Summer School! What Genius Thought That Up? by Henry Winkler

Hank,” they both answered at once.
    I wondered if it was a problem to have the same name. Maybe Ashley’s mom should go by Dr. Wongette so they wouldn’t get confused. Or maybe Dr. Wongess sounds better. Or maybe something different like Dr. Mom-Wong.
    Stop it, brain. No wondering now. We’re in a hurry. Focus.
    â€œWhere should I go for my entrance?” I asked them.
    â€œBackstage,” the good doctors Wong answered together. “You’re late.”
    Dr. Wongette poured some water from the kettle onto the dry ice in the bucket. She did a really good job because big puffs of white steam started to rise from it. I looked up at Frankie on stage. He was waving his magic wand and starting to do a tribal warrior dance.
    â€œOh Great King Kahuna Huna,” he chanted as he danced, “come to us in your canoe. Appear in great clouds of smoke erupting from the Mauna Kapapa volcano.”
    I dashed backstage. It sounded like I was going to have to erupt any second.
    Backstage was nothing more than the playground behind the volcano backdrop. Thank goodness for Ashley. She had remembered to put my pillow shoes right where I could find them. I could hear Frankie building up to my entrance as I slipped my feet under the ribbon we had tied to each pillow.
    â€œAnd now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment has come,” he said, making his voice echo into the microphone. “We have called King Kahuna Huna here to dazzle you with his ability to travel through time. King Kahuna Huna, show yourself!”
    Ashley started to strum furiously on her ukulele. Frankie held the microphone close to his mouth and made the sound of a drumroll. He is really good at imitating sounds. Even though I couldn’t see the kids in the audience, I could tell from their gasps that the good doctors Wong had really kicked up the steam. I could hear the water splashing in the dry-ice bucket, and I could even see some of the steam creeping under the scenery toward me.
    I took a deep breath and leaped forward, crashing through the purple volcano painted on the brown paper that Ashley and Frankie had borrowed from my mom’s deli. As I burst onto the stage, I put on my biggest smile and held my arms up to the sky.
    I have to say so myself, it was quite an entrance. At first, all the kids were too stunned to say anything. It was totally silent in the audience.
    Then everyone broke out laughing. I mean, they erupted!
    â€œZip,” Frankie whispered to me, “what’s with the hair and mustache?”
    â€œI can explain that.”
    â€œNo time now,” Ashley whispered.
    Frankie looked at the audience. They were still cracking up, which wasn’t exactly what we had intended.
    â€œYou better come up with something, dude.” Frankie said. “Make it good.”
    Okay, Hank. You’ve got a good imagination. Crank it up . . . immediately.
    â€œHello, mine little friends of PS 87,” I said in my German accent. “Albert Einstein here.”
    â€œHey, Zipper Butt, you’re supposed to be King Kahuna Huna, jerk,” Nick McKelty hollered out. He looked over at Joelle and gave her a punch in the arm. She shoved him back. Wow, they were perfect for each other. Mr. Hit and Ms. Shove.
    â€œZank you for bringing that up, chubby head,” I said, looking right at Nick. “I have a vonderful explanation.”
    â€œThis is going to be lame,” McKelty said.
    â€œVhile I vas riding around on a beam of light across zee universe, who should I bump into but King Kahuna Huna. He vas in his outer-space outrigger. And in case zat is too big a vord for you, McKelty, das is a canoe.”
    Everyone cracked up. McKelty turned red in the face, and I was loving it.
    â€œAnyhoo,” I went on, “zee king he says to me, ‘Al . . . I need a big favor. I vas on my vay to PS 87 vhen I got a call that another volcano vas erupting on Waca Waca Wiki Waca.’ For those of you who