Edison's Gold Read Free

was a huge improvement on his auto-mowers, and potentially the invention to put the Edison family back on the map.
    Once Toys “R” Us bought the prototype, Tom was planning to take everyone—Noodle, Colby, his parents, and his little sister—on an all-expense-paid trip to Switzerland, where all the coolest stuff had been invented.Everything from the electronic wristwatch to the computer mouse to Ovaltine!
    â€œNaa gooo righh!” Tom’s three-year-old sister, Rose, cheered him on from the corner of his room, where she liked to craft her own creations out of building blocks and dismembered doll parts.
    Downstairs, he heard the sound of his father opening the front door.
    â€œTime for me to pay the piper, Rosie.” Tom dropped his wrench, then tiptoed to the top of the stairs. If he could hear his parents’ conversation first, he’d be better prepared for the talking- to that would definitely be coming his way later.
    â€œSo?” His mother’s voice. Nervous.
    â€œIt’s official. They laid off my division this morning.”
Uh-oh
. Job conversations were tense business in the Edison household these days. Tom’s dad had been working for Alset Energy’s Bronx plant as a mechanical engineer for more than ten years, but over the past few months Curt Keller, its CEO, had been cutting people’s jobs right and left. It was an unfair policy, picketers cried, and all because Keller had failed to pay fines for loads of infractions against the Clean Air Act.
    â€œWell, it’s not like we didn’t see it coming,” said his mother. “You officially said yes?”
    Yes? Yes to what?
Tom leaned farther over the banister to listen.
    â€œMy first day’s in two weeks.” Aha. His dad must’ve gotten a new job. That was potentially good news. Maybe they’d all go out and celebrate at Giovanni’s and forget all about Tom’s trip to the principal’s office.
    â€œTom’s up in his room. We had a run-in with Phelps this afternoon. Third strike, if you’re counting.” No luck. He could always count on his mom to cut right to the bad news. She was the family’s anchor, while Tom and his dad usually kept their heads above the clouds.
    â€œNot sure it matters,” said his father. “Given the circumstances.”
    Given what circumstances?
Tom thought. Their conversation was growing more confusing by the second. He was more than happy to skip his punishment, but something about his dad’s weary tone made him nervous.
    â€œI’d better go up and deliver the news.” As soon as Tom heard his dad scuffling toward the stairs, he darted back into his room and jumped onto the bed, grabbing the latest issue of
Popular Mechanics
.
    â€œHey.” The glint from his dad’s glasses peeked through the door crack.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Tom looked up from his magazine as his dad did his usual trick of knocking while entering.
    â€œDaddeeeeee!” squealed Rose.
    â€œAnother pen explosion?” Tom nodded to the blooming black ink spot on his father’s fraying shirt. At least once a week he’d come home from work with a new mystery stain—grease, mustard, even the rare chemical burn mark.
    â€œOh yeah—that.” His dad smoothed over the stain, a little embarrassed. “Must’ve happened sometime between lunch and when I got on the train home.”
    Tom rolled his eyes as his dad took a seat at the edge of the bed and swung Rose into his lap. “Sooo—I have some interesting news for you both,” he said. “I got a new job.”
    â€œThat R and D one in South Orange?” Tom had overheard his parents the other day talking about a couple prospects in New Jersey.
    â€œNope. No R and D for me. My title, actually”—his dad tried for a chuckle—“is Waste Engineer. And it’s not as much pay as Alset. But the good news