Everyone in the school auditorium was quiet.
We were waiting for Mr. Bright to call out the name of the winner.
"And the winner is Evan Demarco for his Automatic Fish-Feeder!" cried Mr. Bright.
Evan stood up, and everyone clapped and cheered.
I clapped too, but I was stunned.
I felt like a balloon with all the air let out.
I was Iggy the Incredible Inventor.
But I had not won!
Neither of my inventions would be in The Kids' Invention Guide.
I could understand Mr. Bright not choosing the Fabulous Glasses-Finder.
But what about my Pick-a-Number?
All the kids had loved that invention!
On the way out of the assembly, Evan came up to me.
"Thanks, Iggy!" he said.
"For what?" I asked.
"For inspiring me to invent something," said Evan.
I looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"You always invent such cool things," he said.
"So I wanted to invent something cool too."
"Oh," I answered with a smile.
"Well, congratulations for winning.
Your Automatic Fish-Feeder is a great idea."
I felt better, knowing I had inspired Evan.
But I still couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
After school Jenny, Josh, Molly, and I went to the park.
"My teacher said I can take my math and spelling tests again," Jenny told us happily.
"And I can see all the way across the park now."
A second later Jenny gasped.
"Look! It's Mr. Bright!"
Sure enough, there was Mr. Bright on the other side of the park.
"He's with a girl on a bike," said Josh.
In a few minutes, we had reached Mr. Bright.
"Hi, Mr. Bright!" said Molly.
"We saw you at our school today."
"You were a great audience," said Mr. Bright.
He turned to the girl on the bike.
"This is my daughter, Emily."
"Hi," said Emily.
"I'm glad to see you kids again," said Mr. Bright.
"There was someone I wanted to talk to at your school today.
He wrote about a really great invention, but I can't remember his name."
"What was the invention?" asked Josh.
"It was called the Fabulous Glasses-Finder," said Mr. Bright.
I couldn't believe it.
"That was my invention!" I cried.
"It's a very interesting idea," said Mr. Bright.
"The only problem is that your glasses-finder is not easy to use."
My heart sank.
"However," said Mr. Bright, "the invention works well for objects bigger than glasses, like bicycles!"
I smiled. "Really?"
"Yes," said Mr. Bright. "Tell them, Emily."
"I ride my bike to school every day," she said.
"Most kids at my school do.
Sometimes there are so many bikes in the racks, it's hard to find yours.
So I put a flower on my handlebars.
And now I can spot my bike right away!"
"It's a brilliant idea!" said Mr. Bright.
I smiled, but something was bothering me.
"But I didn't actually invent a bicycle-finder," I said.
"Of course you did," said Mr. Bright.
"Sometimes a person invents something, and someone else finds another use for it.
That's part of solving problems."
I thought about the number machine at the bakery.
That invention had given me the idea for the Pick-a-Number.
"Be sure to write about another invention next time I visit your school," said Mr. Bright.
"Okay," I said. I grinned happily.
I had solved a problem on the playground.
I had figured out why Jenny was having trouble in school.
I had inspired Evan.
And now, with Mr. Bright's help, I had invented a bicycle-finder.
I, Iggy, hadn't won the contest at school.
But I was still an incredible inventor!