Read Floors #3: The Field of Wacky Inventions for Free Online Page B

taking care of just one.”
    “Helps that it’s the best hotel in the world!” Remi added.
    “What are you thinking?” Alfred Whitney asked, rising from his seat and slowly backing away from the stone table.
    “What if we work together — the three of us — with the goal being that you end up winning?”
    “That way we can enjoy this awesome adventure and not end up with more work when it’s done!” Remi said, which was exactly what Leo was thinking.
    Alfred looked at the two boys with great affection. He smiled wistfully, shaking his head back and forth a few times.
    “These hotel managers would be quite a handful, wouldn’t they?” he concluded.
    Leo gazed off through the trees, where E. J. Bosco was giving him the evil eye.
    “I believe you’re right,” Leo answered.
    Alfred nodded then, with real determination, and put out his hand.
    “I humbly submit to your plan. And furthermore, I promise to leave you fully in charge of the Whippet Hotel should we meet with success.”
    “For the record, Leo owns the Whippet,” Remi said. “I’m not even sure why we’re doing this.”
    “Fair enough,” Alfred said. “I’ll oversee the rest of Merganzer’s hotels if we win and provide any help you need.”
    Leo looked at Remi and they nodded. Then both boys shook Alfred Whitney’s hand.
    “Let’s get busy!” Remi declared. “We have a competition to win!”

    The three of them — Leo, Remi, and Alfred — spoke at length on the maddeningly sluggish walk. Alfred really was slow on foot. They decided that the Whippet was indeed the foundation for the new hotel. Why else would it be the only one without an airship hovering overhead? The Whippet was where they were most likely to discover a clue about how to begin, and so it was there they ventured first.
    It took them almost twenty minutes to walk back to the top floor of the Whippet Hotel, and another five minutes to scale the ladder that led to the roof. There they found Miss Harrington and Mr. Pilf examining the duck elevator.
    “Oh, great,” Leo said. “We’ve got company.”
    “How does this thing work?” Mr. Pilf yelled across the roof. “And where does it go?”
    The door to the duck elevator was closed. Had it been open, they might have been able to ride the small elevator into the library below, but the only thing that would open it was the master key card in one of Leo’s many pockets. Betty, the resident duck, and her string of six obedient ducklings waddled toward Leo and Remi in search of crackers.
    “We should’ve brought her a pancake,” Remi said.
    “Oh, I might be of some assistance there,” Alfred said, digging into his coat, which bore a strong resemblance to a tuxedo jacket.
    “Is anyone hearing me?” Pilf yelled. “How does this thing work?”
    Miss Harrington was sitting on a marble bench by the pond, looking as though she was thinking very deep thoughts. Alfred produced a green plastic package from his pocket.
    “I always carry a few granola bars around, just in case I’m lost on a hike up Mount Everest.”
    Remi and Leo looked blankly at the cane. This guy wasn’t hiking across the street, let alone up a mountain.
    “That was a joke,” Alfred said. “And here are the ducks.”
    Alfred opened the package and broke the first of two granola bars into pieces. The ducklings went mad for the treat, and Betty seemed happy for them.
    Leo took a long look around, hoping to find a clue to what they were supposed to do. Mr. Pilf and Miss Harrington had both moved away from the duck elevator door. It appeared they had no patience for puzzling dilemmas. Leo could have opened the door with his Whippet Hotel key card if he’d wanted to, but he wasn’t about to do that, not until he was sure they should even be going down into the library.
    “Odd,” Remi said. “The golden duck is gone.”
    Leo remembered the golden duck, where the zip rope had been carefully tied in place. It had been sitting on a golden pole in the