فصل بیست و هفتم

chapter-27

Excited by the sudden appearance of a second bonus card, Sierra read it out loud: “ ‘Two plus two can equal more than four. Put two and two together and you’ll be closer than before.’ ” Akimi raised her hand.

“Yes?” said Sierra.

“You do realize that Miguel here isn’t on our team?” “Oh. Right. Sorry.”

Miguel turned to Kyle. “You guys are a team?” “Yep. You want to join?”

“Maybe. Not sure. Check back with me later, man.” “No problem,” said Kyle.

He fist-thumped his chest. Miguel fist-thumped his. They were flashing each other peace signs when Sierra said, “I think this means we should all play together as a team. Remember what it says on the fountain down in the lobby: ‘Knowledge not shared remains unknown.’ ” “Maybe,” said Miguel. “Like I said—let me get back to you guys. I’m workin’ on a few angles of my own. Flying solo.” “Sure. No problem.” Kyle was about to do the whole fist-chest-bump-peace-sign thing again when he had a brainstorm. “Miguel? Quick question. What’s on your library card?” Miguel shrugged. “My name and the number one.” “Anything else? Like on the back?” “Nothing really. Couple of books.” “Two?”

“Yeah.”

“What’re their titles?”

Miguel bit his lip. “Don’t want to say.” “Because you think they might be clues?” “Not saying what I might or might not be thinking, bro.” Kyle nodded.

“There are two different books on the back of everybody’s library cards,” said Akimi, thinking out loud. “ ‘Put two and two together and you’ll be closer than before.’ The book titles are some sort of clue. My books are One—” “Um, Akimi?” Kyle shook his head. Nodded toward Miguel.

“Right. Sorry. My bad.”

“Oh-kay, Miguel,” said Kyle. “If and when you decide to team up with us, you can show us the two books on the back of your card; we’ll all show you ours. We’ll also split the prize four ways. Deal?” “Deal.”

“Come on, guys.” Kyle gestured toward the exit.

“Where are we going?” asked Sierra.

Kyle dropped his voice. “The Electronic Learning Center.” “You want to play video games?” said Akimi. “Now? Seriously, Kyle, we may need to rethink your status as team captain.” “I don’t want to play video games. I want to check out the discard pile.” “Huh?”

“The cards the players who went home early dumped into that goldfish bowl!” “I’m comin’ with you guys,” said Miguel. “I’ve been thinking about those extra cards, too.” “Fine,” said Kyle. “Whatever.”

When they entered the game room, they saw Clarence, his arms folded across his chest genie-style. He was standing guard in front of the discard pile.

“May I help you?” he asked.

“Um, yeah,” said Kyle. “We want to check out the cards in the bowl.” “Sorry,” said Clarence. “You can’t have them.” “But,” said Mr. Lemoncello, his face suddenly appearing on every video screen in the room, “you can win them!” Dressed in a polka-dotted bow tie and snazzy jacket like a game show host, Mr. Lemoncello had one arm resting on a slender Plexiglas podium. Behind him, Dr. Zinchenko—all decked out in a sparkly red minidress—looked like the models that point at prizes on TV.

“Are the four of you ready to play Let’s Do a Deal?” When Mr. Lemoncello said that, he pushed a big red button in his podium. A prerecorded studio audience whistled, cheered, and applauded.

“Um, what’s Let’s Do a Deal?” asked Kyle.

“My first game to ever be turned into a TV show. Brought to you by lemon Pledge!” Dr. Zinchenko started singing: “Lemon Pledge, very pretty. Put the shine down, lemon good …” “Thank you, Dr. Z!” said Mr. Lemoncello, bopping the button to make the audience cheer again. “Now then, kids, here’s the deal: Solve one simple picture puzzle and you four win the five library cards in the bowl.” “And if we lose?”

“Simple. Each of you loses his or her library card and adds it to the discard bowl for our next lucky contestants to try and win.” He banged the red button again. The audience cheered exactly the same way they cheered before.

Kyle turned to the others. “What do you say, guys?” “Let’s go for it,” said Akimi.

Sierra nodded.

“Miguel?”

“I’m in, bro.”

“You’re joining our team?”

“Absolutely.” They knocked knuckles to seal the deal.

Mr. Lemoncello must’ve whacked his button again, because the canned studio audience started cheering.

Kyle wondered what the sound effects would be if he and his friends lost their library cards playing Let’s Do a Deal.

Probably groans.

And weeping. Lots and lots of weeping.