Case # 2:
Sly and the Kick Craze
Determination
The school bell rang. I gathered the stuff from my cubby.
It was Tuesday. Every other day of the week, Melody and I walked home together.
But not Tuesday. On Tuesday Melody had ballet lessons. I walked home alone. Tuesday was lonely.
I went to the end of the hall and turned left onto Melody’s hall out of habit. I knew she’d be gone already.
But there she was, at her cubby. She was leaning over.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you late?”
“Oh, hi, Sly. I was just looking at my knees.”
“You have on jeans. You can’t see your knees.”
“Are you in a bad mood? You get like this every Tuesday.”
“Sorry.” I tried to perk up. “Why were you looking at your knees?”
Melody smiled. “I was thinking about kicks.”
“What about kicks?”
“You know. In ballet we do battements—high kicks with straight knees. But maybe bent knees are better underwater.”
No one would see kicks underwater. I put my hand on Melody’s forehead. “No fever. How come you’re delirious?”
She laughed. “I just . . . ”
“Hey, Melody!” Kate ran up behind Melody. “Do you have extra ballet junk I can borrow?”
Melody rolled her eyes at me. Then she turned to Kate. “It’s too late. I told you. But you could start in January. That way you can ask for what you need as a Christmas present.” She put on her backpack and slung her ballet bag over one shoulder.
“I want good stuff for Christmas,” said Kate. “Not ballet junk.”
“Stop calling it junk.” Melody frowned. “The winter recital is only three weeks away. There isn’t time for you to learn everything. And I don’t have extra gear with me today, anyway.” Melody smiled at me. “Got to go. We can talk about kicking later.” She ran through the exit doors.
Kate looked at me. “I’m going to take ballet lessons.” She seemed a little sad.
I knew all about Melody’s recital. So I’d already figured out what they were talking about. “January is a good month to start,” I said. I like to be encouraging.
“I’m starting now,” said Kate. “Today.”
Jack jumped out at us. “Ballet’s stupid,” he said. He grabbed his pack out of the cubby beside Melody’s. “See ya.” He waved and pushed through the exit doors. Jack likes to wave.
“Like I said,” mumbled Kate, “today. My mother’s going to talk to Melody’s ballet teacher. My mother can talk anyone into anything.” She went out the exit door.
That part about her mother was true. Kate’s mother was a determined person.
If she wanted ballet lessons for Kate, she’d get them.
How much ballet could a person learn in three weeks?
Sad
I stood in my driveway and called, “Taxi.”
“See?” said Brian. “She won’t come.”
“Taxi.”
“She’s cold,” said Brian. “She’s in a cave somewhere and she won’t come out.”
“Taxi doesn’t get cold,” I said. “She’s an outdoor cat.”
“It’s winter,” said Brian.
“Not officially. It won’t be winter till December twenty-second.”
“It’s cold,” said Brian. “I’m cold. Taxi’s cold.”
“Taxi’s different from us. Her fur grows extra thick in the cold. It keeps her warm. Besides, she has a spot in the garage if she wants. She’s happy.”
“Then why won’t she come?” said Brian.
He had me there. Taxi always comes when I call. She’s special that way. “Taxi,” I called.
Taxi appeared from the other side of the house.
I sat on the porch steps and petted her. “Where were you, Taxi? I was worried about you.”
“Then take better care of her,” said Brian.
I narrowed my eyes. “Who’s been talking to you about cats?”
“Pets need care,” said Brian.
I knew it. He’d been lectured to. “Did you do something bad to Wilson?”
Brian blinked. “It was an accident.”
“What did you do?”
“Well, not an accident. A mistake.”
“What did you do?”
“Frogs like water,” said Brian. “And a shower is water.”
“You gave Wilson a shower?” I imagined a bunch of frogs in Brian’s bathtub. Then I imagined his mother discovering them. I put my hand over my mouth so Brian couldn’t see my grin. After all, it’s not nice to laugh at someone’s mother.“That doesn’t sound like such a bad mistake.”
“The shampoo got Wilson sick,” said Brian.
“Shampoo? Brian, frogs don’t even have hair.”
Brian picked up a clump of dirt and smashed it on the driveway. “Wilson better get strong again.” He didn’t look at me, but I could see his chin crumple.
I went over to Brian. I put my arms around him. “I hope so, Brian.”
“Is he crying?” Melody came through Brian’s yard. Her backyard touched his, so we always cut through his. “Come hug me, Brian. We can cry together.” Her face was so sad.
Brian looked at her. “Did your puppy die?”
“No,” said Melody. “Why would you ask such a terrible thing?”
“He’s just worried about Wilson,” I said. “What happened, Melody?”
“My recital’s ruined.”
Jumping to Conclusions
“The recital will be wonderful even if Kate’s in it,” I said.
“What?” said Melody.
“Kate won’t be good, but who cares? You can still do everything perfectly. And when Kate messes up, you’ll look even better.”
“What are you talking about?” said Melody.
“Kate. Her mother got her into your ballet class, right?”
Melody shook her head. “What gave you that idea?”
This was embarrassing. I had jumped to conclusions. My father says a good sleuth never jumps to conclusions. “Tell me what you’re talking about,” I said in a business-like voice.
Melody reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a pair of ballet slippers. “Smell.”
I stepped back. “I don’t want to smell your shoes.”
“No one should. They stink. They’re my old pair. Pong ruined them before he was trained, if you know what I mean.” Melody giggled. But the next moment her eyes filled with tears.“My good pair disappeared. And they cost a lot. My mother won’t buy me a new pair till she’s convinced they’re really gone.” Melody sniffled.
I thought about the time I lost my baseball glove. “Maybe they’re in your closet under something.”
“You’re the messy one,” said Melody. “Nothing gets lost in my closet.”
“Maybe Pong took them.”
“I looked everywhere.”
“Maybe . . . ”
“Everywhere, Sly. I’m careful.”
“I believe you.”
“They were stolen. And I’m hiring you to get them back.”
Taxi didn’t care one bit about ballet. I didn’t either. “I’ve never taken a criminal case before.”
“Please.” Melody sniffled again. “My mother says my old slippers will have to do for now. But they stink. My good ones smell sweet.”
“I have sweet shoes.And sweet feet.” Brian pulled at his shoelaces.“Sweet teeth too.” By now his shoeslaces were a tangled mess.“My mother says it’s a problem. Fix my shoes.”
I sat on the ground and worked on unknotting Brian’s shoelaces. “That’s not really true,” I said to Melody.
“What?”
“Your good slippers smell like old sweaters in the rain.”
“That’s lanolin,” said Melody. “I rub them with lanolin to keep them soft.”
“Well, lanolin stinks.”
“That’s your opinion. I like it.” Melody sighed. She could be very dramatic. “At lesson today Mrs. Munson made me sit on the bench. She gave me an ice pack.”
“Why would she give you an ice pack for wearing old slippers?”
“I didn’t wear my old slippers. I didn’t know my good ones were stolen till I got to ballet lesson and they weren’t in my bag. I had to dance just in tights. And I stubbed my toe. I hate ice packs.”
“Oh,” I said, finally working Brian’s shoelaces free. “That’s awful.”
“Ice packs burn,” said Brian. He took off his loose shoe and ripped off his sock. He stuck his foot in my face. “Smell.”
“I don’t smell feet. It’s too cold to go barefoot, Brian. Put your shoe back on.” I stood up. “How can an ice pack burn?”
“It’s true,” said Melody. “They’re so cold, they burn.”
“They have jelly inside,” said Brian.
“How . . . ” began Melody.
But I shook my head no at her. If we gave Brian any excuse, he’d talk nonstop. “Does your toe still hurt?”
“A little.”
“Soak it in hot water with salt.”
“Why?” asked Melody.
My mother soaked her feet in salt whenever they gave her problems. But sleuths don’t use their mothers as a reason. It makes clients lose confidence. “It works.”
“All right. But that’s not the problem.”
“I know. The problem is finding who stole your slippers.”
“And getting them back,” said Melody. “I don’t want to dance in the recital in my old stinky ones.”
“No one in the audience will be able to smell them,” I said.
“I’ll smell them.Will you take my case?”
I like mysteries, not crimes. “I’m not sure.”
The Phone Call
“Let’s make a phone call.”
We went inside. Brian came too. “Taxi’s cold,” he said to my mother.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Mother. She wiped her hands on a dish towel. “Want to come have a snack and tell me about it?”
Brian sat at the kitchen table.
Melody and I went into the living room. I picked up the telephone and dialed.
“Hello.”
“Hello, Kate. I have a question for you. Did you ask for ballet slippers for Christmas?”
“No,” said Kate.
“Did your mother buy you ballet slippers already?”
“No,” said Kate.
“Did you dance without slippers in today’s ballet class?”
“No,” said Kate.
Aha! “Did you take Melody’s ballet slippers?”
“No,” said Kate. “That’s four questions. Now it’s my turn. Are you completely nuts?”
“No,” I said.
“Why did you ask me those crazy questions about slippers? I’m not even taking ballet.”
“Why aren’t you taking ballet?” I asked.
“I asked first,” said Kate.
“Somebody stole Melody’s ballet slippers,” I said.
“Oh. Well, I’m not taking ballet because I don’t want to. It was my mother’s idea in the first place.”
“You said your mother could talk anyone into anything,” I said.
“She can,” said Kate.
“She didn’t talk you into ballet,” I said.
“You’re right. But she talked me into exercise. She’s still on that health kick. So I figured out I want to be a cheerleader instead. And that’s what I’m going to do.” Kate hung up.
I looked at Melody. “Kate didn’t steal them.”
“Don’t worry,” said Melody. “You’ll find the criminal. I have faith in you.”
Lost and Found
Melody came into the lunchroom wearing her backpack.
“Why are you wearing your backpack?”
“So I could show you.” She grinned. “Look.” She took off her backpack and unzipped the outer pocket.
I peeked. “Your slippers!”
“They were in my cubby this morning when I got to school.They must have fallen out of my ballet bag yesterday and I didn’t notice.”
“That’s terrific.Your recital is saved.”
“And the case is solved.” Melody patted her slippers lovingly. Then she zipped the pocket and put her pack on again. “What do I owe you?”
“I never took the case.” Besides, I didn’t solve it. I’d made one of the worst mistakes a sleuth can make. I had assumed something without proof. The slippers weren’t stolen. Maybe I was slipping as a sleuth.
I took a bite of my apple and tried to pep myself up. “Let’s celebrate when we get home today. We can make milk shakes.”
“I can’t. I’m staying after school.”
“What for?”
“I have swim team practice,” said Melody.
“Swim team?” I put down my apple. “Since when?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“You joined the team two whole weeks ago and you never told me?”
“I’ve been meaning to tell you.” Melody shrugged. “But every time I start, we get interrupted.”
“Wow.” The things you don’t know about people.
I really was slipping.
“Don’t look so sad,” said Melody. “It’s not like I was keeping it a secret or anything.”
“But I should have noticed,” I said.
“How? Last Wednesday you had a dentist appointment. And that was the first meeting of the team.”
“Oh.” I felt better. Good old Melody. I picked up my apple again and chewed slowly. “I thought you hated swimming.”
“I do. I always feel like I’m drowning. We start with fifteen minutes of kickboard time.The coach clocks us. I’m bad at it, no matter how hard I kick.”
“What’s that?” Jack sat down across from us. “Did you say something about being bad at kicking?”
Melody stiffened. “It’s not nice to eavesdrop.”
“What did she say?” Jack said to me.
“You have to ask her,” I said.
“What did you say?” Jack said to Melody.
“I have to go.” Melody got up. “See you later, Sly.” She left. And she hadn’t even eaten her sandwich.
“What’s wrong with her?” asked Jack.
“She joined the swim team.”
“The swim team.That’s a real sport. Not like stupid ballet.”
I didn’t like ballet. But I was Melody’s best friend. I pointed my carrot at Jack. “Ballet’s just as athletic as any sport.”
Jack took my carrot. “Thanks. So what was she saying about kicking bad?”
“She doesn’t kick bad. She kicks good. She’s just bad at the kickboard. Her swim coach drills her.”
“He drills her at kicking?”
“I guess.”
Jack stuffed his sandwich in his mouth and got up. He left. He didn’t even say good-bye.
First Melody. Now Jack.
I felt like I had cooties.
The Cooler
I walked home alone. When I got to Melody’s house, I cut through Brian’s yard.
Brian came bursting out his back door. He ran into my garage. He carried out a picnic cooler. “Get a knife.”
I decided to ignore that. He was four, and four-year-olds know they’re not supposed to play with knives.“Whose cooler is that?”
“My mother threw it out.” He set it in the driveway and took the top off. Then he brushed the inside with his hands and put the top back on. “Get a knife.”
“How did it get in my garage?”
“I put it there.”
“Why?” I asked.
“It’s Taxi’s new home. Get a knife.”
“Brian, a cat can’t sleep in a picnic cooler.”
“It’ll keep her warm,” said Brian.
“She’d suffocate.”
Brian turned the cooler upside down and pointed. “Cut a door.”
I thought about it. Picnic coolers were insulated.They should keep in heat as easily as they kept in cold. It was ridiculous, but Brian was right. With a door in the side, the cooler would be like an igloo. Taxi might like it. She might like it better than her wooden box with the blanket in the garage. “Wait here.” I went inside and got the old bread knife Dad used for helping me on projects.
My mother was chopping carrots. “Where are you going with that knife, Sly?”
“To cut a hole in a picnic cooler.”
“Why on earth would you want to do a thing like that?”
“Sly,” called Melody. She stood at the porch door.
“I thought you were at swim team practice.”
“I was. Oh, Sly, everything is ruined.”
I put down the knife. “Come on in, Melody.”
Fins
We went upstairs to my bedroom to talk in private.
As soon as I shut the door, Melody paced. “I’ll never get good at the dumb kickboard now. And I’ll never feel comfortable in the water. And they won’t pick me. And my whole spring’s ruined.”
“Sit down.”
Melody sat on the edge of my bed.
“Take a deep breath.”
Melody took a deep breath.
“Do you know that you use the word ‘ruin’ at least once a day? You’re dramatic, Melody.”
“Do you really think so?” Melody said hopefully. “Really?”
This was going nowhere.“You’re already on the team. They take everyone who comes. So you don’t have to worry about getting picked.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Melody bit the side of her thumbnail.
“Okay, tell me what’s wrong.”
“It happened again.”
“What happened again?”
“My fins disappeared.”
“You don’t have fins.”
“Yes I do. Everyone on the swim team has fins.”
Oh, that kind of fins.“I was joking,” I said.
“Really?”
“No. So where were these fins?”
“In my cubby. They were stolen.”
“You mean like the last time?” I said.
“Don’t make fun of me,” said Melody. “I didn’t make fun of you when you thought I meant real fins.”
“Sorry. Let me get this straight.You had fins in your cubby?”
“Yes,” said Melody. “And this time there is definitely a thief. I checked my cubby. Fins are big.You can’t miss them.”
“This is weird,” I said.
“So will you take my case?”
Taxi loved fish, and fish had fins. Taxi would love this case. Probably any cat would. “Yes,” I said.
“Good.” Melody got up.
“Wait. Tell me what you meant before. About getting picked and spring.”
“It’s kind of a long story. And, anyway, it’s not that big a deal. I was just being dramatic. Like you said. I’ve got to go now.”
Melody had been my best friend for as long as I could remember. I knew things about her. Right now I knew she was keeping a secret. From me.
Brilliant
I followed Melody downstairs.
We went out to the driveway.
My mother was on her knees beside Brian.They were putting duct tape over the rough edges of a freshly cut door in the side of the cooler.“Come see,” Mother said. “It’s a little house for Taxi to sleep in outside.”
“I know,” I said.
“It’s cute,” Melody said.
“It’s Brian’s invention. Isn’t it brilliant?” Mother’s voice was proud. You’d think Brian was her child.
My cheeks got hot, even out here in the chilly air. It wasn’t nice to be jealous of a four-year-old. I smiled as big as I could. “It’s great, Brian.” I turned to Melody. “Are you sure you have to go so fast?”
“I need to do something.”
“Can I help?”
Melody blinked at me. “Maybe.”
We cut through Brian’s yard and Pong jumped on us. He was tied to a long rope, so he could run all over Melody’s yard.
“Do they make coolers big enough for dogs?” asked Melody.
“Pong sleeps inside at night,” I said grumpily. “And he’s got a doghouse for the day.”
“Yeah, but a doghouse isn’t as interesting as a cooler.You think I could find one big enough for him?”
“I don’t know,” I said even more grumpily. “What do you need help with?”
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“I won’t.”
Melody lay down in the grass on her stomach. She held out her arms in front. “Pull me.”
“Pull you?”
“I didn’t get my full kickboard workout because I didn’t have my fins. So I need extra practice. Pull.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Just pull. And I’ll kick. It’ll be like I’m in the pool.”
This was the wackiest idea I’d ever heard from Melody. “Have you been talking to Brian?”
Melody sat up in a huff. “You said you wouldn’t make fun.”
“Melody, this makes no sense.”
“Yes it does. Coach said it was good to have people pull us while we kick.”
“He meant in a pool.”
“Well, I don’t have a pool,” said Melody. “I have grass.”
“There’s too much friction.”
Melody went over to her garbage can. She took out a big cardboard box. She flattened it. Then she lay down on it and held out her arms. “Either pull or go home.”
I pulled.
Spring
Thursday at lunch Melody came in wearing her backpack again.
She sat down beside me. “You’re not going to believe what I found in my cubby.”
“Really?” I said.
She took off the backpack and unzipped the big compartment.
Two long red fins were stuffed inside. “They’re pretty,” I said.
“They were there when I got to school.”
“Strange,” I said.
“Do you think I’m losing my mind?”
I thought about pulling Melody through the grass the day before. I swallowed. “Not really.”
“What do I owe you?”
“It wasn’t a real case,” I said.“Don’t pay me.”
“All right,” said Melody. “But I’ll give you two baseball cards, as a present then.”
Melody didn’t play baseball, but she collected the cards.
“Thanks.”
Jack plopped down across from us. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s private,” said Melody. “Don’t you usually eat with the guys?”
“They don’t give me carrots,” said Jack.
Melody looked at me.
“I didn’t actually give him carrots,” I said. “I pointed one at him and he took it.”
“So, anyway, how’s the swimming?” asked Jack.
Melody looked at me again.
“I guess it sort of slipped out,” I said.
“Not a good enough kicker for it, huh?” said Jack. “Your coach giving you a hard time?”
“Hey, be nice,” said Melody,“or I’ll go out for soccer and kick your you-know-what.”
Jack’s mouth dropped open. “You’re going to go out for the spring league?”
“Who knows what I’ll do in spring? I might do anything.” Melody got up. “See you later, Sly. We can practice in the grass after school.”
She left. Without eating.
And what was all this talk about spring? Yesterday she said spring would be ruined without her swim fins. And now she said she might do anything in spring.
Jack got up.
“Don’t you dare leave me sitting here alone,” I said.
Jack left.
I really did have cooties.
Way to give a girl a complex.
I lost my appetite.
Generosity
After school, Melody went home to eat. She said she was starving because she’d skipped lunch.
I said I was hungry too. I don’t use words like “starving.” I’m not dramatic. But she didn’t invite me in.
I went home with two new baseball cards. Taxi’s cooler sat by the porch step. I peeked inside. No Taxi.
Brian came out of his house. “Wilson got better,” he said.
“That’s great, Brian.”
“Is Taxi in her cooler?”
Taxi had refused to go in the cooler. She hated it. Secretly, this made me a little bit glad. “No, Brian. Sorry.”
“Want a cookie?”
“Did your mom make them?” Brian’s mom made the worst cookies.Whole wheat, sunflower seeds, and who knew what else. Brian’s mom was a health food nut. Maybe he was offering just to get rid of them.
“I helped her. I rolled the dough.With a big rolling pin. It’s heavy.”
I was hungry. But not that hungry. “No sweets before dinner.”
“You can take one for later,” said Brian. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick cookie. It looked like a dog biscuit
“Oh, hey,” I said quickly. “Here comes Melody.”
Melody crossed Brian’s yard. She carried a half sandwich in each hand.
“Want a cookie?” Brian said to Melody.
Melody gave me a knowing look. “Uh, not now, Brian.”
Brian’s eyes got sad. I think he was being genuinely generous.
“I brought sandwiches for you and Sly. Tuna.” She held them out. She was being generous too.
I took a bite of my half sandwich. And suddenly I got into the spirit of generosity. “Taxi,” I called.
Taxi came running.
I put a piece of sandwich in Taxi’s cooler and shoved the cooler in Taxi’s path.
She went right inside.
“Yay!” screamed Brian. He threw the cookie into the air and ran around us.“Taxi loves her cooler!”
Melody peeked into the cooler. “She sure likes tuna.”
“It’s her favorite,” I said.
“Taxi tuna, tuna Taxi,” screamed Brian. He threw his half sandwich into the cooler.
“I’m glad you came over.” I finished eating. “Thanks for the food.”
“Ready to pull me?”
“No. I’m ready to talk,” I said.
“I knew this was coming,” said Melody.
“Why did you join the swim team when you hate swimming?”
“I need to get comfortable in the water.”
“Why?” I asked.
Melody looked away.
“I’m your best friend, Melody.”
“All right, but you can’t tell.”
“I’d never tell your secrets,” I said.
“I won’t either,” said Brian.
“You told Jack about the swim team.”
“That was a mistake,” I said.
“I never talk to Jack,” said Brian. “Or just sometimes. Just Saturdays. I only talk to Jack on Saturdays. And sometimes Tuesdays. And June. Sometimes June.”
Brian loves June. His birthday is in June.
“I know it has to do with spring,” I said. “So just tell.”
“The school spring play is going to be The Little Mermaid.”
“I love the little mermaid,” said Brian.
“Everyone loves her,” said Melody.
And I got it. “That’s what you meant about getting picked.You want the part.”
“You have no idea how hard it is to move a kickboard fast, Sly. I kick like a maniac, and all I do is make bubbles and get tired.”
“What’s the kickboard got to do with the play?”
“I want to be a good mermaid. But you can’t tell anyone, because they might join the swim team too, and get better than me.”
This was way too dumb for Melody. Maybe she really had lost her mind. “Melody, mermaids don’t kick,” I said softly. “They don’t have legs.”
Melody’s eyes teared up. “Well, I know that.”
“And the play will be on the stage. The water will just be a blue sheet or something.”
Melody’s bottom lip quivered.“I know that too. But the swim team coach is the drama teacher. And he believes in method acting.”
“What’s that?” asked Brian.
Exactly my question.
“It’s where actors try to really experience something, so they can act better.”
“How’s that acting then? I mean, if you experience it, you’re not acting.”
“Don’t argue with me, Sly. It’s not my idea. I just thought that if the coach saw me swimming good, he’d think I was a natural for the part.”
“You are a natural for the part.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re my best friend.”
“I’m saying it because you’re so dramatic.”
“Really?”
“You’d be better if you had a fish tail,” said Brian.
“The costume will have a fish tail,” said Melody.
“Good.” Brian jumped in a circle. “I want a fish tail too.”
“If I get the part, I’ll let you wear it sometimes.”
“Yay.”
“Now you can quit the swim team,” I said. “Let’s celebrate.”
“I’ll go get more cookies,” said Brian.
Cleats
On Friday Melody came into the lunchroom with her backpack on again.
I stared. “What now?”
“Soccer shoes.” Melody put her backpack on the bench beside her. “Beat-up ones. They smell.”
“Well, at least this proves you aren’t losing your mind,” I said.
“Who would put smelly old soccer shoes in my cubby?”
Disappearing ballet slippers. Disappearing swim fins.And now magically appearing soccer shoes.
They all had to do with feet.
“Who cares about your feet, Melody? Besides you, I mean.”
“My daddy does. He tickles them.”
“Other than him?”
“No one.”
“Let’s be logical about this. Someone took away your ballet slippers, so you couldn’t have a good lesson.”
Melody nodded.
“And someone took away your swim fins, so you couldn’t have a good practice.”
Melody nodded.
“Someone doesn’t want you dancing or swimming. But someone wants you playing soccer.”
“I don’t like soccer,” said Melody. “I’ll just throw them away.”
She opened her pack and I saw the shoes inside.
“Those aren’t for soccer. The spikes are metal. Those are for baseball.” I turned a cleat over. Written in red crayon on the bottom was the number 2. I recognized red crayon numbers. “Eat, Melody. And when Jack sits down with us, don’t leave, no matter what he says.”
“What makes you so sure Jack will sit with us again?”
Just then Kate came over. She looked me up and down. “It doesn’t matter if you’re short.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Cheerleading.You can do it,” said Kate.
Jack jumped out at all of us.
“You’re good at jumping,” said Kate. “You’d make a good cheerleader.”
“I’m a guy,” said Jack.
“Guys can be cheerleaders,” said Kate. “I’m putting together a squad.We’re going to jump high.”
“You better not jump higher than me,” said Jack. “I’m tired of people doing things better than me.”
Suddenly a memory came. A while back Melody had told Jack she kicked better than him. That cinched it. “What else did you get at Goodwill yesterday, Jack?”
“How did you know I was there?”
“Join the cheerleading squad,” said Kate. She can be very persistent.
“You bought these.” I put the smelly baseball cleats on the table.
“That’s disgusting,” said Kate. She left.
“You’re the one who took Melody’s ballet slippers.”
“I gave them back,” said Jack.
“And you took her swim fins.”
“I gave them back too,” said Jack.
“And you left these cleats in her cubby.”
“And they smell,” said Melody.
“There’s no rule against that,” said Jack.
“There is a rule against stealing,” said Melody.
“It’s not stealing if you give it back,” said Jack. “It’s a prank.”
I pointed to the red crayon number. “You paid two dollars. And you never have extra money. Why was it so important to mess up Melody’s ballet lesson?”
“I didn’t really mess it up. My cousin told me.”
“What did your cousin say?” said Melody.
“That you’re the best in the class.”
“Really?” said Melody. She smiled shyly at Jack.
She was supposed to be mad at him.
“You messed up her swimming practice,” I said firmly.
Jack looked ashamed.
“I hate swimming anyway,” said Melody.
Jack looked surprised.
Melody smiled again. “Why’d you give me those shoes?”
“Ask Sly,” said Jack. “She thinks she has it all figured out.”
“He wanted you to go out for baseball. That way you wouldn’t go out for the spring soccer league. You can’t do two sports at once.”
“I’m not going out for soccer,” said Melody.
“Really?” said Jack.
“I never even thought about it,” said Melody. “Not really.”
They were so chummy, it made me sick.
This time I was the one to leave them sitting in the lunchroom.
Good Feelings
Jack really was sorry that his pranks got out of hand. And Melody was sorry she’d hurt Jack’s feelings. She told me all about how they apologized to each other.
Melody promised never to brag about her kicks again. But Jack decided to do extra work on his kicks anyway. He joined the swim team.
The ballet recital was this evening. Melody was terrific. I told her that. So did Jack. He came because his cousin was in it.
Kate complimented Melody too. She came because she was scouting for people for her cheerleading squad. She went around telling the best dancers to “join us.” When I asked her who “us” was, she admitted it was just her so far. Poor Kate. If I liked that sort of thing, I’d have joined just to keep her company. It’s okay, though, because Melody finally joined.
The case of the Kick Craze is over. And even though Melody had already paid in advance, with those two baseball cards, she gave me a bottle of nail polish too.
So I’m going to bed happy tonight. But first I’m going outside to say good night to Taxi. She’s in her cooler, snug and warm, with one paw hanging out the door. This afternoon I told Brian my mother was right—the cooler was a brilliant idea. He beamed. Jealousy is nasty. Good riddance.
Yup, I sure am going to bed happy tonight.
