10 W-B-0-L-B-B

CHAPTER 10 W-B-O-L-B-B Claire took J. C. to meet the neighbors. Kaz listened from inside Claire's bottle. Several of the closest neighbors said they'd noticed some wavy lines and strange voices coming through their TVs around five o'clock. But the two houses on either side of J. C.'s house seemed to have the most trouble. "I'm sorry if my radio is causing interference," J. C. said to Mrs. Jeffrey, David, and Ben as they stood on the Jeffreys' front porch. "Would you mind turning on your television right now? I'd like to see whether my radio is causing your trouble."

"Sure," Mrs. Jeffrey said. "I'd like to know, too. Whatever's causing it, I was pretty sure it wasn't a ghost." She ruffled Ben's hair. "Ghost?" J. C. chuckled. "Did you think I was a ghost, little man?" Ben shrugged and hid behind his mom. J. C. grinned. "If my radio is causing interference, I have some ideas for fixing it," he

told Mrs. Jeffrey. Then he turned to Claire. "Would you like to see what amateur radio is all about?" "Sure," Claire said, hugging her bottle to her hip. "Can I see, too?" David asked. "Me too!" Ben begged. "Why don't you stay here with me, Ben, and we'll see if we get interference on our TV," Mrs. Jeffrey said. Ben groaned. But then his face brightened. "Can we see if the voice comes through the organ again?" "Yes, we'll turn on both the organ and the TV and see what happens," Mrs. Jeffrey said, leading Ben back inside the house. Claire and David walked next door with J. C. Once inside, J. C. led them to a small room off the kitchen. "Welcome to my shack," he said, waving his hand around the room. It had one large table with

a bunch of electronics stuff. There wasn't much else. A small window looked out into the backyard. "Why do you call it a shack?" David asked. J. C. grinned. "That's what we hams call our radio setup," he said as he sat down heavily on the stool. "Hams?" Claire scrunched up her nose. "That's another word for amateur radio operators," he said. J. C. turned on one of the machines, and Claire and Ben stood on either side of him. That machine was way bigger than any other radio Kaz had ever seen. And there was no music, just talking. Sometimes the talking was hard to understand, especially when J. C. turned the big dial. One voice faded and another came on. He turned the dial a little farther and then stopped. The radio was silent. "It's not five o'clock yet, but let's see if any of my friends are listening," J. C. said as he reached

for a microphone. "K-A-O-I-A-O... K-A-O-I-A O... K-A-O-I-A-O, this is W-B-O-L-B-B calling. Little Boy Blue calling K-A-O-I-A-O." "What's Little Boy Blue?" Claire asked. "That's me." J. C. grinned. "I'm Little Boy Blue. Bs are hard to understand on the radio. A B sounds like D, E, G, P, T, or V. Sometimes I say Lima, Bravo, Bravo, but Little Boy Blue sounds more interesting, doesn't it?" Claire and David agreed that it did. J. C. turned back to his microphone. "K-A-O-I- A-O... K-A-O-I-A-O... This is W-B-O-L-B-B. Are you around, Donna?" A couple of seconds later, a scratchy lady's voice came over the radio. "W-B-O-L-B-B. This is K-A-O-I-A-O. Wasn't expecting to hear from you until dinnertime." "Let's go see if J. C. is on our TV or our organ right now," David said. "Okay. Keep talking, Mr. Hill," Claire said as she held tight to her water bottle. "We'll be right

back." She and David ran next door. David's garage door stood open, so they went into the house through the garage. "It's coming through the TV and the organ again. And it's not even five o'clock!" Ben exclaimed as soon as David and Claire walked into the living room. Kaz noticed that the table lamp was on, too. They saw the lines on the TV, and they heard J. C.'s garbled voice coming through both the TV and the organ. Now that they'd actually met J. C., they recognized the voice as his. It didn't sound nearly as scary anymore. In fact, it sounded kind of funny.