Hero of Hawaii (12 page)

I peeked at the kitchen clock. “A little after seven.”

“You think Willy’s still up?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“Call him and see. I just thought of something.”

M
om liked Darci’s idea.

“But can’t it wait until morning, sweetie? It’s dark out, and Willy needs sleep.”

“But he’s still up, Mom. Calvin said. And anyway, if I have to wait a week for my party, this is what I want to do for my real birthday.”

My stubborn little sister. We grinned at each other.

Mom sighed. “Fine.”

Darci ran and got some white paper, a pair of scissors, and a red crayon.

I sat watching her at the dining room table. “What are you doing?”

“You’ll see.”

Ledward came inside.

Stella peered out of her room.

Mom hooked her arm in Ledward’s and we all watched Darci.

“There!” Darci said.

She’d made five white bands, which she taped around our right arms. She even made one for Streak that went around her belly. On each armband she’d drawn a red cross inside a circle.

“Perfect,” she said, admiring her work.

But Stella was frowning. She looked at Mom. “Is there something weird in the dirt around here?”

We all looked at Stella, like … what?

“It really stinks in my room. I think the rain brought something up. It smells really bad.”

“Huh,” I said, giving her a thoughtful look.

Ah, doggy doody justice!

Stella gave me a squint back. “I had to close my window.”

“That’s funny,” Mom said.

“Yeah,” I said. “That is funny.”

In the kitchen Darci got four of Stella’s cupcakes, put them on a plate, and covered them with plastic wrap. “Let’s go,” she said, taking Stella’s hand.

Mom and Ledward grinned at each other.

I brought up the rear with Streak, trying not to laugh when I thought of Stella’s sour face. Justice!

Willy’s mom answered the door.

“Wow,” she said. “It’s the Red Cross!”

“Is Willy here?” Darci asked.

“Come on in. He’s in the living room.”

“Willy!” Darci called. “We brought you cupcakes!”

That night I slept on the bottom bunk with Streak.

My thoughts and feelings were leaping around like fleas. And though Streak couldn’t talk and help me figure it all out, it just felt good being with my dog.

I lay back with my hands behind my head.

Hero
sounded good, but really, was I … a hero?

Maybe.

Kind of.

But I wasn’t the only one.

Clarence was one, for sure. And Ledward, who’d fixed the oars and everything else. And Mom, who worked extra hard for us.

I reached down and scratched Streak’s ears, smiling in the dark. “Hey, Streak,” I said. “Is there something funny in the dirt around here?”

I laughed.

“You’re a hero-dog.”

Slept like a rock that night.

O
n Saturday a week later it was sunny hot. The river was back to its slow-moving, stinky self.

Anyone looking at our house must have thought there was going to be some kind of neighborhood carnival happening in our front yard.

It would be famous, all right. Kids were
going to come to Darci’s party from all over the place. Only Clarence couldn’t be there. He had to work.

But he stopped by to give Darci a leather necklace with a shark’s tooth on it. “I coming back before your party’s over, ah?”

He winked at me.

I nodded, hoping our timing would work out.

“Thanks, Clarence,” Darci said, slipping the shark’s tooth over her head. “I love it!”

Which reminded me that I still had to wrap what I’d gotten her at the temple.

While Ledward set up the slippery slide, I grabbed the color comics section from an old Sunday paper and quickly wrapped her present in my room. One of her presents, anyway.

No way I could wrap the other one.

Darci’s slide was definitely the most amazing contraption our street had ever seen. The ramp was as tall as I was, which made the takeoff part rocket fast.

Ledward set up the hose to squirt water down the tarps, keeping them slippery wet, and when someone asked, he’d send them down with a shove. Streak raced the shrieking sliders down the slope, barking her head off.

Down at the bottom of the yard Darci and her friends were pretending to be bowling pins, scattering and falling all over each other when someone came down the slide. Just beyond, the silent river moved toward the sea.

I was in line, waiting for my bazillionth run.

Maya stood shivering behind me, even though it was blazing hot. Julio and Willy were in front of me.

Julio’s younger brothers Marcus, Diego, and Carlos had all shown up on tin can stilts. Julio pretended he didn’t know them. His youngest brother, Cinco, was only three, so he was still at home.

Marcus and Diego were slippery sliding fools, but Carlos was afraid.

“My mom gave me a nickel,”
he sang as we stood in line.

“Go away!” Julio said. “Jeese!”

“She said go buy a pickle.”

“Not that song again.” I covered my ears.

“I have an idea,” Maya said, nudging me. “Why don’t you take him down the slide … hold him on your lap.”

I looked back at Maya. “Tell Julio. He’s his brother.”

“Forget it,” Julio said.

“But he likes
you,
” Maya said. “Look, he’s singing to you.”

“I bought some bubble gum, a-chuka-chuka bubble gum.”

Maya grinned. “It’ll make him be quiet, I bet.”

I snorted. But maybe it would work. “Hey, Carlos. You want to go down the slide with me?”

Carlos froze and looked up at the takeoff ramp. He shook his head.

“Come on,” I said. “You can sit in my lap.”

I reached out.

Carlos turned to Julio.

“Don’t look at me,” Julio said. “I’m not taking you.”

Carlos hesitated, then gripped my hand. Willy and Julio stepped aside to let us go by them in line. We climbed the ramp.

“Looks like you
got a new friend,” Ledward said, holding the hose.

“He’s a pest.”

“Good luck!” Maya said.

I sat on the ramp. Ledward helped Carlos into my lap. “Ready?”

I nodded. “Do it!”

Boom! Ledward sent us off with a shove.

Carlos and I blasted down the slide, banging off the ramp onto the slippery blue tarps that zipped us toward the river. “Yee-haw!” I yelled.

Carlos’s fingers dug into my arms.

We slid to a grassy stop at the bottom.