Free A Mischief of Mermaids by Suzanne Harper Page A

meatballs,” added Poppy, who had been looking forward to them all day.
    â€œChange in plans,” said Mr. Malone briskly. “We’ll have it tomorrow. But tonight—we are on the hunt!”
    Poppy and Will exchanged exasperated looks. They knew from bitter experience that it was not a good sign when one of their parents said, “We are on the hunt!” It meant they were caught up in an enthusiasm so overwhelming that it overpowered the need for food, sleep, or bathing. Poppy still remembered the weeklong Bigfoot stakeout on a West Texas ranch. Every night, each Malone had been dowsed with skunk oil meant to mask their human smell, directed to a tree, and told to climb to the highest branch possible. It had taken weeks for the stink to wear off and, in the end, all they saw were several herds of deer and a disgruntled javelina pig.
    Mr. Malone grabbed a navigational map from the table. “We are paranormal investigators!” he finished, snapping it open with a flourish. “When we see a mysterious light in the sky, we don’t lollygag about!”
    â€œNo, sir!” said Henry.
    Will glared at him and shook his head. But Henry didn’t know the secret signs and signals that Will and Poppy had developed to silently communicate with each other. He didn’t know that Will was trying to say, “Be quiet! Don’t encourage them!” And even if he had known . . .
    Poppy was watching Henry closely. His eyes were sparkling, his cheeks were flushed, and he was bouncing on his toes. With a sinking heart, she spotted the telltale signs of a newly hatched paranormal fanatic.
    She sidled up to him. “Don’t get too excited,” she warned him. “Most UFO sightings are weather balloons, you know. Or military aircraft. Or the planet Venus.”
    Henry shrugged this off. “ Most of them are,” he agreed. “But what if this one isn’t? What if it’s the real thing?”
    Poppy rolled her eyes.
    â€œOh no,” Will groaned. “You’ve gone to the dark side.”
    â€œThat’s the spirit!” said Mr. Malone, clapping Henry on the back. “Come on, why don’t you help me chart our course. Now, the light was seen heading south by southwest—”
    He pointed helpfully into the darkness. “Mrs. Malone followed it across the sky with our AlienScope.”
    â€œWhat’s that?”
    Mr. Malone nodded toward Poppy. “Ask our scientist,” he said genially. “She invented it.”
    Henry turned to Poppy. “You did?” he asked in surprise. “But if you don’t believe in aliens—”
    â€œI don’t!” said Poppy, annoyed. “But I like inventing stuff. And anyway”—she shrugged, embarrassed—“it was Mother’s Day.”
    Mrs. Malone smiled fondly at Poppy. “So sweet,” she said.
    Henry picked up the AlienScope to take a closer look. “It looks pretty cool,” he said, turning it over in his hands. “How did you make it?”
    Poppy tried to look modest, but a small, pleased smiled lifted one corner of her mouth. “I just took a radar detector gun and added a few hacks,” she said. “My theory is that, if UFOs really existed, they might emit some kind of electromagnetic waves. That could explain why witnesses often report that their car engines stalled when they saw a UFO, for example. The tricky part was figuring out how to tell the difference between natural electromagnetic forces and those that might have been created by an alien spacecraft. It was an interesting problem and I was stuck a couple of times, but then one day I happened to find a book at the library and—”
    â€œThe AlienScope was created,” Will said briskly. “Patent pending. When are we going to eat ?”
    â€œGrab an apple,” suggested Mrs. Malone as she pointed her AlienScope at the sky. “That will tide you over.