Her mother shut the door, and Flor listened as her mom walked down the long hallway of their railroad apartment, to the living room at the other end. Then she quickly pulled the book out. But she skipped ahead to the final page, where the last paragraph read:
“When Square Man first arrived on planet Earth, he decided to give Dr. Pi a special greeting. Nobody saw him walk into the bakery, because he was so small. He just trotted in behind an older, married couple. And he sat in the corner watching the hustle and bustle. He listened to the customers ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ over the spiral pies. He heard them moan and groan with delight when they tasted the buttery crust and warm fruit filling. He held his magic wand, ready for the right moment. And the right moment came just when Flor sat down to eat. Holding a small knob on the wand, he wound it like a fishing reel. He pointed it at one pie after another, winding the knob, as if he were reeling in a fish. He was unwinding the spirals. And all the pies went flat and turned into rectangles. Then he unwound the spiral toast. And then, still sitting in the corner, he laughed out loud, as he chanted his anthem and watched the customers run from the store. Dr. Pi didn’t even see him as he left.
“ ‘I’ll be back,’ he proclaimed, though nobody heard. ‘But first I need to check out this golden rectangle of hay. So it’s off to Puddleville for a day.’ ”
“Puddleville?” said Flor out loud. “Where the heck is that?”
Just then there was a tap at the window. Flor went over and was astonished to see that Dr. Pi had arrived on her fire escape.
KIDNAPPED!
Hurry,” he said as she lifted the window and he half climbed, half rolled himself into her room, and dusted himself off. “Square Man is coming for us.”
Flor shook her head. “The magic book said he was going to Puddleville.”
“Exactly. Puddleville, Georgia. That’s where Lucy Moon lives,” said Dr. Pi. “But he’s not staying long. I’m glad you’ve been reading your book. Where’s the special key?”
“Right here.”
“Good. I knew I could trust you.” He hesitated. “Put the book and key inside that white purse on your dresser, why don’t you? And keep the purse in your hands. Don’t let it go.”
“Okay.” Flor did as he suggested. “Lucy is the girl you said would help us?”
“Yes.” He paused. “Do you remember the day when you were in the back of my pie shop after it closed, and the bell rang? And I told you a girl named Lucy had come by, and asked for a pie for her dad?”
“Vaguely,” said Flor, though she didn’t really.
“I kind of stretched the truth,” he said sheepishly. “One day she’s going to ask for a pie for her dad. But it hasn’t happened yet.”
“So you’ve known all along that Square Man was coming, and this girl Lucy was going to help us fight him?”
He nodded. “But I couldn’t tell you, could I?”
She sighed. “No, I guess not. That would spoil the whole adventure, right?”
“Besides,” he said, “I only see possibilities. You know that. The future is not set in stone. You could tell me you’re staying home tonight, just curling up under your quilt and letting Lucy fight off Square Man on her own.”
She laughed. “And you could quit making pies tomorrow.”
Suddenly there was a crash in the closet. Flor grabbed Dr. Pi’s arm, heart pounding. And then a voice burst out as the door swung open.
“Gad night a livin’! Where am I? Okay, I admit, I did play with that key and do what it said to do, but what kind of silly key is it, if all it can do is plop me down in a closet? And this isn’t even my closet. Where in fool’s gold am I?”
She was a small girl about Flor’s age. She had short, spiky hair. She was wearing a sleeveless blue cotton shirt, faded blue jeans, and cowboy boots. The boots were fantastic, made of embossed leather with silver spurs at the heels. And they gave the girl a kind of swagger.
“Where did you get those boots?” Flor asked, unable to help herself.
“A better question is, who are you?”
“Sorry,” said Flor, sticking out her hand. “I expect you’re Lucy Moon. I’m Flor Bernoulli.” She looked over to Dr. Pi, who nodded, and she looked back at Lucy, whose hand was on her hip, and whose brow was furrowed with suspicion. “We’re supposed to do great things together,” added Flor lamely.
“Well, I’m obviously not in Puddleville,” said Lucy, looking out the window to the glittering cityscape.
“You’re in New York City,” said Dr. Pi. “In a borough called Brooklyn. You are in a brownstone right by the river.”
“A river? Do you have alligators here?”
“No alligators,” said Dr. Pi, smiling.
“Well, we have ’em in Puddleville. And I ride them to the store to get me a Coca-Cola.”
“That sounds like good training for a future horse rustler,” said Dr. Pi.
Lucy’s mouth opened, then shut, then opened again. Finally she stammered, “How do you know what I’m gonna be?”
“That’s a long story,” said Dr. Pi. “It involves spirals and squares, girls and magic, fire and a bit of math. Why don’t you sit down and relax, and we’ll explain it all to you.”
Lucy tilted her head and stared at Dr. Pi. “Spirals and squares?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Are you an evil wizard?” she asked.
“I am most definitely a wizard,” said Dr. Pi, “but I try to be good.”
“Square Man said you were trying to destroy him and every square in the universe.”
“That’s not true!” Flor exclaimed. “Dr. Pi is the kindest, funniest, best pie maker and wizard anybody could ever meet. Square Man is a liar!”
“How do I know who’s the liar?” Lucy retorted.
“Well, you might look at what just happened,” said Dr. Pi. “For instance, how did you get here?”
“My key,” she said, shoving her hand into a pocket and bringing it out. “I have this key, and it probably opens a box full of buried treasure somewhere in my yard. I’m sure of that. Anyway, I unscrewed the top, and this little scroll fell out, and it told me to say these funny words over and over, while walking in the shape of a rectangle over and over, so I did.”
“The magic key sent you here,” Dr. Pi said, “because it is part of your destiny to help us. And I believe the key rescued you from Square Man in the nick of time, before he kidnapped you—right?”
“How did you know that? You really are a wizard, then,” Lucy said. She plopped down on Flor’s bed as if it were her own. “I’m really gonna be a horse rustler like you said?”
“If you want to,” Dr. Pi answered. “I expect you can do just about anything if you set your mind to it.”
“So tell us about Square Man,” Flor urged.
Lucy told them all she knew, about how he had found her in her hiding place in the barn, and demanded she take him to her father. “It’s funny, but my dad kind of acted like he expected him. He didn’t seem surprised to meet this four-inch ghost at all. And Square Man was actually really polite with him. But then he got mad because Dad refused to cooperate.”
“What did he want him to do?” asked Flor.
“Help him fight Dr. Pi and build lots and lots of rectangles together,” Lucy said. “He told my dad if he wouldn’t do that, he would just kidnap me and hold me for ransom. So I ran back into the barn and turned that key every which way and pulled and pushed until suddenly it came apart, and that tiny scroll fell out, and I unrolled it and read the directions and did exactly what it said. Because he had just found me and was about to kidnap me for sure!”
“Let me see the key,” said Flor. “Is it like this one?”
And she held hers out. Flor’s hand was delicate and slender with hot pink nail polish. Lucy’s small, strong hand was tanned from the sun. Two girls’ hands could not have looked more different. But the keys that lay in both looked the same.
“Very curious,” said Dr. Pi. “If they don’t fit the same lock, then they w
ere certainly made by the same locksmith!”
“All I know is Square Man was hopping up and down and mad as could be since while I was doing this, he couldn’t touch me. It was like a big barrier went up. I was totally protected. And then I fell.” She stopped and looked at Flor accusingly. “I fell into your closet!”
“It’s not my fault!” exclaimed Flor.
Lucy shrugged. “I guess not. So what does your key do?”
Flor hesitated. How could she explain it in just a few words? “It allows me to breathe fire into dead people, and bring them back to life,” she said.
Lucy’s eyes widened. “That’s pretty cool. Want to trade?”
Flor laughed and shook her head.
“You can’t really trade,” said Dr. Pi. “Each of you has the key that is meant just for you. And Flor’s fire does more than she knows. She just hasn’t learned everything her key can teach her. The same is true of your key, Lucy.”
Both girls were quiet, thinking that one over.
“I guess now that I have this key, nobody will call me Pipsqueak any longer,” said Lucy. “They’ll be mighty impressed.”
“Pipsqueak?” Flor echoed, and giggled.
“Yes, Miss Hot Pinkie,” said Lucy.
“Miss Hot Pinkie?”
“Those fingernails,” said Lucy. She shook her head. “I guess you’re one of those popular girls at school.”
“Girls,” chided Dr. Pi.
Just then another crash came from the closet, and Lucy’s father tumbled out the door, tangled up in one of Flor’s party dresses.
“Daddy!” exclaimed Lucy. “How did you get here?”
Buddy Moon stood up, the spangled dress wrapped around one leg and both feet. He stood there, hesitant to move and rip the dress.
“It wasn’t easy, Pip. But I’m your father and so I had to follow you, and somehow I managed. However, I couldn’t take a direct route like you did, so Square Man saw me ahead of him the entire way, and he’s not a few minutes behind me. Meanwhile, I’m very sorry about the dress,” he said to Flor, reaching down to gently disentangle the material from his feet.
“That’s okay,” she said, taking it from him and shutting the closet door. “I can fix it in no time. So you’re Lucy’s dad?”
“Yes, Buddy Moon.” He nodded, then went up to Dr. Pi and stuck out his hand.
“Pleased to meet you at last,” said Buddy. “Having heard about you for . . . oh . . . since I was a child, actually.”
Dr. Pi smiled. “I remember your great-great-grandfather. We had a lovely chat together once.”
“What do you mean you talked to his great-great-granddad?” asked Flor. “He lives in Puddleville. You live in Brooklyn. When have you ever been in Puddleville?”
“Never,” said Dr. Pi. “I met his great-great-grandfather on a trip to outer space once. He was guardian of the Golden Rectangle, and I was guardian of the Spiral. I decided to make spiral pies on planet Earth, and he decided to make blocks of ice in the shape of golden rectangles down here as well. In that way we could offer a service to others, and remain cosmic guardians as well.”
“You mean all those ice blocks are . . . just a cover?” asked Lucy.
“No, not at all, Pip,” said Buddy. “You’ve seen the big trucks come for ice blocks to keep vegetables cool as they travel across country. And you know that a century ago, when nobody had freezers, ice blocks were delivered to every home at least once a week. They’d put them in a cellar to keep things cold.”
“Well, I’ll just be darned. Are you a wizard too, though?” asked Lucy.
Buddy smiled. “Not exactly.”
Just then there was a rustle in the closet. The door eased open a crack and out slid Square Man, holding a small gold box in his hands.
“Well, look what just crawled out of my closet. Who are you?” asked Flor, staring at the tiny man.
“I’m who you think I am.”
“You’re all of four inches tall!”
And she began to giggle.
“You won’t be laughing for long,” said Square Man with a shrug, and he strode up to Lucy.
A TRIP IN A GOLDEN ROCKET SHIP
So, Miss Lucy,” said Square Man, looking around Flor’s bedroom, “you escaped me. But you won’t escape again. One, two, three, four . . . ”
And he snapped his fingers. Lucy looked around her. Nothing had happened. Nothing had changed.
“Go on, Lucy,” said Square Man. “Walk over to your new best friend, Flor.”
“I won’t, just because you said I should,” Lucy said automatically. Tentatively, though, she stuck out her hand, and sure enough, it met a barrier. She glared at the little man. “You slapped one of those invisible rectangles on me again. Like in the hayloft. Didn’t you?”
He smiled. “One on all sides, to be exact. You are at this moment in a prison of my own design. A rectangular one, of course. It starts at the floor and goes up to the ceiling. Your key won’t help you now.”
“What do I care? I’m fine in here. Finer than a frog hair split four ways!”
He turned to Flor. “One, two, three, four . . . ,” he said, snapping his fingers. “Now you, Dr. Pi. One, two, three, four . . . And you, Mr. Buddy Moon. You could have been my friend and partner, but it looks like you’ve gone to the dark side, so I have no choice.”
“I just disagree with you, that’s all,” Buddy said calmly. “Rectangles have a place in this universe. The golden rectangle is very special, and a spiral can be spun from it. Like a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. Both have a place, and they rest in balance.”
“Beautifully said,” Dr. Pi commented.
“We might say that ice and snow are different, but they are both made of water,” Buddy went on. “Every day at my plant we turn water into ice.”
Dr. Pi nodded. “So here we are with Square Man, who wants to unravel all the spirals and fill the world with rectangles. Why would we want to live in a world without both?”
“Then why did they laugh at me on Planet Round?” Square Man answered. “They pointed fingers and laughed so hard, tears were coming out of their eyes. Flor here just laughed at me. Why is that? Because she is a few feet tall, and I am a few inches tall? Is that a reason to laugh at me? I had no place there and apparently I don’t here, either,” said Square Man. “You are living in a fairy tale, a fantasy, if you think the world is fair, Buddy Moon.”
“I shouldn’t have laughed at you,” said Flor.
“You’re just saying that because I’ve got you trapped.”
She couldn’t think of an answer to that.
He surveyed his four prisoners. Then he leaped up onto Flor’s dresser and began to pace back and forth, still holding his golden box. He stopped near a neatly arranged column of silver bracelets and gave them a little kick.
“Round things,” he muttered. “More round things.”
They tumbled across the dresser, and some fell and rolled across the floor.
“So,” he said. “It’s time to take a trip. To Planet Square. Where you will all learn a thing or two. And where, Buddy Moon, you will help me whether you want to or not. By the time we’re done, spirals will be a thing of the past. Squares rule! My angle’s right! It’s always right!”
“Where is Planet Square?” asked Flor.
“Very far from planet Earth. But that doesn’t matter. We will travel together in my rocket ship, and be there in no time.”
And he set his golden box down on the dresser.
“Are you ready?” he asked them all.
“If that tiny box is a rocket ship,” said Lucy, “and you’re going to make us climb in, then I am a giant of amazing size! I mean, that thing is knee-high to a grasshopper, it’s so small!”
“A spaceship would be useless if it did not fold up for storage,” said Square Man. “And you don’t understand golden rectangles. Inside every golden rectangle is another golden rectangle. They go on forever. I’ve just folded up my golden rocket ship, and I shall present
ly unfold it.”
And he took the tiny golden box, jumped to the floor, and tapped it once. It rose up on its side, expanded, and lay down again. He tapped it again, and again, and it grew larger and larger. Now they could see that it gave off its own golden light, like late afternoon sun over a lake.
After about twenty more taps the block of gold almost reached the ceiling. He then tapped three times, and a door slid open. Golden light spilled from the interior.
“Wow,” said Flor.
Square Man preened, puffing out his little chest. “I see you are impressed.”
“He’s an easy mark for praise,” Lucy murmured. Then, loud enough to hear, she said, “Let me in. I’m game! I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Four, three, two, one . . . ,” he said, snapping his fingers, and her invisible prison was gone. She walked up to the ship and climbed in.
“Gad night a livin’! Look at this cool screen! I think this here is a picture of the whole universe or something—I mean, I never saw so many stars except when I lie in my tree fort at midnight!”
“She loves it,” said Square Man with a grin. He turned to Flor. “Would you like to be next?”
“I don’t have much of a choice, do I? But I’d like to take my pocketbook.” She motioned to the bed.
Square Man frowned. “Why? Is there something in there I should know about?”
“You see how it matches my outfit?” she asked. “I want to travel in style. That’s just me.”
Square Man shrugged. “Okay. Four, three, two, one . . . Go get your purse and get in the ship.”
She climbed into the rocket ship. The inside was also gold and lit by unseen, warm sunlight. It felt good, like a summer’s day. Dr. Pi and Buddy Moon followed. Square Man motioned for them to sit down. The gold door slid shut silently, and he seated himself at the monitor, on a tiny cushion, and pressed a bunch of buttons. Numbers showed up on the screen.
“Planet Square. Three hundred light years away. We get there by traveling through four wormholes. That shouldn’t be too hard.” He paused, then turned to the girls. “Traveling through a hole in space is kind of weird. You’ll feel like you disappeared. And then you’re back again.”
The Golden Rectangle Page 3