As Weezy wrote down their numbers, Jack said, “Professor, have you ever heard of a klazen?”
Weezy stopped writing but did not look up.
The professor frowned. “An unfamiliar term. What does it refer to?”
“I’m not sure. A creature, maybe? A spirit?”
“No. Most sorry. I have never heard of such a thing.”
Swel , Jack thought. I’m batting zero today.
“Wel ,” he said, squinting at Weezy outside Professor Nakamura’s house, “what do you think?”
Her expression was grim. “I think I wish I had the pyramid back. I’ve got a bad feeling …”
Jack tried to look on the bright side. “Yeah, but you’ve got to admit, if anyone can find out what that thing is, it’s the Smithsonian.”
“I suppose.” Suddenly she perked up and looked at him with bright eyes. “What if they come back with the same age? Fourteen thousand years! Do
you know what that means?”
“It means Professor Nakamura wil have to eat a big plate of fricasseed crow.”
She gave his arm a gentle slap. “Who cares about that. It means we’l have to start rewriting human history!”
Jack thought about that and found it kind of scary.
“Yeah, I guess we wil .”
Just then a blue Mustang convertible pul ed up with a grinning Carson Toliver behind the wheel. He pointed to Weezy.
“Hey, you fol owing me?”
She reddened. “No, I, no, I mean, no, we were just visiting Professor Nakamura.”
This guy had just turned the smartest girl Jack knew into a babbling boob.
“Aw, too bad,” he said, dramatical y snapping his fingers. “I was hoping you were. A guy likes to have a pretty girl fol owing him.”
Weezy said nothing, just stared.
“Hey,” Carson added, “I bet you like the Sex Pistols.”
Weezy hesitated, then said, “Yeah. They’re cool.”
“Knew it! I could tel by the way you dress. I love to blast them as I tool down the road.”
You
“Want to try that sometime?”
“Yeah.” She swal owed. “Sure.”
“Great. I’l cal you up sometime and we’l go for a spin.”
He waved and roared off. Weezy watched him go, then grabbed Jack’s arm.
“Did you hear that? Carson Toliver just asked me out.”
“Yeah, to listen to the Sex Pistols—which you hate by the way. Or did you forget?”
“I didn’t forget. They’re awful.”
“Then why’d you tel him they were cool?”
“I couldn’t insult him.”
“If you ask me,
“Don’t be sil y. He lives right on this street.” She beamed. “And he thinks I’m pretty.”
Weezy had said she had a bad feeling about the pyramid going to the Smithsonian. Wel , Jack had the same sort of feeling about Weezy getting into
Carson Toliver’s car.
Jack sat by the living room window, pretending to read but real y watching the driveway.
Mom had the annoying
song.
She was in the kitchen fixing dinner and Kate was helping. Dad wouldn’t be home from work for another half hour or so. Only Tom was unaccounted for.
He’d been gone most of the day but Mom said she expected him for dinner.
Jack wanted to know when he arrived so he’d have time to set up his sting.
