The Fourth Stall Part II by Chris Rylander

Author:Chris Rylander [Rylander, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780062099259
Publisher: Walden Pond Press
Published: 2012-02-07T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Monday—Lower Grade Playground

At lunch that day we decided to just close up the office. Joe hung the “Closed for Repairs” sign on the door so kids knew that we’d be out indefinitely. We needed to lay low right now, at least until we could figure how to get Dr. George off our tails.

I let Fred do whatever he wanted for the rest of the day and sent Joe on a few errands for some of the customers I’d seen the past few days. Vince and I went outside to the playground to brainstorm.

“Before we get down to business, I need to ask you something,” I said.

“Okay, shoot.”

“What’s the Cubs’ longest winning streak in team history?”

“You realize that I’m not a moron, right?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Could have fooled me, Joe Blanton lover.”

Vince scoffed theatrically and then kicked some pebbles down the hill. We were headed to the new playground by the Shed for privacy reasons. We couldn’t be too careful.

“Twenty-one games. They did it twice, once in 1880 and again in 1935. Both currently stand as tied for the second-longest winning streaks in baseball history.”

“Wow, that was so much more information than I asked for. Thanks for wasting ten seconds of my life, Mr. Show-off,” I said.

Vince laughed as we reached the playground and sat on the swings, but his laughter sounded pretty vacant. I was pretty sure he was thinking the same thing I was.

“So,” I said, “are we ever going to get to use the office again? I mean, now that we know George is onto us, it may not be safe to open up shop in there.”

Vince shook his head. The look on his face seemed about as bleak as the gravel under our feet, which was destined to sit there forever getting trampled by kids.

“What are we going to do, Vince? Without the office we pretty much don’t have a business.”

“I know, I know. We’ll figure something out,” he said. “Or I mean, you will, right?”

“Hey, hey, I’m not Joe Blanton. I can’t work miracles,” I said. “But maybe even more important is figuring out more about the SMARTs. I hope Tyrell comes through for us, because if our school doesn’t pass those, then there’ll definitely be no business for us.”

Vince nodded solemnly, and I started getting too bummed so I decided to change the subject.

“Did I tell you yet that I got to dance with Hannah?”

Vince’s jaw dropped. Then he composed himself. “Whatever. I’m not that stupid.”

“No, seriously, Vince. In gym class we did dancing, and I got paired up with her. She was actually really nice.”

Vince shook his head and kicked at the sandy gravel under his feet. It made me nervous that he wasn’t saying anything. Then he sighed.

“Well, she’s a liar. Remember that, Mac? So don’t get fooled. She was probably just, like, selling her lies, you know?” Vince said.

My first impulse was to call him a liar and then kick sand in his face, but the more I thought about it the more I realized he was probably right.

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