Bauti dragged the cardboard box across the gym floor. It went clatter-clack-stop. "An elevator!" he said, unrolling blueprints bigger than all of them.
Bauti and his friends tied string to a small cardboard platform. They threaded it over a broom handle. The elevator shot upward — rattle-rattle-rattle — and wouldn't come back down.
Tristan tugged the rope. Snag. The elevator wobbled like jelly. Next time, Bauti suggested tape.
They tried tape instead. Up it went — then down, bump! The cardboard crumpled. Giulianna held up a spool of thread. "We need something else," she said.
Bauti climbed a chair. He reached into his blue backpack and pulled out a toy pulley wheel. He strung it through the broom handle and added a little weight.
They pulled the rope. Up went the elevator. They let go. Down it came. Smooth.
Up and down, up and down. Tristan whooped. The broom handle hummed. Bauti grinned.
The whole school came to see. They gathered in the gym like a crowd of chattering birds.
The principal pressed a button. Click. The elevator rose — smooth and steady. The crowd cheered.
Up and down, up and down. The elevator danced. Everyone clapped.
Bauti held up a medal. The principal smiled. The friends stood together beside their invention.
Click-flash. A big photo. The elevator, the medal, and four friends — perfect.