BACK INVENTJ 6' An inventor's daughter uses his inventions Michaela was awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of breaking glass. She went to the bedroom window and looked down at the back yard. She didn't see anything right away. But she decided that she would watch for a while. Within a minute, she saw a small flashlight moving around inside of her dad's workshop. Maybe it was her dad working late as he often did. But why the flashlight? And what about the sound of breaking glass? Then, when the flashlight shined just right, she noticed a hole in the glass in the door. This was a burglar. She ran to the phone, then, while calling the police, she woke up her dad. By the time they returned to her bedroom window, the burglar was gone. Her dad went down to the workshop to see what, if anything, the burglar took. "Oh no!" exclaimed her dad, "He took the new bomb!" Before the police arrived, two army trucks pulled into the driveway. "Did they get the new bomb?" asked the captain. Dad nodded and exclaimed, "We've got to get it back! If it goes off, it could destroy every house in the neighborhood!" He went to his computer and activated the tracking device inside of the bomb. "Oh no!" exclaimed dad, "The enemy agents usually escape by boat from the harbor. This burglar is heading toward the airport. If the bomb goes off there, it could destroy the entire terminal building and kill thousands of people. Michaela, you need to go put on all your inventions." Michaela replied, "But I couldn't even pick up a bomb that big. How can I help?" Dad explained, "This new bomb was design to be carried in your pocket. You'll do fine." "Okay." said Michaela running to her room, "I'll be ready in a minute." A minute later, she ran back exclaiming, "My charm bracelet is gone!" "It's okay." replied dad as he fastened the bracelet to her wrist, "I put another charm on it." "What does it do?" asked Michaela. "It's a sniffer." explained dad, "It can smell the two bomb components." "The bomb has components?!" asked Michaela. "Yes." explained dad, "That's how I was able to make this bomb so small. One component looks like a jelly bean. The other looks like a tiny candy donut slightly larger than the jelly bean. If you carry them in separate pockets, they're as harmless as candy. But if you squeeze the jelly bean into the center of the donut, you activate the bomb and it will explode in 10 seconds." He pointed at the computer and said, "Now, I have set your right eye piece to point at the airport terminal building. Ready?" When Michaela pressed the "X" charm, the message in her left eye lens said, "All systems go." "Ready." said Michaela. The captain said, "My soldiers are on the way to the airport. But you'll probably get there before them. You go ahead and start searching for the bomb with the sniffer. When you know who has the bomb, you just signal to my men and they'll grab his arms to stop him from activating the bomb." "Understood." replied Michaela. Then she commanded, "Airplane view". Then the red "X" in her left eye lens pointed at the airport terminal building. Then she commanded, "Take me there." Immediately, she disappeared from the back lawn of her house and reappeared on the roof of the airport terminal building. She looked down at the roof and commanded, "See through that", then looked for a private spot to land in. She pointed the red "X" at a stall in the ladies room and commanded, "Take me there." Immediately, she disappeared from the roof of the airport terminal building and reappeared inside of the ladies room. Now, Michaela had never seen the burglar's face, so, when she came out of the ladies room, she pressed the charm that looked like a nose to turn on the new sniffer. Then she walked as quickly as she could through the crowds of people until a green light went on in her left eye lens. "Daddy," she whispered, "I see a green light." "That means the bomb is within fifteen feet of you." replied dad. Michaela took note of all the people near her at the time. Then, one by one, she walked by them until the red light went on in her left eye lens. "Red light, daddy!" whispered Michaela, "I think this must be the guy!" Just then, two soldiers walked into the building from opposite exits. Michaela pointed to the burglar and nodded. The soldiers moved slowly toward him. Unfortunately, the soldiers were dressed in army uniforms. So, burglar saw them coming. He reached into both pants pockets at the same time and took out the jelly bean and the donut. He pressed the jelly bean into the center of the donut. Then, he threw the bomb high across the terminal and ran in the opposite direction. "Daddy!" exclaimed Michaela as she activated her helicopter shoes, "The bomb is active! I'm going to take it outside away from the people." While the soldiers tackled the burglar and hand-cuffed him, she flew over the heads of people to the corner where the bomb had landed. It was brightly colored, so it was easy to see. She swooped in head first and scooped it off the floor. "Open the door! Open the door!" she shouted as she flew over the heads of the people. But the people were so disturbed by the soldiers and amazed by seeing a little girl flying through the air, that they just watched. But Michaela had no choice. If she slowed down to open the door herself, the bomb would go off. So, she decided to fly head-first at the door and break the glass with her head. But fortunately, two more soldiers were coming into the building to help with the arrest of the burglar. They both opened the double doors together. "Coming through!" shouted Michaela as she flew head-first out the open doors barely missing the soldiers. "I'm outside, daddy!" exclaimed Michaela, "Where do I drop this thing?!" "I can see you on my computer screen." replied dad, "There's a storm drain beyond the parking lot you're flying over. Do you see it?" "I see it!" shouted Michaela as she swooped down toward the drain opening, "But I don't have time to land, so I'll just drop the bomb as I fly over the drain hole. There! I dropped it. I think it fell into the storm drain! I hope it fell into the drain. Daddy, how long before the..." Just then KABOOM! The bomb went off! "Michaela! Michaela! Are you alright?!" exclaimed dad. "I'm fine, Daddy." replied Michaela, "But three cast iron manhole covers flew way up into the air. One of them landed on a parked car and the burglar alarm went off. But I don't think anyone was hurt." "Michaela, this is the captain speaking," Michaela heard in her earring, "You just saved thousands of lives. Thank you for your bravery." ©2008 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: This story is free. Pay no fees or royalties. Do not sell this story or rewrite it. You may reproduce and distribute this story freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.bobsnook.org/kid email: bob@bobsnook.org BACK |