridge to cross with someone.
I wonder what the Badger brothers need to forgive each other for?
“Hey, Arcade! You wanna turn on the waterfall?” Jackson came running over.
“What waterfall?”
“Come on and check it out!” Jackson led me and the group over to a rocky area right behind hole eighteen.
“Every creek needs a water source. And now that the creek isn’t blocked by the windmill, we can let the river flow! Go ahead! Flip the switch and see if this baby still works!”
Jackson took me over to one of the rocks near the wall. Another golden plaque was there with a red button next to it. The plaque said Restoration. Below it, just like the others, were the words, Arcade Adventures.
“Do I push this button?”
“You see any others?” Zoe laughed and poked me in the ribs.
I pushed it. The pipes rumbled and squeaked. We waited.
“Maybe the pump is broken, or the pipes are rusted out,” Derek said. “Maybe I can take a quick loo—”
But then the water let loose. It shot in all directions at first, like a broken sprinkler head. We all squealed as it soaked us. But then the flow smoothed, and streams of water cascaded down over the rocks. It was a beautiful waterfall, feeding a flow of clean water into the creek that ran under the bridge, next to the village house, behind the windmill, and back to the pump where it would send it back down the waterfall again.
Jacey gasped. “We did it, Arcade.” But her smile quickly faded. “Do you think the Badger brothers will ever see it?”
“Not until they’re ready.”
CHAPTER 36
Breaking the News
Jaden delivered us to Derek’s house at 3:30 am, just minutes before Aunt Weeda returned from her job taking inventory. None of us had time to jump into bed, so we faked being asleep on the couch. All except Loopy, who was so glad to see all of us that he jumped from body to body, licking and barking.
“Loopy! Those kids are sleepin’!” Aunt Weeda came over and kissed all of us on the forehead one by one. Zoe stretched and pretended to wake up.
“I sure hope you all had a more relaxin’ night than I had! Woweee. I’m glad to be home. And guess what? I have tomorrow off! I’m thinkin’ it’s time to celebrate with some chicken pot pie and cake from the Bridgeview Bakery.”
“That sounds great, Aunt Weeda.” Zoe yawned.
“And, I have a little surprise for you and Arcade too.” She grinned like a rascal.
“A surprise?” I said out loud without thinking. “I don’t know if I can take too many more surprises.”
She pointed at me, grinning again. “I thought you were sleeping! As for the surprise, you’ll have to wait until the morning.”
The next morning around nine, Zoe and I snuck out to visit Miss Gertrude.
“I hope she’s here.” We yawned and waited on the steps for five minutes. Just as we were about to give up, Miss Gertrude opened her screen door. She was still wearing her robe and slippers.
“Zoe and Arcade Livingston! I am so glad to see you two. Get on in here!”
She had a zip in her step that I hadn’t seen the last time we were here. She led us into the living room. Goldie jumped into my lap the minute I sat down on the pink, flowery couch.
“So, tell me, how does the windmill course look?”
Don’t you want to know what happened to the brothers?
“It’s beautiful, Miss Gertrude.” Zoe beamed. “The windmill is back up, the structures all have fresh paint, the bridge is rebuilt, and did you know there’s a waterfall? We turned it on last night!”
Gertrude rocked in her chair, her hands clasped over her chest. “Restored to how it was before?”
I shrugged. “I guess. We never saw it before.”
“And did those awful Badger brothers get in your way?”
“They tried, but then they disappeared.”
“Do you know where they went?”
I shook my head. How could I even begin to explain?
Gertrude addressed Goldie, “Didn’t I tell you that Arcade Livingston had a good heart?” Goldie just meowed.
Miss Gertrude got up from her rocker and began to esc
ort us to the door.
Getting rid of us? So soon? We have so much to talk about. The brothers . . . the token . . .
“Would you like me to keep an eye on the house, and let you know if they come back?”
Zoe nodded. “That would be helpful, thanks. The project is done, but I don’t think we’re done with them yet.”
That reminded me of something. “Miss Gertrude, why didn’t you tell us there were two Badger brothers?”
She stared at me through the closed screen. “Didn’t you read my note on the paint card? On the back?” She shut the door.
The paint card? Pattie’s Paints?
It was in my back pocket. It pays not to change clothes sometimes. I pulled it out and scanned it carefully. On the front was all the information about Pattie and the note from Miss Gertrude about her friend being willing to donate the paint. I turned it over. There was another note I hadn’t seen! It was also in Miss Gertrude’s handwriting:
Yes, Mr. B has a brother. They’re twins! And they’re my grandsons.
CHAPTER 37
The Big Surprise
By midmorning, we were all napping on the couch. Too many late nights. Aunt Weeda was a ball of energy, though.
“You kids are gettin’ lazy this summer. I need to find you more work to do! Come on, minivan leaves in twenty minutes!”
Doug, Derek, and I moaned and groaned. Every one of my muscles was sore. My head was sore. Even my teeth were sore. Probably from gritting them for the last few weeks.
Zoe and Celeste didn’t seem much better. They both threw on sunglasses and ball caps before they met us out in the van. Zoe still had a streak of yellow paint on her forearm.
“Where’re we goin’, Mom?” Derek rode shotgun and appeared to be the only one keeping track of our route. The rest of us tried to snooze in the back.
“You’ll see. We’re about to add a couple of people to our summer party!”
Anybody but the Badger brothers.
We drove for a while, and eventually turned into the place where this whole summer “party” started. Lynchburg’s airport. Aunt Weeda parked the car and checked her watch. “Their flight should be landin’ in five minutes.” She turned to look at us, all half asleep in the back. “Come on! You young people can carry the luggage.”
Arcade and the Golden Travel Guide Page 14
