The True Meaning of Smekday (Smek 1)
Page 64“If you need a hand, you go ask Lucy Tucci, that’s what they say. She reminds me of me—that’s how people thought of me back home in Richmond. ‘Just ask Honey Hoegaarden,’ they’d say. People call me Honey, honey. But I imagine your mom’ll slow down now. She’d almost have to—she’s dug ditches, and taken food out to the old folks and shut-ins, and helped set up a clothing swap and sewing circle for the moms, and of course she just seems to be Dan Landry’s favorite. Always taking notes for him and telling him what the people need.”
“She wasn’t so…active back home,” I said.
“Well, I think Mr. Landry’s rubbing off on her a little.”
“Gross.”
“Oh! Ha! My goodness, that’s not what I meant. I just meant she’s taking after him a bit. And she just had to stay busy while the Lost List people looked for you. She’d have gone mad with worry, otherwise. Now, here’s our cloner. You two know how to work one of these things?”
We let Mrs. Hoegaarden explain to us how to work a telecloner, and then she showed us around the showers and bathrooms. Then one of her kids needed her, and she hustled off.
“You two know your way back?” she called over her shoulder.
“We’re fine,” I said. “Thanks!”
“I meow now?” hissed J.Lo when she was gone. “What comes next? Do I juggle fire?”
“Look, I’m sorry, but it’s good this happened. Mrs. Hoegaarden will probably tell people you meow, and we’ll spread the word, too, and soon if anybody hears Pig they’ll just think it’s you.”
“Yes!” droned J.Lo, throwing his hands up. “A foolsproof plan! Thank Mother Ocean that you do not use your genius for evil.”
“All right, I get it.”
“Okay,” I said. “Maybe I should try to meet more people. We still don’t know who we’re gonna tell about it. We can’t trust anyone.”
“Can’t trust anyone?” said a voice. “That’s an awfully grim thing to say for such a young girl.”
It could have been a superhero’s voice. Then J.Lo and I turned around to see my mom standing next to Clark Kent.
She was smiling kind of wider than usual. “Turtlebear,” she said. “Uh, JayJay, this is Daniel Landry. He’s the governor of the Airport District.”
“Oh, right. Hi,” I said, and shook his hand. J.Lo meowed.
“It’s nice to finally meet you,” Landry said, and his eyes flicked around at passersby, the way people do when they’re looking to see who’s looking at them.
“We were meeting with some new settlers down by the airport,” Mom said as she swept her hair back behind her ear with her fingers. “Mexican families. Daniel—Mr. Landry—needed me to translate.”
“You don’t speak Spanish,” I said.
“I get by,” she said. “Kind of. It’s a lot like Italian.”
“Between your bad Spanish and my bad English,” said Landry, “we’re a perfect pair!”
They both laughed, Mom a little too loudly, and she smoothed her hair back again, though none of it had become mussed. I managed a chuckle and a slight shrug at J.Lo when he looked at me.
“Actually,” I said, glad to be asked, “I was wondering what people were doing to get rid of the Gorg. We can help.”
Mom looked startled, but Landry laughed a big belly laugh.
“Oh, you are too much, Miss Tucci,” he said.
I didn’t like this “Miss Tucci” stuff. “That’s my mom’s name,” I said. “Call me…”
I trailed off, like my brain and my mouth couldn’t get their orders straight.
“Call me Gratuity,” I finished, blinking.
“Well, Gratuity, I hear you’re very brave,” said Landry. Mom smiled and brushed her hair back, and I thought, It’s not gonna get any more behind that ear, Mom.
“I heard you drove out here all by yourself, and got chased by Boov and shot at by Gorg,” Landry went on. “That sounds like enough adventure for one girl for a whole lifetime. Right now I think the best way you can fight the aliens is to stay healthy and study. Read all you can, ’cause we’re going to have the schools open soon.”
I sighed.
“Okay,” I mumbled. Good plan. The Gorg will be devastated if I learn algebra.
“Besides,” said Landry, “the Boov were the bigger problem, and they’re leaving on Labor Day.”
“Actually,” Landry continued, his voice losing some of its tenor, “they don’t really want us to call it Labor Day. It’s now called Excellent Day. For the time being. I suggested Gorganization Day, but they’re not real big on puns.”
J.Lo was wringing his mittened hands and hopping up and down. I knew he wanted to tell me something but couldn’t.
“We’re all going to gather at the airport, everyone in the district, and the Gorg are going to give an address and I think hand out food. It’ll be fun!” Landry insisted with a big TV smile. “Mark your calendars, September second! Okay, very good. You two stay out of trouble, now!”
Mom still had some work to discuss with Landry, so J.Lo and I headed back to the casino alone.
“This is super bad, right?” I said.
“Yes! This is it. The Boov will leave, and the Gorg will get alls the humans to come together. There are probablies many meeting places alls over Arizona. Then the Gorg will take peoples for slaves and furniture, and kill the rest.”
I shuddered. “Just like that?”
“Just like. Just like for they did to the Voort.”
“Who’re they?”
“A young race, like to the humans. A race that had no made contact with other planets beforeto. They also had a not so Excellent Day, and now they are a peoples no longer.”
We walked along in silence. Inside the Diamond Sun we found our little apartment again, and J.Lo immediately started reassembling the teleclone booth. I set Pig in my lap and stroked her while I thought.