by Dustin Brady
Mr. Conrad pulled a bacon-shaped pillow out from behind the couch. “Yours?” he asked.
“Nope.”
Mr. Conrad smelled the pillow, then wrinkled his nose and held it over a trash bag.
Mrs. Conrad shook her head. “That was one of Eric’s favorites.” Then she turned to me and held up a wrestling figure missing its head. “Is this trash?”
“Can we keep that?” I asked. “Eric and I were going to put a Hulk head on it, but we never found his old Hulk. I still think that would be cool.”
“Oh, I found the Hulk,” Mr. Conrad said. He dug through a box and pulled out a plastic Incredible Hulk action figure. I popped the head off, then snapped it onto the wrestling figure’s body. I smiled. It fit perfectly.
Ding-dong!
The doorbell rang. Mrs. Conrad sighed. “I can’t. I just can’t. Can you get that, dear?”
Mr. Conrad’s head popped up from behind the couch. “Give me a second.”
“I can do it,” I said.
“Are you sure?” Mrs. Conrad asked. “Just tell them we can’t come to the door right now.”
“OK.” I walked up the stairs with the wrestling figure in my hand and opened the door.
“HULKAMANIA!” Eric yelled.
I dropped the wrestling figure. No way. No. Way. I opened my mouth to say something but just couldn’t. Finally, I did the only thing I could think of. I poked Eric to see if he was real. My finger squished into his belly.
Before I could do anything else dumb, Eric swallowed me in a huge hug. “I never thought I’d see you again!”
I grabbed Eric and looked him up and down. His color had returned! No more cracks! He even had both hands! “Where were you?!” I finally asked.
“I don’t know. It was dark and empty, and I was there for a really, really long time. But then Mr. Gregory got me out!” He pointed to a car in the street driven by someone who looked like Mr. Gregory, except if someone had replaced Mr. Gregory’s pointy hair with a mop. The driver’s eyes got wide, and he shook his head.
“I mean, not Mr. Gregory,” Eric said. “Uh, Mr. Bob or something.”
I thought about Eric stuck in a Black Box and felt sick. “I’m sorry for not being there for you. I’m so, so sorry.”
“No way!” Eric said. “You saved everyone! Plus, I had this little guy to keep me company. Do you think my parents will let me keep him?!”
I looked down and gasped. Staring back at me from between Eric’s legs was a kitten with the world’s biggest eyes.
“BEANS!”
Chapter 25
Game Over
This story has a horrible, sad ending. You should go back and read the beginning and middle, because honestly, those are the only parts that will bring you joy.
OK, did it work? Did we get rid of all the people who skipped to the end of the book? Good. Because this story could not have a happier ending.
Of course Eric’s parents let him keep Beans. They were so excited to see him that they probably would have let him keep a pet jackal. Fortunately, Beans was way better than a jackal. He was cute, obviously. But he was also smart. Probably the smartest cat that’s ever lived. Because Eric had spent all that time in the Black Box teaching Beans tricks, Beans could now do handstand push-ups, use his tail as a pogo stick, meow 15 different Christmas carols, and dance the Hokey Pokey.
Eric was different too. While Mark Whitman had emerged from the Black Box quieter and shakier, Eric was now somehow even more excited about life. On his first day back, he took us to an ice cream parlor, where he sampled all 31 flavors and declared each to be the best he’d ever tasted. He couldn’t stop petting cats and dogs. Eric gave up his cave-like basement and started spending all his time outdoors. Sometimes, especially when it was sunny, he’d drag me to the park after breakfast and wouldn’t let us go home until after dark.
It was during one of these sunny park days when I finally worked up the courage to ask Eric the question that had been bothering me since he disappeared. Beans had just run ahead to greet an elderly couple (yes, we were walking Beans. I told you he was a weird cat), when I mumbled, “So did it, like, hurt?”
“What?” Eric asked.
“Max said you’d be writhing in pain inside the Black Box. Is that what happened?”
“No!” Eric replied. “I was so crumbly when the Hindenburg shot me that my whole body just blew away.”
That made me stop walking. “What?! Then why didn’t you die?”
Eric shrugged. “It was the weirdest thing—I didn’t have a body in there. I could talk to Beans, but I couldn’t touch him. Mr. Gregory said that my brain was the only thing that got uploaded to the Black Box.”
I thought about that for a second. “That must have been lonely.”
“It was for a while. Really lonely. But I had Beans.”
At that exact moment, Beans made a jogger’s day by blowing her a kiss.
“Also, I found out that my mind was amazing at remembering things. Like, if I concentrated super hard, I could play an entire video game in my head.”
“Oh, wow.”
“It was pretty cool, but that’s not what got me through.” Eric turned to me. “You got me through.”
I looked at my shoes.
“Every time I started feeling depressed or lonely or whatever, I replayed all the cool stuff we did. I probably watched that strength challenge a million times. And whenever I felt like giving up, I remembered that thing you said about me being a warrior.”
“You are a warrior,” I quickly said.
Eric nodded. “You are too.”
I looked back at my shoes and allowed myself a little smile. Maybe I was.
About the Author
Dustin Brady
Dustin Brady lives in Cleveland, Ohio, with his wife, Deserae; dog, Nugget; and kids. He has spent a good chunk of his life getting crushed over and over in Super Smash Bros. by his brother Jesse and friend Eric. You can learn what he’s working on next at dustinbradybooks.com and e-mail him at [email protected].
Jesse Brady
Jesse Brady is a professional illustrator and animator, who lives in Pensacola, Florida. His wife, April, is an awesome illustrator too! When he was a kid, Jesse loved drawing pictures of his favorite video games, and he spent lots of time crushing his brother Dustin in Super Smash Bros. over and over again. You can see some of Jesse’s best work at jessebradyart.com, and you can e-mail him at [email protected].
The first thing you’ll learn when you start coding is that finishing a program feels amazing—for about two seconds. That feeling ends as soon as you test the code and discover that it doesn’t work. No matter how good you get at programming, your work will always have “bugs,” or tiny mistakes that break the program.
Unfortunately, Hindenburgs that automatically hunt and destroy computer bugs don’t actually exist (yet). That means it’s up to programmers to debug their own code. Sometimes, hunting for bugs in code can feel frustrating, hopeless, and more than a little painful. It’s not just hunting for a needle in a haystack; it’s hunting for a needle in a needlestack.
But don’t despair! With the right approach, debugging can be fun. Use this four-step process to transform yourself into a real-life Hindenburg and fix any bug.
1. Hunt
Programmers often “step through code” to hunt for bugs. They do this by running the program through a “debugger” that allows them to pause each line of code to make sure it’s doing its job correctly. If you step through your own code, start at the beginning and stop when you reach an unexpected result. You’ve found your bug!
2. Investigate
Now it’s time to put on your detective hat and start asking questions. How is this result different from what you expected? Are you able to reproduce it? What does the error message say? You�
��re not trying to solve the problem yet; you’re just looking for clues you can use to fix it.
3. Fix
Use the clues you’ve gathered to come up with a solution. Have you seen anything like this before? What worked in the past? Have you checked for typos? You could ask for help from a teacher or paste your error message into Google. Sometimes, the best way to learn is through trial and error.
4. Repeat
You’ve debugged! Congratulations. Give yourself a pat on the back, relax, and run your shiny, new . . . WHY IS THE PROGRAM STILL BROKEN?! Unfortunately, there’s never just one bug. And sometimes, your “fix” breaks something else in the code. Take a deep breath, maybe step away for a minute, and then keep hunting. You can do it!
Hone your debugging skills in the real world by building a Rube Goldberg machine. Rube Goldberg machines are chains of marbles, dominos, pulleys, levers, and household knickknacks all working together to perform a simple task. They’re a little like computer code because they’re fun to build and never, ever work on the first try.
Follow the blueprint on the next page for your first Rube Goldberg machine. We’re not going to give you specific instructions, measurements, or even materials, because half the fun is figuring it out for yourself. Just make sure your machine has these four parts:
1. Marble Run
Build a ramp and find something to roll down it. The ramp can be made out of paper towel tubes, Hot Wheels track, pipes, or even books. And don’t sweat it if you don’t have a marble. You might choose a Ping-Pong ball, water balloon, lemon, or Matchbox car instead.
2. Growing Dominos
For your domino run, try using different materials that start small and get bigger. For example, a domino might hit a wood block that hits a video game case that hits a Trapped in a Video Game book that hits a Harry Potter book.
3. Balloon Popper
Build a teeter-totter with a pin fastened on one end. Position the teeter-totter in such a way that the final domino pushes the pin up.
4. Ice Drop
Put ice into a balloon before blowing it up, then position the balloon over the pin on the end of the teeter-totter. Finally, place a cup underneath the balloon. Get ready for an ice-cold drink!
Your ice machine probably won’t work on the first try, and that’s OK! Use our four-step debugging process to get things running smoothly. Start “stepping through” each section individually to pinpoint your problems. Run the section over and over until you completely understand the problem. Then, brainstorm solutions. You can try experimenting with the suggestions below. Repeat the process until the entire machine runs flawlessly.
1. Marble Run
Problem: Marble flies off the tracks.
Possible solutions: Use enclosed tubing. Try a toy car with fixed wheels instead of a ball. Reduce the speed by shortening the run or giving it a more gradual slope.
Problem: Marble doesn’t knock over the first domino.
Possible solutions: Make the ramp steeper. Use a heavier marble. Use guardrails to direct the marble.
2. Growing Dominos
Problem: Dominos fall before they’re ready.
Possible solutions: Work on a flat, level surface. Leave gaps throughout your chain until you’re ready to start the machine so one fallen domino doesn’t set off the whole run.
Problem: Some dominos don’t fall.
Possible solutions: Find more dominos with in-between weights. Position the dominos farther apart so they hit each other with more force.
3. Balloon Popper
Problem: Pin won’t pop the balloon.
Possible solutions: Use a heavier object for the last domino. Position the fulcrum closer to the domino so the pin hits the balloon with more force. Use a sharper pin.
Problem: Pin misses the balloon.
Possible solutions: Move the balloon closer to the pin. Fasten the teeter-totter board to the fulcrum that it rests on, so there’s less random movement.
4. Ice Drop
Problem: Can’t get ice into the balloon.
Possible solutions: Freeze ice into a tube shape instead of a standard cube. Partially fill the balloon with water first, then freeze it.
Problem: Ice won’t fall into the cup.
Possible solutions: Position the balloon diagonally so the ice doesn’t fall on top of the teeter-totter. Use more ice. Funnel the ice into the cup.
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