by Kelly Jones
Eli multiplied my total by 0.95, because 100% minus 5% is 95%. “With your student discount, it’s $266.90.”
“Can I use a plastic-bag coupon too?” I asked Grace. (Everyone in town brings their extra bags in to Rose’s, because you get a 5%-off coupon. That way, Rose doesn’t ever have to buy from the plastic bag salesman who makes her mad, and people don’t have to worry so much about their plastic bags clogging up the ocean.)
“Sure,” Grace said. So I gave her the plastic bags we’d brought, and she gave me my 5%-off coupon.
Eli subtracted another 5%. “It’s only $253.56 now!”
“Oh yeah,” I said, and grinned.
“Don’t forget, I have to charge you sales tax too,” Grace reminded us. “That’s ten percent these days.”
Eli multiplied my $253.56 by 1.1, to add the 10%. “Oh, man—we’re up to $278.92 now!”
I sighed. “And I don’t have a case, or a monitor, or a keyboard, or a mouse yet.”
“Well, you can find a case and do your computer build, and add your peripherals later,” Grace reminded me.
“Yeah, I know,” I said.
“You might want to check the warehouse before you make any final decisions anyway,” Grace said. “Mei got some good-looking stuff in this week.”
“Thanks,” I told her. “Let’s go take a look, Eli.”
Grace smiled. “I’ll hold these for now. Bring the calculator back when you’re done.”
We passed Mei in the scrapyard, where she was unbolting a side mirror from a 1963 Impala for somebody, and she nodded at us and kept working. Dad says Mei doesn’t really do small talk.
Grace was right—there was some good stuff in the warehouse. I checked a monitor to make sure the display looked pretty good, and I asked Eli to test all the keys on the keyboard that looked the cleanest, to make sure none of them stuck or anything, while I untangled and tested a mouse.
When I had a good one, I brought it over to Eli, who finished up his keyboard and nodded. “This one’s fine,” he said. “I mean, it’s pretty dirty, but it works okay.”
“Good work,” I told Eli, and he did a tap move, and bowed. “What’s my total so far?”
Eli checked his notes, and punched some more numbers into the calculator. “With the monitor, the mouse, and the keyboard, we’re at $307.70, including discounts and sales tax.”
I sighed. “I had to buy Oma’s glue, so I’ve only got $296.06. I need a case to start the build, so I guess I’ll have to wait on the monitor for now.”
Eli shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I have some money too.”
I shook my head. I had to do this myself. “Thanks, but nah.” I walked over to the cases, leaving the monitor I’d picked behind.
There was a plain black case that I didn’t remember seeing before. I lifted it off of the top shelf and turned it around. You can’t just pick a case based on what it looks like from the front. You have to check it out to make sure it doesn’t have any broken parts or anything.
And this case? This one had a surprise for me.
“What’s that?” Eli asked, pointing inside.
“Someone left the motherboard in this case,” I told him. It looked good too.
“Will you go find Mei?” I asked, picking up the case and holding it tight. “Tell her I have a question.”
Eli nodded, and ran.
If I bought this case and the peripherals, I wouldn’t have enough left for the motherboard Grace was holding for me. Maybe it would be better to get a motherboard I knew worked, and wait for the rest.
But if this motherboard did work, I’d get a case and a motherboard for a really good deal, and I might even have enough left over for a game or something. Plus, I’d have a cool story about how I found it.
Eli came back with Mei. Mei folded her arms and waited.
I nodded at Mei. “Thanks for coming to take a look,” I said. “Seems there’s a motherboard in this case. Is it still ten dollars?”
Mei looked at the case. She looked at the handwritten sign that said ALL CASES IN THIS SECTION $10. NO EXCEPTIONS. She said, “Yep.”
“You know anything about it?” I asked.
“Guy brought it in like that a couple days ago with a bunch of other stuff,” Mei told me. “It all looked brand-new.”
Yeah, that’s what I thought when I saw it too—no dust or anything. “Is it okay if I take it in to see what Grace thinks about the motherboard?”
Mei nodded. “I’ll get you a flatbed cart for all this. You know all sales are final, so make sure you really want it before you buy it.”
I nodded. Buying stuff at a junkyard is a commitment.
Eli and I wheeled the cart back to the electronics department, me pushing and Eli pointing out potholes and making sure nothing fell off.
We waited until Grace was done helping Mrs. Alvarez set up her new laptop. After Mrs. Alvarez thanked Grace a few more times and finally left, we brought the cart up to the counter.
“Mrs. Alvarez makes really, really good brownies,” Eli told Grace.
Grace grinned. “Well, then, if she brings me more than I can handle, I know who to call. Now, what have you two found?”
I lifted up the case and set it on the counter. “Mei said we could bring it in to show you. What do you think?”
Grace peered inside. She took a screwdriver from a big mug on the counter, removed the screws from the back of the case, lining them up carefully on the counter, and slid off one of the sides. She tipped the case over so we could look down at the motherboard.
Eli’s mouth was practically hanging open as he watched her work. But I didn’t tease him, because I was pretty interested too. I mean, it’s not like I’d seen anyone actually do anything like this in real life before, even though Mr. Z. had told me all about how it works, and Harry had found me some videos and photos of people doing their builds.
Carefully she unscrewed the motherboard from the tray, lining those screws up in a different row on the counter. She lifted it out by the edges and turned it over. “Looks brand-new. Is this from that batch Mei just bought?”
“Yeah, that’s what she said,” I told Grace.
“That guy said he was testing out equipment for a magazine,” Grace said. “Personally, I wouldn’t buy a beat-up board, but I considered some of his stuff myself.” She handed me the motherboard. “You want to make sure none of the pins are bent, and that the capacitors aren’t damaged. If they look good, you’ve got a decent chance that it’ll work. Unless it’s fried, of course.”
So I held up the motherboard and checked out the pins and the capacitors. “They look good to me.” I handed it back to her.
Grace nodded. “Could be worth a try. You know it fits in the case you picked, and it’s got a good layout. Plenty of slots for your memory, if you want to add more later. And it’s a nice-looking case too—very classic.” She picked up the box for the CPU I’d chosen and read the compatibility notes. “This CPU should work fine with that board.”
Eli put the calculator down on the counter. “Can I have a piece of paper?”
Grace handed him the back of a flyer and a big flat contractor’s pencil.
Eli folded the flyer in half the long way and started checking the prices on the components again and carefully writing out two lists, one if I bought the case, one if I didn’t.
Grace handed Eli another flyer. “Better make a third list too: what you’re going to need if HD gets this home and it doesn’t work.”
Eli nodded solemnly, writing the numbers down and double-checking them.
I didn’t like changing my plan at this stage, but I didn’t really have a choice, unless I wanted to wait until they got my original motherboard back in stock. If I did that, I’d probably miss the fair. “What do you think?” I asked Grace. “Should I buy it?”
&
nbsp; Grace shrugged. “It depends. You know the risks of buying used equipment: You can’t return it, and it might not work. If you want to play it safe, you go with a new motherboard. But then it might take you longer to buy all your peripherals and get to try out your computer.”
Eli looked up from his lists. “If you go with the motherboard in the case, you can buy everything today, and you’d have $44.93 left over. If you get the new motherboard instead, you’re going to have to earn $21.57 more for your monitor.”
He passed the lists to me, and I read through them. Then I took a deep breath. Sometimes you just have to try stuff. And if it doesn’t work out, you try again. “I’ll take the case and the monitor, and skip the other motherboard,” I said.
“Woo-hoo!” Eli shouted.
Grace smiled at me, and started ringing up the whole pile.
I got out my wallet, showed her my student ID, gave her my coupon, and counted out more money than I ever had in my life.
Grace gave me my change, and helped me screw the motherboard back in and put the case together again. “If I were you, I’d stop by the library and ask them to print out the manual for that motherboard,” she told me, writing the manufacturer and model number down.
I nodded. Mr. Z. always likes to check the manuals. “We’ll do that,” I told her. “Thanks for the help.”
“Anytime,” Grace said. “Let me know how it goes.”
“We should fill out the customer service survey for Grace, since she did such a good job,” Eli said as we pushed the cart around to find Dad.
I agreed. I never would have done that for Dennis, who used to work there.
Eli was grinning a huge grin, so I guess he was feeling like things had gone pretty well.
I guess I probably was too.
That evening, Mr. Z. and Ms. Stevermer came over for the sauerkraut party. I showed Eli how to make strawberry lemonade like Grandmom Davis taught me. Mom and Asad had a fight about whether or not Asad was going to get any dessert if he didn’t at least try Ms. Stevermer’s coleslaw. Mr. Z. brought his favorite kind of potato salad, and I told him all about our trip to Rose’s, and the motherboard I found, and how Grace helped me check it out. He thought it sounded good too. And Dad and Oma barbecued sausages. We found out that she doesn’t get burned even when she sticks her hand through the barbecue grill to move the coals around. So, that was educational.
When all the sausages were barbecued and ready, Oma floated a bowl of sauerkraut over and set it down in front of Mr. Z. “Guten Appetit!” she wrote, and held it up for everyone.
Mr. Z. nodded at the sign. He took a forkful of sauerkraut and put it in his mouth. We all held our breath while he chewed.
He swallowed, and smiled. “It reminds me of my mother’s, only better. There’s something a little bit different about it….”
I opened my mouth to tell him about the juniper berries, but Oma elbowed me and wrote, “That is all thanks to my secret ingredient.”
Mr. Z. chuckled. “Ah, yes, every cook has her secrets. My mother’s was caraway.”
Oma smiled, and finally let the rest of us try some too.
I took the first bite. It was pretty weird, but not that bad.
“It’s like pickle salad,” Eli said, putting his fork down.
Dad laughed. “Or pickle coleslaw, maybe. But you should really eat it on a sausage.” He handed us our sausages, and showed us how to put spicy brown mustard on one side of the bun and sauerkraut on the other, and then squish the whole thing down so you could take a bite.
“Kind of like a sausage with pickle salad on it,” I said, grinning at Eli over mine.
“This is the best sauerkraut I’ve ever had,” Dad said. “Nice work, Oma!”
Oma wrote that of course it was. It was her specialty, after all, and she’d been making it longer than he’d been alive.
Asad wouldn’t try it. But he did draw a picture of Oma in her pj’s and a cape, defeating some kind of giant octopus robot by throwing sauerkraut at it. (At least, that’s what he said it was.) After dinner, Oma brought out her special pan. When she flipped it over, her mohn gugelhupf came out perfectly—but Asad took one look at it and started to cry. “I want brownies!”
Eli looked at Asad, and at the frowning ghost, then at me. “Maybe we should go finish getting ready for your computer build.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go do that.”
* * *
Mom offered to help Oma can her sauerkraut the next day. Oma wanted us to help, but Mom said she didn’t think two almost-teenage boys, an unpredictable ghost, a bunch of glass jars, and a huge pot of boiling water were a good combination, so Dad and Asad gave me and Eli a ride to Maple Falls.
We stopped at the library on our way. Dad and Asad stayed in the car while Eli and I went inside.
“Hey, HD. Hey, Eli,” Harry said, giving us the nod. “Got any interesting questions for me?”
I nodded back. “Can you find me the manual for this motherboard?” I passed him the information.
“You mean, this is the big day?” Harry asked. “Or are you refining your plan?”
“This is it,” I told him. “I got my components and my peripherals, and we’re on our way to build my computer.”
Harry got up and came around from behind his desk. He reached out his hand, and we did one of his cool Harry special handshakes—the kind he usually only does when you finish your summer-reading-program goals or win the Battle of the Books.
When I told him how much Eli helped with all the calculations and everything, he did one with Eli too.
“I am very impressed,” he said, going back to his chair. “Very impressed indeed, and happy to do my part for this endeavor. Now, let me see…Aha!” Harry tapped some more keys, and the printer whirred out some paper. “Anything else?” he asked, handing it to me.
“Yeah, one more thing,” I said. “Could we get some entry forms for the county fair?”
“Sure thing,” he said, turning back to his keyboard. “You’re entering your computer, so the technology category….What about you, Eli?”
“I’ve got a tap recital, but I don’t need a form for that,” Eli said. “Ms. Izdebski takes care of it for our class. We need a form for sauerkraut, though.”
Harry nodded. “Sauerkraut—so, in the jams and pickles category, right?”
“Yeah, I think so,” I told him.
“Looks like entry forms are due a week before the fair opens, along with the entry fee, so you want to get those in soon. Then you check in at the Entry Registration Booth by nine a.m. on the date your category is judged.” He clicked a few more clicks, and the printer whirred again.
“Here’s the instructions too.” He handed over the sheets, and Eli started reading them. Harry smiled at me. “You know, I’ve never entered the fair, but I make a mean coconut shortbread. Let me know how it goes for you, and maybe I’ll think about it next year.”
“Why don’t you just enter it?” I asked. “I mean, I hear Mrs. Alvarez’s cookies are pretty tough to beat, but maybe she’ll make a pie or something instead. What have you got to lose by trying?”
Harry looked at me—really looked at me, not like Yeah, whatever, kid. “You know, HD, I think that’s some very good advice. I just might do that.”
* * *
When Dad and Asad dropped me and Eli and all my computer stuff off at Maple Falls, Mr. Z. was waiting for us in the project room. Someday I’m going to have a project room in my house. It has two big tables that fold up if you need to get them out of the way, and a bunch of folding chairs, and pretty good lighting too.
“We brought everything, Mr. Z.!” Eli said.
“Including the manual for that motherboard,” I told Mr. Z.
“Excellent,” Mr. Z. said. He isn’t exactly a pump-your-fist kind of guy, but even he was grinning
today. He cleared his throat. “HD, I have something for you—something that might help with this project.” He handed me a small black case.
I took it from him, and slowly unzipped it. It was a set of screwdrivers, all lined up in their pockets: slots, Phillips, and stars, two different sizes each, with an anti-static wrist strap tucked in too.
“This is my old computer tool kit,” Mr. Z. told me. “Now that you are building computers, I thought that you might like to have it.”
It was perfect. But my eyes felt funny, and my chest kind of hurt, like I couldn’t breathe. How was Mr. Z. going to make anything without his tools? “But—you might need it.”
Mr. Z. shook his head. “I don’t think I will need it anytime soon, and I would be happy knowing you’re putting it to good use.”
“Let me know if you ever want to borrow it back, though, okay?” I told him. “You can, anytime you want to build something.”
“I will,” he said, smiling. “I promise.”
“Danke, Mr. Z.,” I told him. “Danke very much.”
“Gern geschehen, HD.” Mr. Z. turned to the project tables. “Now line everything up, and we will take a look.”
So Eli and I lined everything up in the middle of one of the project tables while Mr. Z. moved slowly down the line, examining each part. He was using his cane today. When he got to the end, he nodded. “Now you are ready to build something beautiful.”
I took a deep breath and started ripping the plastic wrap off of everything. It was pretty much like Christmas, even if I did already know what everything was. Eli put all the packaging in the trash can for me, and Mr. Z. checked the manuals. I opened my project notebook, and turned to my list of steps.
HD’S COMPUTER BUILD:
Put on the anti-static wristband. Attach the clip to a metal area on the computer case.
Unscrew the case screws and slide off the sides.
Install the I/O shield into the case. (Already in there!)