Logan gave his career report on Friday morning. As Amber could have predicted, it was perfect in every way. In his presentation, he talked about two famous Arizona architects, Frank Lloyd Wright and Paolo Soleri. He showed pictures of Grady Gammage Auditorium at Arizona State University, the last public building in Arizona designed by Wright. He also showed pictures of Wright’s last home in Scottsdale, Taliesin West. Logan talked about how Wright used local materials such as the red rocks. He talked about how Wright designed buildings to take advantage of natural light. Logan had visited Arcosanti, the experimental town designed and built by Paolo Soleri. He talked about how Soleri worked to build a community that blends in with the environment rather than stands out.

Logan went on to talk about getting into an architecture school. He said that an architecture student had to be very good at math but also have artistic ability. It is hard to get into architecture school, he told the class, but he hoped to go to Arizona State University some day. Finally, Logan showed the class some buildings he had designed using CAD for Kids. After his report, Logan took his seat amidst clapping from his classmates and a “Well done” from Ms. McGuire.

“How are we supposed to do our reports after Logan showed off like that?” Amber asked her friends at lunch.

“That’s just Logan.” Melissa shrugged it off. “He always has to be perfect. I’m sure Ms. McGuire doesn’t expect that from everyone.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Laura groaned. “You don’t have to do your report until the last day. I have to give mine on Monday.”

“You’re probably ready now,” Melissa said. “You never leave things to the last minute.”

“And you always do,” Amber reminded her.

“I do my best work under pressure,” Melissa responded. “How about you?

“I’ve been working on it, and I’ll be ready.” Amber tried to sound sure of herself.

“I bet you haven’t even started.” The girls looked up to see Spike standing there.

“I’ll be ready,” Amber said to Spike. “You’ll probably show up in a Star Wars costume and battle someone with light sabers.” The girls all laughed.

“Even if I do,” Spike said. “It’ll be a better report than yours.”

“Boys!” Laura shook her head as he walked away.

“Yeah,” Melissa added. “At least they’re not all like Spike.”

“I know,” Amber added. “Some are worse.”

“Be sure to bring your sleeping bags and warm pajamas tonight,” Laura warned. “We’re sleeping outside in a tent. It was my mom’s idea.”

The Handy Helpers book series is available at Amazon