Down the Chimney Read online

  “What do you think has happened to them?” Pippa asks her brother.

  “I don’t know. Maybe they had to go back to their Sunship,” Troy answers.

  Mr. Sinclair shows up with a basket of laundry. He tells Troy and Pippa that if they’re finished their chores they can go outside to play until lunchtime.

  Pippa drags her feet on the way out.

  “I don’t understand it. They said they’d be here,” she says.

  “They’ll be back. Don’t worry,” Troy says.

  “There’s no way they can find all those things on their list without our help.”

  Troy picks up a Frisbee from the front lawn and tosses it across to Pippa.

  “Catch!” he yells.

  But before Pippa has a chance to, the Frisbee bounces strangely in the air and crashes to the ground. Pippa and Troy look at each other, then they both run into the middle of the lawn. They stop as they near the area where the Frisbee has landed.

  “Do you think it’s still here?” Pippa asks.

  “It must be.” Troy feels carefully through the air with his arms outstretched. He walks forward inch by inch until his legs jam up against something. “Aha!”

  Pippa rushes in and slides her hands against the robot’s invisible spaceship. Her fingers latch onto something.

  “I think it’s the door!” she says. She pushes a button and the ramp drops down in front of them. Now they can see right inside the spaceship.

  Troy and Pippa walk up the ramp into the spaceship.

  “Googol?” they call. “Googolplex!”

  But the inside of the spaceship is empty. The robots are not in their cockpit or anywhere else.

  Troy scratches his head.

  “I don’t like it,” he says. “If the robots’ spaceship is here, Googol and Googolplex should be around somewhere too.”

  “Look!” Pippa says.

  She points out one of the side windows of the spaceship. Troy squints hard. He finally sees a little bit of blue, red and yellow sticking out of the long grass at the back of their house.

  Troy and Pippa run out of the spaceship and into their back yard. They find both robots lying in the grass under a very big apple tree.

  Pippa laughs. “What are you guys doing? Counting the apples?”

  The robots don’t answer. They just lie there, staring up at the sky.

  “Oh, no!” Troy says. He kneels down beside Googol and stares into the robot’s dull eyes. “They’re out of power!”

  And Troy is right. There isn’t a single light flashing from any part of the robots’ bodies. They have stopped working.

  Chapter Five

  Martin Kelly

  Pippa stands and stares down at Googol and Googolplex. She feels like crying.

  “What are we going to do, Troy?” she asks.

  “We’re going to get them back to their spaceship and recharge them, that’s what we’re going to do!” Troy says. “Go get your red wagon, Pippa!”

  Pippa runs to get her wagon from the back porch. It squeaks noisily as she wheels it over to her brother.

  Troy and Pippa lift Googol and lay him in the wagon. The robot is smaller than Pippa and he isn’t much heavier than an empty garbage can. Pippa and Troy don’t have much trouble pulling him over to the spaceship and up the ramp. Putting Googol into his cockpit and hooking him up to be recharged is trickier. They’ve never had to plug in a robot before.

  Pippa finally sees the two slots in the floor underneath the cockpit. When they roll Googol backwards his feet fit perfectly into these slots. After only ten seconds, all Googol’s lights flash on and his head turns around three times.

  “Oh, dear!” Googol exclaims. “Oh, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear! That was an awful experience. That was a terrible experience!”

  Pippa puts a hand on top of Googol’s head. “Take it easy, Googol. You’re okay.”

  “What happened?” Troy asks.

  “We heard a blackbird’s song,” Googol says, sadly.

  “And?” Troy says.

  “And it was so beautiful!” Googol says. “It’s on our list, you know.”

  “I know, I know,” Troy says, “but what has that got to do with you and Googolplex being out of power?”

  Just then, Troy looks into their back yard. A couple of blackbirds land in the apple tree.

  “You didn’t try to climb our tree and catch a blackbird, did you?” Troy asks.

  Googol nods.

  “Oh, Googol! You silly robot!” Troy says.

  “Yes, very silly,” Googol agrees. “The blackbirds flew away and left us, and we couldn’t get down. We ran out of power when your sun was rising, and I guess we fell.”

  “You poor thing!” Pippa exclaims.

  Troy looks Googol over, but the robot doesn’t have a scratch on him.

  “Could you bring Googolplex back to the spaceship too?” Googol asks. “I don’t like to see him lying there all alone.”

  Troy and Pippa run back to Googolplex and load him into the wagon. But just as they begin to pull him towards the spaceship, they see Martin Kelly walking over from next door.

  “Oh, no!” Troy whispers to Pippa.

  Martin is two years older than Troy and a bit of a bully. On a good day when he has friends over to play with, he ignores Pippa and Troy completely. But on a bad day when he is bored, he hangs their toys in the trees and shoots spitballs at them. Pippa and Troy know Googol and Googolplex will be in trouble if Martin finds out about them.

  Pippa and Troy stand in front of the wagon and try to hide Googolplex. But they can tell by the way that Martin starts to run towards them that he has seen the robot.

  “What have you got there?” Martin asks.

  “It’s just a robot,” Troy says.

  “Does it work?” Martin asks. He makes a grab for Googolplex, but Pippa pulls the wagon away.

  “No,” Troy says.

  Pippa keeps walking towards the invisible spaceship and Martin keeps following.

  “Come on. Let’s see him stand up,” Martin says.

  Just then, Troy realizes that the spaceship ramp is still down. If they take one more step, Martin will be able to see right up inside the spaceship.

  “All right, Martin. But you have to close your eyes and count to thirty,” Troy says. “And no cheating!”

  Martin grumbles a lot, but he finally puts a hand over his eyes and starts counting.

  Troy grabs Pippa’s hand and leads her quickly up the spaceship’s ramp. By the time Martin starts peeking through his fingers, the ramp has closed. Now Troy and Pippa are invisible too.

  Martin pulls his hand right away from his face. “Hey! Where’d you guys go?”

  Pippa and Troy stand in front of the spaceship windows. They watch Martin turn around and around, looking for them.

  “Uh-oh,” Pippa says. “Watch out! He’s going to bump into us.”

  Martin has made himself so dizzy spinning around that he walks right into the side of the spaceship. He rubs his head. Then he puts out a hand and walks towards them.

  “Hold on!” Googol calls.

  Pippa and Troy hold onto a wall as Googol makes the spaceship lift off and hover above Martin’s head. Martin stands under them, swatting the air and charging around like a mad bull.

  Googol and Googolplex are so busy escaping from Martin that they forget all about falling out of the apple tree. And when Pippa and Troy hear the robots bleeping happily once again, they are almost glad to have someone as silly as Martin Kelly for a neighbor.

  Chapter Six

  The Blackbird’s Song

  Martin is still running around under the robots’ invisible spaceship when Mr. Sinclair comes out of the house.

  “Here comes Dad,” Pippa says.

  Martin runs over to Mr. Sinclair as soon as he sees him. Mr. Sinclair scratches his head as if he can’t understand a thing Martin is saying.

  “Googol, you’d better drop us off at the back of the house,” Troy says.

 
; “Before Martin gets us in too much trouble,” Pippa says.

  In a couple of minutes, Troy and Pippa come running around to the front of the house. Mr. Sinclair points to them as soon as he sees them.

  “See? There they are, Martin,” Mr. Sinclair says. “Nothing can disappear into thin air, you know.”

  “Yeah?” Martin says angrily. He looks down into Pippa’s empty wagon. “Well, where’s the robot then?”

  “Gone, I’m afraid,” Troy says.

  Martin sticks his chin out. “You promised that I could see him!”

  Troy nods. “I know. But he’s rather shy of people, and I can’t make him do something he doesn’t want to.”

  “You’re lying!” Martin waves hands about. “He’s here, somewhere, flying about. And I have the bump on my head to prove it!”

  Mr. Sinclair rolls his eyes. “Martin, go home and have some lunch. A person can’t think clearly on an empty stomach.”

  Martin looks like he’s about to argue with Mr. Sinclair again, but he doesn’t. He turns around and stamps all the way home.

  Mr. Sinclair shakes his head. “I don’t know what gets into that boy sometimes.”

  Mr. Sinclair looks over at his own children.

  “So,” Mr. Sinclair says, “where is this robot?”

  “He’s in the back yard in his invisible spaceship,” Troy says.

  “He’s being recharged,” Pippa says.

  Mr. Sinclair laughs and pats Pippa’s head. “Good for him. Now how about I go in and make some lunch to recharge the rest of us? Tuna fish okay?”

  “Sure, Dad,” Pippa says.

  “Sure, Dad,” Troy says.

  As soon as Mr. Sinclair has gone inside the house, Troy and Pippa run back to the spaceship to see the robots.

  “How are you doing?” Troy asks the robots. “Are you all recharged?”

  “Oh, no. That will take us the rest of the day,” Googolplex says.

  “The blackbirds will probably be gone by then,” Googol says sadly.

  “No they won’t,” Pippa says. “They’re always here.”

  “Are they? Oh, you’re so lucky,” Googol says.

  “We don’t have anything that makes a song half as nice as that back on our Sunship.”

  “I’m not going to mind having to sit here all day being recharged as long as I can listen to the blackbirds,” Googolplex says. “If only we could catch one for our scavenger hunt.”

  “Oh, you can’t do that,” Troy says. “The blackbirds need to stay in their own environment here on earth to survive.”

  “Anyway,” Pippa says, “your list didn’t say to get a blackbird, it said to get a blackbird’s song. And I think I know how to do that.”

  “You do?” Googol and Googolplex say together.

  Pippa laughs. “Yes. But you’ll have to wait till later, because my dad is taking us swimming after lunch.”

  “Is your dad mad at you for helping us?” Googol asked them.

  “Oh, no,” Pippa says. “He doesn’t believe you’re real.”

  “Not real!” Googolplex exclaims.

  “Not real!” Googol exclaims. He gives three very real beeps.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Troy says. “It’s better if we keep you a secret, anyway. A lot of adults would want to lock you up and take you apart if they found you. They’re very scared of the idea of creatures coming here from outer space.”

  “Yeah, and it’s a good thing you didn’t go down Martin’s chimney,” Pippa says. “He’d probably have locked you in his basement and made the neighborhood kids pay to see you.”

  “Oh, dear!” Googol says. “I don’t think we will go down any more chimneys!”

  “And I don’t think I want to meet any adults!” Googolplex says.

  “We’ll just stay right here while we recharge,” Googol says.

  And Googol and Googolplex have a very nice afternoon listening to the blackbirds in the apple tree—until Martin Kelly returns.

  Chapter Seven

  Falling Snowballs

  Googol and Googolplex are still sitting in their cockpit listening to the blackbirds when Martin Kelly climbs over the side fence into the Sinclairs’ back yard. The robots watch him sneak over to the Sinclairs’ apple tree with a couple of stones in his hand.

  “Oh, dear,” Googol says.

  “Oh, dear,” Googolplex says.

  Martin pulls back his arm and throws the stones high into the tree. All the blackbirds fly away. Martin laughs.

  “That Martin Kelly!” Googol says.

  “He is not a very nice human!” Googolplex says.

  Martin reaches up into the apple tree and starts to climb it. He is a very good climber. It takes him only a couple of minutes to reach the very top of the tree. The robots can barely see him through the leaves. When Pippa comes out of the house into the back yard, she does not see Martin at all.

  Pippa has a small blue and white tape recorder in her hand. It is the one her father bought her for Christmas. She carries it over to the apple tree and puts it down on the ground. She pushes the record button.

  “Pippa!” Mr. Sinclair calls from the back porch. “The popcorn’s ready!”

  “Coming, Dad!” Pippa calls back.

  Pippa turns and smiles in the direction of the robot’s invisible spaceship. She gives them a little wave before she runs back into the house.

  Martin sticks his head out through the leaves of the apple tree to see if the coast is clear.

  “I do not like the look of this,” Googolplex says. “That Martin Kelly is up to no good.”

  And Googolplex is right. As soon as Martin climbs down out of the tree, he grabs Pippa’s tape recorder and runs away with it.

  “No! Stop!” Googol yells.

  “Bring that back!” Googolplex yells.

  But Martin can’t see or hear the robots. He puts Pippa’s tape recorder under one arm and keeps running until he is back in his own yard.

  “We must get Pippa’s little box back,” Googol says.

  “Yes,” Googolplex agrees. “It is her box. I do not think she would want Martin Kelly to have it.”

  The robots push a few buttons that make the spaceship fly up and over to the Kellys’ back yard. They see Martin hiding behind a playhouse. He is pushing the buttons on Pippa’s tape recorder and making strange noises.

  “How are we going to get it back if we can’t leave the spaceship?” Googol asks Googolplex.

  “I do not know,” Googolplex answers. “I do not want to be locked up in Martin Kelly’s basement.”

  “Neither do I,” Googol says. “But Pippa and Troy have helped us and we must help them. We could not have found a chocolate bar and snowballs without them.”

  Googolplex’s head spins around three times. “That is it, Googol! The snowballs!”

  Martin is still sitting on the grass. He is growling and burping and yelling rude words onto Pippa’s tape. He doesn’t know anything is going to happen to him until the first snowball drops onto the top of his head.

  Martin stumbles onto his feet and looks up at the sunny blue sky. “What the heck?” he says.

  Martin falls back onto his knees and covers his head as five more snowballs fly out of the sky at him. When they stop, Martin gets to his feet and runs into his house.

  “Mom! Mom!” Martin yells as the back door crashes closed behind him.

  “Oh, that felt good!” Googol says.

  “Wonderful!” Googolplex says. “I like snowball fights! I think we should tell all the robots on our Sunship to have one as soon as we get back!”

  “Good idea!” Googol says. “But right now I think we had better grab Pippa’s box and go!”

  Googol hits a button on the spaceship’s control panel. A little door beneath the spaceship opens and out pops a robotic arm. Googol guides this arm down to Pippa’s tape recorder and makes it grab hold of the blue handle.

  Googolplex flies the spaceship back into the Sinclairs’ back yard. The robotic arm gently r
eplaces Pippa’s tape recorder under the apple tree.

  “Perfect!” Googolplex says.

  “Perfect!” Googol says.

  By the time Martin Kelly drags his mother out of the house, there is nothing to see. No robotic arm, no tape recorder and no snowballs. The warm spring sun has melted the snowballs into puddles on the grass.

  “Poor Martin Kelly,” Googolplex says. “He is not having a good day.”

  “No,” Googol says. “But we are!”

  “We certainly are!” Googolplex says.

  And the robots’ lights flash like laughter as they listen to Martin try to convince his mother that there really were snowballs falling on him out of the warm blue sky.

  Chapter Eight

  Shooting Stars and Sunships

  The next morning, Troy and Pippa take the tape recorder up into the robots’ spaceship. Googol and Googolplex quickly tell them all about their adventures with Martin Kelly. When they play back the tape in the tape recorder, they find everything the robots have told them is taped on it. They hear all of Martin’s rude words. They hear the snowball attack. And they hear Martin trying to convince his mother that snowballs are falling out of the blue sky.

  Pippa and Troy shake their heads.

  “Well, at least things turned out all right in the end,” Pippa says.

  And they really did, because the second half of Pippa’s tape is filled with the blackbirds’ songs.

  “Perfect!” Googol says.

  “Perfect!” Googolplex says.

  “Now all we have to figure out is how you are going to be able to listen to this tape if you take it back to your Sunship,” Pippa says. “I suppose I could loan you my tape recorder...”

  “Thank you, Pippa, but you don’t need to,” Googolplex tells her. “Our spaceship has a sound recorder too.”

  “If we play your tape again, we can record it into the memory banks of our computer,” Googol says.

  “Okay, but remember not to record Martin Kelly’s part,” Troy reminds them. “We don’t want the robots on your Sunship to think that all humans sound like that. They’ll blast out of our solar system for sure.”