CHAPTER 10
For Walter Mackie, it was a good day to be a chess player.
He had tried a new set of opening moves, but he had to admit, Adler had defended the board well. Then on the 27th move, Mackie launched a sneaky weak-side attack that Adler never saw coming. Six moves later, Adler's king was trapped, and he stood up and pushed in his chair, indicating he had given up.
"What I don't like," Mackie said, as they were walking home, "is you always quit on me when you're in trouble. You never give me the satisfaction of checkmating you."
"First of all," said Adler, "that was an obvious attack, which I just didn't see today because my concentration was off. Secondly, what are you talking about? You quit on me all the time."
"Like when?"
"Like two weeks ago. You made that blunder, and I took your rook, and you stopped playing."
"Two weeks ago doesn't count at all, because Mr. Heffenstern was making all kinds of noise that day and it was impossible to focus."
"Yeah well, either way," said Adler, "I still have the edge on you in total wins, 43-41"
"What?!" said Mackie. "I have no idea what kind of math you're using, but I'm up 44-40!"
"What are you talking about, I'm ahead!" said Adler.
"Shut up, I am!" said Mackie.
They were approaching Fancy Freeze now.
"Hey, those are Bo and Jimmy's bikes, right?" said Adler.
"Looks like them, yeah," Mackie said. "I guess they finally got the band name straight and are all signed up and ready to go now. I'm sort of looking forward to hearing them Saturday night."
"I'm actually looking forward to it, too," Adler said. "Did you know Bo told me if the band ever takes off, he's making me business manager?"
"You better get your math right if you're going to try something like that," Mackie said.
"That was a cheap shot, Walter," said Adler.
They peered into Fancy Freeze but didn't see Bo and Jimmy, so they went inside to make sure.
"Maybe they parked the bikes here and walked back to school to sign up," Mackie said.
"Except we just walked here FROM school, doe-doe bird," Adler said. "We would've seen them."
"Yeah, well, could be other possibilities, then."
"I don't get it," Adler said. "Let's make sure those are their bikes."
They went around the side of the building to where the two bikes were locked to the fence.
"Definitely them," said Adler. "I recognize the 'Ocean Ready Surf Shop' sticker on Jimmy's top tube."
"Lot of those stickers around though," said Mackie.
"Idiot, stop fighting me!" said Adler. "It's them!"
"Okay, well, it's a mystery then. Anyhow, I'm tired--beating you today took a lot out of me. Let's go."
"Something's not right though," said Adler, scratching the back of his neck. "I mean, why would you ever walk any place, when you had your bikes?"
"Unless you got picked up for some reason," Mackie said.
"Could be," said Adler, and they headed out of the parking lot.
A half-block away, in front of Lynch's Laundromat, Mackie said, "I have to use the bathroom."
"Ah, man."
"I should go back to Fancy Freeze."
"Forget that! Use the one in City Hall. We're not backtracking."
They continued the two blocks to City Hall, but Mackie soon came out of the building with a distressed look on his face.
"The men's room has a sign: 'Closed for Renovation', " he said. "I gotta go bad. I'm going back. Hang onto my backpack."
"No way, that's ridiculous!" Adler said, but Mackie was already on the move, walking fast back toward Fancy Freeze.
There was nothing to do but wait right there in front of City Hall. Adler found a bench that hopefully a homeless person hadn't slept on recently, and he sat down, trying to figure out how the heck Walter could have beaten him today.
Ten minutes later, Mackie had made it back to Fancy Freeze, and he circled around the outside to the rear men's room. He went to turn the doorknob and pushed, but nothing moved.
UN...BELIEVABLE, he thought.
"Hey!!" came a scream out of nowhere.
"Help us--help!!"
"Uh, sure," said Mackie, stepping away from the door, startled. "What's wrong?"
"We're locked in here!!" said a voice that Mackie now realized was Bo.
"Ridley, that you?"
There was a pause.
"Mackie!!" Bo and Jimmy yelled together.
"Okay, well, now just hold on you guys--I'll run inside and see if anyone has a key!" Mackie said.
"No, Walter, wait!!" said Bo. "Key's not gonna do it. They jammed something into the lock."
"Okay I'm still here," Mackie said. "Who did?"
"Hamburg and the other dude!" yelled Jimmy. "Don't worry about that right now!"
Bo was thinking hard, putting it all together.
"What time you got?" he asked Mackie.
"I got 4:46."
"All right...so we got fourteen minutes...here's what we're going to do then," said Bo, trying to stay calm. "Walter, you're going to unlock Jimmy's bike. You're going to ride it quick as you can back to school, and you're going to sign up for the talent show for us. You'll make it. I know you can do it."
"The combination is 5-19-24!" yelled Jimmy.
"Got it!"
"Mackie, we really appreciate this," Bo said. "The name is 'Band', by itself!"
"Right!" said Mackie, and he hurried around the corner to the bikes.
"That's lock's a little tricky, unfortunately," Jimmy said to Bo. "I pray he can get it open."
A minute later they could hear Mackie yelling as he raced back toward the bathroom: "Guys! I can't work the combination! I tried it twice!"
" 'Kay then," said Bo, trying real hard not to panic. "In that case, you take my bike. I'll try to wedge the keys under the door."
Bo tried to squeeze his key chain as compact as possible and got down on the cement floor and shoved it toward the tiny sliver of daylight on the other side of the door. A couple keys made it part way through, and Mackie pulled on them as hard as he could, but the key chain was simply too fat to fit under the door.
"Can you take the bike key off and slide it through by itself?!" said Mackie.
"So dark in here, don't know if I can get it!" Bo said, as he furiously tried to feel around and figure out which was the bike key and somehow maneuver it off the chain.
"Mackie, I'm remembering something that might help!" said Jimmy. "Right as you pass the second number--19--on your way to the third number--24--jerk up on the lock and then jam it back down real quick! Then go to the third number!!"
" 'Kay!!" said Mackie, and he raced off again.
Maybe 90 seconds passed, but it felt like an hour to Bo and Jimmy.
"He's not back," Bo said. "I think he got it."
"I think he got it too," Jimmy said, "but what time you think it is?"
"Seemed like maybe three, four minutes went by, everything we were trying," Bo said.
"Felt more like five or six to me," Jimmy said.
"Maybe," said Bo.
"What is it, like four-and-a-half blocks to school and then across the yard to the office?" Jimmy said, picturing it.
"He's got a shot," Bo said.
"It is Mackie, though," said Jimmy.
"Yeah, it's Mackie," Bo said. "But he's got a shot."
