فصل دوازدهم

chapter-12

“Will everybody please line up behind that far desk in front of the Children’s Room?” said Dr. Zinchenko, gesturing toward one of the wooden tables in the outermost ring of the room.

“How many of you are familiar with Mr. Lemoncello’s classic board game Hurry to the Top of the Heap?” Twelve hands shot up.

“Very good,” said Dr. Zinchenko.

Overhead, the Wonder Dome dissolved into a gigantic, curved Heap box top.

“This will be a live, three-dimensional version of that game. Each of you will be asked a trivia question. If you are able to answer it correctly, you will roll the dice and advance the equivalent number of desks. When you return to the starting point, you will move into the next concentric circle of desks. When you complete that ring, you will move into the next, and so on. If one of you makes it all the way to my desk at the center, you will be declared the winner.” “But we don’t have any dice,” said Yasmeen Smith-Snyder.

“Yes you do. See that smoky glass panel in the center of the desk? It is actually a touch-screen computer, currently running Mr. Lemoncello’s dice-rolling app. Simply swipe and flick your fingers across the glass to toss and tumble the animated dice.” Dr. Zinchenko placed a stack of red cards on her desk. She looked like the host of a TV game show. “Before we begin, are there any other questions?” Charles Chiltington raised his hand.

“Yes, Mr. Chiltington?”

“What will the winner win? After all, the prize is the most important part of any game.” Kyle didn’t totally agree, but he was too excited about playing the game to say anything.

“Tonight’s first prize,” said Dr. Zinchenko, “is this golden key granting the winner access to Mr. Lemoncello’s private and very posh bedroom suite up on the library’s third floor. Instead of spending the night on the floor in a sleeping bag, you will be relaxing in luxury with a feather bed, a seventy-two-inch television screen and a state-of-the-art gaming console.” Okay. Kyle was definitely interested in this particular prize.

Judging from the wide-open eyes and chorus of “oohs” and “wows” all around him, so was everybody else.

Dr. Zinchenko flipped over the first question card.

“What major-league pitcher was the last to win at least thirty games in one season?” Six players got it wrong before Kyle got it right.

“Denny McLain.”

“Correct.”

He swiped the glass panel, rolled a ten, and advanced ten desks around the room.

“What United States Navy ship was once captured by the North Koreans?” Miguel nailed that one: “The USS Pueblo.” He flew twelve spaces around the room.

“What did Apollo 8 accomplish that had never been done before?” Akimi, Andrew Peckleman, and Kayla Corson struck out on that one.

But Charles Chiltington knew the answer: “It was the first spacecraft to orbit the moon.” “Correct.”

Chiltington rolled a five, landing him in last place.

Kyle’s next question was tougher:

“Who was famous for saying, ‘Book ‘em, Danno’?” “Um, that guy on Hawaii Five-0?”

“Please be more specific.”

“Uh, the one with the shiny hair. Jack Lord?” “That is correct.”

Kyle breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he and his dad sometimes watched reruns of old TV shows from the 1960s.

But when he flicked the computerized dice, his luck hit a brick wall. He rolled snake eyes and moved up two measly desks.

Meanwhile, Miguel went down with a question about Barbra Streisand. (Kyle wasn’t exactly sure who she was.) And Charles Chiltington surged ahead with a correct answer about the Beatles’ “Hey Jude” and a double-sixes roll.

As the game went on, Kyle and Chiltington, the only players still standing, kept answering correctly and moving around the room, until they were both seated at a desk in the innermost ring—only six spaces away from Dr. Zinchenko’s desk and victory. Kyle was seriously glad he and his mom had played so many games of Trivial Pursuit—with the original, extremely old cards.

“Kyle, here is your next question: What song in the movie Doctor Dolittle won an Academy Award?” Kyle squinted. He had that movie. An old VHS cassette tape that his mom had bought at a garage sale. Too bad they didn’t have a VCR to watch it on. But even though he’d never seen the movie, he had read the front and back of the box a couple of times.

“Um, ‘Talk to the Animals’?”

“Correct.”

He started breathing again.

“Roll the dice, please, Mr. Keeley.”

Kyle did.

Another pair of ones. He moved up two spaces. Now he was only four desks away from winning.

“Mr. Chiltington, here is your next question: Who was elected president in 1968?” “I believe that was Richard Milhous Nixon.” “You are also correct.”

Chiltington didn’t wait for the librarian to tell him to roll the dice. He flicked his fingers across the glass pad.

“Yes! Double sixes. Again.” He moved around the last ring of desks, tapping their tops, counting them off even though everybody knew his twelve was more than good enough to carry him to the finish line.

“Congratulations, Mr. Chiltington,” Dr. Zinchenko said as she handed him the key to the private suite. “You are this evening’s first winner.” “Thank you, Dr. Zinchenko. I am truly and sincerely honored.” “Congratulations, Charles,” said Kyle. “Way to win.” “Get used to it, Keeley,” he answered in a voice only the other kids could hear. “I’m a Chiltington. We never lose.”