Philip and the Sneaky Trashmen (9781619502185) (2 page)

“
You got a nice floor,”
Leon said, a wide smile showing off his broken tooth.

Philip heard the front door open and
Becky babbling.

“
Leon, listen. Make believe
you just got here. I’ll tell my mother I did all of this. She
probably won’t yell at me all summer if she thinks I cleaned like
this.”

Leon shot an OK sign toward
Philip.

“
That’s my new sign. I just
learned it. Did I tell you about my new friend Gordon?”

“
You didn’t know about an
OK sign? Everybody knows about an OK sign.”

“
I didn’t. My new friend
Gordon’s . . .”

“
Never mind. Quiet. Here
comes my mother.”

Philip’s eyes met his mother’s gaze
when she reached the top of the stairs.

“
Philip, get started on
that room. If it’s not . . .” She had continued walking toward
Philip and now saw the inside of the room. “What happened
here
?”

Philip gave Leon a glance. “I just did
what you asked, Mom. How’s it look?”

“
I can’t believe
it.”

Leon spoke up. “Can I take the trash
bag?”

Philip’s mother didn’t answer. She
walked around the room running her finger over things. Philip
wanted Leon out of the way before he said something stupid and gave
away the fact that he had been the one, not Philip, who’d cleaned
up the room.

“
Sure. You go, Leon. I’ll
meet you in the yard.”

“
I’ll be able to play with
Gordon again.”

Philip wondered what Leon meant, but
didn’t want to delay him by asking. Leon lugged the trash bag down
the stairs, and Philip was happy to see him go.

Philip could not remember feeling
happier. His mother complimented him repeatedly on how well he’d
cleaned up his room. Then she told him to invite Emery over for
dinner to celebrate. Besides, she said, she still had preparations
to make for Aunt Louise’s arrival and needed him entertained and
out of the way. When Emery arrived, the two boys went upstairs to
Philip’s room.

“
Wow! Leon did a good job,”
said Emery. “I didn’t know your floor was this color.”

“
It was always this color.
Blue.”

“
It feels
funny.”

“
What does?”

Emery shrugged. “It doesn’t feel like
your room anymore.”

“
Well it is.”

“
Leon really did
this?”

“
Yep, and he didn’t make
one problem. He acted dumb, but I’m used to that. Who’s
Gordon?”

“
Gordon who?”

“
That’s what I want to
know. Who’s Gordon?”

“
Tell me Gordon who, and
maybe I can tell you who he is.”

Philip’s voice went higher.
“If I could tell you Gordon who, I wouldn’t have to
ask
you Gordon
who.”

Emery tilted his head.
“What?”

Philip took a deep breath. “Do you know
anyone named Gordon? Leon kept mentioning his new friend
Gordon.”

“
Oh, Leon. No. I don’t
know. If he’s got a new friend, maybe he won’t come around here and
mess things up this summer.” Emery gazed around Philip’s bedroom.
“Where’s all your stuff?”

“
What stuff?”

“
Toys, games, your rock
collection, those stupid plastic dinosaurs your father bought.
Those dumb Lego things he got you.”

“
They’re not stupid and
dumb. He said he played with stuff like that when he was a kid.
Besides, when my mother makes me turn off the computer, I gotta do
something, don’t I?”

“
So, where’s all the stuff?
I don’t want to sit around in a clean room. It’s
creepy.”

Philip’s mind went blank. He went to
his closet and opened the door. His clothes were inside but very
little else, other than his rock collection. He thought a moment
and then got down on his knees and looked under the bed.

“
See anything?” asked
Emery.

“
I see one bag of
Legos.”

“
That’s all? Nothing
else?”

Philip got off the floor and sat on the
edge of his bed. “Nope.”

“
Uh oh.”

“
Uh oh, what?”

“
Leon.”

“
What Leon?”

“
What did he do with all
your stuff that was on the floor?”

“
Look in the
drawers.”

One by one, Emery pulled out the three
drawers of Philip’s dresser. “Nothing but underwear and socks and
T-shirts and a small bag of dinosaurs,” he announced.

Philip’s stomach began to dance.
“There’s no place else to look.”

“
Well, he had to put all
your stuff somewhere.”

“
Ohhhhh
. The white bag.”

“
What white
bag?”

Philip stood up. “Leon filled a white
bag with . . . junk. He said it was junk.”

“
Where’s the
bag?”

“
He took it downstairs when
my mother showed up. It must be out back.”

“
All your stuff’s gonna go
in the trash truck if you don’t get it out. I told you not to trust
Leon. He’s trouble, trouble, trouble.”

Suddenly, a scream came from
downstairs.

“
What was that?” asked
Emery.

“
I don’t know. Let’s go
see.”

The boys hurried downstairs in time to
see Philip’s father comforting Philip’s mother. “Don’t worry,
honey. It has to be here.”

Philip’s mother walked around the room,
searching behind and under things while talking excitedly to her
husband. “Where? Where? Louise will be here tomorrow. I promised
her I’d give it back to her. Where did I put it? Where did I put
it?”

“
What did she lose,
Dad?”

Mr. Felton turned to his son. “Some
piece of emerald jewelry—a pin—she planned to give it back to her
sister.”

“
Give it back?”

“
It belongs to your
grandmother, and the three of them share it.” Mr. Felton shrugged.
“It’s a girl thing.”

Philip’s mother began to wail again. “I
had it in the pocket of my jacket, the jacket I wear when I clean.
It’s not there now.”

Philip’s stomach plummeted and bounced
back. He’d tossed his mother’s cleaning jacket onto the floor after
Leon asked him if he slept in it. Then what? He remembered tripping
over it while taking dirty socks to the bathroom hamper. He
recalled grabbing the jacket and tossing it over the banister out
of the way. That was all. He didn’t feel anything in the pocket. He
didn’t step on anything in its pocket. He tapped Emery’s
arm.

“
Emery, come on.” He took
Emery into the backyard and told him about the jacket. “Suppose
that emerald thing fell out of the pocket when I grabbed it from
Leon.”

“
Ohhhh.
You think maybe Leon threw it out with the other
junk?”

Philip gritted his teeth.
“Leon.”

“
I told you.”

“
Let’s get the trash bag
and find it. At least it just happened, so the bag’s gotta be
here.”

Emery stepped in a slow circle. “Where?
I don’t see any trash bags.”

“
He must have put it in the
garage.”

The boys went in the small side door of
the garage and walked around Philip’s father’s car.

“
There,” said Emery. Two
white trash bags leaned against the wall.

“
Pshew
! I’ll really be a hero now. Cleaning my room
and
finding the
jewelry.”

The boys tried to untie the knot at the
top of the first bag, but it was too tight.

“
Rip it open,” Emery
suggested. “You have to look through everything anyway for good
stuff Leon tossed away.”

“
I guess.” Philip dug his
fingers in and pulled the plastic apart. Coffee grounds, tissues,
crunched up paper and a zillion other things spilled out onto the
floor. The boys stared at it.

“
I don’t think that’s the
right bag,” said Emery. “
Ugh!
What’s that?” He pointed to some slimy yellow
stuff.

“
I don’t know. Push the
other bag here.”

Emery pushed the second bag to Philip,
and Philip dug his fingers in again and pulled. An explosion of
dust rose from the bag.

Emery waved his arms in
front of him. “This is vacuum cleaner junk.
Ohhh
, there’s more of that yellow
stuff. What
is
that?”

“
There’s
gotta
be another bag.
Look for it.”

The boys searched everywhere but
couldn’t find another white trash bag.

“
What time is it?” Philip
asked when he and Emery left the garage.

“
I don’t know. Gotta be
near dinnertime.”

“
We need to find out where
Leon put the bag.”

“
Go see if your mother’s
ready for dinner.”

Philip hurried inside, Emery right
behind him. His father sat on the sofa, a weary look on his
face.

“
Where’s Mom? When are we
eating?”

“
We may never eat again,
Philip. At least until your mother finds her piece of
jewelry.”

Philip sniffed the air. “Nothing’s
cooking?”

“
Nope.”

“
We’ll be back.” He and
Emery scooted out the front door.

“
My cousin lives three
blocks away, you know,” Emery pointed out as the boys rushed down
the sidewalk.

“
I know where he lives.
Let’s run.”

Stopping impatiently at each corner to
be certain no cars were coming, the two boys raced up in front of
Leon’s house a few moments later. Philip banged on the front
door.

“
Suppose they’re eating or
have company or something,” said Emery.

“
Doesn’t matter. They’ll
probably be happy to get Leon out of the way.”

“
Good point.”

“
Hi, guys!” Leon bubbled
when he opened the door. “Wow! You guys never came to get me
before.” He looked at Philip. “Got more cleaning to do?”

“
No, Leon. You cleaned too
good.”

“
Yuk yuk.
Yup, that’s me. Leon, the too-good
cleaner.”

Emery interrupted. “Where’d you take
the white bag, Leon?”

“
Over to Gordon’s . .
.”

“
Take us,” cried Philip.
“Now. As fast as you can.”

The boys didn’t allow Leon a moment to
speak. They shushed him whenever he tried and pushed him forward
when he slowed down.

“
Why are you . . . don’t
push . . . I’m going . . . all right,” Leon sputtered as he led his
friends on. “There. There, all right?
Sheesh.
”

“
That’s where Gordon
lives?” asked Philip.

“
Yeah, but . .
.”

Philip shushed him. “No buts. That’s
where you took the white bag? All the way there?”

“
It wasn’t heavy, but . .
.”

“
I said no buts,” Philip
shouted. “You stay here. Don’t move. Don’t do anything.”

“
I’ll go with you,” said
Emery. “Stay here, Leon.”

Leon shrugged, and the boys crossed the
street.

The house the boys approached was
smaller than the other houses on the block and looked a lot older.
It had a front porch and lots of grass on both sides. A man came
out of the house onto the porch and sat down. The boys paused as
they stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the house. The man
wasn’t young. He was short and had gray hair. He wore a blue
button-up shirt and gray pants.

“
You talk,” said Emery. “I
don’t want to.”

“
We just tell him we want
to see Gordon, and we ask Gordon for the bag. Must be his
son.”

“
Or grandson.”

“
Maybe. You see any white
bags around?”

Emery scanned the front of the house.
“Nope.”

Philip slowly advanced along the
walkway leading to the front porch. The man noticed him and Emery
and smiled. “Can I help you?”

Philip stopped short of the two steps
leading up to the porch. “Hi,” he began.

“
You got a white bag?”
Emery burst out.

“
Emery, shut
up.”

“
White bag?” the old man
asked, perplexed.

Philip went on. “We’re friends of Leon.
Can we see Gordon?”

“
Oh. Leon, yes. He told you
about Gordon?”

“
Yeah,” said Emery. “Can we
talk to him?”

“
Yeah, we want to ask him
something,” added Philip.