فصل چهلم

chapter-40

“And then there were two!” shouted Mr. Lemoncello from his third-floor balcony. “This finale is far too exciting to miss!” “Are you feeling better, sir?” asked Dr. Zinchenko.

“Much!” He looked down at Sierra and Marjory. “I’ve been watching you two on TV! There’s nothing like a pair of brilliant young minds set free in a library to perk me up! Plus, I’ve decided to hire detective Sammy Keyes, who found the hotel thief, to help me find the book thief, which, of course, is now available on DVD in our movie department on the first floor.” He scampered down the spiral staircases.

Kyle heard a funny burp-squeak-burp sound and smiled. Mr. Lemoncello was still dressed all in black, but he’d put on his banana shoes.

As he made his way around and around and down the two flights of curling, corkscrewing steps, his shoes were honking out a song: “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round.” Good, thought Kyle. His hero was back!

Mr. Lemoncello sprinted to the center of the Rotunda Reading Room, leapt up, and somersaulted over the librarian’s desk. When he landed on the other side, his banana shoes let out a gassy PPPFFFFFIIP.

The audience laughed, applauded, and cheered.

Well, everybody except Mrs. Chiltington and her friends. Kyle could see them shaking their heads disgustedly.

“I’ll take over from here, Dr. Zinchenko!” said Mr. Lemoncello.

“Very well, sir.” She handed him her stack of question cards.

“Hello, Sierra.”

“Hello, sir.”

“Marjory.”

She waggled her fingers at him like she was bored.

“Okeydokey, pokey,” said Mr. Lemoncello. “You two look lonely. Teammates? Come on down.” Kyle, Akimi, and Miguel dashed down the aisle between desks to join Sierra.

“I’m good,” said Marjory, stopping her teammates in their tracks. “I don’t need any help.” “Very well,” said Mr. Lemoncello. “Let me recap.” He reached under the librarian’s desk and pulled out a purple flower-petal swim cap, which he tugged down snugly over his curly white hair.

“Your two teams are currently tied, with three medals each. We have two games remaining: this one and then the one that comes after it, which would be the next one. This is extremely exciting, wouldn’t you agree?” “Yes, sir,” said Kyle and his teammates.

Marjory Muldauer shrugged. “Can we move on to the next question?” “Moving on,” said Mr. Lemoncello. “This next question is not—I repeat, not—a multiple guess. You must tap in your answer using the keypad on your tabletop’s tablet computer. We’re still in the category of banned books, only this time they’re more than banned, because these poor books were burned. Here is your question: On what date did the Dominican priest Savonarola collect and publicly burn thousands of lewd books in Florence, Italy?” Kyle looked at Sierra.

She nodded.

“Go for it,” said Kyle.

Sierra typed in her answer: SHROVE TUESDAY, 1497.

Kyle could hear the computer’s click-clack sound effects accompanying Marjory’s glass-tapping as she entered her answer, too.

“Is that your final answer, Sierra?” asked Mr. Lemoncello.

“Yes, sir.”

“Miss Muldauer?”

“Well, duh. I typed it in, didn’t I?”

“Indeed you did. Dr. Zinchenko?”

“The answer we were looking for is Shrove Tuesday, 1497!” “Woo-hoo!” shouted Kyle.

“That’s the answer Sierra Russell gave me,” said Mr. Lemoncello, checking his own computer screen. “Miss Muldauer, I’m afraid your answer is incorrect.” “No, it’s not.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Muldauer,” said Dr. Zinchenko. “You did not type in ‘Shrove Tuesday, 1497.’ ” “I know. Because that answer isn’t specific enough.” “I beg your pardon?” said Mr. Lemoncello, taking off his bathing cap. “My ears were covered by rubberized flower petals. Are you saying my head librarian, Dr. Yanina Zinchenko, has incorrectly identified the answer as ‘Shrove Tuesday, 1497?’ ” “It’s an okay answer,” said Marjory. “If you’re lazy. My answer, however, is more correct. February 7, 1497. Yes, it was also Shrove Tuesday, now commonly referred to as Mardi Gras, but your question specifically asked for a date, not a day.” The whole crowd gasped.

Kyle could feel his heart racing in his chest.

Was Sierra’s answer technically incorrect?

If so, did that mean his team lost another medal?

“This is quite the quizzical, perplexable, and curious conundrum,” said Mr. Lemoncello. “Fortunately, we are in a library, where librarians may not know everything but they certainly know how to find it. Dr. Zinchenko?” “I will go upstairs to the triple zero room, locate the appropriate encyclopedia volume, and check both ‘Savonarola’ and ‘Shrove Tuesday.’ ” “Aha. Might I suggest you start with the ‘S’ volume?” “Such was my plan, sir.”

“Excellent pre-research planning, Dr. Zinchenko. We wait with bated breath, so kindly hurry before things get too fishy down here.” Heels clicking on the marble floor, Dr. Zinchenko made her way to the nearest spiral staircase, then clanked up the steps to the second floor.

Mr. Lemoncello turned to the closest television camera. “Don’t go away. We’ll be right back with the correct answer to our last question right after this word from our sponsors.” “This is public TV,” whispered the camera operator. “We don’t do commercials.” “Oh. Well, can’t you do a pledge drive or something? Or should I just make funny faces?” “Funny faces would be fine, sir.”

While Mr. Lemoncello mugged for the camera, Miguel turned to his teammates. “Dr. Z is headed upstairs for the zero-three-zeros. That’s the Dewey decimal classification for encyclopedias and books of facts.” “Actually,” said Marjory, leaning back smugly, “she will be looking for zero-three-two, encyclopedias in American English. You people need to start being much more specific; otherwise—” Suddenly, there was a shriek from the second floor.

Dr. Zinchenko raced to the balcony railing. “They’re gone!” “What?” cried Mr. Lemoncello.

“All the ‘S’ encyclopedias, sir. They’re missing. Every single one!” “What? How is that possible?”

“I don’t know, sir. We never check out encyclopedias. Somebody must have stolen them!”