Liar & Spy

On his way home from school, Georges stops at Bennie’s candy store to buy Starburst and learns that Candy is one of Bennie’s best customers. back at the apartment, Safer calls to tell Georges to come up to Apartment 6A. Before he goes, Georges calls his father and mother to tell them he’s home safe. His mother sounds tired. Georges runs up three flights of stairs to Safer and Candy’s apartment. Candy lets him in and gives him a tour, pointing out a door that she says leads to “Pigeon’s room” (41). Safer welcomes Georges to “Uncle,” and then explains that this is a spy term for an espionage agency’s headquarters. Safer asks if Georges has been practicing his observation skills and then quizzes him on Candy’s outfit. He also introduces Georges to the “lobbycam,” which turns out to be the display on the intercom that allows residents to view visitors at the door. They watch the lobby door for a while, and Georges falls asleep. Suddenly, Safer shouts out and elbows him; although Georges misses it, Safer spotted Mr. X entering the building and now claims that Mr. X looked “furtive” (46).

As Safer walks Georges out, Georges asks who Pigeon is. Safer tells him that Pigeon is his brother, who is never there. Georges asks how Safer got into his bedroom to leave the index card. Safer says he comes and goes, then asks if the intrusion bothered Georges. Georges says yes, and Safer promises that it will never happen again. Downstairs, Georges goes looking for his protractor to finish his geometry homework and finds his mother’s nursing uniforms neatly folded on a closet shelf. He decides not to do the homework and watches America’s Funniest Home Videos instead, which his mother had recorded for him to cheer him up. When his father gets home, they order pizza, and Georges tells him that he met a kid in the building; this news cheers his father up. Georges’s father gets a phone call and goes to his room to talk, and Georges leaves his mother another message with the scrabble tiles: “WISH DEMARCOS DELIVERED / LOVE ME” (48).

The next morning, the Scrabble note from Georges’s mother reads, “BEATS HOSPITAL FOOD” (49). At school, Dallas and Carter follow Georges into the science classroom, making alarm noises. Carter asks Dallas if his “freak alarm is going off,” and they laugh. Mr. Landau starts the lecture by naming four of the tastes: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter; he asks if anyone knows the fifth, and then adds “umami.” Mr. Landau explains that “umami” denotes a savory taste. He gives the students a writing activity to describe a memory that matches a taste. Each table is assigned to consider one of the five senses, but Georges and another student, Bob English Who Draws, are at table six. Mr. Landau adds “bittersweet” to the taste list and assigns it to table six. Georges thinks of a bittersweet memory in which he and Jason were playing with balls outside of a store when a bird suddenly flew into the plate glass window and fell to the ground. Georges’s mother comforted them, and explained that the bird may have been stunned. Soon, the bird recovered and flew away, and the boys celebrated. Georges doesn’t write any of this down. He looks over at Bob and sees that he is drawing instead of writing.

Jason approaches Georges in the lunchroom and says he is sorry to hear that Georges’s family sold their house, but he bets it will be okay because Georges’s parents are “still cool” (55). It’s hard for Georges to hate Jason, even though Jason has “shrugged off [their] friendship like it was nothing” (56). At Bennie’s on the way home, Bennie tells Georges that he saw Candy that day. When Georges gets home, his phone is rings again and Safer invites him over. In Safer’s apartment, the boy is using binoculars for birdwatching. Safer explains that a family of wild parrots is nesting beneath an air conditioner on the side of the building next door. Safer says that Pigeon used to watch the birds, and that he’s taking notes now in case Pigeon starts caring about them again. Candy comes in and says that Georges is invited to stay for dinner. Georges calls his dad for permission. His dad says he’s at the hospital saying hi to Mom; he asks if Georges wants to call back in five minutes to talk to her, but Georges says that he and Safer will be busy. Georges’s dad sounds happy to hear that Georges will be hanging out with a friend.

Safer tells Georges that they’re going to try a new technology to keep track of Mr. X. He explains that Georges will tuck a folded gum wrapper between Mr. X’s door and its frame, which will indicate whenever Mr. X opens the door; this will allow the boys to track his comings and goings. At dinner, Georges meets Pigeon, Safer’s older brother and learns that Pigeon doesn’t eat birds and hasn’t since he realized that the food “chicken” comes from the bird chicken. Safer tries to bait Pigeon by saying that Thanksgiving turkey is delicious; later, Safer explains that Pigeon is gone all the time now because he is going to high school. Georges learns that Pigeon is the only one to attend a public school; none of the siblings attended school until Pigeon started last year, and Safer and Candy still don’t.

When Georges’s father comes home, he goes upstairs to meet Safer’s mom. Georges knows they’ll be chatting for a while, so he wanders back to Safer, who invites him over for breakfast in the morning, forgetting that Georges has to go to school.

Back downstairs, Georges and his father watch a baseball game on TV. They don’t talk about how much more fun it is to watch baseball when his mom is there, because she actually knows something about the sport. Georges’s mom calls, and they talk about Safer’s family. Once Georges’s father is in his room taking his nightly phone call, Georges goes upstairs and puts the gum wrapper in Mr. X’s door frame. He leaves his mother a scrabble note: “THE METS WON / LOVE ME” (67). 

Georges’s mother’s morning Scrabble message reads: “BULLPEN NEEDS WORK LOVE YOU” (68). In science class, Dallas pats Georges on the head roughly. Bob English tells Georges that Dallas is out to get him because he knocked him over that day after gym class, and everyone saw it happen. He says some other students, Anita, Chad, and Paul, were high-fiving because Dallas has been bullying them all year and calling them the Nerd Squad. Dallas has been harassing Anita about getting a perfect score on the SAT because she’s “Asian” and “Asians are supposed to be super-smart or whatever” (69).

The last period of the day is gym class; Ms. Warner offers Georges a high-five, which he rejects because it’s not Friday yet. Dallas and Carter make fun of Georges, but he ignores them. When Georges gets home that afternoon, his key works easily in the lock. He doesn’t notice the difference until Safer explains that he fixed it. On his way upstairs, Georges sees that the gum wrapper is on Mr. X’s doormat, which should mean he’s home. He takes it to Safer, who seems unusually uninterested in the subject because the parrot nest has been disrupted somehow. Safer sends Georges downstairs to check the sidewalk under the nest and see if there are any sticks down there. Georges does find sticks on the sidewalk, along with a green feather. He takes them back to Safer, who speculates that hawks or falcons might have attacked the nest. Georges suggests they watch the lobbycam, which cheers Safer up. 

Georges tries to focus on the lobbycam, but he starts missing his mother terribly, thinking that “the feeling has been there all along and I can’t ignore it anymore” (75). He compares the feeling to the buzzing sound he heard in the lobby on his first day in the apartment and suddenly realizes that Safer was watching him on the lobbycam the whole time. His attention wanders again, and he remembers the night his father lost his job. His mother had seemed so positive about the whole thing, but later, once they thought Georges couldn’t hear, Georges’s mom said that she was going to take on extra shifts because the pay was excellent. This was when Georges realized that his father getting fired was a serious event.

After some conversation about inconsequential things, Safer states that observing Mr. X will only get them so far. He says that Mr. X is always having people come into his apartment and is always leaving with heavy suitcases, implying that Mr. X is taking people’s bodies out in the suitcases. Georges is dumbstruck—he’s never even seen the guy. Later, per a previous arrangement, Safer picks up two of the neighbors’ dogs to take them on a walk. Together, he and Georges take the dogs down through the basement into the courtyard. Safer steps back inside; the dogs immediately react, deflating and watching the door with worried looks. When Safer comes back outside, the dogs “act like it’s a miracle,” jumping all over him (79). Safer tells Georges to come inside and says he has something to show him.

Safer leaves the dogs in the courtyard and takes Georges to the laundry room. He points out the black clothes in one of the dryers, Georges realizes that they must belong to Mr. X. Safer orders Georges to go through the clothes, but Georges refuses, so Safer does instead while Georges acts as the lookout. Georges goes to the hallway to watch the elevator and excitedly warns Safer when it stops on four: Mr. X’s floor. Safer tells Georges to calm down because spies don’t freak out. The elevator starts moving again, continuing down past the lobby to the basement. The elevator door opens, revealing Safer’s mother. The dogs in the courtyard start barking, wanting Safer to return, and before Safer’s mom can interrogate Georges, Safer comes out of the laundry room and says he was washing his hands after handling the dogs. Safer’s mom asks them to stay upstairs with Candy so that she can run an errand; she also invites Georges to dinner.

Upstairs, Safer shows Georges a small gold key, which he claims he found in one of Mr. X’s pants pockets. He says they have to go inside Mr. X’s apartment tomorrow to find out what they key opens. Georges’s dad calls, and Georges remembers he’s supposed to meet downstairs at five o’clock for an orthodontist appointment. Candy asks if they’re taking the D train, because there’s a newsstand on one of the D platforms that sells giant SweeTarts that are difficult to find elsewhere. Safer presses a fresh gum wrapper into Georges’s hand and whispers, “Tomorrow,” with emphasis (86). That night, Georges goes upstairs and puts the gum wrapper in place. He leaves his mom a Scrabble note: “OUCH TEETH / LOVE ME” and dreams about the dogs staring at the door with their worried looks (88).