A Flying Birthday Cake? (5 page)

Joe disappeared.

“Where is he?” Marvin’s mother demanded.

“I don’t know,” said Marvin. “Maybe he walked home.”

“I told him I would drive him,” said Marvin’s mother. “He should know better than to walk home alone.”

It was late Saturday morning. Joe had eaten three bowls of Jell-O for breakfast. He played wizzle-fish with Marvin and his family. Even Marvin’s mother and father liked playing wizzle-fish.

Then Marvin’s mother told Joe to get
his things together, and she would drive him home.

Joe didn’t have any things. He just put his toothbrush in his pocket.

Nobody saw him after that.

They looked all over the house for him. Then Marvin and his father got in the car and drove around the neighborhood. Marvin’s mother stayed home with Linzy.

“Do you know where he lives?” Marvin’s father asked him.

“No,” said Marvin, looking out the window. “Don’t worry. He’s okay.”

“Do you know his phone number?” There was a phone in the car.

“No,” said Marvin.

Marvin’s father called Information and asked for the phone number for somebody named Normal. He spelled it “N-O-R-M-A-L”
and looked to Marvin to make sure that was correct.

Marvin shrugged.

“It’s a new listing,” his father told the operator. “They just moved here last week … from Chicago.”

The operator couldn’t find the number.

Marvin’s father tried other spellings—“N-O-R-M-E-L-L” and “N-O-R-M-U-L” and “N-U-R-M-A-L.” There was no listing.

“It’s my fault,” Marvin’s mother said when they got home. “I should have insisted upon speaking with his parents before I let him spend the night.”

“They were in a top-secret meeting with the president,” Marvin pointed out.

“Do you really believe that?” asked his father.

“Yes!” Marvin declared. “He’s my friend.”

“Joe wouldn’t lie,” said Linzy.

Marvin smiled at his sister.

“I’m just worried about him, that’s all,” said Marvin’s mother. “He never even told his parents he was staying here.”

“He said he told them,” said Marvin.

“When?” asked his mother. “When did he have a chance to call them?”

Marvin didn’t know. “It’s not fair!” he exclaimed. “Everybody picks on Joe. First the kids at school, and now my own parents!”

“We’re not picking on him. We’re trying to help him.”

“You think he’s a liar!”

“I like Joe, but I’m worried about him. You have to admit that some of the things he does are a bit odd.”

“He’s my friend,” said Marvin.

“I think I better call the police,” said Marvin’s mother.

Linzy began to cry.

“He’s not a criminal!” said Marvin. But despite all his protests, he was worried about Joe, too.

Marvin’s mother went to the phone, but just as she reached for it, it rang.

She picked it up. “Hello?”

Marvin saw her face brighten. “Hi, Joe,” she said. “We were—You’re very welcome. Well, thank you. We enjoyed your visit, too. May I please talk to your mother? Oh,
I see
. Listen, you really shouldn’t have—what? Okay, well, bye.”

She hung up. “That was Joe. He called to thank us.”

“See, I told you everything was okay,” said Marvin.

Marvin’s mother still looked worried.

Wizzle-what?

Monday morning, Marvin left his house carrying a package of paper plates. He tapped the red post for luck as he walked through the gate.

Nick and Stuart were waiting at the corner.

“What are the paper plates for?” asked Stuart.

“Wizzle-fish,” said Marvin.

“Wizzle-what?” asked Nick.

“Wizzle-fish. It’s a cool game. Joe taught it to me. He spent the night on Friday.” Marvin waited to see what his friends
would say about that.

“How do you play?” asked Stuart.

Marvin explained it to them. He hoped they’d give it a chance. He hoped all the kids at school would like wizzle-fish. Then maybe they’d like Joe, too.

“You just walk around on plates?” asked Nick.

“Do you try to get anywhere?” asked Stuart.

“It’s fun just to walk around,” Marvin said. “You only have two plates. If you toss a plate too far away, you’re in big trouble. Then the sharks will get you!”

“What sharks?”

Marvin told them about Lake Wizzle, and about the people who try to walk across the lake stepping on big, flat, slimy fish. “Man-eating sharks swim below the fish.”

“Let me try,” said Stuart.

Marvin gave Stuart two paper plates and watched him try to walk on them. Stuart took two steps, then fell when he reached back to pick up the plate behind him.

Nick laughed. “You’re dead. A shark just bit off your head.”

Marvin gave Nick two plates and took out two more for himself. The three friends headed to school stepping only on wizzle-fish, while sharks swam around beneath them.

Casey Happleton and Judy Jasper caught up to them.

“What are you doing?” asked Casey.

“Walking on wizzle-fish,” said Stuart.

“You are
so
weird, Stuart!” said Judy.

“It’s a game Joe taught Marvin,” said
Nick. He told the girls about Lake Wizzle. He said that sea monsters lived at the bottom of the lake.

“Can I have a wizzle?” asked Casey.

“You need two,” said Nick.

“Me, too,” said Judy.

Marvin gave them each two plates. “And by the way, Casey,” he said. “Joe doesn’t kiss the flagpole. He just likes to press his nose against it. He says it feels good.”

“Well, that’s how Eskimos kiss,” said Judy. “They rub noses.”

“That’s because it’s too cold for Eskimos to kiss on the lips,” said Casey. “Their lips would get stuck together.”

They walked on wizzles all the way to school. Casey Happleton continued right up to the flagpole. Then she pressed
her nose against it. “Joe’s right,” she announced. “It
does
feel good.”

Joe walked into class and took his seat next to Nick.

“Hi, Joe,” Nick said. “I was wondering. Have you ever tried playing wizzle-fish tag?”

“No, but it sounds like a good idea.”

“You want to try it at recess? Marvin’s brought a whole thing of plates.”

“Can I play, too, Joe?” asked Gina.

“Me, too,” said Heather.

“Sure,” said Joe. He turned and smiled at Marvin.

Seventeen kids played wizzle-fish tag at recess. Everyone, including the person who was “It,” could only step on wizzles.

There were only twenty-eight plates in
the package Marvin brought to school, so only fourteen kids got wizzles. The other three—Clarence, Travis, and Melanie—were the sea monsters. If anybody fell off a wizzle, a sea monster would grab him or her.

“I can bring more wizzles tomorrow,” said Nick. “I got a bunch left over from
my birthday party.”

“My birthday’s on Saturday,” said Clarence. “So I’ll get my mom to buy lots of paper plates. Hey, Joe, can you come to my birthday party?”

“Sure. I think so,” said Joe.

Marvin felt very glad for his friend.

At Least

Joe never went to Clarence’s birthday party. On Wednesday, Mrs. North announced that Joe would not be returning to class. “His family is having to move again,” she said.

Everybody seemed sad, not just Marvin.

“I was just getting to know him,” said Stuart.

“Joe is cool,” said Travis.

Mrs. North got a big piece of paper and made a giant friendship card for Joe.

At the top it said,
To Joe. Thanks for being our friend
. Beneath that, everyone wrote a short message and signed his or her name.

Marvin wrote,
I hope I get to see you again
.

Mrs. North told the class that she would try to get Joe’s address and send the card to him.

Marvin and his friends still played wizzle-fish tag at recess. He noticed that kids from other grades were playing it, too.

He wondered if someday it would be like wall-ball. Nobody knew how wall-ball got started, or why there was a wall in the middle of the playground. Maybe in the future, after Marvin went on to middle school and high school, kids at this school would still be playing wizzle-fish tag. But nobody would know how it got started.

After school, Marvin walked out of the building and slowly down the stairs. It
wasn’t fair, he thought. The other kids liked Joe now. Why did he have to leave?

He hoped nothing was wrong. Deep down, he’d never quite believed everything Joe told him. What kind of parents would let their child wear the same clothes every single day? What if Joe didn’t even
have
parents?

Marvin didn’t want to think about it. He pressed his face against the flagpole. The cold smooth metal felt good as it squashed his nose.

Later that evening, Marvin was in his room when Jacob came in and announced, “There’s a limousine in the driveway!”

Marvin looked out his window and saw a long, black, shiny car. A soldier stepped
out of it. Marvin could see medals and ribbons on his chest. The soldier walked around and opened the back door of the limo.

First a man got out, then a woman, and then Joe.

Marvin and his brother raced down the stairs. They reached the door just as the bell rang.

Joe’s eyes were red, like he might have just stopped crying. “Hi, Marvin,” he said. “We have to leave.”

“I know,” said Marvin. “Mrs. North told us. We all wrote you a giant friendship card.”

The rest of Marvin’s family came to the door. “Hi, Joe,” Marvin’s mother said brightly.

“Hi, Nancy,” said Joe. “These are my parents, John and Jane.”

John and Jane said, “How do you do?”

Joe introduced Marvin’s family to them. “That’s Linzy, Jacob, Nancy, and Dennis. And this is Marvin Redpost, my best friend in the whole universe!”

“Joe told us how much he enjoyed himself the other night,” said Joe’s mother. “I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to thank you before now, but we were in an important meeting with your president.”

“Oh, well, yes, I understand,” said Marvin’s mother.

“Can I look at the limo?” asked Jacob.

“Of course,” said Joe’s father.

While Marvin’s and Joe’s parents continued to talk, Joe led Jacob, Linzy, and Marvin to the limo.

“Cool,” said Jacob as he walked around the front of it. The soldier was standing by
the back door. “Can I look inside?” Jacob asked him.

The soldier opened the door for him.

Marvin looked inside, too. The backseat was filled with boxes of Jell-O. There must have been over a thousand boxes.

The four adults came over to the limo. Marvin heard his mother ask, “Do you know your new address yet? Maybe Marvin can write to Joe.”

“I don’t think that would be possible,” said Joe’s father. “But we’ll be coming back this way in two years. We could stop by, and maybe even take Marvin home with us for the summer.”

Marvin and Joe smiled at each other. Then Marvin turned to his mother. “Can I?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” said Marvin’s mother.
“Well, in two years you’ll be eleven. I guess that will be all right.”

“Yes!” exclaimed Joe.

A short while later, everybody said good-bye. Marvin’s family stood and waved as the limousine drove away.