Billy Sure Kid Entrepreneur and the Haywire Hovercraft Read online

  And what about having our hovercraft featured in a major movie? Will that be good publicity for the invention and for Sure Things, Inc., or will it be an opportunity for someone—like DREW SWIPED—to steal the idea?

  All of these thoughts bouncing around my mind lead me to just one conclusion. I have to talk this over with Manny.

  But before I say a word to Manny or answer Emily, three zombies appear, walking toward us from behind the trailers. This time I’m not startled. After all, I’ve just spent the last fifteen minutes talking to one.

  Philo, however, feels differently.

  At the first sight of the walking zombies, Philo freaks out and dashes away.

  “PHILO! COME BACK!” I shout, but all I see are his back legs pumping as fast as he can go. “I have to get him!”

  I take off, doing my best to keep up with him. No easy task.

  Up ahead I see Philo zooming right for the movie set with the spaceship we saw when we first flew over the studio. He jumps over the Do Not Cross tape and lands on the ship!

  Nearby, a cameraman points his camera at the spaceship. Standing next to him is another movie director, frantically flipping through the pages of her script.

  “A DOG?!” she shouts. “I didn’t know there was supposed to be a dog in this movie! I don’t see a dog in the script! A dog riding the spaceship? Who changed the story? Why didn’t they tell me?! Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything, I am the director of this film—”

  “I don’t know, Gloria, but the dog looks pretty good up there,” says the cameraman.

  “He does, now that you mention it,” says the director. “Keep the cameras rolling!”

  “That’s my dog!” I shout.

  “Does he have an agent?” the director asks, handing me her business card.

  “No!” I shout. “He’s not an actor. Look, someone has to get him off that ship. He could get hurt!”

  Just then, Philo jumps off the spaceship . . . and lands right on the neck of a FIRE-BREATHING DRAGON!

  Philo’s eyes open wide in terror as flames shoot from the dragon’s mouth.

  I spot a crew of technicians that are obviously controlling the mechanical dragon. I hurry over to them.

  “You’ve got to turn the dragon off!” I shout. “That’s my dog up on the dragon! You’ve got to stop the dragon before something bad happens!”

  “We’re trying!” says one of technicians. She frantically yanks a lever on a control panel. “But the switch is stuck. We can’t make the dragon stop breathing fire!”

  I look in horror as the dragon’s head tilts down, sending flames right into a long rack of costumes that are being transported across the studio lot—aliens, monsters, princesses, and robots—setting the costumes ablaze.

  This is not Philo’s fault, I think. The dragon is malfunctioning. But I still feel responsible for this GROWING CHAOS. And I’m very worried about Philo’s safety!

  With fire still spewing from the dragon’s mouth, Philo jumps off and lands on one of the heads of a three-headed alien. Philo looks down and finds himself staring into a set of five bulging, floppy eyeballs.

  Phew! At least he landed safely without catching on fire or hurting himself.

  The alien reaches up, takes Philo off his head, and places him on the ground.

  “There’s a good doggy,” says the alien.

  This buys me just enough time to catch up—that is, until the alien goes to pet Philo, who sees a nine-fingered green reptilian hand reaching for him.

  Philo panics.

  Yip-yip-yip-yip-yip!

  He barks, then he takes off, yelping . . . and runs right into a Triceratops who is lumbering along, followed by a cameraman.

  “Philo!” I cry out, pushing myself to run faster before Philo scampers away again.

  But I’m too late.

  Philo is now right between two golf carts. One cart is filled with people being taken to a movie set. The other is filled with hundreds of tennis balls. What is going on at this studio?

  “LOOK OUT FOR THAT DOG!” shouts the driver of the cart filled with people, swerving sharply to avoid hitting the other one.

  Both drivers slam on their brakes—and the tennis balls come flying out of the back of the second cart, rolling and bouncing in every direction.

  Philo runs off.

  “I’m really sorry about my dog,” I say, walking quickly toward the cart.

  As I bend down to pick up some of the tennis balls, I feel my feet going out from under me. I land on the ground on my butt, unhurt, but a bit embarrassed.

  “These balls have to be at sound stage nine in five minutes!” says the cart’s driver, who jumps out and promptly slips on two tennis balls, also landing on his butt.

  I’m torn. I have to rescue Philo before he gets hurt. But I do feel responsible for this mess. The driver and I crawl on the ground, grabbing tennis balls with both hands, tossing them back into the cart.

  After a few minutes, all the balls have been picked up.

  “Sorry, agai—”

  The driver speeds away, mumbling something about “no pets allowed on the lot.”

  I spot Philo in the distance.

  “Philo! Philo!” I shout. But he keeps running. I take off after him.

  I’m just about catch up to him when he reaches the base of a mountain. He scrambles up. I start to climb up after him. And that’s when the VOLCANO ERUPTS!

  Thick red goop spills from the opening at the top of the mountain, sending Philo sliding back down. As he speeds past me, I reach out to grab him, but just miss. Philo ends up at the bottom of the mountain, covered in the red stuff.

  He takes off again, leaving red paw prints as he runs.

  I finally catch up to Philo at the side of a building. A large door slides open and a Roman-style chariot—filled with gladiators, pulled by a team of horses—comes charging out.

  Startled, Philo jumps up and away, and lands right in my arms.

  Poor guy. I can feel his heart pounding as I hold him and scratch between his ears.

  “It’s okay, boy,” I say. “You’re safe. No more monsters, no more spaceships, no more dinosaurs. Come on, let’s clean you up and go see Emily.”

  I head back to Emily’s trailer. On the way, I pass someone watering a big garden with a hose.

  “Excuse me,” I say. “Could I, um—” I hold up Philo. RED GOOP drips from his fur.

  “Sure thing,” say the gardener. “I’ll set it on gentle spray. You just hold the dog.”

  A soft shower of water sprays over Philo. He loves it when I spray him with the hose at home, and he now barks happily as the red stuff runs off. The hose stops and Philo shakes the excess water off his fur.

  “Thanks so much!” I say, picking up Philo and heading off.

  I carry Philo back to Emily’s trailer. Standing in front of the trailer, beside Emily, Dad, and Manny, is a tall man in a bright orange shirt and polka-dot pants. And standing next to this man is my favorite movie star in the world . . .

  GEMMA WESTON!

  The Offer

  MY MOUTH MOVES, but nothing comes out. I want to say things like, oh, I don’t know, “Hello.” That would be good for starters. “Nice to meet you.” That’s a classic. That might work too. But I say nothing.

  I’m standing here, STARSTRUCK, my clothes covered in red goop, while at the same time marveling at the fact that I can still feel starstruck. After all, I’ve been on TV a bunch of times, and I’ve met celebrities before—I’ve even shared quite a few stages with Carl Bourette, my favorite baseball player in the world.

  But for some reason seeing Gemma Weston, not up on a big screen in a movie theater, but standing here, looking just like, like, well, like just a REGULAR PERSON . . . for some reason, that makes me super nervous.

  Dad finally breaks the silence.

  “Is Philo okay?” he asks.

  It’s then that I remember I’m still holding Philo in my arms. “Oh yeah. He’s fine.” I place him on the ground. Philo ha
ppily sniffs at Dad, Manny, and Emily, his tail wagging. It’s almost like he never went on an adventure to begin with.

  Emily speaks up.

  “Gemma and Felipe, I’d like you to meet my dad, my brother, Billy, and his business partner, Manny,” she says. “Oh, and this is our dog, Philo.”

  “Nice to meet you all,” says Gemma, flashing a smile that could light up a dark room. Then she wrinkles her nose. “Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but what is that AWFUL SMELL?”

  Manny and I look at each other. I’m face-to-face with Gemma Weston, and I have to explain to her all about stinky socks.

  “Um, well, you see . . .” I stammer. “Well, that is—”

  “It’s socks,” Dad jumps in.

  “Excuse me?” says Gemma. “Did you say ‘socks’?”

  “Actually, only stinky socks work,” Dad says, as if it’s the most normal thing anyone has ever said.

  Gemma squints, tilts her head, and looks over at Emily, clearly hoping for an explanation.

  Emily stares at me and raises her decaying zombie eyebrows, from which I gather that Emily doesn’t want to explain the whole stinky sock thing to her new pal Gemma.

  I’m about to open my mouth, this time to explain to a movie star why she’s smelling stinky socks, when Gemma speaks up.

  “You know, Billy, you don’t have to be embarrassed by having stinky socks,” she says. “My socks don’t exactly smell like ROSES either.”

  I smile, immediately at ease.

  “Actually they’re not all mine,” I say. “I need stinky socks from lots of people to power my hovercraft.”

  Gemma smiles.

  Then Felipe LaVita steps forward. I’ve been so nervous about talking to Gemma, I somehow completely forgot about the man in the colorful outfit.

  “I am so filled with happiness to have all of you at the studio right now,” he says, shaking hands all around.

  “I love all your movies, Felipe,” says Dad. “Monsters from Beyond!, Dinosaurs vs. Dragons! and my favorite, Zombies Love to Dance Too, Part Two.”

  Dad does love his cheesy monster movies. One more thing I love about Dad.

  “Oh, you are too kind,” says Felipe. “But what is the matter? You didn’t like Zombies Love to Dance Too, Part One?”

  Everyone laughs. Dad laughs the loudest.

  “But all joking aside, it is so wonderful to meet you all. We love having Emily right here to work on my film,” Felipe says. Then he turns and looks right at me.

  “So you are the WONDERFUL INVENTOR Billy Sure?” Felipe asks.

  “Yes, sir,” I reply. “And this is my partner at Sure Things, Inc., Manny Reyes.”

  “Nice to meet you, sir,” says Manny.

  As always, Manny is polite, but I know my partner well enough to see that he is getting a little impatient with all this chitchat. Now that he knows that Emily is all right, I can tell that he’s waiting to see what’s next for our hovercraft.

  “My heart is singing so loudly I can hardly hear it,” says Felipe.

  I’m not sure that makes any sense, but I decide not to say anything.

  “Sure Things, Inc.! So this is the team behind the No-Trouble Bubble,” Felipe continues excitedly. “You know I just used the No-Trouble Bubble in my latest blockbuster, Bubble Away Your Trouble. It worked like charms do!”

  I glance to my left and see that Manny is gone. I turn around and find him standing by our hovercraft, getting it ready for the trip home.

  Felipe looks past me and spots Manny at the hovercraft.

  “The HOVERCRAFT!!!” he squeals. “Emily, my darling, you fixed it! You fixed it! It’s PERFECT!!! It’s perfect for our movie!”

  Emily looks a bit embarrassed.

  “Actually, Felipe,” she says. “That’s not the one I landed in. It’s a new one that my brother built.”

  “Of course you built it, Billy Sure!” chirps Felipe. “After all, you invented the No-Trouble Bubble!”

  “Well, Mr. LaVita, that was actually my friend Greg’s id—”

  “And don’t forget the Gross-to-Good Powder,” Gemma adds, smiling. “I actually used that at a terrible restaurant a few months ago. It really saved me from a potential embarrassing situation with my agent.”

  “Actually, that one Emily invented,” I explain. “I just—”

  “Such a talented group . . . so much kindness, too,” says Felipe. “And that is why I am going to make you the offer of a lifetime.

  “I will give you, Billy, and you, Manny, roles in this movie,” he says. “Just like Emily who already is in my movie. She makes such a perfect zombie what with the frowning.”

  Emily frowns.

  Manny looks up from the hovercraft. I can tell he thinks that this is a cool idea. I know I do! Though Manny, as usual, controls his excitement—always the cool negotiator. I can see that he is waiting for what is coming next.

  Felipe continues.

  “And I will also put a lot of investment money into Sure Things, Inc. Does that sound good?”

  Now Manny starts to smile. I think it sounds fantastic, though I can tell that Manny is still waiting for the catch.

  “So, here is the deal! You two are in the movie, and I invest in your company—in exchange for EXCLUSIVE USE of the hovercraft, here at Really Great Movies studio! Nice, yes, right, yes?”

  And that’s when Manny’s smile disappears. I feel my spirits sink a bit, too. Exclusive rights? I mean, I know I’m not the business expert in this partnership, but somehow that just doesn’t sound right. We’ve never given away the rights to any of our inventions. That would mean we wouldn’t own the product anymore, and the products are what make Sure Things, Inc., well, Sure Things, Inc.

  What are we gonna do?

  A Deal Is a Deal . . . or Is It?

  MY GUT REACTION is that this is a bad idea. Sure it would be great fun to be in a movie, and getting investment money from Really Great Movies would definitely take some financial pressure off of us. But somehow, giving up the rights to one of our inventions . . . I don’t know.

  What I do know is that the last thing I want to do is talk about all this in front of Felipe and Gemma.

  “That’s a very GENEROUS OFFER, Mr. LaVita,” I finally say.

  “No-no-no-please, Billy, you must call me Felipe like all of my friends like to do. Like darling Emily does. Because I think we are friends, no?”

  “Sure, Felipe,” I say. “But as far as your offer goes, can Manny and I have a couple of minutes to talk this over?”

  “Why certainly, Billy,” Felipe says.

  Then something else pops into my mind.

  “And I think Emily should be part of our conversation, too,” I say. “She is a member of the family and a part of the company. This decision affects her as well.”

  Emily’s zombie face lights up. I can tell this is what she wanted all along.

  I look over at Dad.

  “I’ve always let you run your business as you see fit, Billy,” Dad says. “Whatever decision you make, I support it.”

  “Here’s an idea,” Felipe says. “While the three of you talk, why don’t I give your dad a quick tour of the studio?”

  “Really?” says Dad, his eyes opening wide. “Cool! Thanks!”

  “I’ll look after Philo, if that’s okay,” says Gemma. “I love dogs.” She scratches Philo’s neck, and he does that dog thing where his back leg twitches.

  Philo happily follows Gemma into her trailer.

  “SEE YA LATER, GATORS!” says Dad as he follows Felipe.

  Left alone, Manny, Emily, and I sit down on the steps outside her trailer.

  “I don’t know about this,” I say. “I mean, being in a BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE sounds amazing, and the money would be really helpful for our next Next Big Thing, but something just feels wrong about giving away exclusive rights to something we created.”

  “Don’t forget that Greg was involved in this too,” Manny points out. “Actually, now that I think of it, we should give him a call.
”

  Uh-oh. Involving Greg in more Sure Things, Inc. business might not go over so well with Emily. I look at her, but thankfully she’s smiling. She doesn’t look jealous. Just in case she is, I tell her that she can be the one to call Greg and fill him in, since she’s good at telling stories and all. I think she likes the compliment.

  “We can’t pass this opportunity up!” Greg says after Emily tells him everything.

  “I agree,” says Manny. “And with the money from the Really Great Movies studio, we could move right into working on our next invention without having to seek out new investors.”

  “But this could be Sure Things, Inc.’s most successful invention yet!” I point out.

  “EXACTLY,” says Manny. “And though it sounds weird, this invention could end up being a huge headache for us.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask, genuinely confused.

  “Think about it, Billy,” Manny says, “We might have simply invented something too good. We were able to get here without a problem, but what if there were other hovercrafts in the sky? If we release this so that thousands of people can buy it, we could end up disrupting air travel. Picture a sky full of hovercrafts above every major city.”

  I hadn’t thought about that. Manny is right. This is not just some invention that people will use in their own spaces. This hovercraft will be a whole new way to travel.

  “Think about how fast the general release of the hovercraft would bring on government regulations, air traffic control issues, and on and on,” Manny continues. “I say let’s take the investment money for Sure Things, Inc.’s NEXT BIG THING.”

  Emily nods in agreement.

  I see their point. I guess it does make sense, even though it still feels a little strange.

  A short while later Felipe returns. Dad is still on his tour of the studio, this time speaking with the cameraman over by the fire-breathing dragon.

  “So, Billy Sure, have you made a decision?” he asks.