Read Online Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli - Free Book Online Page B

dangle from pink handlegrips. The saddle is fuzzy white. Fuzzy pink and white balls hang from the tail. Something is written on the flank. He knows exactly what he’s looking at: the famous bike that the girl stole this morning. That used to be Scramjet. That used to be Jack’s.
    What’s it doing here?
    Where’s the girl?
    He wonders these things as he comes near.

JUBILEE
    T HERE ’ S ONLY ONE SPADE , so the girls take turns digging. At the moment it’s Ana Mae. She’s barely begun and already she’s huffing. “I can’t believe how hard this is.”
    “You don’t have to believe,” says Jubilee. “Just shut your mouth and do it.”
    “Why do little kids like to dig?” Ana Mae gasps. “What’s fun about this?”
    “I’m not answering your stupid questions,” Jubilee growls. “Save your breath.”
    Ana Mae digs. Each stroke yields barely a handfulof coarse dirt and stones. Ana Mae is now grunting dramatically with every thrust of the red spade. She stops, bent, huffing. She steps back. She jabs the spade at the hole as she waits for her breath to return. “Look,” she says.
    Jubilee groans. “Look at what?”
    “The hole.”
    “What about it?”
    She jabs the blade at Jubilee. “First you dug. Then me. Then you. Then me. And look.” She puts her arm in the hole. Her elbow still shows. “We’ll
never
finish.”
    “Holy Harriet.” Jubilee snatches the spade. “What a baby. Get outta the way.” She sets to digging.

DESTROYER
    K EEPS WAITING for a head to pop up, for someone to yell “Hey—you!” But it isn’t happening. He’s alone.
    He stops ten feet away. He can’t believe he’s this close. He’s almost afraid to stare directly at it. Scramjet. The legend. He knows that it knows he’s here. He feels the energy streaming from it, as if flies are landing on his skin. Many times he has seen it streak across the land, the sprocket’s silver whirl. He has heard the chain sing.
    His thoughts go back to the last time he sat upon his beloved yellow Daffy Duck trike.
    He takes a deep breath, takes one step forward …

JUBILEE
    D IGS … DIGS  …

DESTROYER
    A RE YOU WAITING FOR ME ? Is that why you’re here? Yellow, like Daffy? They broke my Daffy. Are you my prize because they broke my Daffy?

JUBILEE
    C ANNOT ADMIT IT to Ana Mae, but this digging is brutal. With every thrust, the blade thunks against stones. The bigger rocks she has to claw out with her hands. The hole is big enough now for her to put one foot in. The sun feels like it’s close enough to touch. Her shirt is sticking to her skin. A pearl of sweat fattens on the end of her nose, falls. She’d give anything for a lemon-lime hokey pokey right now. Icy. Wet. Her shadow is a pencil line.
    The blade clanks against a rock. She slumps. She needs a break. She’s about to hand the spade over whenAna Mae shrieks. She’s staring at her hand with a look of horror. “I’m getting a
blister
!”
    Jubilee goes back to work.

DESTROYER
    S TANDS BEFORE THE BIKE . He cannot read the word on the yellow flank. He assumes it is
Scramjet
. He can’t believe he’s this close. He reaches out, touches a pink handlegrip with the tip of his finger. Yes, it’s real. He lays a hand lightly on the flank. He pets it. Nothing happens. The Great One is still, as if napping, beast and slim shadow leaning on the kickstand.
    Do it
.
    I can’t
.
    Do it
.
    It’s not mine
.
    Who cares? Climb on. Ride. No one will know
.
    I might get hurt
.
    You might get the ride of your lifetime. You’ll make history. They’ll make a statue of you on Scramjet. Put it next to The Kid
.
    I’m scared
.
    You will amaze everyone. Now they’ll be scared of you. Even Big Kids
.
    I’m little
.
    Not after you do it
.
    I can’t
.
    They broke Daffy. Do it for Daffy
.
    I can’t
.
    You are Destroyer of Worlds
.
    I can’t reach the pedals
.
    The chain will sing to you
.
    I loved Daffy
.
    Do it!

JUBILEE
    F OCUS … FOCUS  …
    She tries not to think of her aching