Arcade and the Dazzling Truth Detector

by Rashad Jennings

  I finger my gold chain.

  I love truth.

  And then Zoe, Kevin, Casey, and I stand around our sixteenth president’s desk and watch him sign the Emancipation Proclamation!

  “This is DOPE!”

  Mr. Lincoln tilts his head. “Dope?”

  Zoe laughs. “He means, this is fantastic.”

  As soon as his signature is complete, President Lincoln’s eyes lock on my chest. Triple T has returned and it’s putting on a laser show.

  He stands and removes his hat. “That is a spectacular token, Arcade. I’m glad it chose to bring you here to visit me today.” He hangs his head. “I am sorry I was not much help to you children. Perhaps next time?”

  We make our way to the elevator doors that have appeared back in the office.

  “Mr. President, what you did today helped us greatly. I guarantee it.” Zoe smiles and joins me near the coin slot that has risen from the floor and is pulsating light toward the token.

  “I wish we could stay longer and ask you a ton of questions.” I pull the token from the chain and drop it into the slot. I make the open-door motion with my hands, and the antique gold doors open.

  “You are welcome back any time.” President Lincoln holds his pen out to me. “Would you like to take this with you?”

  I’m sure my eyes light up as bright as Elena’s.

  “YES! But . . . won’t they want to put this in a museum one day?”

  “An old pen? I can’t imagine. But if they do, I’ll just have to give them another one.” Abraham Lincoln laughs and shakes my hand before giving me the pen.

  “Thank you, sir. And next time, I’ll bring you a book about one of the great-EST presidents in United States history.”

  He raises an eyebrow. “Really? I look forward to reading all about him.”

  On the ride back, the Tolleys can’t stop talking about Abraham Lincoln and how excited they are to give their speeches in class.

  “Arcade, you’re the best! Thanks for the help, man.” Kevin smiles, and comes over to shake my hand.

  The elevator dings and the golden doors slide open.

  Casey pats me on the chest. “And don’t you worry, Arcade. Your secret is safe with us.”

  CHAPTER 31

  Where Do I Sign?

  HOW could you go see Abraham Lincoln without me?” Doug munched a bowl of cereal as we all gathered our supplies for school.

  “I’m sorry. You were sleeping, and you know how the token has a mind of its own. I had no idea we were going anywhere.”

  Doug shoveled a huge spoonful in his mouth and took a minute to swallow. “Yeah, I get it. I probably would have set the Tolleys off somehow. But I wonder if President Lincoln would have some good advice for me about my appointment today with the social worker.”

  “I’m SURE he would. Hey—that reminds me of something.”

  “What?” Doug gulped his last bite of cereal.

  “He gave me a souvenir.”

  “He gave you a souvenir? That’s cool! What did he give you?”

  “I’ll show you later.”

  “Aw, man!”

  Mom and Dad picked us up after school. It’s a rare thing since everything is so close in the city that we can walk or take the subway. But today, Doug’s appointment was downtown, and we couldn’t be late.

  Doug’s social worker greeted us and then invited us into her office. “Would you like some coffee or hot chocolate and a cookie?”

  “Hot chocolate, please.” I turned to Doug. “You want something?”

  Doug stood, stiff in the doorway. “No, thank you, ma’am.” He shuffled to the chair in the corner and sat down.

  Mom and Dad took a seat on the chairs in front of the desk. I stood over by Doug. The social worker brought in three hot chocolates and cookies on a platter, handed them to us, and then sat down behind her desk. She opened a large file folder.

  “Doug, first I’d like to say how sorry I am about your grandmother. I know this is a hard bit of news to accept. I was over at her facility today, and she was having a good day. I’m hoping they’ll find some medication that will make this whole process easier for her.”

  Doug still sat stiffly. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “Your aunt is ready to move you in to her house today. She’s informed the school, has your room ready, and said she’ll book your flight out as soon as you say the word. She really wants to be your guardian.”

  Doug’s shoulders drooped. “That’s very nice of her.”

  Come on, Doug, fight!

  “But you can choose other guardians.”

  Doug’s head popped up. “What did you say?”

  “You can choose other guardians. For example, you could choose the two people who are sitting across from my desk right now.”

  “But I thought I had to go to Florida, since Gram doesn’t know who I am anymore.”

  The social worker smiled. “Well, she knew who you were today. She showed me a bunch of pictures and told me some really funny stories about you.”

  “She did?”

  “Yes. The doctor was there too. He was able to assess her and attest to the fact that she knew what she was doing when she signed this paper.”

  Doug stood up and walked over to the desk. “What paper?”

  “The one that gives up her guardianship rights.” The social worker held the paper out for Doug to see. “I know this is hard, Doug. She cried when she did it. But she wants the best for you, and she understands that she may not get better. And now you can permanently go to your aunt’s, or . . .”

  “Or what?”

  “You can be officially adopted . . . by these people.”

  I expected Doug to jump up and down and give us all high fives. But he just turned and looked down at the floor.

  “You have all been so kind to me. And I would love to be adopted by you. But I don’t want you to feel pressure. I know I’m a handful, and I eat a lot, and I don’t have a job, and you didn’t expect to add another kid to your family when you moved to New York City, that’s for sure. And just wait till the bills for culinary school kick in—”

  “Doug, stop.” Mom stood up, walked over, and put her hand on his shoulder.

  “Yeah, Doug,” I said. “Why are you trying to talk us out of it?”

  “You don’t have any more bedrooms. That means you’re stuck with me on the top bunk. And Zoe—she sure doesn’t need another annoying brother.”

  “Hey, are you calling me annoying?”

  “Am I calling you annoying?”

  “That’s what I said, Doug.”

  “Well, I just want to make sure you guys know what you’re doing. Once you adopt me, I’m there for good, making pasta in your kitchen. Forever.”

  Dad stood. “I love pasta. Where do I sign?”

  The social worker looked at Doug. “Doug, it’s your decision. What do you choose to do?”

  Doug’s eyes lit up. “Are you kiddin’? I want to be a Livingston!”

  Mom hugged Doug. So did Dad. So did I.

  “Where do we sign?” Dad asked, and the social worker pulled out a few papers. “We’ll have to wait for an official date for the courthouse ceremony, but as long as none of you change your mind, you can consider this final.”

  “Where do I sign?” Doug asked as he took a bite of my cookie.

  “Oh, you don’t have to sign, since you’re a minor.”

  “But I really want to!”

  The social worker smiled. “Okay. Why don’t you sign . . .” She looked for a white space on the official form. “Here.”

  “Hold up!” I grabbed my backpack and opened the front pocket. “I’ve got just the pen for this!” I reached down and pulled out the historic gift from President Lincoln. It still had a bit of ink left in the end. “Here.” I handed it to Doug. “A souvenir to remember this special moment.”

  “A souvenir?”

  “Yes. Do the right thing with it.”

  Doug took the pen up to the desk. The so
cial worker pointed out the white space for his signature. “I’m never felt so right about a decision in my life.” Doug grinned, and then he signed his official adoption papers with Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation pen!

  That’s dope!

  CHAPTER 32

  Arcade Con

  The next two weeks were full of trips to see Doug’s grandma, who had been feeling better, to the social worker to turn in a bit more paperwork, and to the bakery to get ideas for Doug’s official adoption cake, which he insisted he was going to make.

  And each day that ticked by brought us closer to February twenty-third.

  “Hey, Arcade.” Zoe snuck into my room one Sunday night after Doug was asleep. “Check this out.” She pulled up a social media account that was set up for a local event—Arcade Con.

  She scrolled through the posts. “These arcade conventions are put on by, get this, the Double T Gaming Company! Says here they supply equipment for the most popular arcades in the country.”

  “Double T?”

  She nodded. “I know. And I have to show you this one picture in their gallery.” She scrolled some more. “Their catalog lists different game machines available for purchase. Does this claw machine look familiar?” She showed me one that looked just like the one Dad played at Arcade Adventures when he won the token. “They also have rides, video games, and what I really want you to see is . . .” She scrolled way down. “Oh, where did it go? Ah! Here it is. Try not to let your jaw hit the floor.”

  She held the phone out. The picture was an ad offering entire sets of equipment, including miniature golf courses! The one she showed me was called the Journey Course, complete with waterfall, bridge, village house, and a windmill.

  “What?!?”

  “Exactly! And check this out. It says here that ‘each feature comes with a golden plaque with the words Humility, Generosity, Forgiveness, and Restoration’! And you can have your business’s name engraved on the plaques.”

  “Zoe! This is where the Badger brothers purchased their windmill course!”

  “Yep. And that explains why Arcade Adventures was engraved on all those plaques. They bought the course before they changed the name from Arcade Adventures to Forest Games and Golf.”

  She pointed to another ad. “They must have purchased these too. Double T golden game tokens! Available with business name engraved on the back. Five thousand tokens per package.”

  “But Double T? My token has three Ts.”

  Zoe pushed me over in my bed. “Arcade! Your token didn’t come from this company. It came from one-hundred percent pure gold that was cast in the mold shaped by Theo Timon Theros.”

  “I know that, Zoe.” I stared at the tokens on the social media site. They were similar to mine, but not real gold. The Ts in the front were connected, but there were only two.

  “Arcade, don’t you get it?”

  I scratched my head. “No.”

  “Ruah.”

  “Ruah?”

  “Yes! Ruah told Theo she would find the one who could live out his wish. She must have been searching, and when she saw this, Arcade Adventures, just like on Theo’s mold, and Double T? That’s close enough! And knowing that a kid might end up with the token—”

  “Wait. Do you think she planted it somehow? Either at Arcade Adventures or in the Badger brothers’ token order, hoping a kid would win it at one of the games?”

  “I think that’s exactly what she did. But the Badgers found it first.”

  Doug’s head popped down from his bunk. “Hey! Can’t a brother get some sleep around here?”

  Zoe jumped. “Doug! Don’t scare us like that!”

  “Are you guys gonna fill me in on what’s goin’ on?”

  “Yeah.” I pulled on Doug’s arm. “Get down here. We gotta find out everything we can about Arcade Con.”

  Doug dropped down from his bunk and sat cross-legged on my bed. “Why?”

  Zoe smirked. “So we can keep an eye on the Badgers, and find out if this Kenwood thing is a setup.”

  “Yeah,” I punched my pillow. “Let’s spy on them for a change.”

  Doug thrust out a fist. “GAME ON.”

  Saturday afternoon—two days before Arcade Con—Zoe, Doug, and I sat outside on our cold brownstone steps and came up with our plan.

  “It says here Arcade Con starts Monday at noon and ends Wednesday at noon.” Zoe held her phone up so we could view the website. “No school on Monday. Could we go then?”

  Doug scrolled through his phone calendar. “That’s when we’re all supposed to spend the afternoon with Gram.”

  “That’s important.” I scrolled through the Arcade Con website. “We can go Tuesday. I think we can assume the Badgers will be there.” I pressed the button to register as a guest for the expo. “Oh, no! The tickets are fifty dollars a person to get into the expo area. We can’t afford that!”

  Zoe patted the small pocket of her backpack. “Oh, yes we can. I’m the saver of the family, remember?”

  “Zoe, you would do that for me?”

  “Of course! But you’ll be paying me back.”

  “Pay you back? I never have that kind of cash.”

  “Did I say you had to pay me in cash? Chores will do, and you can start by paying me tonight. Mom and Doug are making spaghetti, and that means a lot of pots and pans to wash.”

  Doug patted me on the shoulder. “I’ll try not to make too big a mess.”

  That night, we purchased our Arcade Con expo passes online. We printed them out and stuffed them in our notebooks.

  “Are you ready?” Doug laughed.

  “Oh, yeah.” I pumped my fist in the air. “We’re doin’ this!”

  CHAPTER 33

  February Twenty-Second

  I saw Elena Salvador Castro many times on Tuesday, February twenty-second. She met me after every class, and we said the same thing to each other every time.

  “Hey, Livingston.”

  “Hi, Elena. Did I tell you how great these glasses are?”

  She smiled. “Yes. I’m glad they’re working well. Have you decided to run for student body president yet? The paperwork is due Friday.”

  “Really?” I adjusted my glasses. “I don’t know if I SEE myself doing that just yet.” I put one hand over my left eye and began to yell out letters. “A . . . R . . . C . . . A . . . D . . . E . . . F . . . O . . . R . . .”

  “Go on,” she said.

  “I’m sorry. Can’t read the last line.”

  She shook her head. “You’re a funny boy, Livingston.” Then she took off with her permanent hall pass to go bug someone else.

  The day crept on. The closer it got to dismissal, the higher my blood pressure rose. Right before Doug took off to his last period history class, I looked him in the eye.

  “We gotta get out fast today. Meet me out front as soon as you can, and we’ll run to the subway to meet Zoe. We need to catch the earliest train down to the convention center.”

  “Gotcha!” Doug whispered, and he took off down the hall to his classroom.

  Of course, in PE, we were playing another co-ed volleyball tournament. But this time, the boys and girls were mixed.

  Elena was on my team.

  “Hey, Livingston! Let’s get ‘em! With my hands and your face, we can rule the court.”

  We did make a good team. We smoked everyone. It was like I could see the ball clearer than ever before with my magical glasses from Castro Optometry.

  After the tournament, Elena came up and gave me a high five. “You play like a student body president. Papers are due Friday.”

  “I’ll think about it on Friday.”

  I was a sweaty mess by the time I changed out of my gym clothes, ran to meet Doug, and then rushed through the park and across the street to meet Zoe at the subway station.

  “Tell me you brought your metro cards.” Zoe held up her card as we followed her down the steps to the turnstile.

  “I got mine!” Doug swiped his through the card reade
r.

  I held mine up. “I’m a pro at this now.”

  As we stood in the crowded car that would take us down near Bryant Park, Zoe leaned over and whispered in my ear. “We stay together for this, Arcade. Just like always. I don’t care who we see or what they do, or even what Triple T does. I don’t trust the Badgers for one second.”

  The expo room in the convention center was slammed with people. The man at the entrance gave us a funny look.

  “Our family is very interested in arcades.” I grinned. The man nodded and scanned our tickets.

  Zoe rolled her eyes.

  “What? I told the truth. You guys are really interested in me, right?”

  The place was set up like a huge arcade resort; games were everywhere, chiming, ringing, and pinging. Sales representatives stood next to the games ready to demo, explain terms, and sign contracts. A few inflatable rooms were set up, and I wondered what kind of laser tag or mystery obstacles lurked inside.

  “This would be a cool job,” Doug said. “I can see why the Badgers were interested in—”

  Zoe grabbed my elbow. “Badger at three o’clock!” She pulled me behind a tall game console.

  Doug ducked in with us. “And there’s another one at three-thirty.”

  I peeked around the game.

  They wore the same outfit—just like the Tolleys do most of the time. Dark blue jeans, black, long-sleeved T-shirts, and dark green sleeveless puff vests that had the Forest Games and Golf logo on the left breast pocket. They walked from one vendor to another, chatting, laughing, and looking like brothers WHO GET ALONG.

  “We gotta get where we can hear what they’re saying.” I poked my head out from behind the game to find a safe spy route.

  Zoe shook an index finger at me. “Careful! We CAN’T let them see us.”

  “It would be nice to be token invisible right now,” Doug said.

  We followed the Badgers, sneaking behind displays, banners, and tall games. We stopped and listened when they came to a table where they seemed to know a guy.