Tara and I ran
down the hill to the beach. We jumped down the steps and had almost
reached the cliffs when an enormous dog ran up to us barking loudly.
“Oh, it’s
you, Sleepy!” I cried, stroking her head.
“Look!”
Tara exclaimed. “Professor P’s over there!”
We ran
across the pebbles as fast as we could and found Professor P sitting on
a yellow blanket surrounded by boxes.
“Hello,
Professor P,” I called. “How are you?”
“Oh,
hello, Peter, hello, Tara, I’m very well, thank you,” he replied. “I
came out to field test some of my new inventions. “This,” he added
proudly, “is my new Outdoor Range.
A broad
grin spread across his face, “Can I offer you a cup of tea?” He handed
me an unusual looking kettle covered in silver tubes. “Would you mind
filling the kettle please, Peter?”
“Where’s
the water?” I asked, looking for a container.
“Over
there,” he chuckled, “plenty in the sea.”
“B…but…”
I stammered.
“This is
my newest invention, Peter,” he said, with that familiar twinkle in his
eyes. “It’s a solar powered filter kettle. You fill it with sea water or
even dirty pond water and the kettle makes it completely pure as it
boils.”
“That’s a
good idea,” I said, examining the strange looking invention.
Sparky
and Sleepy followed me as I ran down to the sea and filled the kettle. I
left them playing happily in the water and returned with the filled
kettle to Professor P. He put it in the sun a short distance away from
us.
“Best not
to get too close,” he cautioned and pressed the switch on the side.
“How long
does it take to boil?” I asked curiously.
“On a
nice hot day like this, oh, I’d say it should be ready in about an
hour,” Professor P replied.
“An
hour!” Tara exclaimed. “That’s a long time to wait for a cup of tea,
Professor P!”
“Oh, not
really,” he said with a smile, “not if you put it on an hour before you
want it.”
“Well, I
suppose so,” she said doubtfully.
Professor
P continued cheerfully. “Did you come out for a swim? It’s a lovely
day.”
“No,” I
replied. “We’re going to the cliffs to look for fossils.”
“Fossils?
That’s interesting…” he began and then stopped as one of his gadgets
started making a loud beeping noise.
I looked
on curiously as Professor P picked up a small instrument with brightly
coloured wires attached to it.
“Do you
want to come and look for fossils with us, Professor P?” Tara asked.
“Oh, err,
thank you,” Professor P replied distractedly, “but no, I think I’d
better stay here and sort out the problems with this little gadget.”
“OK, see
you later then, Professor P,” we called out, as we went over towards the
cliffs.
An hour
later Professor P called over to us, “Peter, Tara, kettle’s boiled!”
We
gathered up our fossil finds and hurried over to him.
“Did the
kettle work all right then, Professor P?” I asked, looking curiously at
it.
“Of
course, Peter, of course. Let’s have that tea now shall we?” He poured
the boiling water into the teapot. “The milk is in the cool box, over
there.”
He
pointed to a large green box with a blue honeycombed panel on the lid.
“It’s a
solar powered cool box I’ve been working on,” he explained. “Whatever
the weather it always stays cool. In fact the sunnier it gets, the
better it works!”
“Good
idea!” Tara said, looking very impressed.
I took
off the lid and looked inside. It had wires everywhere and tubes coiled
into some very strange shapes. I reached into the cool box and after
searching through the jungle of wires I eventually pulled out a silver
flask.
“Thank
you, Peter.” Professor P said, taking the cold flask. He unscrewed the
top and attempted to pour the milk into the mugs.
“Hmm!
Frozen solid!” he frowned. “Works a bit too well I’m afraid!”
Tara
giggled.
Professor
P poured some hot water from the kettle into a bowl and placed the flask
in it to warm up. “Be all right in a few minutes,” he said.
While we
waited for the milk to unfreeze Professor P told us about his plans for
his solar powered kettle.
“I
believe it could save lives,” he explained. “In many parts of the world
people die through drinking dirty water.”
“How does
it work, Professor P?” I asked.
“Well,
the idea is very simple,” he explained. “It has two section - you fill
the one at the back with seawater. When it boils the steam comes off and
goes through a small tube to the front section. There it turns back into
water – hot pure drinking water – with all the salt and dirt left behind
in the first back section.”
“That’s
brilliant, Professor P!” I said enthusiastically, and he smiled proudly.
The milk
had unfrozen now and so Professor P poured the tea and gave us each a
mug. Tara took a sip and screwed up her face. I cautiously tried the
tea.
“Good?”
Professor P asked.
“Well,” I
hesitated, “it’s a little bit… er… salty.”
“Really?”
he said in surprise, raising the mug to his lips. “Uck!” he cried.
“That’s disgusting! Must be a leak between the two compartments.”
“Oh, it’s
not that bad, Professor P,” Tara said politely taking another sip, “you
soon get used to it.”
“Thank
you, Tara,” he said, “it’s very nice of you to say that, but I’m afraid
I don’t think I could.”
He put
down the tea. “Would you like a packet of crisps instead?”
“Yes
please,” I said eagerly. I was quite hungry and needed something to get
the unpleasant taste of the tea out of my mouth.
“What
flavour would you like,” he asked grinning. He opened his rucksack and
took out a handful of small plastic bags. “There’s peanut butter,
strawberry, chocolate…”
“Chocolate!” I exclaimed.
“Yes,” he
said, “I made them with my All Flavour Crisp Making Machine. The
chocolate flavour does taste rather strange but Sleepy likes them.
“Do you
have any plain ones?” Tara asked.
He
searched through the pile. “Yes, here you are.”
Tara took
out one of the small crinkled brown crisps and tentatively put it in her
mouth. She smiled in relief and reached into the packet for another.
“Can I
have the same, please, Professor P?” I asked.
As we ate
the crisps Professor P told us about his other outdoor inventions.
“This
one’s a child finder,” he explained, showing us his watch. “I’ve been
testing it out with Sleepy’s help.”
She was
lying with Sparky, peacefully asleep in the sun apparently none the
worse for the testing.
“She’s
wearing a small transmitter around her neck,” Professor P continued.
“The digital readout on the watch tells you how far away she is and the
pointer shows you the direction. A buzzer sounds to warn you if she goes
too far away.”
“My mum
would like one of those,” Tara said enthusiastically. “My little sister
Rosie is always running off!”
“I’ll let
you have one, as soon as the bugs are ironed out.” He frowned at Sleepy.
“This one was working fine until Sleepy went into the sea and got it all
wet!”
