Kingdom Keepers(37)
Dan’s older-model Hyundais, Fords, and Buicks had been parked to the side, leaving a large area now covered with hoses, buckets, and lots of white foam, as skinny girls struggled to scrub, polish, and shine the cars that lined up for the five-dollar wash. Most of the time the process included a water fight, or a bucket brigade, the general chaos kept under control enough to be fun for all, even onlookers like Finn.
There was already a rumor going around that It’s a Small World had been vandalized the night before and would be closed for months. Police were investigating.
Finn stood away from all the water with his friend Dillard, who had taken the occasion to borrow one of his father’s Hawaiian shirts. Finn thought he looked pretty cool.
Finn spotted Jez as she left the collection table, where she’d been taking in the money. She kicked off her pair of shorts to reveal a dark purple one-piece Speedo and jumped into the middle of a water fight. Suds flew. The girls giggled and screamed. They hosed down a Volvo and sponged it clean. Now wet, with her hair slicked back, Jez looked over at Finn. She’d known he was there all along.
Noticing this, Dillard said, “You think she likes you?”
Finn said, “She’s a girl. No telling what she thinks.”
Dillard asked, “You think girls are smarter than us?”
“In some things.”
“Like what?”
“Like school stuff, and friendships, and family stuff.”
“So we’re better at…?” Dillard asked.
“Computer games. And farting,” Finn said, cracking up his friend.
“What’s so funny?” said a girl behind them.
It was Amanda, wearing a white T-shirt over a swimsuit and a pair of jean shorts. Finn said hi and she said hi back to both boys.
Dillard opened his mouth to say hello, but belched instead. He’d never been much around girls. Both boys laughed hard.
Amanda dug into the snug pocket of her jeans and pulled out several bills. She handed Dillard a dollar. “Hey, Dill,” she said, calculatingly coy, “would you mind getting me an orange soda?”
“No—no—no…” he stuttered. “Happy to.”
Dillard asked if Finn wanted anything and Finn passed him a dollar, asking for a cola, and thanking him. Dillard took off.
Amanda said, “The nearest orange soda is at the gas station, across the street. It’ll take him a while.”
“He’s not a servant, you know?” Finn said.
“I wanted to hear about It’s a Small World,” she said. “That was you guys, I assume.”
Finn said, “You can’t say anything to anyone.”
“You guys trashed the place?” She took a step back. “Why?”
“It wasn’t anything like that. It was—” He felt boxed in. “Impossible to explain.”
“Impossible because you won’t, you mean.”
“Impossible because you wouldn’t believe it.”
“That’s not true. Try me.”
Finn met eyes with her, considered if this was the right thing to do, and said, “The dolls came alive and…attacked us.”
Amanda looked stunned, but she did not make fun of him.
Finn returned his attention to the noisy girls and the car wash.
He pulled up the leg of his shorts and showed her where he’d been bitten. Amanda gasped. “Finn…”
“I know,” he said. “It’s getting serious.”
“Getting?” she fired back sarcastically.
“And what’s worse, we didn’t find any clues to the fable.”
“You’ve got to stop this somehow, Finn. It’s too dangerous. It’s just stupid to continue.”
Finn said, “Wish I could, but I don’t think I can.”
“When I do things I shouldn’t do, my mother says I need a new pair of glasses—that I should be looking differently at the choices I make.”
A silent alarm went off in Finn’s head. He tuned out everything around him—everything but Amanda—and focused on her. “What did you just say?”
“You can’t go getting hurt. That’s just stupid.”
“About the glasses,” Finn said.
“Just some dumb thing my mother says.”
“Like a different perspective,” he said.
“Yeah.” Her concern mounted. “What if you just stayed up all night and didn’t go to sleep? By the time you did go to sleep the Magic Kingdom would be open. Even if you ended up there, it would be safer!”
“And this for the rest of my life, I suppose?” Finn asked. But his brain was working overtime. A new pair of glasses.
“Hey, isn’t that guy a host?” Amanda asked.