Invisible Inkling

My shoulders relax. The room looks brighter.

The future shines.

As I take a bite of yogurt, I hear a thump and feel Inkling’s furry body scrambling from the chair next to me onto the table.

“You’re here!” I say. My face bursts into a grin. “I thought you went to Land o’ Pumpkins. We said good-bye.”

“Well, I figured I’d come for lunch,” he answers.

“Did you miss your train upstate? Will you be able to get another?”

“I was on my way to the station,” says Inkling, “and I got to thinking you might need my help with Gillicut today.”

“You paid the Hetsnickle on pizza Friday,” I say. “You know you don’t owe me anymore.”

“Nah. See, pizza Friday wasn’t the Hetsnickle.” Inkling snorts. “I realized that this morning. All I did was bite a nine-year-old on the ankle.”

“So?”

“In the Mexican swamplands, where I come from, that would be nothing but a warm-up to a day of combat.”

“But—”

“I still owe you, Wolowitz. Dropping on Gillicut was nothing compared to what you did for me when that rootbeer attacked,” says Inkling. “Or when people mauled me at the Health Goddess. Or even just when your dad sat on me. What you do for me all the time, actually.”

“Does this mean—” I am scared to say it, almost. “Does this mean you aren’t leaving?”

Inkling leans against me. “Bandapat code of honor. I can’t leave until that Hetsnickle is well and fully paid. Plus, now that you’ve got a job, I think my squash worries are over.”

I realize: He doesn’t owe me.

He wants to stay.

He wants to be here, with me, more than he wants a whole patch full of pumpkins. More than he wants the Halloween Pumpkin-Carving Extravaganza.

“What’s for lunch?” Inkling asks.

I look.

My yogurt, a ham sandwich, dried apricots, Cheddar Bunnies, and water. A large yellow apple and a Tupperware of rainbow sprinkles.

All for me to eat in peace.

I open the container and push the sprinkles toward Inkling. “Have some.”

The Tupperware lifts, and a small avalanche of sprinkles pours into Inkling’s mouth. Then they go invisible. “Thanks,” he says, chewing. “Don’t mind if I do.”

A thing about Inkling is, he hogs whatever food he gets.

A thing about Inkling is, he shows up when you need him.

A thing about me is, I have an invisible friend.

And that means—

Anything could happen next.

Author’s Note

Invisible Inkling is set in an imaginary Brooklyn neighborhood—a combination Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, and Park Slope. The ice-cream shop in the story is inspired by Blue Marble, which has the best strawberry ice cream I’ve ever tasted. I made up almost all the details of Big Round Pumpkin, but you still might want to learn more about Blue Marble: www.bluemarbleicecream.com. The park, the school, the pizza place, the Thai restaurant, and the health food store—all are based on places I go regularly, even though they’ve been fictionalized.

About the Authors

Emily Jenkins has written the chapter books TOYS GO OUT and TOY DANCE PARTY, plus a lot of picture books, including THE LITTLE BIT SCARY PEOPLE, SKUNKDOG, THAT NEW ANIMAL, and FIVE CREATURES. Her favorite ice-cream flavor is dulce de leche. No sprinkles. If she has an invisible friend, she’s not telling. You can visit her online at www.emilyjenkins.com.

Harry Bliss is the New York Times bestselling illustrator of DIARY OF A FLY, DIARY OF A WORM, and DIARY OF A SPIDER by Doreen Cronin; A FINE, FINE SCHOOL by Sharon Creech; and WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER BE? by William Steig. He is also an award-winning, internationally syndicated cartoonist and cover artist for the New Yorker magazine. Harry Bliss lives in Vermont. You can visit him online at www.harrybliss.com.

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Copyright

Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Invisible Inkling

Text copyright © 2011 by Emily Jenkins

Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Harry Bliss

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jenkins, Emily, date

   Invisible Inkling / Emily Jenkins ; illustrated by Harry Bliss. — 1st ed.

      p. cm.

      Audience: Ages 7–10.

      Summary: “When Hank Wolowitz runs into trouble in the form a of lunch-stealing bully, he finds an unlikely ally in an invisible refugee pumpkin-loving bandapat named Inkling”— Provided by publisher.

      ISBN 978-0-06-180220-1 (trade bdg.)

      1. Bullying—Juvenile fiction. 2. Imaginary companions—Juvenile fiction.