by Ida Siegal
“It’s a good story, right, Papi?”
“Yup, you got a good one, kiddo. This is something people need to know about. We want to make sure none of the other hamburgers at school have worms in them.”
“Right!” I agreed.
“Breaking news from Emma Perez!” Papi said with a huge grin.
“I broke the news? It’s broken?”
“No, silly, it’s not broken. It means you’ll be the first reporter to tell us about this news story.”
“Wow.”
My cat jumped into my arms. “What do you think, Luna?”
“Meow!” she replied.
I decided Luna could be my news reporter’s assistant. Cats always make good assistants—especially for famous people.
Papi said we could work on my news story after dinner.
I waited until he ate his very last bite of spaghetti and sipped his very last sip of water. Just as he put his glass back on the table, I asked him, “Now, Papi? Can we do my news story now?”
“Cálmate, Emma. Relax. I’m still eating my dinner.”
“No, you’re not. You have no more spaghetti, your meatballs are all gone, and you drank your last sip of water.”
“Can I have a minute to digest?”
“Okay, one minute,” I allowed.
I started counting in my head. Once I counted sixty seconds, I tried again.
“Please, please, please, Papi!” I begged. “¿Por favor?”
“All right. You sound like a pushy reporter already.”
“Why, thank you!” I beamed.
We went upstairs to my room, and Papi opened the laptop he gave me on my birthday. It used to be his, but I got to have it after he got a new one at work.
“Okay, let’s see now,” he said, adjusting the screen so the camera pointed at me.
“Ha-ha! It’s me,” I said as soon as I saw myself. Then I said, “Hellloooo, dahling. How aarrre you? This is Emma, and I’m on the air!”
“Sounding good in there,” said Mom, stopping at the door with Mia in her arms.
“Actually, you’re sounding great,” said Papi. “Emma, that’s a great name for your news show: ‘Emma Is On the Air.’ ”
“ ‘Emma Is On the Air!’ ” I repeated. “That sounds famous!”
“Yes, very famous,” he said with a laugh.
“It’s perfect,” added Mom as she carried Mia off to take a bath.
“Okay,” said Papi. “Do you really want to learn how to be a reporter?”
“Yes, please,” I said. I could already tell this was going to be great.
“Remember when you told me about what happened to Javier’s hamburger?”
“Yes.”
“Well, now you’re going to do the exact same thing, except we’re going to record it on the computer.”
“Got it!”
“Press the record button right there,” instructed Papi, “and have at it.”
I pressed record and looked right into the camera. I said, “This is Emma, and I’m on the air!” I looked over at Papi, and he was smiling.
“Keep going,” he whispered.
Then I just started talking. I told the story about Javier’s wormburger all over again. When I was done, we watched it back. It was so cool.
“Next we have to post your report to the school bulletin board,” Papi explained. “That way people will be able to see ‘Emma Is On the Air’ on the Internet.”
“And that way I’ll be famous!” I shouted. I had to get up and start doing the famous jumpy dance. That’s a dance you do when you know you’re gonna be famous. This is how you do it: You spin around really fast and when you jump, you have to spread your legs wide-open, kinda like a ballerina but way more fun. And then you sing, “I’m famous, I’m famous, I’m famous!”
“Relax, mija. We all know you’re famous,” Papi said. I think he was starting to get irritated. Maybe he’d like it better if I sang in Spanish?
“¡Soy famosa! ¡Soy famosa! ¡Soy famosa!” I sang as I continued doing my dance.
“Emma,” Papi said with a stern voice.
I took a deep breath and sat back down.
After we posted my very first “Emma Is On the Air” report, we watched it on the computer again. But after I watched it a second time, I realized that something was missing. I had a lot of questions. Like, how did the worm get into Javier’s hamburger, anyway? Who put it there? And what happened afterward? Did he actually bite into it? Did he swallow the worm? Eww. Did someone get in trouble? I told my papi about all the questions I still had.
“Those are all great questions, Emma,” he said. “And you’re right. Your story is not done yet. These are questions you should try to answer at school tomorrow.”
“How do I do that?”
“By interviewing people. Find people who might have the answers to your questions, and then ask them what you want to know.”
“But who has the answers?”
“You’ll have to figure that part out. A good place to start is with witnesses. Find the people who saw what happened and ask them about it.”
“Witnesses. Okay. The part I really want to know the most is, who did it? Who put the worm in Javier’s hamburger?”
“The witnesses will help you figure that out,” Papi said. “Each witness you interview will give you clues. Put all the clues together and you’ll have your answer.”
“Clues … That sounds like detective work.”
“It is very similar to what a detective would do.”
“Hey, detectives can be famous, too! So maybe I can be a reporter and a detective?” I asked.
“That sounds like a good plan to me,” Papi said. “And it sounds like ‘Emma Is On the Air’ has work to do at school tomorrow.”
“I think so, Papi. I think so.”
PAPI drove me to school the next day so he could tell the principal about my news show and make sure it was okay for me to do my investigation.
“I bet Javier will be really grateful you took on his case, Emma,” said Papi as he drove down the street.
“Yeah, especially since I heard his mom got really mad about it. Papi, would you get mad if I ate a worm in school?”
“Well, I wouldn’t be thrilled,” he said.
“What if it was just a nice worm who wanted to be friends with me and snuck into my hamburger because he knew I was so famous and he wanted to be famous, too? You can’t get mad at that worm, right, Papi?”
“Uh-huh … okay. I guess not. We’re here. You can undo your seat belt.”
Papi and I walked into school and went straight to Principal Lee’s office to get permission to investigate at school.
Principal Lee crossed her arms. “A reporter and a detective, huh?” she said.
“Yup,” I said. “I only report on things that are true and things people need to know about. And we need to know how Javier’s hamburger became a wormburger.”
“Yes, I heard you posted something on the online bulletin board last night,” said Principal Lee. “A pretty good news report, from what I’m told.”
I smiled. I knew I was famous!
“I gave her my old cell phone so she can use the camera to do interviews in school today,” explained Papi. “The phone itself isn’t hooked up. Is that all right?”
“I suppose so, as long as it doesn’t interfere with your schoolwork, Emma,” she said.
“Yippee! No, it won’t. I promise!”
Now that I had permission, Papi said good-bye and left for work and I went to class.
“Okay, everyone have a seat,” Miss Thompson said. “We’ll be doing more with fractions today. Who can give an example of how we use fractions in our everyday lives?”
Miss Thompson is great, but I was pretty sure she wouldn’t let me do my wormburger investigation in the middle of a fractions lesson. My investigation couldn’t really begin until lunch, which wasn’t until 12:15. I had to wait a long time to get there. Fractions, then sentences, then art projects represent
ing our family heritages—school felt like it would take forever.
After I drew a picture and wrote about my favorite Dominican dish, it was finally time for lunch! In the cafeteria, I made sure I had everything I needed to start my investigation. My reporter/detective tools were in my purple sparkle backpack: I had the cell phone Papi gave me, plus a microphone he had.
Papi said you don’t need a microphone when you do interviews on your phone, but I wanted to be just like the news reporter on TV. So we also added a cube with a big purple E for Emma to the top.
I had a shiny purple feather pencil with extra-special sparkles and a special purple reporter’s pad to take notes.
All I needed now was to find someone to interview. Someone who might be able to answer my questions and give me some clues about how that worm got in Javier’s hamburger. I spotted Javier sitting down to open his lunch. He was an important witness. He saw what happened because it happened to him! So I decided to talk to Javier first.
Sophia spotted me as I was walking toward Javier and called over, “Hey, Emma! Are you starting your wormburger investigation?”
“Yup! I’m about to do an interview with Javier. Hey, maybe you can help me?”
“Sure!” Sophia said excitedly.
“Can you hold my camera phone while I hold the microphone? Make sure you point it at Javier the whole time.”
“Got it!”
We walked over to Javier’s table and sat down across from him.
“Hey, Javier, we need to interview you.” I put my mic right in Javier’s face. “You are a key witness in my wormburger investigation.”
Javier smiled when he saw the camera and microphone. In fact, everyone started looking.
“Sure,” Javier replied, sounding a little confused, but interested. “What’s a wormburger investigation? Are you recording me?”
“Yup, yup, we’re doing an interview for my news show,” I said. “I’m a news reporter now, you know, and my first story is the Case of the Lunchroom Wormburger.”
“Nice! Am I going to be on TV?” asked Javier.
“Yup,” I said. “Well, you’ll be on TV if you cooperate.” Then all the kids started crowding behind him because they wanted to be on TV, too.
That started making me feel a little nervous. Everyone was staring. To be honest, I’m not really used to being stared at. Kids at school don’t usually pay much attention to me—especially boys. What if they laughed at my news show? I thought for a minute that this might not be such a good idea. I looked at Sophia, unsure what to do.
“Come on, Emma,” Sophia whispered. “Just ignore them. You can do it.”
I took a deep breath and continued.
“Now, Javier,” I said in my best reporter voice, “I need to know exactly what happened yesterday when you found a worm in your hamburger.”
“Oh, yeah.” Javier laughed. “That was pretty nasty.” The kids around us started laughing. Sophia smiled, encouraging me to continue.
“Yes,” I said. I glared at the other kids, trying to hold the microphone away from them so it wouldn’t just be filled with the noise of their laughter. “But, Javier, what happened? And it has to be the truth.”
“Right, right … well, let me see … yesterday I had a worm in my hamburger,” he explained.
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Javier, I know that part already. But how did it get there?”
“Hmm. I don’t know,” he said.
Why couldn’t Javier just focus? Some people …
But then he continued, “Oh, yeah, it was Pizza Day. But I’m allergic to whole wheat, so my mom gave me a leftover hamburger with a gluten-free bun. My mom told Miss Thompson to ask the cook to heat it up for me at lunch.”
“Uh-huh,” I said.
Then Javier’s friend Adrian shouted from the crowd, “Your mom made you a wormburger?”
“No!” Javier yelled back. He looked embarrassed, and I felt bad for him.
I gave Adrian the reporter’s look of death and said, “Adrian. This is a serious investigation. Either watch in silence or keep it moving!”
“Ooohh,” hissed the other kids.
Finally, everyone was quiet, and I said, “Okay, Javier, continue.”
“So at lunch, Miss Thompson gave my hamburger to Geraldine the lunch lady, so she could give it to Beatrice the cook. Then I got in the lunch line with my tray just like everyone else. By the time I got inside the kitchen, Beatrice had my hamburger … I mean, my wormburger,” Javier said with a laugh, “ready for me. So I took my plate with the wormburger. I grabbed a milk and a salad and sat down at the table.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “The worm came from your house?”
“No!” said Javier. “I only noticed the worm as I was taking my second bite.”
“So you took one bite and there was no worm. Then you took a second bite and saw a squiggly worm staring at you?” I asked.
“Yeah. That’s what happened,” replied Javier.
“And you’re sure there was no worm in that burger before you got to school?” I asked.
“Nope, definitely not. I saw my mom get the hamburger ready. No worms at all,” Javier insisted.
“Hmm. Okay, thanks, Javier,” I said.
“Wait, wait,” he said.
“Yes?”
“Well, I was thinking … what if Geraldine the lunch lady was possessed by a worm-loving mutant hawk? And the hawk flew down and took over her body and she went out to the playground and got a worm and put it in my hamburger because she thought a wormburger would taste awesome. Think that’s what happened?” Javier asked—in a serious voice.
“Um. Yeah, okay,” I replied. “I guess that’s possible. But I still have some more witnesses to interview. So … yeah. We’ll see.”
Javier started to pretend he was Geraldine the lunch lady possessed by a mutant hawk. He was pretending to fly around the table with his hands in the air, taking swipes at his lunch with just his mouth. The kids around us giggled and went back to eating lunch. I walked away, too.
I didn’t have time to talk about Javier’s wild theories; he didn’t notice, but Javier had just given me my first clue! I was about to break this story wide open!
SOPHIA and I sat down at the next table to talk about the clue we found.
“Wow, Emma,” Sophia said. “A lot of people touched Javier’s hamburger.”
“You’re right,” I said. “I need to keep track of them all.”
I pulled out my purple reporter’s pad and my shiny purple feather pencil.
I wrote Emma’s Official Reporter’s Pad at the top. On the first page, I wrote, News Report #1: The Case of the Lunchroom Wormburger. And then wrote underneath that:
Clue #1: The hamburger became a wormburger after Javier gave it to Miss Thompson, who gave it to Geraldine the lunch lady, who gave it to Beatrice the cook.
“So the worm wasn’t in the hamburger before Javier gave it to Miss Thompson?” asked Sophia.
“Nope.”
“Then when did the worm get inside there? Do you think Miss Thompson did it, Emma?” Sophia wondered aloud.
“Not a chance. She would never,” I insisted. I couldn’t help but wonder if she did, though. I really liked Miss Thompson and didn’t want to believe she was guilty. But I figured a good reporter couldn’t let her personal feelings get in the way of an investigation. I spotted Miss Thompson across the lunchroom.
“Sophia, we better go interview Miss Thompson to be sure.”
Sophia and I ran across the lunchroom, and I called in my super-famous voice, “MISS THOMPSON!”
She turned around.
“Whoa, Emma. Not so loud, please. Why aren’t you girls eating your lunches?” she asked.
“Miss Thompson, there’s no time to eat today,” I said, panting a little.
“Yeah, no time at all!” Sophia added.
“We’re in the middle of a wormburger investigation, and you are the next witness!” I explained.
“I’m sorry, you
’re in the middle of what?” Miss Thompson looked confused.
“We’re trying to figure out who put the worm in Javier’s hamburger yesterday,” I told her.
“Ah,” she said.
“Miss Thompson, you may not have heard yet, but I am very famous,” I said. “I solve mysteries and report them on my news show. This is my first case. I’ve got to get to the bottom of this wormburger situation,” I explained in my very official reporter–sounding voice. That’s a voice that’s serious. That way people take you seriously.
“Sounds exciting. What can I do for you?” she asked.
I held up the microphone. “I’m interviewing all the witnesses and putting them in my news show.” I signaled to Sophia to press record. “Javier told us that when he brought the hamburger to school, it didn’t have a worm in it. But then he gave it to you to give to Geraldine to give to Beatrice to heat up at lunchtime. Before you had it, no worm. After you had it, worm.”
“Uh-huh,” was all Miss Thompson said. I started getting nervous about what I was going to ask her next.
“So … I was wondering …” I stammered.
“Yes, Emma?”
“Well, Miss Thompson, I was wondering … did you put the worm in Javier’s hamburger?” I asked the last part really fast. I thought maybe if I said it quickly she wouldn’t get mad. But then Miss Thompson started laughing. She didn’t look mad at all.
“I guess that’s a fair question,” she said.
“Right, thanks, Miss Thompson. But … did you put the worm in Javier’s hamburger?”
“No. I didn’t,” she replied. “I was shocked to find out that there was a worm in there. Javier’s parents were pretty upset and Principal Lee had to get involved. I had to skip my plans to plant tomatoes in our organic garden behind the school yard.”
“I see,” I said, nodding in an official-reporter way. “Can you tell us exactly what you did with the hamburger after Javier gave it to you?”
“Sure,” she said. “I gave it to Geraldine and explained that, according to Javier’s mom, it just needed to be warmed up for a few minutes. Then he could get it from the kitchen with all the other kids waiting in the hot lunch line. I can’t be certain the worm wasn’t in there yet, but the burger looked fine to me.”