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

navigator.”
    “I did?” said Mal. “Oh. I did.” He took the paper and unfolded it. It was a map. “Okay,” he said. “Step one: Leave the driveway.”
    Mr. Garvey did as he was told. As they drove along, Mr. Garvey said, “Let me explain a few things about how today is going to work.” Winston already didn’t like the sound of that. The teacher continued, “I know you all think summer vacation has started. As far as I’m concerned, however, today is a school day. This is a field trip, and I’m the guy in charge. All right?”
    “All right,” said Winston. He and Jake shared a bemused look.
    “I told Winston a couple of days ago, and I’ll tell you two right now: We’re here to win. And if you boys stay serious and focused, and if you listen to me and do what I say, we will win.” Mr. Garvey drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “I hope we have fun today, don’t get me wrong. But our first priority is not to have fun. What did I just say?”
    Mal said, with a tone of disbelief, “We’re not supposed to have fun.”
    “You can have fun,” Mr. Garvey corrected him. “Of course you can have fun. But that is not the main reason we are here. We are here to get these puzzles solved. We’re going to do it quickly, we’re going to do it efficiently. That . . . that is what we’re here to do.”
    As pep talks went, this was more alarming than inspiring. Sure, Winston wanted to win, but he was troubled by Mr. Garvey’s fervor, and he was sure that Mal and Jake were, too.
    Mr. Garvey seemed to sense that. He said, “Jake, I’m sure your baseball coach says something like that before every game. Right?”
    “Something like that,” Jake said. He made a face at Winston that said, “Not even close.”
    The math teacher wanted to close the subject. He said, “All right. Let’s warm up our brains a little. Winston, do you have any puzzles for us?”
    Winston looked around. They were coming up to a red light near a small row of stores. He studied the stores for a few moments and said, “You see that store where you can buy kitchen stuff ?”
    “Yeah,” Jake said.
    “You might go there if you wanted to buy a PLATE.”
    “Okay. . . .”
    Winston continued, “You can add a letter to the word PLATE and then scramble all the letters. You’ll wind up with something you can buy in the art supply store right next door. Then you can add a letter to that word, scramble the letters again, and get something you can buy in the office supply store. Then you can do it one more time—take the item from the office supply store, add a letter, scramble, and you’ll get something you can buy in the garden center. Can you get them all?”
    “Holy moly,” said Mal. “Not before the light turns green.”

    (Answer, page 240.)

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    SIMON’S SNACK FOODS was in Maplewood, the next town over. The factory was huge, with pipes jutting out of the walls and roof. Every pipe emitted smoke or steam in various shades of gray. Winston imagined that Dmitri Simon would have a crazy, Willy Wonka-like factory, but this was a disappointingly normal brick building. Also, Winston had expected an overwhelming odor of frying potato chips, but the air here was just air.
    The office building, on the other hand, was more eye-catching. It was glass and steel, and had been designed by someone with a sense of humor. It went off at all kinds of odd angles and had shiny metal beams sticking out for no particular reason. The office was attached to the factory, and the effect was that of a flashy sports car towing a dump truck.
    In the parking lot, there was a section roped off for visitors. As they got out of the car, Mr. Garvey said, “I want us all to stay together.” The universal command of teachers escorting students on a field trip.
    The pretty receptionist pointed them down a long hallway before Mr. Garvey could even speak. “All the puzzlers are meeting in the main conference room,” she said. “You’ll see the