Showtime!

by Ida Siegal

  “That’s my school,” she said. “He goes to my school.”

  WHEN we got home that night, I wrote down the new clues and filed my report.

  Clue #6: Alyssa admitted she left the drum on the bus and lied about it.

  Clue #7: Bus driver Jason took the drum to the lost and found.

  Clue #8: A boy from Washington High School took the drum from the lost and found. He used a fake name, Josh Baker.

  That weekend we spent the whole time rehearsing and thinking. But we were stumped. Why would someone at Alyssa’s school take the drum? We went back to class the following week—with no good ideas.

  “Emma, I’m starting to get nervous,” Shakira said on the school bus in the morning. “The parade is in two days, and we have to have the tambora drum for the full dress rehearsal tomorrow.”

  “And,” added Sophia, “my mom and I saw Maestra Soto at the grocery store over the weekend. She seemed so sad. She told my mother that her grandfather gave her that drum just before he died. She was supposed to take care of it for him and make sure it didn’t sit on a shelf. He wanted it to continue to make beautiful music.”

  “Wow,” I said as I played with my curls. “You’re right, we have to find the drum today.”

  Javier’s head popped out of the seat across the aisle from us.

  “But how are we supposed to find someone at Washington High? I mean, that’s a high school. Those kids are big.”

  “I know, I know …” I said.

  “Emma, why do you keep touching your curls? You’re gonna stretch them out, and then they won’t be fabulous anymore!” Shakira warned.

  “Okay,” I said, making a decision. “I have a secret to tell you guys.”

  Sophia, Shakira, and Javier all leaned in close to listen.

  “I … I have a magic curl.”

  “What? What do you mean a magic curl?” Shakira looked unsure.

  “I don’t know …” said Sophia.

  “That’s completely awesome!” said Javier.

  “No, really, I do.” I told them about all the times my bouncing curl helped me before. “Watch … it really does work.” I took my curl and pulled it all the way down again. As far as it would stretch. And then I let it bounce back up. Everyone looked at me waiting for the magic to happen. I was waiting, too. At first nothing did happen. Then—bam! Another great idea!

  “AHA!” I shouted. They all jumped in their seats!

  “What?” asked Sophia.

  “I know what to do!”

  “What is it?” asked Shakira.

  “We have to figure out who else was on the bus with Alyssa! Her group of friends were there, right? Maybe one of them saw something!”

  “Good idea. Because ‘Josh Baker,’ ” Sophia said, making air quotes with her hands, “whoever that really is, must have seen it on the bus that day, too. How else would he know to go get it from the bus depot?”

  “Exactly,” I said. “Maybe one of her other friends saw ‘Josh Baker’ on the bus.” I used air quotes, too, and we all giggled a little.

  “Yeah, ‘Josh Baker,’ ” Javier added, making the air quotes again. “I bet ‘Josh Baker’ looks like an alien.” He started laughing.

  “Um, what are you talking about?” Shakira asked with disdain.

  “What?” Javier answered. “Sophia’s the one who called him an alien. And Emma gave him the alien ears, too,” Javier explained, using the air quotes again.

  “Javier, those aren’t alien ears. They’re called air quotes. See, my fingers are making the shape of quotation marks,” Sophia said, demonstrating the air quotes again.

  “Oh. Right.” Javier looked embarrassed. “Whatever. Hey, Emma, can I see your magic curl?”

  “Um, I guess,” I replied as I leaned over to him.

  Javier held the end of my curl up to his head and started pulling at it.

  “Ouch!” I yelled.

  “Sorry … I was hoping your curl could teach my curls a thing or two!”

  * * *

  “Okay, boys and girls,” Maestra Soto said, speaking to all the mangulina dancers later that afternoon. “This is our last class before the final dress rehearsal tomorrow. I want you to give it your all.”

  “But what about the drum? Have we found it yet?” asked another dancer.

  “No, not yet,” answered Maestra. “But let me worry about that. You focus on your twirls.”

  We all got in our places for rehearsal, and the music began. Maestra pulled me aside.

  “Emma, how’s your investigation going? I miss that tambora drum so much. I can’t imagine performing in the parade without it,” she said with a sad face.

  “Don’t worry, Maestra,” I told her. “We have a plan! We’ll find that tambora drum—I promise! There’s no way they can kick us out of the parade!”

  “Thank you, Emma. You’ve been wonderful. ¡Una niña buenísima! Wait … kick us out of the parade? What do you mean?” she called after me. But I spotted Alyssa on the other side of the dance studio.

  “Sorry, Maestra, I have to go get another clue. Talk later!”

  I twirled over to Alyssa across the dance floor.

  “Alyssa,” I said, “I need to ask you something before we rehearse.”

  “Sure, what is it?”

  “I need to know who was on the bus with you the day you left the drum.”

  “Hmm,” Alyssa said. She started thinking. “Well, Laylani was sitting to my left and Monique was next her. Oh, and Marco and his friends were sitting in the back corner.”

  “Marco? Do you think he’s the real ‘Josh Baker’? Do you think he might have taken the drum?” I asked.

  “No, he would never. Plus he got off the bus before I did. He didn’t even know I left it there. But his friends were still on the bus.”

  “Which friends?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never really hung out with those boys before. I don’t know their names.”

  “Great. Now what?” I asked. I was starting to get worried. “We have to find those kids. One of them has the drum.”

  “I have an idea,” Alyssa said with cautious excitement. “If we can’t find the kid who took the drum, maybe we can convince him to find us?”

  What was Alyssa talking about? How could we make a high school kid find us?

  THE next morning, I took extra care getting ready for school. The final dress rehearsal was supposed to happen that evening. I decided to put my hair up rehearsal-style in the morning, because we had big plans to finally get the drum back after school. So I pulled my hair back in a tight bun and tied special red, white, and blue ribbons around it. I looked in the mirror and smiled.

  Alyssa really did come up with a great idea to find the drum. Last night, she made dozens of flyers offering a reward for anyone who could return the drum to us. The flyers said: LOST DRUM and underneath was a picture of the tambora. Then: Please return anonymously—no questions asked—to locker 53 after school today at 3:30. There is a $50 reward for the safe return of the drum. If the drum is returned later than 3:30, there will be no reward.

  Alyssa said locker 53 was empty so we could use it to lure the drum thief. She was using her own babysitting money for the reward. I said he didn’t deserve a reward, but she insisted. Alyssa still blamed herself for what happened.

  The plan was for Alyssa to pick us all up from school today. We told our parents she was taking us to dance class. And technically she was. But first we made a stop at Washington High School. I started getting nervous as we walked up to the school.

  “Come on, guys, this way,” said Alyssa as she opened a side door to the high school. I had never been to a high school before. It was a lot bigger than my school. And a little scary.

  “Um, Emma, are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Javier as a boy with a mustache walked by us. Javier looked nervous, too.

  “Yeah, maybe we should just let Alyssa get the drum back without us,” added Sophia as a girl with bright red lipstick walked up the stairs.
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  “But, guys,” I reminded them, “we have to confront the drum thief as soon as we find him. We have to ask him why he took the drum. Our viewers need to know what happened!”

  “That’s right,” Shakira chimed in. “Don’t be scared. It’s just high school. My big sister goes here, too. I promise it’s not that bad.” Shakira pulled out her compact mirror to check her hair and make sure it looked good enough for high school. Then we all heard the mirror again sing, “You look faaabulous.”

  “Ugh!” groaned Javier. “Not that again! You’re gonna embarrass us in high school!”

  “Fine, fine. I’m putting it away. Relax.”

  “Everybody needs to relax,” said Alyssa. “It’s almost three thirty. We have to go wait by locker 53.”

  We headed upstairs and found the locker. It was 3:20. In ten minutes, the drum thief would be there. We decided the hide around the corner from the locker so the drum thief wouldn’t see us and run away. Sophia got out the camera phone, and I got my microphone ready to go.

  “But, Emma,” said Sophia, “if we hide around the corner, how will we see what’s happening? How will we know when the drum thief arrives and when we should start recording?”

  “Oh. Um. Good point. I don’t know,” I answered. This was tough.

  “What if I peek from a classroom across the hall,” offered Javier. “When I see the drum thief arrive, I can use my walkie-talkie to tell you guys to start recording?”

  “Great idea!” I said.

  Javier grabbed the walkie-talkies from his spy kit.

  “Oh, no,” he said as he started playing with them. “They’re not working.” Javier pulled the battery covers off. Empty. The walkie-talkies needed batteries. And we didn’t have any.

  “Sorry. I haven’t used these yet. I didn’t know they needed juice.”

  “That’s okay,” I said, trying not to panic. “We just need a new plan. I have to think. I need my magic curl!”

  I reached for my magic curl, but it wasn’t there. Uh-oh.

  “Emma, your curl is pulled back in your bun,” Shakira pointed out.

  “I know!” I said. “Now what are we gonna do? I need that curl! We need an idea, and I can’t come up with one without my curl. I just can’t!”

  “Emma, calm down,” said Sophia.

  “I can’t calm down! The drum thief will be here in …” I looked at the clock. It said 3:24. “Six minutes. He’ll be here in six minutes! We need a plan. I can’t let the viewers down. We need to show them who the thief is! I need my magic curl!”

  “Emma,” Sophia said, “think about it. You’ve come up with plenty of ideas before you thought that curl was magic. It was great and has helped a lot, but you don’t need it. You can do it on your own. I know you can.”

  But I wasn’t sure if I could. I looked at the clock. 3:26. I needed a plan! But I couldn’t think. I looked over toward Shakira. She didn’t seem worried at all. She was just fixing her hair again. How could she fix her hair at a time like this? Then—boom. It came to me. Even without my magic curl, I knew just what to do.

  I ran over to Shakira as fast as I could and grabbed the pink singing vanity mirror out of her hands.

  “Hey!” she shouted. “Emma, what are you doing with my mirror? I need that!”

  “Actually, we need it,” I called back—I was already running toward locker 53. “Just for a few minutes,” I told her. I didn’t have time to explain. I ran over to the locker, opened it up and took out the envelope Alyssa had put there with the reward money. I replaced it with the mirror instead.

  Then I grabbed my reporter pad and wrote a quick note that said, Open the vanity mirror. Your reward money is inside.

  I placed the note on top of the mirror and ran back over to the group hiding around the corner. I looked at the clock. It said 3:30. I put my finger over my mouth to tell everyone to shush. It was time to catch our thief!

  WE were all huddled around the corner and couldn’t see a thing. But we could hear. We heard footsteps walking toward us. Then they stopped. Then we heard a squeaking noise that sounded like it might be coming from a locker door.

  Sophia looked at me like she was ready to start recording. I shook my head and held up a finger, telling her to wait one more minute.

  Then it happened. We all heard it …

  “You look faaabulous!” screeched from Shakira’s vanity mirror.

  “Now, Sophia!” I said to her. “Let’s go!”

  Sophia pressed record, and we ran around the corner over to locker 53. Alyssa gasped.

  “David?” she said in shock. “David? What are you doing?”

  We couldn’t believe it. It was David Soto—Maestra Soto’s son! He was standing there with the drum in his hand as the vanity mirror sang over and over, “You look faaabulous!”

  “I … uh … um … here, this is for you,” he said as he handed the drum to Alyssa. She grabbed it and set it down on the floor away from him.

  “But, David, why do you have the drum?”

  “You took the drum from the lost and found at the bus depot. Didn’t you?” I said as I pointed the microphone toward him. “You’re Josh Baker.”

  “Well. Okay, fine. Yes, I did!” David answered.

  “Why? Why did you do it?” shouted Alyssa with tears in her eyes. “You’re my own cousin. How could you do that to me? And your mother’s been worried sick about that drum! How could you do that to her?”

  “I meant to give it back to her. Honest … but things got complicated.” David looked at the ceiling. And then at his feet.

  “Can you please explain?” I asked him. “From the beginning?”

  “Okay, fine,” David began. “Alyssa, I knew you left the drum on the bus. Sebastian told me—you know the kid who hangs out with Marco and those guys. He said he saw the bus driver take it for safekeeping, and he knew we were cousins, so he told me what happened. I figured it was probably at the lost and found at the bus depot, so I went to go pick it up.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Sounds good. But why didn’t you just give it to her? We’ve been going crazy looking for it. We almost missed the Thanksgiving Day Parade!”

  “Well, that’s it. I wanted to miss the parade! And I realized this could be my chance. Maybe if you didn’t find the drum in time, we could all just skip that dumb parade. So I gave a fake name at the bus depot. Josh Baker … I hate that guy. I figured no one would know it was me. And I hid the drum at home.”

  “What? You wanted to miss the parade?” Shakira asked.

  “Why?” asked Javier. “Why would you want to miss being in the Thanksgiving Day Parade??”

  “Number one, it’s embarrassing,” answered David. “I’m tired of doing the mangulina. Number two, Mom has been so busy rehearsing for the parade she stopped coming to my soccer games. She didn’t even realize we made the play-offs! Number three, she wouldn’t give me the money to go to our championship game in Boston. She said I didn’t deserve it because I got a D on my history test and I had a bad attitude. Whatever. I was mad at her. I figured, if I can’t go to my soccer tournament, then she can’t be in the parade.”

  “David!” Alyssa said in shock. “How could you do that to your mother? And to our great-grandfather?”

  “I know. I didn’t really know the whole story about great-grandfather giving her that drum. I started to feel bad. I guess I did have a bad attitude. I was going to give it back, I just didn’t know how. Then I saw your flyer and figured I could give it back without getting caught. Plus I could use the fifty bucks to go to my soccer tournament. I didn’t know your little friends were gonna put me on the news!” David said, pointing to me and Sophia and Shakira and Javier.

  “David, you’re not on just any news show,” I told him. “You’re on ‘Emma Is On the Air’! And you shouldn’t have done that to your mother.”

  “Yeah,” Javier agreed, “you should’ve just told your mom how you feel instead of lying.”

  “Okay, kid. You’re right. And I’m sorry. I
’m glad this is over and you have your drum back.”

  “This is not over! Wait till I tell Tía what happened!” said Alyssa. She and David started arguing.

  “That’s right!” I said. “Maestra Soto doesn’t know we have the drum back yet. The dress rehearsal is going to start soon.”

  “We better call her before she tells the parade organizers the drum is gone,” added Sophia.

  “Better yet,” I shouted, “let’s show her!” I started running down the hall toward the exit. Everyone followed.

  WE hurried out of Washington High School and ran down the block to my house to file our news report. This time, everyone told part of the story: me, Sophia, Javier, and Shakira. Then we posted it.

  Later at the dress rehearsal, Maestra Soto gave me a huge hug!

  “¡Ay, gracias, mi amor! Thank you again, Emma! My love! You are a lifesaver. I saw your news report. I know my abuelo in heaven will be so pleased to see his drum in the parade! And David and I had a nice long talk. He’s in big trouble, but we were also honest with each other about what’s been going on the last few weeks. He apologized. And I did, too.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” I replied. “I’m so glad the drum is back. Now we’re going to be able to perform! I was really worried we were going to get kicked out!”

  “Yes, you mentioned that before. But we were never going to get kicked out of the parade.”

  “We weren’t? I thought without the drum, the parade organizers wouldn’t want us anymore.”

  “No, honey. I told the parade organizers what happened. I was worried they would be disappointed, but they said they were happy to have us. They loved the drum, but we were going to perform either way.”

  “Oh. Oops.” I felt a little embarrassed.

  “Well, now that we do have the drum we know for sure our performance will be espectacular!” I said.

  “Yes, we will be spectacular!” Maestra agreed.

  And we were. The next day at the parade, we danced down the whole parade route with our skirts twirling high in the air. So many people were cheering for us! Even Javier managed to spin twice in a row without hitting the ground.