Robot on the Loose #11

Chapter 1
 
“Attention, all students,” the voice on the school loudspeaker boomed. It was Principal Love. “We have just cleaned out the Lost and Found, and discovered thirty-seven single shoes,” he announced. “A lot of you must be hopping home. If you are missing a shoe, please hop to Mrs. Crock’s desk in the front office.”
 
I looked down at my feet. I’m the kind of kid who would lose a shoe, but this time it wasn’t me. I’m proud to report that I had two matching blue shoes. Of course, my socks didn’t match. One was yellow and one had stripes. I can only get so many things right at one time.
 
“We also found half a pickle,” Principal Love went on. “But the owner does not have to come and pick that up.”
 
“Hey, Zip,” my best friend Frankie Townsend said with a laugh. “I bet that’s yours.”
 
Frankie has known me since we were babies. Anyone who’s been around me that long knows that I am a huge pickle fan. My grandfather Papa Pete and I always share a pickle when we have something serious to talk over. He says pickles clear the brain.
 
The recess bell rang, and we all got up and headed for the door. But then we realized that Principal Love had more to say. I should have known. He always has more to say.
 
“Let me remind you that Friday is our Build-a-Robot competition,” he announced. “This year, the competition is open to our second- and third-graders. We have made a special category for beginning builders. You can power your robots simply with a motor and a remote control. No need for computer skills. Isn’t that exciting?”
 
“It’d be more exciting if he said we could have the rest of the week off school,” I muttered.
 
“I’m looking forward to seeing all of your dazzling creations,” Principal Love went on. “Until then, this is your principal and my pet frog, Fred, saying ‘ribbit.’ That is all.”
 
My other best friend, Ashley Wong, cracked up. She thinks it’s so funny that Principal Love is always putting Fred on the loudspeaker. Principal Love thinks that just because he understands frog talk, the rest of us do, too.
 
Ashley, Frankie, and I ribbitted all the way down the hall.
 
“I’m going to enter the Build-a-Robot contest,” I said as we walked down the stairs.
 
“You can’t just enter,” Ashley said. “You have to sign up on the bulletin board outside Principal Love’s office.”
 
“Okay, I’ll do it after recess,” I said.
 
“You better do it right now,” Frankie answered. “I know you. And you know you. ‘I forgot’ is your middle name.”
 
We stopped outside Principal Love’s office door. There was a bulletin board with a pencil on a string. I took the pencil and proudly wrote “HANK ZIPZER” on line 10.
 
“It’s official,” I said to Frankie and Ashley. “I can hardly wait. I have some great robot ideas sitting right here in my mind, in between my phone number and last week’s spelling words. All I have to do is build my little robot.”
 
“Hank, you’re not being realistic,” Ashley said. “That robot contest was announced a month ago. All the other kids have been building their robots for weeks.”
 
“So?” I said. “I’ll work fast. I’ll just give it the old Zipzer attitude.”
 
“Hank,” Frankie said. “The contest is on Friday. As in the day after tomorrow.”
 
“So I’ll work extra fast.”
 
“You can’t build a whole robot in a day,” Ashley pointed out.
 
“Oh yeah? Just watch me. I’m going to start collecting robot parts right now.”
 
We walked out onto the playground. I looked around at the swings and slides and handball court and sandbox and benches. I didn’t see one thing that looked like a robot to me. What I did see was a kid I had never noticed before. He was sitting by himself on a bench along a fence. He looked like any other third-grader except he was wearing a tie and a vest, which was all buttoned up. The reason I noticed him, aside from his weird clothes, was that he was building a robot.
 
The robot had four silver rods for legs and a long tail that swayed back and forth. The kid was taking something that looked like a head out of a shoebox. We stood and watched him for a minute as he attached the head to the body with the smallest screwdriver I had ever seen.
 
“Wow,” I said to Frankie and Ashley. “That guy seems like a robot expert. Let’s go see what he’s doing. I bet he’ll give me some tips.”
 
We walked up to him, and I introduced myself.
 
“Hi,” I said. “I’m Hank Zipzer, and these are my best friends, Frankie and Ashley.”
 
I waited for him to say hi, but he didn’t even look up. He just kept turning the screwdriver like we weren’t even there.
 
“That’s a really cool robot,” I went on.
 
Nothing. No answer. I looked at Frankie and Ashley, and they shrugged.
 
“I’m entering the robot contest, too,” I said.
 
“Jaden,” he said suddenly.
 
“Excuse me?”
 
“I’m Jaden.”
 
“Oh, nice to meet you, Jaden,” I said. “I just came over to see if you had any tips on robot building.” There was a long silence while he continued to focus only on his robot. None of us knew what to say. So I said the first thing that came to my mind.
 
“Your robot looks like a dragon,” I said. “Does it breathe fire?”
 
Jaden stopped what he was doing and looked up at me for one second.
 
“Dog,” he said.
 
“It breathes dogs?” I answered. “That’s weird.”
 
“Maybe it breathes mini dogs,” Frankie said.
 
“Yeah, like little hot dogs,” Ashley added. “If you’re hungry, you push a button and it spits out a mini hot dog.”
 
We all cracked up, except for Jaden. I wondered why he wasn’t laughing. I mean, let’s face it, a robot spitting out mini hot dogs is funny. But not to Jaden. He just reached into the shoe box and pulled out another screw. 
 
“Okay,” I said to him. “Obviously talking is not your favorite thing, so we’ll be going.”
 
Just as we turned to leave, Jaden started to talk.
 
“Specifically,” he blurted out, “this robot is an Alaskan husky. I am wiring it to bury bones, which is a behavior that many huskies use to protect their food.”
 
“Hey, that’s more like it,” I said.
 
Maybe this kid was more talkative than I had thought. 
 
“Listen,” I said. “I know I’m a little late getting started, but I’m going to build my robot tonight. I could really use any tips you can give me.”
 
“You need to begin with a blueprint that has all your technical data,” he said. “You’ll need a protractor, a sharp pencil, and all your math skills. When you begin the building stage, of course, you’ll need the proper number of wires plus your robot’s body parts. Then simply choose the right motor, the correct size batteries, and your remote control method. That’s all there is to it.”
 
My brain walked away before my body did.
 
“Okay,” I said. “Thanks so much. That was really helpful.”
 
As we walked away, Frankie looked at me and said, “Exactly how much of that did you understand?”
 
“Exactly zero,” I answered.
 
“So you’ve decided not to enter the robot contest,” Ashley said. “I think that’s a good idea. You can try out for the school play instead.”
 
“No, I’m not quitting,” I said. “I’m just going to do it my way.”
 
“And what way is that?” Frankie asked.
 
That was a good question, and I had no answer.