Ben the Inventor (2 page)

“Cool.” Ben thought for a moment. “If we put a bigger brick under the middle, the catapult would have more power.”

“Yeah!” Jack dashed into the shed. When he came back, he was struggling with a large concrete block. “Oof! That's heavy.”

The block thudded to the ground. Ben moved his foot just in time. He placed the catapult on top of the block.

“My turn,” he said.

Jack put the ladybug stone back on the blade. “This is definitely a Stupendous Contraption,” he said.

Stupendous Contraption
was another one of the things they liked to say. They also said
fire-bellied
toads
, which meant
absolutely perfect
. Ben couldn't even remember how most of their sayings had started, but they made him laugh.

Only not today, because all of it was going to end. The laughing, the inventing, the long summer days stuffed full of fun games.
It just isn't
right
that
Jack's house is for sale
, Ben thought.
It isn't fair
. With all his might, he jumped two-footed onto the shovel's handle. The ladybug stone rocketed into the air, higher and higher. It zoomed across the yard and crashed through the kitchen window of Ben's house.

Chapter Three

“What were you
thinking
?” Ben's mom asked him after she sent Jack home.

Ben hated it when people asked that question. He never knew how to answer it. Plus his mom had yelled at them, and she almost never did that. “I didn't know this would happen,” he said. He was trying hard not to cry.

“Well, you aimed a large stone at a window. What did you think would happen?” She pointed at the broken glass scattered across the kitchen floor. Behind her, two-year-old Stella clung to her leg. “It's lucky no one was standing there, Ben. What if Stella had been in the kitchen?”

“It wasn't my fault!” Ben shouted. Then he burst into tears. He hated everything about today.

His mom put her hand on his head. “I know you didn't mean to break the window. But try to think before you do things, okay?”

Now that he had started crying, he couldn't seem to stop.

“Oh, Ben. I'm sorry I yelled at you and Jack. I was scared. Someone could have been hurt.” She dropped to her knees, trying to look him in the eyes. “Ben?”

“Jack's moving,” Ben said. “His house is for sale.”

His mother looked startled. “Really? Are you sure?”

Ben grabbed his mom's arm and tugged her toward the living-room window. She picked Stella up and followed him. Ben pointed at the sign in front of Jack's house. “See? FOR SALE.”

“Oh no.” His mom sat down on the couch and pulled Stella onto her lap. She patted the cushion beside her. “I didn't know. I'm so sorry, Ben. Do you know where they're moving to?”

“His mom got a job in Vancouver.” Ben rubbed his fists on his eyes, hard, until he saw little red stars.

“I
hate
his mom.”

“Ben!”

“Well, it isn't fair! How come kids don't get to choose anything?”

“You're angry and upset right now,” his mom said.

“I'm sorry Jack's moving. But sometimes people have to do things they don't want to do.”

“He's my best friend,” Ben said.

“What about Jessy?”

“She goes to camp all summer.”

Ben's mom sighed. “Well, hopefully Jack's house won't sell too quickly.”

“If it doesn't sell, does that mean they won't be able to move?” Ben asked.

“They probably can't buy a house in Vancouver until they sell this one,” she said.

“I hope it never sells.”

“I'm sure it will,” she said. “It would be nice if they were here for the rest of the summer though. Until Jessy gets back from camp.”

His mom didn't understand. Jessy was great, but she didn't know about
inventors invent inventions
or any of the other secret games he and Jack played. “Jessy can't take Jack's place,” Ben said. “She's my school friend, and he's my holiday friend. Two different things.” He frowned, trying to think of a way to make her understand. “Like you have Stella now, but you still want me.”

She laughed. “You are right. Jack's special. But Vancouver isn't that far away. We can visit. It will be okay.”

Maybe it will
, Ben thought. Because his mom had given him an idea.

Ben was going to invent a Stupendous Plan.

Chapter Four

The next morning, Ben followed the speed bump to Jack's house. He knocked on the door. Jack's mom opened it. “Hi, Ben. Looking for Jack?”

Ben didn't answer. He didn't even say hello. “What if no one buys your house?” he asked instead.

“Someone had better buy it,” she said, laughing. “We need the money to buy a new one.”

So it was just as his mom had said. That was good. “Can Jack come out and play?” he asked.

“Sure.” She turned and called up the stairs. “Jack! Ben's here.”

Thump
,
thump
,
thump
. Jack came down two steps at a time, still in his pajamas. “Hey! Let's go.”

“Clothes,” said his mom.

Jack looked down at his T. rex shirt and shorts. “Do I have to?”

“Yes, hurry up.” She shooed him back upstairs. “Ben, I'll send him over as soon as he's had breakfast, okay?”

Ben nodded. Jack's mom sure would be surprised if she knew what he was planning.

By the time Jack arrived, Ben had already begun work.

“What are you building?” Jack asked.

“Another catapult,” Ben said. “Sort of.”

Jack looked worried. “Do you think that's a good idea?”

“It's a great idea,” Ben said. “Listen. You don't want to move, right?”

Jack sat down on the grass and crisscrossed his legs. “Right.”

“And if no one buys your house, you won't have to.”

“Someone is coming to look at it tomorrow,” Jack said. “They'll probably buy it.”

“Not if we do something to stop them,” Ben said.

“Like what?” Jack picked a blade of grass and chewed on it.

“Inventors invent inventions,” Ben said, “and we need to make our most
Stupendous
Contraption ever.”

For the rest of the day, under the hot summer sun, the two inventors worked the hardest they had ever worked. They only stopped twice, once for popsicles and once for cookies. They didn't even go inside to use the washroom. They just peed right in the vegetable garden. They aimed for the Swiss chard, since neither of them liked eating it anyway.

By the time their parents called them for dinner, the contraption was almost complete.

“Well?” Ben said. “What do you think?”

He and Jack stared at their invention. It began with a series of pipes and ended with a catapult. A new and improved catapult. It was twice as large and three times as powerful as the one Ben's mom had taken away. This one was the Ultimate Catapult. It was made of metal pipes and wood ramps and three different kinds of balls. It had a small solar panel and a race-car launcher with double-A batteries. It even had a toilet seat and some other stuff.

The solar panel didn't actually work, but it looked good. Really good.

“We should trademark this,” Ben said. “So no one can copy it. It could be the Stupendous Contraption, TM.”

“It really is stupendous,” Jack whispered.

“I know.” Ben felt like whispering too. He couldn't believe they had made something so amazing. It looked like a machine from one of his old Dr. Seuss books. “Should we test it?”

“Probably.”

“Ben!” His mom was standing on the back deck. “Jack's mom wants him home, and our dinner's ready.”

“Just a minute,” Ben called back. “We have to finish something.”

“That's what you said ten minutes ago,” his mom said. “No more minutes, boys. You can play together again tomorrow.”

Play
, Ben thought. Someone was coming to look at Jack's house tomorrow! As if they had time to
play
.