The next day, right after lunch, the doorbell rang. Mom answered it, and Cat, Boris, and Perry burst in, all looking very happy.

“You won, Otis!” Perry said.

“That’s impossible,” I told them. “I never even entered the Lego contest.”

“Not that contest,” Perry said. He handed me a piece of paper. “Go on. Read it.”

I read out loud:

“Look what it says below.” Perry pointed to the next item.

“A new vacuum cleaner!” Mom cried.

I’m not going to lie to you. For a half second I considered taking apart the new vacuum cleaner and rebuilding the hovercraft.

But Mom looked so happy about the vacuum cleaner. And even though winning the Dingle-Dork of the Week award wasn’t nearly as good as winning first prize in the Lego contest, it was better than Most Amazing Lunch Box of the Year award.

Plus, I really like Tootsie Rolls.

*   *   *

So it all turned out okay in the end. True, I didn’t win $500 and Lego fame and glory. But neither did Sid. He didn’t even get a chance to enter the Lego contest. It turned out those blisters on his tongue were from foot and mouth disease. He spent the whole next week sick in bed.

Pretty cool, huh? It gave me an idea for my next Lego invention. I’m not going to tell you about it just yet, though. I might jinx it. Maybe you don’t believe in jinxes, but trust me, they’re real. Since I’ve moved to Tidwell Towers I’ve learned that anything can happen.