The Newsy News Newsletter

by Karen English

  Deja seems to be thinking of something. She stops. She stands staring at Antonia's house.

  "What are you doing?" Nikki asks.

  "I want to see her trampoline."

  "How are you going to do that?"

  Deja doesn't answer. She crosses the street and starts toward the driveway. Nikki looks both ways, then follows, but stays on the sidewalk looking after her. "What are you doing, Deja?"

  "I just want to take a peek at that trampoline."

  "What if someone sees you?"

  Again, Deja doesn't answer. She just keeps on walking up the driveway. Nikki looks around. She follows. "Deja ... come back."

  On the side of the house, there is a tall gate with a latch in the middle that can be flipped up to allow the gate to open. Deja releases the latch and steps through the gate. Nikki is close behind. They both look back over their shoulders, up at a window that might be the kitchen window. The curtain is drawn. They look above that window to another window at the back of the split part of Antonia's split-level house. There is a curtain drawn there as well.

  "Deja ..." Nikki says in a loud whisper.

  Deja whips her head around and frowns, poking her lips out. "Shhh!"

  Her face looks kind of like a monster, Nikki thinks. She is a little scared, but she follows anyway.

  Antonia's house has a long, covered porch in the back. There are hanging pots of geraniums. This is probably where they all sit and have their family cookouts in the summer, Nikki thinks as she notes the patio table and chairs.

  "Come on, Deja. Come on, let's go," Nikki says.

  "Wait!" Deja hisses. She is staring at the trampoline. Nikki knows that Deja is thinking about all the times they've had to hear about that trampoline and that stupid tetherball built into the ground. Deja starts toward it.

  "What are you doing?" Nikki says with alarm as she watches Deja give the tetherball a hard whack. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

  "Okay, okay. Nobody's home anyway." Deja looks at the trampoline again.

  Nikki catches that look. "No, Deja."

  Deja rolls her eyes and sighs. "Okay. Come on." She turns and starts toward the gate. But just then they hear a car pulling into the driveway. They stop in their tracks. Eyes wide, they stare at each other. Nikki brings her hand to her mouth, and they both look at the gate. It is unlatched and slightly ajar.

  The girls look around. The backyard has a tall cinderblock wall surrounding it. There is no way they can climb over it. "We're going to get in big trouble," Nikki says, sounding as if she is about to cry.

  "No, we're not," Deja says, spying the gardening shed at the back of the yard.

  "This is trespassing," Nikki whines. "This is against the law."

  They hear a car door slam. Again they look at each other. Deja grabs Nikki by the hand. "We're not going to get in trouble," she repeats, leading Nikki toward the gardening shed.

  It is dark in there and smells like wet dirt. It is crowded with bags of grass seed and bags of manure. There are clay pots of all kinds and tools hanging on hooks on the walls. In the middle there is a small wooden worktable.

  "We're staying here for a while," Deja says.

  "My mom's going to be real mad." Nikki begins to whimper. "She's going to wonder how come I'm not home already."

  Deja is busy rubbing the inside pane of the shed's small window with the sleeve of her hoodie. She peers out. "As soon as whoever that is goes in the house, we're gonna leave."

  "They might see us!"

  "Shh, be quiet!" Deja orders. Someone is approaching the gate. It is Antonia's father. Deja quickly lowers her head, then slowly raises up so she can just see out. Nikki looks, too. They can see the top of Antonia's father's head. He seems to be standing on the other side of the gate, staring at it. Nikki feels her heart beating faster. They are going to be in so much trouble. They hear the gate being latched and then hear Antonia's father walking away. Soon the front door of the house slams shut.

  "Come on," Deja says, grabbing Nikki's arm. They run on tiptoes to the gate, all the time keeping their eyes on the windows with the drawn curtains. Carefully, and as quietly as possible, Deja pushes the latch up. The gate creaks a little as she eases it open just a bit.

  Then Antonia's father comes out of the house again, and they freeze. They wait just inside the gate as he puts a small suitcase into the car trunk and slams it shut. As soon as he goes back into the house, they slip through the gate and quickly make their way down the driveway.

  Once on the sidewalk, Nikki and Deja let out the big breaths they'd been holding. Then they begin to run. They run across the street all the way to Nikki's front porch. Auntie isn't going to be home until late, so Deja has to stay at Nikki's.

  As soon as they step through Nikki's front door, her mom appears in the kitchen doorway. "Where were you?" she asks. "You know to come straight home."

  Nikki stands there with her lips pressed together. Deja is watching her, as if waiting to see what she will say. Nikki always wants to tell the truth, but she knows the truth will get back to Deja's Auntie Dee, and then Deja might get in trouble. She'd like to say nothing, but her mother is waiting.

  "We went to Antonia's house," Nikki says.

  Her mother frowns, looking perplexed. "The little girl who lives across the street?"

  Nikki nods. It is the truth. They had gone to Antonia's house. Just not to play with Antonia.

  Deja looks back and forth from Nikki to Nikki's mom and back to Nikki again, as if she is trying to judge how this is going over.

  "I thought you didn't like her," Nikki's mom says.

  "We like her okay," Nikki says.

  Not... Deja's expression seems to say.

  "Well, next time, get permission before you go someplace after school. I was just about to worry."

  "Okay," Nikki says, looking at Deja. "Can we get a snack?"

  "Yes, but don't spoil your dinner," Nikki's mom replies.

  Later, as they sit at the kitchen table with graham crackers and peanut butter, Nikki says, "It wasn't really a lie, what I said."

  "Uh-huh, yes it was, Nikki," Deja says. "You know we're not friends with Antonia."

  "Why aren't we friends with her?" Nikki asks, frowning a little.

  "Because she's stuck-up, that's why." Deja squints at Nikki, as if she is trying to see if Nikki has changed her mind about Antonia.

  "Maybe she isn't all that stuck-up," Nikki says.

  Deja presses her lips together.

  "I wonder where she is," Nikki muses. She licks some peanut butter off her graham cracker.

  Deja shrugs. "Who knows? Who cares?"

  7. Slow News—No News

  Later, after their homework is done and they have gotten permission to go outside, they walk up and down Fulton Street. They need stories by Friday. They pass Miss Ida's, where Deja had stayed once when Auntie Dee had to go out of town. Nikki taps her pad with her pen. It feels as if her pen is itching to write something, but there is nothing to write.

  "We already wrote about Miss Ida and the shut-ins."

  "Yeah," says Deja. "We can't do that again."

  They pass Mr. Robinson's house. Nothing is happening there. "It would be great if he could lock himself out of his house again, in his robe," Nikki says.

  "That's not going to happen."

  Nothing's shaking at Darnell's house, either. He's still not back on his skateboard. He's probably still banned from it.

  They get to the end of the street, cross over, and start down the other side. What a dull afternoon. Not one person is even out watering the lawn.

  "Maybe we should walk down Maynard Boulevard," Deja suggests.

  "We can't do that without permission," Nikki says.

  "One of the stores could be having a sale."

  Just then they see a Bugs Away van pulling out of the Denvers' driveway. On the side of the vehicle there is a picture of an enormous water bug turned onto its back, with all its spindly legs waving in the air.

  "Yuck
," Deja says. "They must be having bug problems."

  "Maybe roaches," says Nikki, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

  Deja considers this silently. They walk on. They get to the end of the block and turn back toward their own houses.

  In school the next day there is no Antonia for the fourth day in a row. Ms. Shelby says something under her breath again as she scans the classroom and makes her notations. She still seems to be puzzled by Antonia's absence. Nikki thinks she'll probably get in touch with Antonia's mother to find out why. No news forthcoming there.

  The whole morning is blah. Nothing eventful happens. And they even serve blah three-bean salad in the cafeteria. Nikki stares down at it with a sense of dread. She can't toss it, because Rosario is sitting at the end of the cafeteria table with the lunch monitor notebook. Plus, Nikki would only think of the starving children in the world and feel guilty. She manages to get three bites down with the help of gulps of milk and chicken nuggets. Deja taught her this trick after she had to eat yucky turnips at Miss Ida's.

  The afternoon is equally blah. Nikki is in Group Three in math and gets to do all kinds of enriched stuff. The kids in Group Three can work independently after Ms. Shelby explains things. Deja is in Group Two. Nikki knows that they are both glad they aren't in the group that always has to be brought to the kidney-shaped table for extra help.

  It is during math that Ayanna Ford suddenly yells out that her book-order money is missing from her backpack.

  Ms. Shelby looks up from the group she is helping at the special table. "Are you sure, Ayanna?" She gets up to help Ayanna search for it.

  "It was in the little zipper part! I put it in there this morning when I was putting in my homework folder!" She still seems to find it necessary to shout.

  "Calm down, Ayanna." Ms. Shelby takes Ayanna's backpack out of her hand and begins to unpack it on Ayanna's desk. Everything is in that backpack. Balled papers, old work pages, spelling tests that should have been put in her assessment binder along with all the other tests Ms. Shelby has passed back. A bunch of story booklets that are supposed to be taken home every week for reading practice, markers and colored pencils, half of an eraser...

  "Honestly, Ayanna," Ms. Shelby says. "This is a mess." But Ayanna is right. There is no white envelope with her book-order money. "Are you sure you put it in here?"

  "I'm sure." Ayanna's eyes begin to fill with tears.

  "Class," Ms. Shelby says, "does anyone know where Ayanna's money can be?"

  Nikki wonders about Ms. Shelby's question. What good is it? The few other times someone's money went missing, Ms. Shelby always started off with phrases that gave everyone the benefit of the doubt. Nikki thought this was not the right approach, because no one was going to just step forward and admit to taking it. If Nikki were Ms. Shelby, she'd do a search right then. She'd have everybody turn their pockets inside out and then put on their jackets and turn those pockets inside out. Then she'd have everyone empty their backpacks and their desks and take their shoes off. Especially Calvin Vickers. Things are always winding up in his desk. Other kids' markers, their erasers, some small toy that someone brought to class, against school rules.... In fact, Nikki has the notion to raise her hand and suggest that Ms. Shelby thoroughly check Calvin Vickers, but something makes her think better of it.

  When Ms. Shelby doesn't get a response, she sighs. "Okay, everyone, take everything out of your desks. I'll check the backpacks." Nikki looks at the long row of backpacks hanging on their hooks on the wall above the cubbies. This is more like it, she thinks smugly. She looks over at Calvin Vickers. He is crashing crayons together, looking pleased to have this little break from work. She almost smiles, thinking of him getting his comeuppance.

  However, Calvin Vickers's backpack contains only Calvin Vickers's junk, including a moldy chicken sandwich.

  "What is this, Calvin?" Ms. Shelby says when she plucks it out with two fingers. "Calvin Vickers—throw this away!"

  He takes it out of her hand as if there is nothing at all wrong with having a moldy chicken sandwich in your backpack. Nikki imagines him thinking, What's the big deal?

  The money isn't in any of the backpacks. It isn't in any of the desks. The only good thing about not finding the money is that everyone's desk gets a good cleaning out.

  Deja and Nikki discuss the missing money on their way home. Deja is certain Calvin Vickers is the culprit. Nikki couldn't agree more.

  "This is what I think," says Deja. "He could've taken the money out during recess. Maybe he pretended to have to go back into the classroom for his snack or something. And maybe Ms. Shelby was in the teachers' lounge having her tea. Plus, people have been bringing in bookorder money all week, but they know Ms. Shelby won't be turning it in until Friday. And maybe Ayanna told people that she had book money in her backpack. He could have taken it then."

  Nikki thinks about this with squinting eyes. Suddenly, she has doubts. "I don't know, Deja. Where'd he put it? Ms. Shelby searched everything"

  "She didn't search everyone's shoes."

  "True," Nikki says.

  "He could have put the money in his shoe, thinking Ms. Shelby might check pockets, and he could have thrown away the envelope in one of the trash cans in the yard."

  "I don't know."

  "I betcha it was Calvin Vickers," Deja says, staring straight ahead, as if she can just envision it.

  8. Antonia Mystery "Solved"

  Once again, Fulton Street looks lifeless. Nikki and Deja sit on Deja's porch. Deja's favorite stuffed animal, Bear, sits collecting dust on the porch swing behind them. Up and down the street they look. Nothing, nada.

  "What are we going to do, Deja?" Nikki asks. "We have to get the newsletter done by tomorrow afternoon."

  "I don't know." Deja taps her forehead, as if that will give her an idea or two. "Let's see if we can go to the store."

  Deja goes into her house to get permission from Auntie Dee, and Nikki runs next door to her own house to ask her mother.

  "We have to walk directly there and directly back," Nikki says when she returns.

  "Yeah, that's what Auntie Dee said, too."

  They start toward Maynard and Mr. Delvecchio's market. Just as they are passing Antonia's house, the door opens and out comes Antonia's mother, her arms loaded with stuffed animals. She puts them in the trunk of her car, slams it closed, and gets in the driver's seat. She starts up the car and drives off, not looking at them once.

  "I know why Antonia hasn't been at school," Deja says excitedly.

  "How do you know?"

  "Don't you get it?" Deja asks. "Didn't you see what she just did?"

  "She put some stuffed animals in her trunk and drove away."

  "Right. She and Antonia have moved. She probably has to get those so Antonia will feel at home at their new place. Where she and Antonia live now."

  Nikki thinks about this.

  Deja goes on. "And now only Antonia's father lives there. That's why Antonia hasn't been at school. She's moved away."

  This kind of makes sense to Nikki, but there is just one question. "Why do they live somewhere else?"

  "Because they had a big fight and Antonia's mother is mad and Antonia is on her mother's side."

  "Antonia's parents had a big fight?" This makes Nikki feel uneasy. She immediately thinks of her own parents.

  "A really big fight," Deja says with certainty.

  They walk back home in silence—a serious silence—but with a bag of hot chips from Mr. D's market between them.

  "We'll see if she comes to school tomorrow," Deja says.

  The next morning, they take their seats and watch the door of their classroom as each straggler walks in. Ralph is tardy as usual and is looking sheepish. He always ducks his head as he enters late. Then there is Ayanna coming in with a tardy slip extended toward Ms. Shelby. She's usually not late. "Where's your tardy slip, Ralph?" Ms. Shelby asks. He makes a U-turn back out the door. After a few moments, Nikki and Deja look at each other. No Antonia.
This is news.

  As soon as the class is let out at recess, they make a beeline for the outdoor lunch benches. Those with snacks are confined to that area during recess.

  "Let's add Antonia to our list," Deja says. "Take out your pad."

  "What list?" Nikki asks, but takes out her pad anyway.

  "For our newsletter. We're going to put Antonia in it."

  As soon as they get home, Nikki makes an appearance at her house and then runs over to Deja's. They have work to do. First, they start with their headlines.

  SNEAKY THIEF IN ROOM TEN!

  BUG PROBLEM AT THE DENVERS'

  NEW SCHOOL FOR ANTONIA

  MISS IDA VISITS NIECE

  (Deja heard this from Auntie Dee.)

  STILL NO SKATEBOARDING FOR DARNELL

  OVERPRICED FOOD AT SIMPLY

  DELICIOUS HEALTH FOOD STORE

  (Again, overheard from Auntie Dee.)

  GREASY FOOD AT PUERTO NUEVO

  (Yet another item Deja overheard when Auntie Dee was on the phone with her friend Phoebe.)

  Deja looks over her headlines with a smile. She was the one who came up with them. Nikki is glad that Deja remembered a couple of choice items from Auntie Dee's telephone conversations with Phoebe to fill up the last part of the second page.

  They work until almost dinnertime, then print out a copy. Nikki looks it over and finds the typos and misspellings. Once Deja makes the corrections, she prints out the rest of the copies in color. Auntie had replaced the color ink after puzzling over how fast it had been used up.

  "Auntie Dee," Deja says from the kitchen doorway. Auntie is chopping zucchini for a vegetable casserole.

  "What, honeybunch?"

  "Can we go out and deliver our newsletter? Just on this block," Deja adds quickly.