8 Ch8-Don't Try This at Home

Chapter 8 Don't Try This at Home It was Friday, the day before our big spy mission. Mr. Docker had a bunch of cardboard milk cartons on his desk, and some little square mirrors, too. "What are we going to do with this stuff?" I asked. "We're going to make periscopes!" he said.

"I saw a submarine movie where they used a periscope to see above the water," said Ryan. "In Greek, 'peri' means 'around,'" said Mr. Docker, "and 'scopus' means 'to look.'" Mr. Docker helped us cut holes in our milk cartons and glue the mirrors inside so we could see around corners. It was cool! and we each got to take our periscope home. "Mr. Docker, does outer space ever end?" asked Andrea. "That's one of the great mysteries of the universe," Mr. Docker said. "I don't know if we'll ever know the answer." "Why do birds fly, Mr. Docker?" Ryan asked.

"It's faster than driving," said Mr. Docker, and everybody laughed even though it wasn't very funny Lately, I'd noticed, Mr. Docker wasn't giving us very good answers. It was like he was getting sick of hearing our why questions. Miss Lazar, the custodian, came into the science room with a big ladder. "Hooray for Miss Lazar!" everyone chanted. Mr. Docker handed Miss Lazar a bowling ball with a rope attached to it. She went up the ladder and tied the rope to the ceiling, so the bowling ball hung down. "Duty calls," said Miss Lazar, and she left. We all laughed, because Miss Lazar said

"duty" and it sounds just like "doody." "This is a pendu- lum," said Mr. Docker. He took the bowl- ing ball and walked backward, pulling the bowling ball with him. Then he put the ball against his nose. "What do you think will happen if I let go of this pendulum?" he asked.

"It will swing across the room and come back and smash you in the head," Ryan said. "Let's do the experiment and find out," said Mr. Docker. "No! Don't!" we all shouted, but Mr. Docker let go of the ball anyway. "Eeeeeeek!" all the girls shouted as the bowling ball swung across the room. "Get out of the way!" shouted Michael. Mr. Docker just stood there! "We've got to do something!" shouted Emily. She was right. The bowling ball was heading back to Mr. Docker, straight for his head! I had to act fast!

I remembered my Pee Wee football training. At the last possible second, I jumped up and tackled Mr. Docker. He fell backward. We crashed into the skeleton in the corner. Bones went flying everywhere and the skeleton was destroyed, but I had saved Mr. Docker's life. All those football practices paid off!