“Good
evening, Professor P Products,” it said in a rather self-important tone.
“Can I
speak to Professor P please?” I asked.
“He’s
extremely busy,” it said curtly. “If you’re selling double glazing or
fitted kitchens…”
“I’m not.
I was just…”
“Or
mobile phones or holidays…”
“I want
to ask Professor P if he can come to my birthday tea on Sunday,” I
blurted out in frustration.
“Oh, in
that case I’ll see if I can find him. I’m sure he’d like to come. I
think he’s in the basement working on his…Oops…Please hold the line
while I entertain you with a relaxing song.”
A very
out of tune wailing noise began and a few moments later I heard
Professor P’s voice, “Will you stop that racket, Answer Machine!”
“Just
trying to do my job, Professor P,” it replied, rather hurt.
“Hi,
Professor P, it’s Peter here,” I said cheerfully.
“Oh,
hello, Peter. What can I do for you?”
“I was
just wondering…It’s my birthday on Sunday. Would you like to come for
tea?”
“I’d love
to,” he said, obviously delighted. “What time?”
“About
four o’clock.”
“Excellent! I’ll see you then, Peter.”
***
On Sunday
I woke early full of excitement. It was my birthday at last! I waited
restlessly in bed until seven o’clock and then finally tiptoed into my
parent’s room to see if they were awake.
“Happy
birthday, Peter,” my mother said sleepily as I opened the door.
My father
was snoring. She nudged him and he woke with a start.
“Oh,
Peter, hello, happy birthday,” he said rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Give us
a moment, Peter,” my mother added, “and we’ll get your cards.”
I went
back to my room. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and
my parents came in.
“Happy
Birthday!” they chorused, giving me some cards and presents. “We’ll save
your main present for later.”
“What is
it?” I asked excitedly.
“It’s a
secret,” my father answered mysteriously, “but I’m sure you’ll like it!”
We went
downstairs into the kitchen. My mother made some pancakes and we had
just finished eating when Tara knocked at the back door.
“Happy
birthday, Peter,” she cried. “Not too early am I?”
“No, come
in,” I replied. “Would you like a pancake?”
“Yes,
please,” she said eagerly.
Tara gave
me a birthday card. “I’ve got you a present too,” she said. “It’s not
quite finished yet, I’ll bring it round later.”
“Thanks.”
“Here you
are, Tara,” my mother said giving her a pancake. “Come and sit down.
Just help yourself to maple syrup and there’s fresh cream and
strawberries too.”
After
breakfast my mother, Tara and I got into the car to go to the water
park.
“Isn’t
dad coming too?” I asked.
“No,” my
mother said and smiled knowingly “He’s got a special job to do for your
birthday.”
The
water park was fantastic. It had four outdoor slides and eight more
indoors. Tara and I spent most of the time playing in the ‘spacebowl’ –
an enormous bowl that we spun around in, before flying through the air
and finally splashing into the water. After three or four fun filled
hours we finally got out of the water we had a quick snack at the café
before returning home.
“That was
a great morning, thanks for inviting me, Peter,” Tara said as she went
back to her house. “See you later, I’m just going to finish your
present.”
While I
was waiting for the party to begin I went up to my room and played on
one of the new computer games my aunt had given me. At three o’clock
exactly the doorbell rang. I ran downstairs and opened the door.
Professor P was standing there, holding a large present wrapped up in
silver paper with a gold bow. Sleepy ran up to the door, panting and
shaking the hair out of her eyes. She was carrying two cloth rucksacks
that were tied together and draped over her back like a saddle.
“Happy
birthday, Peter,” Professor P said smiling.
“Thanks!”
I cried excitedly, looking at the package. “You’re a bit early I’m
afraid, my mum’s still making the scones.”
“Early?”
he said puzzled, “I thought I was on time.”
“My fault
Professor P,” his watch piped, “I told you the time was an hour later
than it really was, because you’re always an hour late, so I thought
you’d be on time, but you were on time, so you’re an hour early.”
“Watch,”
he said patiently. “I would be grateful if you would not do that again.”
“Sorry,
Professor P,” it squeaked.
“Oh,
that’s all right, Watch,” he sighed.
“Come in
anyway,” I said laughing.
Sleepy
ran into the house like a whirlwind, her tail wagging madly. She met
Sparky coming down the stairs and the two dogs dashed upstairs to
explore.
Professor
P and I went into the living room. My mother came in to introduce
herself and offer Professor P a drink.
“Have you
lived here long, Professor P?” she asked as she brought in the tea.
“No,” he
replied, “since Christmas. I used to live in Cambridge.”
“We went
to Cambridge for the weekend,” my mother said, “years ago, before Peter
was born. It’s such a beautiful city, with all those old buildings.”
“Yes,” he
replied quietly. “There were some lovely old buildings at my college.”
He
cleared his throat awkwardly. My father suddenly came into the living
room and broke the rather embarrassing silence. He introduced himself to
Professor P and they shook hands.
“I’ve got
something to show you, Peter,” my father said. He took a box out of the
plastic bag he was carrying and gave it to me. It was a video camera.
“I bought
it specially for today,” he said proudly, “best one in the shop, digital
and everything.”
“Brilliant!” I cried. “A digital video camera!”
My father
opened the box and took out the camera. He picked up the manual and
leafed through it.
“Perhaps
you could look at it later, Jeff,” my mother said. “Would you mind going
out to the shop? I’ve just run out of butter.”
“OK,” he
said and my parents left the room.
“I’ve
always wanted one of these,” I said, picking up the video camera.
“It’s a
good make,” Professor P said, coming over to examine it.
He took
the batteries out of the carrier bag and fitted them in the camera. He
gave it to me and I switched it on. I pressed the red record button.
“Lights,
camera, action. You’re on Professor P!” I said, pointing the camera and
moving towards him. He waved at me and I swept round in a wide circle
before zooming in rapidly towards him.
Suddenly
Professor P cried out, “Careful, Peter, the table!”
“Ow,” I
yelled as I banged into the side of the coffee table.
I tumbled
and fell to the floor. The camera flew out of my hand.
Crash! It
hit the coffee table, rolled over and fell to the floor with a thud.
“Oh, no!”
I cried in horror. “It’s broken.”
The back
had come off the camera and the batteries were strewn over the floor.
“I’m sure
it will be all right.” Professor P said calmly.
We
gathered the batteries and put them back into the camera. I switched it
on.
“It’s not
working!” I cried. “There are no lights, nothing!”
“No need
to worry, Peter,” he reassured me.
“I’ve
broken it,” I said, almost in tears. “My dad will be furious.”
“These
cameras are pretty strong you know, Peter – they’re meant to take the
occasional knock. It’s probably just a simple connection come loose.
Should be easy to fix.”
“Can you
fix it, Professor P?”
“I’ll
take a look,” he said rolling up his sleeves. “Fortunately I never go
anywhere without my tools. Would you mind finding Sleepy? She’s got them
on her back.”
I ran
upstairs looking for Sleepy but she was not there. After searching the
whole house I finally found her playing in the garden with Sparky. But
the tool bags were missing! I ran into the kitchen and asked my mother
if she had seen them.
“Yes,
they’re over there on the chair,” she said pointing. “I took them off
her, poor thing, they looked so heavy.”
“Thanks,
mum,” I said, feeling very relieved.
I picked
up the bags and went back into the living room.
“Thank
you, Peter,” he said as he took the bags.
He took a
silver sphere out of his pocket and placed it on the table. Floppy
popped into the air above the sphere. The little rabbit looked slightly
unwell and had a few pink spots on his ears and tail.
“Hi,
Floppy,” I said, slightly surprised by his appearance.
“Hello,
Peter,” he sniffed.
Professor
P opened the bags, took out his toolbox and found a small screwdriver.
He put the camera in the centre of the table and carefully began
removing the screws and placing them neatly in a saucer to one side.
“So
important to be orderly and tidy when you’re working with electronics,”
he said, removing one side from the camera.
“It’s
very complicated!” I said as I peered inside, “How do they get so much
into such a small space?”
The
doorbell rang and I went to answer it. It was Tara. She had changed into
a red party dress and stood at the door, holding a box covered in white
paper with painted yellow flowers on it.
“Hi,
Peter,” she said smiling. “Happy birthday! Here’s your present.”
“Thanks,”
I said excitedly, taking the box. It was quite heavy and I wondered what
it could be.
“Hello,
Tara,” my mother called out from the kitchen, “come and have a drink.”
“Professor P’s in the living room,” I whispered to Tara as we walked
towards the kitchen. “Sorting out a little problem. I’ll tell you
later.”
“Has one
of his inventions exploded?”
“No!” I
laughed. “Not yet!”
We went
into the kitchen and my mother gave Tara an orange juice.
“Oh, what
lovely wrapping paper,” she said when she saw Tara’s present.
“I
painted it myself,” Tara said proudly. “Do you want to open it now,
Peter?”
I
carefully took off the wrapping paper. Inside was a pot filled with soil
and wrapped tightly in a plastic bag.
“Thanks,”
I said feeling rather puzzled.
“It’s a
home-made sunflower growing kit,” she explained. “There’s a pot, some
sunflower seeds and a little bag of gravel. If you put the gravel on the
top it helps to keep the slugs away.”
“Thanks,
Tara.”
“What
other presents have you got?” she asked.
I told
her about the presents that my family had given me and added, “Professor
P brought one too but I haven’t opened it yet. Let’s go and see him,
shall we?”
I opened
the living room door and gasped in horror.
I could
not believe what I saw.
The video
camera was in pieces. The table and floor were covered in tools, circuit
boards, wires and springs. Professor P was kneeling at the coffee table,
holding a soldering iron and singing loudly.
“Professor P…” I stammered. “What on earth have you done!”
“We all
live in a yellow time machine, a yellow time machine,” he sang,
completely unaware of our presence.
“Professor P!” I said raising my voice.
“Nearly
there, Peter,” he said without looking up. “I’ll just take this out.” He
removed a small component from the circuit board and promptly tossed it
into the wastepaper basket.
Tara
looked at me. “What’s going on?” she whispered.
I stared
at her completely lost for words.
“Ah ha!
Don’t need this little chip either,” Professor P mumbled and he threw
another component into the wastepaper basket.
“Stop!” I
burst out. “Professor P, please! What are you doing?”
“New
circuit,” he said. “Work twice as well. Don’t need the old stuff. It’s
all got to go. Trust me.”
“But…” I
spluttered. “My dad! He’ll…”
Floppy
appeared from behind the sofa. He was now covered in pink spots and did
not look at all well.
“I can’t
bear to look,” he said, covering his head with his ears. He disappeared
behind the sofa again.
Tara was
speechless. I stood motionless, frozen in shock. What would my father
say when he saw the state of the camera? He would be furious! He would
have been upset to find out I had dropped it. But now it was a disaster!
The camera was spread out in small pieces on the floor. The guarantee
would be worthless – we’d never be able to take it back to the shop and
get it fixed properly.
Professor
P continued to dismantle the camera, leaving an almost empty shell and
an assortment of circuit boards and wires scattered about the wastepaper
basket. He paused and leant back against the sofa.
“Can you
believe it?” he grumbled. “Who designs these things? Such a waste of
space!”
“But,
Professor P,” I began, “I thought you were going to fix it.”
“Fix it?
It would be a crime to merely fix it. I had to make some improvements.”
“What?” I
asked, confused. “But my dad, he’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Oh, it
won’t take long,” he said, picking up the soldering iron. “All I’ve got
to do is put in a new processing chip. Take about five minutes I
expect.”
“Five
hours more like,” Floppy added.
I heard
the front door open and my mother call out, “Is that you, Jeff?”
Too late
– my father was home!
“My dad!
He’s back!” I cried in horror. “Hurry Professor P, please hurry.”
“Oh,
black holes!” he exclaimed. “Put the chip in the wrong way round. Now,
that’s what happens when you rush things.”
I watched
impatiently as Professor P took the chip out again, turned it round and
carefully soldered it back into the circuit board.
“Nearly
there,” he said as he began to fit the new circuit board into the
camera.
I heard
the kitchen door open.
“My
father’s coming!” I yelled in panic. “What are we going to do?”
“Calm
down, Peter,” Professor P said. “I just need a few minutes to finish and
another couple of minutes to tidy up.”
I glanced
at my watch.
“I think
we can keep your father busy until then,” Tara said. “Come on, Peter,
I’ve got an idea.”
She
hurried into the hallway. I ran after her and shut the living room door
firmly behind me.
“Hello,
Mr Davidson,” Tara said cheerfully.
“Hello,
Tara. How are you?”
“Fine,
thanks.”
“Has
Peter shown you our new video camera yet?” he asked moving towards the
living room.
“Not
yet,” she said smiling sweetly. Then she put her hand on his arm and
gently steered him towards the kitchen.
“Mr
Jenkins,” she continued, “I was wondering if I could ask your advice
about something. I heard you’re an expert gardener.”
“Oh, no,
not really,” he replied modestly.
“Well,
it’s just that I gave Peter a present for his birthday,” she continued.
“Yes,
come and have a look, dad,” I added quickly, following her lead.
“Oh,” he
said distractedly, glancing back at the living room door.
“It’s a
sunflower kit,” Tara said proudly as we entered the kitchen.
She
picked it up and without stopping led my father directly into the
garden.
“I
thought you’d know how much water to give them,” she continued, “and the
best place to grow them.”
“Well,
it’s a bit late in the season to be growing sunflowers,” my father said.
Then seeing Tara’s disappointment he continued, “But I’m sure it will be
all right if we water them every day. We can put them over here by the
fence where they will get the most sun.”
Tara did
a great job of keeping my father talking but finally he turned back
towards the house. I looked nervously at my watch. Only three minutes
had passed!
“Dad, can
I have a little section of the garden to put the sunflowers in, and
maybe some other plants too?” I asked.
“Of
course, Peter!” he answered in surprise. “I didn’t realise you were so
interested in gardening.”
He eyed
me suspiciously. I looked away.
“I got
Peter interested,” Tara said quickly. “I love gardening. That’s why I
made the sunflower kit.”
“Well,
it’s been most interesting talking to you both,” he said, “But we’ll
have to continue this conversation another time. Let’s go inside now and
try out the new camera so it’s ready for Peter’s birthday tea.”
He
marched inside and I trailed unhappily behind him.
“Nice
try,” I whispered to Tara.
I smiled
at her but inside I felt utter panic. All I could think about was the
terrible state of the living room and the uproar that would follow when
my father saw it. He opened the living room door and went inside. I hung
back, waiting for the outcry, but to my complete surprise there was
none.
I peered
round the living room door.
Professor
P was sitting on the sofa, quietly reading a magazine, and the camera
was resting neatly on its box on the coffee table. There was no mess or
any sign of mess. I looked at Tara, my mouth wide open in astonishment,
unable to believe my eyes.
“Oh, I’m
so sorry to leave you all by yourself, Professor P,” my father
apologised.
“No
problem. Just been reading your banking magazine, very interesting
article on overdrafts.”
As my
father went to pick up the video camera Professor P winked knowingly at
Tara and me.
“It’s
surprisingly light,” my father said balancing it in his hand. “Amazing
modern technology, isn’t it?”
“I wonder
how it works?” he mused.
He put it
down and picked up the manual.
“You need
a degree in rocket science to understand this thing,” he sighed. “A
dozen different languages too - everything except plain English!”
He picked
up the camera again and looked at all the buttons. I looked on anxiously
as his finger reached out for the small red button on the side. What
would happen when he switched it on? Had Professor P actually managed to
fix it?
He
pressed the button.
“Hello,
Mr Davidson,” the camera said in a friendly voice. “How are you today?”
My father
almost dropped the camera and looked at us dumbfounded. He scratched his
head and turned to Professor P.
“Err,” he
stammered, “did you say something, Professor P?”
“No,” a
little voice squeaked, “it was me, your camera.”
My father
looked at the camera, then at Professor P and then at me. He looked at
the camera again then burst out laughing.
“Fantastic!” he cried. “Absolutely amazing! How do they do it? It even
knows my name!”
He opened
the door and called out, “Molly, come here, you have got to see this.”
My mother
arrived a few minutes later and he proudly showed her the camera.
“You try
it, Molly,” he said. “Just point the camera and tell it what to do.
“Tell
it?” she said uncertainly.
“That’s
right, just talk to it.”
She took
the camera and looked through the viewfinder.
“Hello,
Mrs Davidson,” the camera piped up.
“Oh,” she
stammered in surprise. “Err, hello, Camera. Record please.”
“Now
recording,” it said.
“Isn’t it
incredible!” my father cried. “I don’t remember the one in the shop
being nearly as good as this.”
My
parents were delighted with the camera and it worked perfectly. While
they were playing with it I went over to Professor P.
“Thanks,”
I whispered. “It’s brilliant!”
“My
pleasure,” he said smiling. “Our secret eh?”
The
doorbell rang and I went to answer it.
“Happy
birthday, Peter,” Mary said as I opened the door.
She gave
me a present and we went into the living room. I introduced Mary to my
parents and Professor P. My father once again proudly showed off his new
video camera, much to Mary’s amusement, and then we all went into the
dining room.
“Wow,
it’s fantastic!” I cried in delight when I saw the room.
Balloons
and party streamers were hanging from the ceiling. The table was laden
with food - bowls of crisps, nuts, cheese dips and in the middle was an
enormous home-made pizza smelling deliciously of melted cheese and
sweet-corn.
“Do just
help yourselves,” my mother invited us.
I piled
my plate high with pizza and crisps and sat down next to Tara. Mary sat
next to Professor P.
“So
you’re an inventor then, Professor P?” Mary said.
I noticed
that he went rather quiet and blushed slightly when she spoke to him.
“Er,
yes,” he stammered.
“What
sort of things do you invent?”
“Er,” he
said scratching his head as if he had forgotten and he blushed again.
“Professor P has invented a self heating can,” Tara giggled.
“Really,”
said Mary in surprise.
“A lot of
his inventions are made from recycled things,” I added.
“How
interesting!” she continued. “I think recycling is so important, don’t
you, Professor P?”
“Absolutely,” he said nodding vigorously. “The things people throw away.
The waste is terrible.”
“I’m
always careful to recycle as much as I can,” she said.
“I just
wish everyone did,” he added. His nervousness was gone and he
enthusiastically explained his views on the importance of recycling.
Mary nodded in agreement and they were soon chatting happily and easily
like old friends.
After we
had finished the pizza my mother brought in some jelly, ice cream and
fruit.
“You
haven’t opened all your presents yet, Peter,” my father reminded me as
we finished the dessert.
“Oh,
yes,” I said and fetched them from the hall. Mary had brought an
expertly wrapped present in bright silver holographic paper.
“Oh,
thanks,” I cried when I had managing to remove the sellotape.
Mary had
given me the wonderful book on fossils that she had shown us in her
shop. My mother came over to look at it and I showed her the page with
the ichthyosaurus.
“Look,
mum,” I said excitedly. “Mary’s got one of these in her shop!”
“Not a
live one I hope?” my mother said jokingly and everyone laughed.
“Thank
you, Mary, it’s brilliant,” I smiled.
“I
thought you’d like it,” she said pleased.
The
present from Professor P was about the size of a shoebox and wrapped in
recycled paper. It had the words congratulations on your wedding
printed on it. The wrapping paper came away easily and I quickly tore it
off.
Inside, was a shoebox!
I opened
it.
“Er,
thanks, Professor P,” I said. “It’s… it’s great.”
Tara
looked inside the box and then whispered to, “What on earth is it?” I
shrugged as I stared at the collection of electronic components and
coloured wires. I felt rather embarrassed at not knowing what it was and
wondered if it would be impolite to ask.
“It’s
very,” I hesitated, trying to find a suitable word.
Tara
giggled.
“Oh, how
silly of me, I forgot to put the label on,” Professor P apologised.
“It’s a metal detector,” he added enthusiastically. “Well, actually it’s
a metal detector kit. I was going to build it for you but I thought you
might have more fun building it yourself.”
“Brilliant!” I cried enthusiastically. I took out some of the components
and looked at them closely. It would be great fun building the metal
detector.
Tara
looked at me and mouthed a word. I was puzzled. What was she trying to
say? She did it again and getting no reaction from me, came over and
whispered in my ear, “Gold!”
I nodded
excitedly. Of course! We could use the metal detector to find gold on
the beach.
“Thanks,
Professor P! It’s just what I wanted!”
“And now,
Peter,” said my father, “we’d like to give you your main present. Shut
your eyes and I’ll get it.”
I closed
my eyes tightly wondering what it could be. Moments later my father
returned.
“Do you
like it, Peter?” my mother asked.
I opened
my eyes and there was a silver and black mountain bike with red stripes.
“It’s
fantastic!” I cried and rushed over to it.
“It has
twenty one gears,” my father said, “and I’ve fitted it with a little
bicycle computer that tells you how fast you’re going.”
“Oh thank
you,” I beamed. “I really, really wanted a bike. Can I try it out now?”
We went
outside and I got onto the bike. It felt perfect. I set off along the
road with Sparky and Sleepy running after me. When the road curved
downwards I changed into top gear and sped down the hill with the wind
rushing past my face. I glanced down at the bike computer. I was going
at 20mph! At the bottom of the hill I stopped and the two dogs caught up
with me, barking with excitement. I turned round and sped back up the
hill, skidding to a halt outside the house.
“That was
great!” I panted.
“How were
the gears, Peter?” my father asked.
“Brilliant!” I replied.
We went
back into the dining room and my mother cleared away the plates. Then
she returned from the kitchen with an enormous chocolate cake with the
words “Happy Birthday Peter” written in red icing and around the outside
twelve candles shone brightly.
Everyone
sang Happy Birthday – much to my embarrassment and I blushed as
Tara’s voice rang out clear and tunefully while my father managed
almost, but not quite, to avoid hitting a single right note. My mother
put the cake on the table and I leant over to blow out the candles.
“Don’t
forget to make a wish!” Tara said.
I
hesitated. What could I wish for, I wondered? It felt as though all my
dreams had already come true. I was living by the sea in a new house
with a great friend next door. I had made friends with a brilliant
inventor. I had a dog – a wonderful puppy! And today on my birthday I
had been given a fantastic mountain bike. I just could not think of
anything more I wanted in life.
“Come on,
Peter,” Tara urged, “the candles are melting!”
“OK,” I
said, and then, in that moment I knew what to wish for. I blew out the
candles.
