The Winter of the Robots (22 page)

He laughed. “Wow. Very ambitious for a kid your age.” I didn’t think he believed me. “Well, thanks for coming through on the debt, and I’m glad things are going well for you. But if you, uh, if you were hoping I’d clear your name in the robot competitions, I’m afraid that banned for life means banned for life. Fool me once, you know?”

“Yes, I understand. That’s cool. I wasn’t going to enter again. My sister is disappointed, but you had to do what you had to do.” Penny was devastated when we got the official letter. She’d just started dreaming of next year’s competition, and designing Celeste II to compete. I didn’t feel good
about what I was going to do, but I would do anything for that girl.

“Thanks so much for repaying your debt. Good look with your …” Peter waved his hand toward the door. “Your endeavors.”

“Thanks. Oh, by the way, Sergei says hi.”

“Who?”

“The guy that towed your Audi and hid it until you sold it?”

“Um, I’m sure you’re mistaken. My car was
stolen.”

“I saw your car at Sergei’s house. And when I showed him your picture, he said, ‘That’s the dude.’ ” I tried unsuccessfully to mimic Sergei’s faint accent.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He fiddled with a pencil on his desk.

“Seems like a long way to go, but you kept asking Oliver’s mom to move in, and she kept making excuses not to. Maybe you felt she just needed a little push? Convince her the neighborhood’s going to heck, and all that?”

“Now you are touching on personal matters that are really none of your business.”

“You’re right. But you should know that Sergei nearly got sent to prison for helping you.”

“That’s not possible,” said Peter, his surprise winning out over his caution. “I never filed a police report.”

“Maybe you told too many people it was stolen,” I said. “The new owner got pulled over and questioned, and told
them it was delivered by a Russian guy on a tow truck. They thought it was a big break in a wave of car thefts.”

“Well, I never meant to make trouble for the man,” he said. “It was a harebrained scheme, done out of love. Tell him I’m sorry.”

“We all make mistakes.”

Peter sighed. “You know, I suppose a child as young as your sister might have been confused about the rules, and can be granted a second chance. I can’t make any promises, but I think if I wrote a letter, she could be cleared for future competitions.”

“Thank you. That’s really cool of you.” I offered him a fist, but he didn’t bump it.

I cycled home, glad for the breeze blowing off the river. I took the bike trail north along the Mississippi and turned west down the boulevard to my own home. I’d seen plans to expand the river trail north, right through the leveled ground where Nomicon used to stand. There would be a park there, a place for bikers to pull off and take a break, a playground and wading pool. The neighborhood association was behind it. I’ve been going to the meetings lately; us local business owners have to get involved. I lobbied for the name “Ted Whaley Memorial Park,” but it didn’t fly. On the bright side, I got them to write into the charter that the otters would be safe.

I still had six lawns to mow, which was a light day for me. I got my crew and headed across the alley. They all went
to work—one mowing, one edging, one raking up loose grass and bagging it. I’d also brought a collapsible chair and my new laptop, sat down to supervise and do a little work on the computer. I barely had it open before Rocky saw me and came out.

“The Knox boys hard at work,” she said.

“Yeah,” I said. Maybe Knox & Sons was an appropriate name, after all.

I’d created Blade first, recycling a lot of code from robot wars into an electric mower. The Edge came next, and finally Princess Daisy. PD was the raker—I’d made the mistake of letting Penny name her, since she’d helped design it. Dan Clouts had put up the money for parts, but I’d already paid him back. Now that I was out of debt with Peter, too, I could finally start turning a profit.

“What’s next?” Rocky asked. “A robot that pulls weeds?”

“Lots of requests for that, but I’m not ready to make it,” I admitted. “It’ll have to be pretty sophisticated to tell a flower from a weed. Right now I’m working on robots to rake and bag leaves in the fall, and when I’m done with those.… ”

“Something to shovel snow?” she guessed.

“You read my mind.”

“So, do you need to keep supervising, or do you want to come in for a soda?” Rocky asked.

“Hmm. They’ve had a few solo runs and are reliable. PD is kind of a slacker, but Blade will keep an eye on her.” I closed up the laptop. My new robot design would have to wait. I went with the girl.

My sincerest thanks to the following people:

My parents, for giving me a love for books and a thirst for knowledge.

An excellent group of friends and writers I’m lucky to call my group: Jeremy Anderson, Kelly Barnhill, Steve Brezenoff, Jodi Chromey, Karlyn Coleman, and Christopher Lincoln.

Christopher Bongaarts and Julia Vogl, for their expertise on robots.

Tina Wexler, for her enthusiasm and support in all my writerly endeavors.

Allison Wortche, for always finding the heart of a story and making it beat stronger.

Sarah Hokanson, for making this manuscript into a beautiful book; and Tim Jessell for the fabulous cover.

The rest of the team at Knopf Books for Young Readers and Random House Children’s Books.

Isaac Asimov, for his seminal robot stories.

Angela and Byron, for filling my life with love (and my slippers with Cheerios).

KURTIS SCALETTA
is the author of
Mudville
, a
Booklist
Top 10 Sports Book for Youth;
Mamba Point
, which the
New York Times Book Review
called “entertaining and touching”; and
The Tanglewood Terror
, a Kids’ Indie Next List Selection and winner of the Minnesota Readers’ Choice Award. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife and son. To learn more about him and his books, please visit
kurtisscaletta.com
.

Welcome to Moundville, where it’s been raining for longer than twelve-year-old Roy McGuire has been alive. Most people say the town is cursed—right in the middle of their biggest baseball game against rival town Sinister Bend, black clouds crept across the sky and it started to rain. That was twenty-two years ago … and it’s still pouring.

Baseball camp is over, and Roy knows he’s in for a soggy summer of digging ditches in the mud and wishing he were still playing ball. But when he returns home, Roy finds a foster kid named Sturgis sprawled out on his couch. As if this isn’t weird enough, just a few days after Sturgis’s arrival,
the rain stops
. No one can explain why it’s finally sunny, but as far as Roy’s concerned, it’s time to play some baseball. It’s time to get a Moundville team together—with Roy catching and Sturgis pitching—and finish what was started twenty-two years ago. It’s time for a rematch.

When his dad gets a job at the U.S. embassy in Liberia, twelve-year-old Linus knows it’s his chance for a fresh start. Instead of his typical anxious self, from now on he’ll be cooler and bolder: the new Linus. But as soon as Linus’s family arrives, they encounter a black mamba—the deadliest snake in Africa. And before long, Linus is sure the venomous serpents are somehow drawn to him; he can barely go outside without tripping over a mamba.

Then he hears about kasengs—and the belief that some people have a mysterious connection to certain animals. Linus knows he has to get over his fear of his kaseng animal. Soon he’s not only keeping a black mamba in his laundry hamper; he’s also feeling braver than ever before. Is it his resolution to become the new Linus, or does his sudden confidence have something to do with his scaly friend?

The wilderness abounds with monsters that take many forms, some never imagined by storytellers.…

When thirteen-year-old Eric Parrish comes across glowing mushrooms in the woods behind his house, he’s sure there’s a scientific explanation. But then they begin to encroach on the town, covering the football field and popping up from beneath the floorboards of his house. It doesn’t take long for Eric to realize something’s seriously wrong.

Then Eric meets Mandy, a runaway girl from the nearby boarding school, who warns him that the fungus could portend the town’s doom, leaving it in rubble—just like the village that disappeared in the exact same spot over two hundred years ago. Halloween is approaching, the fungus is spreading, and Eric and Mandy set out to solve a very old mystery and save the town of Tanglewood.