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the best for last!"
"Thencan we go on the normal tour?" Miss Dalrymple persisted.
"Certainly," said Douglas. "But for now follow me, and prepare to be
astounded!"
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Like a man on a mission, he led them through a maze of corridors, deeper into
the bowels of the basement. The ceiling was lower. There were more pipes
jutting out at odd angles. The cement floor seemed to slope downward.
"We're going down!" complained Mrs. Dupuis.
Judging a Great Man by His Socks___________________77
She turned to her husband. "Make him stop!"
"Now, see here, son!" the colonel exploded. "Do you know where you're going?
We've made an awful lot of turns."
"We're almost there," Douglas promised. He increased his pace, striding ahead
to stand proudly beside a hole in the floor that was surrounded by a small
metal railing.
"If that's the sewer, I don't want to know about it," said Mr. Cuccina
sourly.
Douglas pointed down the hole. A cramped spiral metal staircase led down to a
sub-basement level. "Follow me!"
"Where to?" bawled the colonel. "China?"
"I'm not going!" declared Miss Dalrymple, folding her arms in front of her.
But by that time, Douglas had already bounded eagerly downstairs, and was
shouting encouragement up to his group. They looked at each other uneasily.
They were hopelessly lost down here, and Douglas was their only guide. They
had no choice but to stay with him. One by one, they eased their way gingerly
down the stairs, aided by the colonel at the top, and Douglas at the bottom.
Finally, they stood panting in the sub-basement.
"Okay," gasped Mr. Buckingham. "This better be good. Where is it?"
"It's here!" Douglas replied. "All around us!" He motioned around the room to
where hundreds of wires, cables, and conduit pipes converged on circuit boxes
and switches.
The colonel was mystified. "What wires? Big deal!"
"Mot just wires!" Douglas exclaimed. "If we think
78_______________________________THE TW1NKIE SQUAD
of the building as a human being, this is the heart! These wires are
arteries, veins, and capillaries, bringing life-giving blood to all the vital
organs!"
Mrs. Dupuis took her husband's arm and headed back up the spiral staricase.
"Come along, Reginald! We're leaving, with or without our so-called guide!"
"This is it! The brain center! The absolute vortex of power! Look at these
switches! They control everything the gym lights, the Scoreboard "He began
to flick switches on and off at random.
Commando was leading his tour group to their seats for the basketball game
when the lights went out.
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A nervous murmur rose from the sell-out crowd of alumni, teachers, students,
parents, and neighborhood people. Seconds later, the lights came on again, but
power was cut to the Scoreboard. Then the Scoreboard came back on, but a
murmur from the crowd out in the front reception area indicated thatthey were
in the dark.
One of the gentlemen from Commando's group turned to him worriedly. "What's
going on?"
"Oh it's just a test of the electricity," Commando replied with a strange
smile. But he knew it was Doug.
Now the lights were going on and off at random, playing over the spectators'
faces like a flickering camp fire. Mr. Bell, the custodian, hurried out of the
gym to investigate the problem.
Down on the floor with the Thaddeus Q. Little cheerleaders stood the
Richardsons, all anxiety, waiting. Commando checked the crowd. Dave, Yolanda,
Gerald, Anita, and Ric all sat with their groups. There
Judging a Great Man by His Socks___________________79
was no question who the Richardsons were looking for. Doug had taken five
innocent people on a ten-minute building tour, and landed them somewhere
between the sports building and the earth's core. And wherever he was, he now
had control of the lights.
Commando fought down an insane desire to stand up and cheer. Who wanted to
watch Kahlil, anyway? Crazy Doug was single-handedly holding up the basketball
game.
Douglas scrambled up the metal stairs after his departing tour. "Come back!
I'm not finished yet!"
"You are as far as I'm concerned!" snapped Miss Dalrymple.
"Take us to the gym at once!" ordered the colonel.
Douglas looked at him sadly. "You didn't like it."
Colonel Dupuis blew up. "Ofcourse I didn't like it!Nobody liked it! I'm
sixty-seven years old, and this is the stupidest thing that's ever happened to
me! Now take us to the game, or we'll go ourselves!"
"Youdo know the way out?" added Mrs. Dupuis.
"Of course," said Douglas. He began to lead them through the labyrinth of
corridors. "When we get to the trash compactor, we'll know how to find the
furnace room. And once we're there, we can find the air conditioning, which is
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