The Zippy Fix (2 page)

A
fter school I rode my bike home with Willy and Julio.

Usually I had to walk with my little sister, Darci. But she had a cough that morning and was over at Mrs. Nakashima’s house while Mom was at work.

We rode straight up, with our arms hanging
loose at our sides. It was so hot even the mynah birds were looking for shade.

When we cruised around the corner onto our street, I slammed on my brakes.

Julio nearly fell off his bike trying to keep from crashing into me.

Willy swerved and sailed into somebody’s hedge.

“Why’d you stop?” Julio spat.

“Look.”

I dipped my head toward Maya’s cat, sprawled in the middle of the street.

Julio looked at me like, Are you nuts? “You caused a wreck because of Maya’s
cat
?”

Willy yanked himself and his bike out of the hedge and studied the scratches on his arms.

“Sorry,” I said.

Willy waved it off. “I’m okay.”

Julio stared at me.

“What?” I said. “It’s a black cat.”

“It was black yesterday, too. And last month and last year. So what?”

“Well, Rubin said—”

Julio threw up his hands. “Not Rubin again.”

“No, but… it’s … well.”

Willy held his front tire between his legs and straightened out his handlebars. “They
must
be bad luck. Look how we crashed.”

“That was Calvin,” Julio spat. “Not the cat!”

I chewed on my thumbnail and considered the furry black mass lying in the middle of the road. His name was Zippy, but zippy he wasn’t. He was lazy as a slug. Not very smart, either, because any cat that lounges in the middle of the street is looking to get run over by a car.

“You’re right,” I said, trying to shake Rubin’s warning out of my head. “It’s just superstition.”

We got back on our bikes and coasted toward Zippy, circling him twice. Zippy stretched, his claws flashing out like knife blades.

Julio stopped and studied Zippy. “You are the laziest cat I’ve ever seen in my life, no question.”

I got off my bike and kicked down the stand. “Come on, Zip.” I scooped him up. “You stay out here in the street, some car’s going to flatten you.”

Zippy purred in my arms. I bet he weighed like a hundred pounds. “You should be out in the jungle chasing down the rodents of Hawaii.”

Zippy gave me a lazy blink.

I set him down in the shade of a plumeria tree in Maya’s yard. The grass was warm and soft, way better than the street. “I just don’t want to see you get squashed, okay?”

Zippy gave me dirty looks.

I laughed. “You’re something, Zipster.”

“Laters!” Julio called from the street, heading home.

Willy jumped on his bike. “Me too.”

I waved and turned back to Zippy. “Don’t you give me bad luck, now. I did this for your own good. You listening to me, Zip?”

I scratched under his chin and left when he started purring again. I had no idea what a bad listener Zippy was.

3

M
om’s car was in the garage when I coasted into our driveway standing on the pedals. I skidded to a stop, dumped my bike on the grass, and went inside.

“What’s going on?” The screen door slapped behind me.

Mom and my little sister Darci were in the
living room digging into a shopping bag from Macy’s, where Mom worked in the jewelry department.

Mom looked up, smiled, and laid a silky green dress over the back of the couch. “Hi, sweetie, how was school?”

“Fine, but why are you home?”

“Last time I checked, this is where I live.”

“Yeah, but you’re supposed to be at work and Darci’s supposed to be at Mrs. Nakashima’s.”

“I decided to take the day off.”

I looked at Darci. “I thought you were sick.”

Darci gave me an excited grin. “We bought a dress for Stella.” I guess shopping cured her.

Mom picked up the green dress. “Isn’t this stunning, Cal?”

Stunning? A hurricane is stunning. An explosion is stunning. A car crash. “Yeah, sure. What’s it for?”

“Stella.”

“She doesn’t have a dress?”

“It’s a special dress. A boy asked her to a dance.”

“No joke?”

Mom pinched my cheek and kissed my head. “No joke.”

Stella was almost sixteen and lived with us. She’d come from Texas and had been here about a month. We took her in because Stella’s mom was my mom’s best friend in high school.

Also, a couple years ago, my dad, now known as Little Johnny Coconut, the kind-of-famous singer, had split from Mom and moved to the mainland, where he lives with his new wife. Now Mom had to work six days a week and she needed help. Stella was it.

Somewhere down the street I heard the deep, low thumping of a car stereo.

Boooom … boooom … boooom
.

It was the slow, spooky kind you can hear a mile away.

“The dance is at the high school,” Mom went on.

Boooom… boooom… boooom
.

Growing louder. Coming closer.

“It’s Friday night,” Mom continued. “That’s why Darci and I went shopping.”

“What?”

“Are you listening to me, Calvin?”

The booming radio got louder and louder … then went silent.

Mom’s eyes shifted.

Outside, an engine rumbled low.

Darci ran to the window.

A car door thumped shut.

4

“S
tella’s home!” Darci yelped. I ran up behind her and caught a glimpse of the car just as it pulled away. It rumbled like an army tank and was so low to the ground it could scrape gum off the street. A fat black stripe ran down the middle, front to back, and the car was pink!

Pink?

Boooom … boooom … boooom
.

Mom stretched to look over my shoulder, but the car was gone. “Did you see who brought her home?”

“Some guy in a pink car.”

“Oooo,” Darci said.

Stella passed by the window outside, heading to the front door, her books hugged close to her chest. As usual she wore shorts, a tight shirt, and rubber slippers. It was impossible to imagine her in a dress.

The screen door squeaked open.

Mom smiled. “Welcome home, Stella.”

Stella glanced around the room. “What’s wrong? Why are you all here? Did we get robbed?”

“No, no, everything’s fine.” Mom hurried over and took Stella’s books from her. “Follow me. We have something for you.”

Darci couldn’t stand it. “Mom got you a dress! Mom got you a dress!” she said, bouncing on her toes.

Stella’s face lit up. “A dress?”

“Look.” Mom set the books down and picked up the green dress.

Stella’s hand flew to her mouth, covering it, as if the dress was the most wonderful sight she’d ever seen.

Weird.

“Oh, Angela,” Stella whispered.

Stella crept over, took the dress from Mom, and held it close. It fell to just above her knees. “You shouldn’t have.”

“Go try it on,” Mom said.

Stella hurried into her bedroom. Which used to be mine. Which I had to give up when Stella moved in. Which sent me to a room made of half the garage. Which, actually, I liked better. Because who can live in a house with three girls?

Mom beamed, as pleased as I’d ever seen her.

Jeese, I thought. Maybe I should try that. Oh, Mom! This new T-shirt. You shouldn’t have!

Naah.

Stella came back wearing the new dress and a huge grin. She twirled around. “Like it?”

Mom’s eyes glossed. “Oh, Stella, you look so beautiful.”

I gawked. I’d never seen Stella all dressed up. Her blond hair looked blonder. Her eyes twinkled like sequins. She even gave me a small smile. She was a totally different person.

Darci must have thought so, too, because all she could say was “Wow, wow, wow.”

Mom put her arm over my shoulder and pulled me close. “What do you think, Cal? Doesn’t she look fabulous?”

She looked pretty good, all right. The silky
smooth dress was the deep green color of a ripe watermelon. It somehow made Stella look like a nice person. “You look like … like … like a watermelon.”

Darci spurted a laugh.