The Great Peach Experiment 1, Erin Downing [books to read romance .TXT] 📗

never seemed to worry about that. She always told her kids that what she loved most about her job was getting to nurture something from the seed of an idea to a finished product, even when the seed didn’t grow quite how she’d expected it to. Their mom always took great joy in the process of creating something new, just like Freddy did with his art.

Dad cleared his throat. “Before she got sick, do you remember that your mom was developing solar window clings?”

Of course Lucy remembered. She and Freddy had helped Mom come up with that project! After reading an article about solar energy and wind farms, Lucy had asked her mom if there was anything regular people, like the Peaches, could use to catch energy. Then Freddy started going on and on about how ugly solar panels and windmills are and asked why no one ever painted them cool colors.

Just a few days later, Mom and her team started creating a special kind of solar cling that could be printed with lots of fun colors and designs. Regular people could stick them to any window in their house, where they would capture solar power—helping collect energy from the sun—while also turning the window into a piece of art. Mom had even used some of Freddy’s drawings on one of the designs! Though Herb had been too little to help much, he’d been the one who kept Mom company at the lab—hopping and babbling away in his bouncy chair—when she put in extra time at work on weekends.

Dad smiled proudly. “The solar clings were your mother’s pièce de résistance, kids. Her lab sold the cling technology to a big company that is going to mass-produce them. Mom’s share of the profits is one point three million dollars.” Dad held his hands out wide. “Kids, in technical terms, we are millionaires.”

2

  THE PLAN

“Millionaires! We are millionaires!” Herb wrapped his arms around Lucy’s waist and hugged her tight, screaming with joy.

“A million dollars?” Lucy gasped. Herb loosened his hug. “Are you sure?”

Herb glanced at his big brother, whose mouth was hanging open. Suddenly, Freddy shook his head and said, “Is someone going to deliver a giant check? Will a fancy limo pull up with briefcases full of cash? Can we ask for all the money in two-dollar bills or state quarters?”

“Can we please get a pool in our backyard?” Herb begged. “The kind with a slide, and a diving board, and—ooh! ooh!—maybe some live fish swimming in the shallow end?”

“Live fish in a pool?” Freddy said with a laugh. “The chlorine would leave you with a pool full of dead fish.” His eyes widened, and he added, “Unless we got one of those saltwater pools, and we could get a pet shark—”

“Guys,” Lucy said, holding up a hand. “Focus. There’s a food truck parked in our driveway. Remember?”

“Can we use part of the money to go somewhere amazing?” Freddy asked, ignoring their big sister altogether. “I’ve always wanted to visit the Chihuly glass museum in Seattle. While we’re there, we could also check out Seattle’s gum wall, which is this alley covered in millions of pieces of chewed-up gum!” He grinned and high-fived Herb. “It would also be fun to touch a pyramid, so we could see how they built those things. And wouldn’t it be great if we could see some of the art in the National Gallery and check out the prison museum in London?” He bounced on his toes and added, “Hey, did you know you can walk inside catacombs filled with dead-guy skulls under the streets of Paris?”

“Now, kids, let’s not get carried away,” Dad said. “Those are all perfectly nice ideas, but I’ve got something even more special planned for this money. I think it’s most appropriate for us to use a portion of your mom’s windfall to live out one of her biggest dreams. That’s why this summer, we’ll be exploring the country and starting up our very own food truck business.” Dad’s voice caught as he swept his arm wide and pointed in the direction of Mrs. Halvorson’s house at the end of their street. “Let’s hit the highway and head out of Duluth. Take some time to live life on the road and reconnect as a family.”

Before any of the kids could ask questions or respond, Dad barreled on. “We’ll kick things off in just a few days, once summer break is officially underway. We can get our feet wet right here in Minnesota. Our first stop will take us a few hours south, to Minneapolis. Then we’re going to head in a mighty loop, visiting Chicago, Ann Arbor, Columbus, Nashville; and if we’re lucky, we’ll even hit Indianapolis and majestic St. Louis.”

In his mind, Herb pictured the illustrated map of the United States that hung on his second-grade classroom wall. He tried to remember where all those cities were, but couldn’t. Tomorrow he’d spend read-aloud time studying the map. Maybe his teacher would even be willing to take a picture of it and print a copy for him!

Freddy closed his eyes and whispered, “Please tell me this food truck trip means I get to skip summer school?”

Herb couldn’t understand why his brother was dreading summer school. Herb loved school. Personally, he didn’t like summer vacation, because it meant saying goodbye—to his beautiful and wise second-grade teacher, his classmates, the class hamster he’d been in charge of feeding each day, his special cubby decorated with puffy stickers, and all the artwork his teacher had collected and carefully hung up throughout the year. Herb had responsibilities in Room 122. And he did not like to say goodbye. At least he had third grade to look forward to.

Dad nodded. “Yes, Freddy, I’m afraid you will likely miss most of summer school. But to make up for it, I ordered some math workbooks so you can practice over the summer.” He looked from Herb to Freddy to Lucy. “So…?