فصل بیست و ششم

chapter-26

“Ready, racers?” asked Mr. Lemoncello as the two remaining teams crowded each other on the lemon square in the library lobby first thing the next morning.

This was it, thought Kyle. The final race. Akimi and Angus versus Kyle and Abia. There was no tomorrow. Well, there was, but it was just a date on the calendar. Whoever won this one would win everything!

“Ready,” said Kyle and Abia.

“Ready,” said Angus, crouching down in a way that sort of shoved Kyle sideways.

“Careful there, Mr. Harper,” said the hologram of Abraham Lincoln, who stood beside Mr. Lemoncello. Both of them were wearing tailcoats and stovepipe hats. “A house divided against itself cannot stand. Neither can a runner nudged in an unsportsmanlike manner.” “Sorry,” said Angus. “Just eager to win.” “Oh,” said Lincoln, “if only you had been one of my generals at the start of the Civil War…” The eight other data dashers were assembled in the lobby to cheer on the final four contestants.

“Hurry up and win, somebody!” shouted Elliott. “There’s a humongous Lincoln Log victory cake in the Book Nook Café! With buttercream frosting!” “And lemon meringue pie,” added Katherine.

Mr. Lemoncello gestured toward the open bank vault door.

“Since we are now down to our final two exhibits, Abraham Lincoln and moi, Luigi L. Lemoncello, we’re shaking things up for this final leg of the great library race. You will notice that we have placed four backpacks on the sidewalk in front of two bookmobiles and four bicycles. The two yellow backpacks will take you on a knowledge quest into my own personal past. The two copper-colored bags with Mr. Lincoln’s portrait on the back will lead you off, via the banana jet, to Columbus, Ohio, where Mr. Lincoln once gave a speech in 1859.” “Only fifty people came to hear me speak,” said Lincoln with a sad sigh. “But, like I once said, you have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.” “Well put, Mr. President!” exclaimed Mr. Lemoncello. “My most famous quote is ‘My best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read.’ ” “I believe I said that one, too,” said Lincoln.

“I know. But I just love quoting you.” He turned to the two teams. “Researchers, you have a choice. Both teams can go for the Lincoln fact or both can go for the Lemoncello fact. Then again, one team could go for Lincoln, the other for Lemoncello. Or vice versa. Or the opposite of vice versa, which I believe is virtue versa! It’s totally up to you. But remember, the last team back is a pair of rotten eggs.” Kyle looked at Abia. “Lemoncello?” he mouthed.

She nodded.

Next to them, Akimi and Angus were mouthing the same thing.

“All right, teams, are you ready?” Mr. Lemoncello raised his arm. “On your mark, get set, Lemon, cello, go!” The four remaining contestants dashed for the circular doorway. There was a bit of a traffic jam at first, but they all finally worked themselves free of the arm-elbow-leg tangle and raced down the steps to the sidewalk.

Kyle grabbed a yellow bag.

So did Akimi.

Nobody wanted to fly all the way to Columbus to learn about Lincoln, even if they could take the private jet, not if Mr. Lemoncello’s fun fact could be found faster by bike.

Kyle and Abia scurried away from Angus and Akimi, who were scurrying away from them. Both teams huddled over their backpacks and searched through the pockets and flaps looking for a clue.

They couldn’t find one!

Kyle looked down the sidewalk at Akimi and Angus. They were stumped, too.

That’s when everybody’s lPads started buzzing. A text message scrolled across the screen: I told you I get tired of the same old, same old.

This was followed by another text:

Here comes your clue.

And another.

Get ready for it.

And several more:

Any second now.

Mr. Lincoln is bummed nobody wants to find his fact.

I reminded him that most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

Where did I put that clue?

Ah! Here it is!

The tablet screen filled with a jumble of letters: “It’s a classic word search,” Kyle told Abia. “Start circling!” “I found ‘Lemoncello,’ ” said Abia. “It starts in the lower right corner and runs in a backward diagonal to the upper left!” “Excellent.”

They both started circling words with their fingertips. The circled letters changed color and flashed when they were correct. Down at the other end of the sidewalk, Akimi and Angus were doing the same thing.

In about three minutes, Kyle and Abia had discovered all nine words in the ten-by-ten box: CHILDHOOD

HOME

ITALY

LANE

LEMONCELLO

LITTLE

ONE

POPLAR

TWO

“When Mr. Lemoncello was little, was his home in Italy?” asked Abia.

“No,” said Kyle. “His ‘childhood’ ‘home’ was right here in Alexandriaville. In a neighborhood called ‘Little’ ‘Italy.’ There’s a street in that part of town named ‘Poplar’ ‘Lane.’ ” “So,” said Abia, tapping the words “one” and “two” on her screen, “he either lived at Twelve Poplar Lane or Twenty-One Poplar Lane.” “Come on,” said Kyle. “Let’s grab a bike. Twelve and Twenty-One have to be pretty close to each other, maybe even on the same block.” They hurried to the bikes.

Just in time to see Akimi and Angus already pedaling away.