There's a Spaceship in My Tree! Read Free Page B

were his thing.
    Erin wasn’t taking the move any better than Beamer. So far, all expeditions into the city had failed to reveal a single decent-sized mall. Not that she’d been out that much. After all, washing and drying her hair took most of her time.
    Beamer figured if the air conditioner didn’t come soon, she’d probably go bald, after which she’d go crazy and they’d have to lock her up in the attic with the web and cover the noise of her unearthly shrieks by playing loud music. That’s when the neighbors would start picketing the house . . . until they’d be forced to move back home. Pretty neat scenario!
    At the moment, though, nobody was allowed in the attic except for bug scientists and engineers who were bringing in enough chemical and electronic equipment to find E.T. Traffic through the house was up there with rush hour on the freeway, much to his mother’s frustration. In the meantime, with all the zaps, hisses, and bubbling sounds above his bedroom ceiling, Beamer’s latest Lego masterpiece was beginning to look like a sci-fi creature feature. He couldn’t really understand their high-tech muttering, but, so far, they hadn’t found the mutant arachnid who built that web metropolis.

    Finally, Beamer’s mom kicked her juvenile hermit out of the house. There he was, face-to-face (or knee to pavement) with Murphy Street. Actually, it wasn’t much of a street — only one block long. The houses on Murphy Street were large by Shadow Beach Lane standards, and most had something strange about them, like the one that had a garden on the roof — flowers, bushes, trees — the whole plant kingdom. One side of another house was built into the trunk of a humongous tree — a live tree! There was also a house with rows of high, narrow windows and tons of carved wood and stone and glass. Beamer gagged when he saw it. It was so . . . pink!
    A high brick wall ran behind all the houses on the other side of Murphy Street. And on the other side of that wall was “the park” — Michael’s park.
    â€œGotcha!” the little know-it-all bragged to Beamer. They were on their bikes, looking through the small park gate on Parkview Court. Since Parkview crossed the northern end of Murphy Street, the park was, in fact, just around the corner.
    â€œAll right, so there’s a park,” Beamer grumbled. “Big deal! Every city’s got parks.” He had to admit, though, that this one did look big. He couldn’t even see the other side. “So, where’s the zoo?” he asked with a cynical smirk.
    â€œThat-a-way,” Michael answered triumphantly, pointing off to his left. There, about a football-field-length away, was a large gate shaped like two elephants standing on their hind legs. Michael was definitely on a roll in the I-told-you-so department.
    â€œSee that?” Michael said, pointing a different direction.
    â€œYeah,” Beamer shrugged as he looked beyond a picnic area and a baseball field to a wide range of tall trees.
    â€œThat’s where the dinosaurs live,” Michael announced knowingly.
    â€œWhat dinosaurs?” Beamer gave him the standard big brother put-down.
    â€œThe ones that make the cracks in the sidewalk over on Murphy Street.”
    â€œRi-i-i-g-g-h-t,” Beamer drawled out of the corner of his mouth. “Dinosaurs are extinct.”
    â€œThat’s just it. They’re not!” Michael jumped back in. “They were just shy around people, so they went and hid. That forest has places that haven’t even been explored yet! I’ll bet they come out to hunt on Murphy Street at night.”
    â€œYeah . . . sure,” Beamer muttered, peering into the dark depths of the woods. Secretly, he thought the idea sounded promising. After all, he’d never seen cracks in the streets back home.
    Near sunset Beamer was skateboarding around the fire hydrants and lampposts