Next to me my brother was staring straight ahead eyes bulging with his thin black notebook computer open on his lap I grabbed his shoulder His muscles were as solid as rocks and his face was a greenish shade of white Matt I asked Is she pulling up His mouth barely opened I hope so he mumbled Our sister Ava was sitting in the row behind us watching watching the flashing red and green numbers on the electronic control panel A vein on the side of her head pulsed She didn’t notice me staring back at her Meanwhile Ashley Hawking was grinning so wide I could see the edges of her smile from my seat directly behind her Our mentor the geek-famous inventor Henry Witherspoon or Hank glanced back at me from the co-pilot’s seat his awkward smile flashing too many teeth Was he trying to make us feel better If so he was failing Hank leaned over to Ashley He held his hand out flat and swooped it up toward the roof of the cockpit Should we you know ascend What Hawking asked No Of course not Ascend I thought you knew Knew what Hawking let go of the controls and waved her hands in a sweeping motion She sighed with disappointment This is one of yours 2 Bill Nye and Gregory Mone
One of my what Hank asked One of your designs Hank spun in his seat scanning the interior His mouth was all bunched to one side He was squinting And he was completely stumped Only Hank Witherspoon would struggle to recognize one of his own inventions His mind was so productive that he dropped out new ideas with about as much thought as a chicken laying eggs Matt reached forward with one of his long arms and pointed Ummm cliff What was that Hawking yelled back We couldn’t have been more than a few football fields away from the rock wall I think he’s wondering if we’re planning to avoid that cliff I said Below us out the left side of the plane and far from the island a large dock with two boats tied to the sides floated in the middle of the ocean The water was neon blue and smooth as glass We probably could’ve landed on it but I hadn’t noticed any pontoons when we climbed into the aircraft aircraft that morning The thing clearly wasn’t a seaplane So the only safe choices were up right or left And if Ashley Hawking didn’t pick one of those soon we’d keep heading straight Into the cliffs We’d be smashed to bits and all the headlines would read Four Geniuses Die as Plane Crashes into Tooth 3 JACK and the GENIUSES
No I wouldn’t be the fourth That honor would belong to Ashley Hawking The world would mourn the loss of the two accomplished adults and my brilliant brother and ingenious sister Me I might be mentioned in the story somewhere but I’m no brainiac I’m average Maybe a little above but not by much and only through effort I have to work hard and read all the time to keep up with the geniuses But anyway Back to that nasty nine-hundred-foot-tall nine-hundred-foot-tall cliff sticking straight up out of the water in front of us Maybe the Millennium Falcon could have made the turn swooping up at the last second but I wasn’t liking our chances Ms Hawking Ashley I told you already Ashley And not because I think of you as an equal Not at all She laughed to herself I simply prefer the sound of my first name Now honestly Hank someone of your intelligence I assumed you’d see Hank was panicking now his head turning from side to side in jerks like a broken sprinkler I don’t when Suddenly my sister leaned forward and pointed at a large orange button in the ceiling covered by a clear plastic 4 Bill Nye and Gregory Mone
case Are you serious she said with excitement Is this the underplane Yes Ashley fake head-butted the dashboard a few times then looked up to the ceiling The child gets the answer Finally Although Ava was relieved I found this news to be more than a little frightening You made a plane out of underwear underwear I asked The moment the words escaped I realized I’d probably misunderstood But no one noticed Or at least no one bothered to make fun of me Not yet anyway Ava and Matt were pretty skilled at remembering my mistakes though This is the underplane Hank asked His eyebrows rose so high they nearly touched the top of his head You actually built it I did But enough talk You’re right Jack she said swiveling around to look me in the eye We are getting awfully close aren’t we I nodded The acknowledgment was nice but I really wanted her to turn back around Are we buckled Good Would you like to do the honors Hank You’ve tested it Of course Once But it worked beautifully Go ahead Press it Do it Now You’ve only tested it once 5 JACK and the GENIUSES
