The Potato Chip Puzzles: The Puzzling World of Winston Breen Read Online Free

no. You’re still on the team.”
    Winston shook his head. “I don’t want to do it without my friends,” he said. Which wasn’t exactly true. He wanted to do it very much, and he could hardly believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. But in some way he couldn’t explain, not going was more important than going without Jake and Mal. He’d read about it afterward, or call up the company and see if he could get the puzzles when the event was done. It wouldn’t be the same thing, but he couldn’t invite his friends and then just as quickly cut them out. They would understand, and they probably wouldn’t hold it against Winston. But they would also remember.
    Mr. Garvey, frowning, stared at Winston. He said, “I thought solving puzzles was your favorite thing to do.”
    “It is.”
    “But you’re going to pass up a full day of solving puzzles, simply because your friends can’t come along? That seems a little foolish to me, Winston. If you don’t mind me saying.”
    Winston shrugged. He gazed off down the hallway—he couldn’t look at Mr. Garvey full in the face. “I think I’d feel bad all day long,” he said, keeping his voice calm. “I told them they could come, and then if they’re not there . . . I guess I just don’t think it would be fun.”
    Mr. Garvey said, “Maybe it wouldn’t be fun. Maybe it would be hard work. But at the end of the day, you’d bring home a large financial reward to your school. Doesn’t that make it worth it? Why don’t you think of it that way?”
    Winston said nothing. He was afraid Mr. Garvey would talk him out of quitting. Part of him was hoping this would happen.
    Mr. Garvey continued, “I think you have a responsibility, Winston, to attend this event and do your best at it. No matter who your teammates are.”
    A new, small realization poked its way through Winston’s anger and disappointment. In fact, it felt a little bit like solving a puzzle: He’d picked up on the clues that were right in front of him and understood how they fit neatly together. Mr. Garvey had an entire class of smart kids to draw from, and yet he was trying quite hard to convince Winston to stay on the team. Quite hard.
    “This is an opportunity for you,” Mr. Garvey said, “to give something back to your school. Do you understand?”
    Winston said, “You really want me to be on the team.”
    Mr. Garvey gave a small bark of laughter. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”
    “You don’t think you can win without me.”
    Mr. Garvey looked surprised and then turned stony again. “I wouldn’t go that far. I teach a lot of bright students. Some of them like puzzles very much.”
    “This will be more than math puzzles, though,” Winston said. “It’ll probably be all kinds of puzzles.”
    Mr. Garvey nodded slowly, aware he was being backed up against a cliff. “You’re probably right. That’s why I think it would be best if you stayed on the team.”
    Mentally crossing his fingers, Winston said, “I’ll stay on the team if my friends can stay.”
    The math teacher crossed his arms. “And if not?”
    Winston shrugged again.
    The stony look on Mr. Garvey’s face intensified. He shook his head in disbelief. “Are you playing hardball with me, Winston?”
    “No,” Winston said, although he knew the answer was yes. “I’m just saying that we already have a good team. That’s the team I want to be on.”
    The teacher gaped down at him for several moments. He blew out a long breath and said, “Look at this from my point of view. Who are these friends of yours? They aren’t elite students, or I’d have heard of them. One of them may be a fine athlete, but athletes don’t tend to be master puzzle solvers.” He searched around for some new way to salvage the situation and settled on, “Did I mention to you how much I want to win this thing?”
    “They’re both good thinkers,” said Winston. “We’re a good team. You’ll see.”
    Mr. Garvey thought about