Alien in My Pocket #4 Read Online Free

video on Mom’s phone?”
    â€œOf course I do,” I snapped, despite the fact I had never done it before.
    â€œHow’s this, Taylor?” my dad called from outside Taylor’s window.
    We both walked over and looked down to the backyard below. My dad was standing on the grass in front of a giant, flat piece of wood that he had placed directly underneath Taylor’s window. Dad was wearing his work gloves and holding a spray can.
    â€œLook, I even spray-painted a big target on the board,” Dad said.
    â€œThat’s perfect, Dad!” Taylor shouted. “Isn’t this the coolest, Zack?”
    I imagined my baseball teammates forgetting about me at this very moment.
    That’s when I saw the balloon floating near Taylor’s bed. It said HAPPY BIRTHDAY on it.
    At that moment, I had a great science idea.
    I snatched the scissors off Taylor’s workbench, cut the balloon’s string and caught the string as the balloon started to rise. I plucked an egg out of the Styrofoam container that was open on Taylor’s bed and helped myself to the scotch tape dispenser on his desk. I quickly attached the egg to the string. With only one hand available, my work was a little messy, but sometimes science isn’t pretty.
    Taylor was still admiring Dad’s spray-painted target out the window when I leaned out past him. I held the egg in the hand of my good arm. I let the balloon float up, aimed my egg, and let go.
    â€œMy balloon!” Taylor said.
    In an instant I could tell the balloon wasn’t big enough to set the jumbo-sized egg down gently, as I had imagined it would. Instead, the egg dropped like a boulder, pulling the helpless balloon behind it. The egg exploded dead center on the target, the goop from the egg splashing onto Dad’s sneakers.

    Dad’s head snapped up at me like I was a madman. “Really, Zack? Again?” he yelled.
    Now that the egg was scrambled, the balloon had no trouble lifting the tiny piece of taped shell still attached to the string. Taylor and I watched as it floated up over the roof and disappeared.
    â€œThanks a lot,” Taylor hissed.
    â€œIt’s just a lousy balloon,” I said. I waved at Dad, who was giving me his angry face from the grass below. “Sorry, Dad. Learning can be messy.”
    He grumbled something to himself and walked off, shaking his head.
    Taylor grunted and went back to preparing his egg contraptions on the floor. “Seriously, Zack, let me do the thinking, or this is going to be a very long and very messy weekend.”
    I walked past him without another word.
    I had another idea—a better idea.

Egg Drop Derby
    I pulled an old shoebox off the shelf in my closet. Among the trinkets and junk inside was a little plastic army guy with a parachute attached to his back. If I could untie the parachute strings tied to the little loop on the army guy’s backpack, I could tape the parachute to an egg.
    I smiled at my brilliance.
    The parachute would set the egg down gently on the board and I could show Dad and Taylor my ideas were as good as any a brainy first grader could have.
    At my desk, I had to use my teeth to work out the knot at the end of the parachute string. I was concentrating so hard on the task at hand I didn’t see Amp approach.
    â€œYou must be very hungry,” he said, suddenly appearing from behind my cup of pencils and pens.

    â€œWha da you vant?” I said, holding the string between my teeth.
    â€œYou look like a beaver flossing his teeth,” he said. “What are you doing to that poor green plastic man?”
    â€œYou’re next,” I said, giving him a look I hoped would convince him to disappear for a week.
    â€œI saw your failed balloon experiment.” He giggled. “That idea wasn’t as bad as your usual ideas.”
    â€œI know,” I said, feeling the top of the knot loosening and my patience fading.
    â€œYou simply