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.
"Wash your hands," his mother said looking over at the pair of men.
"Yes, mother," Sean said heading towards the bathroom to wash his hands. He went in and scrubbed his hands using the soap with little granules of lava embedded within it. He looked at the bar and said, "I wonder if it was invented in Hawaii after some soap manufacturer had a volcano blow up next to his factory."
With clean hands, Sean headed back to the dinner table. There was a very large meatloaf on the table. He sniffed the air wondering from whence the garlic smell was coming. He said, "Meatloaf. I love your meatloaf."
"It is a new recipe," his mother said. She cut the meatloaf and tears appeared in her eyes.
Lily leaned back from the table and asked, "What's the matter with the meatloaf? It smells like garlic."
"The recipe called for two cloves of garlic," his mother answered with a smile. She had thought that was a lot of garlic, but she followed the recipe.
Sean's father said, "I like garlic."
"The cloves were really big," his mother said. She blinked her eyes to clear the tears from them.
Sean leaned over and looked at the meatloaf. Puzzled, he said, "I see at least two cloves worth of garlic just in that slice you just cut."
"That is two sections of a single clove," his mother answered.
"Cloves don't have sections," Sean's father said looking over at the meatloaf. This looked like it was going to be another dining disaster.
"Sure they do," Sean's mother said. The clove she had used must have had close to twenty large sections and a dozen very small ones.
"I don't think so," Sean said. He blinked his eyes to get the tears out of them. He said, "A bulb of garlic has cloves in it."
"You buy a clove of garlic and it has sections," Sean's mother said.
Lily frowned and said, "I think Sean is right."
"I cook and he doesn't. That should give you a very good idea of who is right and who is wrong," Sean's mother said placing a slice of meatloaf on Lily's plate.
Lily sat back in her chair to get as much distance as possible between her and the meatloaf. She was pretty sure that she could see fumes rising from it. She wondered if too much garlic was poisonous.
Sean said, "I have one word to say about that."
"What?" his mother asked looking across the table at him.
"Clamato juice," Sean answered. He gave his mother a big smile.
"That was an accident," his mother said dismissively.
"Besides, that's two words," Lily said as if that proved Sean wrong.
Sean asked, "How about the barbecued corned beef brisket?"
"That's four words," Lily said looking over at Sean.
"It is an easy enough mistake to make," his mother said.
Lily poked at her slice of meatloaf with a fork. Noxious fumes wafted off the meat. She said, "I think we're going to eat at the surf and turf tonight."
"Nonsense. It is just a little garlic," Sean's mother said.
Fumes that were nearly visible were rolling off the meatloaf. Sean said, "That's not a little bit of garlic."
"Quit complaining and eat," his mother said.
"I don't want to," Sean said.
"Me neither," Lily said staring at the meatloaf.
Their mother said, "You're not leaving the table without eating your dinner."
"If I die, you're paying for the funeral," Sean said while pointing a finger at his mother.
"You're not going to die," Sean's mother said.
His father watched Sean take a bite of the meatloaf. He leaned forward and watched Sean's eyes roll back in his head. He said, "That's interesting."
"Where did his eyes go?" Lily asked leaning forward to study Sean's face.
"I'm not sure," her father answered. He looked at Sean for a second noticing that sweat had broken out on his forehead. He said, "That's an interesting color."
"He's turning green," Lily said.
"It isn't really green. I'd almost say it is closer to gray," his father said.
Sean's mother rubbed her chin while studying the meatloaf. Finally, she said, "Maybe it needs a little ketchup on it."
"Is he breathing?" Lily asked with a concerned expression on her face. She'd never seen Sean looking like that.
"He's over acting. You'd think he was a Leprechaun or something," her mother said waving a hand dismissing Lily's concerns. She added, "It just needs a little ketchup."
Lily said, "He's scaring me."
"Have some meatloaf," her mother said wanting to get Lily's mind off of Sean.
"No," Lily said while folding her arms across her chest. She didn't think that she would look good if she turned that particular shade of green.
Sean groaned. His father said, "He's coming around."
"Put some ketchup on Sean's meatloaf," Sean's mother said.
Sean's father went to put some ketchup on the meatloaf, but the condiment wasn't coming out of the bottle. He gave it a mighty shake and a quarter of the bottle flew out making a loud splat. The meatloaf, part of the table cloth, and Sean was covered with the thick red ketchup. He said, "I hate it when that happens."
"I know what you mean," Sean's mother said.
Examining the ketchup bottle, Sean's father asked, "Why would they put a thick liquid in a bottle with a narrow neck like this?"
"So that it does exactly what it just did. You waste ketchup and have to buy it more frequently," Sean's mother answered.
Sean's father said, "Ah, another nefarious capitalistic plot to earn money through bad design."
"That's right."
"Ketchup comes in a squeeze bottle," Lily said.
"It does?"
"Yes," Lily said rolling her eyes.
"Maybe I'll buy some the next time I'm at the grocery store," her mother commented.
"It probably costs more," Sean's father said.
"It all comes down to money," Sean's mother said.
Sean's father said, "That reminds me - Sean was mentioning that he hasn't gotten any allowance since you stopped sending him to the store."
"I hadn't realized that," Sean's mother said.
"So what do you think we should do?" Sean's father asked. He looked over at Sean when he moaned.
"Start charging him rent?" Sean's mother asked in reply.
"That's what I told him."
Sean's mother smiled and said, "Great minds think alike."
"They do, don't they?" Sean's father said with a grin.
"Oh brother," Lily said. She scooted her chair back away from the table trying to put a little more distance between her and her dinner.
"I'll work up a bill," Sean's mother said.
"Good idea," Sean's father said.
"Eat your meatloaf," her mother said gesturing to the plate in front of Lily.
"After you," Lily said noticing that her mother hadn't taken any meatloaf.
Her mother said, "As you can see, I've cleaned my plate."
"You didn't even put anything on your plate yet," Lily said with a frown. She wasn't going to fall for that trick.
"I need to serve your father first."
"Please do," Lily said. The aroma of garlic coming from her plate was starting to make her dizzy.
"I'm not all that hungry," Sean's father said even as his wife dropped a slice of meatloaf on his plate.
"I'll give you two servings," Sean's mother said.
"No," Sean's father said staring at the gray mass of ground beef.
"Here you go," Sean's mother said while dropping another slice of meatloaf on his plate.
Sean moaned. His eyes flickered open and he stared at the plate in front of him feeling confused. There were two plates in front of him and he wondered why he had two plates. It took a few seconds for him to realize that his eyes were crossed.
She smiled and said, "He's coming around."
"I'm going to die; I threw up blood," Sean said upon getting his eyes focused and seeing the red liquid in front of him.
"That's ketchup, silly," Lily said.
"Oh, I was scared there for a minute," Sean said wiping his forehead. His hand now smelled like garlic.
"Have some more meatloaf," his mother said gesturing to his plate.
He looked around the table and noticed no one else had taken a bite to eat. He said, "No thanks."
"Lily," Sean's mother said gesturing at the plate.
"After you," Lily said.
Her mother asked, "Does anyone want some scrambled eggs and bacon?"