Tesla's Attic (9781423155126) Read Online Free

“Like the wine?”
    â€œNo, Murló like Murphy and López smushed together, ground up, and pushed out the other end. My parents’ idea—a half-Hispanic, half-Irish name that sounds French.” Mitch looked around approvingly. “Nice garage sale you’re running—so, you gonna start at Rocky Point Middle School, or are you older or younger and I’m just not guessing your age right?”
    â€œUh…” Nick had to take a moment to mentally diagram Mitch’s sentence. “Uh…yeah, no, you got it right, I’ll be in eighth grade. I’ll be starting—”
    â€œOn Monday?” Mitch interrupted. “Great! We should talk—I’ll tell you which teachers to avoid, and where it’s safe to sit without risking a beating.”
    â€œThanks. Actually I—”
    â€œWant to hear it now? Sure. First of all, there’s Mrs. Kottswold.…”
    Nick had already been assigned to classes, so any talk of avoiding teachers was moot. But apparently Mitch only needed himself to carry on a conversation. Nick endured another minute of school trivia before he could refocus the conversation on the garage sale. “Yeah, that’s all good to know. So…what do you have there?”
    â€œOh, yeah, right.” Mitch looked at the object in his hands, almost as if he were surprised to see it there, a little embarrassed by it, even. “It’s a birthday gift for my little sister.” He held up the disk-shaped metal device, with a movable arrow mounted in the center. It was possibly a toy—it looked like an early See ’n Say cast in steel. But instead of barn animals, it had geometric symbols engraved around the circle. An ivory ring was attached to a pull string. “This looks good,” he said.
    â€œUh…right…” said Nick. “I’m sure your sister would love a weird piece of junk instead of something—”
    â€œSomething new in a box? You bet she would! She’s not into the whole corporate America commercialization-of-birthdays thing.” Mitch played with the string on the device. “Anyway, how much?”
    Nick shrugged. “I was thinking of—”
    â€œI only brought ten with me,” Mitch said, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. “But I can go home and get more.”
    â€œOkay, what’s going on?” Nick demanded. “Did that girl Caitlin put you up to this? What are you all planning?”
    â€œI don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mitch said indignantly, holding out the ten.
    Nick sighed and took the bill. “Fine. I hope your sister enjoys it.”
    As Caitlin wandered closer to the garage, she saw it. The perfect item.
    An old reel-to-reel tape recorder. A big, bulky thing the size of a suitcase, complete with two plate-size spools of audiotape. In a flash of inspiration, she saw her entire garbart project. She’d pull the guts out of the machine and drape the wires and other electronic bits over and around the thing. Then she’d wrap the entire mess with the audiotape. She even had a title.
    Media Frenzy.
    She raced back to Nick, unable to control herself as she pulled bills from her purse. Even though Caitlin realized she was falling into the same trap as the others, she was powerless to stop it. She only wanted to spend ten, but she found herself holding out a twenty to Nick.
    â€œHow much do you want for that tape recorder?” she asked. “Is this enough? I have more.”
    Nick looked at the bill in her hand but wouldn’t take it. He just shook his head. “It’s junk! It’s not worth anything. What’s wrong with you?”
    Caitlin felt tears—actual tears—building in her eyes. “I don’t know! I don’t know! Just take the money and let me have it! Because if you don’t, I don’t know what I’ll do!”
    Nick reached out to her in a kind of daze,