The Word Eater (13 page)

“You can't trust him,” another SLUG whispered. “He's not really a SLUG.”

Bobby started to walk away.

“We're not SLUGs, either!” Lerner said. “Just because the stupid MPOOEs call us SLUGs doesn't mean we are SLUGs. Bobby, wait.”

Bobby turned around.

Lerner set her backpack on the ground. “I have principles. If I'm going to be part of a group
then I don't want it to be a snobbish clique. Anyone can be in this group who promises to keep a secret and agrees to use the power for good, not for evil.”

Everybody shut up. Bobby walked over and stood in the circle.

“I hope you know what you're doing,” Bobby whispered.

Lerner did, too. She started telling them about Fip. Bobby filled in some of the missing blanks, things that Lerner didn't know about, like the thumbtack incident and how he had found articles about the disappearances of thumbtacks, spinach soufflé, and the vending machine on the Internet. The first time he talked, everybody looked at each other as if they couldn't believe they were listening to Bobby Nitz. But what he had to say was fascinating—especially to Lerner.

Everybody had a different idea about what to feed Fip next. Winny wanted to get rid of cigarettes, which she said her mother couldn't stop buying, Julio wanted to get rid of poverty, and somebody wanted to get rid of guns.

“No, all those things are too big!” Lerner said.

“How about potholes?” Winny asked.

“You guys don't get it,” Lerner said. “Even something as simple as potholes can be a problem. If we get rid of potholes, then the people who get paid to fix them will be out of a job.”

“Why don't we concentrate on something right here at school?” Winny said.

“MPOOEs!” Julio said.

“We absolutely can't delete people,” Lerner said. “Besides, there are some people in the club who aren't so bad.” She thought about Sharmaine.

“What if we deleted the MPOOE Club, not the people in it?” Winny suggested. There was a general hush.

“If we fed Fip the word MPOOEs, then the people would disappear, but if we fed him the words MPOOE Club, then the thing that holds them together would disappear. Right?” Bobby whispered.

Lerner wasn't sure. They were silent for a while. “Maybe we should try it,” somebody whispered.

“We can't rush into anything,” Lerner said. “Let's have another meeting tomorrow to decide.”

The bell rang. Recess ended too soon. With smiles on their faces and secret knowledge in their minds, the SLUGs walked in past the MPOOEs on the basketball court.

Reba watched, biting her nails. The SLUGs were a force. How did that happen?

As soon as Lerner got home, she called up the Internet news and typed in the key word
Gurkengabel
. She expected to see “0 matches” on the screen; instead, an article appeared.

Oh great! Lerner couldn't believe her rotten luck! She looked at Fip, who was asleep in his bottle. She didn't know what she could safely feed him. His little tummy rose and fell as he snored away. He looked plump enough to get by without food today. She'd have to talk it over with the others and decide what to feed him tomorrow.

The next day at recess, Lerner, Bobby, and the other SLUGs were gathered around the oak tree. The day was crisp, the sky bright blue. The green oak leaves above them shimmered as if the sun were choosing that very moment to paint them gold.

Lerner passed around the Gurkengabel article and everyone read it with interest. “I thought I made up the word. I didn't think it was real,” Lerner said. “And look what happened? This is why I'm not sure we should delete the MPOOE Club.”

At that moment, Sharmaine, the MPOOE, ran over. Her face was flushed and she could hardly talk she was so out of breath. “I decided . . . I don't want to be in the MPOOE Club.” She took off her MPOOE wristband and handed it to Lerner.

Lerner held it in her hand and everybody stared at it.

“She's just trying to get in so she can spy on us to the MPOOEs,” Julio said.

Sharmaine looked around. “I am not.”

“She thinks the MPOOE Club is more trouble than it's worth,” Lerner blurted out. “Possibly the worst club on earth.”

“How did you know that?” Sharmaine asked.

Lerner reddened. “I sort of read it in your journal.”

“Well, you're coming over to our side just in time,” Winny said. “We're about to delete the MPOOE Club!”

“We haven't agreed on that yet!” Lerner said.

Of course, Sharmaine had no idea what they were talking about. Lerner filled her in on Fip's magic. Then she turned to the group. “We don't need to delete the MPOOE Club. If Sharmaine is
here, that means the club is breaking up on its own.”

“You're wrong!” Sharmaine said. “I think the club is just going to get worse. Reba is going to kill me for switching sides.”

Lerner could feel the pressure building. She remembered what her parents had said about resisting peer pressure, but they meant the kind of pressure that made you do bad things. If they really could get rid of the MPOOE Club that would be a good thing. Although she didn't admit this to herself, she wanted to show off a little, too. She knew how exciting it was to experience Fip's magic and knew that if she let the group in on that excitement, they would never forget it—or her.

“Okay,” Lerner said. They had a few minutes before recess was over. Lerner opened her notebook and wrote:

The MPOOE Club

She set Fip down, and everybody watched in silence. Lerner wondered if they were as nervous as she was.

Fip was ecstatic. Finally some food! He realized that there were lots of eyeballs watching him, but he didn't care. He gobbled.

“Did it work?” Sharmaine whispered.

Lerner scanned the crowd on the playground.
It was hard to tell just by looking. Reba and Randy and the others were up on the basketball court. They didn't look any different.

“Check it out!” Bobby said. “Sharmaine's wristband was right there. Lerner set it down when she opened her notebook. Now it's gone.”

Everybody looked at the trampled grass beneath their feet.

“They're coming!” Sharmaine whispered.

Lerner put Fip back in his bottle. Reba and Randy walked over.

“What's going on?” Randy asked, in an astonishingly innocent voice.

The SLUGs looked at Lerner.

“Are you guys starting some kind of club?” Reba asked, as if it were a completely novel idea.

“It's not really a club,” Lerner said. “We were just talking about . . . about improving the school.”

“Like how?” Reba asked. “And what's he doing here?” She nodded at Bobby.

“He's a part of it,” Lerner said.

Reba made a face. “So what are you planning?”

“We can't trust you!” Julio blurted it out.

For five minutes, everybody argued. Some of the SLUGs didn't want former MPOOEs in the group. Lerner didn't like the idea of having Reba and Randy know about Fip. But how would they decide who to exclude and who to include? While
she was thinking about that, somebody suggested coming up with a new name for the new club.

“No. No. No,” Lerner said. “No club. No name. No stupid initiations to get in. Whoever wants to be on the side of good can join in.”

“What is this—some kind of Robin Hood thing?” Randy asked.

“I'm in,” Reba said.

“She doesn't want to be on the side of good,” Winny complained. “She just wants to be in.”

“I'm in, too,” said Randy.

Some of the SLUGs started grumbling again. The whole thing was going to fall apart if Lerner didn't do something.

“All right. Everybody hold up your right hands,” Lerner yelled. To her surprise, everyone complied.

“Repeat after me: I promise to keep this a secret.”

They all chanted after her. A little tingle went through Lerner. She was pulling everybody together. No more MPOOEs. No more SLUGs. Exhilarated, she continued: “I promise not to force dares. I promise not to put people down. I promise not to get other people in trouble or boss people around.” Lerner watched Reba repeat the pledge. Reba was a pain when she was queen of the MPOOEs, but now she was just another kid. Lerner would be the new leader, a wise and good leader.

More former MPOOEs noticed them and came to join. They had to do the oath again. Then, Lerner told the newcomers about Fip. She described how powerful and unpredictable the magic was—Bobby passed around the Gurkengabel article—and when it came time to decide what their next step would be, she faltered. The news about Gurkengabels was disturbing. They had to be extra careful what they fed him.

Reba interrupted in a clear, decisive voice. “Everybody here hates school, right? Let's have Fip eat
Cleveland Park Middle School
. The building will disappear, and we'll have a long vacation while they rebuild it!” She smiled and stuck out her chest, delighted with herself. The MPOOE club was gone, but Reba Silo was still a force in the universe.

Everybody started talking, clearly thrilled at the idea.

Lerner jumped in quickly. “Wait! It's too risky. What if the people in the building disappear along with the building?” she argued. “Maybe what makes a school isn't just the building but all the people in it.”

Reba rolled her eyes at Lerner. “The walls and floors and roof will disappear, and all the teachers will be suddenly sitting in the dirt. It's excellent. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out.”

“How do you know that people won't disappear?” Sharmaine asked. “You haven't even seen Fip eat anything.”

Randy stepped forward. “Here's what we do. We delete the school during a fire drill when everybody is outside of the building.”

The noise level increased, excitement was building.

“Excellent!” Reba said, beaming at him. “Randy and I will pull the fire alarm during fifth period. Once everybody's outside, Lerner will let Fip eat
Cleveland Park Middle School!”

Students cheered.

“Let's pick something smaller,” Lerner said.

“What if getting rid of the building just makes it worse?” Bobby said. “What if they send us to worse schools?”

Randy started chanting, “Erase the school! Erase the school!”

Students joined the chant.

Reba hushed the group and said, “Lerner, you're with us, aren't you?”

The way Reba wormed her way in and started taking over bugged Lerner. Reba was not the leader, couldn't everybody see that? Lerner had to get the control of the group back, but how? The excitement about deleting the school now had a life of its own. If Lerner said no, the others would think she was a spoilsport and go with Reba.

Why not go through with it? Cleveland Park Middle School was just a building, she told herself. If everybody was outside of the building, then nobody would get hurt. After it was over, she could hide Fip in her room and tell all the other kids that she couldn't find him. She'd do this one deed, which would make her popular, and then she'd retire Fip and get back to normal.

She pulled her pencil out of her pocket, pointed to the embossed label—Cleveland Park Middle School—and said, in a voice that didn't even sound like her own: “Looks like worm food to me.”

Bobby looked shocked. Everybody else cheered.

The bell rang, and they had to go in.

Lerner ducked in the library. Mrs. Popocheskovich took one look at her face, brought her into her office, and closed the door.

“All right, Cookie, what's sitting on that brain of yours?”

Lerner opened and closed her mouth. All she could think about was that by the end of the day, this very library wouldn't exist. She looked out Mrs. Popocheskovich's office window into the library. Lerner loved this place the minute she first walked in. She loved the way the sun came through the big high windows and warmed up the dark wooden tables. She loved the Poetry Nook with the polka-dotted bean bag chairs and the
GREAT QUOTES
bulletin board, and all the African violets on top of the high shelves. Most of all she loved the feeling that she got whenever she walked in. Her old yellow bedroom in Wisconsin used to give her the same feeling: a sense of home.