The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck (16 page)

Laurie put her fingers to her temples. “No, wait—the Globe … I just saw something about that. Somewhere. In the … in the English wing! That weirdo English teacher had a poster!”

“You're right, that's it! That's the connection between Magellan and Shakespeare.” Bud gloated.

“The Globe was Shakespeare's theater.” Laurie did a little happy dance. But discreetly, since she was in a library and all.

“Right!”

Laurie stopped dancing. “Except it's obviously not the real Shakespeare's Globe. She couldn't expect us to go to England.”

“Of course not. We just need to find the right globe,” Bud said, a little too loudly. He had definitely forgotten to use his library voice.

“Globe? Right over there, dear.” Miss Lucille nodded as she hurried by. Mariah Jeffries was browsing through the books in the stacks, glancing at each one and dropping the rejects onto the floor. Apparently she was still in full sulk mode. Miss Lucille had her work cut out for her.

Bud and Laurie turned in the direction that Lucille had pointed, and sure enough, there in the corner was an enormous antique globe.

“Check it out,” Bud said. “How awesome is that?”

Laurie barely heard him. She was already making a beeline for the globe and was halfway across the room by the time Bud had gotten away from the computer.

“This has got to be it,” Laurie breathed as she looked at the enormous old globe. It was in a floor stand that took up the entire corner of the room. There were tiny drawings of sea serpents and jumping fish in the oceans, and the names of all of the continents were written in elaborate old-fashioned script. Laurie was almost afraid to touch it, it looked so fancy.

Bud didn't waste any time worrying about touching it, though. His hands were all over that globe in two seconds flat. Without hesitating for a moment, he spun the globe on its axis, looking for Maria Tutweiler's next clue.

The globe gracefully turned in a full circle, and Bud and Laurie leaned forward to inspect every word and drawing. When it was done, Bud spun it gently again. And again.

Bud had gone past Brazil ten times before Laurie put her hand out and stopped him. “I don't think it's written on the globe, Bud. It's somewhere else.”

Bud frowned. She was probably right. Sure, it was pretty and fancy, but none of the pictures or writing looked like anything but regular globe stuff. Besides, all that spinning was making him vaguely nauseous.

“Maybe it's inscribed? On the base, maybe?” Laurie squatted down and inspected the base of the globe. But all she saw was the dull shine of brushed nickel—no inscriptions, no symbols, nothing.

Laurie sighed and toppled back onto her butt. “I don't see it.” She felt like she'd been saying that a lot lately.

“Me neither.” Bud stood, hands on hips, glaring at the globe. He knew this was the right solution to the puzzle. It had to be. But for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what he was supposed to find.

Laurie scooched forward and took over the random globe spinning for a while. But no matter how many times the globe circled its axis, no secret messages magically appeared.

“Huh.” Laurie looked up at Bud. “What do you think?”

“Beats me,” Bud said. “Maybe it's underneath?” He shot a look at Miss Lucille, who had gotten Mariah under control and was now happily picking fuzzy pilled places off of her sweater. “Help me tilt it.”

Laurie grabbed the base of the globe stand, and Bud grabbed the top. Working as a team, they tried to wrestle the globe onto its side. But despite their best efforts, they only managed to tilt it a few centimeters off of the ground.

“Quick … look … under …,” Bud grunted, holding the globe stand at an angle. His face started turning a pretty scary shade of dark pink.

Laurie lay flat and peered under the globe, but she couldn't see anything except a big circular dent in the carpet and some random pieces of linty dust. “Nothing.” She shook her head.

“Feel … around …” Bud looked like he was about to burst a vein in his forehead. “Under.”

Laurie looked at him doubtfully. He wasn't going to be able to hold that thing much longer, and the last thing she wanted to do was lose a hand. She shot a look at Miss Lucille, but Miss Lucille was still blissfully unaware that her library globe was being manhandled.

“Reach … under!” Bud gasped.

“There's nothing there, Bud,” Laurie said. “Trust me. I don't need to feel around.”

Bud finally dropped the globe with a thunk. “You're sure? You didn't find anything?”

Laurie looked up guiltily. “Nope. Nothing.” At least she was pretty sure there was nothing under there. Nothing they could reach, anyway.

Mariah Jeffries shoved her chair back from the library table and stomped out, narrowly missing stepping on Laurie's fingers. Laurie wasn't sure whether the missing part was intentional or not, but she did know one thing. She'd been a Tuckernuck Clucker for what, two weeks? And she'd already managed to (a) make new enemies and (b) come across like a complete loony tune. Forget Kimmy—at this rate she'd have to transfer just to keep from being a complete social outcast.

“You okay?” Bud flexed his fingers sympathetically. “Still have all your parts?”

Laurie snorted and waggled her fingers back at him. Maybe not a complete social outcast. At least she'd have company.

“Maybe it's a different globe? Who else has a globe?”

Bud stood in the middle of the history hallway and looked thoughtful. Laurie didn't feel thoughtful. They'd been in a million classrooms so far and looked at three different globes, and every one was vying for the title of most boring globe ever. No clues, nothing.

They'd even tried the science hall, but it had been a total bust. The theme there seemed to be more star oriented, and the constellations painted on the ceiling there were cool to look at but not helpful at all. The history hall was the last one left to check.

Laurie's eyes darted around the hallway, and she worked her hands the way that Ponch and Jon did when they were anxious. “I can't get roped into any more extracurriculars, Bud.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Bud said. He pointed at a carving up on the molding near the ceiling. “Is that a globe?”

Laurie peered up at the carving. “That's Abraham Lincoln. Not a globe.”

“Shoot.” Bud slumped. “And that's not a globe?” He pointed at a carving on the opposite side of the hallway.

“Random founding father, I think,” Laurie said. “Not a globe. We've been through this.” It had been a long day.

Bud dropped his book bag down at his feet. “Maybe it is a Shakespeare thing? We didn't really try that.”

“Whatever, we just need to get out of here.” She'd spotted a shadow behind one of the stained-glass panels in one of the classroom doors. And shadows meant one thing—teachers.

She grabbed Bud by the arm, not even worrying about bruising, and dragged him out into the main hallway. It was amazing how much more relaxed she felt away from the specialized wings.

Bud trudged along behind her for a few steps and then stopped. “If it's Shakespeare, you know where we have to go.”

“I know.” Laurie chewed her lip and thought hard. She was going to have to nip that whole English hall problem in the bud. It might as well be now. “Okay. I have an idea.” She grinned at Bud. “I think this just may work.”

Laurie set off down the hallway and turned deliberately, right into the English wing. Bud gasped. She hadn't even checked for Mr. Sanchez. Whatever she was planning, Bud sure hoped it would work. He wasn't going to another poetry club for moral support. He had his music to think of.

“Why, Laurie, what a nice surprise!” Mr. Sanchez got up as Laurie marched into the room. “Is this about the Keats club? I was thinking we could have some of those English butter crackers for snacks, but I'm not locked into anything. It's just an idea.”

Laurie nodded. “Butter crackers sound great, but I have to talk to you. About Keats.”

Mr. Sanchez leaned against his desk. “Yes?”

Laurie shifted her weight from foot to foot. “It's just … well, I've been thinking, and I think I want to keep my love of Keats private right now.”

“Private. I see.” Mr. Sanchez frowned.

Laurie nodded. “It's personal, you know. My personal connection with the poetry. I'm just not ready to share that yet. Emotionally.”

“I see.” Mr. Sanchez was really frowning now. “Not even with other like-minded students?”

Laurie shook her head. “It would make it less special?”

“Hmm. Less special,” Mr. Sanchez echoed. Laurie knew she had to act quickly or her plan would all fall apart.

“So I wanted to ask you about Shakespeare. That's really why I came. Is there a lot of Shakespeare stuff around the school? About his theater, the Globe? Or anything?”

“Nothing that I'm aware of, unfortunately. Why? Were you hoping to do a segment on Shakespeare instead? Is that not too painful to share? Emotionally?”

Laurie shot Mr. Sanchez a suspicious look, but he seemed dead serious.

Laurie shrugged. “Well, not exactly. I just thought I'd see if focusing on Shakespeare might help with my … uh … Keats issues.”

Mr. Sanchez's frown started to go away. “I see.”

“I don't want you to do anything, okay? Seriously. I'm just curious,” Laurie said quickly.

Mr. Sanchez stroked his beard in his creepy way and nodded slowly. “There are some nice volumes of Shakespeare in the library. You might take a look at those. But I'll put my thinking cap on. And thank you, Laurie. I appreciate your candor.”

“Any time.” Laurie smiled. She felt like skipping. She'd handled that like a pro—no more Sanchez problems for her.

Bud was humming quietly to himself when Laurie came up behind him. He was really into it and didn't even notice when she came screeching to a stop and dropped her mouth open. She had to do it three times before he stopped humming and looked up.

“What?”

“Excuse me, but were you …” Laurie narrowed her eyes and cocked her head. “No, I'm sorry. I must be mistaken. It almost sounded like you were … humming.”

Bud rolled his eyes. “Stuff it, Laurie.”

“I know, I must be hallucinating. It sounded like, I don't know, choral music of some sort?”

Bud's ears turned bright red.

“Are you actually
enjoying chorus
?” Laurie poked him in the side. “Something you want to tell me, Bud? Any deep, dark musical confessions?”

“Like you haven't been humming that ‘Yo Ho Ho' song from
Billy and the Pirates!
, Polly,” Bud said, trying not to grin.

Laurie grinned back and flopped down into a chair. “Well, I had a little heart-to-heart with my ol' buddy Sanchez. He said there are some Shakespeare books in the library we should check out.”

Now it was Bud's turn to drop his jaw. “Sanchez? You talked to him? What the heck?”

Laurie shrugged. “Didn't I mention? My Sanchez problems are OVER.”

Notice on the English hall bulletin board

EXCITING NEW CLUB!

By Popular Demand,

The English Department will start the very first SHAKESPEARE CLUB!

Connect emotionally with the Bard!

Meetings, Wednesdays after school

WITH SNACKS!

Sign up with Mr. Sanchez, room 212.

Note from Calliope to Secret School Source

I think I've figured out a way to find out what Laurie Madison and Bud Wallace are up to. It's got to be related to the treasure. This could be big.

Will report soon.

Calliope

Note from Flora Downey to Bud Wallace

Bud,

I still haven't received your signed permission slips. I need to have them by the end of the week if you're going to participate in any extracurricular activities.