In Georgetown
The first thing Justin said when they were together Friday morning was, “Well, what happened after we left yesterday? How did your parents act when we were gone?”
“Well, thanks to the spin doctor here, I’m not grounded, but who knows what will happen today.”
This seemed to satisfy Justin. “Well, I say we force their hand. The more I thought about it last night the more convinced I became that Brandon was having doubts about taking us head on.”
As he stared moodily ahead mentally hashing on the problem, Justin became slowly aware that Shannon and Andy were walking about a half a block in front of them. Even though he was preoccupied he was also curious about his sister’s business. “Hey, Shannon,” he called, “what are you two doing out so early?”
The girls turned when they heard his voice and waited for the boys to catch up. When they got close Shannon answered, “We’re working early this morning. The girls have to go for a checkup and shots later so we can’t be there at our regular time. What happened to your eye Matt?” The group continued on together.
“Oh, just ran into a little trouble yesterday. So how is your summer job going?” Matt asked obviously changing the subject.
“Great,” answered Andy who was also looking intently at Matt’s black eye, “The little girls are so sweet and cute. It actually seems weird to be getting paid for just showing up and playing with them when it’s so much fun.”
“Well, I think that’s more or less the staple of babysitting activity,” observed Ernie as he kept the conversation on the girls’ affairs and not theirs, “but I think you’re overlooking your more passive function of simply supervising. Someone has to be there in the event that they come up with some toddler-sized idea that would result in disaster. And too, I’m sure you’re attending to details like trips to the bathroom and drinks of water. I’m sure you’re giving Mrs. Michaels a lot of time she wouldn’t otherwise have.”
“Well, that is true, and that’s why she hired us,” Shannon admitted, “but it’s definitely the most fun I’ve ever had making money.”
“I’m glad to hear it’s going so well,” said Matt.
“Well, here’s where we turn off,” said Andy, “See you guys later.”
“All right, have fun,” Matt called after the girls as they headed down the street on which the Michaelses lived.
The boys made the rest of the trip to the school in thoughtful silence. When they entered the gym Justin looked around for Brandon and Todd and tried to be obvious about it, but they weren’t to be found. They didn’t come in until the coach blew the whistle to get the players attention. And all through practice it seemed that the two bullies were actually purposely avoiding the three friends. No eye contact, no pranks, no interaction whatsoever. Justin became even more certain that they should confront Brandon and Todd as soon as practice was over. He felt they should act while the advantage was theirs. Of course since they were all on the gym floor working as hard as they could just to keep up with the drills the coaches kept firing at them, he had no opportunity to convince Matt or Ernie of the need for immediate action. As a matter of fact, he didn’t get to speak to them at all. He had noticed that the days had gotten more intense and fast paced as the week progressed. When the coach blew the whistle to stop and make closing announcements Justin quickly looked around to locate his friends. They were both in the corner of the floor nearest the storage room. As soon as the coach dismissed them he jogged over to talk to them. “I know we should confront them, guys. Have you noticed how they’re avoiding us? We should strike now when we have the advantage.”
“I did notice them avoiding us,” Matt observed. “I guess we wouldn’t have to say much. We could just make sure we’re near them and see what happens.”
“I don’t like this,” Ernie muttered under his breath.
Justin didn’t seem to hear Ernie. “Well, come on or we’ll miss the chance. Let’s go.”
As they started toward the bleachers to grab their bags all three looked around for Brandon and Todd-Justin and Matt with the intention of moving in their direction, Ernie with a wary look. All three realized at about the same moment that the two being sought were already out of the gym. “Crap!” exclaimed Justin, “Let’s hurry up or they’re going to get away. I think they’re avoiding us, and if we have to wait all weekend we might lose our edge.” Justin and Matt sprinted for the bleachers; Ernie’s pace quickened a little.
But then they heard the head coach call out Matt’s name. When they turned to look at him he was motioning for Matt to come back. “What now?” said Justin in an exasperated whisper as Matt jogged back across the gym. As he stood talking with the coach for a couple of minutes Justin and Ernie could see the coach’s face was grim. When Matt turned to rejoin his friends his expression was miserable.
“The eye?” asked Ernie.
“Yeah,” replied Matt, “I’m pretty sure he believed that I wasn’t the one who had been looking for a fight when it happened.”
“Did you tell him who hit you?” Justin asked.
Matt shook his head. “He didn’t even ask. Just talked about how if you get in trouble at school you get benched, and how he can’t afford to depend on players who could let him down like that.”
Justin looked sympathetic but still impatient. “Well, we’ve lost enough time. I doubt we’ll catch them now, but let’s try.”
They all headed for the bleachers again, Ernie bringing up the rear. As Matt reached for his bag Justin grabbed both his and Ernie’s, so as not to have to wait on his lagging friend to get there. But as they lifted them off the bleachers both boys’ faces shifted from impatience to question. They looked at each other and the question slowly morphed into suspicion. They put the bags carefully back onto the bleachers looking at them for a second before doing anything else. Ernie caught up with them. “I’m not in any hurry, but what’s with you guys? One minute you’re sprinting for the door, and the next you’re just standing here staring at your gym bags like you’ve never seen them before.”
“They’re too heavy,” Matt stated simply.
“Well, I didn’t knock myself out today.” stated Ernie. “As a matter of fact, I slack as much as possible, so I’m not tired. I’ll carry them.”
“No, he means they’re heavier than they should be,” explained Justin. “Someone’s put something in them.”
Understanding dawned on Ernie’s face and it became grim. “Well, we may as well look.” He stepped onto the bleachers and unzipped his own bag first. On the top were two empty cottage cheese tubs, which read ‘small curd, 32 oz’. The contents of the tubs had been poured over everything in his bag. “Yes, I suppose you would notice an extra four pounds,” he said, seeming extremely calm under the circumstances. He then opened the other two bags and found the same had been done to each, except that a note was on top of the whole mess in Justin’s bag. It read: Have a nice weekend, ladies. See you on Monday.
Twenty minutes later found them in Justin’s back yard with the water hose, a bucket, and a bottle of dishwashing liquid, working to clean up the mess. Shannon’s cat, Hobo, nibbled leisurely at the pile that they had scooped out with their hands.
Justin was still simmering. Matt had fallen into concentration on the task at hand. Ernie was calm as usual.
Justin spoke, talking to himself as much as to his friends. “This just proves again that they are afraid to face us. Man, I wish we had caught up with them before they got away. I still don’t see how they managed this. They had to sneak up there during practice and do it, or run off the floor and do it right afterwards while the three of us were talking for a minute. And either way how did they sneak in the cottage cheese? We watched them walk in. I don’t think they had it in their pockets.” The last was said with sarcastic venom. He’d been going over these same thoughts ever since they hadn’t been able to find Brandon and Todd and his initial anger had subsided.
Ever logical, Ernie replied, “I imagine they got to the gym early and placed the cottage cheese in the bleachers right behind where we always sit. And really it wouldn’t have been too hard to pull it off. One of them might simply fake a sneeze and cup his hand over his face, tell a nearby coach he had tissues in his bag since he had a cold. Or he could claim to have an inhaler that he needed to use. That would work even better. He’d have reason to sit in the bleachers for a moment, and maybe to bend down a couple of times. Really, one could think of several viable excuses to go to the bleachers for a long enough time to do this, after all it couldn’t have taken very long.”
“Not as long as it’s taking us to clean it up anyway,” put in Matt.
Justin became suddenly impatient with their seemingly indifferent attitude. “I simply don’t understand how you two can be so calm about this!”
Matt answered. “Look, Justin, we’re cheesed too. It’s just that there’s not a lot we can do about it right now except clean it up.”
Ernie had broken into hysterical laughter as soon as Matt began to speak. “Did you hear what you just said? You said we were cheesed.” As he continued convulsing with laughter, the other two had to laugh as well, if not at the unintentional play on words, just because it was so funny to see him laughing so hard. Once they started they couldn’t stop for a couple of minutes, and when they did, even Justin had relaxed.
An hour later found the friends in the shade drinking lemonade while their things, hanging and laying around the yard, dried in the sun. Shannon suddenly appeared from behind the hedge and took in the scene with a confused glance. “If you guys are trying to make some extra money,” she said passing on toward the house, “you might want to consider something besides a yard sale. Nobody’s going to want your old gym bags, battered basketballs or shoes.”
“Ha ha, very funny, sis,” Justin shot after her as she went in the back door.
“Well,” observed Matt, “the only thing we couldn’t save is that book you had with you, Ernie.”
“Yeah, but the bad part is that it wasn’t mine. It was a library book.”
“Oh man,” said Justin, “that means you’ll have to pay for it. And it’s huge and a hardback. That’s not going to be cheap. What was it, anyway? I didn’t notice.”
“It was the entire Chronicles of Narnia in one volume.”
“Never heard of it,” said Matt, “but I’ll help you pay for it. Remember, we’re in this thing together.”
“You’re right, Matt. Sorry Ernie, I wasn’t thinking a minute ago. Find out the cost of the book and we’ll split it three ways.”
“Thanks guys. You don’t have to, you know. And what do you mean you’ve never heard of it, Matt? I’ve read them all like four or five times.”
“That good, huh,” mused Matt. “I’ll have to give it a try, as soon as the library replaces it, that is.”
Ernie chuckled. “I think they have other copies.”
Matt didn’t notice Ernie’s amusement. “Oh well, in that case, I’ll get it next time I’m in there.”
“Yeah, like that’s every other day or so, professor,” teased Justin, picking up a tennis ball that had been under his chair, and lobbing it without force at his friend’s head.
“Well, since you’re out of your funk now, Justin, what do you guys say we get in a little practice?” Matt asked picking up his basketball and passing it to Justin.
“I say that’s a good idea,” Justin replied. “Let’s practice around front while this stuff dries off a little more.”
“I’ll bounce them back in for you when they go out of bounds,” Ernie offered. The rest of the afternoon was spent reviewing the drills they’d learned during the week. Then all three agreed they were in bad need of showers. And both Ernie and Justin had a few things to do before it was time for their visit, so the trio broke up and went to their own homes.
