Andy Russell, NOT Wanted by the Police Page 4

  “Why do you keep snooping around?” the tall Belmont girl asked them. “You know that’s trespassing, don’t you? It’s against the law.”

  “We’re watching, not snooping,” Andy told her. “Mrs. Perlman asked us to.”

  The bus stopped and the door opened. Tamika and Rachel got on and sat together, near the front of the bus. Andy sat near the back, next to Bruce. Mr. Cole pulled the lever, closed the bus door, and drove off. The bus turned the corner, and Andy looked out the window as they passed the Russells’ and Perlmans’ houses.

  “LOOK! LOOK!” Andy called out. “Did you see that?”

  The front door of the Perlmans’ house was open.

  Andy ran to the front of the bus.

  “You have to stop,” he told Mr. Cole.

  “Are you sick?” Mr. Cole asked.

  “No.”

  “Then I don’t have to stop. But you have to sit down.”

  “But the door to the Perlmans’ house was open. There’s a thief!”

  “When you get to school, you can tell your teacher or tell the principal, but right now you have to get in your seat!”

  “Did you see it?” Andy asked Tamika and Rachel as he walked past them to the back of the bus.

  Neither Tamika nor Rachel had seen the open door.

  “Are you sure the door was open?” Tamika asked.

  “Sure I’m sure,” Andy answered.

  “You saw it, didn’t you?” Andy asked Bruce when he sat down again.

  Bruce shook his head.

  “Why didn’t you? You were sitting right here! Don’t you ever look out the window?”

  “I’m sorry,” Bruce said.

  When Andy and Tamika got to school, they went straight to the office.

  “I have to call my parents,” Andy told Mrs. Clark, the principal’s secretary.

  She let him use the telephone on her desk. He dialed his home and waited. No one answered.

  The school bell rang. He had to get to class. Now what do I do? he wondered.

  Tamika told Mrs. Clark what had happened.

  “It all sounds very odd,” Mrs. Clark said. “Are you sure the door was open?”

  “Everyone keeps asking me that,” Andy said. “Of course I’m sure.”

  “This is not a school matter,” Mrs. Clark said. “This is something for the police.”

  She looked at a paper with emergency numbers she had on her desk. Then she picked up the telephone receiver and dialed the police.

  Chapter 9

  Trapped in School

  Mrs. Clark told the police officer about Andy, Tamika, the Perlmans’ trip to South America, and the open front door. Then she gave the telephone to Andy. “He wants to talk to you,” she said.

  “Where are you?” the police officer asked.

  “I’m at school,” he said quickly. He told the officer the Perlmans’ address and said, “Please tell Officers Johnson and Kirkwood about the open door. They’ll know what I’m talking about.”

  “I’ll tell them,” the officer said. “Now, don’t worry. Just go to class. We’ll take care of everything.”

  Andy put the telephone receiver down. “That’s the problem. We’ll be in class while who knows what might be happening at the Perlmans’.”

  Andy and Tamika thanked Mrs. Clark and hurried to class.

  “You’re late,” Ms. Roman told them when they entered the room. “Get to your seats. We have work to do.”

  There was a do now on the board, a list of science words for Andy and his classmates to copy into their notebooks: chloroplast, glucose, starch, carbon dioxide, photosynthesis, and cell respiration.

  Andy copied the words into his science notebook.

  There was a potted plant with large leaves on Ms. Roman’s desk. Ms. Roman turned over one of the leaves. Andy smiled, folded his hands, and put them on his desk. He looked right at Ms. Roman and the plant.

  Who opened the Perlmans’ door? Andy wondered. He hadn’t seen a car or truck in front of the Perlmans’ house. Maybe the thief parked his car in the garage, Andy thought. He was just leaving this morning and saw me waiting at the bus stop, so he quickly ran inside.

  “Andy!” Ms. Roman said loudly. “Do plants make food?”

  “‘Do plants make food?’” Andy repeated, and looked around. It seemed everyone in class was looking at him.

  He tried to imagine a plant making a pizza. It seemed so ridiculous. He was about to say no, but he saw Stacy Ann Jackson in the seat just in front of his nod and whisper, “Yes.”

  “Yes,” Andy told Ms. Roman. “Plants make food.”

  “What kind of food do they make?”

  Pizza, Andy thought, but he didn’t say it.

  Andy looked at the plant on Ms. Roman’s desk and at its large green leaves. Lettuce is a plant, Andy thought, and parsley is, too, and peppers and tomatoes grow on plants.

  “Plants make salads,” Andy said.

  “People make salads,” Ms. Roman told Andy. “Plants make glucose. It’s a form of sugar.”

  “Oh,” Andy said.

  “Plants use energy from sunlight to combine carbon dioxide from the air and water to make glucose. This process is called photosynthesis.”

  “Oh,” Andy said again.

  “The carbon dioxide gets into the plant through very small holes in the backs of leaves. The water gets into the plant through the roots.”

  Why do I have to know this stuff? Andy wondered. Plants don’t know how I make popcorn, so why should I know how plants make glucose?

  Andy tried to pay attention during the rest of the lesson. Ms. Roman spoke about chloroplasts and chlorophyll and showed the class a picture of what the back of a leaf looks like through a microscope.

  Andy thought it was a waste of time to be talking about all that chloro stuff while the Perlmans’ house was being robbed. But he didn’t want to get into trouble. He just couldn’t allow himself to be kept after school—not today.

  Ms. Roman taught math next, how to add fractions. Andy did his best to pay attention, but it was a real struggle. He was glad when the bell rang for lunch.

  Lunch! Andy thought, and he remembered the clues he had listed on Stacy Ann’s lunch bag. He took it out of his pocket and added Open door to the list.

  “Remember,” Ms. Roman told the class, “when you get back from lunch, you’ll be writing stories.”

  In the cafeteria Andy stood by the lunch table and told Stacy Ann and Bruce, as dramatically as he could, “This morning, while we’ve been in school, the police have probably been real busy. I bet they arrested a killer crook who was robbing the Perlmans. There may even be a reward.”

  “I can’t stand not knowing what’s happening,” Tamika said.

  “Cream cheese again,” Bruce complained. “I get so little for lunch, and it’s the same stuff every day.”

  “Is food all you think about?” Andy asked Bruce, and gave him a cupcake. Tamika gave Bruce half of her tuna fish sandwich. Stacy Ann gave him a plum.

  “I need to know what’s happening at the Perlmans’,” Andy said. “I’m calling the police.”

  “Wait,” Bruce said. He pushed most of Andy’s cupcake into his mouth. Then he took a big bite of Tamika’s tuna fish sandwich and a sip of juice. His mouth was stuffed. Juice was dripping down his chin. Bruce was about to bite into his cream cheese sandwich when Tamika grabbed his hand.

  “Swallow,” she told him.

  Bruce swallowed.

  “I might be a hero,” Andy said. “After all, I’m the one who saw the open door this morning. And I’m the one who spoke to the police.” Then he turned to Tamika and told her, “But if there’s a reward, we’re sharing it. We’re both watching the house, so we share the reward.”

  “Thank you,” Tamika said.

  “The office phone is just for emergencies,” Andy told his friends when they were in the hall, “and this isn’t an emergency anymore, so I’ll have to call the police station. I’ll call from the hall phone.”
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br />   Andy looked through the telephone book hanging by the public phone. He found the number for the police station. He put a few coins into the slot, entered the number, and waited.

  A woman answered.

  “Hello,” Andy said into the receiver. “Is Officer Johnson or Officer Kirkwood there? This is Andy Russell.”

  “Just a minute.”

  Andy waited.

  “Kirkwood here. Can I help you?”

  “Yes. This is Andy Russell. I’m the boy who called this morning about the open door at the Perlman house. Did you catch him? Did you catch the thief?”

  “No,” Officer Kirkwood said. He sounded annoyed. “We didn’t catch anyone. All we did was waste some time. The doors were all closed. The windows were all shut.”

  “Oh,” Andy said.

  “We’ll keep an eye on the house. Someone will drive past there at least once a day, but we don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”

  “Oh. Thank you,” Andy said.

  Officer Kirkwood hung up.

  Andy slowly put the telephone down and turned to face his friends.

  Chapter 10

  I’m a Criminal

  “What did he say?” Tamika asked.

  “Are you a hero?” Bruce wanted to know. “Are you getting a reward?”

  “No,” Andy answered softly. He was embarrassed. “I’m not a hero. I’m a pest.”

  Rrrr!

  The bell rang. Lunch period was over.

  “A pest,” Bruce said, and thought for a moment. “That’s not good.”

  “I bet right now,” Andy said, “next to all the police wanted posters is a picture of me on a NOT wanted poster.” He stopped by the door to their classroom. “I tried to be a hero, and I feel like a criminal. The police hate me.”

  “No one hates you,” Tamika said.

  “Are you coming in or not?” Ms. Roman called out. She had her hands on her hips and an impatient look on her face.

  “What did you say about no one hating me?” Andy mumbled as he walked into class.

  Ms. Roman had written DON’T THINK! JUST WRITE! in large letters across the board. There were two sheets of paper on each desk.

  When everyone was seated, Ms. Roman told the class, “Use your imaginations. Have fun with your stories. Remember, what you’re writing is just a first draft.”

  Andy looked at the two blank sheets of paper.

  I’m a criminal, he wrote, wanted by the police. I didn’t do anything wrong, but that doesn’t matter. They have my picture posted everywhere, in candy stores and on trees under the LOST KITTEN signs. I can’t go to school and I can’t go home.

  Andy looked at what he had written. It filled just the top of one sheet of paper. He had to write more.

  I hide, he wrote. I hide in toolsheds and garages.

  Hey, Andy thought, I know where I’d hide.

  I hide, he wrote, in the houses of people who are on vacation or are away in places like South America. But I can never rest. Children and neighbors are my enemies. They peek in my windows and in my garbage cans.

  Andy had almost filled the entire first sheet of paper. He poked Stacy Ann. “How much have you written?” he asked.

  She showed him that both sheets of her paper were covered with her neat handwriting. She raised her hand and asked Ms. Roman for more paper.

  But I do have fun, Andy wrote. I spook children. I turn lights on and I turn them off. But I can’t buy food in candy stores or supermarkets. The police would catch me there. I have to go to health food stores and buy yucky stuff like oats and green tea.

  “Finish up,” Ms. Roman said. “The bell will ring in a few minutes.”

  How do I end this? Andy wondered. I know!

  Why are the police after me? Why am I a wanted criminal? he wrote. I’m wanted because I went to a public bathroom. The sign by the paper towels said TAKE ONE, but I took two! And that’s why I’m a criminal—wanted by the police.

  Rrrr!

  “Leave your papers on your desks,” Ms. Roman told the class. “I look forward to reading them.”

  Chapter 11

  ROAR!

  Andy took a last look at his paper. “‘I’m a Criminal—Wanted by the Police,’” Andy read. There must be some reason I shouldn’t have written this, Andy thought. I bet this story gets me in trouble.

  “Hurry,” Bruce called to him, “or we’ll miss the bus.”

  Andy grabbed his story. He was about to put it in his backpack when Ms. Roman told him, “You don’t have to bring it to me. Just leave your story on your desk. I’ll collect it.”

  Andy put the story back. He took his backpack and hurried out of the classroom, out of the school, and onto the bus. Bruce had saved him a seat again, right behind Tamika and Rachel.

  “Do you know what I wrote?” Bruce asked. “I wrote about a boy named Bryce who has a dog named King, and the dog thinks he’s really a lion, the king of the jungle. Isn’t that great? The dog roars like this: ROAR! ROAR!”

  Tamika and Rachel turned.

  “ROAR!”

  Bruce explained, “I’m telling Andy about my story.”

  “And I have something to tell Andy,” Rachel said. “I have some really good news.”

  “The dog’s name is King, and it ROARS like a lion and scares the postman.”

  “My science teacher really loved the experiment,” Rachel said. “She wants me to demonstrate it to the class.”

  “That’s great,” Tamika said.

  Bruce went on with his story. “And the postman thinks there’s really a lion in the house. And Bryce’s father is real angry because the postman doesn’t leave the mail, and he wants the mail.”

  “So I need you to let me use your gerbils again,” Rachel said. “And I need you to come to my class and show everyone what we did. So will you do that?”

  “Hey,” Bruce said. “Are you listening to my story about King? Are you, Andy?”

  “Yes, yes,” Andy answered Bruce.

  “Great,” Rachel said. “Thank you. Thank you. We’ll bring the maze and gerbils in tomorrow.”

  “What’s great?” Andy asked.

  “Hey, this is my stop,” Bruce said, and grabbed his backpack. “Let me get out.”

  Bruce had grabbed his backpack upside down. As he squeezed past Andy, his books, papers, and an apple fell out. There were a few open windows, and papers flew all over the bus. Bruce grabbed his science and math books. He reached under the seat and got his notebook.

  “Let’s go! Let’s go!” Mr. Cole called out.

  Bruce grabbed the apple and some papers. He shoved them into his backpack and hurried off the bus.

  “Wait! Wait!” a small girl near the front of the bus called. She waved a paper and said, “You forgot this.”

  “And this, too,” someone else called out.

  But Bruce was off the bus, and the bus was already moving.

  “I’ll take them,” Andy said. He grabbed his own backpack and went to the front of the bus.

  “Tell your friend to study more,” the girl said as she gave the paper to Andy.

  It was a test paper. I shouldn’t look at it, Andy thought, but as he put it into his backpack, he just couldn’t help looking. Sixty-one on a science test! She’s right. Bruce should study more.

  Andy collected the other papers. The bus stopped and Andy got off. He looked across the street at the Perlmans’ house. The door was closed. The shades were the same as they had been in the morning.

  The Belmont girls, Tamika, and Rachel got off the bus.

  “We should practice with the gerbils, so they’ll know what to do tomorrow,” Rachel said. “I don’t want them to embarrass me in front of my whole class.”

  “What are you talking about?” Andy asked. Tamika told him.

  “When did I say I would go to your class?” Andy asked Rachel. “I have enough trouble with Ms. Roman in fourth grade, so why would I want to go to sixth grade with you?”

  “When you’re helping Rache
l in her class,” Tamika told Andy, “you won’t have to be in Ms. Roman’s class.”

  When Andy heard that, he agreed to help Rachel.

  Rachel unlocked the door to the Russells’ house. Tamika and Rachel went to the kitchen, where they had snacks. Andy went to the basement. First he fed his pets. Then he looked for the five gerbils with labels stuck to their tails.

  Three gerbils, Red, Blue, and Purple, still had their labels on. Andy found the green and gray labels on the floor of the tank. Andy reached in for the labels and asked, “Which one of you wants to be Green? Which one of you wants to be Gray?”

  None of the gerbils volunteered.

  “Come on,” Andy urged. “Green got the best score.”

  Andy waited. When he still had no volunteers, he reached into the tank and picked one and put the green label on it. He put the gray label on another gerbil.

  “You’ll like this,” he told them. “You’ll get to travel on the bus, where you’ll meet Mr. Cole, the driver. He’s nice. You’ll go to school and meet lots of kids. Some of them are nice, too. And you’ll get to eat raisins and cheese.”

  Andy put the screen back on the top of the tank.

  “Are there any questions?” Andy asked the gerbils. There weren’t any, so he went upstairs to do his homework.

  Andy and Tamika did their homework in Andy’s room again, by his window. Andy looked out the window often, at the Perlmans’ house. But nothing happened.

  Andy did his homework quickly.

  “That’s it,” he announced, and closed his books. “I’m done.”

  Andy watched Tamika do her work. He watched her look through the geography book very carefully before she answered any of the questions at the end of the chapter.

  “This isn’t a test,” Andy told her. “It’s just homework.”

  Tamika ignored him. She continued to do her work. While she worked, Andy thought about the Perlmans’ house and about Rachel’s gerbil experiment. He decided to watch the Perlmans’ house from his window and if he saw something suspicious, he would tell his father. Let him call the police. And he decided that if Rachel was doing experiments with gerbils, she would have to touch and hold them.