A Flying Birthday Cake?, Page 3

“If you want, you can sleep in my bed, and I’ll sleep on the futon,” said Marvin.

  “I don’t like beds,” said Joe. “At home I sleep on a hard, flat board.”

  “Oh, I see,” said Marvin’s mother.

  “What should I do?” asked Marvin’s father.

  “Let him sleep on the floor,” said Marvin’s mother.

  “Can I sleep on the floor, too?” asked Linzy.

  A few hours later, Marvin went to bed and Joe went to floor.

  “Good night, Joe,” said Marvin.

  “Good night, Marvin,” said Joe. “Thanks for inviting me over. This has been the best day of my whole life.”

  Marvin was glad. It had been a fun day for him, too. He felt as if he and Joe had been friends for a long time, not just for one day.

  “We travel around so much,” said Joe. “It’s hard for me to make friends.”

  “I guess the kids at school have been kind of mean to you.”

  “Oh, they’re okay,” said Joe. “I’ve been treated a lot worse. I just wish I knew what I did wrong. I tried so hard this time. Before I came here, I read books and watched movies about what the kids were like here.”

  Marvin was surprised there were books and movies about that.

  “But still, everyone knows I’m different,” said Joe. “What did I do wrong?”

  “You’re not different,” Marvin said. “I mean, everyone’s different. Life would be boring if everyone was the same.”

  “But what do I do that is so different?” Joe asked. “I want to fit in. I want the other kids to like me. What do I have to do?”

  Marvin didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to hurt Joe’s feelings.

  “I don’t want to be a door key,” said Joe.

  “You’re not a door key,” said Marvin. “You’re a good friend. If the other kids can’t see that, then that’s their problem.”

  Marvin hoped he’d said the right thing. He didn’t think Joe should have to change. Still, he wondered if maybe he should have told him to change his clothes, at least.

  11

  Vanished

  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.

  12

  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.

  13

  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.

  Marvin felt sad, but he was glad that Joe stopped to say good-bye. And at least he knew he wasn’t saying good-bye forever. It would be fun to go to Joe’s house in two years. Maybe he would get to go to Lake Wizzle.

  He had been worried, at first, that his mother was going to say he couldn’t go. He’d never been away from home for more than a night before, and that was just to Stuart’s or Nick’s house. Chicago was a long way away, five hundred miles, at least.

  Don’t miss a single Marvin!

  Marvin suddenly figures out why he has red hair and blue eyes, while the rest of his family has brown hair and brown eyes. He’s not really Marvin Redpost at all. He’s Robert, the Lost Prince of Shampoon!

  “Wonderfully logical and absurd, with wit and attention to detail rare in an easy reader.”

  —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

  “My name’s not Marvin.”

  —Marvin Redpost

  The rumor is going around that Marvin is the biggest nose-picker in the school. Now everyone is acting as if the rumor is true! Even Marvin’s best friends don’t want to be seen with him. What can Marvin do?

  “Vintage Sachar—ingenious, funny, gross—and with a believable resolution.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Marvin’s the biggest nose-picker in the whole school.”

  —Melanie, Marvin’s classmate

  Marvin kisses his elbow by accident. Now he wishes he had pigtails and wants to play hopscotch! Everyone at school says that if a boy kisses his elbow, he’ll turn into a girl. Could Marvin be turning into a girl?

  “Sachar writes for beginning readers with a comic simplicity that is never banal.”

  —Booklist

  “There’s nothing Marvin Redpost can’t do.”

  —Stuart Albright, Marvin’s best friend

  Marvin’s friends think he’s the luckiest boy in the world when Mrs. North asks him to dog-sit for a week. He gets $3 a day plus a $4 bonus if nothing goes wrong. And he gets to be alone in Mrs. North’s house!

  �
�Sachar’s finely tuned sense of how children think and feel makes his fourth book about Marvin and his comic misadventures entertaining.”

  —The Horn Book Magazine

  “Marvin’s going to use the bathroom in Mrs. North’s house!”

  —Melanie, Marvin’s classmate

  It’s “hole day” at school, and even Mrs. North and the principal are wearing their worst clothes. But now they’re expecting company—the president of the United States is on his way! And there’s no time to change!

  “The story hums along with its own cheerful energy, much like Marvin himself.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Good job, Marvin.”

  —The president

  Everyone at school thinks that Marvin Redpost is going to ride his new bike down Suicide Hill. But not only is Marvin terrified of the steep hill, he’s afraid of his new bike! How can Marvin survive this one?

  “If Marvin says he’ll ride down Suicide Hill, then he’ll ride down Suicide Hill.”

  —Stuart Albright, Marvin’s best friend

  Marvin Redpost’s friend Casey Happleton lives in an old firehouse. But that’s not the only cool thing about her. She’s also got a super-secret magic crystal that she’s going to share with Marvin!

  “Lively dialogue and Marvin’s endless imagination command steady attention.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “You’re weird, Marvin!”

  —Casey Happleton, Marvin’s friend?

  Louis Sachar writes great,

  funny books for everyone!

  ——————

  About the Author

  Louis Sachar lives in Austin, Texas. He has written many books, including the very strange Wayside School series. He is the winner of both the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award for his novel Holes. People often want to know where he gets his ideas. He takes frequent trips to Chicago.