It sounded like “Miss Turbone” to her, probably because that was what she expected to hear. “Can you stay after school today?” she asked.
“I’m not in trouble, am I?”
“No,” laughed Miss Turbone. “I’m going to set up a couple of fish tanks on the back ledge. I thought you might like to help me.”
“Okay,” said Gary. “May I ask a friend to help us, too?”
“A friend?” questioned Miss Turbone.
“Oh, sure, Mr. Bone,” said Gary. “I have lots of friends.”
Miss Turbone smiled. “You may invite anyone you’d like, Gary,” she said. She was glad he had made a friend.
“Her name’s Angeline,” said Gary. “You’ll like her. She’s real smart and she has a great sense of humor.” He headed outside to lunch, eager to tell Angeline about setting up the fish tanks with Mr. Bone.
“Gary,” called Miss Turbone.
He stopped and turned toward her. “Yes, Mr. Bone?”
“I’m your friend, too.”
It was a very hot day, just as Angeline had predicted. It was the hottest October fifth since they had started recording the weather.
Abel and Gus drove up and down the city streets, one house at a time, collecting people’s garbage. Sometimes Abel drove while Gus picked up the cans and dumped them in the back of the truck, and other times Gus drove and Abel did the dirty work. They traded off. Besides everything else, the hot weather made the garbage stink worse than usual, especially as the day wore on and the garbage had been out in the sun all day, baking in the heavy metal cans.
They stopped at a little park to eat their lunch. The bathrooms were locked, so they had to put their hands in front of a lawn sprinkler to wash up. It felt so good that they ran in front of the sprinkler and let it spray all over them. It was so hot that they knew that by the time they finished eating, their clothes would be dry.
Abel bit into his sandwich. “Yech!” he exclaimed. He pulled apart the bread and looked inside. “Peanut butter and jello,” he muttered, realizing that he and Angeline must have accidentally traded lunches.
“What’s this!” exclaimed Angeline, holding her sandwich away from her. She had taken one bite out of it. “Salami! I hate salami!”
“I’ll trade with you,” said Gary. “I love salami.”
“Okay,” said Angeline. “What do you have?”
“Salami,” said Gary. “I just love salami.”
They traded salami sandwiches.
“Today after school, do you want to help Mr. Bone and me set up some fish tanks?” he asked.
“Who’s Mr. Bone?” asked Angeline.
“My teacher. We’re setting up some fish tanks after school and Mr. Bone said you can help, too.”
“Okay,” said Angeline. It meant that she’d have to take the regular city bus home instead of the school bus, but she didn’t mind. She liked riding the city buses. She liked pulling the cord when it was time to signal the bus to stop. “Will they be freshwater or saltwater fish tanks?” she asked.
“Will what be freshwater or saltwater?” asked Gary with a slight smirk on his face.
“The fish tanks,” Angeline repeated.
“The fish what?” asked Gary, still smirking.
“Tanks,” said Angeline.
“You’re welcome,” said Gary.
Angeline cracked up. She thought it was the funniest joke she’d ever heard. “I hope they’re saltwater,” she said when she stopped laughing, “like the ocean.”