“Might as well — the other one didn’t do anything bad,” said Jack.
“Yeah, but I think our arms are bigger than that hole,” said Stephen. “If that thing closes, it’s going to pinch.”
“Let’s flip on it,” said Jack. He pulled out the quarter they had used earlier — “Call it.”
“Heads again,” said Stephen.
“Heads it is — you got lucky,” said Jack. He removed his backpack and moved closer to the hole. He put his hand just inside the hole and then pulled back. He brushed the bottom plexiglass and then pulled his hand away. “Hey — it’s sharp,” he said.
Stephen reached out and tested the edge — “You’re right. That thing’s meant to cut.”
“If it clamps down like before, that would nearly cut my arm off,” said Jack.
“So what do we do? We know it has to be touched by skin,” said Stephen.
“Maybe,” said Jack. “The other one had to be, but maybe this one is different.” Jack pulled out the broken broom handle he carried in his pack. Inserted into the hole, it just barely reached the switch at the back, but pressing the switch had no effect.
“Yeah,” said Stephen. “See?”
“Well, could be that it needs skin, but does it have to be
“Where you going to get skin?” asked Stephen.
“I don’t know — we could fit something small in there like a hamster, or maybe even a cat, or something,” said Jack.
“Do you have a cat?” said Stephen. “How does that help?”
“Maybe it doesn’t even have to be alive,” said Jack. “Maybe a piece of meat or something would work.”
“So you want to try dragging meat and cats in here to try to press that button?” asked Stephen, dismayed.
“Sure,” said Jack. “Why not?”
“If we knew it would work, maybe,” replied Stephen. “But just on a guess? That’s dumb.”
“I know — maybe it works the same as an iPod wheel. Ever try to control that with like a pencil eraser or something? It doesn’t work — has to be your hand.”
“Okay, so we rub meat on an iPod and if that works, we’ll bring meat in here,” chuckled Stephen.
“Yeah,” said Jack.
“I guess we’re done for today then,” said Stephen.
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” said Jack.
They made it back to Jack’s yard by one-fifteen. Jack believed that his mom wouldn’t be back until three, but still spied around the corner of the house before entering. Jack’s mom pulled up at that very moment. They ran to the basement door and Jack opened it quietly. Stephen and then Jack slipped inside and trotted over to the stairs. If they went up now, they would reach the kitchen just as Jack’s mom entered from the garage.
“What do we do?” whispered Stephen.
“Wait,” said Jack. “Just wait.”
After a minute, Jack crept up the stairs, waving Stephen to stay close. Jack listened for his mom with his ear an inch from the door. When he heard the hall bathroom door shut, he reached for the handle and they were in the kitchen. Jack pointed Stephen to the living room and then gently closed the door to the basement.
On his way across the kitchen floor, Jack stepped on a soft part of the floor. The boards groaned under his weight. He lifted his foot gingerly and caught up with Stephen at the bottom of the stairs.
“Jack?” his mom called from the bathroom.
Jack looked at Stephen and shook his head. He pointed Stephen up the stairs and they sprinted back to Jack’s room. Stephen sat down and picked up the book he was supposed to be reading. Jack frantically dug through his desk drawer. He found his spare headphones and threw them over to Stephen. Putting them on, Stephen, connected the headphones to the front of Jack’s computer. Jack found another set of headphones and attached them to his iPod. Before sitting on the bed, Jack closed the door to just a crack and turned on his music.
A few minutes later, Jack’s mom tapped on the door. When they didn't respond, she pushed the door open and found the boys reading their books and listening to music.
Jack looked up, took off his headphones, and tossed a pillow at Stephen. Surprised, Stephen looked up from his book and removed his headphones as well.
“Hey, Ms. Randolph,” said Stephen.
“Did we get any calls while I was out?” Jack’s mom asked.
“Oh, I don’t know, we had our headphones on,” Jack’s lie came out genuine.
“Aren’t you supposed to be reading your books?” she asked.
“It’s classical music,” said Jack. “This book says that classical music can increase reading comprehension.” He held up one of his school books about learning and intelligence.
“It says it can for
“So Stephen’s listening to pop and I’m listening to classical,” said Jack. “We’re going to see who remembers more.”
“That’s great,” said his mom. “Didn’t you hear me yelling a minute ago?”
Jack shook his head.
“And you weren’t just downstairs?” asked his mom.
“Nope, been right here,” said Jack.
Stephen caught himself wondering how Jack could lie so easily. He felt like a fraud when Jack's mom looked at him, but Jack looked perfectly at ease.
“Okay,” she said. “Dinner’s at six.” She backed out of Jack’s room, closing the door on her way out.
Jack held his breath until he was sure his mom was away from the door. “Wow. That was pretty good.”
“Where’d you come up with that stuff?” asked Stephen.
“I don’t know,” said Jack. “I just looked at my book and it just came to me. You surprised me with that thing about people being bothered. Good one.”
“Thanks,” said Stephen. “I thought she wasn’t going to be back until three?”
“I guess she was done early. Lucky we were here,” said Jack.
“Yeah,” said Stephen. “So what are we going to do about that switch? I’m not going to lose my arm.”
“Let’s look up how the switch on the iPod works. Maybe the one at the hotel works the same way,” said Jack.
“Okay,” said Stephen. He got up from the floor and sat down in the computer chair. Soon he had found the information then wanted. “It’s capacitance,” he announced.
Jack was still reclining on his bed, but with this news, he sat up. “What does that mean?”
“Ummm, means that whatever is touching the thing it needs to be conductive. Like skin.”
“Isn’t metal conductive?” asked Jack.
“Yeah, but that’s not enough. These guys tried a paperclip, but they say it needs more surface area. Like a butter knife turned sideways or something,” replied Stephen.
Jack picked up his iPod an tried to control the wheel with several things around his room. The only thing he found that would work reliably was his finger. “So, anything we can use?”
“Well,” hypothesized Stephen, “if it’s just surface-area and conductivity, I think we could just shove like a metal spatula in there or something. As long as we were holding the metal part of the handle.”
“Okay,” said Jack. “That sounds easy. Let’s try it on the iPod.”
They spent the afternoon conducting secret experiments to try to find the perfect object that was conductive, at least two feet long, and had enough surface area. Stephen searched the closet in the guest room and discovered an old golf putter in the corner. They took turns experimenting with how to hold the metal of the handle so they could control the wheel on Jack’s iPod. Convinced they had solved the problem, they turned their attention to how and when they could actually get back to hotel.
“Hey,” said Stephen. “Don’t forget to hide the money.”
“Oh yeah, right,” said Jack. He took out the seven-hundred dollars from his front pocket and hid it with the
