The Potato Chip Puzzles: The Puzzling World of Winston Breen Read Online Free PDF

first place. Either way, she was ticked.
    She spent the morning trying to convince Winston to take her along. When that didn’t work, she tried getting her parents to make Winston take her along. That didn’t work, either. Now she wasn’t talking to him, and instead of being happy that it was the first day of summer vacation, she was acting like she was locked in a Siberian prison.
    “Hi, Katie,” said Jake as he walked in.
    “Hmmph,” Katie said back, crossing her arms tighter.
    Seeing that she was angry about something, Mal instinctively had to make things worse. “Katie!” he shouted. “Give me a hug!” He advanced toward her, his arms outstretched.
    Katie was shocked right out of her mood. “Gah!” she said, leaping onto the back of the sofa and jumping off the other side. “Get away from me! Gross!” She ran up the stairs to her room, slamming her door as hard as she could.
    Winston’s father poked his head in. “What was that?” he said.
    “Your daughter loves me,” said Mal.
    “Oh.” Nathan Breen was used to Mal. He went back to whatever he was doing in the kitchen without further comment.
    The wait continued, although at least now Winston had his friends with him. The three boys briefly considered playing their video game, but they were too restless. They paced around and tried to guess what might happen today. Winston told them about the oddball publicity stunts Dmitri Simon had pulled off in the past.
    “So it’s impossible to say what we’ll be asked to do,” Winston said.
    “We should bring a bunch of random stuff with us. Maybe some of it will come in handy,” said Jake.
    “A box of paper clips,” said Mal. “A birthday cake. A scuba diving suit.”
    Jake stared at Mal. “I meant random stuff that’s not completely crazy.”
    “What’s crazy about a scuba diving suit?” Mal wanted to know. “You’ll apologize when we have to swim to the bottom of the river to get a clue.”
    They bantered and bickered a while more. Winston wondered, not for the first time, if he should tell Mal and Jake how close they had come to getting kicked off the team. He’d gone back and forth on that over the last several days. Ultimately, he decided to keep his mouth shut. He only hoped that Mr. Garvey would do likewise. But Winston could practically hear the teacher sighing and saying “My smart students would have known that” as they all faced a tough puzzle.
    Winston wished again that he had been able to choose the team’s chaperone. And he supposed that Mr. Garvey still wished he could have chosen his own team. Well, they’d all have to find a way to work together.
    Mr. Garvey pulled in at eight twenty-five. The three boys and Winston’s father filed onto the porch to meet him. “And here’s my team,” said Mr. Garvey, smiling as he got out of his car. There were hellos all around. Mr. Garvey and Nathan Breen shook hands. The two men made a minute’s worth of small talk. If Mr. Garvey was still upset at Winston’s insistence on including Mal and Jake, he kept it well hidden.
    “Shotgun!” Mal called, so he took the passenger seat while Winston and Jake got in the back. There was a small cargo area behind them, holding a baby seat (it was always strange to be reminded that teachers had families of their own), a couple of grocery bags containing snacks, and a small cooler.
    “What’s with the food?” asked Jake as Mr. Garvey got into the driver’s seat.
    “Ah,” said Mr. Garvey, starting the car. “That’s called thinking ahead. I’m guessing this is going to be an all-day affair, so I’ve loaded up on supplies. If we don’t have to stop for food, we’ll have that much more of an edge on our competition.”
    “Do you have a Porta Potti back there?” Mal asked.
    Mr. Garvey gave Mal a sideways look. “We might take a little break now and again, if need be,” he said. “Here,” he continued, handing Mal a piece of paper. “You just volunteered to be the team