The Last Great Adventure of the PB & J Society

by Janet Sumner Johnson

“What!? No way. If you thought two weeks was bad, it’ll seem like nothing after our punishment for that. Besides, we don’t even know what bank to visit.”

  “So find out. You know where your parents keep stuff, don’t you? Do a little research.”

  “You mean snooping.”

  “Research,” I repeated. “And no one has to know what we’re doing. We’ll just say we’re going on a bike ride. And that will be the truth. Thankfully, Dad made Matt fix my bike.”

  “Right.”

  I ignored Jason’s sarcasm. “Monday is a short day. We’ll go right after school so we have more time. Can you get the info by then?”

  Jason closed his eyes, then laughed. “You are crazy, Annie. Fine, I’m in. But only because you’d go bug every bank in town otherwise.”

  I stuck out my hand. “Peanut butter,” I said, and grinned when Jason added his ‘Jelly.’ There was no going back after the handshake.

  19

  By Monday morning, Jason had found what we needed. We talked plans on the way to the bus stop after breakfast at Mrs. Schuster’s. He even seemed excited.

  “It’s First Regional Bank of Northern Utah. They have a branch on Main Street.”

  “That’ll be a long ride, but definitely doable,” I said. “And I’ve been thinking about what to say all weekend. If you …”

  “Why are they all looking at me like that?” Jason paused. We were across the street from the bus stop.

  I followed his gaze. A first grader smiled and waved, but most didn’t look like they’d even noticed us.

  “Well they were,” Jason said.

  I elbowed him. “You’re just being paranoid about our ‘bike ride’ this afternoon.”

  “I know what I saw.”

  As we stepped in line, the bus pulled up. A third grader in front of us glanced back. When she saw us notice, her face turned red and she jerked her head to face forward.

  “See?” Jason whispered.

  I frowned. “Maybe they saw us come out of Mrs. Schuster’s house.”

  When we climbed on, the bus went silent followed by furious whispering.

  Had we missed some inside joke or something? The whispers got louder as we passed each row.

  It was a relief to sit down and pretend everything was normal. But when the same thing happened in our classroom, I started to get nervous.

  Jessica and Jenny huddled around Lila at her cubby. Jason went to hang up his backpack, and the twins giggled madly.

  “Stop it, you guys.” Lila’s cheeks were pink and she wouldn’t look at us.

  In fact, she wouldn’t look at me the whole morning. Which was perfectly okay with me. Even better, she didn’t sit with us at lunch.

  I decided that whatever was going on was a good thing. I held up my milk carton to Jason. “Cheers to a peaceful lunch!”

  Jason bumped his carton against mine, but before we could drink, Jessica … or maybe it was Jenny … went and opened her big mouth.

  “Hey, Jason! We’ll pay you a dollar to clear our trays for us. Annie tells us you need the money!” They cackled like the evil witches they were and dropped four quarters on the table.

  The cafeteria was silent listening to those quarters spin to a stop. A couple of laughs broke out, then the place erupted in too-loud whispering.

  The cafeteria aides rushed to the tables, yelling something at us, but my face burned so hot, all I could hear was static.

  Jason was red, too. He carefully placed his milk in the corner of his tray. “Annie?” He looked at me, eyes pleading. “She’s lying. I mean, she has to be, right? Because you wouldn’t …”

  I shook my head. “No, I … I mean, not on purpose … not like …” I couldn’t finish. There was no excuse for betraying your best friend.

  Jason stood abruptly, knocking the table. He grabbed his tray and his milk carton tipped, milk glogging everywhere as he fled.

  I grabbed my stuff and ran after him. “Jason, wait!”

  He dumped his tray into the garbage can and headed for the exit.

  “Please! I’m sorry. It was an accident! I didn’t mean to tell. It’s just that Lila was going on about …”

  Jason spun around and I almost ran into him. “Everything’s an accident with you, Annie. What I told you was private. You had no right to tell. No right!”

  He stormed away, but this time I didn’t follow. I found a vacant wall to curl up against until it was time to go in.

  I know Mrs. Starry said stuff the rest of the afternoon, but I didn’t hear any of it. I laid my head on my desk and kept replaying that moment with Lila, wishing I could change the past by remembering it differently. I needed to make this right.

  When the final bell rang, Jason was first out the door. I rushed after him, but Lila blocked me. “I told them not to do it. Jessica and Jenny can be really dumb sometimes.”

  “Whatever.” Lila was the last person I wanted to talk to. Okay, maybe Jessica and Jenny were last, but close enough. I pushed past her and raced down the hall to catch Jason. The hall monitor sent me back. Twice.

  By the time I got on the bus, the seat next to Jason was filled.

  “Jason.” I waited for him to say something. He didn’t. “I’m sorry.”

  He just stared out the window.

  The bus door wooshed shut and the driver eyed me in his enormous mirror. “Find a seat, please.”

  The only place left was with a first grader up front, but I didn’t care. At least I’d beat Jason off the bus. Because after two weeks without him, I wasn’t above begging. On my knees if I had to.

  When we got to our stop, I hovered next to Jason the moment he stepped off. As soon as we crossed the street I bombarded him with explanation.

  “We were playing hopscotch and Li—”

  I caught Lila watching us. She looked so sad I hesitated.

  “… and Jessica and Jenny were going on about designer clothes and blah, blah, blah, and I exploded at how wasteful they were when — when others were in need.”

  “Others?” Jason snapped. “You mean me.”

  I nodded, just glad he was talking to me.

  He hitched up his backpack and walked faster.

  “I’m really sorry! What do you want me to say? I can’t change what happened.”

  He finally stopped and faced me. We were at the cul-de-sac. “You just don’t get it! You act like this is all some big game, but it’s not. Do you have any idea how it feels to know you could be kicked out of your house any day? To have your dad suddenly turn into this stranger?

  “Well I’ll tell you. It stinks! And now on top of that I have to deal with everybody staring at me like I’m some charity case. Well I’m not. My family works hard and we’re just as good as everyone else!”

  I felt like scum. I was supposed to be getting rid of Jason’s worries, not adding more. I kicked at a pebble. “I think you’re better. I really am sorry.”

  Jason was silent, but he didn’t leave. Did that mean he didn’t hate me? I clung to that hope and cleared my throat. “So. What about our plans?”

  Jason closed his eyes.

  I took a deep breath. “Please. I know this isn’t a game. If you move I …” My throat closed. I couldn’t even think about the possibility.

  “Fine.” Jason sighed. “Meet me here in ten minutes. But only because we shook on it. I’m still mad at you.”

  I was there in five.

  When Jason showed, his frown kept me from jumping with glee.

  “You MapQuested it?” I asked.

  I couldn’t keep the surprise off my face when he held out a hand-drawn map.

  His cheeks flashed pink and he fiddled with his handbrake. “The internet was down so I used the yellow pages.”

  The what pages? I bit my lip and nodded. “We won’t get lost, right?”

&nb
sp; Jason’s mouth tightened. “It’s easy to get there. We’ll be fine. But if you’re worried, maybe we shouldn’t go.”

  I took the sheet from him and studied the directions. “A half-hour, you think?”

  We headed down the street in silence. I let Jason lead since he knew the way. At first I used the time to think about what I’d say, but the thought of facing a stuffed-shirt banker was making me nervous. Better not to think about it.

  When we reached the bank, we chained our bikes to a tree near the entrance.

  “I’ll do the talking?” I said.

  I took Jason’s silence as agreement.

  We pushed through the doors and stood staring at the richly decorated lobby. The crystal chandelier that hung in the center of the room reminded me of Beauty and the Beast. It reflected a group of jiggling rainbows on the fancy patterned carpet. Rainbows were a good sign.

  To our right, several tellers stood behind a wood-paneled counter. One smiled at me, while another tapped furiously at his keyboard. A third worked with a customer, though a tall sandy-haired man in a dark blue suit stood over her shoulder giving directions.

  I felt bad for that teller because the man looked mean. I decided it was the beard. Sure Santa has one, but he’s about the only guy I know who could get away with that. Besides, Santa’s is big and fluffy and white. This guy’s was close-trimmed and darkish.

  “Can I help you?”

  A pretty blonde smiled at us from behind a desk. Besides hers, there was a whole row of desks with fancy chairs, though they were all empty. I hoped that didn’t mean they’d had to fire a bunch of people.

  When neither of us spoke, the woman continued. “Do you want to open accounts? You’ll need your parents to do it, but I can send some information home with you.”

  Jason elbowed me.

  I stepped forward. “Um, we wanted to talk to someone about a loan.”

  The woman shook her head. “I’m afraid banks don’t loan money to …”

  “Oh, we don’t want to get a loan. We already have one … well, his parents do. We just want to talk to someone in charge.”

  The woman’s eyebrows shot up, though her smile never faded. “I see. Sounds like you need to speak with Mr. Lightner. Unfortunately, he doesn’t come in on Mondays.” She motioned toward an office beyond the desks.

  Before the disappointment could sink in, a man cleared his throat behind us. “May I be of service?”

  “Sir! I …” The woman started to stand, but the man waved her back down.

  “I’ll just borrow Mr. Lightner’s office and help these future customers myself.”

  I swallowed. It was the mean-looking, bearded man.

  “Right this way.”

  I glanced at Jason, but he wouldn’t look at me.

  The man ushered us into an office and gestured to some cushy chairs.

  From the other side of a large desk, the man folded his arms and leaned forward to rest on them. He threw out one of those fake smiles adults always make for kids. “If we were in my own office, I’d offer you both a sucker. Unfortunately, my office is in the city. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

  Just how young did he think we were? Suckers were for babies. Still, we needed his help, so I curbed my sarcasm. “That’s okay, sir. Our parents don’t let us accept candy from strangers, anyway.”

  The man cleared his throat. “Yes. Well. Very wise of them. You should definitely listen to your parents. So. How may I help you two today? I heard something about a loan? If I had to guess, I’d say you two are getting married and need a loan for your first home.”

  He chuckled at his own joke, laughing harder when Jason leaned away from me.

  I went from horrified to angry. Did he think he was funny? How dare this stranger tease us about ma— I couldn’t even think the word. If he were in our class, I’d punch him in the nose, school policy or not. If it were Matt or Kate, I’d tell on him.

  Adults always think the rules don’t apply to them. And this man worked in a bank, for cripes sake. He should know better. Well, he was going down.

  No ring on his left hand.

  I had a plan.

  Straightening up, I reached over to pat Jason’s shoulder. I tried not to feel hurt when he flinched. “How did you know? We’ve been best friends so long, it just seemed like the next step to take.”

  I ignored the look of disgust on Jason’s face and poured a syrup smile for the man. “I see you’re not wearing a ring. If you ever need advice, we’re like experts. All the fifth graders come to us for help, and we’d be more than happy to help you, too.”

  The man stopped laughing and turned a bright shade of pink. I didn’t flinch. Not even when Jason kicked me.

  “I … uh … I’ll have to remember that.” The man pulled at his collar. “My mother didn’t send you, did she?”

  I folded my arms and gave him the look. That’d teach him to mess with me.

  I didn’t expect him to start laughing again. And I especially didn’t expect him to look nice when he lost the fake smile.

  “Okay,” the man conceded, “you are most right. I shouldn’t tease like that. My mother would be appalled. But you two looked like you had a great sense of humor so I took a chance. I’m terribly sorry to have offended you.”

  His eyes twinkled in a familiar way. Like my dad’s? I squinted at him, suddenly sure I’d seen him before, but I couldn’t think where.

  Jason elbowed me and I realized the man was waiting to shake hands. I gripped his hand firmly. “Apology accepted.”

  After he shook Jason’s hand, too, I got down to business. “We came to talk about his parents’ loan.”

  The man studied Jason, who shrunk back into his chair. “I see. Well I’m sorry you came all this way, but bank policy says I can only speak about a loan with the loan holder. If your parents would like to come in themselves, I’d be happy to talk to them.”

  Jason nodded, looking miserable. His hands clutched the arms of his chair in a death grip.

  “We don’t want to talk about the loan,” I said. “We already know enough. We know you want to take away their house.”

  Jason stared at the ground.

  The man’s lips tightened.

  “We don’t need details. We just came to ask you not to take their house away. Please.” Adults like it when kids use polite junk like that.

  The man sat back and took a deep breath. “I can see how this must look from your perspective. Believe it or not, the bank doesn’t want your parents’ house.” He spoke to Jason. “The bank only repossesses a home after a loan holder fails to pay their loan several months in a row.”

  “His dad lost his job,” I blurted. “He’s a hard worker. He’ll get another job, and then he’ll pay. He will. We’re just asking you to give him a break. His name’s Ted Parker.”

  Silence filled the room. I didn’t break my gaze until he spoke. “I’m sure this sounds harsh to you, but if the bank did that for everyone who failed to pay, we’d go out of business. And without going into details, the consequences would be much worse. For more than just your family.”

  I was about to argue, but Jason jumped to his feet. “Don’t waste your breath, Annie. He’s not going to help us. Let’s go.”

  I shook my head at the man the way my mom always does when she’s disappointed in me. I hoped he felt as bad as I always did.

  What a waste. For a second, I’d thought the man could solve our problems. But bankers were just as stuffy as I’d imagined.

  We rode home in silence. I didn’t want to admit we were running out of options, but the truth was getting harder and harder to ignore.

  Jason would have to move if we didn’t come up with something quick.

  I thought of the list. Maybe Hollywood was the answer. Or begging somewhere in the city might get us the money faster.

&n
bsp; “Great.” Jason slowed down and I nearly ran into him.

  I squeezed the brake and swerved, coming to a stop. My relief was short lived. A congregation of adults stood on the street corner between our houses.

  I groaned. This probably meant that sneaking away to beg wouldn’t work out either.

  My mom pushed her way through the crowd. She wore scrubs, and she had her hands on her hips. I’d never seen her so mad.

  “Double great,” I said.

  We marched solemnly toward our doom. The closer we got, the more it felt like wading through a vat of peanut butter. No way we’d get off without punishment, and the worst part was that Jason wouldn’t even look at me. I was alone.

  The yelling started half a block away.

  “Annie Lynn Jenkins! Where have you and Jason been this past hour and a half? We’ve been combing the neighborhood, searching for you two. We’ve been worried sick.”

  Mr. Parker didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. The vein on his forehead said it all. Something flickered in his eyes when he saw Jason. Could it have been relief? I doubted. Anger most likely.

  My lips trembled against my will.

  Jason was furious at me, this trip had been a waste, and now we were probably going to get grounded from each other again. And it was all my fault. Jason hadn’t even wanted to go.

  “Sorry,” I muttered. “About everything.”

  Jason still wouldn’t talk to me. He didn’t even glance my direction as he marched toward his dad.

  I ran to catch up. He may hate me, but the least I could do was protect him. “Wait! Please. It’s my fault.” The other adults were already headed back to their houses. “I was so excited to be with Jason, I lost track of time. Don’t be mad at him.” Jason’s mom and dad stood together. I focused on his mom, betting she’d have more mercy. “Jason wanted to come home sooner, but I wouldn’t listen, and he didn’t want to leave me alone.” I dared a glance at my own mom, who shook her head.

  “Next time, tell us where you’re going so we don’t worry,” she said. Dad slipped next to her and put his arm around her.

  Mr. Parker hadn’t taken his eyes from Jason. When he finally looked at me, I thought I’d turn to stone, his gaze was so hard. “I guess two weeks wasn’t enough. Let’s go, Jason.”