The Adventures of Jack Lime by James Leck

residence waiting for Walter to get back home.
    â€œHello, Walter,” I said, as he stepped onto his front walk. “Good to see you again.”
    â€œWhat do you want, Lime? Another beating?”
    â€œHow did the wind turbine project go?”
    â€œFine,” he said, stepping up to me. “Just fine.”
    â€œAll handed in and wrapped with a bow?”
    â€œThat’s right,” he said. “Now, could you get out of my way? I have a hamster to feed. And a python, too.”
    â€œYou don’t have to worry about Carver anymore,” I said.
    â€œWhat are you blabbering about now?”
    I pulled a DVD out of my pocket. “You know what’s on this? A video of the winning Science Fair project from City Heights High School. It’s all about wind turbines. Tyrone Jonson did it last year. It’s fantastic. You should watch it, Wally.”
    Walter pursed his lips, and his nose got a little sharper. He snatched the DVD out of my hand.
    â€œYou’re welcome, Wally. Consider it a graduation present. Of course, there are plenty of copies: one for your physics teacher, one for Principal Snit, one for the execs at Luxemcorp. They might get a special delivery this week. But that depends on whether or not you give up Carver.”
    â€œThere’s nothing on this,” Walter spat at me.
    â€œThere’s lots of good material on there, Walter. You can watch it to your heart’s content tonight. And you’d better hope your paper isn’t too much like Tyrone’s Science Fair project. Think back, Wally: how much did you use out of the paper Tyrone sent you? A little? A lot? Academic fraud would take you out of the running for the Luxemcorp Prize PDQ.”
    â€œI’m going to kill that little ball of fur right now,” he barked, stepping by me. “I’ll feed it to Cindy!”
    â€œThat’s a lose-lose situation, Wally,” I said, before he got inside. “You’d be out of the running for the big prize, and Tyrone loses his precious hamster. But Tyrone will get over it, I’m sure. Thirty-five grand a year will do that to a person. Plus, he’ll finally get the chance to stuff you in a toilet paper roll without worrying about Carver getting fed to a snake. I don’t think you’d look good stuffed in a toilet paper roll, Wally. How about you? No, I think the smarter play would be you bringing Carver down here now and taking your chances on the prize the right way, the fair way, using your brain instead of Tyrone’s.”
    â€œHow do I know you won’t send the disks anyway?”
    â€œIt’s called leverage, Wally. We send the DVDs, and we lose our leverage. You should know that.”
    Monday, June 9, 5:28 p.m.
2 Main Street, The Train Station
    The train station is a busy place at rush hour. Parents are getting home from a hard day’s work. Kids are crowding onto the trains to go earn a dime at part-time jobs in the city. But Tyrone Jonson is not a hard person to find, even in a crowd.
    â€œThanks again, Jack,” he said, putting Carver into his cage and draping a blanket over it.
    â€œI’m just glad you’ve got him back.”
    â€œHow did Walter take it?”
    â€œNot good,” I said. “I’d keep an eye on him for the rest of the year.”
    â€œI’m not worried,” Tyrone said, “as long as we’ve got some leverage.”
    â€œThat reminds me,” I said. “I’ve got an atomic wedgie to record tonight.”
    â€œWhat?” Tyrone asked.
    â€œMore leverage,” I said. “More leverage.”

THE CASE OF THE BIG DUPE
    Friday, September 27, 5:51 p.m.
Iona Hospital, Room 234
    I woke up in a fog as thick as a three-day-old cup of joe. I didn’t have a clue where I was or how I got there, so I tried to sit up and have a look around. Problem was, my head felt as if it’d been cracked open like an egg at a Sunday brunch, so the world