Floors: (24 page)

“You’ve really fixed it up nicely,” said George, holding out his hand. “I’m George Powell. I work for Mr. Whippet.”

“Oh,” said Pilar, not sure what to make of the small man before her. “Are you here about the necklace?”

“No, no, no,” said George, feeling terrible for having worried her so. “That mystery has been solved, and it has nothing to do with you. We came for a different reason.”

Remi was in the postage stamp–size kitchen, slurping down a bowl of cereal, when they came around the corner.

“Hi, Remi,” said Leo. Remi was so excited to hear Leo’s voice, he flipped around in his seat and knocked the cereal bowl over. But he didn’t care. None of them did, because Leo didn’t waste any time spilling the good news. He told them about Merganzer’s return, Ms. Pompadore, and Ms. Sparks.

“I knew she set us up!” said Remi, so excited that he hugged his mother right there in front of everyone. When Leo told them he’d inherited the Whippet Hotel, Remi flipped on an old kitchen radio set to a Spanish station, got up on the kitchen table, and started dancing.

“He does that sometimes,” said Pilar, equally excited but less showy.

“Why am I not surprised?” asked Leo, and then he asked Pilar a very important question.

“Pilar, will you please come work for me?” He was hiring his first employee, and it felt good. “And live at the Whippet Hotel, too? You can have Ms. Sparks’s old room.”

Pilar started to breathe funny.

“Stand back,” said Remi, still dancing, only even more excitedly now. “She’s going to lose it!”

Pilar started to cry, then she started to dance, her hands over her head. Pretty soon they were all dancing,
even George Powell, who was not known for letting his emotions get away from him.

In the end, they decided to leave every thing behind, get in the black town car, and depart the old apartment without looking back. Leo promised to send a moving company to get each and every last thing so they could decorate Ms. Sparks’s old room and make it their own.

Pilar sat in the front seat with George, talking about her plans to make the maid ser vice more efficient. George was immediately impressed with Leo’s first hire.

Leo and Remi were in the backseat, whispering to each other.

“Is there a thirteenth floor, like I thought?” asked Remi.

“There is. I’ll show it to you.”

“So that’s where you’ll stay, then, you and your dad, on thirteen?”

Leo had thought a lot about this. “No, it’s not that kind of room. It’s all the secret rooms at once, and a library, too.”

“You like libraries,” said Remi. “I’m happy for you. But where will you stay?”

“We maintenance men like it in the basement, where we can see all the action,” said Leo, and it was true. For
Leo, the basement was the heart of the Whippet. It was where he and his dad belonged.

“Thanks, Leo. For every thing. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”

Leo pulled out the silver key card and showed it to Remi.

“Ditto every thing you just said, times ten.”

Merganzer was making his final tour through the lobby level of the hotel when he met Remi for the first time. He took a good look at the boy, tapping him once on each shoulder, and declared him the Whippet Hotel’s temporary doorman, until school started again in September.

“You’ll need someone to help you pass the time,” said Merganzer. “I know how boring it can get now and then.”

Merganzer had changed into a more appropriate iridescent green jacket that was two sizes too large. He put his hand inside one of the great pockets, milling around as many objects clanged together, and pulled out a little robot.

“This should do,” said Merganzer, holding it out to Remi.

“Blop! I thought I’d never see you again!”

“Take good care of him for me, won’t you?” asked Merganzer, a wisp of a tear in his eye. He was coming
near the end, and it was proving harder than he’d thought it would be to say good-bye.

“Of course I will. And I’ll take care of Leo, too. Don’t you worry about a thing.”

That was it, then, the tears were falling, and Merganzer turned for the Double Helix and one last meeting with the new owner of his hotel. Leo was waiting for him there, as he expected, holding the small orange door open.

“One last time, just for fun?” asked Leo.

“One last time, just for fun.”

Two people never laughed and screamed so loudly as Leo and Merganzer D. Whippet on the way up to the roof. It was too short, of course, but neither of them would forget it. The ride was always best when it was the two of them together.

“I think Betty will need to stay with the eggs,” said Merganzer as they peeked around the tree and saw her nesting. “Shall we take the others on their walk?”

“Yes, sir,” said Leo. “And don’t you worry about a thing. Betty is very responsible. She’ll be a good mom.”

“I believe you’re right,” said Merganzer, but it was still hard for him to leave without seeing the ducklings hatch.

Mr. Whippet smiled at Leo, thinking once again what a good choice he’d made. They hailed the duck
elevator and shooed all the ducks but Betty inside, then crammed in with them. It was a very tight fit, especially for Merganzer, whose knees touched the ceiling of the elevator. All the ducks stared up at Merganzer inquisitively.

“My, but I love a good duck. They will be missed.”

“If you keep talking like that, I’m going to think you’re never coming back,” said Leo. If he was hoping for some reassurance, he got none.

“I like Remi and his mom. George does, too,” said Merganzer. “Take good care of them, will you?”

“Of course I will.”

When they reached the lobby, Merganzer took his walking stick and hat and ushered the ducks out of the elevator. They waddled in a perfect line past Remi and Blop, and the robot began talking about webbed feet and ducks’ bills.

“I’m going to miss our conversations,” Merganzer said as he passed by, and Blop turned at the sound of his voice, as if somehow he knew it would be the last time he’d hear it.

Into the garden they went: the ducks, Mr. Whippet, and Leo Fillmore. Merganzer took the black card out of his pocket, the one that had sent puzzle pieces flying.

“If you want to reset the puzzle, click here, here, and then here. It’s double sided.”

“You mean there are two sides to the puzzle?”

“Oh yes, of course there are. It’s quite a secret, the other side. I don’t suggest you see it for a while. You’ll know when the time is right.”

They made a wide loop on the soft trails, drinking in the rolling hills of green grass. When they came to the pond, they saw Leo’s dad and Pilar, talking quietly.

“I wonder where that will go, and how you will feel about it,” asked Merganzer.

“I don’t know and I don’t know,” said Leo, “but I think it’s going to be okay.”

“You’re right; it’s unwise to meddle in such things. Let nature take its course and all that.”

“By the way,” said Leo, thinking back on the adventure he’d had. “Where did you find my mother’s ring?”

Merganzer laughed quietly. “You remember last year, the trip you took?”

How could Leo forget? Yankees versus Red Sox, three game stand, Fenway Park.

“Your father wouldn’t take an extra penny unless he worked for it, but those Fenway tickets …” Merganzer whistled through his teeth. “Expensive. And the train, the hotel, the hot dogs …”

“He sold you the ring?”

“Oh no, not sold. Just collateral. There was no use trying to talk him out of it.”

Leo remembered the extra Saturdays his dad had been working ever since, all so they could take some time off and watch baseball together.

They walked farther still, toward the great black gate, and passed by Mr. Phipps, trimming the green bushes into new and interesting shapes.

“Could I request an elephant sometime?” asked Leo. “Remi likes them.”

“Consider it done,” said Mr. Phipps. He smiled, the old black freckles on his dark skin crumpling up against his eyes. “And you, sir, what will it be?”

Merganzer gazed over the grounds and found, at least for today, that it was just as it should be.

“I think that one, there on the end, would make a good elephant. When the time is right.”

“As you wish, Mr. Whippet.”

“Keep Captain Rickenbacker occupied, will you?”

Mr. Phipps held up his finger and wrote a check mark in the air, smiling wistfully.

Somehow, without Leo really paying attention to how it had happened, they arrived at the gate to the hotel. It opened, slowly, and the black town car pulled up. George Powell rolled down the window.

“It’s time for us to go,” he said, as if they were late for something they’d been waiting all their lives to do.

Merganzer D. Whippet took in a deep breath and looked back at his hotel. Then he handed Leo the walking stick and took off his iridescent green jacket.

“It’s ten sizes too big,” said Leo, swimming in the jacket as Merganzer draped it over his small shoulders.

“I have a good feeling you’ll grow into it.”

The ducks started to wander off toward the hotel, and Leo tapped the walking stick on the path.

When he turned back to the gate, the car was pulling away.

“If you need me,” Merganzer yelled from the backseat, “search the field of wacky inventions!”

The car pulled away and the gate closed. Leo scratched his head, because he had no idea where the field of wacky inventions was. But he felt better, knowing he could search for his old friend if he needed him, which he was sure he would. He was ten and he owned a hotel. Not just any hotel, the Whippet, the strangest hotel in the world.

There would be challenges, lots of them.

Things would break.

Ms. Sparks might try to come back.

Someone else would probably try to buy the hotel in order to build a skyscraper on the land.

But Leo had his dad and a peaceful memory of his mother. There would be Pilar and Mr. Phipps, Captain
Rickenbacker, Theodore Bump, LillyAnn Pompadore, and Betty. And there would be Remi. Leo wouldn’t be doing this alone. He’d have plenty of help.

Looking up at the Whippet Hotel, he decided what he would do first.

He would take his dad, Pilar, Mr. Phipps, and Remi to the roof. And there, in the light of the morning sun, they would wave good-bye to Merganzer D. Whippet.

A duck quacked off in the distance and Leo took chase, the Whippet Hotel rising to meet him, larger and closer, as Merganzer’s green jacket trailed on the grass.

“Do you think he’ll be all right?” asked Merganzer. He, too, was looking at the Whippet Hotel. It was getting smaller and smaller as they went.

“I do,” said George. “I do indeed.”

“Maybe I should have mentioned the other floors.”

“I think he probably knows enough for now.”

Merganzer nodded and a wide smile filled his face.

“He’s a good boy.”

“They both are,” George agreed.

The Whippet Hotel was almost out of sight, and Merganzer began to feel free. He put his head out the window and let his wild hair blow in the wind.

“A good day to be outside with the rabbits,” he yelled.

“Indeed it is,” said George.

They drove on, out of the city.

And the Whippet Hotel disappeared from view.

Patrick Carman
is the author of many acclaimed bestselling series for children and young adults, including The Land of Elyon, Atherton, Skeleton Creek, and Trackers. He lives with his family in Walla Walla, Washington.