The Imagination Station

Mr. Pinkerton said, “You will all stay behind bars. At least till I talk to the Little Rock judge. I need to ask him what to do with children. I’ve never arrested kids before.”

Mr. Pinkerton put the key in his pocket. He tipped his hat with a nod. Then the detective walked away from the jail cell. He headed up the stairs.

Beth gasped. She turned toward Eugene. “What should we do?” she asked.

Eugene stood up straight. He took a deep breath.

“I’ll take the risk and go,” Eugene said. “I’m fairly certain I can get back to Whit’s End.”

“What if you can’t?” Patrick asked. “Beth and I will rot in jail if it doesn’t work.”

Just then Patrick heard loud footsteps coming from the stairwell.

Eugene moved toward the cell’s bars. “Mr. Pinkerton is coming back!” he said.

A popping sound came from the corner of the cell. Patrick and Beth turned to look.

The Imagination Station was fading in and out.

Just then Mr. Pinkerton appeared. “I forgot to ask about that ‘computer’ you have,” he said. “It looks like a typewriter. But I opened it, and it doesn’t have any ink inside.”

Eugene groaned. “You opened it,” he said. “With what?”

“A crowbar,” the detective said.

Patrick quickly moved to Beth. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the Imagination Station. “We have to get out of here now. Or the machine might disappear.”

“Wait!” Beth said. “What about Eugene?”

“We’ll come back for him,” Patrick whispered. “He’ll be okay. It’s not as if Mr. Pinkerton will throw him to the lions.”

The cousins got into the car-like Imagination Station. They shut the doors and fastened their seat belts.

Patrick grabbed the black knob on the dashboard. A sharp pain shot up his hand to his elbow. He let the knob go. “Ouch!” he said. “It shocked me!”

He looked at Beth. Wisps of her dark-brown hair were sticking straight up.

“There’s a lot of static electricity inside the car,” Beth said. She reached over and took Patrick’s hand. “I don’t want to get separated again.”

Patrick nodded. Then he glanced out the windshield. Eugene and Mr. Pinkerton were still talking. Patrick heard Mr. Pinkerton say, “I have the evidence that you were part of the robbery right here in this satchel!”

Patrick yanked the black knob again. He ignored the tingles that shocked him.

He heard an electric buzz as the car began to spin. Sparks flew off the outside of the car.

Beth gripped Patrick’s free hand tightly.

The windshield filled with bright, swirling colors. Patrick felt as if they were being sucked into a whirlpool. The temperature dropped, and a chill seeped into his bones.

Suddenly everything went black.