The Zippy Fix (5 page)

An hour before Clarence came to pick her up, Stella stumbled out of her room. Her eyes were like giant pink marshmallows with slits in them. Her face was splattered with red blotches. Her voice was dry
and raspy. She looked like she’d just staggered out of Death Valley.

“Oh, no!” Mom gasped. “Stella, what happened?”

I gaped.

“Aller … gic … something …”

Tears squirted out of the slits.

I stopped breathing. Darci hid behind Mom.

“What
was
it?” Mom asked.

“Cat… I’m only … allergic … to cats.”

Stella started sobbing. Mom put her arm around her and led her to the couch. “I’ll call a doctor.”

Stella shook her head. “No, please … it will go … away.”

“But your
date
,” Mom said.

I gulped.

Stella bolted up and ran to her room.

“That is just so sad,” Mom said.

Darci looked scared. “Will Stella be all right, Mom?”

“Of course she will, sweetie … eventually. I wonder what she …”

Mom turned to me. “There couldn’t have been any cats in this house, right, Cal?”

I shrugged. I couldn’t speak. I felt like I’d just swallowed a fish hook and Mom was reeling me in.

At seven, Clarence came down the street for Stella.

Boooom… boooom… boooom
.

Mom had wanted to call him and explain what had happened, but she didn’t know his number, and Stella wasn’t talking to anyone.

The booming radio went off. Seconds later Clarence was filling every inch of our screen door.

“Oh, dear,” Mom said.

Darci and I followed her to the door, where we got our first real look at Clarence.

Ho, man!

He had wild Samoan hair and a line of tattoos on his dark, muscular neck. His sky blue silk shirt fell down over perfectly creased tan pants that bunched over brown leather shoes. A white ginger lei hung from his huge hand.

“I’m Clarence,” he said. “Stella home?”

I winced.

“I’m so sorry, Clarence,” Mom said. “Stella came down with something and … she can’t go out tonight. She feels terrible about it.”

Clarence glanced at Darci and me, peeking around Mom. Was it my imagination, or did he look at me longer? Could he know what I did to Stella? No … impossible.

But
could he?

I shrank back.

Clarence turned back to Mom. “Oh,” he said in a soft, understanding voice. “I’m sorry she feeling bad. No problem. I call tomorrow, see how she doing. Will you give Stella the lei?”

“Of course I will,” Mom said, taking it. “How lovely!”

My stomach nearly barfed itself up.

All I’d wanted was to make her sneeze.

I felt crummy.

Crummy all over.

9

“M
onday is Stella’s birthday,” Mom said the next morning. “We’ve got to find a way to cheer that poor girl up, Calvin. After last night…”

Mom shook her head.

I was sitting at the kitchen counter with a bowl of cereal. Just out the window, Mrs. Nakashima’s fence was a thick tangle of red
bougainvillea. As always on a Saturday morning, Mom was zooming around getting ready to go to work.

No matter how hard I tried, I was unable to get Stella’s swollen face out of my mind. It had cleared up some, but Stella had missed out on her big night.

I cringed thinking about how hard Mom and Darci had worked to help her look just right.

And I’d messed it all up. The freaky thing was, I’d totally gotten away with it. I could step up and explain the whole thing in a heartbeat. But I didn’t have the guts. I stayed in the shadows, like the roach in Stella’s closet.

“She turns sixteen on Monday,” Mom went on.

I nodded.

“Cal… I know you and Stella haven’t hit it off yet, but birthdays are a time to set
differences aside and celebrate. Know what I mean?”

“Yeah … sure.”

I was thinking about Clarence. He’d called earlier, but Stella wouldn’t talk to him because her voice was still squeaky. When Mom asked me again if I could think of any animals that might have gotten into the house, I said I bet it was a mouse.

“Are you listening to me, Calvin?”

I looked up. “Huh?”

Mom put her hand on my shoulder. “On Monday we’re going to have a little party for her. I’m going to bring a cake home for after dinner.”

“Oh.”

I started to take a bite of cereal.

Mom bent close and whispered, “I think Stella would just love it if you made something nice to give her.”

Milk dripped off my spoon.

Mom squeezed my shoulder. “There’s plenty of time for you to think of something.”

I gulped down the rest of my cereal. I was itchy to get out of the house. I didn’t want to talk about Stella’s birthday, and I sure didn’t want to be around when she got up.

“I’m going over to Julio’s.”

Mom raised her hand to stop me. “Look, if you don’t do anything else, at least make her a birthday card. Will you do that?”

My guilty conscience was giving me a headache. How could I fix what I’d done to Stella?

“Yeah, sure, Mom.”

“I really think you should think of a gift, though. Celebrate. Be magnanimous.”

“Huh?”

Mom smiled. “It means be more giving, Cal.”

“But she calls me Stum—”

Mom put her finger on my lips and gave me her I-want-to-be-proud-of-you look. “I know you’ll think of something…. Oh, before you go, will you wake Stella up? I have to leave.”

Mom kissed my forehead and left.

Dang.

I crept down the hall to the sign on Stella’s door.

THINK TWICE
.

I thought twice … about being somewhere else.

I
really
didn’t want to go in that room again. I turned the knob and peeked in. Stella was asleep, facing the wall. Her hair
covered her face and she was hugging her pillow.

“Stella?”

She didn’t move.

I crept closer. Her sheet was pushed down around her feet. She slept in a T-shirt and light blue men’s boxer shorts.

I looked up and studied the new poster above where she slept. Who’s Chris Botti?

I shrugged and edged closer. Just wake her and run.

“Stella.”

Still nothing.

“Stella,” I said louder. “Mom’s going to work. You have to get up.”

When she still didn’t move, I poked her shoulder with my finger. “Stella!”

She groaned and mumbled something I couldn’t understand.

“You have to get up. Mom said.”

She didn’t move, but this time she whispered something even a rock could understand. “Get. Out. Of. My. Room.”

“But Mom said—”

Stella sprang up and glared at me.

I staggered back.

“If you’re not out of here in one second I’m going to reach down your throat and tear your heart out!”

Good enough for me.

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