Free The Unusual Mind of Vincent Shadow by Tim Kehoe Page B

the answer was
     right in front of me. Tonight, Mr. Whiz showed me a Tesla invention that looked just like this.”
    “Hey, that looks like the thing we saw at the Met.”
    “It
is
the thing we saw at the Met. That thing is actually a high-powered Tesla coil with a vacuum tube.” Vincent flipped to the
     sketch of his Pop Tunz device. “If I connect the Tesla coil from my kite to my Pop Tunz device… ” Vincent drew a Tesla coil
     on the tail end of the sketch of his bubble blower and then reached into the bag from the music store and pulled out the vacuum
     tubes. “And I attach the Groove Tubes to the front nozzle, maybe, just maybe, the bubbles will work.”
    “And then the bubbles will play a sound?”
    “I hope so,” Vincent said.
    “Hey!” Stella pointed to Snonkey the Great across the room. “You did take Anna’s animals!”
    “All in the name of science.” Vincent smiled.
    “What do these do?” Stella pointed to prototypes for Art 3-D, Sonic Snorkelz, Sno-zuka, Sketch ’n’ Sculpt, and Alarminalz.
    “That one lets you draw in 3D. That one lets you talk underwater. That shoots snowballs. That lets you draw with growing ink,
     and that’s an alarm clock,” Vincent said. “Actually, grab that Alarminalz.” He pointed to the stuffed lion.
    “This?” Stella held it up.
    “Yeah. It has an alarm clock built into it. We can use that to wake us up early. We’re gonna have to sneak out of here before
     Danger Boy and his friends wake up.”
    Vincent unwrapped the three glass Groove Tubes and the Tesla coil from the windless kite and set them on the table in the
     middle of the room.
    “These inventions are great, Vincent,” Stella said as she continued to look at all the drawings of inventions taped to the
     walls.
    “Thanks. Can you grab one of those gun-looking things from the top shelf?”
    “I was always better at writing than drawing. Is this the thing you want?” Stella pointed to a Pop Tunz bubble-blowing prototype.
    “Yeah, that one will work.”
    Vincent slid a large box out from under the table and pulled out his catcher’s mask and pads. “What’s that stuff for?” Stella
     asked.
    “It’s going to be a long night, Sis,” Vincent replied.
    Stella smiled. That was the second time today Vincent had called her Sis.

TOY FAIR
30
    BEEP BEEP
    BEEP BEEP
    BEEP BEEP

    Howard sat up in his chair and rubbed his eyes. He looked across the room at the alarm clock. 5:30 AM . He must have fallen asleep at his drawing table. Again.
    BEEP BEEP
    BEEP BEEP
    BEEP BEEP
    Howard G. Whiz walked across the room and pushed the off button on the alarm clock.
    Toy Fair was the one time a year that toy companies, from all over the world, gathered in New York to unveil their latest
     creations. And, most importantly, Toy Fair was the time a year that Howard selected the winner of the annual Whizzer Toys
     invention contest.
    Howard took a new white tie from his closet and sat back down at his drawing table. He stared out the window and thought about
     the Toy Fair. Then he thought about the contest, the kids, and their wonderful inventions. He grabbed a paintbrush, opened
     three jars of paint, and prepared to create that day’s tie.
    This was Howard’s routine every morning for the last 22,438 mornings. But this morning Howard did something he had never done.
     He smiled, screwed the lids back on the jars of paint, and decided to wear a completely white tie.
    “Perfect,” he said.

PROTOPTYPES
31
    The Alarminalz’s roar woke Stella. She opened her eyes and looked up at Vincent, still hard at work.
    “What time is it?” she asked.
    Vincent looked at his watch. “It’s eight thirty.”
    Stella jumped up. “We’re late! You’ll be disqualified!”
    “I’m almost ready. I had a ton of ideas hit me last night. Talk about bad timing. It was hard to get this thing done.” Vincent
     carefully set the Pop Tunz bubble blower into a box.
    “Does it work?” Stella asked.
    “I hope so. I decided I