The Election-Day Disaster (2 page)

“First prize goes to Amanda Day!” KC’s mom announced. “Amanda, your costume is cute and creative and you make a lovely firefly!” Amanda won lunch with the president at the White House. Everyone clapped and whistled.

After Amanda accepted her prize, people began leaving. KC stood by the gate with the president and her mom to say good night to everyone. KC’s mom held a basket of wrapped gifts. “Please take one,” she said to each guest as they left. “You’re all winners!”

The president held the basket of campaign buttons. “Please take one,” he joked. “Make me a winner on Tuesday!”

The next morning, KC woke up suddenly. She had heard a shout coming from
somewhere in the residence. She jumped up and threw open the door. She heard more loud voices from the kitchen.

Still in her pajamas, KC raced down the hall. The president and her mom and Yvonne were staring at the TV set.

“What is it, Mom?” KC asked.

“Those pictures were on the Internet last night,” her mother said. “Now they’re all over the news!”

KC focused on the TV screen. It was the
Donny Drum News Hour
. In one of the pictures, the president was shown dunking a boy’s head deep into a water bucket. Holding the kid’s head down, the president was grinning at the camera.

The other picture was worse. Somebody had put Dr. Melrose Jury’s face on the paper witch. President Thornton was
pinning a wart on Dr. Jury’s nose, and again smiling for the camera.

KC shook her head. “But those things never happened!” she said.

“I think there was a rat at our party last night,” the president said. “And that rat wants me to lose this election.”

He stood up. “Excuse me,” he said. “I have some phone calls to make.” He and KC’s mom left the kitchen.

KC dialed Marshall’s phone number.

“Can you come over?” she asked him when he answered. “We have a disaster!”

Marshall yawned into the phone. “What do you mean, ‘we’?” he asked.

“Just come over, okay?”

KC changed out of her pajamas, then sat in the kitchen to wait for Marshall. Simon came in, yawning and holding his
cell phone. He poured himself a glass of juice. He smiled at KC, but to her it looked more like a smirk.

“That’s too bad about your stepdad,” Simon said. But he didn’t seem upset.

KC snapped a leash on Natasha, the president’s greyhound. They went outside to wait for Marshall.

“Good, you’re here!” KC said when Marshall walked up.

“So what’s going on?” he asked.

KC took Marshall and Natasha to a sunny bench in the rose garden. The wash buckets and all the Halloween decorations were gone.

“Did you watch TV this morning?” KC asked Marshall. She let go of the leash so Natasha could wander on the lawn.

Marshall was chewing on an apple, so
he shook his head. KC told him about the two pictures that made the president look like a mean person.

Marshall’s eyes got big. His face turned red and he started to choke.

“Geez, swallow, will you?” KC said.

He swallowed. “But the president would never dunk a kid,” he said. “And I was standing right next to the paper witch. She had a regular old witch’s face with a hooked nose and wild hair!”

“Marsh, someone wants to make the president look bad so he’ll lose the election,” KC said. “Someone at the party took pictures of him, then changed them and put them on the Internet!”

“But no one was supposed to have a camera, remember?” Marshall said.

“Someone did,” she said glumly.

“Digital cameras are tiny. Anyone could have hidden one in their costume.”

“Wait a minute!” Marshall said. “What about that photographer the president hired, the woman in the tent?”

KC looked at him. “Yeah, her name was Lauren,” she said slowly. “Except her camera was big and on a tripod.”

“She could have had a small camera, too,” Marshall said.

KC shook her head. “Lauren wasn’t wearing a costume. We’d have noticed her outside the tent.”

“Maybe she did have a costume,” Marshall insisted. “You know, we never figured out who was in the green monster costume. Maybe it was Lauren!”

“I guess it’s possible,” KC agreed. “But that would mean Lauren wants the
president to lose the election next week.”

“We should go check her out,” said Marshall.

“Do you realize what might happen when people see the pictures?” KC said.

Marshall shook his head.

“People will think the pictures are real and that the president did those mean things!” KC said. “The pictures were on the Internet last night. Today they’re on TV, and by tomorrow they’ll be in every newspaper in the world. The election is three days away!”

“Well, even if it wasn’t that photographer, it was definitely someone who was at the party,” Marshall said.

“I’m sure none of the kids in our class took those pictures,” KC said. “It had to be a grown-up.”

“But all the adults were friends of the president.” Marshall ticked off names on his fingers. “My parents, Mr. Alubicki, the vice president, and Yvonne. None of them would want to hurt the president!”

“That leaves Lauren, the photographer,” KC said quietly.

Marshall jumped up. “KC, maybe the person inside that green monster costume was Dr. Jury!” he said. “Maybe he snuck into the party to take pictures that would make the president look bad!”

KC stared at his big brown eyes, then burst out laughing. “Marsh, I would be willing to bet one million dollars that Dr. Melrose Jury did not crash our party last night,” she said.

“So what do we do?” Marshall asked.

“We find the photographer,” KC said.

KC’s mom told her the photographer’s name was Lauren Tool. She had a small studio on New York Avenue. Fifteen minutes later, KC and Marshall pushed open the door to her little shop.

KC saw a group of chairs around a low table and a wall of photos. There was a narrow counter with a small door behind it. Below the counter was a glass case filled with cameras for sale.

Lauren Tool was nowhere in sight.

“Check out the cameras,” KC whispered. “Some of them are so small I could hide one in my hand.”

“Look,” Marshall said. He showed KC
a note left on the counter. It said: I’M IN THE DARKROOM. RING THE BELL. LAUREN.

KC pressed the bell next to the note. In a few minutes, Lauren Tool came through the door. She was wearing a plastic apron over jeans and a T-shirt. A picture on her shirt showed a camera with bright eyes and a smiling mouth. Beneath it were the words SAY IT WITH PICTURES.

“Oh, hi,” Lauren said when she recognized KC and Marshall. “I told your mom I’d have the pictures tomorrow or the next day.”

Lauren Tool was tall. She looked like the kind of woman who played volleyball or basketball. KC flashed back to the green monster costume. Whoever was inside that costume had been tall, too.

“So, what can I do for you?” Lauren asked.

KC thought quickly. Then she asked Lauren if she had seen the news on TV that morning.

Lauren shook her head. “I’ve been in my darkroom for hours,” she said. “Why, what’s up?”

KC told her.

“You’re kidding me!” Lauren said. She took off her apron and hung it on a hook next to the darkroom door.

“The pictures were awful,” KC said. “They made the president look like a terrible person.”

“And he’s up for reelection,” Lauren said. “When people see those pictures, they’ll vote for Melrose Jury.”

“We need to find out who did it,” KC
said. She watched Lauren’s face to see if she looked guilty.

“But who could have done such a rotten thing?” Lauren asked. Then her eyes grew wide. “It had to be someone at the Halloween party!”

“We know everyone who came, except for one person,” Marshall said. “Someone was wearing a green costume that looked like a weird sea creature.”

Again KC studied Lauren’s face. Did her expression change when Marshall mentioned the person in the green costume?

“I don’t remember anyone like that,” Lauren said. She led the kids over to the chairs. “When I finished shooting all the pictures, I counted them. There were twenty-seven. That includes you two kids,
plus all your school friends, plus the seven adults.”

“That makes twenty-six,” KC said. “Nineteen plus seven.”

Lauren squinted her eyes, counting silently. “Oh yeah, and that teenager, someone’s nephew. He was dressed as a mouse, I think.”

“That’s Simon Tansy,” KC said. “The president’s maid is his aunt.”

Lauren grinned. “He was kinda cute. Even when I took his picture, he was talking on his cell phone,” she said. “Anyway, I got him, too, and that made twenty-seven in all. Trust me, no green sea monster came through the tent to have his picture taken.”

Lauren seemed to be telling the truth, KC admitted to herself. Or maybe she was
a good actress along with being a good photographer.

“Then he must have snuck in without going through the tent,” Marshall said.

“I don’t understand how someone dressed like that could have gotten past the two guards,” Lauren said. “They stood outside the tent checking invitations.”

“Two? But my mom said there were three guards,” KC said.

Lauren shrugged. “I only saw two,” she said.

Just then KC heard a telephone ring.

“Excuse me,” Lauren said. She crossed to the counter and picked up a cell phone. She spoke into it for a few minutes, then came back. “Sorry, but I have to take this call.”

KC stood up. “Did you get a good look
at Simon’s cell phone?” she asked Lauren.

“Not really. I was focusing on his face,” Lauren said. “Why?”

“Maybe his cell phone was also a camera,” KC said.

The kids thanked Lauren, then headed back to the White House.

“Do you believe her?” Marshall asked. “I don’t. She knows all about cameras, and she had plenty of time to do it.”

“Maybe,” KC said. “But I still want to talk to Simon. If his cell phone is the kind that can take pictures, he could’ve put them on the Internet.”

“Why would Simon want Melrose Jury to win the election?” Marshall asked. “That would mean you guys would have to leave the White House and his aunt would lose her job.”

“I don’t know,” KC said. “But there was something sneaky about him this morning. He looked like he had a secret.”

They found Simon on the couch in the living room. He was staring at his cell phone’s small screen. He shut the phone when KC and Marshall came into the room.

The TV was on, and the news was all about the president doing mean things at the White House Halloween party.

A man with blond hair and big teeth was saying: “This is Donny Drum, and I’ve got your news! Does President Thornton have a mean side that no one has seen before? Why else would he dunk a little kid? Why else would he make fun of Melrose Jury? We don’t know the answers to those questions yet. But what
we do know is that this will not help the president on voting day. In fact, the latest polls show him slipping. Stay tuned for more on this shocking development at the White House.”

KC turned the TV volume down, then she and Marshall sat across from Simon. “Nice cell phone,” KC said, nodding at the one Simon held in his hand.

“Thanks,” he said. “I got it for my birthday.”

“What else can you do with it, besides phone calls and text messages?” asked KC. She noticed that Simon seemed nervous. He was tapping his fingers on the table, and his face had turned pink.

“What do you mean?” Simon asked.

“I mean,” KC said, “can you take pictures with it?”

Simon nodded but didn’t say anything. He bent down to tie the laces of his running shoes.

KC glanced at Marshall.

“So did you happen to take any pictures at the party last night?” Marshall asked.

By now Simon’s face was beet red. “Yeah, a few,” he muttered.

“Can we see them?” KC asked.

“I know what you’re trying to do!” Simon yelled at KC. “You’re trying to blame me for those fake pictures of the president! Well, I didn’t do that!”

“Then why did you bring your cell phone with you to the party?” KC asked. “No one was supposed to have a camera.”

Simon opened his cell phone and pushed a few buttons. “My teacher told
me I have to write a report about visiting the White House,” he said. “I wanted pictures for my report, so I snuck my phone in, okay?”

“Were you dressed as a gerbil?” KC asked.

“No, I was Templeton the rat,” Simon said. He looked at KC and Marshall. “He’s a character in
Charlotte’s Web.”

“I know,” KC said. “It’s my favorite book.”

“But I didn’t do that stuff!” Simon stabbed a finger toward the TV set. “Even if I knew how to change the pictures, I couldn’t have put them on the Internet. My aunt’s computer crashed.”

KC watched Simon’s face. If he was lying, she couldn’t tell.

“Did you notice someone wearing a
weird green costume?” KC asked Simon.

“It had stuff hanging on it,” Marshall added.

“Yeah, I saw it,” Simon said. “In fact, I have pictures.”

“You do?” KC said. “Can we see?”

“No problem.” Simon fingered a couple buttons, then held the phone so KC and Marshall could see the tiny screen.

Simon clicked through the pictures he had taken last night. Each picture showed kids and grown-ups in costume. “There’s your green guy,” Simon said.

“Could be a woman,” Marshall said. He nudged KC.

“Whatever,” Simon said. He paused on a picture of the strange costume.

“What are those long things supposed to be?” Marshall asked.