Chapter 45

Tongue stuck out the corner of his mouth, Sean drilled the hole through the sheet of transparent acrylic. His little project was not going as easily as he had thought it would. The acrylic kept melting and gumming up the drill bit. He had to keep stopping periodically to order the melted acrylic to get off of the drill bit. It was even worse when he cut it with the saw.

“What are you doing?” his father asked looking over Sean’s shoulder.

“I’m working on my biology project,” Sean answered. He pulled the drill bit off the sheet of acrylic and ordered the melted plastic off the bit.

“I thought you were supposed to raise an animal,” his father said watching Sean do his little bit of magic.

“I am,” Sean replied. He finally managed to cut the hole. After examining the hole, he decided that it was almost round. He hoped that it was close enough to work.

“That’s an odd looking animal,” his father said trying to figure out what kind of strange contraption Sean was constructing.

“It is going to be even stranger when I get it finished,” Sean said. He had thought it was going to be a relatively easy project. Who knew that working with acrylic was such a difficult thing to do? He hadn’t.

“What is it?” his father asked giving upon trying to figure out what Sean was building based on the parts scattered around the garage.

“Right now it isn’t anything,” Sean answered looking around at all of the small sheets of acrylic that he had cut.

“What is it going to be?” his father asked. Sean had just about every tool that he owned set out on the workbench.

“I’m not sure what it will end up being, but I’m pretty sure that it won’t be what I wanted it to be,” Sean answered scratching his head. All of his parts were almost like what was shown in the picture. He hoped that it would all fit together when he was done.

“I’ve experienced that,” Sean’s father said nodding his head knowingly.

“I know,” Sean said. That was why he didn’t want his father helping him.

“Do you need some help?” his father asked.

Sean shook his head and said, “No thanks. I can probably mess this up all by myself.”

“I’m sure that you can,” his father said with a grin. He heard a noise behind him and turned to check it out. “You’ve got visitors.”

“Oh no,” Sean said upon turning around. There were three dwarves poking into the material that he had stacked by the garage door.

“What are you doing?” Chom asked.

“I’m talking to my father,” Sean answered evasively.

“He’s holding a tool,” Clea said noticing the drill in Sean’s hand.

“He must be making something,” Chom said.

“That’s a logical conclusion,” Pip said. He went over and climbed up onto the workbench. He walked over to where Sean was working and bent over to check it out. Shaking his head, he said, “There’s not a scrap of metal to be found here.”

“That’s right,” Sean said.

Clea picked up a piece of paper and said, “I found his plans.”

“Can I see that?” Sean’s father asked heading over to where Clea was standing. She was holding the piece of paper in her hands. She rotated it around while studying the picture.

“You can’t tell top from bottom on this,” Clea said.

“Uh oh,” Sean said. He had a feeling that he was just about to lose control of his project.

“What is it?” Clea asked squinting at the drawing.

Sean’s father looked at the plans and answered, “I have no idea.”

Chom and Pip gathered around and studied the plans. Chom said, “It is poorly designed, whatever it is.”

“We could do it better,” Pip said nodding his head in agreement.

“You’re right. We could,” Clea said. She held the page on a diagonal and added, “That’s the way you’re supposed to look at it.”

Pip said, “It looks totally useless.”

“You can say that again,” Chom said.

“It looks totally useless,” Pip said.

“I think there are some parts that don’t need to be there,” Chom said pointing at the drawing.

“I concur,” Pip said nodding his head.

“We’ll just have to leave them out,” Chom said tugging on his beard.

“Some parts are missing,” Pip said.

“That’s right. No wonder the design is so bad,” Chom said tugging on his beard thoughtfully.

Turning her head so that she was looking at the plans sideways, Clea said, “It would be a challenge to build.”

“You don’t even know what it is supposed to do,” Sean said getting worried. It was approaching dinner time and he was afraid that they would take over his project.

“So?” Chom asked.

“How can you make something when you don’t even know what it is?” Sean asked.

“That’s never stopped us before,” Pip said.

“Not once,” Clea said.

“Never,” Chom said.

Sean said, “There’s a first time for everything.”

“It will never happen,” Pip said.

Jabbing a finger at the plans, Chom said, “This is a project worthy of a Dwarf.”

“We should get started on it now,” Clea said.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll finish it,” Sean said trying to keep control of the project.

“Nonsense. We’ll do it,” Chom said picking up all of the acrylic sheets that were on the floor.

Pip said, “It will be done in no time.”

“None whatsoever,” Clea said picking up the PVC pipes.

“I need it by Monday morning,” Sean said knowing what was going to happen next.

“Now that’s a problem,” Chom said stopping what he was doing. The other Dwarves stood around nodding their heads in agreement.

“This project looks like it could take a year to finish,” Pip said gesturing over at the plans.

“No. I can finish it by Monday,” Sean said trying to wrestle the sheets of acrylic from Chom.

“Pish,” Chom said.

“Posh,” Pip said picking up the cans and tubes of glue.

“No way,” Clea said. She looked over at the plans and said, “A month, maybe more.”

“Come back here,” Sean said when the Dwarves marched out of the garage with all of his supplies.

“We’ll see you in a year or so,” Pip said.

“This is a disaster,” Sean said.

His dad patted him on the back and said, “Just think, you could have had me helping you.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Sean said shaking his head. He jumped when there was a minor explosion from the dwarves’ workshop.

His dad asked, “What are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to order some more material,” Sean said with a sigh.

“Why?” his dad asked.

“I’m going to have to start all over again,” Sean answered staring out the garage door. He wondered how he was going to explain it to Mrs. Bird. He didn’t think that she would believe that the Dwarves stole his homework.

Sean’s father said, “You can worry about that later. Dinner is almost ready and I’m starving.”

Walking around to the backdoor, Sean passed the Dwarves’ workshop. The Dwarves were yelling and screaming at each other. There was the sound of someone hammering on an anvil. Imagining what was happening to the acrylic sheets, he said, “That was almost two hundred dollars worth of material.”

“That’s a bit of money,” his father said.

“It is worse now that I’ve stopped getting an allowance,” Sean said looking over at his father to see his reaction.

“You’ve stopped getting an allowance?” his father asked surprised to hear that.

“That’s right. Now that mom isn’t sending me to the store ten times a day, I’m not collecting any change from her,” Sean said pleased to see that his father was surprised.

“That’s not right,” his father said.

“I agree,” Sean said with a smile. He had a feeling that he was going to be getting an allowance again. Maybe they’d even pay him for the two months they had missed.

His father said, “We should be charging you rent now that you have a job.”

“Uh,” Sean said.

“I’ll have your mother work up a bill,” his father said clapping him on the back.

“No need to go to all of that trouble,” Sean said with a worried frown.

“My pleasure,” his father said with a grin.

“Really, there’s no need,” Sean said wondering if this happened to every teenager upon getting a job.

“I do enjoy these father-son talks,” his father said opening the door to the house. The smell of garlic boiled out the door.

“Is that what this was?” Sean asked holding his nose upon smelling the garlic.

“Yes,” his father said walking over to the table.