Chapter 11 will be added later tonight. Enjoy!
10: Who's At The Door?
"Kids, kids, settle down please, I have a bit of a headache today." Mr. Walsh stood at the door, looking absolutely worn out. Must've had a bad day at work, I thought.
At the sight of him, everybody started talking at once. After a good deal of shushing, Mikey finally addressed his dad.
"How's the campaigning going, Dad?"
"Not too good, son." Mr. Walsh sighed. "Not too good at all."
"Well, we have something that might…"
"Shhh!" We all looked at Mikey, astonished. Why did he want us to hold back the news that would put the election right in the palm of our hand?
If it was 'We can't tell our parents! This is our thing…' My eyes narrowed and squinted at Mikey.
He was making frantic gestures and mouthing, "Not now!"
I sighed. Mikey would sure have to explain himself about this one.
When Mr. Walsh went upstairs to rest, we all turned on Mikey at once.
"What the hell was that?!"
"Who are we going to tell?"
"Mikey!"
"No!" Mikey said. "My dad won't approve of something like that; he'll call it cheating and won't let us use it!"
"What? But this isn't cheating! Perkins is the one who's…"
"I KNOW. But Dad isn't going to be too hot about this. We need to tell the rest of Astoria, and THEN we can tell him."
I sighed. "Fair enough."
Mouth and I walked out the front door to go to our house, followed by Data, Chunk, and Stef who would go home to tell their folks. Then, I guessed, we were going to meet up and form some committee in the Goon Docks, and then show them the evidence.
By evening of that day, we had split up on our bicycles and rounded up everyone in the Goon Docks and chosen someone to go to the police with the evidence. Needless to say, we weren't going to send the very incredible Chunk to the police ever again. This time, we needed an even better diplomat than Mikey. We designated Tabitha Edge- her dad was a cop- to show her father the evidence.
Now we were at the park- our meeting place- waiting for her to come back with news. Among us were many of our classmates from school. Since it was so crowded, I decided to take the opportunity to ask Stef about her problem.
"Stef, you've been awfully quiet lately. Is there anything wrong?"
"Andy's being distant. She broke up with Brand a few weeks ago and now she's not even talking to me."
That shocked me. It was totally out of the blue. "I'm sorry," I said lamely.
She sighed.
"Umm, is she… by any chance… going out with Troy?"
"I really don't know," she said in a tone in which every fiber suggested finality.
I chatted with a couple of schoolmates for a little while, then found myself conversing with Chunk on the subject of ice cream when I saw Tabitha coming back. I quickly scrambled up from my seat and ran to meet her.
Her face was sporting a frown. What could that mean?
"Tabitha! What happened?"
Her face cracked into a grin. "He's looking into it even as we speak. Never liked the guy."
I sighed with relief.
"Guys," Tabitha raised her voice. "My Dad's at the library right now. Checking the article, just making sure it's not phony and all that crap."
Cheers filled the air.
One day later, the authenticity of the article was confirmed and Elgin Perkins and Clarence Fisher were taken in separately for questioning. Elgin Perkins would be removed from the upcoming election at the very least. You have no idea how happy that made me, not to mention the others. But there still was an election to worry about, and also new candidates.
We apparently didn't need to worry, because the town's admiration of Mr. Walsh, though not without help from the publicity of our little detour last fall, earned him the popular vote. Elgin Perkins was arrested. His family bailed him out of jail after he was there for a few hours, but his standing in this town is never going to be the same. He was demoted in his job immediately upon returning from jail, and his Country Club is getting fewer customers by the day.
Today we were throwing a huge bash at Mikey's house and having the time of our lives. We were right in the middle of a phenomenal dinner that Mrs. Walsh and Rosalita made, helped by Chunk and hindered by Mouth, when Brand and Andy burst in the front door, holding hands. Despite the bruising and busted nose, Brand's face wore a huge grin.
"My goodness, Brand, what happened to you?" Mrs. Walsh asked with concern.
"I just beat the crap out of Troy." His grin widened.
Mr. Walsh looked unhappy, but when I looked closer, I thought I saw a trace of satisfaction in his face. Nevertheless, Brand received a light reprimand, but was not punished further due to the celebration.
Hey, thanks for reading- it's not quite over yet! There's one more chapter- the epilogue. Please review and tell me what you think!
