To your surprise, the alien nods. See? Politeness gets the job done! you think. You lead the alien down the tower.

  When you are almost home, you are shocked to hear the alien speaking. You thought perhaps speech was not in his skill set.

  “Have-you-told-an-y-one-else-a-bout-me?” it asks in a stilted voice.

  “Why no, just my son, Jack,” you say.

  “That-is-good,” it says.

  You aren’t sure why that is good but don’t concern yourself about it. Perhaps the alien isn’t so good at small talk. When you get to the bottom of the tower, you bellow, “Jack! I’m back. And look who I brought back with me! Um…” You look at the alien. “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name.”

  “Bliztletop,” it says.

  “Come again?” you ask but then say, “Oh, never mind. Jack, I brought back the alien!”

  A few long seconds later, Jack saunters outside. “See,” you say, turning to point at the alien. As you do, you realize that the alien is pointing something at you. Something that looks like a weapon.

  “Take-me-to-your-lead-er,” it says.

  With a very dangerous looking ray gun pointed at you and Jack, what choice do you have?

  Once you’re in the mayor’s office, the alien says, “We-are-tired-of-Earth-lings-send-ing-rov-ers-to-Mars. How-would-you-feel-if-we-treat-ed-your-plan-et-like-a-gar-bage-land-fill?” Then it goes on to explain that it’s leading an invasion of Earth to teach you a lesson. Soon thousands more aliens are climbing down your tower. Now being poor is the least of your problems.

  The next time you have a milk cow to trade, you’ll just do it yourself.

  THE END

  To follow another path, press here.

  You are annoyed that Jack doesn’t believe you, especially after all the odd things he has tried convincing you of in the past. So you tell him—no, order him—to go see for himself.

  “OK. OK, I’ll go,” he says, looking at you like you’re crazy. He begins his climb and is quickly out of sight.

  You wait for him. And wait. You’re not sure how long it took you to climb the tower, but the afternoon is quickly turning into night. Part of you worries what Jack will do up on Mars. As you’ve found out many times before, that boy in unpredictable. And sometimes—usually—his mischief leads to trouble.

  Suddenly up in the sky where the tower disappears, you see a flash of light. Then a roaring blast knocks you to the ground.

  Pieces of the tower come crashing down. You have to roll out of the way to avoid injury. Once the explosion is over, you see that the tower is no longer standing. Even worse, Jack is gone.

  “Jack! Oh, why did I send you up there?” you wail. You scramble among the rubble, looking for the magic nuts and bolts, hoping the tower can somehow be rebuilt. But it’s no use.

  Desperate, you call NASA to ask for their help. After they get done chuckling at your far-fetched story, they say that the next Mars mission isn’t for five more years.

  “I hope Jack can survive by his wits for that long,” you mumble, and then you realize your mistake. Wits? Who am I kidding? He’ll be better off looking for more magic.

  THE END

  To follow another path, press here.

  “Jack! Jack!” you shout. “Look! Those nuts and bolts. They were magic!”

  Jack comes out of the house, his eyes puffy from tears. But he’s instantly cheered when he sees the tower. “Does it reach all the way to the stars?”

  “Who knows?” you say. “But isn’t it amazing? We could sell tickets. We could be rich…”

  But before you can finish, Jack is scurrying up the tower. “I’ve got to check this out!” he shouts.

  “Wait!” you call. Won’t that boy ever listen?

  You want to go up after him to see that it’s safe, but you wonder if you should wait here to make sure the tower doesn’t disappear as magically as it appeared.

  To wait for Jack, press here.

  To rush up after Jack, press here.

  As you wait, impatiently tapping your foot on the ground, you stare up at the sky. You hope this isn’t going to be like the time Jack ran off and almost got boiled up in a giant’s pot of stew. At least that’s what he said happened…

  Suddenly you see a flash high up in the sky. Then a loud BOOM! reaches you.

  What in blazes was that? you wonder. Then the tower begins to wobble and sway.

  To climb up to see if Jack is OK, press here.

  To try to steady the tower, press here.

  You have to find out what is happening. As you’re climbing, you are surprised at how fast you travel. Soon you are above the clouds and then in the blackness of space.

  The tower shudders again, but you keep going. Despite Jack’s shortcomings, of course you love the silly lad. You don’t want anything bad to happen to him.

  You climb past the moon and then continue on to a reddish planet that you guess must be Mars. Once you get close, you see Jack up ahead. He’s already on the planet, and he’s in trouble. An alien with six arms and antennae is chasing after him. And in one of its many hands it is holding what looks like a cross between a ray gun and a clarinet.

  “Jack!”

  Press here.

  You are afraid to climb up with the tower quivering like it is, and you are afraid that Jack might fall if it continues to sway. You do everything you can to steady it, roping it to nearby trees and even hugging it with all your might to steady it. But the swaying only gets worse.

  Then you see Jack. He’s climbing down fast—almost falling. His feet hit the ground just as the tower gives one last shudder, then comes crashing down. You cower under a tree to get out of the way of falling debris.

  When the dust settles, you crawl through the wreckage that was once your house. Pieces of the tower lay everywhere.

  “Jack!” you screech.

  Jack crawls out of the ruins of your house. And he’s giggling, which only makes your blood boil. Your house is destroyed and he’s giggling?

  You’re about to scream at him when he lifts up a small sack for you to take.

  “What’s this?” you ask.

  “I’m not sure, but they look valuable,” he says.

  You peek into the sack. It’s full of shiny rocks that glint in the sun.

  “That’s money on Mars,” Jack explains. “The alien said I could have it if we promise not to tell anyone there’s really life on Mars.”

  Part of you wonders if Jack is telling stories again, and part of you just doesn’t care. Your stomach grumbles and you rattle the sack of pebbles. “Maybe we can convince someone they’re magic and trade them for a cow,” you say with a smile.

  THE END

  To follow another path, press here.

  You want to see that Jack is safe. And frankly, you want to make sure he doesn’t blow this opportunity—this could be your ticket to riches! After all, there could be a pot of gold up there. Or a harp-playing alien, or a flock of magic geese, for heaven’s sake! You need to make sure Jack doesn’t mess it up.

  You start to climb and finally, exhausted, you reach a red planet. All seems quiet. “Jack?” you call, but no one answers. You wander around, calling “Hello? Anybody home?” You begin to have doubts that this boring place could be a moneymaking opportunity after all. There’s nothing here but red dirt and rocks.

  Then suddenly you hear a strange voice. It keeps repeating the same thing, but you can’t quite make it out. Then it gets louder, and from behind an especially big red rock comes a multiple-headed, many-antennaed creature, lurching toward you like a zombie. Finally you can make out what it’s saying: “Fee-fie-fo-fum! I-smell-the-blood-of-an-Earth-ling-man!”

  “I’m not a man!” you say, indignant. But that doesn’t seem to matter to the creature, which plods toward you. You panic when you find that your feet have sunk into the red dirt, and you can’t move.

  Your money problems are no longer an issue. It turns out that Earthling women taste just as good as Earthling men as flavoring for stew.

  THE END

  To follow another path, press here.

  Jack ducks behind the tower as the alien fires again. Every time the laser hits the tower, it shudders and pieces of it rain down. If this continues, the tower could collapse.

  “Didn’t I teach you not to talk to strangers?” you shout as you crawl closer to Jack. And that alien, with its arms and antennae, is about the strangest stranger you’ve ever seen.

  Jack climbs up next to you. “We’ve got to go!” he shouts. “I took this.” He holds up a creature that looks like a cross between a slug and a duck. “I saw it eat a rock, and then, a minute later, a golden nugget came out its other end!”

  “You stole it?” you ask.

  Jack rolls his eyes. “Hello, Mom! We’re starving, remember?”

  To flee with the slug-duck, press here.

  To give the slug-duck back, press here.

  Just then, a laser blast strikes the tower. It groans and creaks. It won’t stand much longer.

  “OK, let’s go!” you shout to Jack.

  He follows as you slide back down the tower. Above you, you see the alien leap from the planet and grab hold of the tower. Then it also starts to descend.

  “We have to hurry!” you shout. “And when we get to the bottom, go get that blowtorch your daddy left behind.”

  Once your feet hit the ground, Jack does as you asked—for once! You set to work severing the tower with the blowtorch.

  The alien is still descending, but before it gets within shooting range, the tower begins to topple like a giant metal redwood.

  You and Jack dive into the cellar to take cover.

  When all is quiet, you carefully lift the cellar door. The tower has collapsed and formed a cage around the alien.

  “What are we going to do now?” Jack asks, hugging the slug-duck tightly. So tightly that a nugget pops out.

  “Call NASA. Tell them we’ll trade them an alien for a good milking cow.”

  With Milky White II and a steady supply of gold from your new pet, Sluggie, you and Jack live happily ever after.

  THE END

  To follow another path, press here.

  “No wonder the alien is trying to zap you!” you shout. “Here, let me have that.” You take the creature from Jack, and then you start waving it in the air.

  “Yoo-hoo! Here you go, Mr. Alien!” you shout. “You can have your… pet back.”

  The alien stops firing. It lowers its weapon and simply watches you. So you crawl from your hiding spot. You creep toward the alien, holding out the slug-duck as an offering.

  “Here you go,” you say. “I’m sorry, but Jack can be a little troublesome. It’s just that he’s so hungry.”

  The alien takes the slug-duck from you. “Does-an-y-one-know-you-are-here?” it asks.

  “Um, no,” you say.

  “Good,” it says. “Come-with-me.”

  You’d prefer not to, but then the alien points its weapon at you. You guess you’d better follow. “Where are you taking us?” you ask.

  “A-li-ens-will-pay-lots-of-mon-ey-to-see-Earth-lings,” it says. You and Jack look at each other quizzically.

  The alien leads you to a place that you guess must be a Martian zoo. There are cages and containers filled with all sorts of odd things. Some look like moving balls of slime. Others have more legs than you can count. It occurs to you that you and Jack may be the oddest things of all here. The alien places you both in an empty cage, and that’s where you spend the rest of your days. You’re one of the zoo’s most popular attractions. But at least you are well fed.

  THE END

  To follow another path, press here.

  CHAPTER 4

  THE JACKS TEAM UP

  Sure, you could have traded old Milky White for a few copper coins. But what would that have gotten you—a sack of potatoes and some carrots? Then you’d be eating stew for weeks, and frankly, you really don’t care for stew. Especially your mother’s.

  It’s not like she expected you to make a good deal anyway. Your mother doesn’t have much faith in you. She says you’re a procrastinator. A scoundrel. A scalawag. You looked up all those words—they are just different ways of saying you’re lazy and naughty.

  But this time you’ll show her! Somehow you’re sure your trade will change your lives—not just provide a few more kettles of stew.

  When you get home you slap your trade down on the kitchen table and announce, “Magic jacks!” You step back and wait for your mother to tell you what a great son you are.

  First she squints her eyes and scrunches up her nose like she’s gotten a whiff of a smelly shoe. Next the color of her face changes from a light pink to a violent purple. Then she opens her mouth and screams explode out of her: “JACKS? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? TOYS? YOU—YOU RAPSCALLION!”

  You’re wondering how to spell “rapscallion” when she scoops up the jacks and tosses them out the kitchen window. Then she grabs you by the ear and marches you to your room.

  With one final shout—“NO DINNER FOR YOU!”—she slams the door.

  You shrug. You didn’t think there was anything to eat in the house anyway.

  In the morning, before your mom wakes, you sneak out to find the magic jacks. Maybe you’ll be able to trade them for a couple eggs and a loaf of bread, and surprise her with breakfast. But what you find outside aren’t the “jacks” you expected. Instead you find several boys, all named Jack. They’re clustered into two groups—a larger group of four boys and a smaller group of three.

  To greet the larger group, press here.

  To greet the smaller group, press here.

  “I’m Jack Horner,” a boy from the larger group says as you approach. He holds a messy, half-eaten pie out to you. “Plum pie?”

  You tell him no thanks. Then Horner introduces you to three other Jacks. Jack Frost has hair as white as snow. Jack Hill has a head wound and mumbles something about his girlfriend, Jill. And Jack Builder says, “I build stuff,” pointing to his hammer.

  “Why are you here?” you ask the Jacks.

  “You summoned us with the magic Jacks,” Jack Horner explains, licking his thumbs.

  “We’re here to take you on an adventure,” Jack Frost adds, a puff of steam escaping from his lips.

  “To battle a giant,” Jack Hill whimpers, placing a helmet on his head.

  “To steal his treasure,” Jack Builder says, swinging his hammer like a club.

  “Well, I suppose fighting a giant can’t be any worse than facing my mother right about now,” you say.

  You’ve heard rumors about the giant who lives on the mountain. He’s a man-eater. Or rather, a boy-eater. You question the wisdom of heading for him with a group of tasty boys, but perhaps there will be safety in numbers.

  The trek to the mountain doesn’t take long. The worst part of it all is the Jacks, actually. Jack Hill has sobbing fits about losing Jill. Jack Horner keeps finding odd nuts and berries he wants to make into pies. The ground around Jack Frost is always icy, causing you to slip and slide. And Jack Builder picks up every stick and stone he finds to build more houses, he says.

  Once you reach the foot of the mountain, you all look up. “I know the quickest way up the hill,” Jack Hill offers.

  “Are you sure you don’t mean the quickest way down?” Jack Frost jokes, referring to Hill’s tumble with this Jill person he can’t stop yakking about. “Let me lead. I know what I’m doing.”

  To follow Jack Hill up the mountain, press here.

  To follow Jack Frost up the mountain, press here.

  “Jill and I used to climb up this mountain,” Jack Hill sobs. You’ve heard just about enough of his whining. You decide to let him lead. You and the other Jacks follow him from a distance so you won’t have to listen to him anymore.

  But suddenly you see a boulder crashing down on Jack Hill. Splat! Luckily you are far enough back to not get splattered.

  “Look!” Jack Horner shouts. “The giant!” Toward the top of the mountain you see a huge figure. He’s holding another large rock over his head.

  “I’ve got this!” Jack Builder yells.

  “There’s no time for building. I’ve got a plan!” Jack Frost yells back.

  To follow Jack Builder’s plan, press here.

  To follow Jack Frost’s plan, press here.

  “I know the way up the mountain,” Jack Frost says, “because I covered its top in snow.” He quickly scampers up as you and the other Jacks follow.

  Near the top of the mountain is a cave. You peek inside. Off to one side is a sleeping giant, curled up in a large chair and hugging a golden harp. Around the rest of the cave you see incredible treasures—golden statues, sacks overflowing with gold coins, and even a golden goose locked in a golden cage.

  “Who’s willing to go in?” you whisper over the giant’s snores.

  “I can sneak in,” Jack Hill says. “I once stole a pail of water, and no one even noticed.”

  “No, let me,” Jack Horner says. “I’m a good boy!”

  To send Jack Horner in, press here.

  To send Jack Hill in, press here.

  “Jack Builder, do something!” you cry. You figure the guy with the hammer is your best bet. Jack Builder sets to work gathering twigs and grass. The giant looks down in amusement. In no time Jack has built a large shield that you and the other Jacks hide behind.

 

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