Double Dutch

by Sharon M. Draper

  “Wow!” Delia said. “I think he’s cute! I don’t know if I’d be able to talk to him—I’d be so nervous.”

  “You probably won’t have to say much—just jump like no tomorrow!” her mother told her. “Here’s your place, Randy. You need anything, dear?” Mrs. Douglas asked.

  “No thanks, I’m cool. Actually, I’m really hot, but you know what I mean,” Randy said, laughing. “Thanks for the ride.” Delia watched Randy glance at the windows of his apartment. They were dark.

  Randy glanced back at Delia, gave her a smile, and headed into the building.

  thirteen

  IT WAS UNBEARABLY HOT IN THE HALLWAY, AND RANDY’S apartment seemed to pulse with heat. The cat greeted him at the door with a loud meow. He gave her some water in a dish, which she lapped up thirstily.

  “Sorry about that, Cat,” Randy said softly. He took a cool shower and made himself a large pitcher of Kool-Aid. It was so hot, he didn’t even have an appetite.

  He turned on a small fan in the living room, sat directly in front of it, took a deep breath, and dialed Delia’s number. She answered on the first ring. “What’s up?” he asked casually.

  “Not much. It’s too hot to think-too hot to breathe.”

  “Yeah, I feel ya. My cat is sitting here in front of my fan, sucking up all my cool air!” Randy laughed, but it sounded weak and hollow.

  “Are you okay, Randy?” Delia asked. “What’s going on?”

  Randy sighed again. “Delia, I guess I gotta tell somebody.” He stopped, pausing to think.

  “What’s wrong? You know you can trust me,” Delia urged him.

  “It’s my dad.”

  “Did something happen on the road?”

  “Uh, no, he, uh . . . he wants me to move to California with him,” Randy said suddenly. For some reason, he just could not bring himself to tell Delia the truth. “He called last night and wants me to meet him there next week.”

  “Next week!” Delia said, alarm in her voice. “Why can’t he wait until the end of the school year? It’s only a couple of months,” she offered, her voice sounding strained.

  “I told him I had to wait until after the Double Dutch tournament, then I guess I’m outta here.”

  “That’s this weekend!” Delia repeated shrilly.

  “I know,” Randy answered quietly. He figured that if his dad had not returned by then, he would have to call the police and he’d be taken out of school, anyway. He wanted just a little more time. Time to be there for the tournament. Time to hope. Time to pray. “Delia?” Randy asked slowly.

  “What, Randy?” Delia answered quietly.

  “Dad said he would send me some money to get to California, but until he does, do you think ... is there any way ... I mean, I really hate to ask, but—”

  “You need some money, Randy?”

  “Naw, I’m okay. I was just teasing.” Randy was suddenly embarrassed and sorry he had brought up the subject. But the woman from the electric company called every day, asking for more money, and the man from the rental company had simply laughed at the hundred dollars. Juggling it all made his head swim.

  “I got fifty dollars for my birthday last month—Daddy always gives me money because he feels guilty that he’s not with me like he used to be,” Delia insisted. “I get to do with it what I want, and I’m bringing it to school tomorrow! I trust you, Randy, and I trust your dad. I know he’s good for it!”

  “Thanks, Delia. You don’t know how much I appreciate it. I’ll pay you back as soon as I hear from my dad—I promise.” Even as he spoke, Randy worried about how he would ever be able to repay Delia if his father never came back.

  “Don’t worry about it, Randy.”

  “You got everything for our presentation tomorrow?” he asked, changing the subject. “You know my cat is gonna be the star of the whole show!”

  Delia chuckled. “Yep, the tape is ready. Jesse’s got one poster, Yolanda has the other, and you’re bringing stuff to give the class—those little Martian pictures you drew, right? And you’re right, bringing the cat was a cool idea.”

  “Well, me and my cat is tight.” Randy laughed again. Delia made him feel relaxed and almost normal. “Yeah, I got the other handouts—the question sheets and stuff.”

  “It’s gonna be a dynamite presentation, Randy. And then we get to see what the Tollivers came up with. Scary. Hey, my mom is calling me. I gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Peace, Delia. And thanks.”

  Randy got ready for bed, refusing to glance at the silent telephone. He slept restlessly, dreaming of his father. He woke up hot, sweaty, and hungry. He made himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and washed it down with the rest of the Kool-Aid. He chopped up the last hot dog into little pieces and gave it to the cat, who sniffed it like it was poison. “You get hungry enough, Cat, trust me, you’ll eat it,” Randy said as he got dressed for school. He grabbed all the materials for their presentation, stuffed them into his book bag, and headed out the door. The day was unbelievably hot already.

  The weather was just weird, he thought. It just didn’t feel right. The air even smelled funny.

  By the time he got to school, he was already sweaty and uncomfortable. The heat inside the school, which was not air-conditioned, was thick and heavy. Kids moved in slow motion, fanning themselves during class, falling asleep in spite of themselves. Outside, although the air was unbearably oppressive and hard to breathe, the sky was not bright with sunshine. Instead it was a mustard yellow color, with odd, dusty-looking clouds hovering in it.

  By third bell, time for English class, Randy just wanted to get out of there. The thought of jumping into an ice-cold swimming pool kept running through his mind as the sweat trickled down his back. Miss Benson, dressed in a sleeveless blouse and slacks, looked at her lethargic class as the bell rang. She took attendance and reminded the class that the state tests would begin next week. The class groaned and drooped even more.

  “I hope Group Two has a dynamite presentation. We need something to wake us up. You guys ready? And Mr. and Mr. Tolliver? Are you two ready as well?”

  Titan looked up. Dressed in black as usual, he didn’t even look hot and uncomfortable like the others in the class. “We’re ready,” he said quietly.

  Miss Benson smiled and said, “Good.” She then looked to Delia’s group and gave them a signal to begin.

  Jesse, Yolanda, Delia, and Randy trooped to the front of the room and put their tape into the machine. Randy grinned. ‘Just wait!” he told the class. “We’ll wake you up!” Loud rock music played for a few seconds, then Yolanda appeared on the screen. She was dressed in all red—red jeans, red shoes, red tank top—and her hair, instead of being pulled back into her usual ponytail, was down around her face. She looked directly into the camera and screamed.

  Yolanda: EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! They’re coming! They’re coming!

  Delia: Who’s coming? Quit that screaming!

  Yolanda: The Martians. They landed on the roof of the school!

  Delia: How do you know?

  Yolanda: Randy told me.

  Jesse: And you believe him?

  Yolanda: He never lies.

  Delia: But you do.

  Jesse: Randy, how do you know there are Martians on the roof?

  Randy: I heard them. I could hear their little slimy footsteps. They’re coming this way!

  Yolanda: See? I’m not lying this time. The Martians are coming to attack us. They’re going to take us all back to Mars and cut us into little pieces. We’re gonna be chopped Martian stew!

  Delia: I’m too young to die!

  Randy: Well, I’m too tough to be eaten. Where are the Martians? I’m gonna go smash a couple of those little green suckers in their beady little heads.

  Jesse: I’m with you, man. Let’s head for the roof.

  Yolanda: You can’t! They have guns!

  Delia: How do you know?

  Yolanda: They always have guns! I’ve seen them in movies.

&nb
sp; Jesse: She’s right. We need weapons.

  Delia: We’re all gonna die!

  Jesse: Well, I’m gonna die trying to fight for my freedom.

  Randy: Yeah, what kills a Martian?

  Delia: I don’t know. What kills a person?

  Jesse: Guns. Maybe we need Martian space guns.

  Yolanda: What was that noise?

  Delia: They’re coming!

  Randy: We’re under attack!

  Jesse: It’s no use! We’re gonna die!

  Yolanda: EEEEEEEEEE!

  Delia: Quit screaming.

  Yolanda: If I’m going to die, I want to be noticed as I do it!

  Jesse: The door is opening!

  Randy: Here they come!

  Delia: Good-bye, world!

  On the screen the door opened slowly and the camera moved to the floor, where Randy’s cat walked nonchalantly through the door. She yawned, curled up in a ball, and promptly went to sleep. Randy held a THE END sign in front of the camera, and the screen went black.

  The class cheered and clapped as Randy, Delia, Jesse, and Yolanda took their bows. Miss Benson smiled with approval.

  “Any questions?” asked Yolanda.

  “Yeah, where did you get that dynamite red outfit?” a girl named Veronica asked from the back of the room. Everyone laughed again.

  “You’re supposed to ask questions about the project, Veronica,” Randy complained.

  “What were you trying to show?” asked Leeza. She looked at Miss Benson to make sure the teacher had noticed that she had asked a sensible question. Miss Benson nodded to let her know that she had.

  “Sometimes people get scared of things that aren’t even real,” Randy answered.

  “And they get all bent out of shape over things that aren’t true,” Delia added. “Sometimes it’s more scary to believe the lie.”

  “And the truth is so simple that it’s silly,” said Randy.

  “Of course, it could be that cats really ARE Martians in disguise, and we’ve been under attack for years,” Yolanda joked.

  Miss Benson thanked them, and the class clapped once more as the group sat down.

  Another easy A, Delia thought to herself. Ka-ching!

  “Can I go to the bathroom, Miss Benson?” Yolanda asked. “I promise I’ll be quick, but I really, really have to go!”

  “You sure you don’t need open-heart surgery?” Miss Benson teased.

  “That was last week. Today I think I have bursitis, or maybe meningitis. Whatever it is, it makes the patient have to go to the bathroom. I just gotta go. Please?”

  “Okay, but hurry. You don’t want to miss the next presentation, I’m sure.”

  “You got that right!” Yolanda grinned and hurried out of the room with the hall pass.

  Miss Benson glanced at the clock, saw that there was plenty of time left in the class period, and glanced back at the Tolliver twins. “Okay, gentlemen,” she said quietly. “You’re on!”

  fourteen

  TITAN AND TABU ROSE TOGETHER FROM THEIR SEATS AT the same instant. They walked slowly to the front of the room, their boots stomping noisily and in unison on the scuffed classroom floor. The room was absolutely silent. Outside, the sky had darkened, and stone gray clouds began to accumulate. The leaves on the trees fluttered as though nervous in the unexpected winds, turning their backs to the sky. A cool breeze whipped through the open classroom windows with sudden fierceness as thunder rumbled in the distance. Miss Benson walked over to the windows and shut them quickly, making the classroom feel dismal and frightening, the electric lights a weak glow against the coming storm. Titan and Tabu stood in absolute silence at the front of the classroom. It was as if they had commanded the weather to be ominous as a natural background to their presentation.

  Titan spoke first. “This book, Lord of the Flies, is about death—the death of children!” A huge flash of lightning, followed by a room-shaking blast of thunder, punctuated his statement. Delia jumped and gasped. The rest of the class looked around with fear. Miss Benson looked nervously out the window and at the two boys in the front. It seemed as if she had lost control, both inside and outside the classroom.

  Tabu followed. “It’s also about evil, and how much evil humans, even little boy humans, are capable of. In the book, Jack and his hunters go crazy and let evil take over their good sense. I think the author was tryin’ to use kids to show that everybody has a little bit of evil in them. Everybody,” he repeated with emphasis.

  Titan continued, “And it’s about fear—fear of what you don’t know and don’t understand.” The lightning and thunder continued to build, and outside, the sky was almost as dark as night. Strangely, no rain had begun to fall. Just the thunder and the lightning and the thick, dark silences between each blast.

  Tabu looked out the window. “If I told you that this was the end of the world, would you believe me?” he asked the class.

  No one answered. Everyone was too scared.

  Titan asked them, “And if I told you that me and my brother were mass murderers, would you believe that?” Another peal of thunder answered.

  “Everybody at this school has acted just like the kids in this book,” Tabu said fiercely. “You have treated us like monsters and killers, when we have done nothing but mind our own business. Maybe the evil is in you and not in us. Ever think of that?”

  “Put it this way,” Titan added. “Imagine a big, black rottweiler dog—maybe two of ’em. They look scary. They growl and bark a lot. You think they’re mean or evil. But maybe it’s you that’s bad, not the dogs. Ever think about that?” Except for the rumbling of the thunder, the classroom was silent.

  “But what about what you said on the TV show?” Delia asked finally, blurting out the question before she had a chance to think. She shrank in her seat as another loud explosion of the strange, dry thunder shook the glass in the window frames.

  The twins never had a chance to answer, for at that moment the wind rose with sudden fury, and the glass in one of the windowpanes shattered, shooting shards of glass like bullets across the room. Suddenly the lights flickered and went out, and darkness like nighttime enveloped the screaming students in the class. No one even noticed, except for Delia, when Tabu and Titan darted out of the classroom and into the hall.

  An outside siren started to blow, low and ominous, as the inside siren of the school alarmed as well. Mr. Lazarro’s voice came through the loudspeaker: “This is an emergency. This is NOT a drill. We have tornadoes in the area. Repeat. This is NOT a drill. Teachers, take your classes quickly and safely to designated areas. If you feel you cannot get to that area safely, ask students to lie face down, next to an inner wall, and away from the windows. I repeat! Tornadoes have been spotted in our area. This is a real emergen—” A crashing sound could be heard through the speaker, then all was silent. The sirens outside and the sirens inside wailed continuously.

  Everyone screamed and ran from their seats, heading for the door. Miss Benson, although she was trembling, gathered all her strength and roared, “SILENCE!” The class, stunned for a moment, stopped and looked at her. “Lie on the floor, close to the wall—your bodies close together. No, away from the windows! You will be safe at that far wall. Huddle close to one another. Quickly!”

  A gradual roaring, like a freight train thundering out of the sky, grew louder until it seemed to fill the room. The deafening noise was accompanied by the sound of breaking glass and thudding blocks of concrete.

  Delia didn’t have to be told twice. She rolled to the hard floor and was amazed at how cool it felt. Leeza huddled close to her, sobbing loudly. Delia couldn’t see where Jesse and Randy were, and Yolanda, Delia remembered, was somewhere between the classroom and the bathroom. But soon she could think of nothing but the deafening noise and the sound of breaking and grinding. It was as if the school were being attacked by bombs. It shuddered and shifted from the onslaught. She covered her head and trembled with each jolt, with each crunching of glass, with each ripping of walls and
bricks.

  ***

  Suddenly, all was silent. The throbbing train blew into dust, and it was over. Outside, dark, ominous clouds hovered close to the horizon, as if they were not yet ready to leave such a scene. Slowly the students sat up and looked around. The classroom was a mess. Every window was cracked or broken. The TV on which they had just watched their silly video had crashed to the floor, glass and pieces of electronic parts all over the floor. Several student desks were broken.

  Miss Benson stood hesitantly and checked on the students. “Jackie? Kamila? Omar? Zelda? Irene? Duffy? Princess? Andre? DaShawn? Zahir? Leeza?” Each student answered shakily that he or she was okay. Leeza was still crying, as were several other kids. Miss Benson continued checking for all her students, touching one and soothing the other. “Jesse? Randy? Veronica? Ishiko? Max? Delia? Ching Lee? Bernardo? Hannah? Kristen? LaDonna? Shemika? Trevor? Yolanda?” Her voice grew suddenly high-pitched and frantic as she yelled to the huddled children on the floor, “Where’s Yolanda?”

  “Miss Benson!” Delia screamed. “Yolanda went to the bathroom! She didn’t come back!”

  “Oh, my goodness! Yolanda is out there somewhere!” Miss Benson said with fear in her voice. She picked her way across the debris in the room and walked slowly to the door, close to where Delia was sitting on the floor. Miss Benson carefully opened the door, checking to see if anything threatened to fall on her head. Delia peeked out with her. She could not believe her eyes. Pipes lay on the floor, and huge chunks of ceiling lay strewn about, tossed between broken glass and dangling wires. There was no sign of Yolanda or any other student. All was eerily still and dark. Miss Benson quietly closed the door.

  “What are you doing?” screamed Delia. “We gotta find Yo Yo!”