35

 

At four o’clock, two huge trucks rumbled up our little street and parked on our lawn.

“Whoa,” said Nana, peering out the window. After getting home from the city, she’d spent most of the afternoon picking out an outfit.

I’d spent most of the afternoon practicing my answers to imaginary questions.

“Yes, Brody, it’s great to be an inspiration to kids around the country.”

“Yes, Brody, I do miss school, and my friends, but it’s for a good cause.”

“No, Brody, I don’t have a girlfriend right now, but I’m definitely open to suggestions.”

When I heard the roar of the trucks, I looked out the window. A huge guy with a beard hopped out of the first truck.

“Let’s set up the stage right here,” he yelled to the rest of the guys.

Stage?

“Use the house as the backdrop,” he continued. “And get that tree in the frame, too. It’s pretty.”

Soon, eight more guys jumped out of the trucks. Half of them set up a little path of metal sheets, and the rest unhitched the huge truck doors and started rolling off a bunch of giant steel planks.

The next thing I knew, my mom was running outside at a full sprint.

“Excuse me, excuse me! Hello? What is all this??!?” she yelled at no one in particular.

When no one in particular answered her, she went up to the huge bearded guy, who seemed like he was in charge.

“Can you please move these trucks? You’re ruining my lawn.”

“Sorry, ma’am, we need to unload the deck for the stage.”

“STAGE?!”

The huge bearded guy looked down at her. “Are you Mrs. Strong?”

“Yes,” she said. “Get these trucks off my lawn.”

“I’d love to, but I’d get fired,” he answered.

“Ha-ha,” said my mom. “What’s your name?”

“Larry,” he said a bit reluctantly.

“Well, Larry, this is a TV show, not Woodstock. No one said anything to me about trashing my property. So I suggest you move these trucks in the next five minutes or this whole show isn’t going to happen, and then I bet a lot more people will get fired.”

Larry examined my mom and quickly decided she wasn’t kidding.

“Give me ten minutes.”

My mom looked him up and down, then nodded once. “Fine. But if you boys disturb so much as a single dandelion, your lawyers will be hearing from me.” Then she gave him a friendly smile. “I’ll have some lemonade out in a minute.”

As my mom came back inside, she noticed me. “The things mothers do for their children,” she said.

Larry the Beard watched her go, then hollered, “Let’s pick up the pace, boys!”

Sure enough, exactly ten minutes later the trucks were backing off the lawn and heading up the street to the cul-de-sac.

While the rest of the guys were building the stage, Larry saw me looking out the window and came over. “That your mom?”

“Yup.”

He shook his head. “Piece of work.”

“Hey, watch it!” I said.

“It’s a compliment, little man,” he said, chuckling. “So you’re Jack Strong.”

“Yup,” I said again.

“Cool,” Larry said. “Wait here.”

“Where am I gonna go?” I said, and he laughed.

A minute later, he came back with three guys, and they picked up my couch and carried me out to the front lawn in about six seconds. And nobody dropped anything on their toes.

“So what’s this all about?” Larry asked me, taking a mashed banana out of his jean jacket and eating it.

“What’s what all about?”

“This whole strike thing. You trying to get a girl or something?”

“I’m in middle school,” I said. “I’m always trying to get a girl.”

Larry roared with laughter, little banana particles flying out of his mouth. “That’s funny, little man!”

A loud engine got us both to turn around. A huge trailer was coming up the street, followed by one of those fancy SUVs. They both pulled into our driveway.

I was starting to realize that it takes a lot of vehicles to put on a television show.

“Walter Cronkite’s here,” Larry said, which I think was some kind of joke that I didn’t get.

Brody hopped out of the SUV.

“My guy Jack Strong!” he said, walking up to me and extending his hand. He looked perfect, as usual, except for the fact that he was wearing a bib.

“Hey, Brody,” I said.

He pointed at the trailer. “That’s where I’ll be for the next couple of hours, getting beautiful.”

“Cool,” I said. Shaina Townsend, the woman who did the background interview with me two days ago, was there, too, wearing the shortest dress I had ever seen. She looked at Brody and smiled, and he looked at her and he smiled, and I immediately decided that they were boyfriend and girlfriend.

Brody turned back to me. “So, we are going to have some fun tonight! Especially with Mrs. Fleck right across the street throwing her own little shindig. Holy smokes, this might be a first, even for me!”

He slapped me on the back and disappeared into the trailer.

Sitting there watching the huge stage being built, I decided to take a picture and text it to Leo.

OMG IT’S HAPPENING.

Two seconds later he texted back.

DOUBLE OMG.