فصل سی و ششم

chapter-36

Kyle watched Mr. Lemoncello halfheartedly award the Thank You medal to the Mountain team.

But his mind drifted back to the hover ladder race.

Marjory Muldauer had blocked him on purpose. She wasn’t even trying to go for the book.

Why’d she do that? he wondered. Why’d she want the Mountain team to win this round?

“Hip, hip, hooray,” said Mr. Lemoncello as he limply shook the winner’s hand. “You won the tenth medal. Yippee, huzzah, and various other exclamations of glee. You were the first to reach the empty slot where the winning book should’ve been, which makes me want to sing, ‘Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? An empty hole where a book ought to be.’ ” Mr. Lemoncello turned to face the crowd.

“Thank you, Library Olympians and library lovers, for joining us here today. Come back tomorrow for the final two games of the first Library Olympics. Now go away! All of you! Go!” The crowd was stunned into silence.

The control room crew quickly pumped show tunes through all the speakers under the dome to cover the awkward silence. The ten holographic statues ringing the rotunda turned into the Trapp Family Singers and Uncle Max from The Sound of Music. They waved cheerfully and sang, “So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye!” “That concludes today’s competition,” said the soothing lady’s voice in the ceiling. “The score, after ten of the twelve games of the first Library Olympiad’s duodecimalthon: Pacific, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Mountain teams—one medal. The Midwest team and the Hometown Heroes—three medals.” “So,” said John Sazaklis, the anchor for the Book Network’s live coverage of the games, “it seems we’re looking at a battle of the bookworms between the two top teams. They’re all tied up, three to three. And there are only two games left.” “That’s right,” said his sidekick, renowned librarian Helen Burnham. “Of course, one of the four teams with a single medal could dazzle us all and sweep the final two competitions. It’s still possible that this thing could end in a three-way tie.” “Exciting.”

“You betcha, John. There’s only one thing we know for certain. The South will not rise again. Both the Southeast and the Southwest teams have remained medal-less in these games. I’m afraid those kids have no chance at being declared Mr. Lemoncello’s library champions.” “Too bad. I really like their cowboy hats and NASCAR tracksuits.”