Akiko on the Planet Smoo by Mark Crilley Page A

you so sure I
want
to meet Brendan Fitzpatrick?” The card house I’d been working on had completely collapsed, and I was trying to decide whether it was worth the trouble to start a new one.
    â€œTrust me, Akiko,” she said with a big grin, “
everyone
wants to meet Brendan Fitzpatrick.”
    â€œI don’t even like him,” I said, becoming even more anxious to change the subject.
    â€œHow can you not like him?” she asked, genuinely puzzled. “He’s one of the top five cute guys in the fourth grade.”
    â€œI can’t believe you actually have a
list
of who’s cute and who isn’t.”
    That was when my mom knocked on my door. (I always keep the door shut when Melissa’s over. I never know when she’s going to say something I don’t want my mom to hear.)
    â€œAkiko, you got something in the mail,” she said, handing me a small silvery envelope.
    She stared at me with this very curious look in her eyes. I don’t get letters very often. “Are you sure you don’t want this door open?” she asked. “It’s kind of stuffy in here.”
    â€œThanks, Mom. Better keep it closed.”
    It was all I could do to keep Melissa from snatching the letter from me once my mom was out of sight. She kept stretching out her hands all over the place like some kind of desperate basketball player, but I kept twisting away, holding the envelope against my chest with both my hands so she couldn’t get at it.
    â€œIt’s from a boy, isn’t it? I knew it, I knew it!” she squealed, almost chasing me across the room.
    â€œMelissa, this is
not
from a boy,” I said, turning my back to get a closer look at the thing. My name was printed on the front in shiny black lettering, like it had been stamped there by a machine. The envelope was made out of a thick, glossy kind of paper I’d never seen before. There was no stamp and no return address. Whoever sent the thing must have just walked up and dropped it in our mailbox.
    â€œGo on! Open it up!” Melissa exclaimed, losing patience.
    I was just about to, when I noticed something printed on the back of the envelope:
    TO BE READ BY AKIKO AND NO ONE ELSE
    â€œUm, Melissa, I think this is kind of private,” I said, bracing myself. I knew she wasn’t going to take this very well.
    â€œWhat?” She tried again to get the envelope out of my hands. “Akiko, I can’t believe you. We’re best friends!”
    I thought it over for a second and realized that it wasn’t worth the weeks of badgering I’d get if I didn’t let her see the thing.
    â€œAll right, all right. But you have to promise not to tell anyone else. I could get in trouble for this.”
    I carefully tore the envelope open. Inside was a single sheet of paper with that same shiny black lettering:

    And that’s all it said. It wasn’t signed, and there was nothing else written on the other side.
    â€œOutside my window? On the seventeenth floor?”
    â€œIt’s got to be a joke.” Melissa had taken the paper out of my hands and was inspecting it closely. “I think it
is
from someone at school. Probably Jimmy Hampton. His parents have a printing press in their basement or something.”
    â€œWhy would he go to so much trouble to play a joke on me?” I said. “He doesn’t even
know
me.” I had this strange feeling in my stomach. I went over to the window and made sure it was locked.
    â€œBoys are weird,” Melissa replied calmly. “They do all kinds of things to get your attention.”

Later that night, after Melissa had gone home, my dad sat at the little table in our kitchen reading the newspaper while my mom and I made dinner. Dad was still wearing the necktie he’d worn to the office that day, and every once in a while he’d reach up and loosen it a little.
    Mom was telling me about these women she’d had tea with