by Ada Hopper
“So what do we do?” asked Cesar. “The world isn’t ready for three of me!”
“Never fear!” cried the doctor. “I’ll be back on the double! In the meantime, just keep your doubles out of trouble!”
As Dr. Bunsen hurried away, the DATA Set looked at one another.
“Wait. If the clones are doing our chores,” said Laura, “that means they’re heading . . .”
“Home,” finished Gabe. “We have to stop them before our parents see them!”
Chapter 7
Catch the Clones
* * *
Gabe was outside his house when he saw the first clone in his bedroom. “Oh, great. He’s inside already!”
As he bolted up the stairs, his mother caught him by surprise. “Gabe? I thought I heard you up here. How was school today?”
“It was, um . . . crowded,” Gabe said nervously. His clone was already busy tidying up under his bed.
Gabe closed the door slightly. “I’m, uh, pretty tired. . . . I think I might lie down for a bit,” he said as he rushed into his room.
“Gabriel,” said his mother. “I believe you are forgetting something.”
Gabe poked his head out into the hall. “Um . . .”
“You promised to rake the leaves in the front yard,” his mom said. “You have to do all your chores.”
“Oh, right! Hold on. I just need to change into my leaf-sweeping shirt.”
CLATTER! CRASH! The clone dropped something on the floor.
“¡Ay dios mio!” cried his mother. “What was that?”
“Nothing!” claimed Gabe. “One of my books fell off the shelf.” Gabe looked around his room in horror. The clone was dusting his fossil replicas—and knocking them down one by one!
Gabe chased his clone around the room, picking up the mess. Then there was a noise outside.
WHIRRRRRRRRR.
“Oh no,” Gabe groaned.
His second clone was out front with the leaf blower. This was a disaster! He had to stop the clones before his mom saw that there were two too many Gabes!
“Please,” Gabe begged. “Stop dusting!”
“I am programmed to dust,” the clone replied.
CLATTER! CRASH! CLATTER!
Three more fossil replicas toppled off the shelf.
Gabe grabbed his hair in frustration. “You’re breaking all my stuff!”
“I am programmed to dust,” the clone repeated.
CRASH!
Gabe’s favorite dinosaur lamp fell to the floor and shattered.
“No!” cried Gabe.
“Is everything all right in there, mi hijo?” called Gabe’s mom.
“Uh . . . yeah, Mom!” Gabe answered.
WHIRRRRRRR. The leaf blower grew louder and louder.
Gabe needed to get outside before his mom noticed.
“Please stop!” Gabe pleaded with the clone. “If you have to work, then why don’t you . . . rake leaves instead!”
The clone immediately stopped. “Is the work of raking leaves more important than the work of cleaning this room?”
“You bet!” exclaimed Gabe.
“Very well,” said the clone.
Gabe breathed a sigh of relief.
Phew, finally, he thought. That was close. Now, how do I get them out of here?
Chapter 8
Don’t Touch Those Snacks!
* * *
Meanwhile, over at Cesar’s house, things were not going any better.
“No, no, no!” Cesar cried as his clone dumped all his brain-food snacks into garbage bags. “Why are you throwing away all my stuff?”
“The room must be cleaned,” replied the clone. “Food must be thrown away.”
“THAT IS THE CRAZIEST THING I’VE EVER HEARD MYSELF SAY!” yelled Cesar, clinging to his last box of crackers for dear life.
“Sweetie pie!” Cesar’s mom called. She was in the kitchen cooking dinner. “Where’s my little dumpling?”
Cesar left his clone and raced into the kitchen. “I’m right here, Mom!”
“Oh, there’s my little sugar plum.” She was stirring a bubbling pot of gravy on the stovetop. “Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes. I made your favorite—a Thanksgiving meal with all the sides!”
“I do not require food,” a clone called from the study.
“What did you say, sweetie?” Cesar’s mom asked.
Cesar thought fast. “I said . . . mmmm, I can’t wait for food!”
Suddenly, the phone rang.
Cesar grabbed it. “Hello?”
“Hello,” echoed the first Clone-Cesar. He had answered the upstairs phone in Cesar’s room. “Clone-Cesar’s house, how can I help you?”
“Hello,” the second Clone-Cesar repeated from the phone in the study.
Cesar clutched his head. “How many phones do we have in this house!”
“Cesar, is that you?” It was Gabe on the other end.
“You bet,” said Cesar. “But hang on a second, will you?” The real Cesar hurried into the study and upstairs to wrestle the phones away from the clones. “All three of me, at your service,” he told Gabe.
“Listen, I figured out how to get the clones to come back to the tree house,” Gabe explained urgently. “Tell them you need to rake the leaves there. With new work to do, they will run over here.”
“Roger that,” said Cesar.
Suddenly he heard the vacuum cleaner starting up.
“Must clean pages out of books,” the clone said.
“No, no, nooooooo!” cried Cesar, dropping the phone and trying to save his favorite books before they were sucked up into the vacuum and destroyed forever.
Chapter 9
Questions Answered
* * *
“Got it, thanks,” Laura said as she hung up the phone and turned to Olive. “That was Gabe. We need to get the clones back to the tree house.”
“Okay, good,” said Olive. She watched as Laura’s clones busily attempted to complete several unfinished inventions on the garage floor. “That’s if we can get their attention. They won’t even look at us.”
Laura couldn’t help smiling. “They’re in the invention zone, just like me.”
“That reminds me,” said Olive. “Once we un-clone the clones, we need to put the jungle gym back together.”
“You got it,” said Laura. Then she paused. “Why were you hanging out there all alone, by the way?”
“I told you, I thought you were playing a trick on me.”
“So you decided to give us the silent treatment?” Laura said. “How come you didn’t just ask us what was going on?”
Olive was quiet for a minute. “I don’t know. I thought maybe you didn’t like me anymore.”
“What?” Laura exclaimed. “Now you’re the one who sounds crazy. Have you seen how excited Cesar gets when you come into class? And Gabe is totally impressed by how quick you are with numbers. And for me, it’s great having another girl in our group.”
Olive smiled and was about to say something when one of Laura’s inventions started making whirring noises. “Is it supposed to do that?” Olive asked.
A glint came to the clones’ eyes. “Superpowered static generator is operational.”
“Uh-oh . . . ,” said Laura.
“What does that mean?” asked Olive.
“It was for Cesar’s birthday party,” Laura explained, backing away. “I wanted to create enough static electricity to attach balloons all over his house. But I never got the prototype to work.”
“But if it works . . . ,” said Olive.
“Then we’re gonna get zapped!” screamed Laura.
A minute later Laura, Olive, and both clones shuffled out of the garage. Their hair was superstaticky, sizzled, and standing on end in all directions.
“That was shocking,” said Olive as her clothes crackled with static electricity.
The clones stood at attention. “Next task, please,” they said in unison.
“Go to the tree house for your next assign
ment,” said a frizzled-looking Laura. “And remind me to really think through all my inventions in the future.”
Chapter 10
Always Time for Team Time
* * *
Gabe and Cesar waited in front of the tree house. Their clones were hard at work raking leaves into a giant pile.
“Where are they?” Gabe asked. “Laura and Olive should have been here by now.”
As soon as he spoke, Laura and Olive came running up with the clones behind them.
“What happened to you guys?” Gabe stared at the girls. “Your hair looks like you’ve been zapped by lightning.”
Laura grumbled, “Don’t ask.”
Just then Dr. Bunsen arrived with the recharged Clone-o-Matic.
“Did someone say ‘zap’?” he asked. “Get ready to zap things back to normal. Look out, kids!”
“Wait!” cried Olive. “Look at the clones. They’re running all over the place!”
She was right. The clones were busy arguing over who would rake the leaves.
“We must work,” insisted Gabe’s clones. “We are programmed to rake the leaves.”
“We must rake all the leaves,” said Laura’s clones. “We must make a new pile.”
“We must relocate the leaves to a new area,” said Cesar’s doubles.
The clones kept undoing one another’s work in order to finish the job. But instead of lending a helping hand, they were making an even bigger mess.
“I wish these clones would stand still,” said Bunsen. “I had an easier time herding squirrels!”
Then Olive had an idea. “Dr. Bunsen, I can calculate the perfect mathematical angle to aim the beam so they’re all caught at once. We just need to wait until they are on the same side of the lawn.”
“Oh, how clever!” exclaimed the doctor. He handed Olive the Clone-o-Matic, and she climbed up to a high tree branch.
“And don’t forget the magic word!” added the doctor.
Olive did a quick calculation and then she cried, “Huzzah!”
With a bright flash, the Clone-o-Matic went ZAP!
Everyone closed their eyes to avoid the burst of light. When they opened them again, the clones were gone.
“Did it work?” asked Laura. “Are we clone free?”
Rustle. Rustle. Crunch.
One by one, six little squirrels popped up out of the leaves.
“Are those . . . our clones?” Gabe asked as he looked at two of the squirrels that were wearing tiny glasses.
“Hmmmmm,” said Dr. Bunsen as he scratched his head. “I suppose this could be the side effect of having cloned so many squirrels.”
Gabe raised an eyebrow. “What do we do? Just let them go?”
The squirrels blinked at Gabe, then scampered away.
“I guess so,” said Cesar.
Everyone watched the squirrels clamber up the tree, into the tree house, and back out through the window. Cesar’s clone squirrel clutched an energy bar tightly in its mouth.
“Looks like he found the last one,” said Laura.
“A squirrel after my own heart,” declared Cesar.
“We did it!” Olive shouted excitedly as she climbed down from the tree. “Newtonburg is officially clone free!”
Laura put an arm around Olive’s shoulders. “We sure did. And it’s all thanks to you.”
“Indeed!” said Dr. Bunsen. “But before you go, I have another new invention that I’d like to show you—”
“No!” the kids yelled together.
“I mean . . . we should head home. Besides, my room is an even bigger mess now,” said Gabe.
“And Olive and I have to fix the jungle gym,” said Laura.
“And I have to replace my entire brain-food snack supply!” said Cesar. His stomach rumbled loudly. “Ugh, all this running around has left me starving. Do you guys want to come over to eat? My mom made my favorite turkey dinner and she always makes extras. No matter how busy we are, there’s always time for a turkey dinner, right?”
“Sounds great, but only if I can get seconds!” said Olive with a smile.
Ada Hopper has been extremely inventive ever since she was little. There was nothing that a rubber band and some tweezers couldn’t fix, no question that couldn’t be answered by scouring the library, and no way she wasn’t escaping over that backyard fence! Ada loves reading and writing because of all the fantastical worlds a good book can bring you to. When not working, Ada enjoys karaoke, spending time with her family, and going on the occasional adventure or two.
Sam Ricks is an illustrator for several children’s chapter book series. He grew up crafting stories about toxic fruitcakes, peanut butter–snatching aliens, and killer vacuums. Now he splits his time between illustration, art direction, hanging out with his family, and vacuuming. You can visit him at SamRicks.com.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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First Little Simon hardcover edition September 2016
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Designed by John Daly. The text of this book was set in Serifa.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this title from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4814-7114-5 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-7113-8 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-7115-2 (eBook)
