Story Time (21 page)

Kate answered, "You're right. I don't
belong
here. And, might I add, you
do
belong here. Now get out of my way. This is sexual harassment, and I don't have to take it."

Whit remained in place in front of the door.

Kate approached him calmly. Then, in one deft maneuver, she grabbed him by the lapels of his blue blazer and pushed him back onto his heels. She pinned him against the wall, with his legs twisted crazily, like a Halloween skeleton. Whit squealed, "This is assault! You are assaulting me!"

Cornelia threw open the door, nearly filling its frame, with Heidi peeking around from behind her. "What on earth is going on here?" Cornelia bellowed.

Kate released her grip on Whit's lapels and he slid down the wall, landing upright. Before Whit could speak, though, Kate said, "I want to file a complaint against Whit Austin for sexual harassment."

Cornelia snapped, "That never happened!"

"Yes, it did."

"I was just in this room with him. It never happened."

"It happened after you left."

Cornelia's voice got suddenly reasonable. "Very well, then. Produce your witnesses."

Whit scurried over to his mother's side and waited for Kate to answer. She admitted, "There weren't any witnesses."

"So," Cornelia concluded, "it's the word of the worst student at this school against the word of the most admired young man in this county." She looked at her watch. "We have no time for this. We're due on the roof."

As the three of them turned to leave, Heidi looked back at Kate and complained, "Mother, she's not even a good gofer. Can I get somebody else?"

Kate stepped out into the hallway and watched them walk away, arm in arm, until they disappeared up the stairwell. She grabbed hold of the railing and looked out at the great chains that held the chandeliers. She reared back her head, opened her mouth, and screamed a silent scream until ropes of blue veins popped out on her neck.

From three floors below, across the expanse of the square, a figure moved in the shadows. Pogo had seen and heard everything. As Kate walked away, Pogo repeated to herself:

"Kissed the girls and made them cry.
Kissed the girls and made them cry.
Kissed the girls and made them cry."

As soon as Cornelia and the children emerged from the stairwell onto the roof, a tall, awkward boy stepped in their path. The boy opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Yes?" Cornelia snapped at him. "What is it?"

The boy stammered, "I'm William Anderson, ma'am. I'm an eighth grader."

"I know who you are. What do you want?"

"I want to volunteer to help for the First Lady's visit, for the big performance."

"We have everybody we need."

But Dr. Austin suddenly appeared among them. "Not so fast, Mrs. Whittaker-Austin. We may have use for a volunteer after all. Especially a tall one. Do you remember a problem we had last week, and our discussion that followed?"

"No. About what?"

"About a possible solution to that problem." Dr. Austin looked up at the boy. "Excuse us, William. We will need to discuss your generous offer and then get back to you. For now, go enjoy today's Story Time performance."

William backed away. "Yes, sir, Dr. Austin. Thank you. And thank you, ma'am."

After several deep breaths to calm herself, Kate walked up the twelve cement steps to the roof. She opened the metal door and stood for a moment, surveying the crowd. But her survey ground to a halt at the sight of Bud Wright's face. He was standing off to one side wearing a high white neck brace. He had two swollen ears, two black eyes, and a very large, very red nose.

Dr. Austin walked up the three steps to the wooden stage, posed for a moment, then told the audience, "Congratulations for coming here. While foolish parents are damaging their children's knees at football practice, you are improving your children's brains at the Whittaker After-School Preparatory. But don't take my word for it!" He stepped back as the Juku Warriors bounded up to join him. "Listen to this!"

The performance began with a round-robin spelling of
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
But then, instead of sitting down, the Juku Warriors broke into another song. This time, to Kate's delight, it was a song from
Peter Pan:
"I Won't Grow Up."

Dr. Austin stepped forward, smiling stiffly, and shooed them away. He told the crowd, "They're inveterate pranksters." Then he followed them off, casting a deadly glance at George.

The Juku Warriors sat with Math 6, freeing George to saunter over and stand by Kate. She looked at him with a mixture of puzzlement and newfound respect. "Uncle George? Did you teach them that?"

George smiled, pleased with himself. "I taught them that. With a little help from June."

"Really? June?"

"Yup."

Cornelia walked up onto the stage. "And now, the moment you have all been waiting for. Heidi Whittaker Austin, soon to perform before the First Lady of the United States, will perform for you today. She will read the children's classic
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?
Afterward, you will work with your parents to find the
p
sound on the worksheets."

Cornelia gave the audience the applause sign, and Heidi assumed her starting position. As Cornelia stepped offstage, Dr. Austin whispered, "I know just the job for William Anderson. Come with me."

The two disappeared down the cement block stairwell just as Pogo appeared from behind it. She worked her way stealthily to the book cart. Kate and George watched as she switched Heidi's copy of
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?
with a second copy from a manila envelope. Then she worked her way around the perimeter of the crowd until she was standing next to Kate.

Kate whispered, "Pogo, what did you just do?"

Pogo whispered back:

"Curly Locks, Curly Locks,
Will you be mine?
"You shall not wash dishes,
Nor feed the swine."

Kate looked at George, then said, "Pardon?"

Pogo added:

"She won't get up to feed the swine,
But lies in bed 'til eight or nine."

"She's talking about Heidi," George said.

Kate asked her, "Are you talking about Heidi?" But Pogo did not reply.

Kate and George exchanged a baffled look Then they turned together to watch the performance.

After a curtsy and an energetic wave, Heidi skipped over to the black cart and selected a book. She then skipped toward the group of children, calling, "Hello!" and smiling brightly. She opened the book and began, "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you hear?"

But then she stopped. Her hands snapped the book closed like she was killing a bug. Her head tilted upward and her eyes glazed over in a way that Kate and George now recognized.

George inclined his head toward Kate. "That's not Heidi anymore, is it?"

Kate could only manage, "Oh my god."

Heidi stared at the
Polar Bear
book curiously, like she had never seen it before. She looked at the audience and back at the book. Then she intoned, in a surprisingly deep voice, "Hmm. What is this? This won't do. This won't do at all. This is a baby book."

She threw down
Polar Bear,
scattering the cinders and making some children laugh. She returned to the black cart and scanned the other tides on the lower shelves. At last, she picked up
The NFL's Greatest Running Backs
and showed it to the crowd.

She struck a pose, a very girlish pose, with her hair tossed back and her hand on one hip. Then she started talking demurely. "I am Heidi, the Swiss Milkmaid. How do you do? But what if I got tired of being Swiss? Or of being a milkmaid? Or, even worse, what if I became lactose intolerant? What would I do then? I know! I could play in the National Football League."

She backed over toward the wall, turned, and struck a new pose. Her fist went down into the cinders and her rump went up in the air, in a perfect football player's three-point stance. Then she shouted, "Give me the ball, Coach! Give me the ball!"

She yelled, "Hut!" and sprinted forward face-first into the cement blocks.

She turned back to the audience.

A red welt began to blossom on her forehead. The Juku Warriors laughed and clapped. Mrs. Hodges leaned forward, her gray stripe of hair temporarily blocking Kate and George's view.

"Uh-oh," Heidi said. "No gain. Second down and ten to go." A rivulet of blood trickled out of her nose. "A lot of girls never do figure out what that means. It means that it's my second chance to gain ten yards. And here I go."

She put her head down and, once again, ran full tilt into the wall. She staggered backward. Blood was now leaking from a cut over her left eye. The kids were all cheering now. But some of the parents stood up, unsure of what to do, wondering if this was all part of the show.

Heidi put a hand up to her mouth, fiddled around for a few seconds, and pulled out a tooth. "Third down and ten. I'd better make it this time, or Coach may sit me on the bench." She crouched unsteadily, wound up, and again hurtled forward into the reddening wall.

She turned back on wobbly legs and babbled, almost incoherently, "Oh no, Heidi the Milkmaid! Now you'll have to punt!"

Then she collapsed in a heap.

The kids screamed with delight. The parents, however, almost as one, covered their children's eyes and rushed them toward the elevator.

Pogo took off like a fleet-footed mouse. Under the guise of helping the prostrate Heidi, she slipped out a book from under her dress and opened it. A few seconds later, she slid it back and disappeared into the stairwell.

Kate took off right behind her, calling to George, "Keep your eye out for the Austins!
Semper Paratus!
"

Kate followed Pogo down four flights of stairs with a flood of thoughts, troubling thoughts, coursing through her brain. She exited the stairwell on the fifth-floor landing, looked left and right, then set off toward the applied sciences section. She found Pogo in a far corner, leaning casually against a bookshelf. Pogo bobbed lightly and waved.

Kate walked toward her. "Everybody's still up on the roof, Pogo. Why aren't you?"

Pogo smiled happily and shrugged.

"I really want to know, Pogo. Why are you down here, all alone?"

Pogo bounced and answered:

"Here I am,
Little jumping Joan.
When nobody's with me,
I'm always alone."

Kate's eyes scanned the nearby shelves. "Where's the book that you had with you?"

Pogo stopped bouncing. She looked down at the floor.

Kate moved closer, cutting off Pogo's escape. "I've been thinking some strange stuff. I want you to hear what I've been thinking."

Pogo fidgeted with her dress.

"I've been thinking stuff like: You knew that I hated Heidi. And you knew that I hated LoriBeth Sommers."

Pogo broke away from her spot, but Kate moved into her path. "Walter Barnes picked up a book that was meant for Heidi, didn't he? And Bud Wright picked up a book that was meant for LoriBeth. Right?"

Kate twisted forward until her face was directly in front of Pogo's. "Do you have anything to say to me about these strange thoughts?"

Pogo finally looked up at her. She answered defiantly:

"Wake up bright
In the morning light
To do what's right
With all your might."

Kate shook her head no. "But this is not right, Pogo. Heidi, LoriBeth, they're
my
enemies. Not yours."

Pogo knitted her brow in thought.

"I fight my own battles. I always have. I'm proud of that. Do you understand?"

Pogo thought for a moment longer, then nodded.

Kate pointed at her own chest. "Kate Peters, alone, fights Kate Peters's battles. Got it?"

Pogo continued to nod.

Dr. Austin and Cornelia, returning to the rooftop via the service elevator, had to push their way through the mob of fleeing parents and children. They looked at each other, puzzled, until the mob cleared enough to reveal the bloody wall and the body that lay beneath it. Cornelia started screaming and pointing frantically at Heidi.

Dr. Austin, however, did not get frantic at all. He understood clearly what had happened in his absence. He stepped aside, located Mrs. Hodges, and walked toward her.

As the chaotic scene played out around them, and as George Melvil drifted imperceptibly closer, Dr. Austin leaned forward and spoke with perfect composure. "The First Lady of the United States is on her way to a building that is currently being haunted by demons, Mrs. Hodges. Now please tell me what I can do about that."

Mrs. Hodges reached into a deep pocket and pulled out a folded sheaf of papers. "We must expand the book burning. Priceless books be damned! We must get all of the demon-possessed books into the furnace before they attack again."

Dr. Austin nodded calmly.

Mrs. Hodges unfolded the papers. They contained a long list of book titles, not only from the private collection of Cornell Whittaker Number Two, but children's books from the general library collection. She informed him, with great satisfaction, "We will start with these."

Cornelia was waiting for Kate on Friday morning, posed ominously at the end of the
Andrew Carnegie in Hell
mosaic like an avenging angel.

"Due to Heidi's unfortunate accident," Cornelia snarled, "she will not be making any public appearances for a while. This means that you, as her understudy, will read the part of Orchid the Orca. That is all." Cornelia started away. Then she stopped. "Wait. That is
not
all. You have been transferred over to Whit as his personal assistant. You will report to him after school."

Kate's first impulse was to refuse, regardless of the consequences. But her second impulse, and the one that won out, was to accept the new assignment calmly. Kate knew she could punch out Whit's lights if she had to, and she was now determined to stay near the center of the mystery that was unfolding around her.