The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck (14 page)

“Are you kidding me?” she whispered as he marched inside. “What, are you crazy?”

She was having serious doubts about taking Bud at his word now. It was obvious he'd completely flipped out and was going to spoil everything. Laurie bit her lip and tried to think positive thoughts. He wouldn't spill the beans, would he?

“Excuse me, ma'am?” Bud tapped his fingernails on the counter and tried to seem important and official.

Miss Abernathy, the office lady, didn't seem impressed by the act. Bud felt like turning around and going home. The whole treasure hunt was stupid anyway, especially when he could be doing something productive—like memorizing the dictionary pages he'd been assigned, maybe. Something useful.

Miss Abernathy finally turned around and flashed Bud a tight smile. “Yes?”

Bud's heart sank. At his old school he was Bud Wallace, honest and reliable A+ student (well, among the teachers, anyway). But Miss Abernathy barely knew him at all, and he could tell she wasn't going to roll over as easily as he'd hoped. Especially since she was flashing the “stop wasting my time, little man” smile. Still, it was worth a shot. He'd charmed enough office workers in his time. He would charm her. It was his gift.

“Miss Abernathy? Hi, I'm Bud Wallace.” Bud smiled his most sincere and winning smile, the one that showed most of his teeth. “Reginald asked me to come get the key to the bell tower. He wants to get up there after lunch.”

He smiled again and held out his hand expectantly.

Miss Abernathy's nose twitched like she smelled something bad. She narrowed her eyes slightly. “He sent you for the key?” she asked suspiciously.

“That's right,” Bud said. “I was chatting with him, and he realized he didn't have it.”

“Reginald. Reginald Moore sent you for the key? To the bell tower?”

“That's right.” Bud felt his smile waver just a bit.

“Well, doesn't that just take the cake.” She slammed her hand down on the counter with a smack. “I'm sorry, son, but if he's lost another key, that is not okay. Has he lost it, is that what you're saying?”

“No, uh … I mean …” Getting Reginald in trouble hadn't been the plan. It was time to backpedal, and fast.

“He didn't have the guts to tell me he'd lost the key? Is that it? Is that what we have here? A spineless miserable coward who sends a sixth grader to give me the bad news?”

“I … uh …” Bud opened and shut his mouth frantically, hoping that some plausible explanation would come out. But it didn't.

“Well, I'm not letting him get away with that.” Miss Abernathy had gotten herself worked up in record time. She marched over to the intercom. “Let's just see what he has to tell me face-to-face, why don't we?”

Bud cringed as Miss Abernathy reached out to press the intercom button.

“Sheesh, Bud, way to get the message wrong.” Laurie shot up to the desk and smacked him on the arm, hard. He turned to face her, wide-eyed. He had no idea what she was doing, but whatever it was, he hoped Miss Abernathy would buy it.

“What's that, hon?” Miss Abernathy's finger hovered a few millimeters away from the intercom button. She'd stopped muttering curse words under her breath, so that was probably a good sign.

“Bud got it all wrong, is all.” Laurie turned to Bud. “Reginald didn't
lose
the key, you moron. He's making a
new
key.” She rolled her eyes and smiled at Miss Abernathy. “He said he wanted there to be lots of spare keys, just in case. He said he'd bring it to you for safekeeping when he did.” She smacked Bud on the arm again. Bud thought she was overdoing it just a bit. “Way to get the message all backward.” She shook her head at Miss Abernathy like Bud was the dumbest thing alive.

Miss Abernathy took her finger away from the intercom and smoothed her skirt. “Oh, is that all? Getting me all worked up.” She gave an embarrassed laugh. “Thanks for the message. That's a good idea.” She smiled at them and waved. “Bye now. And don't tell Reginald that I lost my temper, okay?”

“No problem.” Laurie grabbed Bud by the shoulder and dragged him outside. Beads of sweat were forming on his forehead, and he looked like he might pass out.

“So that was the big idea?” Laurie asked when they were safely clear of the office.

“Pretty much,” Bud said, leaning over and doing some deep breathing. The last thing he wanted to do was faint in the hallway.

“So I guess we go to plan B, huh?”

Bud nodded. “I guess so.” He straightened up and frowned at Laurie. “Wait a minute, there's a plan B? What's plan B?”

Laurie just smiled.

Bud fiddled with the piece of duct tape and swore under his breath. He couldn't believe he'd let Laurie talk him into such a dumb plan. They were going to get caught for sure.

A little checking had shown that Reginald tended to go into the bell tower after school. (The little checking being Laurie finding out from her brother, Jack. Apparently Jack knew everything in the world and didn't ask that many questions. According to Laurie, at least. Bud hoped it was true.)

Sure enough, Reginald was pushing past kids in the hallway, making his way toward the bell tower door, just like Jack had said he would. Bud shrank back against the lockers, trying to be inconspicuous. He hoped Laurie would be able to pull off her part.

Laurie watched out of the corner of her eye as Reginald passed by. To a casual observer, it looked like she was just drinking from a plastic bottle of orange juice and having an animated discussion with Misti Pinkerton about the choreography for an official Clucker dance. The animated part was the key. And timing was everything.

Just as Reginald unlocked the bell-tower door and pulled it open, Laurie made her move. She raised the hand with the juice just as Misti waved her arms in an attempt to simulate vigorous arm flapping.

Bud had to hand it to her. If he hadn't known the whole thing was a setup, it would've looked like Misti was the one to smack into Laurie's arm, instead of the other way around.

Reginald turned just as Laurie dropped the bottle. He watched in horror as the arc of orange sprayed along the lockers on one side of the hallway and smashed onto the floor. And naturally, since this was junior high, the smashing sound was greeted with a hearty round of applause.

“Nooo!” Reginald howled, letting go of the door and dashing toward Laurie and the mess.

That was Bud's cue. Darting out of the shadows, he hurried up to the bell-tower door, grabbed it before it shut, and stuck the duct tape firmly in place over the inside of the lock. Then he quietly blended into the crowd.

The door to the bell tower closed, apparently locked, just as Laurie and Misti started apologizing profusely.

“I'm such a klutz, I'm so sorry!” Laurie pulled a wadded Kleenex out of her pocket and mopped at the spill.

Reginald waved his hands at her. “Get away! I'll take care of this. That's why drinks don't leave the cafeteria, you understand? I could write you up.”

Laurie nodded, and blushing, she grabbed Misti Pinkerton's arm and hurried away.

“I'm so sorry about that, Laurie.” Misti felt terrible. That's what she got for trying to dance. “I'm such a goober.”

“It's fine,” Laurie said, stifling a grin. “Trust me, it's not you. Let's just get out of here.” She shot Bud a look of triumph as she hurried away.

New notice outside the cafeteria doors

REMEMBER, CLUCKERS

All food and drinks must be consumed while INSIDE the cafeteria. This will prevent nasty, sticky messes in classrooms and hallways.

NO EXCEPTIONS.

VIOLATIONS WILL RESULT IN DETENTION

Laurie and Bud leaned against the wall, trying to look inconspicuous. Sure, their plan had worked. Just not the way they'd thought.

“Is he still there?” Laurie whispered to Bud as he peeked around the hallway corner.

“Still there.” Bud groaned. “He still has that mop and that little metal stool and everything.”

Laurie checked her watch. After the whole spilled orange juice incident, Reginald had been patrolling the hallway with his mop and bucket at the ready. Halfway through the afternoon, he'd added the stool, so he could relax while monitoring for stray liquids. Laurie hadn't expected one spilled drink to hit him so hard. But apparently he took his job very seriously, and that hallway was now ground zero for liquid threats.

“I think we're going to have to call it a day,” Bud said. “I can't miss the late bus.”

Laurie nodded and tried not to think about how awful the weekend was going to be, waiting. She just hoped Reginald's hatred of all things liquid would keep him from noticing that duct tape. Because they weren't going to get a second chance.

Bud was arranging the cannons in his panorama of Valley Forge when Mr. Wallace came in. One cannon was in a central position, guarding the fort, another cannon was planning a distraction by dropping a bottle of juice, and the last cannon was about to save the day with a little handy duct-tape placement.

“Bud, look, I don't want to pry,” his dad said after a minute, picking up one of the tiny cannons. “But is there anything you want to talk about?”

“What? No.” Bud stood up abruptly.

“Nothing bothering you? Because you've seemed distracted lately.” Mr. Wallace put the cannon back on the table, but on the other side of the Plasticine river. “Your cannon placement is off, and that's not like you.”

“Oh, yeah, you're right. Sorry about that,” Bud stammered, moving cannons across the river.

“Bud, forget the cannons. But you've been coming home late and leaving early, you're not concentrating, and I'm worried about you. Are you mixed up with some bad kids? You're not spending that time studying, I can tell that from the drills we've been doing.”

Bud swallowed hard. He couldn't say anything about the treasure—that would just turn into a conversation about his mom, and all those conversations did was make everyone feel lousy.

“I don't know. I'm not really crazy about Valley Forge, I guess.”

Mr. Wallace looked at him for a minute and then came over to him. Bud stiffened as his dad reached out and gave him an awkward hug.

“This isn't really about Valley Forge, is it.”

Bud swallowed hard and shook his head.

“It's not easy with your mom gone,” Mr. Wallace said, then let go and let his arms fall to his side. Bud stared at a cannon that had fallen into the river. “But remember what we decided? That we'd focus on your schoolwork and wouldn't let ourselves get distracted?”

Bud nodded. “I remember.”

“Great.” His dad smiled at him. “It's hard now, but it'll be worth it—you'll see.” He took the cannon out of the river and set it upright. “I was thinking. I have some flexibility at work. What do you say I start driving you to and from school? Give us a little guy time. I could even quiz you on the way there.”

Bud swallowed hard. “Sounds good.” His heart sank. There went the extra treasure-hunting time. But his dad looked so happy with the idea, it wasn't like Bud was going to spoil it. “That'll be fun.”

Bud's dad clapped him on the back. “Terrific. Now let's get this mess cleared up and have a little fun. You can explain the theories behind Washington's strategy to me. Sound good?”

“I think the coast is clear.” Laurie pretended to tie her shoelace as she scanned the hallway. She'd been there so many times that day she was considering moving in. Maybe put a nice hammock over the lockers or something. She glared up at Bud. “You're sure you put the tape in the right place?”

“I think so.” Bud scowled. He really hoped he had. He tried not to think about how much trouble he was going to be in if he missed the late bus. But he wasn't about to leave now, not with the next clue so close. His dad's buddy-time plan of driving him to and from school started tomorrow. And Reginald hadn't left the hallway all day, so who knew when they'd get another chance? Bud just hoped he hadn't noticed the tape.

“Then let's go.” Laurie stood up, sauntered casually over to the door, and taking a deep breath, jerked on the door. It opened.

“Well, I guess we know what Reginald does in here, huh?” Bud said, pushing a discarded cigarette butt with his foot. There was a half-filled jar of cigarette butts, but even so, just as many seemed to have escaped and crawled onto the floor.

Laurie made a face and started up the curved wooden stairway. “Gross. Let's hurry up, okay?”

The bell tower was creeping her out. It was dark and musty smelling, like someone's basement or unused closet. Laurie glanced back to make sure Bud was following her and hurried up the steep stairway.

It wasn't what she expected. Laurie had pictured huge bells with cords that you could swing on, like they had in movies, but the bells all seemed to be attached to cords that went into an electronic-looking panel in the wall. No possibility of swinging there.