Read Online Skateboard Renegade by Matt Christopher - Free Book Online Page B

stealing from her piggy bank, can you believe it? Oh, Skeeter,
     you have such a way with kids. Maybe if you had a little talk with him? Everything we say just goes in one ear and out the
     other.”
    Zach, hiding on the other side of the kitchen door, felt a sudden urge to sneeze come over him. He tried to stifle it, but
     it was too late. “Aaah-choo!!!”
    His mom, hearing him, broke off the conversation. “I'll call you back later,” she told Skeeter, and hung up. “Were you listening
     in, Mr. Sneak?” she asked Zach as she came out into the living room.
    “Listening to what?” Zach asked innocently.
    His mom frowned, but didn't say anything else until they were in the car driving to Benny's. Then she said, “That was your
     uncle Skeeter on the phone.”
    “Oh, yeah?” Zach said flatly. He loved his uncle Skeeter, who was one of the most fun adults he'dever met. But right now he couldn't muster much excitement for anything.
    “He sends his regards.”
    “That's nice.”
    His mom sighed, and shook her head. “What time shall I pick you up?” she asked.
    “I'll call you.” Zach got out and went up the steps to ring Benny's doorbell. He didn't look back as the car drove away.
    “Well?” Benny asked him as he let Zach in.
    “Well, what?” Zach asked.
    “Any ideas for our project?”
    “Nope. You?”
    “Not a one,” Benny pushed his broken, taped-up glasses onto the bridge of his nose. “But I did come up with a cool program
     for simulating whatever we wind up making. Wanna see?”
    “Cool!” Zach smiled and followed Benny down into the basement, where the Santangelo family had their computer desk set up.
     Benny called up the program he'd written.
    “Say you wanted to do a bridge,” he began, and showed Zach how, by entering just a few commands,he could create the bridge, see it from any angle, and even make it sway in an imaginary wind.
    “That's incredible!” Zach said. “You did that yourself?”
    Benny shrugged. “It was easy,” he said.
    “Yeah, right. Man, we are gonna get an A-plus!” He high-fived Benny, but then their smiles began to fade. “We still need an
     idea,” Zach said. “We could do a bridge, I guess.”
    “Uh-uh,” Benny said, shaking his head. “Bernard and Enid are doing a bridge together. They'd clean our clocks. Bernard is
     a genius, and Enid's smarter than he is.”
    “What about an elevator or something?”
    “Nah. Everyone in class will be doing that,” Benny told him. “But my program isn't limited to buildings, see. We can do anything—a
     spaceship, maybe?”
    “That's not a bad idea,” Zach said. “Kind of corny, though …”
    “Yeah, I guess you're right,” Benny agreed reluctantly. “So what do we do now?”
    “I guess we sit around until we get the idea we want to do, and then you program it in for us.”
    Benny made a face. “I think you should come up with the idea then, Zach. It's only fair.”
    “But I can't think of anything!” Zach complained. “My brain needs a break. What else do you have to do around here?” Zach
     looked around the basement, examining Mr. Santangelo's weights and Mrs. Santangelo's treadmill.
    Then he opened a little wooden door, and gasped. “Wow! What a cool workshop!”
    Zach had always liked shop class at school. He was good at making things, and the projects he did invariably got A's. But
     his parents weren't handy at all, and the tools they kept around the house were totally lame. So Zach never really got much
     of a chance to exercise his talents in woodworking.
    The Santangelos, on the other hand, had an incredible workshop set up in their basement. There was a huge worktable, with
     saws, a lathe, and other power tools. On a pegboard along one wall were all kinds of hand tools. Sheets of plywood were stacked
     against the far wall, and more lumber was piled in bins in one corner.
    “My dad likes to do wood projects,” Bennyexplained. “He built our deck last year, and now he's working on an