In the morning, Mr. Vaslov drove us to the museum. Alexis was a different person—all smiles and no sniffles. He talked on and on about making model airplanes with his dad.
“When we’re finished, we hang them from my bedroom ceiling.”
“I know.” Mr. Vaslov nodded. “That’s why your father asked me to take you to the Air and Space Museum.”
My dad was a soldier and a war hero. We never got a chance to make things together. I wondered if Alexis knew how lucky he was to have a dad in his life. Then I thought back to his crying and his puffy red eyes. His life wasn’t perfect either.
“We’re here!” Mr. Vaslov pulled open a glass door, and we moved into the gigantic hall with the airplanes overhead.
“Hey! Alexis!” I pointed. “Just like your bedroom at home.”
Mr. Vaslov was a lot more relaxed than Mrs. Blaine. No counting heads at all. He let Alexis read as many signs as he wanted without pushing him to hurry up. And he let me go inside the nose of a Boeing 747 twice.
In one of the rooms, Mr. Vaslov and I got interested in pictures of the space walks.
“Look at those huge backpacks,” I said. “Are they engines? Do they make the astronauts fly?”
“They float, not fly,” Mr. Vaslov explained. “There’s oxygen in the packs to keep the astronauts alive.”
“That makes sense,” I said. “But a flying backpack sure would be awesome.”
Mr. Vaslov winked. “I’ll keep it in mind, Freddie.”
Science museums are great places to get ideas for new inventions. Mr. Vaslov and I were so busy talking that we didn’t notice Alexis wasn’t nearby.
“WHERE IS HE?” Mr. Vaslov shouted. His eyes got as big as his round glasses.
“Don’t worry!” I said. “I’m good at finding kids in this place.”
¡No hay problema! I found Alexis in the next room, standing in front of something that looked to me like a ginormous kite.
“The Wright Brothers Flyer.” He pointed. “The first plane! So cool!”
“It is!” Mr. Vaslov agreed, putting his arms around Alexis in a bear hug.
Alexis was having too good a time to realize how much he had scared us. It was nice to see him smiling, but I still wondered why he’d been so unhappy the day before.
I got my chance to find out during lunch.
Mr. Vaslov bought us hamburgers, and we sat down in the table area with our trays.
“Drat!” Mr. Vaslov said. “I forgot to get napkins.”
“I’ll get them,” I offered.
While I was over at the counter pulling napkins from a metal box, Mr. Vaslov leaned his head toward Alexis. I could tell they were about to start a private conversation. All I had to do was rub the buttons on my wristband to listen in. Should I? It was really tempting. Too tempting! My fingers moved almost by themselves. Then my ears started hurting.
“Don’t feed your doll chocolate ice cream.”
“Gross! They put mustard on my sandwich!”
Blocking out the other people in the lunchroom and hearing Mr. Vaslov took all my concentration.
“I’m so happy the operation went well,” he told Alexis. “The doctor says your mom is recovering nicely.”
So that’s what was wrong! Alexis was worried about his mom. If my mom had to have an operation, I’d be sad too.
I turned off my super hearing and went back to the table to eat my hamburger. Alexis and Mr. Vaslov stopped talking as soon as I sat down. That made me feel funny.
Later on, we went to the gift shop. I bought a postcard of a red airplane and one of the moonwalk showing astronauts wearing those fancy backpacks that looked like jet engines.
With Mr. Vaslov’s help, Alexis picked out a model airplane covered in green and gold glitter. Alexis wanted it for his mom in the hospital. I knew that because I was eavesdropping from across the store.
“Good choice,” Mr. Vaslov said. “Your mom will love it.”
As we left the museum, I kept wanting to say something to Alexis about his mom. But since I wasn’t supposed to know she was in the hospital, I had to keep my mouth shut. Having superpowers is really complicated.
