The Magnificent Mya Tibbs

by Crystal Allen

  I feel like my plan to do something with Mom just burned up with the chili. She loves to cook, and I was sure once she smelled my spices and vegetables cooking together, it would make her want to join me. And my plan would have worked, too, because we’d be doing something together. When she told me I’d be making the chili by myself, I didn’t think she was serious.

  I was wrong.

  For a whole hour, Mom goes over and over how tsp, or just the lowercase “t,” means teaspoon, and tbsp, or the capital letter “T,” means tablespoon. She teaches us about quarts and pints, a third of this and three-fourths of that. We know a clove of garlic is just a piece of a whole one, which is also called a knob. Then she makes me repeat it back. This isn’t fun. This isn’t even close to what I wanted. Mom’s teaching me her job. I want her to do it. I want us to make the chili together.

  It’s just like watching westerns and going to Open House by myself. I’m still going to be invisible to Mom, and now I’m stuck making chili without her, too.

  Chapter Fourteen

  On Monday, I can still smell burned chili downstairs from the microwave mess I made yesterday. I smelled it while I was dreaming last night, too. I thought all night about whether or not I should just drop out of the chili cook-off since Mom’s not going to help me.

  But I’m no quitter. I argued hard with her just to stay in the cook-off. And even though she won’t be helping me make chili, I don’t ever want to hurt her feelings, especially over something she loves to do.

  I sit on the edge of my bed this morning, figuring things out and getting myself pumped up for the day. I’m feeling pretty good about everything . . . until that tiara-wearing turkey’s face pops up in my brain. My fists ball, and my toes curl just thinking about her. Naomi Jackson insulted the entire cowgirl nation, and I’m going to make her eat those words. I get dressed faster than I ever have before. I’m on a mission, and it starts today.

  I ask Mom to make me one thick ponytail, because even though I have three questions for the Wall of Fame Game, each question only gets one answer. I go over them in my head while she makes my braid. The ruffle of newspapers breaks my concentration. When I see where it’s coming from, I shake my head.

  Nugget and Dad sit at opposite ends of the table, eating breakfast and reading parts of the paper. They’re not talking, just reading. They didn’t wrestle for the newspaper this morning like they usually do. Ever since Nugget announced he tried out for the baseball team, they haven’t said much of anything to each other.

  After I eat, Nugget’s ready to go, so I get my backpack and follow him outside. As we walk to school, he kicks a rock and talks to me.

  “Dad showed up at my practice yesterday. He sat in the stands with Mr. Leatherwood and watched us for about ten minutes and then left. Ten minutes! I figured if I made the team, we’d do stuff like Fish does with his dad. I thought he’d at least come watch me practice. But he only stayed ten minutes. I don’t even know why he bothered to come. He didn’t talk to me. I just happened to see him standing next to Mr. Leatherwood.”

  “At least he came for a little while. Maybe that’s all the time he had. Did he see you bat?”

  “I struck out. That’s what he saw. And then he left. I’m not the only player who strikes out a lot. My team stinks like our house.” Nugget’s face wrinkles like he’s got a mouthful of Lemonheads. “Speaking of stink, do you know what that smell is that’s coming from the kitchen?”

  Instead of answering, I change the subject. “Why does your team stink?”

  “Everybody stinks except Fish and Solo. They’re really good. But the rest of us, if Coach threw a curveball or anything other than a fastball, we couldn’t hit it. I can tell what the pitcher’s going to throw, but I just can’t seem to hit that ball!”

  “You just need more practice, that’s all,” I say, hoping I said the right thing.

  We spot Fish ahead of us. He waits with a big grin. “Happy Dictionary Day, Mya Papaya!”

  “Dictionary Day. That’s a good one, Fish,” I say.

  Nugget nods. “Good ol’ Noah Webster. He’s the guy who came up with the dictionary back in the 1700s.”

  I’m glad Fish is here because Nugget was getting sadder, and it was making me feel sad, too. I need to be pumped up and excited about today. Being sad could mess me up.

  As soon as I open the school door, music blares from the intercom and flips my mood from excited to nervous. This is it. The road to beating Naomi starts right here.

  The hall sounds like a stampede is coming, but it’s just a herd of boys nearby. Nugget and Fish nod at me and then head to their classroom. I shuffle toward mine. Mrs. Davis smiles as I pass her desk.

  “Good morning, Mya! Are you ready for the Wall of Fame Game?”

  I give her a thumbs-up on my way to my cabinet. “Yes, ma’am, I am!”

  It’s hot in the cave. Maybe because it’s so crowded. Students sit on the floor, stand by their cabinets, face the wall, or pair up with someone as they go over their Wall of Fame Game questions. Some bang a cabinet when they answer wrong, or give high fives and fist bumps for encouragement. Some wipe their foreheads, while others take swigs of water from plastic bottles. Geez. It’s just three questions and three answers today. I guess they didn’t study.

  The air’s definitely different in here. It feels thick, like it’s filled with fear. I go over the answers in my head.

  “Are you ready?”

  I glance over my shoulder. Naomi’s behind me, dressed in a pretty red top with blue-and-red shorts. Even her shoes are red. Since she didn’t ask me in a mean way, I answer her in my regular voice.

  “Yes, I’m ready. Are you?”

  She rolls her eyes. “Of course. I have a lot at stake, and I’m not even talking about the bet you’re going to lose. I need to make the wall for my career, so judges and maybe movie directors will know that I’m also very smart, which is so much more important than whatever your reason might be.”

  I won’t let her make me nervous, since she’s the reason I’m going to make the wall. So I get up and ka-clunk to my desk without saying another word.

  After the Pledge of Allegiance, Mr. Winky wishes all the fourth graders good luck as he finishes the announcements.

  The door opens, and Mrs. Hansen, our librarian, walks in. “Good morning, class.”

  “Good morning, Mrs. Hansen,” we all say to-gether.

  Mrs. Davis opens her desk drawer and pulls out a clipboard, an egg timer, and a pen. She stands and walks to the cave as Mrs. Hansen takes a seat at her desk.

  “When I call your name, please follow me into the cave. David?”

  He rises from his seat and walks behind Mrs. Davis. We all watch him as if we’ll never see him again. I’ve got a clear view of the cave. There’s a curtain in the very back that pulls from the right to the left. They go behind it.

  Mrs. Hansen clears her throat. “Okay, class, let’s talk about writing a mystery. What kinds of things go in a mystery story?”

  Michael raises his hand. “A crime.”

  Mrs. Hansen writes that on the board. “Very good. What else?”

  There’s no movement behind the curtain. I wonder if David fainted. I’m exactly twelve students away from passing out just like him.

  Ding!

  I think I heard the egg timer go off in the cave. When I look around, others are staring at the cave, too. The room is silent again. David appears from behind the curtain, walking faster than he did going in. Everyone’s looking at him, hoping to catch a clue from his expression or a thumbs-up or something. He sits down and looks straight ahead. I know that look.

  He missed one. Now he’s got to be perfect for the rest of the week, or he’s done.

  Mrs. Davis calls the next student to her doom. “Susan?”

  Susan Acorn pushes back in her chair and heads to the front of the class. We all watch her the same way we watched David. Even Mrs. Hansen is watching. Once I hear the zip of the curtain closing, I can’t help but
worry about my brain staying ready until it’s my turn.

  I glance over at Naomi. There are five kids before her. I hope when it’s her turn to go into the cave, she misses all three questions and ends this bet today.

  “What else do you need in a mystery?” asks Mrs. Hansen.

  I can’t think about mysteries right now. My eyes ping-pong from Naomi to the cave. One by one, my classmates go in looking scared. But when they come out, it’s as if they’re under a spell, stuck in stupid, like all of the smart got sucked out of their brain.

  “Naomi?”

  She walks down the aisle like it’s a runway and she’s in a beauty pageant. I think about sticking out my boot to trip her, but I don’t want to get scuff marks on my pretty pink kickers. Soon she strolls out the same way she went in, with a three-out-of-three look on her face.

  Just wait until it’s my turn. Naomi wants to stroll into the cave like a beauty queen? Then I’m going to ka-clunk in like Annie Oakley. And when it’s over, I hope I can flash a three-out-of-three smile just like she did.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The Wall of Fame Game has been going on for an hour. Mrs. Davis gives us a restroom break, and I can’t wait to talk to some of my classmates who have already been asked their Wall of Fame Game questions. I catch David before he goes in the boys’ restroom.

  “You didn’t look so good when you came out of the cave,” I say.

  “It’s over. I totally froze in there. Missed all three questions. My heart was pounding and I couldn’t breathe. It was a nightmare. Good luck, Mya.”

  “Sorry, David,” I say.

  I find the twins standing by a sink in the restroom. Starr’s brushing Skye’s hair. I try to keep my voice down. “So, how’d you do?”

  Skye nods. “I started crying, and then I started laughing, and told Mrs. Davis that the only reason I signed up was because my sister signed up. She put down her clipboard, and I told her about all the false alien spaceship sightings this year, and why our parents created the extended-lens telescope. I had a very nice visit with her in the cave.”

  Skye and Starr’s parents own Bluebonnet Hunting Gear and Observatory next door to Tibbs’s Farm and Ranch Store. I think they know more about aliens than the FBI.

  “I studied Skye’s questions by accident, so I got disqualified,” says Starr with a shrug.

  Skye nods. “But you don’t have anything to worry about, Mya. You’re one of the smartest girls in our class. Starr and I think you’re going to get a perfect score.”

  I open the door. “I have to. I think Naomi went three for three. Thanks.”

  Inside the classroom, I walk straight to my desk and throw my leg over my chair like it’s the saddle for a Clydesdale. Michael sits in front of me, with his head down on his desk.

  “You’re not sick, are you?” I ask.

  He turns around and smiles. “Who, me? I’m cool as a cucumber.”

  I don’t think cucumbers are cool. They’re a vegetable, and that’s it.

  As soon as everyone’s back from the restroom, Mrs. Davis calls the next name.

  “Michael?”

  He tucks his shirt into his pants and runs his hand over his hair, as if how he looks will make a difference in his score. It feels like he’s only gone for a few seconds when . . .

  Ding!

  Michael’s face is hot-sauce red when he comes out of the cave. Something bad is happening back there. First David, then the twins, now Michael. My heart thumps so hard that it’s shaking my whole body.

  “Mya?”

  I try to walk like I normally do, but my steps are all messed up. It’s as if my boots lost their ka-clunk. I feel like I’m going to fall on my face at any moment.

  Mrs. Davis smiles when I reach her. “Ready?”

  My tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth. All I can do is nod. As we walk to the back of the cave, my stomach’s turning flips and my brain is already searching for answers that haven’t been asked yet. I try to take a big breath and let it out slowly, but that’s not working.

  When Mrs. Davis slides the curtain closed, the space is so small that I can barely breathe. She pulls out a paper that has my name on the top. “Here we go.”

  She taps the egg timer. “Name a famous scientist.”

  I close my eyes and focus. “Albert Einstein.”

  “Correct. How many members in the Senate and House of Representatives combined?”

  “There are one hundred members in the Senate, and four hundred and thirty-five in the House of Representatives. So that equals five hundred and thirty-five all together.”

  Mrs. Davis winks at me. “Atta girl! Last question. Name a Native American tribe.”

  “Caddo. Hey, Mrs. Davis, did you know the Caddo tribe has been in Texas for over a thousand years? I read online they actually came up with our state’s name! It was Taysha, and that means friend. I like that, don’t you? Texas people are friendly.”

  Ding.

  “And one more thing, Mrs. Davis, I was reading about Albert Einstein since I chose him as my scientist, and listen to what he once said.” I take my right boot off and turn it upside down. A piece of paper falls out, and I grab it from the floor. “I wrote it down so I wouldn’t mess it up when I told you. He said, ‘Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.’ I think Mr. Einstein was a cowboy, because cowboys love being on nature trails.”

  Mrs. Davis smiles. “Where did you read that quote from Albert Einstein?”

  “He’s got a Twitter page.”

  Mrs. Davis giggles. “Well, I’m happy to hear that you’re enjoying the Wall of Fame Game.”

  I shrug. “I wouldn’t say I’m enjoying it, but I am learning about a lot of things that I can add to my taradiddles.”

  Mrs. Davis shrugs, but then smiles. “Mya Tibbs, you answered all three questions correctly. That means you are eligible to continue the Wall of Fame Game tomorrow.”

  “Oh, yeah, that’s right!” I feel like there are rockets on the heels of my boots! I didn’t cry. I didn’t freeze! I got them right, and I’m moving on to Tuesday. Yee-haw!

  Ka-clunk, ka-clunk, ka-clunk.

  All eyes are on me when I step back into the classroom. I refuse to look at Naomi. But I glance at Connie and whisper, “Yippee-ki-yay!”

  When it’s Connie’s turn, my knee gets nervous and jumpy from the moment she follows Mrs. Davis until they both come out of the cave. Connie whispers as she goes by, “Three out of three!” My knee stops jumping, and I whisper, “Boo-yang!”

  For the rest of the day, I wonder what tomorrow’s questions are going to be. I’m hoping they’ll be as easy as the ones I had today. But right before the after-school bell rings, Mrs. Davis hands out our Tuesday Wall of Fame Game questions. Holy ravioli.

  WALL OF FAME GAME QUESTIONS FOR MYA TIBBS:

  TUESDAY

  1. Name two fruits that do not grow on trees.

  2. Name two inventors and their inventions.

  3. Name two birds that can’t fly.

  I hope Connie can come over right after school. I need to get studying as soon as possible. And I can’t forget the chili. No more burning the house down. In five days, the cook-off is going to happen with or without me, and Mom’s title is on the line. I’ve got to get that recipe right.

  Chapter Sixteen

  After school, Connie and I walk, talk, and re-live every moment of our our time in the cave with Mrs. Davis. We talk about the ticking of the egg timer, the questions, and how nervous we were. Fish and Nugget are up ahead, but we want to be by ourselves, so we walk slower.

  We’re fist-bumping, and giggling, and making plans for our study time this afternoon. I figure this is the perfect time for a taradiddle.

  “My boots had a sparkle on the tip, right before I went back in the cave for my Wall of Fame Game questions. The sparkle rushed up my legs, my arms, my neck, and all the way to my head. I knew it was Annie Oakley, coming all the way to Bluebonnet to help me. I’m sure that’s why I w
ent three for three.”

  Connie rolls her eyes. “Annie Oakley in Bluebonnet? I don’t think so. You and your taradiddles, Mya.”

  “I wonder how Naomi did. She acted like she got everything right, but I don’t know for sure. I’ll keep the pressure on her. I’m going to get another perfect score tomorrow. And today we have to do a better job with the chili,” I say.

  “Now that we know what a clove from a knob of garlic is, and that T-S-P doesn’t have anything to do with salt and pepper unless you measure them, we should do a better job,” says Connie.

  “Right. As long as we remember there are ten cloves in a knob of garlic, we’ll be fine. That’s going to make a big difference.”

  We must be walking faster than Fish and my brother because soon we’re right behind them, and I hear Fish going off.

  “You’re thinking about your dad so much that you can’t swing the bat! Just relax. You can do it. I know you can, bro.”

  Nugget shakes his head. “You don’t have the same problem I’ve got, Fish. You crush the ball every time you come to the plate. My dad can’t say a thing about your game.”

  Fish gets louder. “Look, we should be having fun playing on the same team. You’re letting your dad get in your head and ruin everything.”

  “Yeah, maybe so. But sometimes a guy’s got to prove himself. Let’s cross the street here,” says Nugget. “See you later, Mya. Later, Connie.”

  Fish nods our way, and then rushes to catch up with my brother.

  I wait until I’m sure the boys can’t hear me. “Connie, let’s go over to the ballpark. I’m getting worried about my brother. We can hide under the bleachers and see what’s going on.”

  She nods. “I think that’s a good idea. But we can’t stay long.”

  “I know. I can’t study to beat Naomi if I’m sitting at a ballpark. I wonder if she’s already studying. She wasn’t in the cave very long at all answering her questions. I mean, did you notice what time she left her desk and what time she got back?”