by Jill Diamond
“Is that really necessary?” Lou Lou asked Kyle as he put on his silver Comet Cop cape. “It makes us stand out, and we’re trying to keep this thing under the radar.”
“It’s absolutely necessary, Lou Lou Bombay. No Comet Cop mission is complete without a cape, and that includes Operation Diary Mission Interplanetary 12 with Universe Coordinates 30/50.” Lou Lou knew it was useless to argue with Kyle about anything Comet Cop–related, so she let it go.
City Hall was in the Centro Circle neighborhood, but still walking distance from El Corazón Public. On the way, Lou Lou told Jeremy about Diego creating the recipe for caracoles. All the while, Kyle chattered on about how he wasn’t really breaking any rules by going into the City Archives, but, even if he was bending them slightly, it was all in the interest of rescuing the Bonanza and the space goats and helping Peacock … Earthlings, that is.
When City Hall came into view, Lou Lou marveled at the building even though she’d seen it countless times before. City Hall towered over the plaza below and looked to Lou Lou like a sparkling magic castle. It had a beautiful arched entryway that led to a ballroom-size hall topped by a large dome. On each end of the building was a tower and two turrets, and from one tower flew a city flag showing a fox and a bear shaking hands flanked by a grand bridge. On the front of the building was written the city’s motto: AMIGA DE TODOS. Lou Lou wasn’t sure what was inside the towers and turrets, but she’d always imagined it was dragons or a princess with impossibly long hair.
Pea was waiting on a bench in front when they arrived. She stood up to give Lou Lou a hug and greet Kyle and Jeremy.
“Helllooo!” Lou Lou said in a singsong voice. Her ears tingled. “Ready?”
“Roger that!” Kyle said into an imaginary headset. “Operation Diary Mission Interplanetary 12 with Universe Coordinates 30/50 has a green light!”
“I guess that means we should go inside now?” Pea’s voice wavered, and Lou Lou knew Pea was nervous. Lou Lou had to admit that she was, too, but she was even more excited.
“¡Vámonos!” said Jeremy.
“Let’s go rescue our Bonanza!” Lou Lou said, and into City Hall they went.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Gazebo Enthusiast
Kyle led the way into City Hall’s marble foyer, which was lined with busts of past mayors and statues of Diego and Giles. It was bustling with people, and Lou Lou and Pea nearly bumped into a bride and groom posing for a photograph.
“Perdón,” Pea said, then added, “¡Felicidades!”
Lou Lou, Pea, and Jeremy followed Kyle up a staircase to a long hallway. As they walked, they passed Mayor Montoya’s dark office and Lou Lou thought about poor Putt Putt the puli.
“We have arrived, Earthlings!” Kyle said when they reached a door marked CITY ARCHIVES/ARCHIVOS DE LA CIUDAD.
“Quick, open it and let’s go in before someone sees us,” Lou Lou said. Kyle unzipped his backpack and took out a giant key ring holding at least fifteen keys.
“Yowza! What do you need all those for?” Jeremy asked.
“To unlock the mysteries of the universe, of course,” replied Kyle. “Also one is for my house, one is for my auntie’s house, one is for my sister’s room—but don’t tell her I have it—one is for—”
“Okay, okay. Just let us in,” Lou Lou interrupted.
“I always forget which key it is,” Kyle said. Lou Lou stamped her foot impatiently. “I’ll just have to try a few.” As Kyle tested the keys in the lock, Lou Lou noticed that the door on her left said VICE-MAYOR’S OFFICE. It was slightly ajar, so she could see that the office was empty.
“Pea!” She nudged her best friend. “That’s Andy Argyle’s office! I’m going to take a quick peek.” Before Pea could answer, Lou Lou ducked inside. Lou Lou’s nerves felt jumpy—it wouldn’t be good to get caught snooping around the vice-mayor’s office. But what if there was a clue that Andy Argyle was hiding? Lou Lou had to have a look just in case.
The vice-mayor’s office was furnished with a large wooden desk, bookshelves, and two chairs. A black-and-white argyle jacket hung from a coatrack in the corner above two pairs of Andy Argyle’s shiny shoes. On the wall near the desk was a photograph of Amanda smirking in front of a gazebo by a river. To its left was another photo of her father in a gazebo in a field, and a third of the Argyles together in a gazebo in front of a grand house.
Lou Lou walked over to the desk. The surface was bare except for ten or more miniature gazebos, each one different. How strange, thought Lou Lou. She moved on to the bookcase, which held a row of issues of the same magazine, Gazebo Enthusiast. The vice-mayor sure does like gazebos, she thought.
On the upper shelf of the bookcase was a small gazebo statue, a book called The Top Ten Gazebos of the World, and gazebo bookends. Lou Lou stood on her tiptoes to see the top of the bookcase and caught a glimpse of the ceiling. The entire thing was painted to look like the dome of a fancy gazebo.
“Wow!” Lou Lou said. Even though she didn’t like Andy Argyle, she couldn’t help but be impressed. Then Lou Lou heard Pea call her name.
“Lou Lou! Kyle opened the door! Hurry!” Lou Lou scampered back to join her friends. Kyle and Jeremy were already inside the City Archives, but Pea was waiting at the door.
“Find anything?” Pea asked.
“Nothing related to the diary,” Lou Lou replied. “But a lot of gazebo stuff. I’ll tell you more about it later. Let’s go in!”
Pea hesitated. They were about to break the rules by going into the City Archives, and Pea wasn’t a fan of rule-breaking. Lou Lou could understand, but the importance of looking for the diary was greater than other concerns.
“Don’t worry,” said Lou Lou. “Just think of how nice it will be to get the Bonanza and your hats back.” Pea took a deep breath, nodded, and followed Lou Lou through the door.
Once they were all inside, Kyle flipped on the light and dimmed it to the lowest setting.
“Shouldn’t we keep it off?” Pea asked nervously.
“No one will notice it if we shut the door,” Jeremy said, pulling the heavy door closed behind them.
The City Archives was a medium-size room that looked like a mix of Abuela Josie’s attic, a library, a museum, and an office. There were stacks of dusty books, overstuffed filing cabinets, and photographs on the walls. Lou Lou glanced at a row of photos from previous Bonanzas, each of which was labeled with the city’s age and the name of the host neighborhood. At the end of the row was a blank spot and a label that said, Two Hundred Years, El Corazón. It made Lou Lou’s ears burn to see that someone had crossed out El Corazón and scrawled Verde Valley underneath. Lou Lou had nothing against Verde Valley, but the Bonanza situation felt so unfair to her own neighborhood.
Lou Lou stood beside Pea and looked at the images from past celebrations. Some showed caracoles, some were crowd scenes, and others were photos of various performances. Pea gazed longingly at photographs of fancy hats, including one of a girl surrounded by hatboxes, captioned Marta Oro, Milliner’s Apprentice, 1928.
“We’d best start looking for the diary so we can get your hats back, Pea,” Lou Lou said.
Lou Lou and Pea went to help Jeremy and Kyle sort through a pile of books. But first, Pea noticed a glass display case in one corner half-hidden by a large box.
“I think I see Giles’s actual jaunty cap!” Pea went to have a look. “The fabric has worn so well for being—” She stopped in mid-sentence and crouched down to peer at a lower shelf in the case. “I found it!” she said, careful to keep her exclamation to a whisper. “I found the diary!”
Lou Lou, Kyle, and Jeremy rushed over. Sure enough, there was the small book on the same shelf as a letter opener engraved with the initials GW.
“Wow! Great job, Pea!” said Lou Lou. “Now let’s take a look before someone notices that we’re here!” Lou Lou tugged at the handle of the display case, but it didn’t open. She changed her grip and tugged again.
“Hmm,” she said when it still didn’t
budge. She was reminded of a time not so long ago when she and Pea were trying to open a door in the candle shop. All it took was some muscle and determination—surely the same was true here. She gave the handle a harder pull. No movement. “Arrr!” she said like one of her dad’s movie pirates.
“Do you think it’s locked?” asked Pea.
“There’s no place for a key. It’s just stuck,” replied Lou Lou.
“Move aside, por favor!” said Jeremy. “I’ll open it for you. Piece of cake.” Jeremy gave it his best pull, but the door didn’t open for him either.
“Piece of cake, huh?” said Lou Lou.
“Dun dun dun!” From behind Lou Lou, Pea, and Jeremy came a noise indicating that they should be impressed. “Comet Cop to the rescue!” Kyle cried. “I’ll open the door with my invisible super-strength multipurpose space tool!” Kyle pulled something from his bag.
“That’s a regular old screwdriver, Kyle,” Lou Lou said.
“And we can see it, so it’s not invisible,” Pea pointed out.
Kyle ignored them and stuck the screwdriver into the little space under the display door. He pried it open with a pop!
“Told you it was multipurpose!” he said.
“I don’t think we can argue with that,” said Jeremy. “Job well done, Kyle.” Kyle beamed and looked at Pea. She smiled.
“Yes, buen trabajo!” Pea said.
Lou Lou picked up the diary from inside the display case and flipped through it. The pages weren’t blank, but luckily the diary wasn’t very long, so it wouldn’t take too much time to read. Lou Lou was going to suggest she skim through and read passages aloud while the others listened for clues that it was a fake.
But then they heard the door creak open.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Accidentally Borrowed
“Hide!” said Jeremy as the City Archives door slowly opened. Lou Lou, Pea, Jeremy, and Kyle dove behind a large trunk. Lou Lou tucked the diary into her satchel. Jeremy reached up and pushed down his hair’s red spikes so they couldn’t be seen.
“Is it Vice-Mayor Argyle?” whispered Pea, her voice trembling.
“I don’t know. But if it is and he finds us, we’re in so much trouble,” Kyle replied. “I’m technically not supposed to bring any unauthorized persons or space aliens in here.”
No one said a word as they heard the door open wider. Lou Lou rubbed her ears to ease the burning. Pea was frozen in place. Kyle bit his pinkie fingernail, and Jeremy rolled a piece of his hair around in his fingers.
“Hello? Who’s in here?” a woman called. Lou Lou exhaled quietly and her ears cooled a little. At least it wasn’t the vice-mayor. All of a sudden, her nose began to tickle. Oh no, Lou Lou thought. Please not now. But she couldn’t help it.
“Achoo!” sneezed Lou Lou. Pea’s eyes went even wider.
“I know there is someone in here,” the woman’s voice said. “I heard you! Come out at once!”
This is it. We’re busted, thought Lou Lou. Then Kyle put a keep quiet finger to his lips and made an okay sign with his other hand. He stood up. “Greetings, Wanda,” Kyle said.
“Kyle? What are you doing here? You don’t volunteer on Thursdays.”
“Not usually,” Kyle replied. “But I came in today to finish some filing. It’s important to have everything in perfect planetary order before the Bonanza!”
“Oh my, you really are a lovely boy,” Wanda said. “Albeit a little odd.” Lou Lou didn’t have to look to know that the woman was eyeing Kyle’s cape.
“Well, I’m done here for today,” Kyle said. “Wanda, have I ever showed you my cosmic kung fu?”
“I don’t believe you have,” Wanda replied. “But I’m not sure—”
“You’ve really got to see it,” said Kyle. “I will teach you a shooting-star side kick so you can defend yourself in case of an invasion from the Tyrosians. But we need to go outside to the courtyard so we have more space.”
Lou Lou peeked over the trunk just in time to see Kyle gently pulling on the arm of a woman in a blue dress with big blond hair. Wanda didn’t see Lou Lou, but Kyle looked at her and raised his eyebrows as if to say, Make a break for it, Lou Lou Bombay. Once Kyle and Wanda’s voices disappeared down the hall, that’s exactly what Lou Lou, Pea, and Jeremy did, rushing out of the City Archives, down the hall and the stairs, through the grand foyer, down the front steps, and into the spring sun. When they were a safe distance from City Hall, they stopped to catch their breath and calm their nerves.
“Lou Lou!” Pea said between huffs and puffs. “I can’t believe we stole the diary.”
“We didn’t really steal it,” Lou Lou replied. “We accidentally borrowed it.”
“She’s got a point,” Jeremy said.
“We better give it back before anyone notices. We could get in big trouble,” said Pea.
“She’s got a point, too,” Jeremy said.
“Don’t worry. We’ll return it,” replied Lou Lou. “But now that we have it—accidentally, of course—we might as well read it to see if we can get the Bonanza back!”
“That’s the best point of all!” Jeremy said.
* * *
After their close-call Diary Mission, Lou Lou, Pea, and Jeremy didn’t have enough time to examine the diary before they were all due home. Pea said she’d hold on to it until they could get together again to read it.
The following morning, Lou Lou saw Kyle in English class. She never thought she’d be so grateful to him. He’d helped Lou Lou and Pea once before to solve a mystery without knowing he was doing it. But this time, Kyle had been genuinely brave, and he was the reason that they weren’t all in big trouble right now.
Lou Lou stopped at Kyle’s desk on the way to hers. “Thanks for what you did yesterday,” she said. Lou Lou noticed Danielle staring at her. Kyle saw it, too.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lou Lou Bombay!” he said loudly. “Perhaps the gravitational forces on this planet have affected your brain.” Then, under his breath he said, “Bring it back to me as soon as you can.”
“I knew it! I knew you had a crush on him! Or he has a crush on you! Or whatever!” Danielle said. Lou Lou just rolled her eyes and moved on to her desk.
After school, Lou Lou and Pea met as usual at the SS Lucky Alley for PSPP tea and scones. Jeremy couldn’t join them because he had Comic Book Club, which also ruled out Kyle coming over. Today, the girls only managed formal PSPP hellos before abandoning polite speech and moving on to diary talk.
“Where should we start?” Lou Lou asked, turning the diary around in her hands. “Have you read any of it yet?”
“I copied a few pages to practice my penmanship, but I was waiting for you to do the serious reading,” Pea said.
“Great!” Lou Lou skimmed through the diary until she found the entry that Andy Argyle had read at the Heliotrope. She was a little disappointed that it said exactly what he’d said it did about the Bonanza and Verde Valley. But as Pea pointed out, if the vice-mayor had faked what he read from the diary, he would definitely make sure the actual diary backed up his story.
Next, Lou Lou opened to a random page and began to read aloud:
“Date: The twelfth of April.
Dearest Diary,
Diego and I are truly happy in our lovely new home, Verde Valley. Together we have built a beautiful gazebo like the one in Barnaby-on-Pudding, but our gazebo is painted in the style of Diego’s village. We hope that Verde Valley and the surrounding land will become a grand city! More settlers will join us here soon, including my darling, Alice. The climate is ideal for her pet goats.”
Lou Lou paused. “Pet goats? That’s not true, right? Giles’s wife didn’t have pet goats, so the diary is not real!”
Pea shook her head. “Actually, that part is definitely true. That’s one reason Kyle was training goats for the Bonanza, remember?”
“Oh, yeah.” Lou Lou had forgotten that Kyle’s landscaping “space” goats also had some historical meaning. She s
kipped ahead to another page.
“Date: The thirtieth of April.
Dearest Diary,
O happy day! Alice has finally come to Verde Valley. Diego’s paramour, Catalina, is here as well. To celebrate their arrival, we had a picnic in our beautiful gazebo. Alice left her goats at home so they wouldn’t get sunburned, but I think she enjoyed herself nonetheless.”
“Argh, I don’t want to hear any more about the stupid goats!” Lou Lou thought back to the first passage Pea had read. The part about the gazebo reminded Lou Lou of something. “Pea, with all the Diary Mission excitement I never told you about Andy Argyle’s office. It was filled with gazebo paraphernalia! There were photos, miniatures, and even magazines called Gazebo Exorcist!” Pea looked confused. “I mean Gazebo Enthusiast!” Lou Lou said. “And the whole ceiling was painted to look like a gazebo dome.”
“Interesting!” Pea replied. “I guess that means Vice-Mayor Argyle will be excited to have the new gazebo in Verde Valley. But it doesn’t really prove anything, except that he likes gazebos.”
“Right.” Lou Lou flipped through the pages of the diary. “There’s got to be something in here that’s useful!” She was getting frustrated.
“Maybe we should start reading from the beginning?” Pea suggested gently.
“Sure, the beginning seems like a good place to … begin.” Lou Lou opened to the first page and read aloud from the diary while Pea nibbled on a raspberry scone. It started with Giles’s tale of his sea journey from Barnaby-on-Pudding. The talk of great sailing ships and storms was the sort of thing that Lou Lou’s dad would like, but it wasn’t helpful to Lou Lou and Pea. Lou Lou took a bite of her own scone and skipped ahead until she found the entry from Giles’s arrival:
“Date: The second of March.
Dearest Diary,
I have some wonderful news to share. Today, I finally arrived in this new land and also made a friend! He is a man from the south named Diego who is just as eager as I am to make this lovely place a home. I do not speak his language, nor he mine, but I am confident we will learn. He seems very kind. Oh, and he has a beautiful chestnut mare! The weather here—”