Free Brain That Wouldn't Obey! by Tony Abbott

1
    If I Only Had a …
    B y the time Mike Mazur saw the greasy french fry bag, it was already too late.
    Wump! Bump! Dump! Splat!
    â€œOwww!” Mike cried out as he tumbled down the school bus steps. He rolled onto the sidewalk in front of W. Reid Elementary School.
    Mike peeled the Jolly Meal french fry bag from the bottom of his sneaker and looked up. The bus driver was tossing another empty fry bag to the floor under his seat. With his mouth full, he gave Mike a shrug, closed the door, and roared off.
    â€œThanks for the ride … I think!” Mike groaned. He limped up the school steps and through the main doors.
    At once, he felt a tingle of excitement. A giant banner rippled above the entrance to the gym.
    W. R EID S CIENCE F AIR T ODAY! W IN F IRST P RIZE!
    â€œI can see it all now!” Mike mumbled as he burst into the gym. “I win first prize, do lots of TV interviews, and become the most famous scientist in the world. Cool!”
    Mike grinned and whispered into the lunch bag he was carrying, “And it’ll all be because of you.”
    Dozens of tables were set up on the gym floor. There were already lots of science projects lined up. Mike smiled as he walked past the other kids’ projects. Three-Sided Triangles. The Amazing Bottle of Air. Dirt + Water = Mud. None of the other projects seemed quite as brilliant as his.
    â€œZoners,” he thought to himself. Zoners was the word his friends used to describe nearly everyone in Grover’s Mill. Mike was pretty new to town, but he had to agree that Grover’s Mill was definitely the Zone.
    The Weird Zone.
    The absolute center of intergalactic weirdness. A place where, if two things could happen, a weird thing and a regular thing, the weird thing would always happen.
    Mike set the bag on his table and whispered to himself, “And the first prize goes to …”
    â€œâ€¦ Liz Duffey!” said a voice behind him.
    Mike turned on his heel just in time to see his friend Liz Duffey glide past him. Her long blonde hair floated in the air behind her.
    Mike glanced at her feet. Liz was riding on a skateboard. A tiny motor on the back was powering the wheels. Liz rode down one aisle and back up the next. She stopped in front of Mike’s table and hopped to the floor.
    â€œI’m going places on my project,” she said with a smile. “I call it—Motorboard!”
    â€œNice work, Liz,” Mike said. “I’m glad you’re here. Because today will go down in history.”
    Mike opened his bag and stuck his hand in.
    â€œThe history of weirdness,” said Liz. “I mean, did you look at these science projects? How Water Drips! See-Through Glass?” She shook her head. “Pretty zoney, Mike.”
    â€œAt least you and I have good stuff,” Mike said. He grinned as he pulled out a red plastic box and set it on the table.
    â€œWait,” said Liz. “Is that a radio? Mike, I hate to tell you. Radio has already been invented.”
    Mike snickered with delight. “Not just a radio.” He pulled out a dusty brown base-ball-sized potato from the bottom of his bag. “A potato-powered radio. I call it— Potadio !”
    Liz watched as Mike slowly pushed wires from the radio right into the potato. “The acid from the potato is changed into electricity,” he said. “It’s like nature’s battery. Cool, huh?”
    â€œNot bad,” said Liz, pulling a tissue from her pocket and blowing her nose. “Can you get hockey scores?”
    Mike shrugged. “So far it just picks up WYRD, the Grover’s Mill station. It’s kind of faint.”
    â€œWell, I probably won’t hear it,” mumbled Liz. “My cold has stuffed my ears.”
    The gym was starting to fill up. Mike saw Mrs. Carbonese taking surprise snap-shots for the yearbook. She wore a pink sweater and glasses on a string. Around her neck was a silver police whistle. She