Bonus Story One: Lorenzo
Lorenzo, youthful student from P.S. 118, was not a devoted artist and a visionary for the ages. But he was very fond of repetition. He had been taught by his parents to value hard work, and so had found the joy that comes from facing challenges- even casual ones.
Arts and crafts can be a form of meditation for the soul. So it could be for Lorenzo. In his rare moments of free time, the anxious boy found calmness and tranquility in constructing prefabricated model kits. Not only did he make models of rocket ships- he threw himself into putting together tiny wooden models of all kinds, and on this rare, school-free day, Lorenzo's face twisted in a hopeful anxiety as he approached a butler in his parent's mansion. Lorenzo looked up expectantly at the butler's covered, silver tray.
"Is that my fresh bottle of super-cement glue?" Lorenzo asked with enthusiasm, his palms sweaty with a passionate fervor.
"Yes, it is. Sir," the bored butler replied. The tall man opened the lid to the tray so that smaller, shorter boy, Lorenzo, could reach up high enough to snatch the bottle of glue off the tray. The plain, bland, calm-thinking boy took the bottle with a thin smile, but that smile broadened and he hugged the glue with the merest touch of runaway emotion when he entered his lavish bedroom.
"Ah! Now for just a few finishing touches!" Lorenzo said, suppressing his grin by folding down the edges. Up, down, up- the smile spread then faltered, as if smiling too much was a crime. But the smile won out over solemnity, and an expression equal in happiness and tranquility, Lorenzo searched amongst his paint pots for a tiny, painted tree. The boy worked with purpose to unseal the new bottle of glue. Lorenzo was so busy with his work, he did not notice it when his bedroom door creaked open and a tiny poodle pressed its head around the corner of his door. Lorenzo placed a jeweler's monocle up to his eye. Then, with pure focus, Lorenzo used the glue to affix the tree at the end of a model hedge that cropped out from the dark shadows of his room.
There was a reason for Lorenzo's enthusiasm. He flipped a switch and there, under a spotlight lamp was a tower castle. Thousands of tiny wooden parts rose in tall spires toward the ceiling. Lorenzo had barbarized thousands of smaller, prefabricated kits to make this wooden kingdom. It was almost complete. Almost perfect.
"Oh wow!" Lorenzo sang his own praises, his hands clasped as he looked up at his handiwork. "Now all it needs is some paint!" Lorenzo removed the jeweler's monocle from his eye to be disturbed by a loud bark. He looked up to see the tiny toy poodle wiggle it's poofy tail in greeting. A moment later, Lorenzo jolted with mild surprise as family member abruptly knocked on his bedroom door.
"Lorenzo?" the boy's well-dressed mother said as she entered the room, looking immaculate in her business suit. The tiny dog wiggled its tail more and was happy to be picked up by Lorenzo's mother, to be cradled in her arms.
"Look, Mama!" Lorenzo stated with pride. He lifted one hand high to celebrate his hard-made creation. "Isn't it beautiful? Only 80,004 hours of work!"
"It's wonderful Lorenzo!" his mother praised. "You have such skill at miniatures! You will take first place in an architectural engineering contest someday."
Lorenzo knelt beside a zig-zaggy moat. Then, with a broader smile, he wound up a toy alligator and let it loose to crawl along the fake, blue moat waters. The fake alligator crawled along the painted moat with a tinny whirr until it slowly wound down to a stop.
"It will be lunchtime soon, Lorenzo!" the woman voiced after the alligator toy had stopped. She set the small dog back down on the floor at giving it one final stroke. "Come with me!"
"Alright!" Lorenzo replied. He accepted his mother's grasp of his hand to follow her down to lunch. The poodle watched the boy and his mother exit the room. Then it jumped up onto Lorenzo's table to sniff the bottle of glue. After tipping the glue over, the flustered dog wound up with wood scraps all over its feet. Shaking its feet in an attempt to free itself of its unwanted footwear, the dog limped out the bedroom door to be scooped up by a helpful butler. Awww. Poor thing.
Soon Lorenzo sat at a long bar counter holding a sandwich. His mother wiped down the table with a cloth. "Mother?" Lorenzo asked as he kicked his dangling heels so that the barstool he was seated on swung slightly.
"Yes, Lorenzo?" his mother asked, pouring a glass of milk. "How is your tofu and alfalfa sprouts sandwich?"
"Just fine, Mother," said Lorenzo. "But when my model is done, well, I'd like for people to see it somehow. Is there a way I can do this?"
"Hm. We'll have to think about it, Lorenzo. We might be able to put it on display somewhere. Or… you might be able to present it at a fundraiser of some kind."
"Hm. I'm open to the possibility," the boy said, cheering up from his former uncertainty. "Will you help me, Mama?"
"Of course, Lorenzo," the woman said giving her cherished son a hug and kiss. Lorenzo looked at his watch.
"Mother? I'm planning to meet up with some friends tomorrow afternoon. Is that alright with you?"
"Alright, Lorenzo," his mother fussed, wiping Lorenzo's mouth to remove a crumb. "But be sure you go to bed at exactly eight o'clock. You'll need your rest for your morning aerobics lesson. And I'll have the chauffeur bring you there."
"Have him bring me to Arnold's house," Lorenzo stated plainly, yet wearing a content smile. "I'm meeting my friends, then we'll take the subway from there."
"Tsk. If you really must, Lorenzo," his mother said, uncertain of his plan.
But the plan went without a hitch when the time came. Lorenzo, Arnold, Gerald, Stinky, Harold, and yes even Sid turned their tickets in to gain admission to the Natural History Museum in Hillwood. It was a strictly boy group this time. Helga was there in the background hiding in the duck-billed dinosaur display, with a safari hat on her head, but Arnold did not notice as he and his friends walked past. They were too busy looking up at sights.
"Oooh. An old shipwreck. Kinda cool," Sid noted. Harold leant on the glass and it fractured under his weight. The boy flinched and shuffled away from the cracked glass pane.
"Let's all go ponder the gemstones and stuff," Stinky Peterson pointed ahead. They all stared at minerals poised on pedestals. Then they moved on to view, "the world's largest beaver," which easily was larger than a grizzly bear and looked as made-up as King-Kong.
"Hm. Look," Arnold pointed out for no apparent reason. "A little trail of pocket mints." He pointed his finger to the floor. Harold eyed the dropped candy with envy, his tongue stuck out as if he might slurp the forgotten candies from the filthy, litter-strewn floor. But the trail led plainly all the way up to another kid their age.
"Um, hi there," Arnold said kindly. "I think there's a hole in your pocket." He dropped a few candies of the candies into the child's hand.
"Oh. Thanks," the kid said before checking to see that there indeed, was a sizeable hole in the corner of his pocket liner. He shoved them into his other pocket to discard later.
"Are you here on the field trip from Backroad Town?"
"No!" Arnold coughed, his hands poised on the chest area of his T-shirt. "I'm from Hillwood. How about you?"
"I'm here with my class. We're here to see the big city for ourselves. But I'd better go. My class is moving on without me. I gotta catch up."
"Oh. Okay. See ya," Arnold bid the stranger adieu. Gerald moved to stand by his best friend's side.
"The museum sure is busy today. I see a lot of sport team merchandise, too."
"Hm. There a lot kid teams from other cities here. And I see Parrot Scouts, too."
"It is the grand opening of one of those traveling collections. Artifacts from tombs and the like. Really creepy. Wanna go see?"
"Sure!" was Arnold's reply.
Lorenzo, Arnold, Gerald, and all the other boys of his group hung around sarcophagus and pottery. Rhonda lurked in the background of museum, dressed in a Egyptomania T-shirt with matching cloth braids in her hair. She posed in a signature dance move as she spoke to a giggling Lila. Lila was sporting a fake pharoah's crown for whatever reason. Arnold eyed the two, but he wisely chose to keep walking away without turning toward them. He would only get into a Lila mess again. He and the other boys stopped for a long wall of foreign tourists with their cameras.
"I'm sure getting hungry," Stinky complained. "Wanna go down to the cafeteria?"
"I don't mind," Gerald spoke up for both himself and his best friend. Arnold nodded peacefully.
The boys wandered into the entrance to the cafeteria to become hidden from Helga's view. But she remained in a vast room with several large stuffed animals and a dinosaur skeleton. Helga held her fists clenched together in anguish.
"Oh!" Helga mumbled herself, her voice brittle with emotion. "If only it weren't so obvious I was forcing myself into their group to stand beside a certain football-headed someone I'd go over there right now and bother that dreamy-eyed artifact-critic right now!" Helga sighed a love sick sigh, then lifted up her locket to replace the head of headless stone statue in the Great Hall collection. Radiant light seemed to rain down on her… Arnoldini statue….. before someone disturbed her by approaching her from behind. Helga stuffed her locket back into its hiding place.
"Well, gee, isn't art great?" Eugene muttered in greeting. Helga turned her head so that she could eye him with annoyance. But Eugene continued talking.
"But you know… if you have a giant crush on anyone, you can tell me. I won't tell anyone!" Eugene winked.
"I do not have a giant crush on anyone!" Helga belted. She flung out her fist behind her to punch whatever she happened to be standing next to at the moment. Which was the support structure for a dinosaur leg. With a jiggle, the whole thing came down on whomever was exiting the cafeteria for the main hall.
"Ow," Arnold said from between a pile of dinosaur and replica bones. Happily, they had missed falling on his head.
"Gah! Are you alright, Arnold?!" Helga fret.
"Yeah," the boy said said. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm alright. I'm just sitting on a bone." The boy lifted himself up enough to move a leg bone from beneath his rump.
"Hey! You kids!" came the angry voice of a security guard. Helga flinched.
"Aw, thanks to you, Eugene we both got kicked out!" Helga yelled angrily at the red-haired boy from the steps of the museum.
"I'm sorry, Helga," the boy uttered, lacing his fingers together as he frowned in regret. But Arnold stood on the museum stoop a few steps away.
"Helga, don't blame Eugene. It was just an accident. Besides, I was about done seeing the museum anyway. We can go down to the pizza arcade instead. You, me, and Eugene. Lorenzo, you can tour more of the museum without me. Or you can come if you wish."
"Hm," Lorenzo thought about it. "Well, I do have a yearly membership. I'll be back here next month, I think. Right now, I'll come with 'cho."
"I reckon I'll look at the geodes some more," said Stinky. "See ya all later."
"Yeah," said Sid. He lumbered away holding a camera, it strap looped around his neck.
Lorenzo, Arnold, Gerald, Helga, and Eugene began to make their way down the sidewalk. They walked down to a side street with a comfortable bus shelter. Four and five-story stone buildings abounded around them, like a historic hotel. But there was also something unexpected.
"Hm. Look," Lorenzo noticed a banner for a fundraiser dinner for a senior center hung upon a fence. "A fundraiser!"
"Oh, really?! When?! I love fundraisers!" Eugene blurted.
"Why are you so interested in fundraisers?" Gerald asked, but politely.
"It's just something that I want to do," Lorenzo said, too timid to explain about his model.
"Oh, great! Let's go to together!" Eugene hummed.
"Ah, I'll have to take a raincheck on that," Lorenzo said wisely. Their bus pulled up and they all climbed on board to ride it back to Arnold's neighborhood.
Some time later, Lorenzo was riding in the family limosine beside his mother with her pet dog. Lorenzo spotted something interesting to him out the window. "Look, Mama!" Lorenzo pointed. "It looks like a very busy senior center. Perhaps they might be interested in auctioning my model once I am done with it?"
"An excellent idea, son," Lorenzo's mother pulled out her cellphone. She was as effective as she was doting. Soon she had set up an appointment to speak with the foundation's directors.
Lorenzo and his mother attended a fancy party. The painted model was auctioned off as planned. The senior center received a large check and Lorenzo got his hand shook by important people. He smiled proudly.
"Lorenzo," his mother said afterward. "I am so proud of you for your philanthropy." Thanks, Mama," Lorenzo said, receiving a large hug.
But things are a little different in the real world when one strikes out on their own. Lorenzo would not have so easy a time fundraising again when the need arose for it. He was seated in P.S. 118 when Rhonda held her cellphone up to her ear. Then she turned on a radio in the back of the classroom.
"Shh, shh, shh!" she hissed at Harold and Sid as they approached. "I'm listening!"
"Oh, my gosh!" Rhonda said. "That's horrible! A whole school bus flipped over during a road flood caused by an exploded creamery! We have to do something for these poor people!"
"Like what?""
"Hm. A bake sale?" was Rhonda's go-to.
"Um, excuse me!" said Lorenzo speaking up, his briefcase on his desk as he stood tall and straight. "I believe I have some experience in this matter. We can host a dinner and and auction. If Mr. Simmons and Principal Wartz will help us."
"That's a fair idea," Rhonda sniffed since the idea wasn't her. "But what will we auction? Oooh! I've got it. A dress. Personally designed by yours truly."
"Well. I was thinking I could build a model."
"I can paint a picture!" Sheena volunteered.
"Let's go ask Mr. Simmons!" Arnold declared, feeling his own, personal enthusiasm for such an undertaking.
Soon after, Lorenzo shut his bedroom door, a wide smile on the corner of his face and a plastic shopping bag in hand. One step at a time, he glued and glued and glued. He trimmed pieces with scissors. The hands of the clock whirled later and later as he passed and pasted, until there came a knock at the door.
"Lorenzo!" said his mother with mild rebuke as she opened the door. "It's nine o'clock! It's past your bedtime!"
"I can't stop now!" Lorenzo objected, his glue bottle tipped a bit so that it dripped. He was tired. But he still objected. "If I stop now, I won't have something ready for the auction!"
"Lorenzo," his mother soothed him. She removed the glue bottle from his hand and set it down on the table. "You need your rest. You can continue with your project tomorrow. Now go to bed!"
"Yes, Mama," Lorenzo relinquished. He crawled into his bed and pulled the covers up to his chin.
Lorenzo tried to build the model higher over the course of the week. But progress was slow and after one week, only a little bit was complete. Lorenzo looked at his handiwork unhappily. It was no where near done.
"There are only two days left till the fundraiser," Gerald announced to Arnold in class on an otherwise nice school day. Lorenzo frowned. Arnold whirled his head around to view Lorenzo's unhappy face.
"Is everything alright, Lorenzo?" he butted in. But Lorenzo was not unhappy to be spoken to. He was happy to noticed, so he took the chance to speak.
"Well, Arnold, I'm afraid I might not have the item I intended to donate for the fundraiser, after all. The model kit I was making is taking too long to build."
"A model kit?" Arnold asked, his interest piqued. "I like model kits. I can come over and help you build if you like."
"Hey, you can count me in, too!" said Gerald.
"Great!" Lorenzo smiled.
It was tough work but the three boys made a small castle out of the tiny wooden pieces that Lorenzo had bought. Smiling, Arnold and Gerald did their thumb shake thing to celebrate its successful completion. Later, Lorenzo carried it in his arms with either boy at his side. He handed the castle to Mr. Simmons.
"Great!" Mr. Simmons said. He placed it on a cloth-draped table beside the stage so that it would be ready to be previewed and bought at the fancy fundraiser dinner. "How thoughtful of you, boys. Thank you for all your hard work."
"We'll make lots of money for the fundraiser with this fine piece of work!" Gerald said, admiring the art he had helped construct. But a certain bully was misbehaving himself. Edmund had tossed a ball his way, and so Wolfgang caught it even if it meant colliding into the table with the model castle on it. The table wobbled and fell. There was the sound of wood breaking to splinters.
"Oh no!" Arnold said picking up the ruined model. He frowned deeply. But no one was as bummed as Lorenzo.
"Oh no! It's all ruined! And it's too late to build another one!"
"Hm. The fundraiser's not till tomorrow. Maybe we can rebuild it. But it will take all of us. I mean all of us."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean Sid, and Stinky, and Rhonda, and Nadine. Everyone of our class! Let's get to work," Arnold said with ambition.
Lorenzo went out to buy more wood parts. When he came back with his shopping bag, he saw that Arnold really had recruited everyone of their class and collected them in their classroom.
"Let's do this!" Rhonda said. With a content smile, she removed the plastic bag from Lorenzo's hand.
Like a whirlwind, the kids all pasted together wooden parts. Sure, it looked a little sloppy in places and Lorenzo had to sit together with Stinky and Harold to make sure the work they did was passable. The portions made by many were a little ill-matched in theme. But the wooden model castle was completed so rapidly that the kids were fighting for the last parts.
"Well, that's ALL the pieces!" Rhonda declared. She shook the shopping bag out for emphasis. "Go ahead and paint it, Lorenzo."
"Well. Okay," Lorenzo stated. He was a little uncertain about the model. It wasn't a good as the one he had made before, but it was something. He took up a pot of paint.
Just like that, the day of the auction came upon them. "Oooh," a well-do-to man exclaimed as he admired the castle. "We might bid on that."
"Yes, dear," the woman with him said before they moved away. Lorenzo, Gerald, and Arnold smiled.
"A resounding success!" said Gerald. Mr. Simmons collected a whole pot full of money from the adults visiting their school. He shook a lot of hands before passing the money collected to Principal Wartz. Principal Wartz passed it to a tall woman wearing a fine business dress. The two spoke rapidly with smiles.
"Thanks, Arnold" said Lorenzo with his own faint smile. "After disaster happened, I just didn't think I could do it myself."
"That was factual," Gerald commented.
"Yeah," Arnold agreed with his best friend. "You were in a tight spot. But you weren't alone, Lorenzo. We were happy to help."
"Many hands make light work," Gerald said, espousing the morality of story this time. "It's true." And that was the end of that adventure. So they went to eat cookies baked by Rhonda and Big Patty instead. The end.