Authors: Terry Caszatt
“Lady, I’m not wearing that ridiculous outfit, and I’m not taking a dip in your pool. Why on earth would I want to do that?”
Adjana said something in reply, and Jack merely snorted and started away. “I just came to say goodbye,” he said. “I’m on my way out of here.”
Adjana raised her voice. “And how do you propose to get out of here, Mr. Hastings?”
“I’m going back up the sewer pipe,” replied Jack, testily. “I came down the blasted thing—I ought to be able to go back up it!”
“Jack, don’t be dumb.” I moved out into the open. “For crying out loud, you’ll kill yourself doing that.”
Jack groaned. “Bumpus, you’re worse than flypaper, you know that?”
“Jack, if you’d listen a minute,” I said. “Adjana knows a way to get out of here.”
“Forget it, kid. I don’t want to hear any more of your crazy ideas. Just leave me out of it!” He turned and started along the edge of the pool.
That’s when the madness overtook me. I put the trumpet down, then broke into a run with my arms out stiffly in front of me. Adjana’s eyes widened as I sprinted by her. Jack didn’t even see me coming. When I smacked into him, I sent him rocketing into the pool. He made the biggest belly-flopper of the year and water flew everywhere.
For a second I teetered on the edge of the pool, but like lightning Adjana’s hand shot out and caught me. We stood there eyeing each other. I think we were equally astounded at what I had done.
Jack came up blowing like a big whale. “Bumpus,” he began, then fell into a fit of coughing, “you’d better find a distant planet to hide on, because when I get out of here …” He swam to the edge of the pool and started to hoist himself out.
That’s when I snatched up the long-handled pool strainer and thunked it against his chest, sending him butt-over-teacup back into the water.
“Oh my granny’s glasses,” cried Adjana. “You shouldn’t have done that!”
“Too late to worry about it,” I said. I grinned at her. “We’re both in too deep.”
Adjana giggled suddenly. “You’re right.” She leaned over and extended her hand to Jack. “Here, let me help you out, Mr. Hastings.” She pretended to give me a dirty look. “I can’t imagine what Billy was thinking. Such behavior!”
Jack, fuming and hollering like a maniac, actually took her hand, but when he was halfway out, Adjana let go. Back in he went like a ton of lead.
Now I started to giggle. I couldn’t help myself.
Adjana pulled me close. “Get out of here quickly and let me handle the rest.” She let loose with a burst of muffled laughter. “Run, Billy!”
I did. I snatched up my trumpet and ran as hard as I could. Behind me, I heard Adjana utter one last line. “Now, now, Mr. Hastings, that’s not nice.”
That made me laugh so hard I thought my sides would split.
When I rejoined the parade, the Tats hoisted me up again and took me through the swirling crowd right to the front with Harriet and Ray.
“Where did you go?” Harriet leaned toward me, her eyes sparkling.
Over the loud music I tried to tell her what had happened with Jack. I thought she heard me because her mouth widened into a shocked “O.” She had her tats bring her closer, and I thought she was going to say something about how mad Jack would be, but instead she whispered in my ear, “Your Amberlight spot is gone! It must be due to all the good stuff that’s happened down here.”
I grinned at her. “Must be. I feel terrific. And I’ve got some big news for all of us.” I motioned Ray to come closer.
Just then Lilah and Teddy came pushing through the crowd and joined us. “We’re so proud of you guys!” cried Lilah.
I tried to pull them all into a tighter circle. “We’re getting out of here!” I yelled. “We’re going to the Book Mountains!”
Harriet and Ray looked stunned. Teddy signed what I’d said, but Lilah had read my lips and her dark eyes widened.
“When?” she blurted out.
“Right away, I guess.” I didn’t get a chance to say anything more because Perkins and Toddwilly abruptly stopped the parade and waved the band silent.
Perkins hurried over to our group. He approached Harriet and said something in a low, apologetic voice. Harriet nodded and handed the silver ball back. Then Ray had to give up the sword.
When Perkins came for my golden necklace, I could tell by the tense look on his face that something was terribly wrong.
“We’ve got to get you and your friends to the shop building and quickly,” Perkins said. He looked pale and his lips were set in a grim line.
“Is it Ming?” I asked.
He nodded. “The Stormies moved faster than we thought. They’re very close to breaking through.”
This news spread like wildfire through the crowd and for a moment there was a surge of panic.
Perkins raised his hand and called out. “To arms! You know your stations!”
The crowd broke up quickly, with kids and teachers racing off in all directions. Perkins made sure Lilah and Teddy were with us, then motioned for us to follow him. He led us at a quick trot, heading up a steep pathway into the rocks.
We passed between two large rock formations and found ourselves inside a flat area about the size of a baseball diamond. A large stone building stood at the far end. A sign on the front said
SHOP CLASS
. We raced across the flat ground and when we reached the building, Perkins pushed back some big double doors.
We followed him into a work area filled with bustling Tattaloonies. A hulking, tarp-covered object sat in the middle of the room. It looked like the Tats were just finishing work and carting away their tools.
Eddie stepped into view, followed by Fiddler and O.D. “We gotta move!” cried Eddie to Perkins. “Where’s Adjana?”
“I’m here.” Adjana came in behind us, flushed and out of breath. She was carrying a sword, and I noticed right away how easily she held it. Her eyes swept over the tarp-covered object. “Is everything ready?” she asked Eddie.
Eddie nodded. “Yeah, ready as it’s ever going to be.” He turned to O.D., Fiddler, and the other Tats. “Pull the tarp off!”
Quickly, they began hauling back the tarp. My eyes widened. What stood before me looked like a gigantic hodgepodge of school junk.
“Jeezo-peezo,” I heard Teddy mutter. “What the Sam Tunkett is that?”
“That,” cried Eddie, proudly, “is the Rumble Fish!” He shot me a little pleased look. “Happens to be the title of a terrific book I like.”
“Right, it’s a book by S.E. Hinton,” I said.
“But what does it do?” Lilah asked. “I mean, this thing, not the book?
Eddie winked at us. “This baby
flies!
And it’s going to take you straight to the Book Mountains!”
“You’re joking,” said Teddy. He looked quite pale.
“For your sake,” said Eddie grimly, “I hope I ain’t.”
The Tats began pushing the Rumble Fish outside. As it passed by, I got a better view. To me it looked like a cross between a primitive helicopter and a huge old biplane. The wings were constructed from the tops of cafeteria tables, parts of the fuselage came from blackboards, the propellers looked like oversized classroom ceiling fans, and the engines looked like overgrown Bunsen burners. To top it off, the Tats had patched the sides with book covers, which made the whole thing look like a lending library with wings.
Ray gave an appraising look and called out, “Flame on, man. Great design!”
“Eddie and the Tattaloonies have been working on it for two years,” said Adjana. You could see how proud she was. “It’s made entirely from scrap pieces stolen by my renegade friends in Monkeyopolis, then tossed over the Cliffs of Notes. Eddie and the others have just put the finishing touches on it.” At that moment one of the propellers fell off with a loud clang.
“Whoa, there’s a touch they didn’t finish,” I said faintly.
“Always a bug or two to work out!” Eddie grinned as he and Fiddler climbed a ladder and wrestled the propeller back on.
I gave Adjana a look of doubt mixed with fear. “I hate to ask this, but who—?”
She held up a hand and stopped me. “I can answer that right now, Billy. It looks like Mr. Hastings won’t be going. He left in a bit of a huff after the pool episode. So, yes, I’m afraid you’ll be flying it.”
Before I could protest, O.D. and Fiddler rushed over and began helping me into a baggy flight jacket, while Eddie jammed a pilot’s cap on my head. The other Tats were slapping me on the back and whooping it up.
Eddie beamed at me. “You’re the man!”
I tried to protest to Adjana, but she hurried away, shouting instructions to other Grotto teachers. My voice was lost in the racket as the Tats grabbed me and hauled me toward the hatch of the Rumble Fish.
The next thing I knew, I was being strapped into the pilot’s seat, my trumpet hurriedly shoved on the floor underneath me. I whined and called out objections right and left, but no one seemed to pay any attention. It would be neat if I could report that I felt courageous, but the awful truth is, I was petrified with fear. There was no way I could fly this contraption.
Amid all the confusion, I managed to take in a few details. Harriet was my co-pilot. Lilah would be both navigator and waist gunner, while Ray would man the radio and handle the second waist gun if necessary. Teddy was the tail gunner.
A sudden burst of gunfire came from the rear of the plane, and I heard Teddy yelling, “I told you I didn’t want to be a gunner! I hate loud noises!”
“Did he hit anyone?” Eddie yelled toward the back.
Someone called back “No!” and Eddie expelled his breath. “That’s lucky.”
“Why?” I asked. “What kind of ammo is he using?”
Eddie tried to hide a grin. “Actually, big paper wads. But trust me, they’re dried and hard as rocks and they could really hurt.”
In a daze, I watched as they strapped Harriet into the co-pilot’s seat. She looked pale, but I also saw determination in those golden-brown eyes.
“All right, let’s fire those engines up!” cried Eddie. “I’ll give you guys a hand and get ‘em going, and then me, O.D., and Fid will jump out.”
“Why can’t you just stay and fly the dumb thing?” I yelled out.
“‘Cause,” said Eddie, mysteriously, “me and the brothers have another part of the mission to work on. Just relax and repeat after me. Hydrostats!”
“Horse states,” I mumbled nervously. I watched in confusion as Eddie snapped a series of buttons.
“Release vitreous oxygen,” Eddie called out.
“Release vicious oxen.”
“Ignition and Bunsen burners!” bellowed Eddie.
“Buns burning!” I cried, my mind a total blank. A terrific whining sound rose from the engines. Harriet and I exchanged a frightened look as the huge rotors began to turn.
Eddie beamed. “That’s high octane fuel for you!”
“What is it?” I asked weakly.
“Pea soup!” said Eddie proudly. “It has tremendous gaseous qualities. Okay, now repeat after me. Bring to 400 rpm …Hokey Esmeralda!”
I mumbled “Hokey Esmeralda” like a dutiful stupe before I realized Eddie was staring off at something. I followed his gaze, and what I saw sent a little zing of fear through me.
Jack was running toward us from the shop hangar with Adjana right at his heels. She was waving her arms like crazy, and I knew right away what it meant: Jack was coming after me with revenge in his eye. I began struggling with my straps.
“What are you doin’, man?” yelled Eddie.
“I gotta hide,” I blurted out. I was half out of my seat when Jack and Adjana poked their heads into the cabin. Jack’s tunic with the “U” was gone, and he had on a t-shirt and some cotton cargo pants. Instinctively I put my hands in front of my face, like a fighter waiting for the first blow.
Jack shot me an amused look. “What’s the matter with you, Bumpus?”
I peeked through my fingers. “Listen, I know you hate me and you want to break my neck,” I said in a rush.
Jack laughed abruptly and shot Adjana a comical look. “You didn’t tell me he’d gone off his rocker.” He fixed me with that old glinty, blue-eyed look. “Look, kid, how about getting out of my seat?”
Adjana smiled happily. “Mr. Hastings has agreed to fly the Rumble Fish.”
I sat there for a stunned moment, then I began grinning. “Well, good for Mr. Hastings,” I blurted out, and I just about broke a leg trying to get out of that seat.
“I knew you’d change your mind,” Lilah said to Jack. Her face was flushed, and I don’t think she’d ever looked prettier. She signed something else to him and he actually laughed, a sound that reminded me a lot of the old Jack.
“Nah, you’re dreaming,” he said, as he signed back. “I wasn’t worried about the Wild Bunch at all. I just didn’t want to retire here and become a member of the Grotto’s Old Coot Club.”
“Why not?” I said. “You’d have been perfect for it.” I grinned, vastly entertained by my remark.
Jack leaned toward me. “You’re really an irritating kid, Bumpus, you know that? But if I were you, I wouldn’t grin because I haven’t forgotten what happened down by the pool.”
Now
he
was grinning heartily. All I could say was, “Oh.”
I didn’t have time to worry very long about that because Eddie was making a big fuss about switching people around. He now wanted me in the copilot seat, with Lilah handling just the navigating duties. Harriet would be the radio operator while Ray operated the waist gun and Teddy stayed stuck in the tail.
While Eddie and the other Tats fussed over Jack, Adjana nodded at me to come over and talk. “I’m sorry it took so long to get him out here,” she whispered. “We had to find some dry clothes for him. I hope you weren’t too frightened?”
“Frightened?” I said. “I was so scared I couldn’t put two words together. But how did you ever talk him into it?”
Adjana’s eyes twinkled. “I didn’t. You did it by pushing him into the pool. The power of the Grotto water hit him quickly, and he’s a different man. I’m not sure he’s totally himself again, but he seems humorous and quite concerned about your safety in this flying venture.”
My jaw sagged. “You’re joking.
My
safety?”
“Well, yours and the others, too. He said it was crazy to let you do the piloting with no experience. The next thing I knew, he insisted on going along as pilot.”