I wasn't able to help Jenny with her school problems.
But I had a new invention idea, and it was going to be great.
This invention wouldn't fall into a fish tank or get caught on anyone's sweater.
And there was still time to write about it for Mr. Bright.
"What's your idea, Iggy?" asked Jenny as we headed home.
"Did you see the way that ticket machine worked at the bakery?" I asked.
"You mean where you pick a number so you can save your place in line?" asked Molly.
"That's right," I said.
"We could print tickets for the bumpy slide.
Kids would pick a ticket and wait for their number to be called."
"No one would have to stand in line anymore," said Jenny.
I nodded. "Kids could run around the playground until their number was called."
"Your invention is just in time, Iggy," said Josh.
"I heard Mr. Dalmati say that kids were pushing and shoving too much in line.
And no one gets much exercise at recess anymore."
I frowned, thinking.
"I could cut up pieces of cardboard and print the numbers on them," I said.
"Then kids can pick the numbers out of a bag."
Everyone agreed to help print tickets for the slide.
So we went upstairs to my apartment to get some cardboard.
I found some that I had used for a project in school.
Then we went to Molly's apartment.
Molly and Caswell's babysitter, Lucy, had just made some chocolate chip cookies.
The apartment smelled almost as good as Mom's Bakery!
So we all sat down and had warm cookies and lemonade.
After that we got to work.
We cut the cardboard into small squares.
Then we printed big numbers on each square with a magic marker.
We printed numbers all the way up to one hundred.
Everyone helped, even Caswell.
Now during recess kids could pick a number to take a turn on the slide.
"We will need a number caller," I said.
"What's a number caller?" asked Jenny.
"It's the person who calls out the next number," I explained.
"Remember the man at Mom's Bakery?"
Molly grinned and imitated him.
"Number seven is next!"
"Exactly," I said.
"Let's take turns calling out the numbers," said Jenny.
I wanted this to be a really, really good invention.
So I came up with one more idea.
"I'll ask my mom if she'll take us to Dollar Delight," I said.
"They sell lots of cheap little toys.
Kids can pick a number from one bag and a toy from another.
Then they can have fun while they're waiting."
"But won't we run out of toys?" asked Jenny.
"No," I said.
"When the kids turn in their tickets, they'll turn in their toys too."
"Wow," said Molly.
"This is a really great invention, Iggy."
I hoped Molly was right.
My Fabulous Glasses-Finder had sounded like a good idea too—at first.
But my Pick-a-Number invention was different.
It would solve a big problem at school.
Maybe it would even be in Mr. Bright's new book!
After dinner my mom took us to Dollar Delight.
We bought lots of little toys for only about ten dollars.
We also bought two colorful shopping bags.
We planned to fill one shopping bag with tickets and the other with toys.
I could hardly wait until recess the next day!