Ola Shakes It Up Read online

  I looked River up and down for a few seconds. She really did seem more okay than when I'd met her. In fact, she seemed a little unusual. I liked that in a person. “It's not that kind of a problem.”

  “Oh, well, that's okay. I'm sure whatever it is, we can take care of it.” River added, “That's the first rule of being a pop psychologist— sympathize with the patient.”

  “My problem is you,” I confessed. “I have a proposition for you.”

  River listened to me talk about the first stage of my plan for bringing down Walcott Corners and forgot all about being sympathetic. Before I could even ask if she wanted to help, she interrupted me and said, “Count me in.”

  I smiled again. River wasn't so bad. Once you got used to her blunt way of speaking, she was actually kind of cool.

  “You really get people to pay you to give them advice?” I stood up with River as the bell rang. Lunch period was over and we both had music class together next.

  “Mm-hmm,” she replied as we walked toward the huge gray garbage cans standing in the middle of the cafeteria.

  “Can I ask you a question?” I said seriously.

  “Fire away.” River dumped everything into the garbage can, including her tray.

  “How can I get in on that?”

  “Welcome aboard, Just Ola.” Mr. Elijah was grinning so wide I could see all of his teeth. He opened the door to his house all the way. “Come on in.”

  “I can't, Mr. Elijah. I just wanted to make sure it was okay to use your house to meet with all the kids in the neighborhood tonight,” I said, smiling. River and I had talked to all of the kids on the bus who lived in Walcott Corners, and we'd gotten sixteen other kids to join us. Mr. Elijah had been right. When we told them about getting all the rules changed about where to play, curfews, and riding bikes on the sidewalk, everybody had wanted to join in. This neighborhood had just been waiting for someone to come and lead them.

  “Glad to oblige,” Mr. Elijah said. “Then you and I can talk, 'cause we're gonna have to coordinate our efforts.”

  “Right, Mr. Elijah. See you later.” I turned and started walking toward my house. I had some work to do. I had to come up with a really good plan to shake this neighborhood up. I had to make things —

  I stopped. I could hear the sound of wailing coming from somewhere. I turned to look at Otis's house. Yup. It was Davis screaming from somewhere on the second floor of the house. I turned all the way around and crossed the street. Before I started making my big plans, there was one little thing that I needed to take care of.

  I knocked on Otis's door as loud as I could. Aeisha and Otis were probably in there trying one of their stupid new ideas on poor Davis. I knew I could get that baby to sleep and help poor Otis's mama. Then maybe she would start taking care of Otis. I couldn't have my sister's boyfriend going around looking like such a mess.

  Mrs. Spunklemeyer opened the door. She was wearing the same long bathrobe she'd worn when she brought us the pumpkin pie. She probably hadn't changed out of it since the baby was born. “Hello. You're Ola, Aeisha's sister.”

  I nodded. “I came to help them with the baby.”

  Mrs. Spunklemeyer sniffed. “Come in, Ola. Otis and Aeisha are upstairs trying to get Davis to sleep now. They said something about trying to find what kind of music he liked.”

  I walked in. “You go lie down, Mrs. Spunklemeyer. I'll go take care of Davis. I used to help Mrs. Gransby baby-sit all her grandchildren, you know.”

  I marched up the stairs. I could hear rock music floating from somewhere upstairs, then what sounded like country music. I followed the sound of the music to the baby's room, and there were Aeisha and Otis, standing over the crib with a portable radio.

  “You guys don't know what you're doing,” I said, pushing past them. I looked down into the crib. There was a fat pink baby with Otis's stick-up hair, bawling. Davis. I reached out and tickled the bottom of his feet.

  Davis stopped crying long enough to look at me with surprise.

  “Works every time,” I whispered to Aeisha and Otis. I picked up one of Davis's feet and started rubbing the bottom softly. Mrs. Gransby had taught me that babies love to have their feet massaged.

  “What do you know?” Otis whispered in amazement as Davis's eyes started to close. “Thanks, Ola.”

  Aeisha looked at me, surprised. I could tell she was impressed. She would know this trick, too, if she'd spent less time reading when we were at Mrs. Gransby's house after school. “Yeah, thanks.”

  I shrugged and put Davis's foot down. He was fast asleep. “Don't forget about the meeting later on. See ya.”

  I didn't see Mrs. Spunklemeyer downstairs as I left the house, but I figured she'd gone upstairs and gone to bed. I started humming to myself as I crossed the street.

  I wanna shake it up, shake it up,

  shake it up Like an earthquake. …

  I smiled when I realized that I was humming the last part to my special jump-rope song. Just thinking the words put me in a better mood than I'd been in since we moved here. I went into the house and found Grady waiting for me inside the hallway, but I just gave him a pat and called out hello to Lillian before going upstairs to my room. I had some serious planning to do. I sat down at my desk and pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen. The way I figured it, what this neighborhood needed was a little bit of Roxbury—actually, a whole lot of Roxbury. I started writing a list of all the things I had loved about my old neighborhood.

  stood outside the big oak door of Marias house nervously. It was the day of the big town meeting, and I had ridden my bike over to Maria's house in the middle of town to check on her before she left for the meeting. Everybody in town was gonna be at that meeting except for the kids and senior citizens from Walcott Corners. While Maria was submitting our petition and talking about all that revenue stuff, we would be back in Walcott Corners transforming the neighborhood.

  Maria opened the door and pulled me inside quickly. “Keep it quiet. My mother and sisters are upstairs.”

  “I thought you were supposed to dress up for this meeting,” I said, whispering.

  “I did dress up.” Maria pointed to her new bandanna, which was a bright orange and blue. “What's the matter with you?”

  I stopped shuffling my feet and stood still. “I'm nervous. Here are the petitions. You gonna be okay?”

  “Piece of cake.” Maria nodded confidently. “I came up with some great plans to generate alternative revenue. My dad helped me put together a cost estimate, even. He promised not to tell Mom, so she's gonna be in for a big shock when I get up at the meeting.” Maria looked really pleased at the idea of upsetting her mother.

  “So you'll call me when the meeting's over, right?” I asked. “And you'll come over? Don't forget to bring your bike.”

  Maria smiled. “Don't worry about it, Ola. It's all under control. Are you ready?”

  I grinned. “You bet.”

  I biked home as fast as I could. Our house was empty except for Lillian and Grady. I had talked Mama and Dad into letting me stay home from the meeting by telling them River had invited me over to her house for lunch. They were so pleased that I was finally making friends that they couldn't say no. But Aeisha had to go with them or it would look suspicious. I parked my bike on our lawn and looked around the neighborhood. Immaculate square lawns, big houses, vacant streets. I hoped this was the last time Walcott Corners would look so empty to me.

  I dashed in the house. The phone was ringing already. I knew it was Mr. Elijah calling to check with me.

  “Just Ola? Are we A-OK on stage one?” Mr. Elijah's voice sounded merry.

  “Roger, Mr. Elijah. Set stage one into motion,” I ordered, trying to sound serious. I had a surprise for Mr. Elijah and I didn't want to give it away. As soon as the seniors at Walcott finished stage one, I could get all the kids into action. I hung up with Mr. Elijah and called River to tell her it was okay to come over. Then I headed into the kitchen to check on Lillian.

  I c
ould smell all the delicious food cooking before I even entered the kitchen. Lillian was at the stove minding three big kettles of food. I had asked Lillian to make some special food from her country. A lot of the seniors in the neighborhood were doing the same thing. I pulled a chair over to the stove and stood up on it so I could look into the kettles. “Whatcha making, Lillian?”

  Lillian took the lid off one of the kettles and stirred a thick green stew. I could see potatoes, dumplings, and plantains in it, but then Lillian stirred some more and I saw that there were crabs in it, too. “This one calalou.”

  “What's in the other ones?”

  Lillian took the lids off the other pots, and I saw that there was black rice and shrimp in one pot and pieces of braised pork in the other one. “Du viz djon-djon. Griot.”

  “Is your friend coming, too?” I inhaled deeply. The delicious odors coming from the pots made my stomach growl.

  “Yes, Sonja is coming.” Lillian smiled and nodded. Sonja was her friend from English class. “She making bread. She say six loaves.”

  “Wow.” I looked down at the food again. My stomach was rumbling even louder now. “Can I have some?”

  “No. Is for later.” Lillian said sternly.

  “But Lillian—” I was cut off by the sound of the doorbell. “That must be River. I'll be right back. It's time to let Grady out, too.” I ran into the hallway, the dog right behind me.

  “You know what to do, right, Grady?” I stood in front of the door for a moment and patted his head. “It's real easy. Just be a dog.”

  Grady barked, and I checked one more time to make sure he had his ID tags on his collar. Then I opened the door. “Grady's all ready, River….”

  My voice trailed off. It wasn't River at the front door.

  “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 WELCOME TO THE NEW WALCOTT CORNERS: AN UNCOOPERATIVE NEIGHBORHOOD 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.”