“NEVER!!” Iggy yelled.
Mom took Iggy by the hand and dragged him back to my bedroom.
After Chauncey left, I went back to my seat at the front window and noticed that the new kid was still outside in his front yard. He stared at something on the ground, as if he had just discovered the most amazing thing he’d ever seen in his life. He bent down to examine whatever it was through some kind of tool that looked like a little microscope. I watched as he put things in little bags and boxes.
I had never seen anyone act so interested in his own front yard before, and watching him made me curious. In fact, I was so curious that I forgot to feel shy. Plus, I figured this was my chance to introduce myself without Iggy around to embarrass me.
I decided to just walk right up to this new kid and find out what he was up to.
“HI, DANIEL,” said the new kid, before I had even opened my mouth to say hello.
“How do you know my name?”
“Oh, your parents told my parents that the two of us should hang out sometime,” he explained. “I’m Alistair.” He stuck out his hand, so I shook it.
I thought the formal handshake was a little weird for a kid his age. I also noticed that Alistair wore a cool-looking watch that was different from any watch I had seen before. It was loaded with so many round screens and tiny buttons, it reminded me of a tiny spaceship on his wrist.
Alistair’s face, on the other hand, seemed familiar. I felt sure that I recognized him from someplace.
I know this new kid from somewhere! I kept thinking. But from where?
Alistair showed me a collection of insects he had trapped in little bug-catching containers: all kinds of caterpillars, beetles, ladybugs, spiders, and butterflies. It was pretty interesting because Alistair had a few species I had never even noticed around my yard.
“What are you going to do with them?” I asked.
“Just the usual,” he shrugged. “Observe them, take notes, do some molecular and genetic analysis.”
“Molecular and genetic analysis” sounded pretty cool, even though I wasn’t really sure what it meant. I noticed that one of the containers held some weird-looking tubes filled with something that looked like clear Jell-O in different colors; the whole thing looked like a miniature science lab. Some of the tubes contained live bugs; others contained dead bugs and other weird objects suspended in the colorful jiggly stuff. I noticed one tube that contained something really strange. It looked like it might be some type of sea creature’s tentacle.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing. I tried to get a closer look, but Alistair quickly grabbed all the containers and hid them in a backpack that rested on the front porch. “I shouldn’t leave those sitting out in the sun,” he said. “I use the containers to preserve insects for dissection and to study their DNA.”
I must have looked confused because Alistair started teaching me about DNA: “It’s kind of like a secret code that’s inside every cell of every living creature,” Alistair said. “DNA tells the cell what type of proteins to make; it’s like a set of instructions telling the cell what it’s supposed to be doing in the body.”
“I know what DNA is,” I said. To be honest, I had forgotten the details, but I remembered it had something to do with whether you end up tall or short and whether you have blue eyes or brown eyes and stuff like that.
Alistair shrugged. “Anyway, I’ll probably let the living bugs go after I examine them for a few days.” Alistair picked up a jar that contained a living grasshopper. “Here—do you want to take a look at this one?”
Alistair let me look at the grasshopper through a high-powered magnifying glass. Then he showed me how to find and catch a little cricket and store it in one of his bug-catcher boxes.
Just then, I glanced up and spotted Chauncey outside in his yard, a few houses down the street. He was just standing there, hitting a tree with a stick. I suddenly felt like hiding. If Chauncey spots me and Alistair, I thought, he’ll come over here and try to convince us to sneak back into my house and steal marshmallows, or wake up Iggy from his nap. (Chauncey has a newborn baby sister and an older sister, but he says he’d rather play with Iggy at my house. Why? Because it’s so fun to roll Iggy up in a blanket and sit on him.)
“Hey—” said Alistair, “do you want to come in and take a look at my Planet Blaster Technoblok models?”
It was like Alistair could read my mind. “Sure! Let’s go right now!” I followed Alistair inside, feeling relieved to have a break from another afternoon with Chauncey. I also guessed that Alistair must have some pretty cool stuff inside his house.
And guess what? For once, I was completely right!
WELL, TO BE HONEST, the very first thing I noticed inside Alistair’s house was a funny smell. I felt like I was sitting in front of a plate full of my most unfavorite cooked vegetables.
But when I saw Alistair’s room, I forgot about the smell problem pretty fast. In fact, I knew that Alistair was definitely going to be my best friend for the whole rest of the school year no matter how bad his house smelled.
Why?
Because what I found in Alistair’s room was the coolest collection of Planet Blaster stuff I had ever seen in my entire life. And believe me, I’ve seen a lot, because I’ve seen every Planet Blaster movie and built about half the Planet Blaster Technoblok spacecraft models that exist. Everything was there. He even had the very rare Sargonian Desolator and the Pyrokyte Transfixor.
I was in awe. “Did you build all of these?”
“Yes,” he said. “You can have one of them if you like them.”
“I CAN HAVE ONE OF THEM?!”
“Yes.”
I stared at Alistair. Suddenly, I realized why he seemed so familiar. “Hey!” I blurted. “Now I know why I recognize you! You look like Zip Starwagon!”
“You mean, the boy in your favorite movie?”
I stared at Alistair. “How did you know that Planet Blaster is my favorite movie?”
“Oh, I just estimated, since you like the Planet Blaster toys.”
“You ‘estimated’?” Alistair had a strange way of talking.
“Planet Blaster is my favorite, too,” he said.
It was true that Alistair’s face resembled the only human character in my favorite Planet Blaster movie. I suddenly couldn’t believe my luck as I looked around Alistair’s room; I felt as if a bunch of my favorite shows and toys had just turned into a family and moved into the house next door.
“Keep the Desolator,” said Alistair. “Since it’s your favorite.”
He was right; it was my favorite. “Are you sure?” I couldn’t imagine giving away the Sargonian Desolator if it had belonged to me.
“Which Planet Blaster model is your favorite?” I asked.
Alistair tilted his head and looked around his bedroom. He didn’t look very excited, considering how many amazing models he had in there.
If this were my room, I thought, I would just sit in here all day and never come out.
“They’re all interesting,” Alistair finally said, “but they’re old-fashioned.”
“Old-fashioned?” This comment didn’t make any sense. How could space vessels that travel across galaxies seem “old-fashioned”?
“Um, I just meant that they aren’t the newest models you can buy at the store,” Alistair explained.
“What about that watch you’re wearing?” I asked. “Is that old-fashioned, too?”
“This watch is the opposite of old-fashioned,” said Alistair in a very serious voice. Then he did something surprising: He pointed his watch in the direction of one of his Planet Blaster models and pushed a button. The next thing I knew, the model spaceship was flying around the room! Just like magic, he had turned a Technoblok model into an amazing robot plane!
I just stood there with my mouth hanging open as I watched. A
s far as I could tell, the model spaceship didn’t have an engine or batteries, so how could it fly?
“Can I try that watch?” It was all I could do to keep myself from grabbing the watch from Alistair’s wrist and pressing all the buttons.
“Well. . . . You have to be really careful with it. . . .”
I could tell Alistair didn’t want to let me touch that amazing watch.
“It’s not really a toy.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll be careful.”
“No—you have to be REALLY careful.”
“Okay. I’ll be REALLY careful.”
“Don’t push any random buttons.”
“Why not?”
Alistair looked horrified. “What do you mean, ‘Why not?’”
“Well, what do the other buttons do?” I worried that Alistair had changed his mind about letting me wear the watch.
“It would take too long to explain,” said Alistair, “but believe me, you don’t want to push the wrong button on this watch. We would both be in HUGE trouble.”
I figured he must be worried that the aircraft would get out of control and blast through a window or something.
“Look,” I said, “I promise I won’t touch the other buttons. Just let me try it one time, okay?”
Alistair thought for a moment and then carefully removed the watch and placed it on my wrist. The watch felt heavier on my arm than I had expected.
Alistair showed me which button to push as I pointed the watch in the direction of the Sargonian Desolator. A second later, I watched the little vehicle light up and silently lift itself from the floor.
Wow, wow, wow!! I thought. I was practically bouncing up and down with excitement because I had just been given a new Sargonian Desolator that could actually fly with the help of Alistair’s amazing watch. I had a new friend whose room was filled with my favorite Planet Blaster stuff—a friend who knew how to build Technoblok models that could turn into robots of all kinds!
I decided Alistair was the most talented kid I had ever met. Even if he was a little odd.
JUST MY LUCK! Right when I thought I was having the perfect afternoon with Alistair, I looked up and saw a pair of binoculars peering at us through the window. The boy behind the binoculars had tried to disguise himself with a fake beard and mustache, but I could tell right away that it was Chauncey.
Chauncey owns night-vision goggles, high-powered binoculars, and disguises, but playing spy games with him is never fun because he won’t share any of his cool spy gear. Besides, he only spies on people who already know he’s watching them and who wish he would just leave them alone. What Chauncey enjoys most about spying is making other people mad.
I explained to Alistair that it was best to just ignore Chauncey. That was pretty difficult, though, because Chauncey kept knocking on the window.
The next time I looked up, Chauncey was gone, so I figured he had finally given up spying and decided to go home.
But then Alistair’s mother came into the room.
Well, I think Alistair’s mom realized her mistake pretty fast, because Chauncey has no manners about meeting new people
Look, I didn’t like the cooked-vegetable smell either, but I wasn’t about to risk hurting Alistair’s feelings when he owned the best collection of Planet Blaster stuff in the entire neighborhood. Besides, I had kind of gotten used to the smell, so I didn’t notice it that much any more.
Alistair explained that his family has to eat a lot of broccoli because they all have a very unusual food allergy. “In fact,” he said, “broccoli is practically the only food my body is able to digest.”
Chauncey looked like he was about to have a heart attack. “You mean, you can’t eat ANYTHING else?!” he practically yelled. “ONLY BROCCOLI?!”
I knew what Chauncey was thinking: Forget about getting any good snacks at Alistair’s house.
“Not very much of anything else,” said Alistair. “Approximately ninety-five percent of the food I eat is some form of broccoli.”
“You’re lying,” said Chauncey. “Nobody could eat that much broccoli and still be alive.
Alistair took us to his kitchen and opened the refrigerator door.
It did sound pretty awful to have nothing but broccoli on your plate at every meal. On the other hand, Alistair didn’t seem to feel the least bit sorry for himself. Maybe he just really likes broccoli, I thought.
“Look,” Alistair said, pointing. Through the kitchen window, we saw that Alistair’s backyard looked like a little farm. “That’s our broccoli garden.”
“That’s gonna be a lot of broccoli,” said Chauncey.
“Let’s hope,” said Alistair. “The soil in this yard has a perfect pH of 6.8 and lots of organic matter, so it’s really ideal for growing broccoli.”
Chauncey and I stared at Alistair as if he had just turned into a broccoli plant himself. I had never met a kid who knew so much about growing broccoli; that’s for sure.
“Remind me NOT to come to your birthday party when it’s time to eat the broccoli cake,” said Chauncey.
“Okay,” said Alistair. “I’ll remind you.”
I had a feeling Alistair actually liked broccoli cake.
“So what else is there to do around this vegetable dump?” Chauncey asked.
We went into Alistair’s room, and I could tell that Chauncey was impressed with Alistair’s Planet Blaster Technoblok models and robots, even though he wouldn’t admit it. It bugged me that Chauncey kept saying things like, “My room is actually bigger than this room,” and “Oh, I already have that one.”
I wanted Chauncey to see that Alistair’s models were actually way cooler than anything at Chauncey’s house. “Hey, Alistair,” I said, “you should show Chauncey how you can turn the models into flying robots with your watch!”
“What watch?” Chauncey asked.
Then I saw that Alistair wasn’t wearing his watch anymore. “Hey, where’s your remote-control watch?”
“What remote-control watch?!” Chauncey demanded.
“Oh, I think the batteries are running out. It stopped working so I took it off.”
Somehow I doubted that this was true. “I might have some extra batteries at my house,” I offered.
“It takes a special type of battery,” said Alistair. “You wouldn’t have it at your house.”
I guessed the truth was that Alistair didn’t want Chauncey to play with his special watch. I couldn’t blame him, since Chauncey would be likely to press every button without asking first. Still, I was disappointed.
“We can still build Technoblok models,” said Alistair.
“I’m bored,” said Chauncey, after we had worked on building models for about half a minute.
“Why?” Alistair asked.
“Because this is so BORING! Right, Daniel?”
“I’m not bored.” I was kind of hoping Chauncey would just leave and go home.
“Let’s play hide-and-seek,” said Chauncey.
“Let’s not.” Hide-and-seek is another one of Chauncey’s favorite games, and he always picks really frustrating hiding places. One time when we were playing hide-and-seek, Chauncey went all the way to his grand-mother’s house a few blocks away, and hid up in her attic.
I finally got so sick of looking for Chauncey that I went back home to watch TV.
“The rule is that the guest gets first choice,” said Chauncey. “I’m the guest, and I pick hide-and-seek.”
“But I’m also Alistair’s guest,” I replied, “and my choice is building Technobloks.”
“But I’m his newest guest,” Chauncey argued. “You’ve been here for HOURS. I mean, you practically LIVE here by now.”
We heard a high-pitched giggle. It was Alistair.
“What’s so funny?” Chauncey demanded.
; “I don’t know!” Alistair just as surprised by his own laughter as we were. He stared at Chauncey and me for a moment, then burst into a new fit of giggles. It was as if he had suddenly turned into a much younger kid. “I’m sorry,” Alistair gasped. “The two of you are just so strange!”
Chauncey and I stared at Alistair. Why was he calling us strange? You would have thought Alistair was watching the most hilarious movie in the world from the way he acted.
“I can’t stop!” Alistair rolled on the ground, clutching his stomach. “This feels so weird—laughing!”
“Okay, I’ve had enough of this place,” said Chauncey. “Come on, Daniel. Let’s go back to your house.”
“I’m staying,” I said. Even with Alistair acting so weird, I knew I would rather keep building Technobloks right where I was than play with Chauncey and Iggy at my house. And maybe if Chauncey leaves, I thought, Alistair will put his watch back on so we can make these vehicles fly again. Chauncey didn’t like that. “Aren’t you supposed to be grounded, Daniel?”
“No.”
“Does your mom even know you’re playing over here?”
“Yes.” (She actually didn’t, but I figured she wouldn’t mind.)
“I’m leaving,” said Chauncey, still hoping that I would follow him.
“Bye,” I said.
Alistair fell silent for a moment. He sat up and looked at Chauncey walking out the door and then burst into a laughing fit all over again.
After Chauncey left, I kept working on Technobloks. I figured Alistair would eventually stop his crazy giggling and that things would go back to normal.
ALISTAIR EVENTUALLY stopped giggling, but unfortunately for me, he also decided that he was tired of building Technobloks in his room. “Can’t we go to your house now?” he asked.
I tried to explain to Alistair that my mom had just put all my cool toys away as a punishment for fighting with my little brother, who might still be taking a nap in what used to be my room. But this only seemed to make Alistair more interested in going to my house.
Iggy Loomis, Superkid in Training Page 2