BACK INVENTB 9' An inventor's daughter uses his inventions Michaela came out of her house wearing her charm bracelet, helicopter shoes, contact lenses, necklace, and earrings. Today was a big day. Michaela was about to test a new invention for her dad. She smiled as she held out her wrist, "This is going to be fun." Her dad opened a small box and pulled out a charm that was shaped like a globe that looked like the planet Earth. He attached the charm to her bracelet and commanded, "System check." Michaela heard the command in her earrings, then she squeezed the charm that was shaped like an "X" to turn on all the inventions. A moment later, a television picture on her left eye lens flashed the message, "System check: all systems GO". "System check: all systems GO," Michaela repeated. Dad explained, "As you know, this charm that looks like a squirt-gun with a telescope will transport you to wherever you can see. But this new globe charm will transport you anywhere on earth. Ready?" "Ready." replied Michaela. Dad commanded, "Okay, activate the new transporter." Michaela squeezed the new globe charm. Immediately a bird's-eye view of Michaela's neighborhood appeared in her left lens. "Up higher." she commanded. Immediately, the picture in her left eye showed an airplane's view of her neighborhood from miles in the sky. Michaela turned toward the city and commanded, "Look that way." Immediately the picture in her eye showed an airplane's view of the city. "I see the city." she reported. "Okay, now find the tallest building in the city." said her dad. She commanded, "Move closer, move closer" until she could see the top of the city's tallest building. Then she moved her eye until the red "X" pointed to the roof of the building. "Okay, the "X" is pointed at roof of the building." reported Michaela. Dad said, "As soon as you land on the building, let me know you landed alright. Then, transport yourself back here. Okay?" "Okay!" exclaimed Michaela, then she commanded, "Take me there." Immediately, Michaela disappeared from her backyard. But instead of landing on the roof of the building in the city, she reappeared almost 1000 feet in the air with nothing to stand on. Then, she started falling like a rock toward the ground. "Oh dear!" shouted Michaela. After falling for a few seconds, Michaela squeezed the helicopter charm on her bracelet and commanded, "Hover." Immediately, she felt the turbine engines in her shoes activating. She stopped falling and hovered in midair like a kite. Michaela looked around and wondered what went wrong and where she actually ended up. The mountains, lakes and rivers around her looked like the picture of the city in her left lens. But there were no big buildings, no freeways, no roads, no cars or trucks. When she looked carefully she could see horses and wagons in the dirt roads below. Soon, people on the ground gathered and pointed up at her and shouted to each other. Michaela commanded, "Take me down." Her helicopter shoes lowered her slowly to the ground. As she was landing, she noticed that the women in the crowd wore long drab colored dresses and boots and bonnets. The men wore hats, suspenders and boots. Suddenly, a black bag lowered quickly over her head. And big strong arms lifted her off the ground. A few seconds later, the man who picked her up dropped her onto a horse wagon and she heard the sounds of horse hoofs and wagon wheels. Michaela stood up and tried to run away. But she couldn't see. She fell off the wagon and whacked her head. That's the last thing she remembered until some time later. She woke up in a locked room. By looking under the door she could see that it was now dark outside. When she stood up, she noticed that her shoes were missing. "Hello? Hello?" she shouted. A few seconds later, the door opened and a man came into the room carrying her shoes. Michaela asked, "Am I in jail?" "No," said the man, "You're a guest in my house." Michaela asked, "Do you always kidnap the guests in your house?" The man didn't answer her question, but asked, "These shoes made you fly, didn't they?" Michaela replied, "Yes. You look familiar. Do I know you?" The man didn't answer her question, but asked, "I can't make them work. How do you make them work?" Michaela asked, "Who are you?" He replied, "My name is Sylvester Snidely. How do you make the shoes work?" Michaela replied, "That's why you look familiar! You look like Lucifer Snidely." He replied, "Nobody in my family is named Lucifer. How do you make the shoes work?" Michaela asked, "What's the date today? What year is this?" He replied, "It's 1873. How do you make the shoes work?" Michaela paced the floor and wondered how her new transporter transported her back in time over a hundred years. He shouted, "Hey, kid. I asked you a question. How do you make the shoes work?" Michaela asked, "Why do you want to know how to make them work? Are you going to use them in a robbery?" He replied, "How did you know I was a robber?! Not even my neighbors know that I'm a robber!" Michaela replied, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. It's hard for me to believe." He shouted, "Hey, I asked you a question. How do you make the shoes work?" Michaela replied, "I'm not going to tell you, because you'll use them in a robbery." "Very well then!" he shouted as he stomped out of the room, "I'll rob the bank without your shoes. And you'll stay locked up in this room until you tell me what I want to know." He slammed the door shut and locked it. A few minutes later, Michaela heard a horse and wagon galloping away. She squeezed the dime charm on her bracelet. Immediately, she shrank to the size of a dime and walked under the door. Then she squeezed the dime charm on her bracelet again. Immediately, she grew back to normal size. There on a table next to the door were her helicopter shoes. She put them on quickly then ran out of the house. She squeezed the helicopter charm on the bracelet, and commanded, "Take me up!" The shoes lifted her hundreds of feet in the air as she looked around for a fast-moving horse and wagon. When she saw him, she followed him to a big wooden building. The sign on the building said it was a bank. Michaela watched as he broke the lock on the front door and went into the bank. Michaela squeezed the camera charm on the bracelet and the television picture looked through the wall of the bank building. As soon as snidely turned his back to the door, Michaela tip-toed into the bank through the open door. She watch Snidely as he piled several sticks of dynamite against the vault door, When she heard a hissing sound, she knew that Snidely had lit the fuse. So, she squeezed the garage door opener charm on the bracelet. Immediately she became invisible as Snidely turned toward her and ran right by her on his way out the door. Michaela let go of the charm and reappeared as she watched to see where he hid from the explosion. She saw him duck behind a big tree. Then she turned toward the vault and squeezed the glove charm at the same time. A red "X" appeared in the television picture in her left lens. She moved her eye until the "X" pointed to the pile of dynamite and commanded, "Pull that!". The pile of dynamite flew across the bank into her hand. Then she turned toward the open door and aimed the "X" at the tree where Snidely was hiding and commanded "Push". The pile of dynamite flew away from her hand, out the door and landed near the tree. When Snidely saw it, he screamed and ran for his life as the dynamite exploded and uprooted the big tree. When it fell, its highest branches fell on Snidely, knocking him down and trapping him under it. Within seconds after hearing the explosion, the sheriff came galloping toward the bank on his horse. But Michaela was already hundreds of feet off the ground using her helicopter shoes. The sheriff never saw her, but he did see the uprooted tree and Snidely. He removed Snidely from under the tree branches and hauled him off to jail. Michaela squeezed the globe charm on the bracelet and pointed the "X" on the television at the back yard of her own house. Then she commanded, "Take me there." When she reappeared in her back yard, her dad asked, "What happened? You've been gone for hours! You didn't call me from the roof of the building. And you didn't answer my call." Michaela replied, "Something went wrong. The globe charm took me to the city, but it took me back in time over one hundred years." Her dad replied, "Wow! Time Travel?! No kidding?!" Michaela replied, "Not only that, I saw Lucifer Snidely's great grandfather. He was a robber too." Dad asked, "And I'll bet you put him in jail, huh?" Michaela nodded, "He tried to steal my shoes, but I got them back." Michaela's dad took the charm bracelet into his workshop and adjusted the settings in the globe charm to eliminate the time travel. And they all lived happily ever after. Š2008 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.fea.net/bobsnook/kid email: bobsnook@fea.net BACK