Philip could not remember feeling happier. His mother complimented him repeatedly on how well he’d cleaned up his room. Then she told him to invite Emery over for dinner to celebrate. Besides, she said, she still had preparations to make for Aunt Louise’s arrival and needed him entertained and out of the way. When Emery arrived, the two boys went upstairs to Philip’s room.
“Wow! Leon did a good job,” said Emery. “I didn’t know your floor was this color.”
“It was always this color. Blue.”
“It feels funny.”
“What does?”
Emery shrugged. “It doesn’t feel like your room anymore.”
“Well it is.”
“Leon really did this?”
“Yep, and he didn’t make one problem. He acted dumb, but I’m used to that. Who’s Gordon?”
“Gordon who?”
“That’s what I want to know. Who’s Gordon?”
“Tell me Gordon who, and maybe I can tell you who he is.”
Philip’s voice went higher. “If I could tell you Gordon who, I wouldn’t have to ask you Gordon who.”
Emery tilted his head. “What?”
Philip took a deep breath. “Do you know anyone named Gordon? Leon kept mentioning his new friend Gordon.”
“Oh, Leon. No. I don’t know. If he’s got a new friend, maybe he won’t come around here and mess things up this summer.” Emery gazed around Philip’s bedroom. “Where’s all your stuff?”
“What stuff?”
“Toys, games, your rock collection, those stupid plastic dinosaurs your father bought. Those dumb Lego things he got you.”
“They’re not stupid and dumb. He said he played with stuff like that when he was a kid. Besides, when my mother makes me turn off the computer, I gotta do something, don’t I?”
“So, where’s all the stuff? I don’t want to sit around in a clean room. It’s creepy.”
Philip’s mind went blank. He went to his closet and opened the door. His clothes were inside but very little else, other than his rock collection. He thought a moment and then got down on his knees and looked under the bed.
“See anything?” asked Emery.
“I see one bag of Legos.”
“That’s all? Nothing else?”
Philip got off the floor and sat on the edge of his bed. “Nope.”
“Uh oh.”
“Uh oh, what?”
“Leon.”
“What Leon?”
“What did he do with all your stuff that was on the floor?”
“Look in the drawers.”
One by one, Emery pulled out the three drawers of Philip’s dresser. “Nothing but underwear and socks and T-shirts and a small bag of dinosaurs,” he announced.
Philip’s stomach began to dance. “There’s no place else to look.”
“Well, he had to put all your stuff somewhere.”
“Ohhhhh. The white bag.”
“What white bag?”
Philip stood up. “Leon filled a white bag with . . . junk. He said it was junk.”
“Where’s the bag?”
“He took it downstairs when my mother showed up. It must be out back.”
“All your stuff’s gonna go in the trash truck if you don’t get it out. I told you not to trust Leon. He’s trouble, trouble, trouble.”
Suddenly, a scream came from downstairs.
“What was that?” asked Emery.
“I don’t know. Let’s go see.”
The boys hurried downstairs in time to see Philip’s father comforting Philip’s mother. “Don’t worry, honey. It has to be here.”
Philip’s mother walked around the room, searching behind and under things while talking excitedly to her husband. “Where? Where? Louise will be here tomorrow. I promised her I’d give it back to her. Where did I put it? Where did I put it?”
“What did she lose, Dad?”
Mr. Felton turned to his son. “Some piece of emerald jewelry—a pin—she planned to give it back to her sister.”
“Give it back?”
“It belongs to your grandmother, and the three of them share it.” Mr. Felton shrugged. “It’s a girl thing.”
Philip’s mother began to wail again. “I had it in the pocket of my jacket, the jacket I wear when I clean. It’s not there now.”
Philip’s stomach plummeted and bounced back. He’d tossed his mother’s cleaning jacket onto the floor after Leon asked him if he slept in it. Then what? He remembered tripping over it while taking dirty socks to the bathroom hamper. He recalled grabbing the jacket and tossing it over the banister out of the way. That was all. He didn’t feel anything in the pocket. He didn’t step on anything in its pocket. He tapped Emery’s arm.
“Emery, come on.” He took Emery into the backyard and told him about the jacket. “Suppose that emerald thing fell out of the pocket when I grabbed it from Leon.”
“Ohhhh. You think maybe Leon threw it out with the other junk?”
Philip gritted his teeth. “Leon.”
“I told you.”
“Let’s get the trash bag and find it. At least it just happened, so the bag’s gotta be here.”
Emery stepped in a slow circle. “Where? I don’t see any trash bags.”
“He must have put it in the garage.”
The boys went in the small side door of the garage and walked around Philip’s father’s car.
“There,” said Emery. Two white trash bags leaned against the wall.
“Pshew! I’ll really be a hero now. Cleaning my room and finding the jewelry.”
The boys tried to untie the knot at the top of the first bag, but it was too tight.
“Rip it open,” Emery suggested. “You have to look through everything anyway for good stuff Leon tossed away.”
“I guess.” Philip dug his fingers in and pulled the plastic apart. Coffee grounds, tissues, crunched up paper and a zillion other things spilled out onto the floor. The boys stared at it.
“I don’t think that’s the right bag,” said Emery. “Ugh! What’s that?” He pointed to some slimy yellow stuff.
“I don’t know. Push the other bag here.”
Emery pushed the second bag to Philip, and Philip dug his fingers in again and pulled. An explosion of dust rose from the bag.
Emery waved his arms in front of him. “This is vacuum cleaner junk. Ohhh, there’s more of that yellow stuff. What is that?”
“There’s gotta be another bag. Look for it.”
The boys searched everywhere but couldn’t find another white trash bag.