Lucky Cap Read Free

his head. And he wasn’t filling out. He was real bony and stumbled around like a newborn horse, his legs going all different directions. He tripped a lot.
    It wasn’t such a big deal back when we were the same size. We were just two goofy guys running around, acting like crazed monkeys. But I grew taller in fifth grade and filled in some. And I matured. I got more serious. Less goofy. Now I was more like his older brother.
    â€œIt sure is an amazing cap,” he said, all dazzled again.
    â€œYeah. I swear there’s something… I don’t know… magical about—”
    Someone knocked on my door right then.
    â€œWhat?” I barked. I didn’t like being interrupted in what I considered to be my private personal space. Plus it was probably just one of my sisters all prepared to annoy me. As usual.
    â€œCan I come in, buddy?”
    It was Dad.
    â€œYeah, sorry,” I said in a nicer voice. “Come in.”
    He stepped inside, kind of awkwardly. He could be a little shy sometimes. Not all dads are bold and brave, I guess. Mine was shy and cautious.
    I assumed he was coming in to say he was sorry for abandoning me.
    â€œI just got off the phone,” he said, sitting beside me on the bed. “It was Evan Stevens, from work. He’s my new supervisor at Kap. He’ll be training me and traveling with me.”
    â€œEvan Stevens?” Kai asked.
    Dad chuckled. “Yep. Like ‘even Steven.’”
    Kai chuckled, too. I didn’t get the joke and didn’t care. I wanted to hear what Dad and this Evan guy had talked about. Dad was giving off some seriously strange vibes. He had news and was itching to spill it, but he was taking his time.
    â€œSo I was talking to Evan,” Dad went on, “telling him about how excited the family was that I got the job and everything, and he was real glad to hear it…. You’ll meet him, Enzo. He’s a real nice kid. Well, not a kid. He’s in his twenties. To me he’s a kid…”
    â€œYeah,” I said, humoring him, wanting him to get to the point. “And…?”
    â€œI told Evan how much you loved the cap, and he said that gave him an idea.”
    Dad paused a second, then smiled. It was a big, warm, I-have-good-news-for-you smile. Why was he torturing me?
    â€œTell me his idea, Dad!” I said.
    â€œWell, Evan said maybe having an eleven-year-old boy along on the trip would be a real asset. Maybe an eleven-year-old boy could test out the new products and tell us which ones are amazing and which aren’t.”
    You could have heard a pin drop, even on the carpet.
    Then Kai said, “Hey! Enzo is an eleven-year-old boy!”
    I elbowed him. “So are you, stupid.”
    â€œOh, yeah…”
    It was totally understandable that he forgot sometimes.
    â€œSo?” Dad asked.
    â€œSo what?” I asked.
    â€œSo do you want to come on the trip with us?”
    How do you think I answered?
    â€œYeah!” Then I gave Dad a shove. He shoved me back, and then we cracked up.
    This all happened because of the cap. Dad told Evan Stevens how much I loved it. Evan invited me on the trip. It was the cap. It definitely had some sort of power. Some kind of magic. Luck, maybe. I understood right then I would be lucky as long as I held on to it.
    â€œLucky,” Kai said. He wasn’t laughing. He wasn’t happy.
    I patted him on the shoulder and said, “I’ll be back before you know it.”
    Boy, was I right about that.

    The trip started two days later. Me and Dad got up early, way before Mom and the Sisterhood. We had said our good-byes the night before.
    After we ate some cereal and did our own dishes (we wouldn’t be doing that for a while!) I went out back to say good-bye to our dog, Inkspill, who I call Ink. He’s black, of course, although I guess he could also be blue. Come to think of it, he could be purple. Doesn’t ink come in just