فصل چهل و دوم

chapter-42

“Unbelievable,” said Akimi, shaking her head at the TV screen. “The Krinkle brothers are taking over the library, and Mr. Raymo’s gone over to the dark side.” Kyle watched Mr. Raymo tap the electronic keypad next to the bank vault door. Ten seconds later, it swung open. The Krinkle brothers stepped into the circular doorway with Mr. Raymo. The Chiltingtons wanted to go with them, as did the mayor, but the taller brother, David, held up his hand like a traffic cop.

“We have work to do inside, good people of Alexandriaville,” he announced. “You are all invited back tomorrow evening. Come along, Mr. Raymo.” The three figures disappeared and, with a heavy thunk of the bank vault door, locked themselves inside.

Kyle shook his head and shut off the TV.

“That’s it,” said Kyle. “They win.”

“What?” asked Angus. “Why?”

“No way can we get into the library now. We should’ve grabbed the patent and that old shoebox last night like you guys said. We could’ve shown the world the Barbie boot and models that Irma Hirschman swore Mr. Lemoncello didn’t have!” Abia nodded. “Yes. It would have been excellent primary-source research materials.” “Um, hello?” said Akimi. “There were police guarding the front door, remember?” “Well,” said Abia, “perhaps we should return to the library. I have found that sometimes, in the quest for knowledge, you must go backward before you can move forward.” “I guess that’s why they call it research,” said Andrew. “Sometimes you have to re-search for things you might’ve missed the first time you searched.” “Riiiight,” said Akimi, rolling her eyes. “That’s why they call it that.” “Okay, here’s our big problem,” said Kyle. “I mean besides getting past the cops into the locked library, of course. Where exactly in the library did Mr. Lemoncello store that shoebox?” “Easy answer,” said Akimi.

“Where?”

“Upstairs.”

“In the Dewey decimal rooms?”

“No, I mean Mr. Lemoncello is upstairs. Why don’t we just go up there and ask him?” —

When Kyle and Akimi returned to the second-floor reading room, Mr. Lemoncello had his nose buried in a new book—Unstoppable, a football story by Tim Green.

“The kids in this gripping gridiron saga never give up,” said Mr. Lemoncello. “Very inspirational.” “We won’t give up, either,” said Kyle. “But we need to know where you stored your backup material for your very first patent. The one for Family Frenzy.” “In the library.”

“Is it in the Art and Artifacts Room?” asked Akimi.

“Oh, no. That would be far too showy.” “So it’s in the Lemoncello-abilia Room?” “Oh, no. Too pretentious. You see, friends, I am a modest man. That’s why I did not want a holographic exhibit about me until Dr. Zinchenko’s mother insisted. The patent and all its supporting paraphernalia are downstairs. In the basement. In the stacks.” “Do you know where?” asked Kyle.

“Yes. The shoebox is in a carton. A cardboard carton.” “Can you be a little more vague?” cracked Akimi.

“You’re right. I should be better organized. You might ask Miguel or Andrew. They moved a lot of those old cartons around a couple weeks ago—all the papers from my early years in the game-making game. Back when the Imagination Factory wasn’t even a full-fledged idea. It was more of an inkling, which, by the way, is not a small pen.” “Okay,” said Kyle, “we’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?”

“To sneak into your library!”

“I see. Do you have a permission slip?” “Nope. But we’re going to do it anyway!”