TONY & SHOOTER OPERATION PANCAKE Written and Illustrated by Gia Menchaca Edited by Kitty Cheung and Sonya Garcia
Anthony and Mita are best-friends and their favorite game to play is Good Guys. They take the alter egos of Tony and Shooter, two loner Robin Hood types who help those in need even if it means breaking the law.
One day during math class, Mr. Rear takes away, the new student, Jeremiah’s stuffed animal Pancake. Jeremiah pleads with the teacher to let him keep Pancake, saying he is his best-friend and keeps him feeling safe around new people.
Mr. Rear looks at the strange toy, and says it is a distraction to the class and against the rules to bring toys. He then tells Jeremiah he can have it at the end of the week. Anthony sees this injustice and knows him and Mita must take action.
After-school he approaches Mita on their walk home. “Mita, Mita, Mita, he says as he waves her down frantically. “We gotta take back Pancake and I know just how.” He smiles slyly as he fantasizes.
However, Mita quickly shuts him down saying, “We can't. We’ll get in trouble. He broke the rules, that's what happens.” “But it's his best friend and Mr. Rear was just being mean. No one was distracted except the jerks picking on Pancake.” “No we can't, it's against the rules!!” She sternly repeats. “Shooter wouldn’t care about rules,” Anthony muttered
“That’s just a dumb game.” “Take that back!” He demands. “What?” Replies Mita. “I said take back what you said about Cool Guys!!” Anthony yells angrily, with hurt in his voice.
“It's not real, grow up already you baby.” She replies snobbishly. “I don’t even know who you are. I hate you!!” Anthony says with a knot in his throat. He wants to cry but doesn’t want to show it so he runs away instead.
The next day during class things were tense. Anthony doesn’t sit in his usual spot next to Mita, but all the way across the room instead. All day they send glaring looks at one another. Mr. Rear passes out the graded math homework.
“Nice work Margret,” he says while handing Mita a paper with a big red ‘A’ on it. “Yeah, nice work MAAARRRGRET,” Anthony shouts across the room sarcastically, knowing Mita hates being called that. Mita’s full name is Margarita but Mr. Rear says it’s too hard to pronounce so he calls her Margret instead.
As the teacher comes by to Anthony, he tells him to “Try harder next time,” revealing a big F. Mita lets out a chuckle. She knows math is Anthony’s worst enemy.
The bell rings and it's time for lunch!! Today is pizza day but Anthony is more hungry for pancakes. With his tray in hand, he runs towards Jeremiah and excitedly sits next to him. “I have a plan to rescue Pancake.” “OMG really!!???!” Jeremiah replies with a gigantic smile. “Shhhhhhhh! We don’t know who could be listening” he whispers suspiciously.
“The names Tony and I’ve got just the tools to bust your guy out of the pin.” Tony then pulls out a stethoscope he “borrowed” from his mom and begins to lay out the mission.
From afar Mita sees the boys and can’t help but wonder what’s going on. So she gets up and walks over, but she is quickly met with a “Get out of here Margret, we don’t need any tattle-tales” from Tony. Enraged, Mita pushes Tony out of his seat yelling to never call her that again.
This catches the attention of Mr. Rear.“That is no way for a young lady to act. No recess for you!� In the cold, lonely room Mita sits with her hands tucked under legs and head down. She is disappointed in herself; this is her first time in detention.
But more importantly, this is her first fight with Anthony. They’ve had arguments before but never this bad or for this long. As her feelings inside grow, she can no longer contain it and burst into tears.
The librarian Ms. Cheung rushes over to comfort her. “What’s wrong Mita?” “I-I-I-,” she stutters gasping for air in between sobs, “I miss my best friend.” “You mean Anthony, I was wondering what was going on with you guys. You two are usually inseparable” Ms. Cheung replies
Mita begins to explain the entire situation about Pancake, the walk home, the name-calling, and finally the big fight. “Ahh I see,” Ms. Cheung says shaking her head, “come with me I have some people I want you to meet.” She then leads her to the non-fiction section titled “History”.
There Ms. Cheung pulls out different books about famous activists. There was Claudette Colvin, the first woman to be arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white person in Montgomery, Alabama.
There was also Nina Simone who protested the Vietnam War by refusing to pay her taxes and fund a violence. She said “To heck with you, tax man” and “hellooooo extra money.” That made Mita laugh and was her favorite story by far.
“Wow, I never even knew about these ladies. They're so cool!” Ms. Cheing then replied, “And you know what, if it weren’t for people like them we wouldn’t have many of our rights today. Heck, you and I would not even be able to have this very conversation right now. Martin Luther King once said, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
Mita thought really hard about what was said and right then, she knew what she must do. “I think I gotta go, Ms.Cheung”
Meanwhile, on the playground, Tony’s scheme was in pursuit. He nonchalantly swung on the swings as he scoped the place out. Mr. Rear watched the students play while blocking the direction back to the classroom, but it won’t be for long. Tony jumped off the swings giving Jeremiah the signal:
“BAAACCC, BA, BA, BA. BAAAAC!!” He tore off his civilian wear, revealing an all-black tank top and jeans. He crawled, jumped, and tiptoed through the jungle gym.
Jeremiah ran up to Mr.Rear to create a distraction. “Umm...Uh...Uh...Hi Mr. Rear, lovely weather we’re having today,” he nervously stuttered.
“What do you want, kid?” Mr. Rear responded, not letting his eyes off the playground. Panicking, Jerimiah needed to think of something quick, “Well I... um... was thinking… Uhhh...LOOK OVER THERE!!!!” He pointed in the opposite direction just in time for Tony to sneak by. Mr.Rear was confused but simply shrugged it off.
Tony had made it to the classroom-- this was the moment. He pulled out the blue and silver stethoscope. As he put them on, he took a deep breath. Tony had never cracked a safe in real life but this was how all the experts in movies had done it.
However, as he looked at the lock he soon realized this was no ordinary combination but a math problem instead! Tony began to feel sick. “Ummm the one goes over the two,� he thought to himself, desperately trying to remember the next step as he counted his fingers. With the clock ticking, Tony began to panic. Was all hope lost??
He then felt a small hand on his shoulder. Slowly turning around to reveal it was Mita! “You came!” he shouted happily as he gave her a huge bear hug. “I’m sorry I called you Margret.” “I’m sorry I called you a baby and said Cool Guys was fake. You were right about everything.” “I lied I don’t hate you. I love you.” “I love you too. Let's never fight again.”
“Deal, but first we got a safe to crack, Mita. I mean Shooter.� He said with a smile. Tony took a pair of matching shades and handed them to her. Shooter put on the shades, cracked her knuckles, and got down to business. With 5 mins on the clock, she quickly solved the problem and retrieved Pancake but they were in the clear yet.
The pair placed Pancake in their backpack and ran to the door but it was too late. When opening the door, they were met with a very angry Mr. Rear.
“What are you two doing in the classroom all by yourselves?,” he sternly questioned, “And Margaret, aren’t you supposed to be in the library?”
Silence. “Well Margaret, don’t you have anything to say for yourself.” “That's not my name,” she muttered. “Excuse me.” “I SAID THAT'S NOT MY NAME! My names are Margarita Mita a.k.a. Shooter and those are the only options!
Just as Mr.Rear was getting ready to yell at Mita a knock came at the door. It was the principal with Ms. Cheung. “Hello Mr.Rear, may I speak to you outside? I’ve been hearing some not too good things about your classroom conduct,” said the principal.
“Yes sir” Mr.Rear replied sheepishly. As they walked outside Ms. Cheung gave Mita a smile and a wink. Mita knew everything would be okay.
After school, the pair returned Pancake to Jeremiah who thanked them multiple times. “You guys are the coolest! I wish I could be just like you,” said Jeremiah. “You know we couldn’t have pulled off this operation without you. What do you think, Shooter, adding another Cool guy to the team?” Tony suggested. “I think that's your best idea yet.” The trio walked home together as they schemed their next mission.