“Uh …, ” said Wally.
“I know it!” Caroline cried, suddenly leaping to her feet.
“Caroline!” whispered her mother.
“H-a-n-d-k-e-r-c-h-i-e-f ! I'm from Buckman Elementary too! I'm in fourth grade too, and I know it!” she pleaded while people in front turned to stare at her and her mother frantically lunged across Eddie's lap, trying to grab her arm.
Impulsively Caroline whirled and faced the audience. “But I know it!” she cried, sure that someone would see the justice of her taking Wally's place. Instead of a sea of smiling faces, however, Caroline saw only disgust and ridicule. She turned slowly around again.
“Will the young lady in the pink shirt please sit down?” said the superintendent, unsmiling.
Caroline tearfully collapsed on her seat, her face beet red with embarrassment. Beth and Eddie had their hands over their faces, Coach Malloy was glaring down the row at her, and up onstage, Wally's face was as pink as Caroline's shirt.
“We'll try you on another word, son,” the superintendent said. He turned to look at Caroline again and said, “I trust there will be no more outbursts.”
Eddie clapped her hands over Caroline's mouth. “There won't,” she promised.
The superintendent turned to Wally again. “Gymnastics,” he said.
Wally missed it. He put a k after the c, but when he walked offstage and the girl behind him was declared the winner, his shoulders were straight and his head erect, and he looked like a man released from prison.
“Caroline, how could you?” Mrs. Malloy whispered angrily across Eddie's lap. “You ruined his chance to go to the state contest!”
And Caroline realized she had done it again— embarrassed her family. She had stood up before the largest audience she had ever faced and blown it. Nobody clapped and cheered. Nobody threw flowers. They hated her, and she deserved it. Her family was not proud of her in the least, and certainly neither were the Hatfords. Even Peter was scowling at her, and when the contest was over at last and both families moved toward the aisle to leave, Peter whispered to Caroline, “You are in deep, deep doo-doo.”
Twenty
Apology
The only time Wally could remember being so relieved was the time he thought he'd broken his leg but had only sprained it. He had been all ready to misspell a word on purpose, but he really had not known whether gymnastics had a k near the end or not.
He could not get off the stage fast enough, but as he took his place in the second row and glanced behind him, he noticed Beth and Eddie with their hands over their faces and knew that Caroline was in trouble.
But he could not have felt better himself. Not only had he kept Caroline from going to the state contest and being so stuck-up they couldn't stand her, but her outburst had made her whole family angry with her.
It wasn't until he looked back over his other shoulder, however, that he saw the disappointment in his parents' faces. And suddenly he discovered that he had blown the one thing he was really good at. Nobody seemed to know he was around until they wanted something spelled. When Josh or Jake was writing a report and needed to know how a word was spelled, he'd usually call out to Wally instead of using the dictionary.
“Hey, Wally, does judgment have an e after the g ?” Josh might say.
Or Jake would call, “Wally, does Connecticut have one t at the end or two?”
Even his parents asked him to spell a word now and then.
But just because he was a good speller, did that mean he had to worry all the way through Buckman Elementary that he would have to go to the county contest? If he won the county contest, he'd have to worry about going to the state, and if he won that, he'd worry about going to the national! What did his parents expect of him, anyway? To become President of the United States?
When he joined his family later, his mother put her arm around his shoulder and said, “That was such a shame about Caroline, Wally. I think she got you rattled. You should have been the winner.”
“No, it's okay,” Wally said. “You know how I feel about contests.”
His dad patted him on the back. “Well, no one else in the family ever got as far as a county spelling bee, son. We're right proud of you.”
“Thanks, Dad,” said Wally. It was nice to be noticed for a change. By his family, anyway.
As everyone moved toward the center aisle, Wally noticed that Caroline seemed to be trying to get out of the auditorium as fast as possible, but Coach Malloy's big hand reached out, grabbed her shoulder, and hauled her backward a few steps until she was face to face with the Hatfords.
“Wally,” said Coach Malloy. “I think my daughter has something to say to you.”
“I—I'm s-s-sorry,” Caroline stammered.
“For what?” her father demanded.
“For—for trying to help Wally,” said Caroline.
“No, that is not what you were trying to do,” Coach Malloy said.
“For—for … ”Caroline's face suddenly looked like a squished tomato as her eyes crinkled up, and Wally almost felt sorry for her. “For—for … trying to take his p-place in the contest.”
“Right,” said her father. “You embarrassed us, you embarrassed Wally, and you embarrassed yourself.” He turned to Mr. and Mrs. Hatford. “I hope you can understand how upset we are with our daughter.”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Hatford. And then she added, with a little smile, “I never raised a daughter, but I do understand.”
Then she and Caroline's mother chattered on about other things, and Wally's brothers grinned and elbowed him as they left the auditorium and stepped out into the sweet April air.
Twenty-one
What Caroline Saw
It was a quiet and subdued Caroline who came down to breakfast Sunday morning. She kept her eyes on her scrambled eggs all the while she ate and said “Yes, please” and “No, thanks” when offered toast or bacon.
No one said anything more about what had happened at the spelling contest. It was obvious to the entire family that Caroline had been mortified and had suffered enough. For once in her life she had seen herself as others saw her and hadn't liked what she'd seen.
When everyone else had left the kitchen except Caroline and Mrs. Malloy, Caroline squeaked, “I'm— I'm really sorry about last night, Mother.”
“So am I,” said her mother. “But if you learned something from it, Caroline, perhaps it wasn't entirely wasted. To be a great actress you must first be a great human being, and I think you need a little work in that department.”
It was a gray day all around. When the girls noticed the Hatford boys fooling around down by the swinging bridge, they put on their jackets and sauntered down the hill. Caroline was relieved that none of the boys mentioned the spelling bee either. Everyone in town, she decided, must know just how awful she felt inside. A drop of rain hit her on her cheek.
“Hey! Rain!” Jake chortled. “And tonight's the night the principal sleeps on the roof.”
“But he didn't say he'd stay up there,” Eddie reminded them, looking out over the river, where tiny droplets were making circles on the water.
“Right!” Jake looked at the others and grinned. “Who's in favor of sneaking over there about midnight to check up on him?”
“I'll be too sleepy,” said Peter.
Everyone looked down at Peter. They had almost forgotten he was along. A look passed among them.
“You're right,” said Josh. “We'll all be too tired to do that. Besides, we don't want to get in any more trouble, do we?”
The rain was coming down a little harder now.
“I'm getting wet!” Peter yelled. “I'll beat you home.” He ran on ahead, and Jake said quickly, “Okay, don't say anything more to Peter about this, but who wants to meet at the swinging bridge at midnight and go over to the school?”
“I do!” said Caroline.
“Yeah, we want to go!” said Eddie. “I'll bet we won't be the only ones there, either.” “Besides,” said Caroline,
“I can't get in any more trouble than I already am.”
“Wrong!” they all said together.
“Okay, midnight it is,” said Josh, and both groups ran for home as the rain pelted down on them.
All afternoon the girls shot glances at each other whenever they heard thunder or when the rain came down even harder for a spell. But at dinner they were surprised to hear their father say, “I suppose you girls are thinking of sneaking out tonight to see if your principal is still on the roof.”
Caroline stopped chewing. She looked across the table at Beth and Eddie, who had stopped chewing also. Their father smiled a little.
“Oh, don't think I don't know what goes on in those heads of yours. Tom Hatford says they're posting an officer at the school tonight, just in case some crazy kids decide to carry off the principal's ladder or climb up on the roof to see if he's there.”
“Well, I'll bet he's not, with all this rain,” said Beth.
“Tell you what,” her father said. “If you do go over there, I want you to go as a group and come back as a group. Eddie, I expect you to see to that. Go with the Hatford boys and don't do anything stupid. Got it?”
“Okay,” said Eddie, and looked at her sisters in surprise.
Somehow it didn't seem as much fun, sneaking out at midnight with permission, Caroline thought. Still, how often did her father allow her to stay up until midnight, much less go somewhere at that hour?
All evening the girls watched the clock and listened to the rain, which kept up a steady drumming. Around nine they got a call from the Hatfords.
“Hey, Caroline,” said Josh. “Our dad talked to your dad, right?”
“Yeah,” Caroline said.
“Well, you didn't exactly promise it would be midnight, did you?”
“No,” said Caroline.
“We didn't either. And we figure that any other kids who show up will come at midnight or before. So why don't we go at one o'clock?”
Caroline wasn't sure if she could stay awake that long, but she checked with her sisters.
“No problem,” she said, getting back to Josh. “Eddie says we'll met you at the end of the swinging bridge at one.”
“See you,” said Josh, and he hung up.
To stay awake the girls got out some cards and played speed, then crazy eights, then hearts, then spite and malice. Their parents were in bed by eleven. At five minutes to one the girls went outside to check the weather and found that it was not only still raining, but pouring. They put on their boots and hooded raincoats, then left the house with a flashlight and slogged their way down the hill to the bridge and over the swaying boards to the other side, where the Hatford boys, all but Peter, were waiting.
“Is your dad on duty at the school?” Caroline asked.
“No, they've got a rookie making regular stops at the school to see that everything's okay,” Wally said.
It was raining so hard that Caroline felt like a duck. Everything squished—her socks, her shoes, her boots, the rubberized sleeves of her raincoat. She almost felt as though, if she flapped her arms, she would quack.
As they walked the two blocks to the school, however, the rain began to slack off, and by the time they got there, it had stopped entirely. Still, their effort was hardly worth it, for just as Wally had said, they noticed a policeman sitting in a squad car at the edge of the playground, watching the building. One outdoor light shone above the front entrance. There was a big sign at the bottom of the ladder to the roof saying KEEP OFF and a banner waving from the rooftop that read YES, THE PRINCIPAL IS HERE. There was no way to check, with a policeman there. Besides, the sign was probably right. No one was going to be able to climb up on the roof, and they might as well go back home.
“Well, I guess that settles that,” said Beth. “Heck,” said Wally. “This isn't any fun.”
But Josh put one finger to his lips, and they all crept closer to the squad car, keeping to the shadows.
The rookie, Officer Clay, was talking on his police radio to someone back at headquarters: “Yeah, I think we can wrap it up for the night. Kelly's sound asleep up there, and nobody's been by for the last forty minutes or so. I think the rain's put a damper on things, lucky for us …. Okay, I'll drive by every half hour, but I think we'll have a peaceful night …. Sure, I'll do that …. Roger.”
The seven kids stood dejectedly back in the bushes and watched Officer Clay drive away. The headlights made a wide arc across the playground as the car turned and headed toward the street.
“This is a bummer!” said Jake. “He's up there, all right.”
“We're all dressed up with no place to go,” said Beth.
“Well, there's nothing to say we can't take the long way home,” Eddie suggested. “We could walk into the business district and see if they've changed the movie for next week.”
“Yeah, we could check the ice cream shop, see if they've posted the new flavor for May,” said Wally.
“Or go as far as the bookstore and see what books Mike Oldaker has in his window,” said Beth.
They turned and trooped back down the bush-lined path leading out to the sidewalk, but Caroline, who was last in line, saw something out of the corner of her eye that made her stop. She stared through the darkness until she was sure she saw what she thought she had seen.
“Wait!” she whispered to the others.
Everyone turned, but when they saw Caroline motioning quickly for them to come back, they crowded around her, not making a sound.
What everyone thought they might see was the principal crawling out of his tent on the roof and sneaking down the ladder to go home. What they saw instead was two men creeping around the corner of the school building and making their way over to the ladder.
“Whoa!” whispered Jake. “What have we here ?” “Maybe they're plainclothes policemen hired to stand guard over Mr. Kelly all night,” said Beth.
“Then why would Officer Clay say he'd stop by every half hour?” Eddie questioned.
None of the kids made a sound as one of the men began to climb the ladder and the other man looked around nervously below. From behind the bushes the Hatfords and the Malloys watched with open mouths as the man on the ladder reached the roof, climbed on, and made his way over to the tent.
“Do you think we should yell and wake up Mr. Kelly?” Wally asked.
“If it's a plainclothes policeman just wanting to make sure he's all right and we wake up the principal, we'll probably have to spend another day cleaning toilets at the police station,” said Caroline.
“I don't know,” said Beth, sounding uneasy. “What if they're going to hurt him?”
“Why would they do that?” Wally wondered aloud. But then he said, “If it looks like a fight, we'll yell that the police are on the way.”
There was just enough light in the sky, now that the rain had stopped completely and the moon was out, to see the man on the roof get down on his hands and knees and crawl halfway inside the tent. A minute later he slowly backed out, and when he stood up, he appeared to be holding a pair of trousers. He waved them at the man on the ground below.
“He's got the principal's pants!” breathed Wally. “They're going to steal his clothes!”
But it didn't seem to be the pants the man wanted. He put his hand in one pocket of the pants and then the other. Finally he waved something shiny at the man on the ground below, put the trousers back in the tent, and climbed back down the ladder.
“Shhh,” Jake warned the others. “Don't let them know we're here. Let's see what they do next.”
What happened next was that the men went around to the front entrance of the school and, with the shiny something they had taken from the principal's pants— keys—they opened the door, closed it noiselessly behind them, and disappeared inside.
Twenty-two
And the Winner Is …
“I'll bet they're going to rob the school!” Jake said excitedly. “Did anyone get a good look at either of them?”
??
?One had dark hair,” said Caroline.
“No, he was wearing a cap,” said Eddie.
“He was short,” said Jake.
“He was tall!” said Beth.
“They were both tall,” said Caroline.
“No, they weren't. One was tall and one was short,” said Eddie.
“And one was fat,” said Caroline.
“They both were fat,” said Josh.
Jake flung back his head. “What kind of witnesses are we, anyway?”
“Well, they were both wearing white Nikes,” said Wally.
Everyone turned and stared at him.
“How do you know that ?” asked his brothers.
“I just paid attention,” said Wally.
“Should we climb up there and wake the principal?” asked Beth.
“No,” said Josh. “What if they've got a gun? Officer Clay won't be back for a half hour. We've got to go home and get Dad.”
Suddenly the hour after midnight seemed about as exciting as it could get. They all ran back out to the street and raced to the Hatfords' house. After Jake let them in with his key, he said, “Wally, go upstairs and wake Dad.”
“What?” said Wally. “Why me ?”
“Just because,” said Jake. “Josh and I are going to write down all the different things we think we saw, and we have to do it while our memories are still fresh.”
It always happened this way, Wally thought. He always seemed to get stuck with the stuff nobody else wanted to do. It might be exciting telling Dad about the man stealing the principal's keys, but it sure wouldn't be any fun waking him up. Their father was a deep sleeper, and if anything except a police beeper woke him up, he was liable to be grouchy.
Wally went up the stairs, stepping extra hard on the second from the bottom step, which always made the loudest squeak, hoping that might wake his dad.
His parents' door was closed, and he tapped lightly once. Then twice. When nothing happened, he knocked really hard.