Ola Shakes It Up (18 page)

“Well, Ola, did we knock the wind out of you?” Mrs. Gransby said, smiling down at me.

I looked from Mrs. Gransby to Karen and Margarita and then back to Mrs. Gransby, but all I could think to say was, “Omigosh.”

“She doesn't look happy to see us,” Margarita said flatly. “We can go, you know.”

“That's not it,” Karen said, smiling. “She's up to something, I can tell.”

“Mrs. Gransby.” I wrapped my arms around her stomach and gave her a big hug.

Mrs. Gransby patted my head with her soft hands and tugged at my braids. “Ola, you get so big, my shoes soon fit you.”

“What are you guys doing here?” I let go of Mrs. Gransby and stood awkwardly in front of Karen and Margarita. I hadn't spoken to them in weeks, and I hoped they weren't mad at me.

“We're here to surprise you,” Margarita answered. She was sulking. That was just like Margarita. “But I still say you don't look happy. You're still mad at us, aren't you?”

“I'm not mad at you.” I stepped back and shook my head.

“You haven't called us in three weeks,” Karen chimed in.
“I tried to call you a couple of times, but you were never home.”

“I'd love to see inside this house,” Mrs. Gransby murmured, “before the cold make my nose drop off.”

I stepped to the side. I was still in shock. I was happy to see Mrs. Gransby, Margarita and Karen, but why did they have to pick
now
to come and visit? “I'm sorry, Mrs. Gransby. You all come inside.”

“I ask my eyes if they seeing real when the taxicar stop here, Ola,” Mrs. Gransby said, walking in and looking around. “I never did see such a house before.”

“It's not that unusual, Mrs. Gransby. There are seven more houses on the street just like it.” Before I closed the door, I stuck my head outside and looked around. Stage one of Operation Shake It Up was well on its way. I could already see four cars parked on the street. I remembered Grady and grabbed his collar to push him outside. “Go, boy.”

Then I shut the door and turned around. Margarita, Karen and Mrs. Gransby were staring at me as they took off their hats and coats. “Come on into the living room.”

“What are you up to now, Ola?” Karen asked, following me.

“This house is huuuuuge,” Margarita said. She went to look out of the picture window. “It's much bigger than the house we found for you.”

“You found me a house?” I said, plopping down in one of the armchairs. I had forgotten to have Margarita and Karen call off the house search.

Karen nodded. “It's on Redman Street, but that's only two
blocks away from your old street. It's got four bedrooms … but you don't want it anymore, do you?”

I looked down at my feet. “A lot's happened, you guys.”

“Well, that's why we're here, Ola,” Mrs. Gransby said seriously. “Margarita and Karen came over to see me the other day, and their long faces and sad eyes tell me it's high time for to come visit you and see what's happened to you.”

I kept my eyes trained on my feet. “I guess I'm not coming back to the old neighborhood.”

“See, I told you. She doesn't care about us anymore.” Margarita threw herself down on the couch and flipped her hair back with a big sigh. I almost smiled, 'cause I realized how much I had really missed Margarita and all her drama.

“I thought you didn't like it here.” Karen sat down beside Margarita and leaned back against the cushions. “You made this place sound like a dungeon.”

“It doesn't have anything to do with you guys,” I said earnestly. “I miss you guys a lot. I wasn't calling 'cause I figured you had forgotten about me.”

“No way.” Karen shook her head, and I noticed that her hair was longer and that she seemed to have more freckles on her face. “School is so boring without you around to shake things up.”

“This place isn't so bad,” I admitted finally. “It turns out they need somebody like me. Mama and Dad like their new jobs.”

“What about us?” Margarita asked seriously.

I got up out of the armchair and went to sit next to them on the couch. “I promise to keep calling.”

“You have to come and visit, too,” Karen said, pulling a
piece of paper from her pocket. “We made a list of things you have to do just in case you weren't coming back. You have to write to us once a week.”

“And one of us has to come visit the other once a month. It's only three hours away,” Margarita added. “We took this bus that even showed a movie on it.”

“Okay” I promised without even looking at the list. I was glad Margarita and Karen were here.

“Ola,” Mrs. Gransby called. I looked and saw that she was peering out the picture window. “I do believe you have some visitors coming. A whole troop of visitors.”

“I knew you were up to something,” Karen said with a laugh.

“Something big.” I stood up. “And I could really use your help.”

Karen and Margarita looked at each other and then back at me. They nodded together. “What do you want us to do?”

I could hear the sound of all the neighborhood kids outside the house. River must have gathered everyone together.

“Karen, you know those super-cool hopscotch squares you used to draw? You gotta organize that. And I need you to supervise all the games, Margarita—'cause you always remember all the rules.” I went over to the window and grabbed Mrs. Gransbys hand. “And could you open the door? I gotta introduce Mrs. Gransby to Lillian.”

“This looks great,” River said, smiling. “But boy, are you gonna be in big trouble.”

I looked around at the neighborhood again. Maybe we
had overdone it a little. It looked so different. Mr. Elijah had organized all the seniors to move their cars out of the driveways and into the street in clear violation of rule number two of the neighborhood association. As for other rules we had broken, neighbors were sitting on the chairs we had set up on the lawns and the sidewalks. There were tables with all sorts of food lining the sidewalk, and bikes and toys littering the lawns. Karen had everyone draw her special hopscotch squares on all the driveways in three different colors of chalk, and Margarita had organized jump rope, freeze tag and even a baseball game at the end of the block. I could hear the kids playing jump rope chanting, “Shake it up, shake it up.” Besides that, there were dogs and kids running loose all over the neighborhood. Every once in a while I would catch sight of Grady chasing another dog across the street or around some house. He was following my instructions and acting like a dog. Later on, Lillian would be putting on a show where he was the main attraction.

But that wasn't all. With the help of Mr. Julius Jones, I had rigged up the longest clothesline in the world. It stretched from the front of my house all the way across the street to Otis s house. All the kids on the street had donated different-colored T-shirts to hang up on it, and we had spelled out W
ELCOME TO THE
N
EW
W
ALCOTT
C
ORNERS
: A
N
U
NCOOPERATIVE
N
EIGHBORHOOD
across the shirts in different-colored markers. Mr. Elijah had been really pleased to see his son-in-law helping us.

Looking around, I realized that it still didn't look much like Roxbury—but it definitely looked better than it had. The best part was that everybody was having fun.

“Mr. and Mrs. Stern are gonna have a fit,” River added, sniffling.

I handed her a tissue from the box I was carrying. That had been Mrs. Gransby's idea. It was too cold to be having a block party, but no one seemed to mind that much. “Here come more people.”

I pointed down the street to where some more cars had stopped. There was no room on the street to drive. Maria Poncinelli flew past the cars on her bike with a huge grin on her face. Then I saw Mama and Dad picking their way through the street toward me. “Uh-oh.”

I looked around for someplace to hide. From the looks on Mama and Dad's faces, no one needed to tell them I was responsible for this whole plan.

“You can't run away from your problems, Ola.” River nodded wisely. From the tone of her voice, I knew she was giving me some of her pop psychology. “You gotta face them head-on.”

I took a deep breath. River was right. I looked at Mama and Dad again and gulped.

Maria reached me first. She screeched to a stop right beside River and me and jumped off her bike. “We won!”

“All right!” I forgot all about Mama and Dad for a second as I jumped up and down with Maria and River. Maria was so excited, she couldn't even act cool anymore. Then I heard Dad's voice.

“Ayeola!”

I turned around. He and Mama were standing right behind me with mad looks on their faces. I heard River and Maria scoot away quickly.

I tried to smile. “Hi, Mama. Hi, Dad.”

Mama waved her arms in the direction of the clotheslines, the games and the food. “What in the world … ?”

“We don't even have to ask if this was your idea.” Dad sighed. He looked really disappointed.

I hung my head. “Most of it.”

“Where is Lillian?” Mama asked, looking around.

I looked up. “She's setting up for the dog show with Grady. But she didn't have anything to do with this. It was all me.”

Dad nodded. “Well, it looks great.”

He and Mama were smiling at me now.

“Heyyy …,” I began.

All of a sudden Mama and Dad broke out into big smiles, like they couldn't pretend to be mad anymore. “I can't tell you how glad I am to see you acting like your old self again.” Mama grabbed me into a big hug. “I was worried our girl had gone away forever.”

“You don't mind that I did all this?” I asked, hugging Mama back.

“Ola, child, I'll tell you a secret.” Mama smiled. “I never did like all those rules about living here.”

“A person should be able to mow his lawn when
he
wants to,” Dad grumbled, putting his hand on my head and stroking it. “And park his car in front of his own house, and have visitors as late as he wants and— Is that Mrs. Gransby jumping in those leaves over there?”

I nodded. “It's a long story, Dad.”

“Khatib.” I knocked on his door softly. It was late and I was supposed to have been asleep hours earlier. But all my
thoughts about what had happened that day and the family and moving here had kept me awake. Everything had gone perfect. Maria had won her fight at the town meeting. The town had agreed to reconsider the designs of the new houses for the other development, and she had gotten them to vote yes on disbanding the neighborhood association. She even told me that her mom said she did a good job. I knew her grandmother would have been proud of her, too.

“Who is it?” Khatib's voice sounded out of breath, like I had caught him in the middle of something.

“It's me, Ola. Let me in,” I ordered in a whisper.

I heard a noise that sounded like Khatib moving around. Whatever he was doing, he didn't want me to see. A few seconds later he called out, “Come in,” in his regular voice.

I opened the door and slid into the room, looking around slowly. It looked normal. Khatib was lying on his bed reading a sports magazine, and his room was in its usual state of disaster, with clothes, music tapes and shoes all over the floor. His schoolbooks were piled up on top of each other on the desk, and his bed wasn't made. Mama makes him clean his room every Friday, but by the next morning it's back in the same condition it was in before.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and looked around more carefully. I was looking for clues as to what Khatib had been doing. Whenever Aeisha tried to hide something from me in a hurry, she stuck it under her pillow or under her bed. That's how I'd discovered that she'd bought some red lipstick the week before. But Khatib didn't look like he had anything under his pillows. In fact, his pillow was on the floor. I looked around at the edge of the bed.

“What are you looking for, Ola?” Khatib asked. His eyes were zeroed in on me.

“Nothing.” I picked at a small hole in my jeans.

“What do you want?” Khatib leaned forward a little, and I saw that he was wearing a black-and-gold Walcott College sweatshirt. Mama had given all three of us sweatshirts during her first week of work. I also noticed that he was holding his magazine upside down. Ah-ha! Oldest mistake in the book. Now I knew he had been hiding something. “You need to talk about something?”

“Yeah.” I nodded, looking at his face.

“What's your problem?” Khatib asked, leaning back against the wood headboard of his bed. He was starting to look worried about my being so quiet. “Mama and Dad aren't mad at you, right?”

I shook my head.

“Aeisha?” Khatib asked.

“Mama and Dad are mad at her.” I smiled. Aeisha had told Mama and Dad about her science grade earlier that night and they had gotten all upset. They said that they didn't need her to try and get proof that Mr. Stillwell was grading her unfairly. They would have believed her and done something about it if she had just told them. It was nice having Mama and Dad mad at someone else in this family besides me.

“Things okay with Karen and Margarita?”

I nodded. Karen, Margarita and Mrs. Gransby had stayed for dinner and then gone home on the late bus. I had been sorry to see them leave, but I knew that I would see them again soon. I planned to follow everything on Karen and Margarita's list, and I'd made them promise to come back
during Christmas vacation for a real visit. I had given Mrs. Gransby an extra-long hug. Even though we lived so far apart, her bringing Karen and Margarita to see me showed that she was still looking after me.