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DOUBLE TROUBLE DITTO BOX:
Randy O'Rourke invents a "Ditto Box", a machine that copies whatever he puts inside. When he wants a ball glove like his friend Jake's, he puts in the glove, and Zap--a duplicate for himself. If Randy and Jake want pizza, he orders one, makes a copy, and they eat two. Randy copies homework, games, and even Asthma, Jake's furry mutt. Everything is going great until his little sister wants a playmate. Twozy, as Suzy names her "twin", looks and whines just like Suzy. Mom and Dad are mad at Randy for doubling their trouble, and he has to baby-sit more girls more often. Two sisters are twice as bad! How can he get rid of the new one?

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Details
Publisher	Writers Exchange E-Publishing
Author	Betty Jo Schuler
Recommended Minimum Age	Suitable for all ages
Electronic Download Formats:	PDF, PDB (Palm/Ereader), HTML, LIT (Microsoft Reader), PRC (Unencrypted Mobipocket), RB (Rocket 1100), IMP (Gemstar 1150/Ebookwise), IMP (Gemstar 2150/Rocket 1200), DNL (desktop author page-flipping format), EXE (Windows Executable page flipping format) a
Price:	$3.00

Excerpts (Read a sample or view an illustration):

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Brainman: Chapter One: Testing--2, 3, 4 Randy O'Rourke tightened the last screw on his robot. Finished! Looking it in the eye, he held out his hand. "Shake," he said. The robot shook all over. His body clanked noisily. "No," Randy said. "I want you to shake my hand." The robot shook his hand. Randy's shoes were always untied. He pointed to his sneaker. "Good. You got that right. Now tie my shoe." The robot got down on both knees. He made a rabbit's ear in one shoelace. He made a rabbit's ear in the other lace. Then he looped them together. "You tied it!" Randy yelled. "Awesome. Wait until Jake sees you!" Randy grabbed the receiver off the old crank phone that he had rescued from the junkyard. Cr-rank. The phone was hooked up to Jacob Silverman's house next door. Cr-rank. On the third ring, Jake would answer. Cr-rank. "Hi, Randy. What's happening?" "Get over here right away. I have something to show you!" "Is your robot finished?" Jacob asked eagerly. "Don't ask questions. Just get over here quickly!" Randy shoved some clothes off a rocking chair, and sat down to admire his invention. He wanted his robot to be the best ever. He'd given it blue glass eyes. He'd painted a red heart on its chest. He'd polished its silver body until it sparkled. It looked great. And it did what he said! That was the most important part. This invention had taken months. Summer vacation was over. School had started, and Randy hadn't even had time to play baseball. But now, he'd have plenty of time. Randy proudly ran his hand over the robot's metal chest. The robot's blue eyes blinked. Was he sensitive to touch? Randy patted the robot's arm. It blinked again. Unbelievable! Running his fingers through his red hair, Randy looked out the window. Where was Jake? He hadn't lived in Tech City long, but he was already Randy's best friend. He couldn't wait to show him the robot. Jake pounded on the door. Three knocks, their special code. Randy let him in and stepped aside with a broad sweep of his arm. "Ta-daa!" "Wow!" Jacob walked around the robot. "What a piece of work." Randy smiled proudly. "Shake hands with my best friend," he told the robot. The robot grabbed Jacob's hand. He shook it. Hard. "Ouch!" Jacob yelled. "I don't think he likes me." "Don't be silly." Randy loosened a screw in the robot's wrist. "Shake," he said, holding out his hand. The robot shook Randy's hand nicely. "See?" Randy shrugged. "It was just a glitch. A glitch is a problem. The loose screw was a minor glitch." "I get it. The screw was a small problem." Jacob ran his hand over the robot's arm. The robot blinked. "Hey! He's really cool," Jacob said. The robot's red heart glowed. "Criminy, he acts real." Jacob acted excited now. "How's he do that stuff?" Randy hadn't programmed the robot to respond to touch. Or to compliments. But both were such great tricks, he just smiled mysteriously. "I gotta see this again." Jacob touched the robot. It blinked. "You're awesome," he said. Its heart glowed. Jacob whistled loudly. "He's totally awesome." "Better than that, he's super colossal," Randy said. "That's what the ads call the robots at Future World." Jacob looked at Randy. "What's Future World?" "It's this really neat amusement park where robots do all the work. It's not far from here. You'll have to see it. The robots run the rides. They sell the food. They do everything. The only thing that real people do is boss the robots around. That's where I got my big idea. "Here, watch this." There were shirts and shoes scattered all over his bedroom. "Pick up my clothes," he told the robot. The robot picked up the shirts, folded them, and put them in a drawer. He set the shoes inside the closet. "See? He'll do all my chores. I won't have to do anything." Jacob's mouth hung open. "You just say 'do something', and he does?" "Right. I say make my bed..." Randy paused. "I should have a name to call him." "He's making the bed, anyway," Jacob said, chuckling. "But he does need a name. Robby sounds good with Robot." "Too common. This guy needs a special name." Randy paced the floor saying names to himself. "William. Alexander. Arthur. Lancelot." "Kings' and knights' names aren't right for someone you plan to order around." "How about Sylvester? Or Sly? Arnold, maybe." Jacob shook his head. "They don't suit him." "Okay, let me think." As he thought, Randy paced the floor and scratched his head. The robot paced the floor and scratched his head. Jacob cracked up. "You don't even have to think for yourself. He's doing it for you." "This is even better than I planned!" Randy shouted. "If my robot can think, he can do my homework. Then I really won't have to do anything--ever again." He hopped up on the bed, and bounced on his Cincinnati Reds spread. "Yahoo!" "Wait a minute. You really think he can do homework?" Jacob asked. "Yeah, I do." Randy sat down and ran his hand over the robot's metal fingers. The robot blinked, and his heart glowed. Randy grinned at Jacob. "I think this guy can do anything he tries. But just to be sure, I'll put him to the final test." Double Trouble Ditto Box CHAPTER ONE: TESTING THE DITTO BOX Done. Finished. Ready to test. Randy O'Rourke stood back to admire his latest invention. The black box on his bedroom floor was two feet high and three feet long with a hinged lid. It looked like an ordinary box, but it wasn't. It was a Ditto Box. Randy grabbed the receiver off the old crank phone that he'd rescued from the junkyard. The phone was hooked up to Jacob Silverman's house next door. Each crank of the handle made the bell ring in Jake's bedroom. On the third ring, he would answer. Cr-rank. Randy's three-year-old sister barged through the door. "Play with me," Suzy whined. "What are you doing in here?" Randy hung up the phone. When he was inventing, no one was allowed in his room. There was a black and yellow sign on his door. Suzy couldn't read, but she knew it said KEEP OUT. "I can't play. I'm working. I have to test my new invention." "Bad brother sent old 'vention away!" Suzy stomped her foot. "Brain Man used to play with me." "I didn't send Brain away. He went to Future World on his own. He wanted to live with other robots. I miss Brain too, but he's happier there." "I not happy," Suzy said. "I mad." Suzy had blue eyes and blonde curls. She looked like a skinny version of Shirley Temple, the child movie star that their mother loved. Only Shirley smiled all the time, and Suzy frowned and whimpered most of the time. Mom and Dad said she was going through "the whiny-threes." "Yo, Randy." Jacob Silverman stuck his head through the door. "Your mom said I'd find you upstairs." "Go away," Suzy said. "Randy can't play." "Neither can you," Jake said. "Your mom says it's time for your nap." "Not sleepy," Suzy said. But she left, crying and dragging her doll by one leg. "Way to go!" Randy slapped hands with his best friend. "My phone rang, but only once. The KEEP OUT sign is still up, but your door's open. I'm getting mixed signals," Jake said. "What's happening? Is your new invention finished or not?" Randy stepped out in the hall and took down the sign. Then he bowed to Jake and waved him toward the black box. "Ta-dah!" Jake circled the box, studying it. He opened the lid and looked in. "Empty," he said, looking disappointed. "What is this thing, anyway?" "A special kind of copying machine. I call it a Ditto Box." Jake lifted the lid again. "What goes inside?" "Whatever you want to copy." Randy's homework lay on his desk. His mother made him do it right after school. He chose a paper he'd finished. "Done your math yet?" he asked, waving it under Jake's nose. "No, but--" "Watch." Randy hadn't tried the new machine, but he felt sure it would work. Opening the box, he laid the paper inside and shut the lid. "You lay a paper on top of most copying machines," Jake said. "This isn't most copying machines." Randy pushed a red button. The box made a humming sound. A rainbow of light shone through the lid. Jake gasped. "The box is made of heavy wood. How can the light--" Ditto. "Who said that?" Jake gasped, looking behind him. Grinning, Randy handed him the math. "What difference does it make? Your homework is done." "Wow!" Jacob grabbed the paper. "It works great! But why did you make the box so big? No paper is that large." "Who says the Ditto Box is just for papers? Run home and get your new ball glove." "My ball glove?" Jake stared at him. "You're going to copy my new ball glove?" Randy nodded, and Jake grinned. "You love that thing, don't you?" Without waiting for an answer, he left. Randy watched from his upstairs window. Jake's black hair whipped around his head in the breeze as he ran across the lawn to his house. Randy had asked his folks for a new glove just like Jake's. Mom and Dad said his old one was good for another season. Maybe it was, but Jake's glove was soft as pie, and the leather smelled good. It would take Randy until Christmas to save enough money to buy one. He saw Jacob come out of his house and run back across the yard. He pounded up the stairs. "Quiet," Mrs. O'Rourke called. "Suzy is trying to sleep." "Sorry," Jake yelled. Ducking into Randy's room, he handed him the mitt. "Here. Do your stuff." Randy laid the mitt inside the box and closed the lid. He pushed the red button. It hummed. A rainbow of lights flashed. Ditto, a voice said. "My glove is done." Randy's voice shook. His green eyes sparkled. "Let me see!" Jake jerked the lid open. "Hey! My glove's the only one in here." Randy grinned. "Don't worry. Mine's right...here." A new glove slid out the end of the Ditto Box. Picking it up, he smelled the leather. "Mm," he said blissfully. "Awesome," Jake said. "That copying machine is really something." "Yeah." Randy doubled his fist and pounded it in the glove. "Let me try it on." "You have one just like it," Randy said, but he held out the mitt. "There's something different..." Jake started to slip his hand in the mitt, and then stopped. "This glove is for someone who's right-handed!" "So? I'm right-handed," Randy said, reaching for his new mitt again. It was soft as butter, and the color of butterscotch pie. "But I'm left-handed," Jake said. "You know that." "What's your point?" "You dope. Your Ditto Box reversed the mitt." "You don't have to shout!" Randy yelled. "Whaa!" Suzy cried from her bedroom across the hall. Randy paced the floor. He ran his fingers through his red hair. He scratched his head. "Backward worked out great for the glove. But it could be a disaster with some things." "Like math?" Jake whispered. Randy nodded. "Let's take a closer look at that paper. This could be bad news."

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