Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants Read online

  Rosie nodded. Everyone knew her Uncle Fred. He was the zookeeper in Blue River Creek. Everyone also knew that Uncle Fred loved snakes. And they loved him. He found them everywhere he went. It always led to trouble.

  “He picked up the snake,” Rosie said, “and—”

  “And he let go of the rope!” said Ada. “What kind of snake was it?”

  “An annoying one!” yelled Uncle Ned. “Get me down from here!”

  CHAPTER 7

  “While you’re up there,” yelled Ada. “Do you see any birds? I’m trying to count them.”

  “I see a very hungry-looking crow!” said Uncle Ned. “I don’t like the way it’s staring at me … nice birdie … nope … get off my head … hey! That tickles … hee-hee … cut it out! … Ha-ha! … Hee-hee! … I’m ticklish! … Ha-ha, hee-hee, ha-ha!”

  Indeed, Uncle Ned was very ticklish. All of Rosie’s aunts and uncles were. And once they got laughing, it was hard for them to stop. Uncle Ned tried to swat the bird away, but he was laughing too hard.

  “Hee-hee! Ha-ha!”

  Meanwhile, the kids brainstormed ideas. They often thought up ideas together and helped one another with projects. They spent so much time answering questions that Ada’s Aunt Bernice gave them a nickname. She called them The Questioneers!

  The Questioneers thought and thought.

  “I could make a gadget to help him steer the helium pants,” said Rosie, who was an engineer. “But how could we get it to him?”

  "I know!” said lggy, who was an architect. “We could build a tree house and climb up to him! Or we could make the Leaning Tower of Pizza Boxes! Do you have fifty pizza boxes?”

  Ada shook her head.

  “It doesn’t matter now,” she said.

  “Why not?” asked Iggy.

  “Just look,” said Ada.

  Iggy and Rosie looked up. They saw lots of branches. They saw lots of leaves. They saw a hungry crow. But they did NOT see a pair of perilous, puffy pants or a skinny man with a very big mustache.

  Uncle Ned was gone!

  CHAPTER 8

  The three kids looked this way and that way. There was no sign of Uncle Ned or his perilous pants.

  “Do you think the crow got him?” asked Iggy.

  “He could be anywhere!” said Rosie. She was worried.

  “Let’s think like scientists,” said Ada calmly. “Let’s start with questions.”

  Rosie looked up.

  “What if he went straight up to space?” she asked.

  Ada tapped her chin and thought a moment.

  “I don’t think Uncle Ned could get up to space,” said Ada. “I was reading about gases in my book. Helium is a gas and it follows all the rules of gases. Gas molecules spread out in every direction to fill the space around them.”

  Ada started pointing and making hand gestures and sound effects. She wanted to tell Rosie and Iggy all the things she had read about gases. The thoughts were crowding her brain and fighting to get out all at once.

  Then, Ada stopped. She was doing the same thing she had done when she tried to explain her experiment to Arthur. That didn’t work so well. Maybe now was the time to try something new.

  “I’ll show you!” said Ada.

  Ada took a deep breath and pulled out her notebook. Sometimes it helped her when she sketched in her notebook and then explained as she went.

  “Helium is a gas, so it follows the rules of all gases,” she said. “Gas molecules spread out to fill the space around them. So the helium molecules are filling all the space inside the pants. They push on the material with enough force to make the pants puffy. See?”

  Using pictures made explaining things so much easier. Ada’s ideas seemed to get in line and come out in the right order. And it was working. Rosie and Iggy nodded as she explained, though they still looked a little confused. Ada continued.

  “While the gas molecules are pushing outward,” she said, “the air above and around Uncle Ned is also trying to spread out and is pushing on the outside of the pants.”

  “So?” said Iggy.

  “So,” said Ada, “the pants are just a balloon. The gas inside is trying to expand but the strength of the balloon and the pressure of the air outside the balloon keeps it from stretching too far.”

  “Okay,” said Iggy.

  “Then,” said Ada, “if Uncle Ned goes up, up, up, there is less air above him and around him, so there are fewer molecules to push on the outside of the pants. But there is the same amount of pressure from the helium molecules inside the pants.”

  Rosie jumped in.

  “So … the helium in the pants can expand more because there is more pressure on the inside of the pants than the outside of the pants,” said Rosie.

  “Right!” said Ada, who was trying to remember what she had read. “So …” she said as she tapped on her chin, “Uncle Ned’s pants will keep expanding!”

  “And?” asked Rosie.

  “And they will get bigger and bigger and …” said Ada.

  “And?” asked Rosie nervously.

  Ada gulped.

  “And what?” asked Rosie.

  Ada took a deep breath. A worried look crossed her face.

  “What?” asked Rosie.

  “The pressure inside the pants will be much stronger than the pressure outside,” said Ada, “and … they’ll pop.”

  “Oh no!” Rosie gasped. “Uncle Ned will fall from space!”

  “No. Actual space is sixty miles up!” Ada said. “His pants would explode way before then!”

  Rosie’s eyes got wide.

  “Oh no!” said Ada. “I’m not explaining it right. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just meant that he wouldn’t float that far up …”

  But Rosie was upset. She looked at the sky and a tiny tear welled up at the corner of her eye.

  CHAPTER 9

  Ada didn’t mean to upset Rosie. How could she explain? She thought for a moment. She tried a new approach.

  “What happened when Uncle Fred let go of Uncle Ned’s rope?” asked Ada.

  “He floated away,” said Iggy.

  “Okay, but exactly how did he do it?” asked Ada. “Did he pop straight up? Did he hover over the ground? Did he bob up and down like a fishing float? Did he blow away in a straight line? Did he zig? Did he zag?”

  “I don’t know,” said Rosie.

  She was more upset than ever. Ada gave her friend a hug and smiled.

  “Just tell me what you saw,” said Ada kindly. “Exactly what did you observe? If we think like scientists, we’ll figure out which way he went. Then we’ll find Uncle Ned and rescue him. We won’t give up.”

  “Rosie,” said Iggy, “you always tell us not to give up. Remember?”

  Rosie smiled and took a deep breath to calm herself.

  “Stop and think!” she said.

  It was advice that Aunt Rose often gave her. It helped her to focus when she had a problem to solve.

  “Okay,” said Rosie. “The first thing that happened was that Uncle Fred let go of the rope.”

  “Then Uncle Ned popped straight up into the air,” said Iggy.

  “How far?” asked Ada.

  “Twice as high as our roof,” said Rosie. “Then he stopped!”

  “Yay!” said Ada. “That’s good news!”

  “Uncle Ned didn’t think so,” said Iggy.

  “It’s great news!” said Ada. “I’ll show you.”

  Ada sketched another picture. It showed Uncle Ned in the air with lots of arrows going this way and that around him.

  “Each arrow shows a force,” said Ada. “A force is how energy acts on an object. Forces can come from all directions. For example, Uncle Ned is the object and the forces are the air pushing down on him from above. And gravity pulling him toward the center of the Earth!”

  “But the air that he’s floating on is a force pushing up,” said Iggy. “It’s like a boat on water!”

  “Yes!” said Ada. “Those arrows pointing up show buoyancy!�
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  “AND there’s the lift of the helium as it tries to rise above the heavier air!” said Rosie.

  “So, the pants want to go up, up, up,” said Ada, “but the other forces keep him down. We will find Uncle Ned where the forces balance. Right now, that’s twice as high as Rosie’s roof!”

  “That’s a long way from space,” said Rosie.

  She sounded calmer.

  “It sure is,” said Ada.

  “Okay,” said Iggy. “What about the wind? It’s a force pushing him from the side.”

  “If Uncle Ned is gone with the wind,” said Ada, “let’s follow the wind!”

  CHAPTER 10

  Ada scraped a small handful of fine dust from the ground. She held out her hand and dumped the dust. The heavy bits fell straight down, but the finest dust blew toward Blue River Creek. Ada took her compass from her pocket. (She always had one handy.) The compass needle pointed north.

  The three friends ran north. With any luck, Uncle Ned’s rope would snag on one of the tall trees that lined the river. Then, they could figure out how to get him down. The Questioneers ran past the school and the library. They were passing the City Hall when Ada screeched to a stop.

  WHOA!

  Iggy and Rosie crashed into Ada. The three friends tumbled into a heap.

  “Ouch,” said Rosie.

  “Why did you stop?” asked Iggy.

  “Look at the weather vane!” said Ada.

  Rosie and Iggy looked at the copper weather vane at the tip top of City Hall. The arrow pointed north toward the river.

  “We’re going that way,” said Rosie.

  “That’s the problem!” said Ada. “Weather vanes are shaped like wedges, so they always point where the wind is coming FROM!”

  “That means the wind is blowing south!” said Iggy. “But the dust blew north.”

  “The dust is close to the ground,” said Ada. “Uncle Ned is high in the air like the weather vane!”

  Iggy looked confused.

  “Air flows in currents like water in the ocean,” said Ada. “There can be currents that go different directions. So, the air down low can blow a different way than the air up high.”

  “What if Uncle Ned already blew out of town?” asked Rosie. “What if we never find him?”

  Suddenly, a red fire truck swooped around the corner and zoomed down the street.

  HONK! HONK!

  WOOOOOOOO-WOOOOOOOO-WOOOOOOO!

  HONK! HONK!

  “I think someone just did!” said Iggy.

  A short, zebra-striped bus also rounded the corner and stopped in front of the kids. It was Uncle Fred in the Zoo Bus.

  “Hop in!” he said. “We found Uncle Ned!”

  CHAPTER 11

  Uncle Fred hit the gas. They zoomed after the fire truck, which turned another corner and stopped behind the old jeep factory. Bee and Beau, from Blue River Creek’s volunteer fire department, jumped out of the fire truck. Rosie, Ada, Iggy, and Uncle Fred tumbled out of the bus.

  It was the factory where Rosie’s neighbor Mrs. Lu built jeeps during World War II. The factory had been closed for years and most of the building was gone. Only three tall walls were left standing. They made a courtyard shaped like the letter U. The ground at the center was a small, empty parking lot covered with black asphalt. The blazing sun beat down on the hot, oily surface and the smell of tar filled the air. It was a stinky, thick smell that Ada did not like.

  Uncle Ned was trapped in an air current that slowly whirled around inside the U-shaped area. The whirlwind picked up bits of dust and small leaves and lazily whirled them around and around, high in the air, with Uncle Ned.

  “It’s like in a river,” said Iggy. “Where the water gets stuck by rocks and swirls around and around.”

  “I think they call that an eddy,” said Rosie. “But how long can the whirlwind stay that way?”

  Bee and Beau stretched out the fire truck’s ladder. Rosie knew Bee and Beau because they were also the recyclers in Blue River Creek. They often left her boxes of recycled materials for her inventions.

  “Hi, Rosie! Hi, Ada! Hi, Iggy!” they called.

  Uncle Ned was trapped in the whirlwind near the top of the wall. He was too far from the wall to grab the bricks. And he was too far up to be reached by the ladder.

  “Hi, Ned!” yelled Bee. “Give us a minute and we’ll get you down!”

  “Any time now, Bee!” said Uncle Ned as he whirled around and around. “I’m getting dizzy-izzy-izzy! Wooooo-oooooo-ooooo!”

  Beau climbed to the top of the fire ladder and reached for the rope hanging from Uncle Ned’s perilous pants. It dangled just out of Beau’s grasp.

  “Our ladder is too short!” yelled Beau. “Can you float lower?”

  “Nooooooo-whooaaaa-whooaaa!” cried Ned. “I’m stuck!”

  Bee stretched out the thick, white fire hose.

  “I’ll squirt you down with the hose!” she yelled.

  “No!” said Rosie. “If he breaks out of this eddy, he’ll get pulled into a crosswind and float away!”

  Ada looked carefully at the walls. The whirlwind kept Uncle Ned swirling in one spot. Iggy was right. It was like an eddy in a river. But Rosie was also right. If anything changed, Uncle Ned could fly away again. A squirt with the hose could be a disaster.

  Word spread throughout Blue River Creek about Uncle Ned’s perilous pants. Soon, a crowd gathered and watched. They cheered for the firefighters and The Questioneers and tried to keep Ned calm by singing songs and telling him jokes.

  The jokes were a bad idea. Every time he started to laugh, his pants jiggled and he wobbled in the whirlwind. One big laugh might send him flying!

  “Now that’s a picture,” said Barb Ross from the Happy Sapling Art Store. She pulled out a sketchpad and started to draw.

  “Does he have a permit for that?” asked the mayor.

  “What if we train an eagle to pop those perilous pants?” someone asked Uncle Fred.

  The crowd liked that idea and clapped. Unfortunately, the eagle was still at the zoo. Meanwhile, three monkeys, four lemurs, and an ostrich ran in and out of the growing crowd while Uncle Fred tried to catch them.

  A reporter from the Blue River Reader interviewed Uncle Ned and snapped some photos for the evening edition.

  It was very exciting, but as everyone focused on Ned and his perilous pants, Ada Twist stood to the side, tapping her chin. She was thinking. Her mind was swirling with questions. Uncle Ned floated at exactly that height because of all the forces pulling him down and pushing him up. Could they change the forces to make Uncle Ned float lower so the firefighters could grab him? Could they weigh Uncle Ned down? Could the monkeys help? Could they really train an eagle to pop the pants? Would that make Uncle Ned zoom through the sky like a balloon losing its air? What if Uncle Ned hit something? Would he bounce?

  The sun beat down on Ada and the stink of the asphalt rose up from the parking lot. It was a toe-curling stinky smell that made Ada feel a little woozy.

  She shook her head to try to think. She tapped her chin again and scribbled notes. The hum of the crowd faded. There were so many questions to answer. So much to figure out. To Ada, the whole world felt like a big cartoon bubble filled with question marks.

  She flipped through her notebook and looked at the pictures she had drawn for Rosie. All the forces working on Uncle Ned’s perilous pants kept him in one spot. If any of the forces changed, Uncle Ned would move. The trick was making him move in the right direction.

  Just like adding cargo to a ship changes how high it floats in the water, maybe they could change the way Uncle Ned’s pants floated in the air? But how could they add cargo to his pants and what would that cargo be? How could they get anything to Uncle Ned when they couldn’t reach him?

  Suddenly, Ada had an idea. She popped out of her thought bubble and looked around. Rosie and Iggy were smiling at her.

  “You have an idea,” said Rosie, who knew that look on Ada’s face.

 
“How do we help?” asked Iggy.

  Ada scribbled some notes and showed them to her friends. Iggy and Rosie nodded. Rosie ran to Uncle Fred and whispered something in his ear. He nodded, too.

  “We’ll keep track of Uncle Ned in case he flies off again,” said Iggy and Rosie.

  Ada stuck her pencil behind her ear. She stuck her notebook in her pocket.

  “Don’t worry, Uncle Ned!” she yelled. “We’ll get you down!”

  “Can you make it soooooooo-oooooooo-ooooooon?” he yelled back. “I think that crow is coming back!”

  Rosie pointed to a distant, dark cloud on the horizon.

  “That’s not all that’s on its way,” she said in a worried voice. “I don’t think we have a lot of time before the wind changes. Hurry!”

  Ada nodded. She jumped into the Zoo Bus, and once more, Uncle Fred hit the gas. They were off!

  CHAPTER 12

  Ada scrambled up the stairs to Arthur’s room. A moment later, she ran down with her brother’s tennis racquet and a large bag of

  tennis balls.

  Mrs. Twist stopped her by the front door.

  “Ada!” she said. “Are those Arthur’s?”

  “It’s an emergency!” said Ada.

  Ada’s mother looked at her.

  “Ada,” she said calmly, “we’ve had this talk. You can’t use your brother’s things without his permission. If you need a racquet, use your own. Where is it?”

  “Well …” said Ada.

  “That’s not a good answer,” said her mother. “And you know it.”

  Ada did know it. What she didn’t know was where she had left her own racquet. There were lots of possibilities. But there was no time to figure it out.

  “Mom,” Ada said. “I need to go now. This is really important!”

  Mrs. Twist crossed her arms. “So is this,” she said.

  “But,” said Ada, “the wind might change, and the whirlwind could collapse! And these tennis balls! They can add enough mass to the pants to offset the pants’ buoyancy! So the forces balance at a lower height! Can’t you see?”