CHAPTER 12
Okay, that's it, Adler said to himself, and got up off the bench.
He had a decision to make. Walter--and whatever the heck had happened to him on his stupid bathroom mission--he could care less about. The trouble was, he had the two backpacks to deal with, and Mackie's was heavy. He couldn't just leave it on a bench, even though he sure felt like it, and even though the dude was ticking him off now beyond belief.
So reluctantly, Adler decided to start back toward Fancy Freeze, since his own house was five blocks away from where he stood right now, Mackie's was six, and Fancy Freeze was only two-and-a-half. Two-and-a-half in the wrong direction, but still.
He made it there easily enough, but now there was something very weird going on.
Down by the fence, where Bo and Jimmy's bikes had been locked, was just one bike now--Bo's, he was pretty sure-- with only an empty cable lock on the ground next to it.
And just up ahead, laying right there in the middle of the sidewalk, was a second bike--Jimmy's, he guessed.
Someone's messing with my head, he thought. Today is not my day.
An idea came to him: He would take Jimmy's bike and simply ride home and get out of this mess. He could call Jimmy later and let him know he had it. The heck with finding Walter.
But first, he knew, he did owe it to his friend to at least check the one place Walter said he was going, which was the men's room around the back of the restaurant.
Adler turned the knob but the door didn't move, so he knocked.
"Mackie! Mackie! What happened?!" shouted Bo.
"Yes or no, did you make it?!" shouted Jimmy.
What I just heard from in there, thought Adler, I did not REALLY hear. Right?
"Make what?" Adler said cautiously.
"The sign up!" said Jimmy. "What do you mean, 'make what'?!"
"How should I know--it's me, Adler!" he said. "Open up."
"Oh," said Bo.
"We were hoping it was Mackie getting back," said Jimmy.
Adler took a moment to try to digest what was going on here.
"You know, I got a lot of stuff confusing me today, and people ticking me off, bad," said Adler. "Open the dang door!"
"Hey, Adler, man, you gotta help us!" Bo said.
"Dude, get us outta here!" said Jimmy. "We're starting to go crazy!"
Adler was beginning to figure it out now, some of it, though it seemed like the most unbelievable bunch of things happening that you could have imagined.
Bo and Jimmy somehow got locked in that bathroom. Mackie must have found them there. Time was running out on signing up for the talent show. Mackie took Jimmy's bike to sign up for them.
But then what?
Mackie decided not to ride the bike for some reason? So he left it on the sidewalk and walked to school?
"Jimmy," said Adler. "Your bike working okay?"
"Is my bike working OKAY!" Jimmy said. "What you mean by that?!"
"It's laying on the sidewalk, just outside the parking lot," Adler said.
"What?!" said Jimmy.
"Ah, man," said Bo.
"Those dirty, ugly, greasy, SLIME BUCKETS!!" Jimmy said.
"Who?" asked Adler.
"They must have messed with his bike," Bo said. "That meant Mackie had to try to walk it. He can't run, right?"
"Not really, no," said Adler. "Wait a second, though--bike broke down, why not come back and get yours then?"
"Couldn't get him the key," Bo said quietly.
"There wouldn't have been enough time to walk it," Jimmy said. "He left here around ten to five, maybe even later."
They were silent for a minute.
"You have to give him credit, though," said Bo. "He didn't give up. He tried."
"Dude definitely has my respect," Jimmy said. "Ever hear me laughing at Mackie again, slap me."
"I'll be glad to," said Bo.
"What I need is a drill and a couple different type bits," said Adler, sizing up the situation now with the jammed lock and the gum.
"Good idea!" said Bo. "Try inside!"
"Nah, I don't know," Adler said. "That manager guy, I don't think he likes kids. Might think we caused the problem in the first place."
"Probably right," Bo said. "You have a phone?"
"They banned them from school last year, remember?"
Bo pulled out whatever change he had in his pocket and shoved it under the door.
"Find a phone, call Jenny," he said. "Her dad's got a workshop in the garage. He has everything."
There were no pay phones around anywhere. Adler had to go all the way to City Hall once again to find one, and then hustle back to Fancy Freeze. This was definitely a day he was going to try to forget.
Jenny and Melissa got there in fifteen minutes. Jenny was holding a yellow cordless drill with one hand and her handlebars with the other.
"I can't believe those guys did this to you," Melissa said through the door to Bo and Jimmy.
"All because of you saying something about when we saw them surfing?" Jenny said.
"Whatever," Jimmy said.
"Don't worry about that right now," Bo said. "Adler, what's happening out there?!"
"Dang gum keeps getting caught on the bit," Adler said.
"Dude, so try something else then!" Jimmy said.
"Okay, I'm switching to the big 1/2 inch bit, see if I can blast that latch out of there. Stand back."
It took Adler a long time, easily five minutes of very noisy drilling in between the metal door and the frame, but finally the drill bit broke through the latch. He stopped the drill, pulled it out, and opened the bathroom door.
Jimmy and Bo came stumbling out, squinting their eyes.
"I wouldn't recommend that," Bo said, shaking his head. "But thanks, all you guys."
"Likewise," said Jimmy.
"What we really need to do now--" Bo said.
"Is find Mackie," said Jimmy.
They went around the corner of the building, and directly in their path was the was Fancy Freeze manager with his white chef's hat on, talking to a policeman in a patrol car and pointing back toward where they were coming from.
"I'm not believing this," Jimmy said.
"Everyone just keep cool," Bo said. "One thing--whatever they ask us, we don't know how we got stuck in that bathroom."
"Why?" said Melissa.
"He's right," Jimmy said.
The officer noticed the five of them now and got out of the car. The manager went back into the kitchen.
"Excuse me ladies and gentlemen," he said. "Seems we have a report of some vandalism on the restaurant premises. Y'all wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
No one said anything.
"I see," the officer said. "In that case, you, sir, with the drill, you want to get in the back seat of the squad car for me, please?" He meant Adler.
"Wait just a second now!" Bo said.
"Un-huh?" said the officer.
"See, my friend and I, we went in there to wash up," Bo said, "and somehow the door wouldn't open. So our other buddy came along and found us and--"
"So I went and drilled out the lock," said Jimmy. "I broke the door. Guess I should have waited or something. Or maybe called a locksmith."
"I see," said the officer. "In that case, young man, it's you I'll need to ride with me down to the station house."
Adler started to say something, but Jimmy gave him a look that cut him off.
"I'll be okay," Jimmy said in a shaky voice as he got in the police car.
"Don't worry!" called Jenny, as the squad car drove out of the parking lot.
"We have to do something!" Melissa said.
"That should have been me in there," said Adler.
"First thing, we have to get my mom!" Jenny said.
"Just checked my bike," said Bo. "Amazingly they didn't mess with it. So here's what we do: I gotta go find Mackie before anything. You guys go talk to Mrs. McCoy. Let's see--you got two bikes... and Adler walked here."
"It's okay, I can walk," Adler said.
"Jen, can you ride Nick?" Bo said.
"Nah, don't worry about it."
"I can," said Jenny. "Nick, you just have to hold onto me. Everything'll be fine."
Please tell me I'm not dreaming, Adler said to himself.
Bo stood on the pedals and cranked it full speed all the way to Huckabee. It was getting dark. He recognized the one car in the parking lot--it belonged to Julio, the night custodian.
There was Mackie, sprawled out on the grass in front of the gym. He looked up, saw Bo, and started to cry.
"I tried real hard man," he said.
"It's okay, take it easy," Bo said.
"I just... missed it by two minutes."
"Walter, please, don't beat yourself up."
"The sign up sheet...it was still open..."
"Stop," said Bo.
"But Mr. Riggins..." His voice trailed off.
Bo reached down to him now and helped him up. Mackie's "Huckabee Chess Club" t- shirt was soaked through with sweat, and his face looked white as a sheet.
"Where're your glasses?" Bo said.
"Uh, over there somewhere. I kind of threw up a little bit. They fell off."
Bo looked around, found the glasses and rinsed them off in the water fountain.
This hadn't just been a kid trying to help them sign up for a talent show. This had been some sort of superhuman effort.
"You did good Walter," said Bo.
Mackie didn't say anything.
"Better than any of the rest of us could have done."
Mackie was silent.
Bo put his hand on Mackie's arm.
"You gave it everything you had," Bo said. "And I'm not going to forget this. Ever."
