Wincing in pain and dragging his backpack on one arm, Sammie was already halfway down the stairs of the back porch as he called back to her.
“Okay, Mom!”
The other kids were on their bikes at the bottom of the driveway, and Sammie’s wagon was tied to the back of Michael’s bike. Sammie ran down and tossed his backpack into the wagon, on top of the other backpack.
Each kid had one foot on the ground and the other on their bike pedal, bracing for the moment when Sammie was on his bike and ready to fly.
As Sammie ran back up the driveway to get his bike, Mrs. Lannon came out onto the back porch, still suspicious of the kids waiting for Sammie at the bottom of the driveway.
Daisy waved to her mom. “Bye Mom! We’ll be back in a little while!”
Mrs. Lannon waved back.
“Okay. You kids behave yourselves and stay out of trouble. And Daisy−keep an eye on Sammie.”
“We will!”
Sammie sped down the driveway on his bike, calling out to the others. “I’m coming!”
The rest of the kids waved to Mrs. Lannon as they started up the street. Lola barked after them, wishing she could go too. Mrs. Lannon held her collar tight.
“No, Lola!”
She and Lola stood for a moment watching the kids ride away. Daisy and her friends never let Sammie hang out with them. She shook her head and looked down at the dog.
“Something strange is going on, Lola.”
She looked up the road but the kids were already out of sight.
“Very strange.”
She shrugged and went back inside.
Once the kids rounded the corner, Patrick raised his fist in the air and shouted, “Operation Rescue has begun! Whoo-hoo!”
They all cheered as they peddled toward Zach’s house.
18
Gordy and Vinnie Meet Joe and Zach
INSIDE JOE’S POCKET, the hot blackness was suffocating. Vinnie and Gordy panicked as they rattled back and forth, sometimes banging into each other, while Joe pumped the pedals of his bike. Gordy was worried about Vinnie. The crack in his shell was long, and his pain seemed to be intensifying. He looked over at him.
“How are you doing, buddy?”
The agony showed in Vinnie’s eyes. “Oh, it hurts, but I’m doing okay. I sure hope the kids find us soon, though.” He rubbed the crack with his hand. “I need to get to Pudding Hill to get this fixed.”
“I think we’ll be moving out of here soon. Don’t worry. I know they’ll find us. I can feel it. I feel Sammie’s energy. Do you?”
Vinnie nodded. “I do. And Sammie will have plenty of help. They’re good kids.”
The two gumball friends sat quietly−thinking and hoping−as Joe’s pedaling gently bumped them into each other. They had no idea where they were headed, but wherever it was, it wouldn’t be good.
Vinnie and Gordy knew they were in trouble back at the house when they’d heard the sound of this bigger kid’s voice. And when he grabbed them from Sammie and shook them around in his hand and then dumped them into his pocket, the two gumballs realized he didn’t care one lick about them. He certainly didn’t care about his little brother. He was rough and loud−and heartless.
They both were worried about Sammie. They knew he was meant to save them, but his big brother had hurt him, and they didn’t know whether Sammie was okay, or whether he’d be able to find them.
But their most pressing problem was their cracked candy shells. They knew it wouldn’t be long and it would start chipping off, little by little. If this continued, they would die. They would never see their families or friends, and that made them very sad and afraid.
“I’m scared,” Vinnie said. “I don’t like this big kid. He’s rough and mean. I’m worried he’ll hurt us and we’ll never get back home.”
“I’m worried too, buddy,” Gordy said. They continued banging and bumping into each other inside Joe’s pocket for several more minutes.
After a while, they felt the pace slow down and then they heard voices. The big kid was speaking to someone he called Zach, the kid who was with him back at Sammie’s house.
Just then, the flap to Joe’s pocket opened and light poured in. They saw three big, fat stubby fingers reach down toward them and scoop them up and out of the pocket. The bright sun made them squint and cover their eyes.
“Uh-oh,” Vinnie said.
“Don’t panic, Vinnie,” Gordy said. “I don’t think they want to hurt us.”
“I sure hope you’re right!”
They were scooped up and out of the safety of Joe’s shirt pocket. The air felt cool but the sunlight seared their eyes.
Joe smiled down at them. “Hey look, Zach. The little guys don’t like the sun. That’s funny! Just like us.”
Zach laughed. “That is funny. Hey, that black gumball doesn’t look too good. I wonder if it’s from this crack he’s got.”
Zach reached down to Joe’s outstretched hand and poked Vinnie’s cracked shell, causing Vinnie to flinch and moan. Zach laughed.
“Ha ha! Yep. That’s what’s wrong with him.”
Zach touched Vinnie’s crack again. And again, Vinnie cried out.
“That’s hilarious,” he said.
Vinnie looked at Gordy. “I don’t see how that’s funny,” he whispered.
Lying in the palm of Joe’s hand, they felt a warm breeze.
“Dude,” Zach shouted. “I love these little guys. They’re so cool! Look−they’re moving! I can’t believe our luck. I mean, think about it. Gumballs−that are alive.”
The boys chuckled, and Zach continued. “Where did Sammie get them anyway?”
Gordy and Vinnie stared up at Joe and Zach, listening. Their little stick-like arms and legs trembled, but their giant captors didn’t seem to care how frightened they were.
Joe wasn’t sure how his brother got his hands on the live gumballs, so he told Zach what he knew.
“According to Sammie and Daisy, she and her dork pals found this crazy gumball machine that shakes all by itself and spits out these goofy gumball people.”
“Wow! That is so cool,” Zach said. “Where is this magic gumball machine? We should check it out. Maybe there are more of these cool little dudes.”
Gordy stood up. He wanted to clarify a few things to his giant enemies, so he began to shout. “Excuse m-e-e-e!”
Joe and Zach stopped talking and looked down at the palm of Joe’s hand.
“Hey, cool! It looks like the white gumball has something to say,” Zach said.
Joe brought his hand up closer to his face so they could see and hear the gumball a little better.
“Can I help you?” Joe said.
He and Zach looked at each other and laughed.
“Yes. Yes, you can. First, might I know your name, young man?”
“Well, little dude, my name is Joe. I’m Daisy’s older brother. And this here is my good buddy, Zach.”
“Yes. A pleasure to meet you both, I’m sure. I couldn’t help overhear you tell your friend Zach, that our gumball machine shakes out magic gumballs.”
“Yeah. So?” Joe said.
“Well, that’s not quite how we landed here.”
“Oh, really? Well, how did you get here?”
“We don’t usually come out of our gumball machine. Everything is so much larger than we are–”
“–and louder,” Vinnie interrupted. He was lying very still. But he could hear everything.
Gordy looked down at Vinnie and continued. “You’ll have to excuse my friend, he’s not well.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Joe asked.
“His shell is cracked. See?”
Gordy pointed to the crack going across Vinnie’s back.
Zach laughed. “Oh, that’s a bummer, dude.”
Gordy continued. “So, as you can imagine, your world is extremely dangerous for us. We actually arrived here by accident. You see, my good friends Daisy, Michael, and Patrick somehow managed to squeeze themsel
ves up and into our gumball machine.”
Joe interrupted. “Yeah. That’s what they told me, but I don’t believe that crazy story because it’s impossible. How could they do that? Is this gumball machine a giant gumball machine? How could they fit in there? Where is it? I have to see this.”
“No, no. It’s not a giant gumball machine. Well, to Vinnie and me it is, but for you, it’s just a basic gumball machine−except for one thing.”
“What’s that?” Zach asked.
He was fascinated by this talking white gumball. He wondered if the black gumball could talk some more. He was just lying there.
“It’s magic,” Gordy said smiling. “Something happens when you touch it. Daisy explained the whole thing to me when they arrived in our world yesterday. Their bodies started to shake and quiver and the next thing they knew, they all started to shrink. That’s the account they gave me, anyway.”
“Dude, we need to check out this rad gumball machine,” Zach said.
Joe nodded. “Yeah. We do. We’ll make Sammie take us there after we have our little show in your backyard. Maybe we can take a magic ride up there too.”
The two boys smiled as Joe put Gordy and Vinnie back into his shirt pocket, and they continued their ride up the street toward Zach’s house.
19
Preparing for the Show
JOE AND ZACH SLOWED THEIR BIKES as they arrived in front of Zach’s front yard. Joe pulled Gordy and Vinnie out of his pocket and held them in his hand. Zach reached in with his finger to touch Vinnie. Joe shoved him.
“Quit poking him, Zach. You’ll break him in two, and then our show will be ruined.”
Zach laughed. “Okay, okay.”
“Let’s start calling people,” Joe said.
He closed his fist around Vinnie and Gordy as they walked into Zach’s house, and up to his bedroom. Each used their cell phone to call their friends. After several minutes, they reached five of them who said they could come to Zach’s house in the next fifteen minutes and three more who promised to come over later.
Joe gave Zach a high-five. “Sweet! If we charge a buck per person, that’s eight dollars−four for you and four for me.”
“Nice,” Zach said. “Hopefully, we can find more people tomorrow. But for now, we’d better get set up. They’ll be here soon.”
“Right,” Joe said.
He went to the table where Vinnie and Gordy were sitting and closed his hand around them. The two gumballs watched as darkness surrounded them once again. They were shaken around a bit before Joe secured his grip. A small ray of light slid through the openings of his lightly closed fist, but not much. They heard Joe and Zach’s muffled voices, but couldn’t understand their words.
Just when Vinnie and Gordy’s bony little arms and feet started to cramp, Joe opened his hand. They instinctively stretched out, but then he closed it again. They could tell from the swinging sensation that they were moving somewhere. They bumped into each other a few times before they were rolled into a small, white cardboard box.
“That’s the perfect box,” Joe said to Zach. “Look how nicely they fit in there.”
The two boys looked down at the little gumballs, now nestled on a pile of soft cotton.
“Yep. It’s an old jewelry box I found in the bathroom closet. I think my mom used to put a necklace in it, but she doesn’t use it anymore. Here’s the lid.”
Joe demonstrated how they would use the box and its cover to hide Vinnie and Gordy, and then surprise their audience with its contents.
Zach lowered his bottom lip. “Awe, they look so scared.” He looked up at Joe. “Ha ha!”
Joe held his stomach and laughed. “Yeah, this is so awesome.”
“Now that the little dudes are safe and sound, we should set up some chairs or a bench in the backyard so the other guys can sit and watch our show,” Joe said.
“Good idea. We have a lot of lawn chairs,” Zach said. “Let’s go out back and get everything ready.”
Joe put the cover on the box and Vinnie and Gordy were once again sitting in the dark. He held the box with two hands and followed Zach downstairs and into the kitchen. They said hello to Zach’s mom, who was cooking something on the stove.
“Hi, boys. What are you doing?”
“Not much. We’re going to hang out in the backyard,” Zach said.
“Okay,” she said.
The boys left the house through the back door and walked down the steps into Zach’s backyard.
20
Zach’s Mom
THEIR BIKES ROLLED AND RATTLED as Daisy and the kids raced up the street. With Patrick and Daisy leading the way, Violet and Sammie in the middle, and Michael coming up from behind, they could feel the excitement build. The warm wind whipped across their faces and their legs burned as they pedaled hard and fast.
As their ride toward Zach’s house continued, the five kids discussed the plan they’d put into place. With the extra load of the wagon filled with backpacks, Michael struggled to pedal, but he was glad their makeshift tow was holding. Although he was behind the others, he was still able to shout to them. He reminded each of them what their jobs were, and where they were supposed to be when the action started.
They took the same shortcut they used yesterday−down the alley. Then, they hooked a left and rode past the old shed with the magic gumball machine−Vinnie and Gordy’s home−and continued through the park and the playground. They sped up as they neared the road to Zach’s house.
After a while, they grew tired from traveling the long distance at breakneck speeds. Their legs had turned to rubber a while back, but as they saw Zach’s house in the distance, Daisy’s heart skipped a beat. She was both excited and nervous.
She looked at Sammie. “Are you sure you’re up to this Sammie?”
“You bet I am. Joe and Zach will be very sorry they stole my new little friends.”
Daisy had never seen Sammie so brave and determined−especially when it came to Joe. They were both afraid of him and she was proud of her little brother.
“Well, let’s do this then,” she said.
The five of them slowed as they past Zach’s house. They turned a corner and rode up the street until they reached the back of a dark, wooden fence that surrounded Zach’s backyard. They stopped and got off their bikes, using the kickstands to keep them upright. They tiptoed to the fence and turned their ears to listen. They looked at each other but said nothing.
They heard voices−Joe’s and Zach’s−but they couldn’t understand what they were saying. The fence was as tall as Patrick’s nose, and he was the only one tall enough to peer over and see what was happening just beyond it. So he described the scene in Zach’s backyard to his friends.
Turning to Sammie, he stretched out his hand and whispered, “Binoculars.”
Sammie removed the binoculars from his backpack and handed them to Patrick, who then removed his glasses and handed them to Sammie. Placing the binoculars to his eyes, he rolled the little wheel in the middle to focus in on the activities in Zach’s backyard.
He whispered what he was seeing.
“Okay. I see−one−two−three−four−five kids sitting in lawn chairs with their backs to this fence. It looks like Jonah, Mark, Ryan, Ben, and that new kid from school. I don’t know his name. Joe and Zach are standing in front of them, and they have one of those card tables set up. There’s a small white box sitting on the table.”
Forgetting to whisper, Sammie interrupted, “That’s Gordy and Vinnie!”
One of the five boys turned toward the fence, but couldn’t see anything.
Daisy and the others all turned to glare at Sammie. Daisy put her finger to her mouth and looked sternly at him.
“S-h-h!”
Sammie hung his head and whispered, “Sorry.”
Patrick continued. “Behind Zach and Joe is a patio with some furniture and a grill. Then, there are steps −one−two−three of them−leading up to the back of the house. The back door is open, but th
e screen door is closed.”
He paused, as he continued to survey the situation. Then he said, “Wait−Joe is reaching for the box. He’s laughing and the other guys are laughing. Now, Joe is showing the boys, one-by-one, what’s in the box. The kids are reaching into it. It looks like he’s letting them touch Vinnie and Gordy.”
From behind the tall fence, they heard the audience rumble with excitement.
Sammie flinched and bent forward and Daisy went to him. “Is it happening again Sammie?”
He nodded, and fell to his knees, his face twisted in pain.
“Poor Vinnie,” he cried softly. “They’re touching his cracked shell.”
He sat down. Bringing his knees to his stomach, he began rocking back and forth. He tried to keep his moaning in check, but it was difficult. Daisy held his hand. Sammie saw the look of concern in her eyes as he moaned again.
Daisy turned to the others. “He’s hurting real bad. We have to do something.”
Sammie squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to hold back the pain and the tears. Michael bent down to talk to him. They couldn’t afford him making a sound that would give away their location, and destroy their mission, but this was looking serious. They might have to call it off.
“Sammie. Do you need help? Should we call your mom? You’re not looking too good,” Michael said.
Sammie lifted his head from the ground. He whispered, but his face showed his resolve.
“No! I’m not quitting. Let’s do this. Besides, it’s getting better. They must have stopped touching Vinnie.”
Sammie started to sit up, and Daisy helped him.
“Are you sure, Sammie?” Violet asked.
Sammie nodded. “Yes.”
“Okay. We have to make our move−now,” Michael said.
Patrick nodded, as he put his glasses back on. “You guys know your jobs. Let’s run around to the front of Zach’s house and get to work.”
Daisy looked at Sammie. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Sammie nodded. “Let’s go.”
Violet took Sammie’s backpack, and Michael took Daisy’s. Daisy pulled the wagon. They ran down two houses, and through a driveway, undetected by Joe, Zach, or their guests. On the sidewalk in front of the houses, they walked back to Zach’s house where they split into groups. Patrick and Michael crept on the right side, and Daisy, Violet, and Sammie went down the left side. Daisy tried to keep the wagon from banging and clanging, but it was difficult.
Life In The Gumball Machine – Vinnie And Gordy’s Return Page 9