The Prizewinners of Piedmont Place

by Bill Doyle

  “Oh, and one last thing…,” King said with mischief in his eyes.

  “Here comes another twist,” Mrs. T. whispered. Cal braced himself.

  “There is no talking allowed inside the store,” King said with a wink. “If you speak, your family will be disqualified and you will lose.” He took a breath and asked, “Are you ready to make all your wishes come true?”

  “Yes!” Cal shouted, and the rest of the Talaskas nodded. The Wylots pulled their bandanas up over their faces, making them look like bank robbers. Their eyes bored into the Talaskas, and then they, too, nodded to King Wonder.

  “Go grab your dreams!” King shouted.

  A starter cannon fired and, after all the nuttiness of the past few weeks, the last round of the Great Grab Contest had finally begun!

  With a loud tick tick tick, the timer on the Talaskas’ cart started counting down from twenty minutes to zero.

  “Let’s go!” Mr. T. got behind the cart and pushed it. Or tried to. Maybe he shoved too hard, or maybe the cart was just ready to break. But the second Mr. T. put pressure on it, the cart toppled over.

  “Whoa,” Mrs. T. said.

  Mr. T. flipped it back upright and tried again. The cart skittered onto its side. The crowd started chuckling.

  “Do you need an instruction manual?” a teenager asked. The audience laughed again, and it stung Cal a little. People had already figured they were going to lose to the Wylots.

  Ignoring the laughter, Imo spun the wheels of the flipped cart. “The wheels are fine, but the balance is all out of whack,” she said. “If we push it, it will keep flipping.”

  “We need a new cart, Mr. Wonder!” Cal shouted.

  King started to get to his feet, but Mr. Vance leaned in to whisper in his ear. Sitting back in the throne, King said, “You get only one cart.”

  “That’s not fair!” Cal called back.

  “Fair?” King asked, as if he had never heard of the word. “We’re sorry, but those are the rules.”

  As the Talaskas stood looking down at their wounded shopping cart, the Wylots had already sped across the bridge over the River of Low Prices. Leslie glanced back and gave Cal a nasty wave as they disappeared into the store.

  “This is a nightmare,” Cal said.

  The other Talaskas weren’t listening. They were all talking at once and kept lifting the cart and trying to push it, but it just wouldn’t stay upright.

  “Ting ting ting!” Cal said, imitating their family bell, and they quieted down. “We can’t panic, guys. It’s just a matter of figuring it out, right, Imo?”

  While Cal and Mrs. T. held the cart upright, Imo took a closer look.

  “We can’t push it,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t pull it. We just need to do it from the right angle.” She got down on her knees and pulled the front of the cart. It moved toward her smoothly with no sign of tipping over. “See, this works!”

  “We can’t crawl around the store in twenty minutes!” Cal said.

  “Give me your belts,” Imo said. “Quick!”

  Without asking what she was up to, everyone slid off their purple belts and handed them over. Imo moved fast, like a one-girl pit crew at a NASCAR race. In thirty seconds, she had knotted their belts together into a small harness and tied it to the front of the cart.

  “Come here, Bug,” Imo said.

  “I don’t know, honey,” Mrs. T. said, guessing what she was up to.

  Imo shrugged. “We’re too big for the harness, and so is Butler—but Bug isn’t.”

  Bug stepped into the loop, and Imo tightened it snugly around his waist. “You okay?” Imo asked him.

  Bug barked happily. And Cal knew why. He probably felt like a sled dog!

  As if Butler had never been more proud, he barked, “Rabbo!”

  Now that the Talaskas had a cart that barely worked and they had to visit all nine Circles in the store, Cal needed to come up with a new plan on the fly. “Okay, listen up,” he said. “I’ll grab the ribbon from the Television Circle on the way to the Fun and Games Circle. You guys get the ribbons from your Circles, and we’ll meet at the Pet Circle, okay?”

  Imo did the math in her head. “That leaves four ribbons.”

  “I know,” Cal said. “They’re on the other side of the store. The side we didn’t study.”

  He held up a hand before she could say And whose fault is that?

  “We’ll have to grab the other ribbons after we meet at the Pet Circle,” Cal said. “Bug, you’ll pull the cart with Butler in one big loop around the store until you reach the Pet Circle, and we’ll meet you there with what we grab. We can run faster if we’re on our own. Okay?”

  All agreed, and with that, the family was off and running across the River of Low Prices.

  The glass doors of the Wish Shoppe slid open—

  “Remember, no talking inside!” Cal warned them.

  —and then the doors closed behind them with a whoosh.

  In the future, a Well Wisher wearing butterfly wings would be waiting at the entrance to shout, “Welcome to Wish Shoppe, where your wishes come true!” Today, of course, it was as quiet and creepy as an empty school—a giant, seemingly endless school. Perky dentist-office music drifted down from the speakers. Cal imagined he could hear the rattle of the Wylots’ cart somewhere in the acres of aisles and products.

  And, of course, there was the ticking of the timer on the cart. They had already lost four minutes!

  Cal held a finger up to his lips. No talking, remember? he said to Bug with his face and eyes. And Bug made the same gesture to Butler, who twirled his tail in agreement.

  But Imo was looking at Cal, not Bug or Butler—as if she knew that Cal would have an even tougher time with the no-talking rule. After all, talking was one of Cal’s greatest talents.

  The Talaskas stood in a circle, put their hands in the center, and pumped them up and down three times. They couldn’t say it, but Cal knew they were all thinking it: Talaskas together!

  Then, with one last wave from Mrs. T. to all of them, the Talaskas split up. Bug and Butler headed off along the outer wall. The rest of the family chose different aisles and dove into the heart of the store.

  Cal sprinted toward the Fun and Games Circle. Or where he remembered it was from the map they’d made. It should be just past the Television Circle. His shoes slapped on the shiny tile as he raced past clay knickknacks shaped like famous skyscrapers and through displays of canned peas. He was starting to get worried when a giant circular wall of TVs rose all around him.

  Yes! The Television Circle!

  The thousands of TVs had the sound turned off but flickered with color. Some were tuned to the local TV station and showed King Wonder talking to the crowd outside.

  The rest of the sets displayed Cal.

  Wait…what?

  As Cal ran by, he could see himself running on the screens—or at least his hair. Who was taking video of the top of his head? He looked up and spotted security cameras whizzing along tracks on the ceiling. The TVs showed what the cameras saw!

  Distracted and still moving fast, Cal caught his foot on something and tripped. He opened his mouth to shout—and then, remembering the rules, clamped it shut again.

  Somehow Cal got his balance before he wiped out. He looked back, trying to find what he had tripped on. And the answer was obvious.

  A rope had been strung across the aisle, close to the ground. This was just the kind of thing Emma Wylot would do.

  Little did she know she had done him a favor. The rope had forced Cal to slow down—and remember the ribbon! He would have kept running like a madman without getting it.

  A purple ribbon with TALASKA printed in block letters sat on a glass table in the middle of the Circle. The Wylots must have taken theirs already. Cal stuffed the purple ribbon in his back pocket and kept moving.

  He knew he was just seconds away from the next Circle and the Wonder World Video Game System!

  When he arrived in the Fun
and Games Circle, it was empty, but the air buzzed as if someone had just been there. Before Cal could forget again, he went to the center of the Circle and picked up the second Talaska ribbon.

  Then he let himself take a good look around. Suddenly, his feet wanted to move in every direction at once. The shelves were filled with marvels such as robots that made lunch, smartphone earrings, hologram Ping-Pong, and a Clap-n-Gro plastic tree, which grew and danced when you clapped. It was dizzying, and Cal knew why people could get lost so easily. He wanted to GRAB it all, and he couldn’t remember which direction he had come from.

  This is what we trained for, Cal told himself. He closed his eyes for one second to get a grip. It would cost precious time on the clock, but it was worth it.

  Calmer now, Cal opened his eyes…and there!

  How had he missed it before? A giant blinking sign under a shelf read:

  WONDER WORLD VIDEO GAME SYSTEM!

  But the shelf was empty.

  Cal didn’t panic. He searched the Circle until he spotted just the edge of a box dangling over a top shelf. It was a Wonder World Video Game System!

  Someone—more than likely, someone with the last name Wylot—must have tossed all the Wonder Worlds up there. How was Cal going to get his hands on that one?

  Tick tick tick. Cal didn’t need the cart’s timer in front of him to feel the seconds ticking down.

  Should he give up on the Wonder World? Grab something else? What about that dancing plastic tree? It was pretty cool and all set to go—he just had to drag it to the Pet Circle and toss it in the cart.

  No, Cal thought. He wasn’t going to let the Wylots stop him from getting what he wanted.

  Cal looked around for a ladder, a trampoline, or a giant pogo stick—anything that might help him reach the high shelf. Nothing. Just the toys, the electronics, and that drooping plastic tree.

  Desperate, Cal started climbing the shelves. Not easy. Each shelf jutted out slightly over the one below it. Soon the angle made it almost impossible to hang on.

  This wasn’t working. He jumped to the ground with a thud.

  Where was Bug? Cal could have used the shopping cart as a stepladder. No, he realized, it wasn’t Bug he needed. It was Imo. Or at least he needed to think like Imo.

  What would Imo do? She’d use the stuff around her like tools to solve the problem.

  Cal’s eyes darted around the Circle again. Yes!

  He grabbed the Clap-n-Gro plastic tree in its pot and dragged it to a spot under the Wonder World.

  He looped an arm around one of the top branches and started clapping. The tree rose slightly, lifting his feet off the ground. It was working! Cal kept clapping, and soon he was five feet in the air. He was nearly five feet tall himself, so he just might be able to stretch and reach the Wonder World.

  But it was no good. Whenever he stopped clapping to reach for the box, the tree would droop slightly and he’d drop down. Cal tried clapping with one hand. But that didn’t work. He thought for a second.

  Of course! With his arm still looped around the branch, he slapped his forehead a few times.

  Whap! Whap! Whap!

  Ow! Ow! Ow!

  The tree didn’t know the difference between his clapping his hands or his head. It danced and swayed to the rhythm. His feet slammed into the toys on the shelves below him. Boxes of electronic musical toys and calculators went flying.

  Cal held on and stretched….

  His fingers grazed the Wonder World box. He grabbed one end and pulled it toward the edge. It was too heavy, and gravity yanked it out of his hand. The box fell end over end and hit the floor with a plastic-crunching crack!

  Uh-oh. That didn’t sound good.

  Cal could be next—only it wouldn’t be plastic that would crack.

  “Greetings, dearest Wish Shoppe shoppers!” King Wonder’s voice boomed over the speaker system. “We wish to let you know that time is flowing quickly. You have thirteen minutes left to fill your carts with dreams and ribbons, and return to the finish line!”

  Cal didn’t have time for another clapfest with his forehead. He had to keep moving.

  He made a quick decision. Cal eased up on the slapping, and it was like lifting his foot off the pedal of a go-kart. The tree ran out of gas. The dancing stopped, and it slowly drooped toward the floor.

  Halfway down, Cal let go of the branch, and he landed on the hard tiles. He grabbed the box at his feet and started running.

  With the box clutched under one arm, he sprinted out of the Circle and down an aisle of Styrofoam coolers and beach umbrellas. He was sure it led to the Pet Circle. But he was wrong. He suddenly found himself facing the outermost wall of the store.

  As the seconds ticked away, Cal struggled to remember the details on the map.

  Which way should he go?

  And where was that mooing coming from?

  Moo!

  Baa!

  Cock-a-doodle-doo!

  Animal sounds came from the next aisle. On a hunch, Cal followed the noises. He wasn’t sure what to expect when he came around the corner, but it definitely wasn’t what he found.

  Hundreds of stuffed toys shaped like a farmer were scattered in a knee-high heap on the floor. And in the center of them all were Butler and Bug. Cal’s brother was still in his harness and struggling to pull the cart through the heap. Butler’s paws were digging at the toys like he was trying to create a path for Bug.

  Cal recognized the Friendly Farmer toys from TV ads. They were supposed to help little kids learn about animals.

  A giant canister filled with Friendly Farmers had collapsed on top of Bug and the cart. It was as if Bug were stuck in a ball pit, but instead of balls there were chattering farmers, complete with straw hats and pitchforks. The farmers’ touch screens must have clicked on when they fell, because they were all making strange farm noises.

  The cows’ mooing was so weirdly high-pitched, it hurt Cal’s ears. And the chickens’ clucking reminded him of a teakettle at full blast.

  Cal had to hand it to Bug and Butler. They weren’t freaking out. They were just determined to get loose. Butler started clamping down on the toys with his mouth and throwing them to the side. Bug tried to pull the cart free, but there were just too many of them. Cal waded through the toys, throwing aside each squawking, cackling, quacking farmer, until he reached Bug.

  Cal gave Butler a quick scratch, and then he put his hands out as if asking, What happened?

  Bug’s lips parted to say something. Then, remembering the silence rule, he used his face and hands to say, I don’t know!

  Cal almost laughed. For the first time, talking with Bug actually made sense!

  Under all the toys, Cal discovered that a rope had been strung across the aisle, just as in the Television Circle. One end was tied to the canister that had been overflowing with Friendly Farmer toys. Bug and Butler had tripped on the rope, and the canister had fallen over.

  Cal had zero doubt this was another trap set by the Wylots. Why were they more concerned with stopping the Talaskas than with getting stuff in their cart?

  In a flash, Cal realized the answer: The Wylots didn’t care about getting more things today. They already had all the expensive junk they could ever wish for. They wanted to grab the one thing they couldn’t put in their cart: to win at any cost and show the town and the world that they were the boss.

  Right now, the Wylots were scattered throughout the store, making sure of just that. They were probably setting other traps. If only I could see what they were up to, Cal thought as a security camera whizzed overhead.

  But, of course, he could. He knew what he had to do.

  Cal, Bug, and Butler finished clearing away the Friendly Farmers—except for one that Butler kept in his mouth. Cal tossed the box he’d grabbed in the Fun and Games Circle into the cart. The weight of the box restored the cart’s balance. Cal could now push it without tipping it over.

  Bug shook his head and pointed at himself. No, I want to pull! Then he op
ened his mouth as if he would yell if he didn’t get his way.

  Cal held up his hands. This wasn’t the time for a BTA. Fine! Knock yourself out! But go this way! We’re making a detour. Cal jabbed his finger toward where he had just come from.

  Bug and Butler took off. Cal hustled to keep up. He reached them just in time to stop them at the Television Circle.

  Many of the TVs still showed what was happening outside the store. But that wasn’t why Cal had wanted to come back here. His eyes searched for the TVs tuned to the security cameras.

  Bug pointed at a TV above Cal’s head. Mom! Bug mouthed silently.

  Cal followed his brother’s finger to the screen. It showed Mrs. T. in the Fitness Circle. She was sweating and taking a moment to catch her breath.

  From this angle, Cal could see someone his mom couldn’t.

  Mrs. Wylot.

  Leslie’s mom was on the other side of the Fitness Circle. As Cal and Bug watched helplessly, Mrs. Wylot took down a sign that read THIS WAY TO THE PET CIRCLE! and replaced it with one that said THIS WAY CLOSED!

  When Mrs. T. tried to meet up with the rest of the Talaskas, she would get hopelessly lost!

  Pulling Cal’s arm, Bug pointed at another TV. Imo!

  Imo was in the Hardware Circle. Why was she just standing there? Cal looked more closely. She was straining to move, but her feet were stuck to the ground. Literally.

  As ridiculous as it seemed, Imo had stepped into a pool of glue that companies used to make furniture. It poured out of a bucket that had been tipped over on the floor. Cal felt like he was watching a cartoon. But this was all too real. Even if Imo took off her shoes, she would have to step in the pool of glue and would still be stuck.

  He watched as she struggled to reach a bottle on a nearby shelf—and grabbed it. Cal hoped whatever was in the bottle would help her get free, but he couldn’t read the label.

  He could see Leslie Wylot, though. She was sneaking out of the Hardware Circle, carrying something that looked like a fishing net. Cal swore he could make out an earbud in her ear, and her mouth was moving under her bandana. She was talking!