Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Blasts Off! by Frances O'Roark Dowell

Author:Frances O'Roark Dowell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 2008-11-23T16:00:00+00:00

“Doesn’t work that way, Mac,” Mr. Reid said. “Which is too bad, because I could use some help.”

Then Mr. Reid got an idea. I could tell he’d gotten an idea because he suddenly had a sort of wondering expression on his face. Then he tapped his chin with his finger and said, “Hmmmm.”

“What? Did you think of a way the superintendent could hire me?” I asked.

“No, that’s not it,” Mr. Reid said. “But the thought crossed my mind, I could use your help on weekends. My son, Carl, and I have started a part-time business, small building projects mostly, but we also clean out folks’ garages for them, haul out their junk, that kind of thing. We were just talking last weekend that we could use another person on the team. Just to do the little jobs, breaking down boxes to recycle, sweeping up, that sort of thing.”

“I’m that person, Mr. Reid,” I told him. “I’d do a great job.”

Mr. Reid nodded. “I know you would, Mac. The only thing is I’d need your mom and dad’s permission for you to help, and one of them would need to drive you over to the job every Saturday.”

“No problem,” I told him. “They know how important Space Camp is to me.”

Mr. Reid’s beeper beeped. He looked at it and said, “Trouble up in the kindergarten wing. I’d better get a move on.” Before he left, he wrote his phone number on a piece of paper. “You have your mom or dad call me tonight so we can discuss the details.”

“Okay,” I said, following him out the door.

“By the way, Mac, do you know a boy named Corey Anderson? Fifth grader?”

Of course I know Corey Anderson. Everybody does. He is a famous fifth-grade scientist who won first place in both his fourth- and fifth-grade science fairs. For the fifth-grade science fair he built a computer that actually talked.

“Well, if I’ve got my facts straight, Corey Anderson went to Space Camp last summer. He’s quite the young astronomer. You ought to talk to him about what it was like. He probably has all sorts of interesting stories he could tell you.”

That sounded like a great idea. Except for the fact that at Woodbrook Elementary School fourth graders don’t even think about talking to fifth-grade scientific geniuses like Corey Anderson. It just isn’t done.

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