The Girl Who Built a Spider

CHAPTER ONE

THE MYSTERY GUEST

Theresa Brown never thought her solar-powered mechanical spider would win the Charleston County Middle School Science Fair, but it did. You could sit in its central rotating seat, move in any direction, carry an additional passenger, climb over any obstacle, and when you were ready to put it away, you could fold its eight double-jointed legs together so that it was no bigger than a suitcase.

All five judges gave it a try. It was really quite something.

Theresa’s spider even beat out Ashley Dean’s edible algae that provided you all your daily nutrients with a single serving but unfortunately tasted like dirt. Everyone had assumed Ashley would take first place. After all, she was the student body president of Daniel Island Middle School and a straight A student and very well-spoken. She had explained the benefits of her spirulina superfood to the five judges very clearly. But Ashley’s algae took second.

Third place went to Jon Cooper’s durable bubble maker. At first look, Jon seemed to have the laziest invention of all—a Hula-Hoop and an inflatable pool full of what appeared to be soapy water. But the solution was a biodegradable liquid plastic that clung to the hoop, and when Jon placed a fan in front of it, he could wave the hoop and make bubbles of all shapes and sizes that didn’t pop unless you really took a whack at them with a stick. They were fun to play with, and Jon certainly was enthusiastic about them. He even showed the science fair crowd that he could fully encase himself inside a bubble, despite his mother’s warnings that he would suffocate.

The five judges were science teachers from various middle schools throughout the county. They were all in a bit of a hurry, scrambling to organize the winners on the outdoor stage because dark and threatening storm clouds were brewing over the harbor. A tropical storm was expected to make landfall within hours, and a very important mystery guest had yet to arrive.

The first judge was a teacher representing Theresa’s school—James Island Middle. She handed Theresa, Ashley, and Jon their blue, red, and white ribbons respectively.

The second judge placed Theresa, Jon, and Ashley on a tiered podium like the ones at the Olympics ceremonies. Theresa, of course, stood in the middle for first place. She towered over Ashley and Jon as she looked out at the heads of all the people in the audience. She felt very awkward. She immediately wished she hadn’t worn her Aladdin T-shirt, blue jeans, and a plastic Princess Jasmine bow in her hair. She thought she must look like a little kid next to Ashley, who stood very tall with her chin up and not one hair out of place. Ashley had decided to wear a blue dress with smart white stripes like she knew she was going to win.

To Theresa, Ashley seemed smarter and cooler than her. She guessed Ashley was really popular at her school. Theresa certainly didn’t feel like she belonged on the stage next to her, momentarily forgetting that she was the one holding the blue ribbon, not Ashley.

Jon was less intimidating. He was wearing his yellow T-shirt inside out. She wondered if he had done that on purpose. And what was he doing with his tongue? He seemed to have just discovered he had one. He darted it in and out of his mouth like an iguana.

The third judge tested the stage microphone for reverb. She said, Testing, testing. One, two, three. Hello, everybody!

The fourth judge asked all family and friends of the contestants to take their seats. Then Theresa was really embarrassed. Her father hadn’t come. Of course, he hadn’t for a very good reason—he had no idea she was here.

The fifth judge went behind the purple backdrop curtain of the stage in hopes of finding the mystery guest, who was now indisputably late.

Theresa stared at the tops of all the heads, trying to stand as still as she could. There must have been more than two hundred parents, grandparents, and teachers there, all looking at her.

Everyone began to murmur.

Who is the mystery guest? Who cares if the guest is found or not? Can’t the kids give their thank-you speeches now so we can just go home? It’s sure to rain any minute!

Theresa really needed to scratch her back, but she didn’t dare. Jon, on the other hand, kept giggling, sticking out his tongue, and waving to his older brothers and sisters in the third row. Jon was the youngest of eight.

Three large news cameras for Channels 2, 4, and 5 appeared right in front of the podium. A reporter hurried up next to Theresa and asked if she was excited. She was too petrified to say anything, so Ashley leaned into the microphone and said, "I’m very honored to be here. Thank you to Charleston’s outstanding science teachers for making this event possible. It’s a such wonderful day for all of us."

Theresa wished she had said that.

Finally, the remaining four judges huddled together and agreed they couldn’t wait any longer. The wind was picking up, and the clouds above them were growing increasingly black. The third judge turned to speak into the microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the delay. We are so proud of this year’s young scientists. There were so many wonderful inventions on display, we found it quite difficult to pick only three. But somehow, scoring for ingenuity, uniqueness, and display, we picked the very best of the best. We wanted to wait for our special guest, who was going to make an incredible, amazing, once-in-a-lifetime offer to our first-place winner, Theresa Brown, but I guess—Oh, wonderful! He’s here!"

Theresa didn’t have time to think. What offer? No one had said anything about an offer. She probably shouldn’t have signed up for this science fair in the first place. An offer might get her in deep trouble.

Suddenly, the purple backstage curtain flew open in a flurry, and the news cameras immediately turned in that direction.

A tall, broad-shouldered man with wild brown eyes and a rebellious mop of black-and-white curls on his head strode past the fifth judge onto the stage in a huff, as if he believed that he wasn’t late but everyone else was. He was wearing a pink T-shirt, rubber wading boots that went past his knees, and a pair of white overalls with many more pockets sewn onto them than the designer originally intended. His boots were caked in pluff mud—the sticky, gooey, almost-like-quicksand black mud of South Carolina’s marshes. He must have been out collecting oysters or bugs or who knows what.

But his clothes were certainly not as arresting as the metal headband he wore.

Three glowing tubes connected to the headband writhed atop his head like cobras, each seeming to probe the air for something. One was blue, one was green, and one was red. Theresa felt hypnotized by them and for good reason—all three tubes were slowly turning toward her.

Before the judge could offer him a seat, he took one of the folding chairs and sat right next to the tiered podium, nodding a greeting to Theresa, Ashley, and Jon.

Ashley nodded back politely and professionally. Jon outright laughed and waved for his seven siblings’ attention as he pointed excitedly to the three glowing snakes on the scientist’s head. Poor Theresa didn’t know what to do, because the wiggling tubes suddenly grouped together and pointed at her in unified formation, emitting a startling, incriminating beep every three seconds. The beeping almost sounded like, YOU! YOU! YOU!

Theresa felt guilty for something, but she had no idea what.

The fifth judge stepped proudly up to the microphone.

Ladies and gentlemen! Our mystery guest has been found! Please join me in welcoming Charleston’s greatest scientist—the inventor of the Bionic Baby Bottom Buffer—Dr. Neil Flax!

CHAPTER TWO

I CAN BUILD THINGS

All five judges sighed with relief as the first judge returned to the microphone.

Thank you for joining us, Dr. Flax. Now, without further ado, it is my honor to congratulate Jon Cooper, Ashley Dean, and our first-place winner, Theresa Brown, for their fascinating projects. How about we let each of them tell us what inspired them to create such wonderful inventions? Then we’ll let Dr. Flax announce his incredible, amazing, once-in-a-lifetime offer to Theresa.

She handed the microphone to Jon.

Theresa began to sweat. She had no desire to talk about what had inspired her. In her head, she began to make up a simple and acceptable speech. Something about her love of spiders or mechanical things or whatever.

Jon didn’t mind speaking at all.

I love bubbles. Bubbles are awesome! My bubbles are the best bubbles on the planet, and I’m going to make them even bigger next time!

Dr. Flax chuckled and snorted at Jon’s enthusiasm, which seemed to give the rest of the audience permission to laugh out loud.

Ashley took the microphone out of Jon’s hand.

Thank you very much for this opportunity, she said in her most serious voice. I want to thank the judges and especially Dr. Flax for coming today. I was inspired to create a food source that would be easy to grow and replicate in large amounts because so many people are starving unnecessarily. Did you know that one in seven people in the world does not have enough food to eat in a day? That’s 795 million people. Right here in South Carolina, 680,000 people go hungry every day, and 200,000 of those are children. I think we can do better. As our planet suffers the effects of a dramatically changing climate, we need to have more plentiful food sources that can adapt effectively. Ashley Dean’s Edible Algae will be one of those critical food sources, and I plan to invent many, many more. Thank you very much.

The audience clapped loudly, as did Dr. Flax. Ashley bowed graciously. She really knew how to give a good speech. Luckily for Ashley, she couldn’t hear Jon over the loud applause when he said, Tastes like dirt, though.

Ashley handed the microphone to Theresa with a daring look that seemed to say, Beat that.

Theresa took the microphone. But she couldn’t stop looking at the glowing tubes on Dr. Flax’s head. They had pointed themselves directly at her. Seeing her hesitation, the famous scientist leaned forward and spoke to her quietly.

This headband has proven to be one of my most useful inventions, Miss Brown. I call it my External Lie Detector. Without needing physical contact with the suspect, the red tube listens for a rapid heart rate, the blue tube watches for a high respiratory rate, and the green tube smells out those who are sweating excessively. You are guilty of all three, so my three snakey friends like you very much.

But I haven’t even said anything, Theresa whispered with her hand over the microphone.

Dr. Flax smiled coyly. "But you are hiding something, aren’t you? Your heart is pounding, you’re breathing quite quickly, and I see drops of sweat forming on your forehead. Perhaps you didn’t build that wonderful spider by yourself. It seems an awfully complicated machine for a twelve-year-old girl to design and weld together all on her own. If you have not been completely forthcoming about your invention, now would be a good time to say so."

Ashley smirked and Jon giggled as every passing awkward moment made Theresa appear all the more guilty of not building the mechanical spider that was her greatest pride and joy.

Her shyness was quickly replaced with anger.

She had built the spider herself. The plastic parts for the joints she had programmed into her 3D printer. The aluminum for the legs and the base she had taken from old cars from her uncle Robert’s auto repair shop. He had taught her to weld when she was only five, so she had gotten pretty good at making whatever she could imagine from scrap.

The only parts of the spider she hadn’t built herself were the solar-powered battery (which she had bought for twenty dollars at a flea market) and the rotating seat (which she had unscrewed off a lawn tractor). She couldn’t believe this crazy-haired scientist in muddy overalls who didn’t even have the decency to show up on time would imply that she was a liar and a fraud. All because some glowing tubes on his head said so?

Despite her stage fright, Theresa decided to show this so-called scientist and his lie-detecting tiara just what the truth sounded like.

Theresa rolled her shoulders back and spoke into the microphone.

"My name is Theresa Brown. I was born and raised in South Carolina, and I built this spider all by myself. What inspired me? I don’t know. My dad doesn’t let me leave the house much ever since my mother drowned in a flood caused by a Category 5 hurricane. He doesn’t even know I’m here. I was only three years old when we lost her. There’s been a black hole inside me ever since. And my dad is still scared of storms. I suppose I am, too. So I spend a lot of time alone playing with robots, which lets me forget about storms and the black hole inside me—at least for a while. I wish I could do something about hurricanes."

Theresa turned from the crowd to face Dr. Flax in his chair and spoke directly to him with hot fury in her eyes.

"But even though I might not be able to do anything about hurricanes, I can build things. I’ve always been good at welding and putting together motors and making stuff with my 3D printer. No matter what your lie detector says, I designed and built this spider all by myself. Hurricanes are getting bigger and scarier, and I’m frustrated and sad that my mother’s gone, and I wish my dad didn’t get so anxious every time it rained, but at least I have my spider. She makes me happy. So I snuck out of the house even though a storm is coming, which will totally freak out my dad. But it feels pretty good to see my spider win first place. She’s the most beautiful machine I’ve ever built. So thank you very much to the judges, I guess, for giving her a blue ribbon."

Theresa placed the microphone on the podium and fought every urge to run off the stage. More than anything at that moment, she wanted to be alone.

But then she saw Dr. Flax quietly nodding as if he were very, very impressed. The tubes on his headband had recoiled into three spiral buns and rested quietly in the nest of wild curls on top of his head.

The peculiar scientist stood up and scratched his cheek as he studied Theresa, as if he had completely forgotten about the audience and the news reporters. After a whole minute, Dr. Flax picked up the microphone and spoke.

Thank you very much, Miss Brown, he said with a smile. That was quite an honest answer.

Then he remembered there was a large audience behind him and turned to speak to them.

Yes, it is true, everybody, I am Dr. Neil Flax, the inventor of the Bionic Baby Bottom Buffer.

Loud applause followed, but the doctor put his hand up for quiet.

"Fine, very fine, and I thank you. Yes, everyone loves my automatic baby diaper changer and baby bum wiper. I’m glad I could make life easier for parents all around the world. That invention earned me a whole lot of money, which allowed me to build the laboratory of my