The Return of Sherlock James

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 6:

As with all boys his age, Jimmy had long known that it was not easy being a kid. Through the years he had also learned that the responsibility of being a genius to boot only added to his personal problems. It didn't take long for him to decide that just fifteen minutes of being a pariah among his fellow classmates was worse than all his years of being a kid and a genius combined. When he had first begun attending Lindbergh Elementary he had faced the usual loneliness of being the new kid in school, and had later endured the low-key resentment that being the smartest kid in school invariably brought. But those had been the purely automatic and impersonal reactions of school children to an awkward stereotype. The cold hostility of the students in Miss Fowl's class was directed not towards some nameless stranger or smart kid, but specifically towards Jimmy Neutron. Knowing that made the situation all the more miserable for Jimmy. He hunkered down in his seat, trying his best to ignore being ignored by the other kids in class and trying unsuccessfully to convince himself that it would eventually blow over.

To Miss Fowl's credit, the students in her class were more than just names on a class roll. She had taken the time to know each student personally and could sense the subtle undercurrents in her classroom the way some creatures could sense the ebb and flow of the ocean. Whatever was going on, she could tell from the behavior the students nearest him that Jimmy was somehow at the center of it. And based upon his withdrawn manner she knew that it did not bode well for Jimmy. She decided that an indirect approach would be the best way to analyze the situation.

"Jimmy Neutron!" she called.

"What is it?" Jimmy replied indifferently without even looking up.

"Would you care to explain to the class the significance of Daylight Savings Time?"

Jimmy simply sank deeper into his chair. "Not particularly."

Miss Fowl sighed. "Very well. Cindy Vortex!"

"Yes, Miss Fowl?" Cindy responded brightly.

A little too brightly, Miss Fowl thought, but all she said was, "Perhaps you could answer for Jimmy."

"Well, I don't know, Miss Fowl," Cindy replied. "I wouldn't want Neutron to think that I was stealing the limelight."

Miss Fowl noted that Jimmy nearly reacted to this, but quickly subsided again. "I'm sure that Jimmy wouldn't mind if you took a few minutes, Cindy," she urged.

"Just make sure that Neutron sees you put them back again," Libby chimed in. Several students snickered, but the laughter was not the good-humored sort that usually followed that sort of remark. Still, as Miss Fowl had hoped, the comments were helping the pent-up anger work its way to the surface so that she could find out what was going on.

Butch was the next to speak. "Yeah," he growled. "It used to be that he only thought the rest of us were dumber than him. Now he thinks we're all a bunch of crooks, too."

"I never said that!" Jimmy shot back. "And I never said that anyone was dumber that me!"

"Maybe you never said it," Nick put in, "but you've sure acted like it. Always having your homework done. Always answering every question. Okay, maybe my grades aren't as high as yours, but that doesn't mean I'm not just as good."

"Or better," Cindy added hotly to emphasize Nick's point..

Sheen nodded vigorously. "And it doesn't mean that we're crooks, either. Just because we don't get straight A's doesn't mean we're criminals, no matter what those TV news magazines say. Or even straight B's…or mostly C's…or…" His voice trailed off. "I think I'm going stop now."

"Yeah, Jimmy," Carl said. "It really hurt for you to think that any of us would steal something from people we know. Especially from Miss Fowl." This was greeted by murmurs of agreement from the other students.

Jimmy stood and raised his hands in protest. "I never thought that anyone stole anything," he protested. "I was just trying to collect some information to figure out what happened yesterday. I -" He broke off and stared at Carl. "Why would someone stealing from Miss Fowl upset you more than someone stealing from me?"

"Well…" Carl looked uncomfortable and started twisting the front of his shirt. "She's nice and she gave mea C+ on my last essay and sometimes in the right light I think that she looks kind of like -" He became aware that everyone, including Miss Fowl, was giving him puzzled looks. "I object!" he yelped frantically. "That line of questioning is immaterial and irrelevant! I'm not the one on trial here! You are!"

"No one is on trial here," Miss Fowl answered firmly. "But I think we should try to clear some things up. Now what exactly is going on?" Immediately a tumult of two dozen voices broke out and she waved her hands for silence. When the din subsided she said, "I take it that everyone here has something against Jimmy. Since there's only one of him, I'll listen to one person from the opposing side." She looked around and pointed. "Cindy! Tell me your side of it."

"Tell it like it went down, Vortex," Nick called out.

"Gladly." Cindy smiled at Nick and took a position at the front of the class. "As everyone knows, two items disappeared yesterday under fairly mysterious circumstances. One of them was Nerdtron's latest and customarily overdone science deomonstration. The other was Miss Fowl's prized pen. No one knows where they went, and no one to taking them. But only a certain big-brained obsessive-compulsive – who shall remain nameless – actually suspected that someone in this class took them and in so doing practically labeled everyone in this room as potential thieves."

When Cindy concluded Miss Fowl asked, "Did he actually call anyone a thief?"

"Well, no,' Cindy admitted. "But like Nick says, by the way he acted he may just as well have. He actually followed Libby and me yesterday because he thought I was going to fence the loot and unload the scratch on some bling-bling."

"He thought what?" Miss Fowl blinked.

"Uh…I mean, he thought I was going to sell the stolen items and buy some flashy stuff for myself with the money."

"I see." Miss Fowl nodded. "Well, that's clear enough. You may sit down. Jimmy! Tell us your side."

Jimmy took a deep breath and took Cindy's place at the front of the class. "Thank you, Miss Fowl. Now," he continued, addressing the class, "as Miss Fowl pointed out and Cindy just admitted, I never called anyone a thief. The fact is that two items disappeared yesterday. Since we were the only ones in this classroom, isn't it logical that one of the people in here took them, Nick?"

"Well…I suppose," conceded Nick. "But it wasn't me."

"And as far as my obsessing about it, one of those things was mine. If someone took something of yours, wouldn't you care more about it being missing than other people who were in the class, Sheen?"

Sheen scoffed. "Not at all."

"Even the thing taken was your signed and numbered limited edition Ultra Lord Platinum Series Galactic Edition Cosmic Avenger mega-action figure with complete Atomic Avenger's Annihilation Arsenal?" Jimmy pressed.

Sheen waved it off calmly. "Nah."

Jimmy was dumbfounded. "Sheen, how can you say that?" he stammered. "That figure is your prized possession. You actually ate over two thousand boxes of Ultra Loops cereal just to get the boxtops you needed to even enter the drawing for it. How can you say you wouldn't care more about it being missing than anyone else would?"

"Because everyone should naturally be as upset as me about it being missing. It's the greatest thing in the whole world ever," Sheen replied as though explaining the obvious. A look of nearly fanatic intensity came over his face and his voice became more excited. "They should all be out beating the hedgerows and razing the fields to find it, and the thief should be hunted down without mercy until they're found and then dragged by their thumbs to their well-deserved final judgment. They'll pay for this outrage! They'll all pay! Vengeance shall be mine, do you hear? Mine!" Jimmy took a cautious step back from Sheen, who seemed to realize what he was doing and slowly calmed down again. After regaining his composure Sheen looked coolly about the classroom and said, "However, if it will speed things along, I'll reluctantly concede your point."

Jimmy nodded but still gave Sheen an odd look before continuing. "Thank you. And you, Carl. You made it clear that you greatly admired Miss Fowl."

Carl looked uneasy. "Maybe. I might have," he replied awkwardly. Unable to contain himself he burst out, "I don't have a problem, all right?"

"O-ka-a-ay." Jimmy let Carl's outburst pass and forced himself to concentrate on the point he was trying to make. "What I'm saying is, if you could find the person who took Miss Fowl's pen, wouldn't you try to do it? Even if the person who took it might turn out to be a friend? Even a close friend?"

Carl thought about it. "Well…yeah. I guess I would."

Jimmy nodded in satisfaction. "So that's it. I was doing what I thought I had to do to find out what really happen. If anyone misunderstood what I was trying to do, than I apologize for that, but I don't think anyone else here wouldn't have done the same if they thought they could. It doesn't mean that I think anyone is a bad person or a thief. Science is predicated on finding the facts and then arriving at a logical conclusion and that's all I was doing. In short, were my actions really that that inexplicable or, more importantly, inexcusable?"

"Well," Butch said, "I guess if you put it that way…"

"And I guess I would like to know who took those things," Nick added. "I mean, the next time it could be something of mine that disappears."

"Makes sense," Libby agreed. "We can't have a sneak thief on the loose."

Miss Fowl sat down at her desk and rapped on it with the edge of her ruler. "Ladies and gentlemen of the classroom, you have heard the arguments of both sides. It is now up to you to render a verdict concerning the actions of Jimmy Neutron. Did Jimmy act inappropriately? All in agreement, and believe that Jimmy was in the wrong, raise your right hand and signify by saying 'Yea'."

There was no sound and a quick glance around the room showed Jimmy that no one's – not even Cindy or Libby's - hand was raised.

Miss Fowl nodded. "Very well. All those not in agreement, and feel that Jimmy did the right thing, raise your right hand and signify by saying, 'Nay'."

A chorus of voices sang out "Nay!" and Jimmy felt a flush of happiness to see that there was not a single dissenting student in the classroom.

Miss Fowl nodded again. "The people have spoken. James Isaac Neutron, you are cleared of any and all wrongdoing and are returned to honorable status among your classmates." She rapped her desk with the ruler again. "And now, since this is a classroom and not a courtroom, can we please get back to our social science lesson?"

There was a reluctant murmur of assent and the students turned back to their textbooks. As they did so Cindy leaned towards Jimmy "Don't think that this means I like you any better, Neutron," she muttered.

Jimmy smiled and shrugged it off, just happy to have things back to normal. "Actually, Vortex," he began, "I wouldn't have it any other -"

He was cut off by a piercing shriek. Startled by the noise, Jimmy and everyone else in the classroom stared at Libby, who looked stricken and was frantically searching her book bag and desk. "Libby Folfax, is there some problem?" demanded Miss Fowl.

Libby's frenzied movements slowed and she finally slumped back in her chair, looking defeated and close to tears. With a tragic expression on her face she turned to Miss Fowl, who was waiting patiently for an explanation. "It's my gold bracelet, Miss Fowl," she said. "It's gone!"

End of Chapter 6