فصل نهم

chapter-9

Kyle couldn’t wait to tell his family the good news.

“I won the essay contest!” He showed them his shiny new library card.

“Congratulations!” said his mom.

“Way to go!” said his dad.

His brothers, Curtis and Mike, were more interested in Kyle’s other card: his five-hundred-dollar Lemoncello gift card.

“It’s good for twelve months,” said Kyle.

“But you need to use it now,” said Mike. “We need to go to the store tonight so you can buy me Mr. Lemoncello’s Kooky-Wacky Hockey.” “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I have to show my library card at the store to cash it in.” “And?”

“Um, I’m grounded, remember?”

“You know, Kyle,” said his dad, looking at his mother, who nodded, “since you worked extra hard and did such a bang-up job on your essay, I think we might consider suspending your punishment.” “Really?”

“Really.”

Kyle’s mom and dad smiled at him.

The way they smiled whenever Mike won a football game or Curtis won the science fair.

After supper, all five Keeleys piled into the family van and headed off to the local toy store.

“Lemoncello’s hockey game is awesome,” said Mike as they drove to the store. “Especially when the penguins play the polar bears.” “I’m hoping to find a classic board game,” mused Curtis. “Mr. Lemoncello’s Bewilderingly Baffling Bibliomania.” “Is that about the Bible?” asked their dad from behind the wheel.

“Not exactly,” said Curtis, “although the Bible, especially a rare Gutenberg edition, may be one of the treasures you must find and collect, because the object of the game is to collect rare and valuable books by—” “The penguins in Kooky-Wacky Hockey aren’t from Pittsburgh like in the NHL,” said Mike, cutting off Curtis. “They’re from Antarctica. And the polar bears? They’re from Alaska.” Kyle had decided to divvy up his gift card five ways. To give everybody—including his mom and dad—one hundred dollars to play with.

As soon as they entered the toy store, the family split up, cruising the aisles with their own shopping carts. His mom was going to upgrade to Mr. Lemoncello’s Restaurant Rush. His dad was looking for one of Mr. Lemoncello’s complicated What If? historical games: What If the Romans Had Won the American Civil War?

Kyle hung with Curtis and Mike for a while. Being the one with the gift card made him feel like he was suddenly their big brother.

Mike quickly found his PlayStation hockey game and Curtis was in geek heaven when he finally found Bibliomania.

“They only have one left!” he gushed, tearing off the cellophane shrink-wrap and prying open the lid. He sat down right in the middle of the store and unfolded the game board on his lap. “You see, you start under the rotunda in this circular reading room. Then you go upstairs and enter each of these ten chambers, where you have to answer a question about a book.…” “Um, I think I hear Mom calling me,” said Kyle. “She must need the gift card. Enjoy!” And Kyle took off.

“The store will close in fifteen minutes,” announced a voice from the ceiling speakers.

Kyle flew up and down the aisles and grabbed a couple of board games he didn’t own yet, including Mr. Lemoncello’s Absolutely Incredible Iron Horse—a game where you build your own transcontinental railroad, complete with locomotive game pieces that actually puff steam.

As Kyle was doing some quick math to see if he’d spent his one hundred dollars, Charles Chiltington rolled up the aisle with a cart crammed full with five hundred dollars’ worth of loot. Games stacked on top of games were practically spilling over the sides. Mr. Lemoncello’s Phenomenal Picture Word Puzzler, one of Kyle’s favorites, was teetering on the top.

“Hello, Keeley,” said Chiltington with a smirk. He looked down at the three games sitting in the bottom of Kyle’s shopping cart. “Just getting started?” “No. I shared my gift card with my family.”

“Really? Well, that was a mistake, wasn’t it?”

Kyle was about to answer when Chiltington said, “So long. See you on Friday.” Kyle wasn’t 100 percent sure but Charles might’ve also muttered, “Loser.” Since the store was about to close, Kyle headed toward the checkout lanes. When he passed the customer service department, he saw Haley Daley.

“No,” Kyle heard Haley say in a hushed tone to the clerk working the Returns window. “I do not want to return these items for store credit. I would prefer cash.” Kyle finally found his family, showed the cashier his library card, and paid for everything with a single swipe of his gift card.

“You know, Kyle,” said his dad as the family walked across the parking lot, “your mother and I are extremely proud of you. Writing a good essay isn’t easy.” “Maybe you’ll be an author someday,” added his mom. “Then you could write books that’ll be on the shelves of the new library.” “Thanks, little brother,” said Curtis, practically hugging his Bibliomania box.

“Yeah,” said Mike. “This was awesome. Way to win one for the team!” “Best ‘family game night’ ever,” joked their dad.

Kyle was enjoying his rare moment of glory, playing Santa Claus for his whole family. As the week dragged on, Friday night and the library lock-in started to remind Kyle of Christmas, too: It felt like they would never come.

Then, finally, they did.