The Fight for Kidsboro (24 page)

A week after the verdict, our two biggest industries were gone. Nelson Motors was bankrupt, and Pete's movie was on hold because of the strike. Investors in both were furious. All of Nelson's employees had to be laid off. Also, some of the investors had their own businesses, and when they lost the money they had put into Nelson Motors, some of
their
employees had to be laid off too. In short, no one in Kidsboro (except for Max and Jake) had any money. And because no one had any money, that meant that no one had any money to spend—so businesses were failing. No one was playing miniature golf any more or going to the movies. Unemployment was growing and it showed no signs of getting any better.

But it could get worse.

8

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

M
ARCY CAME TO MY OFFICE
after she was done at the bank for the day. She looked rattled. “Ryan, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure.” I motioned for her to come in. She sat down and hit my desk with her knee, almost knocking over a clock.

“Sorry.”

“That's okay.” Her face paled. I felt sorry for her and I didn't even know what was the matter yet.

“We've got a problem. The bank is almost out of money.”

“What?”

“You see … everybody's broke, and so people are taking their money out of the bank because they suddenly need it. And the people who took out loans to start their new businesses, well … they can't pay their loans back because they don't have any customers anymore.”

“So, there's all sorts of money going
out
of the bank, but no money coming
in
?”

“Exactly.”

“Oh, boy.”

“We wouldn't be so low except that Max withdrew all of his money—212 starbills.”

“Why did Max take out his money?”

“He said he had some things to buy.”

“With 212 starbills? There's nothing in Kidsboro that costs that much.”

“I didn't ask him about that. I didn't think it was any of my business.”

“Oh, man. This is bad. If this gets out, everybody's going to want to get their money out of the bank as soon as possible,” I said. “And if the money runs out, a lot of people are gonna be really angry.”

“I know. Some people put everything they owned in the bank.”

To be honest, I was tempted to take out my own money. I had almost 20 starbills in that bank and I couldn't afford to lose it. But I couldn't do that to Marcy or to Kidsboro.

“How much do we have left?”

“Twenty-three starbills. And some change.”

“Okay.” I got up and began to pace around. I had to think. “Okay … if anybody wants to take out any money tomorrow, try to convince them not to. Make up any reason.”

“I could raise interest rates.”

“Yes. Good. Tell them that for this week, and this week only, the interest rate is raised three percentage points. They could earn extra money for keeping it in there for one more week. Figure out exactly how much and tell them.”

“Okay.”

“And get on these guys who owe the bank money.”

“I've already talked to them. No one has anything to pay back.”

“I'll go out tomorrow and bring Alice with me. She'll squeeze it out of them.”

“Oh, yeah. That might work.”

“And most importantly, Marcy … don't tell
anyone
about this. Not your best friend, not your mother, not even your teddy bear.”

“I won't.”

“If this gets out, we're
all
in deep trouble.”

The next day I asked Alice to help me collect some debts. I knocked on doors and asked people to please pay back the money they owed the bank. Most said they didn't have any money, until Alice stepped inside and threatened to turn them upside down by their ankles. Then they suddenly remembered that they
did
have a little money stashed away somewhere. The plan worked. We were able to retrieve 19 starbills, but that wasn't nearly as much as what was owed. People genuinely had no money, and no amount of being turned upside down could get them to pay up. By the end of the day, I was happy with what we got. I was pretty sure that the 19 starbills we had collected, plus the 23 already in the bank, would hold us for another few days.

I was surprised to see Pete with a camera. He was apparently getting ready to film a scene. I walked over, but didn't see any of the regular actors or crew around. It was just Pete and his six-year-old sister, Robin. Robin was sitting at a table facing someone I didn't recognize at first. The face was turned away from me. Maybe Pete was filming something for his family.

“What are you doing, Pete?”

“Making my film.”

“What film?”

“The film I've been making for the last few weeks,” he said matter-of-factly, as though it was a stupid question.

“I didn't know your sister was in it.”

“She is now.”

“What role is she playing?”

“Right now she's Ginger.” He looked through his viewfinder and dollied the camera a little to his left.

“What do you mean?”

“I told them I could make this film without them. And I will.”

“How is Robin going to play Ginger?”

“Robin's a very talented actress. You'd be surprised.”

“So, you're just going to throw out all the stuff you filmed with Valerie as Ginger?”

“Nope. I'm keeping it.” This was getting tiresome. I wished he would just tell me what was going on.

“How are you going to explain how Ginger suddenly changed from a 14 year old with long, brown hair into a six year old with curly, black hair?”

“With this.” Pete held up a plain silver mask, which he took over to Robin. “Here. You can put this on now.” She tied it around her head and he came back and looked through the viewfinder. He glanced toward me. “I changed the script a little bit. Now, Ginger has some kind of dental surgery and has to wear this mask for a month.”

“So, she's going to wear this thing for the rest of the movie?”

“Yep. You see, it makes perfect sense, because if you'll remember, earlier in the film Ginger talks about being engaged to a dentist.”

“So?”

“Well, it's natural to assume that her fiancé would recognize her need for surgery. It's perfectly logical.”

“Oh, right,” I said.

He looked back toward Robin. “Pull the mask a little toward your right ear.”

“Who's that?” I asked, pointing to whoever was sitting in the chair opposite her. I still hadn't seen his face, and he hadn't moved an inch since I got there.

“That's the bad guy.”

I walked around where I could see the bad guy's face, and as soon as I saw it, I almost burst out laughing. “A giant teddy bear?”

“All you can see is the back of his clothes. When I change angles,
I'll
play the bad guy.”

“With a dental surgery mask on?”

“No. I'll just duck behind flowers and stuff. Wear a hat.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“It'll work,” Pete insisted.

“No, it
won't
work,” came a voice from behind me. Pete and I whirled around and saw Mark, the owner and creator of the miniature golf place. His face was red.

Pete ignored Mark and continued to work.

“You're not going to do this, Pete!”

“Go away, Mark.”

“I invested a lot of money in this movie, and you've got your six-year-old sister playing the romantic lead? I don't think so.”

“I've got it all figured out. You'll never know the difference.”

“Listen to me, Pete.” Pete continued to look through the viewfinder.

Mark walked around in front of the camera and spoke into the lens. “Listen to me. I've got a business to run. I've got loans that I can't pay back. This movie needs to be made, and it needs to be made
now
. You will give the actors
everything
they want.”

“I can't do that.”

“You have to.”

“If I give in now, they'll just want more and more.”

“I don't care.”

“This is my movie!”

“But it's my money you're making this movie
with
!”

“Investors have no say in how a movie is produced.”

“I don't know where you're getting all these rules. But you'd better close your little rule book and start negotiating with the actors. Now.” Mark pushed on the side of the camera, rolling it to the edge of the flat, wood piece it was sitting on. He took one last angry look at Pete and left. Pete hesitated only a second, then moved his camera back into place.

“You know, Pete, he's probably right,” I said.

“Would you mind leaving the set, Ryan? I'm trying to concentrate.”

I turned on my heel and left.

Scott ran up to me, grabbed my arm, and pulled me behind a tree. He looked around to see if anyone was nearby.

“What is it?”

Scott came close and whispered, “You need to go to the bank.”

“Why?”

“It's almost out of money.”

I suddenly lost feeling in my lips. “How do you know that?”

“A bunch of people are talking about it. I just withdrew everything I had in there. You'd better do the same before it—”

Before he could finish his sentence, I was sprinting toward the bank.

I could hear people yelling before I could even see the bank. When I finally saw it, I came to a complete stop. There Was a crowd of people outside the door, demanding to get in. A “Closed” sign hung on the door and Marcy was desperately trying to keep people out. I went to try to make peace, knowing full well I had nothing to tell them that would make anyone feel better.

Valerie was the first to see me, and she ran over to me. “Is this true? Is all our money just … gone?”

“Look, Valerie …” A couple of people saw us talking and filtered over to me. “There's not much I can do.”

“This was your idea, Cummings!” Valerie shouted into my face. “This whole bank thing was your brilliance at work. Now you've got 20 people here who are completely broke!”