After my brother cried like crazy over those chimps, and after the sanctuary people drove off in their van, Nanny X said we had to be going, too.
Mr. Strathmore stopped us on the way out.
“I want you to know,” he said in his very businesslike voice, “I’ve taken your ideas into account, and I’m going to talk to the mayor about canceling tonight’s zoning hearing. There’s no need to hurry, now that Big Adam’s business plan is off the table, and I think we have a lot more to think about. I also think we need to leave Blue Slide Park as it is.”
We cheered, and Mr. Strathmore cleared his throat and went on.
“Also, I think creating a park for industry is a wonderful idea. It will allow us to keep moving forward, while keeping the things we love about our town the same. After all—we love it in Lovett!”
Mayor Osbourne, who showed up at the police station at the same time we did, said something about Applesauce King, an environmentally friendly applesauce company, but nobody was listening to him anymore. As we left the police station we passed the lady from the protest, who said she’d just heard there was a possible opening for the position of mayor and she would like to be considered for the job.
Stinky gave her the thumbs-up sign. Mayor Osbourne did not.
“We’d better get going,” Boris said, putting a hand on Stinky’s shoulder. “I don’t want to get in trouble with your mother two times in the same day.”
“Wait,” Stinky said. He held up something round that looked nothing like a coconut. “Look what Chief Grummel gave me: I got my rock back.”
“Is it a real geode?” Jake asked.
“I don’t know yet.”
Nanny X reached into the diaper bag and pulled out what looked like a set of nail clippers. But it had other attachments, too; one of them was a hammer.
“Perfectly balanced,” she said, handing it to him.
Stinky put the rock on the sidewalk outside the police station and gave it one good crack. The rock split. Inside, it resembled one of Big Adam’s coconuts—one that had been filled with diamonds.
“Quartz,” Stinky said. “It’s a good one!”
He handed me one of the halves. If you held it a certain way, it looked like a glass castle.
“It’s really beautiful,” I said.
“I want you to have it,” said Stinky. He picked up the other half and gave it to Jake.
“Thanks,” we said.
“You’re welcome,” said Stinky. He looked at Eliza. “I’m sorry there weren’t more pieces,” he said.
“She would have just tried to eat it, anyway,” I said. “When she’s older, she can share mine.”
We walked together until we reached the corner of Hummel Street, where it was time to part ways.
“Come,” Boris said. “I’ll make you dinner.”
“Please, can we have something other than lentils?” Stinky asked.
Boris smiled. “You’ve been through an ordeal today,” he said. “Tonight I will make my special jerk chicken.”
For Stinky, that was as good as a happily ever after.
“See you,” I said.
“See you,” Stinky said.
He paused and got all serious. I thought for a minute he might even say something mushy. Instead he said: “Don’t forget to recycle.”
“You, too.”
Then we all got the giggles, and we would have kept on giggling except Nanny X said we had to get out of there lickety-split because we needed to finish our schoolwork before our parents came home.
Even at Nanny X speed, we were behind. “You do your homework. I’ll make the dinner. Your parents will be here in twenty-seven minutes.”
“We’re not having lentils, are we?” I asked, just to make sure Boris hadn’t rubbed off on her.
“Or anchovies?” Jake added.
Nanny X smiled. “How about spaghetti and meatballs?”
Jake and I nodded, though I wasn’t sure how he could eat anything after all of those coconut smoothies.
“Good,” she said. “Now go.”
Jake and I ran upstairs and did the rest of our homework. We were back in the kitchen by 6:33.
“I’ll set the table!” I said.
“I’ll help!” said Jake.
“I knew I could count on you.” Something about the way Nanny X looked at us made me think she was talking about a lot more than just getting ready for dinner. She smiled again, a big, bright smile that lit up her whole face. I smiled back.
At 6:42 on the nose our parents walked into the house.
I ran up and gave them both a giant hug before they even made it out of the hallway. So did Jake. Eliza grabbed their knees and looked up at all of us. “Mamamamamamamama,” she said.
“That’s some greeting,” my father said.
“You’ll be happy to know that your friend Daniel is out of jail,” my mother said. “Of all the ridiculous—arresting a child. I don’t know what kind of power-hungry—but it did make for an interesting first day of work. How was your day?”
“Interesting,” I said.
“Tundra,” said Jake.
Nanny X came to the doorway of the kitchen. If you didn’t know better, you’d have thought she was a regular nanny. “Well,” she said. “If you won’t be needing me anymore, I’ll be on my way.”
My father sniffed the air and followed his nose into the kitchen, and my mother followed him.
“We do need you!” Jake said.
Nanny X looked at him, and then at me. I nodded. So did she. Because the thing is: I think Nanny X needed us, too.
I wanted to ask if she was scared when Big Adam tied her up.
I wanted to ask how she knew the diaper would explode at just the right moment, and if she and Boris had ever worked together before, and if she knew that Jake and I would be able to figure out all of the things we’d figured out, and what kind of a hat she was going to get next.
But mostly I wanted to know if Nanny X was coming back.
“Get plenty of rest tonight,” she said as she grabbed her motorcycle jacket. “You never know what tomorrow may bring.”
She picked up her diaper bag and slung it over her shoulder. Jake and I followed her onto the porch and watched her walk out into the evening.
“Kids!” our mother yelled from the kitchen. “Come sit down to dinner. I want to tell you all about my new job.”
“I want to tell you about mine,” I said quietly, more to Jake than to her. He looked at me and grinned. The two of us stood at the door long enough to watch Nanny X climb into her minivan. She waved at us through a pair of fuzzy dice that were hanging from her mirror, and gunned the motor twice.
“We forgot to talk to her about being inconspicuous,” Jake said.
“We’ll talk to her about it tomorrow,” I told him. “She’s coming back tomorrow.”
Then we both went inside to eat our spaghetti before it got cold.