“Hey, they invited me. And no one else has invited me to do anything tomorrow. Which is whack, since it’s my bir—”
“Arcade! Zoe! Dinner!”
Mom’s voice from the bottom level of our brownstone echoed up the stairs.
“Arcade! Zoe! Dinner!”
And that voice . . . was Doug’s.
CHAPTER 5
It’s my Bir—
I don’t want to work . . . I want to learn . . .”
“Learning is work, Arcade.”
“I get that, but . . . hey, what do these gold signs say?”
“The signs contain quotes about knowledge, wisdom, and truth.”
“Aren’t those all the same thing?”
“Sometimes.”
“Sometimes? That’s not an answer.”
“But it’s the kind of answer you appreciate.”
“You’re right. But why? Why am I like that?”
“Because the truth about you is . . .”
All of a sudden, I couldn’t breathe! I opened my eyes and gasped. Loopy had stretched out to sleep with me in my bed. One leg was resting over my mouth. The other one was plugging my nose! I pushed him off. “Loopy!” I sneezed. “You interrupted my dream! I was about to find out the truth about myself!”
Doug stirred on the top bunk. “Arcade, dude, can you find out the truth about yourself later? It’s Saturday, man, and I really wanted to sleep in. I was dreaming of chicken parmesan!”
I jumped out of bed. “Doug! I just had a crazy dream! I was floating inside a golden dome, and there were paintings and sculptures all around me.”
Doug rubbed his eyes, stretched, and yawned. “Sounds cool. But not as cool as chicken parm.”
I shook him. “And there were golden plaques all around, but I couldn’t read ‘em, cause it was blurry.” I grabbed my glasses off my dresser and shoved them on my face. “Hey, Doug, do you think my dreams are blurry ‘cause I don’t wear my glasses when I sleep?”
“I have NO idea. Ask the eye doc next time you’re there.” Doug turned over to face the wall.
“DOUG! Zoe and I went on an elevator trip last night, and there was a golden dome at the top—the ceiling. It was the same dome as in my dream!”
Doug sat up, swung his legs over the bed, and jumped down. “You went on another Arcade adventure? Where did you go? Were there flames and intense heat like last time?”
“No. No heat. Just blinding light. We went to Greece!”
“Greece! You went to Greece without me?”
“Well, I think it was Greece. I’m going to research it at the library today. I’m sure Ms. Weckles—”
Doug put his hand on my shoulder. “No! You can’t go to the library today.”
I stepped back. “Really? Why not? The Tolleys invited me.”
Doug crossed his arms over his pajama top with the pizza-slice pattern. He shifted his eyes left, then right. “Oh, wait. Yep. My bad. You can go.”
“Just like that? You sure changed your mind fast. What’s goin’ on, Doug?”
“Nothin’. I’m just tired and confused. Yeah. You need to go with the Tolleys. It’s the library. You’re a bookworm. It will make you happy. What time are you going again?”
I just stared at him. “Two o’clock.”
Doug checked an invisible watch on his wrist. “Two o’clock. Right. That’s right. And with the Tolleys. Yep. That’s a plan. I’ll see you later.”
And then he ran out the door. In his pajamas.
I looked at Loopy, who was standing and panting, watching Doug tear out of there.
Woof!
“Yeah, I know, boy. Happy birthday to me.” I sniffed. “Hey, Loop, do you smell chocolate chip pancakes?”
I ran down the stairs. “Happy January twenty-second, everybody!” I threw my arms up in a victory pose, but there was nobody around. I must have been imagining the aroma of the birthday pancakes Mom usually makes for me, because there wasn’t any action happening in the kitchen. Doug wasn’t even in there.
Where did he go so fast?
I plunked down on the couch. Mom stepped in the front door wearing her winter workout clothes and carrying some mail. She shivered as she closed the door. “Brrrr. It’s chilly out there. But I had a fabulous jog this morning! Saw lots of friends in Central Park.” She sorted through the envelopes in her hands. “Arcade, you have a couple of letters.”
I jumped up off the couch to retrieve them. “Thanks! They look like cards for my bir—”
“MOM! COME QUICK! I NEED YOU!”
Zoe.
Mom’s eyes widened. “Whoa. Sounds urgent.” She ran up the stairs.
“But MOM! I need you too!” I stroked my chin. “I think I’m sprouting a beard hair!”
I carried my mail over to the dining room table. A small envelope sat there with my name on it. It was in Dad’s handwriting. Dad was upstairs sleeping. He gets home early every morning from his job as a set designer and stage manager on Broadway.
“Good old Dad. I’m sure he remembered my birthday.” I put down the other two envelopes and opened Dad’s. It was one of his famous notes. He leaves them for me and Zoe since he can’t always greet us in the morning.
“What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Micah 6:8 KJV. Great thing to ponder, right, Arcade? Mom and I have a long errand to run this afternoon. Hopefully we will be home by dinner. Have a great day . . . and walk humbly!
—Dad
I read the note three times. Doth? Thee?
“Well, Loop, this is a great verse to ponder, but it looks like Dad forgot my birthday too.” I turned around and around. “Loop?”
I ran upstairs and watched from the hallway as Loopy scooted back into my bedroom.
Mom came out of Zoe’s room, brushing her hands together. “Crisis averted! Oh, good, you’re here, Arcade. I have to go out this morning, and then I’m meeting your dad for an errand this afternoon. I’ll grab lunch in the city. Are you all set with everything you need for today? Doug mentioned that you were going to the library with the Tolleys at two o’clock. I think it’s very nice that you’ve befriended those boys. You can be a good influence on them.”
“Yeah, I love to be a good influence, but today is my birthday,” is what I wanted to say. But Mom was down the stairs and out the front door before I had the chance.
What’s goin’ on here?
I knocked on Zoe’s door. A perturbed sister voice came from behind it.
“If that’s you, Arcade, it’s going to have to wait. I’ve got some issues that need attention.”
“What, more broken shoes?” I whispered, turning in a huff.
Well, when your people and your dog desert you, there’s always good old snail mail.
I started down the stairs to retrieve my two letters.
“Arcade’s a mess! Arcade’s a mess!”
I glared at my sister’s cockatoo, Milo, who was swinging in his cage that hangs from the ceiling of our living room.
“Yeah, well, you’re looking pretty ragged yourself, Milo.”
“Zoe’s the best! Zoe’s the best!”
My sister loves to teach her bird phrases that get me all riled up.
“Come on, Milo, say ‘Happy birthday, Arcade!’”
“Zoe’s the best! Zoe’s the best!”
I resisted the urge to let Milo outside to fly with the wild New York City birds. Instead, I focused on my mail.
The first piece was a birthday card from my grandparents with a twenty-dollar bill inside. “Aww, you guys you didn’t have to do that!” I ran my fingers over the raised purple number twelve on the card. They had written a message inside.
Dear Favorite Grandson Arcade,
(They say that to whichever grandson they’re with at the time.)
Twelve is a special year. Make the most of it! It’s your last year to be a child. Discover your true self now, and when you do, you’ll never forget it! Even when the teen year
s confuse you.
“Ha! This explains why Zoe is so confused.”
“Zoe’s the best! Zoe’s the best!”
“Quiet, Milo.”
The next envelope made my stomach jump. It was from Miss Gertrude in Virginia! Miss Gertrude has known me since I was a kid. She’s also the grandma of Lenwood and Kenwood Badger, brothers who once owned the Triple T Token. One time they tried to take the token from me, and they ended up stuck in San Francisco. In 1935. They’re back in the present day now . . . I’m just not exactly sure where. Miss Gertrude was at the hospital on the day I was born. An elevator took us there once, and Zoe and I watched her steal the Triple T Token from my mom. I paused at the memory.
Why did you do that, Miss Gertrude?
This card was the same one my grandparents sent—with the raised purple number twelve. Miss Gertrude also included a message.
Happy Birthday, Arcade. Keep shining your dazzling light in the world. “As one lamp lights another, nor grows less, so nobleness enkindleth nobleness.”
Sincerely, Gertrude
She had taped twelve dollars in the card. One dollar for each year. Sweet!
Note to self. At the library today, look up “enkindleth.”
Miss Gertrude had drawn a squiggly arrow on the bottom of the card’s insert paper. I turned the paper over.
P.S. They are back.
I dropped the twelve bucks and the card. I put my head in my hands. “OH, NO! THEY’RE BACK! THE BADGERS ARE BACK!”
“The Badgers are back! The Badgers are back! Happy birthday, Arcade!”
“Not NOW, Milo! I’m in real trouble here!”
The Badgers are back. And no one in this house remembers it’s my birthday except Milo.
CHAPTER 6
Library Hunt
I was relieved to meet the Tolley brothers at two o’clock. It took my mind off worrying that the Badger brothers could be in my neighborhood right now, plotting to overpower me and steal the token.
Not today! Not on my birthday!
“Hey, Arcade? You alright? I thought this was your favorite place to chill.” Casey nudged me out of my thoughts in front of the library aquarium.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. This place is great. And I’m sure Ms. Weckles will help us find what you’re looking for.” I stared at the fish and imagined seeing a face in the water. The face of Lenwood Badger. He had stalked me before in the library when my friend Scratchy and I were here. He also stole Daisy—that suitcase I use to carry all the library books I get. I pulled her in a little closer. “What is it you guys are looking for again?”
Kevin sighed. “We told you on the way over. Civil War stuff. For our persuasive essays. Man, did you hear anything we said on the subway?”
“I told you he was zonin’ the whole time.” Casey pulled Kevin aside and whispered something in his ear. A very un-Tolley-like thing to do, but whatever. It gave me a chance to flag down the children’s librarian, Ms. Weckles.
“Arcade! It’s great to see you, as usual.”
“Hello, Ms. Weckles. I see you got some new fish.”
She came over and wiped some finger smudges off the glass with a cloth. “Yes, we had to. Puffer ate a few of the striped damselfish. Seems certain saltwater varieties can’t coexist in the same tank. I guess we should have been reading some of our own books about saltwater fish. Puffers are aggressive.”
“Why don’t you get rid of him?”
“Well, he’s been here the longest, so it’s his home. Kids love the puffer.”
“But he’s prickly and mean.”
“Yes, but he’s interesting.”
“Ahem, we don’t have all day, bookworm,” said Kevin. Speaking of prickly . . .
“Well, hello, Kevin and Casey. What brings you into the library today?” Ms. Weckles asked with a big smile and no hint of sarcasm at all.
“Arcade did.” Casey laughed. “He’s an expert on this place, and we need Civil War stuff. You got anything like that around here?” Casey looked around with a blank stare. “My brother and I are doing persuasive essays. One from the North’s point of view, one from the South’s.”
Ms. Weckles walked over to one of the computer kiosks and started entering information. “That’s an excellent idea! You know that during the Civil War, depending on where they lived, brothers sometimes had to fight brothers?”
“Yeah, we kinda know how that works.”
Kevin gave Casey a little shove as they followed Ms. Weckles to the American history shelves.
Now’s my chance!
I ducked into the travel aisle, where I had first met Ruah. I pulled Daisy along with me. I laid her down on the floor and piled in all the books I could find about Greece. I hoped that one of them would have pictures that would match where the token had taken me and Zoe. An old amphitheater, with arcades in the distance, and a crystal blue ocean . . .
“ARCADE! Where’d you go?”
One of the Tolleys had forgotten to use his library voice. He thundered around the corner and gave me the stink eye. “Whatcha doin’ down there on the floor? Our books are over here.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Ms. Weckles found a boatload for us.”
“Um, okay. Just a minute. I’m getting some books too.”
“Nah. You can leave ‘em. You won’t have room in there with all of ours.”
“But you don’t need . . .”
Kevin came around the corner, his arms loaded down with books. “There’s so much on the Civil War! And Ms. Weckles says we’re gonna study this next year in eighth grade, so we’re gettin’ a head start on knowing everything.”
I stood up and adjusted my glasses. “Knowledge is a fun thing. That’s why I was going to pick up a few books on—”
“Nah, we don’t have time,” Kevin frowned. “We gotta be somewhere at four.”
“Four? You didn’t tell me that.”
“Oh, we sure did, Arcade Livingston. In the subway when you were all doo-doo-doo . . .” Casey crossed his eyes and acted dizzy. “Some of us got a life, ya know.”
Kevin chuckled. “Yeah. An exciting life. Let’s go.”
So the Tolleys had a life. And somewhere exciting to go.
But why don’t I?
Nothing surprised me more than seeing the Tolley brothers whip out their library cards. Kevin approached the checkout counter first, and the librarian complimented him on his stack of books. “This was a fascinating time in American history. When you’re done with these, we have a whole section of historical fiction on this topic as well.”
“Fiction? About the Civil War? How does that work?”
“Well, the characters are made up, but the events surrounding their story match up to real history.”
“Really? I didn’t know books could work that way.”
“Books are the bomb,” I said.
Kevin finished his checkout, and Casey was next. “Where do I find that . . . what did you call it? Historical fiction? We studied about the Revolutionary War in fifth grade. You got any fiction on that?”
The librarian grinned. “We have fiction on every topic. You’ll love the stories, and you’ll learn a lot too.”
Casey took his stack and started stuffing it into Daisy.
“Any room for these?” I pointed to my small stack of books on Greece.
Casey looked up. “You’re in luck. We can fit ’em.”
I handed my library card to the librarian, and she scanned it. “Arcade Livingston? You have a block on your account.”
“A block?!? Must be some mistake. I never have a block.”
“You have two very overdue books.”
I shook my head. “No, I turn all my books in on time. Even early. There was only one time when I was late, when a guy stole my books, but I got an extension, and I returned each one.”
The woman’s serious expression didn’t change. “The overdue titles are French Decorating and The Care and Feeding of Today’s Cockatoo.”
ZOE!
“Those are my
sister’s books.”
“But they’re checked out under your card.”
“Yeah, I know, we were here together. She forgot her card, so I checked them out for her.”
“Arcade, we gotta go, man.” Kevin wheeled Daisy toward the door.
I held my hand out. “One minute.” I turned back to the librarian. “I’m sure if you check my past records, you’ll see that I’m an excellent library patron.”
She smiled. “I’m sure you are. Unfortunately, unless you have these two books with you, or you can pay the replacement fee today, you can’t check out any more books.”
“Arcade . . .” Casey inched toward the door.
“Hey, Casey, can I use your card for these books?”
Casey got a horrified look on his face. “Are you kiddin’? You’re a library delinquent! I don’t want my record messed up. I need to come back and check out some of that historical fiction.” He turned and walked out the door.
“Would you like me to keep these here for you? I can place an unofficial hold for forty-eight hours.”
“Uh, okay. Maybe Monday after school I can make it ba—”
“Oh, wait.” The librarian read something on her computer screen. “This is so strange, but someone just placed a hold on all of these books. I guess people are curious about Greece these days.”
“Can I put a hold on them for when that person is done with them?”
“I’m sorry, but no. That would be an official hold, and you can’t put an official hold on a book if you have a block on your account.”
I glanced over at Casey. He was gone.
“This is my worst library nightmare, you know.” My shoulders drooped.
“I’m so sorry. I feel your pain. I love books too.” She looked at her screen again. “But hey, I have something that might cheer you up.”
“You’re gonna lift the block?”
She laughed. “No. But it says here on your record that you were born on January twenty-second.” She reached into a basket behind the desk, pulled out a book-shaped sucker, and handed it to me. “Happy birthday, Arcade.”
Arcade and the Dazzling Truth Detector Page 3