Part 2 (1/2)

Do you know the story of Stone Soup? There are a few different versions of it, but basically, it's about how a group of people cooperate to make a wonderful meal, even when they think they have no food at all. They start a pot of water boiling, and add some ”magic” stones. Then one person adds a carrot, and another one adds a potato, and somebody else adds some cabbage. Before you know it, there's a big pot of delicious soup. it's a great story.

But Mal was having some trouble convincing the kids of that fact. They still seemed restless, and they weren't paying much attention. Mal tried to put a lot of expression into her reading, and after she read each page, she held up the book so the kids could see the picture. She even tried to read with the book held up next to her, so they could see the picture as she read, but that was pretty hard.

Finally one of the boys yelled out, ”This is a dumb story. And the pictures are too little. I can't even see what the people look like!”

Mal blushed. Her first story hour was bombing in a big way. She glanced down at the floor and saw Tikki Tikki Tembo. ”Okay,” she said. ”How about if we move on to the next book? This one has really big pictures.” She picked it up and showed it to them.

”Yea!” yelled a couple of kids. Mal looked around at her audience and noticed that it had grown. A couple of slightly older kids were there now, kids Mal thought she had seen in the bookstore before. One was a blonde girl who looked about six, and the other was a boy, obviously her brother (he had the same turned-up nose, Mal told me), and apparently a couple of years older. They were on their own, and they were a little dirty and scruffy, but they were behaving well. The girl looked up at Mal and smiled. ”I love that book. I can say Tikki Tikki Tembo's whole name,” she said.

”Good,” said Mal. ”I hope everybody will be able to do that by the time we finish reading this.” She opened the book and tried to hold it up so everybody could see. It was a huge book, so the pictures were big enough, but it was floppy. Mal struggled to keep it upright as she began to read.

Tikki Tikki Tembo is the story of two young brothers who live in a small mountain village in China. One of them is named Chang. He is the second-born son, and so, because it's the custom, he has a very short name. But his older brother, the first-born son, has a long, long name and that's what causes the trouble. What happens first is that Chang falls into a well. His brother runs for help, and help comes quickly. But then the older brother, the first born son, falls into the well. And when Chang runs for help, it takes a lot longer. Why? Because every time Chang tries to tell somebody that his brother has fallen into the well, he has to start by saying his brother's name, which is this: Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari ban ruchi-pip peri pembo!

Kids, naturally, love that book. The name is repeated over and over, and soon they learn to chant it along with whoever is reading to them. By the middle of the story, Mal's arms were tired from holding up the giant book and turning the pages, and her neck was stiff from looking at the book sideways, and her throat was scratchy from reading out loud - but Mal was happy. The kids were crazy about the book, and every time Mal started to say ”Tikki tikki tembo,” the kids joined in and said it along with her, shouting out the last ”pip peri pembo!” so loudly that shoppers from all over the store came to see what was going on in the children's section. Mal was a big hit.

After she finished Tikki Tikki Tembo, Mal swung right into The Cat in the Hat, which was also a crowd-pleaser. And when Mal finished that, they begged for another. ”Sorry,” said Mal, who had noticed that a lot of parents were already waiting to pick up their kids. ”That's all for today, but come back next week.” By the time Mal had tidied up the children's section, all of the kids had been picked up.

The blonde girl and boy were met by an older girl, maybe twelve, Mal thought. She looked

as if she might be their sister. After being congratulated by Ms. Munro, Mal headed for the bus, and we all rode home together. She filled us in on her story hour.

”That sounds like fun,” said Jessi, enviously.

”All I got to do today was sweep up popcorn and sc.r.a.pe chewing gum off the theatre floor.” ”I had a good day,” said Logan. ”The cook at Casa Grande taught me how to make enchiladas.”

”Cool,” said Claudia. ”I had fun today, too. I unpacked a new s.h.i.+pment of paints and set them up in a window display.”

”Well, I made my first big sale today,” said Mary Anne. 'Twenty pounds of dog biscuits to a lady who owns a Saint Bernard.”

Then it was my turn to report on that day's work. ”My day wasn't so great,” I said. ”You know all that stuff we heard about shoplifting? Well, it happened to me today. I was right there, too, working at the cash register. Some sing-along ca.s.settes disappeared from practically right under my nose.”

”Oh,” said Claudia. ”That's awful. Was your boss mad?”

”No, she was really nice about it. But still, I feel responsible. I just wish there was something I could do about it.”

'I'll look into it,” said Kristy importantly. ”Security has cameras in every store, you know. I'll make sure my boss reviews today's tapes from Toy Town extra carefully.”

”Thanks,” I replied. But I didn't hold out much hope that the shoplifters would be caught that way. They had done their job well, and it was my guess that they knew all about the cameras and how to avoid them.

”Speaking of cameras,” said Mal, ”I wish we'd had one at story hour today. I thought I saw something weird happen, but now I'm not so sure.” She told us about the blonde boy and girl, and said that at one point during Tikki Tikki Tembo she thought she saw the boy pick up and gobble down a pack of cookies that belonged to a little girl sitting nearby. It wasn't a big deal and the girl didn't make a fuss, so Mal thought maybe she'd been mistaken. Still, it bothered her.

”Ooh,” said Kristy, grinning. ”Crime wave at story hour. What will it be next? Crayon s.n.a.t.c.hing? Puppet kidnapping?”

We cracked up, and I forgot about the bad parts of the day as we talked and laughed for the rest of the ride home.

Chapter 6.

”So, I talked to my boss some more about the videotapes from Toy Town - ” Kristy stopped in mid-sentence and whirled around in her seat. ”Alan Gray, you cut that out,” she yelled. ”Spitb.a.l.l.s are disgusting and juvenile. You are so immature.” Then she raised her hand to her cheek, where another spitball had just landed. ”Alan,” she said. ”We're trying to have a serious discussion here!”

It was Monday, and my friends and I were on the bus together, heading to the mall to start our second week of work. I was looking forward to my day at Toy Town, although I was having a hard time forgetting about those ca.s.settes that had disappeared. I had even talked to my mom about it. She told me that there's shoplifting at every store, including Bellairs, and that I shouldn't feel guilty that it had happened to me. But I did anyway. April hadn't seemed too upset (I guess she was used to it), but it sure bothered me. ”So what did she say?” I asked Kristy. She had told us at Friday's BSC meeting that her boss, Ms. Garcia, had planned to review the tapes, but that was the last I had heard.

”Well, she called me on Sat.u.r.day,” said Kristy. ”And it turns out that there were some people doing suspicious-looking things on the tape. Teenagers - older ones. I guess security has been watching them for a while: they think a gang of kids is responsible for a lot of the shoplifting that's been going on recently.”

”Wow!” I said. ”A gang? That sounds major.”

”Do they have guns and stuff?” asked Mary Anne, looking scared.

”I don't think it's a gang gang,” said Kristy. ”It's just a group of kids out for kicks. But Ms. Garcia is taking them seriously.”

”Good,” said Claudia. ”They shouldn't be allowed to get away with what they're doing. My boss said shoplifting costs him thousands of dollars a year! He said his prices would be a lot lower if he didn't have to make up for what he loses when people shoplift.”

”That's what my boss said, too,” said Logan.

The bus pulled up at the mall entrance, and we all hopped out. As she pa.s.sed Alan Gray, Kristy stuck her tongue out and made a face.

”Very mature,” I whispered to her. She giggled.

”Have fun, everybody!” she said, as she headed for the security office.

Claud and I walked together until we reached Toy Town. We glanced into store windows as we went by them, checking out new displays of shoes and dresses. ”One of these days we're going to have to stay a little late and do some serious shopping,” said Gaud, eyeing a white lace baby-doll dress. ”I'll ask my dad if he can pick us up one day next week.”

”Great,” I said. ”I could use a new pair of shoes.” I had hardly thought about shopping, even though I had been spending so much time in the mall. Being there as an employee was very different. Somehow the stores didn't seem to have the same magic, now that I knew what it was like behind the scenes. April had explained a little more about pricing to me, and she'd told me how displays can be used to ”move” merchandise that might otherwise sit on the shelves. Still, even though the magic wasn't there anymore, shopping with Claudia was always fun. And knowing more about how stores worked would only make me a better shopper. I gazed at a pair of black lace-up boots and wondered how they would look with this old-fas.h.i.+oned floral-print dress my mother had given me.

”Hey, we're going to be late,” said Claud, pulling on my arm.

I checked my watch. ”You're right!” I cried. ”I better run. See you!” I took off for Toy Town, and arrived a little out of breath.

”Tay-see!” said Sandy, when he saw me walk in the door. He ran to me, grinning. Sandy had turned out to be pretty friendly, and he seemed to like me a lot, maybe because April kept asking me to play with him whenever he started to get cranky and bored. ”See my doggie?” Sandy asked, holding up a black-and-white stuffed puppy. ”Ruff, ruff,” he said, giggling as he made the dog jump up and down.

”You can show Stacey your doggie later, honey,” said April, stepping out from behind the cash register. ”Right now, Stacey and I need to have a little talk, so I want you to sit quietly for a few minutes, okay?”

Sandy nodded, and April settled him into a corner with his dog and a little blanket made out of a towel. ”You tuck your doggie in, and tell him a bedtime story,” she said.

Then she turned to me. I was just standing there, s.h.i.+fting my weight from side to side and feeling extremely nervous. What did she want to talk to me about? Was she going to tell me I couldn't work at Toy Town anymore? Had she decided that it was my fault, after all, that those ca.s.settes had disappeared?

”I need to talk to you about shoplifting,” said April. ”Why don't we sit down for a few minutes?” She gestured toward a pair of kid-sized chairs standing next to the train-set table.

A knot had formed in my stomach, and as I walked toward the chair I felt it growing. ”I'm really sorry about what happened on Wednesday,” I said as soon as we sat down. ”I'll pay you back for the ca.s.settes, if you want.”

”Oh, Stacey,” said April, reaching out to touch my arm. ”That's not what I wanted to talk to you about. That wasn't your fault at all!” She smiled at me. ”You're a wonderful worker, and I trust you completely.”