Arcade and the Dazzling Truth Detector

by Rashad Jennings

  “See you at the finish, bro! If you make it there!” Her pestering laugh rings through the air.

  Jacey and Celeste’s ostriches are neck and neck as they round the acacia tree. Derek is next, followed by Doug and Zoe. They all reach over to give me high fives as they lap me.

  I lean over to talk to my ostrich friend. “Since there are no official rules, let’s just turn around here.” Another elephant sounds his trumpet, alarming my bird and sending him into a full-on ostrich sprint!

  “Duuuuuuuude! HERE WE COME!” I grab hold of his neck and pray I don’t end up thrown in the air like I was by Bone Crusher, the bull.

  We charge past Zoe, then Doug, then Derek. I can almost feel my bird take flight as we catch Jacey and bear down on Celeste, who is in the lead.

  “Oh, no you don’t, Arcade!” Celeste yells. “I’m the OSTRICH WHISPERER. You can’t beat me!” But as soon as she says that, she falls off the bird’s back and disappears in the tall grass! My ostrich and I speed by and take the victory!!

  Well, sort of.

  “CELESTE! WHERE ARE YOU?” Zoe pulls back on her bird’s neck, hops off, and runs to where Celeste disappeared. There’s a whole lot of shrieking going on in the grass, so I jump off my bird and go over to see if everyone is all right.

  A hand reaches up, grabs my shirt, and pulls me down. I’m face-to-face with Celeste. “You cheated, Arcade. I win.” She’s mad and covered in dirt and grass. I’m not arguing with her.

  “You got it.” I reach out my hand to lift her up. “The winner, by knockoff!”

  Celeste dusts off her pants. “You better believe it.”

  The rest of the gang comes over to check on Celeste.

  “Congratulations, Celeste!” Doug says. “Can you guys believe we just raced ostriches in Africa?”

  Our friends the ostriches take off toward the acacia tree, leaving us to sit in the tall grass and watch the elephants and giraffes play.

  “These animals are stunning.” Jacey leans back on her elbows and stares up at the clouds. “There’s nothing in the world like them. I wonder why God designed them the way he did?”

  I take a moment to study their movements. I imagine trying to race on the back of either a giraffe or an elephant. Nope! Ostriches seem like the best choice for that.

  “I don’t know, but I’m in awe of them.” Zoe nods once. “And speaking of stunning, did you know that Africa has the biggest desert in the world, and the longest river? The Sahara and the Nile.” She glances over at me. “Have you ever read that in a book, Arcade?”

  “Not yet. But I’ll be sure to check one out at the library next time—HEY, ZOE, that reminds me! I have a BLOCK on my library card, and it’s YOUR FAULT.”

  “My fault? Oh, no, it couldn’t be. I return all my books on time.”

  I stand up, brush myself off, and put my hands on my hips. “Except for French Decorating and The Care and Feeding of Today’s Cockatoo!”

  Zoe looks away. “Uhhhh . . .”

  “Hey, you guys!” Jacey gasps and points to a golden sunset forming in the distance. “Isn’t that the prettiest landscape you’ve seen in your entire life?”

  I stop and stare. The sunbeams radiating through the wispy clouds turn into gleaming diamonds that shine on each of my friends’ unique faces. I take in a deep breath.

  They’re each so different. I couldn’t have made it this far in my life without them.

  “You guys are the best,” I say.

  “Excuse me, are you children lost?”

  We all jump to our feet and turn around. A young man, maybe eighteen, is standing there, making notes on a clipboard.

  I thought we were invisible!

  He smiles when he sees our faces. “Oh, you are not children. You are teenagers. Welcome to Africa!”

  He’s wearing dress pants and a short-sleeved dark green shirt with a collar. His wire-framed glasses make him look like some kind of researcher. He’s wearing a badge that says “Aahir, Student, Department of Life Sciences.”

  “Thanks for the welcome. My name is Arcade.” I point to his badge. “Is that your name?”

  He looks down. “Yes. They make me wear this so everyone will know I am not a poacher.” He narrows his eyes at us. “You are not poachers, are you?”

  “Oh, no, we LOVE these animals! We would never think of hurting them.” Jacey’s smile beams.

  He nods. “Oh, good.”

  “How do you say your name?” Zoe asks.

  “Open your mouth and say AH.”

  We all do it.

  “And now, what do your ears help you to do?”

  “Hear!” Doug says. “Aahir! That’s a great name.”

  Aahir grins. “It is an Indian name. My mother’s ancestors immigrated here to Africa long ago. My father, who is African, liked the name because it means dazzling, brilliant, and to impress deeply.”

  “Dude! Are you serious?” I grab onto my gold chain.

  Aahir looks puzzled. “Well, yes. I am serious about my research.”

  “No, I mean, is that really what your name means?”

  He nods. “Yes. That is the meaning. And it fits quite well, since I have always been deeply impressed by the entire world around me! I am out here today as part of a Zoology unit. I am studying these amazing animals. It fascinates me how intricately made they are for the purpose they fulfill. Have you been here long? Have you observed the ostriches? I could watch them all day.”

  “Up close and personal,” Celeste says, and she gives me a smirk as she brushes grass off her elbow.

  “Aahir, why don’t ostriches fly? It seems like that would be a cool feature.”

  Especially during a race.

  Aahir’s eyes light up. “That would be wonderful, wouldn’t it? Imagine, you are out on a picnic with your family, and you look up. Is it a giant kite? A small plane? No, it is an ostrich!” He ducks his head and covers it with his clipboard.

  We all laugh.

  He begins jotting things on his clipboard. “I love imagining the possibilities. But the truth is, the ostrich’s physical makeup, with its flat breastbones and small wings, makes it impossible for it to fly. Unless it buys an airplane ticket. Haha!”

  I scratch my head. “But it’s a bird. Birds fly. Doesn’t that drive you nuts not knowing why it’s not a flying bird?”

  Zoe crosses her arms. “My brother likes to ask lots of questions.”

  Aahir looks up from his clipboard. “It is okay. I love questions! And not knowing something does not bother me at all. I can always study more. Sometimes there is a plausible answer. But when there is not, I am even more in awe!”

  “Really? Why?”

  “Because sometimes life a mystery, Arcade. A huge, exciting mystery!” He shakes his clipboard in the direction of the ostriches. “We have huge birds on earth that do not fly! How fantastic is that?”

  I’ve never met someone so brilliant who is just as excited about finding things out as he is about not finding things out.

  “So you’re going to be a zoologist?” Derek asks Aahir.

  “I do not know. I am interested in ALL the life sciences. That is why I am here at university, to narrow my field. Or widen it! I will need to read more, study more, and ask questions until I can clearly see what God has in store for me.”

  “Aahir! The van is leaving!” A girl’s voice echoes out over the grassy plain.

  Aahir adjusts his glasses. “Oh, dear. I am afraid I must go. It has been wonderful meeting you all.”

  “Wait!” I say. “I want to talk to you some more. Do you have a card?”

  “Card? No, they do not give us cards.” He unclips his name badge and hands it to me. “Here you go. Until we meet again.”

  He runs off to meet his group. And then, two sunbeams flash toward my chest, and the Triple T Token returns to my chain. The beams shoot to the ground, forming a large elevator with antique gold doors below a big sign that says GET TRUTH.

  The ride back in the elevator is quiet. We al
l stare up at the gold-domed ceiling.

  Zoe takes her glasses off and squints. “I can almost make out a word on that one.” She points to a plaque, then curls her fingers into a loose fist, forming a hole that she peers through. “It pays to be farsighted sometimes.” She stares through the hole. “I think it’s enkindleth. I’m sorry, Arcade. That’s all I can see.”

  “Enkindleth?” Doug laughs. “What kind of word is that?”

  Goosebumps pop out all over my arms.

  That was on Gertrude’s card!

  “It’s a great word. I don’t know what it means yet, but it’s a golden thread to something profound.” I smile at Zoe and reach for my Triple T Token. I look down at the name badge Aahir gave me. “I want to contact Aahir. I could learn a lot from him.”

  “Good luck with that. You only have his first name, and he’s at a university somewhere in Africa. Do you know how big Africa is? And we don’t even know what year we were just in.”

  “He said, ‘Until we meet again.’ It’ll happen. I just gotta imagine the possibilities.”

  And now I have two boys to find!

  CHAPTER 9

  New York City—A Speed Tour

  The elevator doors delivered us back to my living room, where Loopy was licking birthday cake off our plates. “Loop! I wanted that!” Loopy just looked at me, with his chops full of frosting.

  Doug laughed. “Hey, this dog knows what’s up.” He walked over, picked up the plate, and patted Loopy on the head. “I can cut you another slice, Arcade.” He started to go for a plate when my parents came down the stairs with gloves, knit hats, and coats slung over their shoulders.

  “Bundle up, gang,” Dad said. “It’s going to be a windy winter night in New York City!”

  The sun sat just above the trees in Central Park, casting a glow on the little mounds of snow that clung to the sides of the walking path we took toward Times Square.

  “It would have been quicker to ride the transit, but you have to see Central Park.” Dad hustled our group along the lighted path heading south toward the famous New York City skyscrapers.

  “Though you’ll never see it all on this trip,” said Mom.

  “I guess we’ll just have to come back. This family seems to have a thing for travel.” Jacey turned to look at me as one side of her mouth turned up in a grin.

  “Oh, yes,” Mom caught up to walk next to Jacey. “Abram and I love to travel. We traveled quite a bit before . . . uh . . . the kids were born.”

  “Oh, really?” Jacey shot me a knowing glance. “And what was your favorite destination?”

  They both answered at the same time. Mom said India. Dad said Africa. It sounded like “Indrica.” Then they switched answers, saying them at the same time again. This time, it sounded like “Afria.”

  “I didn’t know you went to those places,” Zoe said.

  “And we’ve never seen any pictures,” I added.

  “And you seem to have pictures of everything else.” Zoe narrowed her eyes.

  Dad chuckled. “For some reason, whenever your mother and I went on those epic trips, our cameras wouldn’t work.”

  “So we keep the memories alive in here.” Mom put her hand on her heart and then looked over at my chest.

  Jacey practically knocked me off the trail trying to whisper in my ear. “See? I told you! They know!”

  “Where are we going first?” Doug asked. “I hope we’re going to Junior’s Cheesecake.”

  “You just spent all day making a cake, Doug,”

  Doug held his palms to the sky. “But I didn’t spend all day eating a cake!”

  Dad checked his watch. “We thought it would be fun for you kids to see the New York City skyline all lit up from the water, so we booked a harbor cruise. But we have to get there by six-thirty. We’ll hail a couple of taxis when we reach the south end of the park.”

  “It would be quicker to hail an elevator.” Doug laughed.

  “What?” Mom tilted her head.

  “Uh, I meant operator. Hail a carriage operator. Or one of those bike guys.”

  “I’m kinda enjoying just walkin’.” Derek took a deep breath. “I’ve never seen any place like this.”

  Celeste pushed Derek forward. “Well, walk faster. I’m freezin’ and I want to get to the boat.”

  We picked up the pace as much as we could, with Derek, Celeste, and Jacey gawking at the skyscrapers. When we reached Columbus Circle, Dad flagged down some taxis.

  “Pier Sixteen, please,” he said to the first taxi driver, and Derek, Doug, Celeste, and Jacey piled into that one. “Zoe and Arcade, you can ride with us.” We followed Mom and Dad to the second taxi.

  “We haven’t had time to give you your present.” Mom opened the large tote bag that was sitting on her lap.

  “But the surprise is my present, right? Did you pay for everyone’s plane tickets? And the cruise . . .” I gestured out the window of the taxi. “You didn’t have to get me a gift too.”

  Mom reached into the tote. “It’s not anything big, really. Just something that we thought would be meaningful to you.” She pulled out a plain cardboard box that was all taped up.

  “You’ve been carrying this through the park? It’s kinda heavy.”

  “Ha! Have you ever felt my purse? I’m a strong woman.”

  “I agree.” I pulled the first little bag out of the box. I peeked in and laughed. “Library card socks!” They were yellow, with a pattern like the old cards that used to be in the pocket of library books before everything went tech. “I’m wearing these on Friday.”

  I wear crazy socks on Fridays. The rest of the days, well . . . I don’t wear socks.

  “That’s not all there is.” Dad took the socks from me and leaned forward.

  I sat the box on the floor of the cab and dug in with both hands, pulling out a heavy ball of tissue paper taped around an odd-shaped item. I started to rip.

  Zoe sighed. “Hurry up, Arcade.”

  I tried to hurry up, but for each sheet of tissue paper I pulled off, there was one underneath. “I’m surprised you’re giving me something breakable.” I laughed and kept peeling the paper away. When I finally unwrapped it all, I held a pair of bookends in my lap! When they were pressed together, they formed a domed building with a little torch on top.

  “This is cool. I don’t have any bookends.”

  Mom shifted her eyes to Dad, and then smiled at me. “Well, for someone who loves books so much, it’s about time you got some.”

  “Thanks, guys. They’re perfect. I’ll put all my favorites in these.”

  “That would be appropriate, considering—”

  “Pier Sixteen!” the cab driver yelled. Then he gazed out his driver’s side window. “Not a cloud in the sky. You’re a brave bunch for taking a winter cruise. Even Lady Liberty will be shivering tonight.”

  I carefully rewrapped the bookends and handed them to Mom so she could store them in her tote. I pulled on my hoodie and my heavy jacket, and then followed my family and friends to Pier Sixteen.

  When we cruised by the Statue of Liberty, Dad put his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry we haven’t had much time to tour New York City with you, Arcade. Life’s been so busy. I hope this makes up for it a little.” He pointed up, way up, to the top of the majestic statue. “One time your mom and I went all the way to the crown. I’m sure we’ll get a chance to take you there soon.”

  I grinned.

  I’ve already been there.

  We got off the cruise around nine o’clock. Thankfully, New York City was just getting started for the night. We ice skated at Rockefeller Center, buzzed through Times Square, took selfies in front of St. Peter’s Cathedral, and ate s’mores at the Hershey store. And, of course, Doug got a piece of strawberry cheesecake at Junior’s.

  Celeste, Derek, Jacey, Zoe, and I all bought matching I Love New York beanies from a cool guy with a street cart. And yes, you better believe we filled ourselves up with hot dogs, pretzels, and roasted chestnuts too.
>
  “Where to next?” Doug spoke through a mouthful of pretzel.

  “It’s two a.m.!” Zoe rubbed her eyes. “Some of us need our beauty sleep.” She dragged herself up Broadway, where we took more selfies next to all the theater marquees. “Do we have to walk all the way to 88th?”

  “NO, we don’t.” Mom was limping just a little on one side. “I’m calling us some rides. We have to save some energy for tomorrow.”

  Doug came over and poked me with his elbow. “It would be cool if your elevators would take us home. Or get us back to those ostriches. I want a rematch.”

  I reached for my token, which was hidden under all my layers. “Yeah, and I’d like to talk to Aahir again. But it’s best if Triple T stays calm for now.”

  Sunday was a blur. We hailed taxis, caught the subway, rode buses, and took about a thousand pictures of ourselves all over Manhattan. For lunch, we popped into Brooklyn for some famous New York-style pizza. Then we walked back over the Brooklyn Bridge.

  Doug dropped behind, holding onto the railing near the walkway. “Arcade, I’m sweatin’ and it’s forty degrees out. When we gonna get off this bridge?”

  Jacey turned and pointed to the New York skyline. “Arcade, we have to get a picture together with that in the background!”

  Zoe ribbed me with her elbow. “Yes, you absolutely must. Give me your phone, I’ll take a photo of you two. Together. You’re such a cute couple.”

  “Stop it, Zoe. We’re NOT a couple.”

  “But she came all the way from Virginia.”

  “To see New York City.”

  “To see you. Arcade, don’t be a numb-brain! She’s a nice girl.”

  “Can you just take the picture, please?”

  Zoe grinned. “Okay, hand over the phone.”

  I ran over to Jacey.

  Where should I stand? Don’t get too close.

  Before I could figure out what to do, Jacey threw her arm over my shoulder and pulled me in!

  “Say ‘cheesecake!’” Doug yelled from the rail.

  “Cheesecake!” Jacey shouted, but I was speechless. Zoe snapped a dozen pictures of us, close ups, further backs, more of the skyline, more of us. And in all of them, my expression was the same—confused and freaked out.