CHAPTER 1

Everything in the world was just right. It was Sunday afternoon, a soft breeze was coming through the open window, and I was at my favorite place in the world.

My invention desk.

It’s just a regular desk, but it’s where I work my magic. My desk is packed with all my tools, like my voltage meter and my ten-piece screwdriver kit. And I rigged up a set of containers to store all my tiny screws, washers and nuts, copper wires, microchips, and, of course, more tiny screws.

There’s no place I’d rather be than sitting at my invention desk, squinting at a circuit board. It was especially great that Sunday because my chatterbox of a little sister, Maggie, was outside trying to earn some money at her lemonade stand.

I was all set to begin work on my latest invention, something I call the Pocket Buddy. It’s a super-duper all-in-one tool featuring a pair of scissors, a spork, a mini magnifying glass, a little pen, and a breath-mint dispenser. Suddenly, my mom burst through the door without knocking. I hadn’t even heard her footsteps coming down the hall. She’d probably taken off her shoes so she could surprise me. Moms are sneaky that way.

“Tiger, Maggie needs your help,” she said.

“Didn’t you read the sign on my door?” I shot back. “No parents without prior appointment.”

“It’s that Cooper Starr kid,” my mom said. “Actually, it’s his little brother.”

“You mean Pooch?”

“That sounds like a dog’s name.”

“It’s what everyone calls Andrew Starr,” I explained. “That kid’s as bad as his big brother. On Friday at school, I saw him put someone’s lunch box in the trash can. That’s his idea of fun.”

“Well, it looks like Cooper and Pooch are trying to run Maggie out of business,” my mom said. “She needs your help.”

“Why can’t you help her?”

“Tiger, you know it’s embarrassing to have your mom stick up for you. It’s much cooler when your older brother does. So I’d like you to go outside and see what you can do.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. First, my mom burst into my room and interrupted my precious invention time. Now she was ordering me to help my little sister fight a lemonade-stand war against the Starr brothers, the biggest jerks this side of Mars.

“I don’t know the first thing about lemonade stands,” I said, “or even how to make lemonade. It’s made from grapefruit, correct?”

“Very clever, Einstein,” Mom said. “But it won’t work.”

“Mom, do you think Thomas Edison’s mother asked him to help his little sister when he was right in the middle of inventing the lightbulb?”

“First of all, you’re not inventing the lightbulb. And second, Maggie needs help now. She wants to raise ten dollars by five o’clock so she can go to the mall with her friend Hazel’s family to buy a Shop-Cool doll.”

I sighed loud and long, and I let it hang in the air for a while. Oh sure, I could think of more comebacks, throw a tantrum, come down with a case of yellow fever . . . but in the end, it wouldn’t matter. My mom would win.

“Knock knock” came a friendly voice from the hallway.

Luna, my upstairs neighbor, poked her head into my room.

“I heard your conversation from the porch,” she said. “We’d love to help Maggie, Mrs. Brooks. My grandma always says nothing is more important than family.”

“What about minding your own business?” I said. “Doesn’t your grandma believe in that?”

“No,” Luna said with a laugh. “Now, what are you waiting for, Tiger? We have lemonade to sell.”

I sighed again. Luna is my best friend, but she might be a little too nice for this world.

“Well, Tiger?” my mom said, her hands on her hips.

“Well, Tiger?” Luna repeated, her hands on her hips, too.

That was too many hands on hips for me. I buckled under the pressure. I put away my tiny screws and headed outside.

Seemed like the world was just going to have to wait one more day for the Pocket Buddy.