Very Rich by Polly Horvath

Author:Polly Horvath
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PRH Canada Young Readers
Published: 2018-09-24T16:00:00+00:00

ALL WEEK following the trip to Coney Island, Rupert sat in class daydreaming about the time machine. Perhaps by now Uncle Henry had recommenced fiddling with it so they could control where they went. It seemed logical to Rupert that anyone who could make a time machine out of a plain cardboard box could figure out how to tweak it to take it where he wanted.

Rupert kept thinking of places for them to go. Places with food, places with heat. He spent more time daydreaming about those two things than he did about exotic locations and adventures. He had no desire to go any where cold or spartan; he’d love to see penguins, for example, but Antarctica was right out. Perhaps they could go to a tropical island, ripe with pineapples and coconuts and breadfruit. He had read about breadfruit—was it really bread that grew as fruit?—and had always wanted to try it. Or perhaps they could go to a great banquet in medieval times where they would cram their mouths with roasted meat in front of a roaring fire. Or maybe back to the 1950s to a Pillsbury Bake-Off where they could be the judges and go from table to table tasting all the cakes. His teacher had told the class how her grandmother had done this and Rupert had thought, yeah, those were the good old days.

Rupert walked super slowly past the Riverses’ house every day on his way home from school. He tried to spot the periscope. Each day he was sure that a hand would come poking out of the hedge, grab him, and pull him through. But as day after day passed and there was no sign of Uncle Henry and his periscope, Rupert became disgruntled. Hadn’t Uncle Henry had fun with him? Surely Uncle Henry didn’t want to go on adventures alone when he could have Rupert along? Perhaps Uncle Henry felt that he had made up for whatever guilt he’d carried regarding Christmas and the prizes and had moved on. This was a depressing thought. Somehow Rupert felt a strange rapport with Uncle Henry after sharing the time machine’s maiden voyage. He was deflated to think that Uncle Henry might not have felt the same.

When two weeks passed and Uncle Henry made no attempt to contact him, Rupert, out of desperation, flagged down Turgid in the hall before school started.

“I don’t know if you remember me?” asked Rupert shyly.

“Oh yes,” said Turgid. “You’re Rudy, aren’t you? From Christmas?”

Rupert couldn’t believe that Turgid didn’t even remember his name. They’d spent Christmas together! He, Rupert, must be the least memorable person on the face of the earth!

“Yes, I, I just wanted to ask how your Uncle Henry is? Not sick or anything, is he?”

“Sick? No, he’s just as usual, thank you,” said Turgid, looking puzzled.

“I mean, he’s still around, isn’t he?” asked Rupert, blushing. It had occurred to him as a last scenario that Uncle Henry had time traveled somewhere, gotten himself stuck there, and his family hadn’t yet noticed.

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