Chapter 17

17 FLUFFY WHITE CLOUDS DRIFT ACROSS THE BRIGHT BLUE SKY OVER Grampa Al's Fix It! shop. Rays of morning sunlight (A) beam down to the repaired roof, onto a dark blue panel angled toward the rising sun. The energy from the sunlight is absorbed by the solar panel (B). The sunlight-energized material of the solar panel frees charged electrons (C). The charged electrons flow as direct current

through the wire (D). The current travels down through the roof to the power inverter (E), which changes the direct current into alternating current. The alternating current snakes through the main electric line (F). Around Frank's bedroom (G).

Into Grampa Al's kitchen (H). Behind the atomic clock (I). Out of the wall outlet next to the refrigerator (J). Through the power cord and into the toaster (K). Around the toaster coils, heating them orange-hot. Browning the bread in the slots and making— Ding! "Toast," says Grampa Al. "One of the true wonders of the world. Don't you think so, boys?" Frank holds his head in his hands. He doesn't say anything. Watson, who has slept over, looks just as shell-shocked. Grampa Al cracks one last egg into the bowl and stirs. "How can you guys not love toast? Who doesn't love toast?" he says, holding the

slice of bread up to the light. Frank and Watson don't move. Grampa Al notices. "It's a beautiful new day. Why the long face, Einstein?" Frank holds up his Electro-Finger. "They called Klink and Klank monsters. They think my invention fried Topsy." "Edison and his creepy monkey did it!" says Watson. "I don't know how they did. But I'm sure it was them!" "Ape," Frank corrects Watson. Grampa Al pours the beaten eggs into butter sizzling in the pan. "Well, you know what I always used to say when I was working as achef..." "What?" says Frank. "You never told me you were a chef." "You never asked," says Grampa Al. "But I always said, 'You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs.'" Grampa Al flips the eggs in the pan into a

perfect half circle. "You made up that saying?" marvels Frank. "What does that even mean?" asks Watson. "The ingredients for an omelet are eggs," Klink explains. "So eggs must be broken to be made into an omelet." Grampa Al flips the omelet in the pan, slices it in half, and slides one half onto Frank's plate and the other half onto Watson's. "It means that to make something good, you sometimes have to wreck something else." Klank beeps. "Yes. Exactly. Like, why did the simple machine throw the clock out the window?" "Oh no. Please do not start this again," says Klink. "Why?" asks Grampa Al. "It wanted to see time fly. Ha-ha-ha." Klank's antenna flashes blue and green. "And why did the simple machine put his clock

inside a safe?" "No, no, no..." begs Klink. "Your bad jokes crash my system!" Grampa Al can't help himself. "Why?" he asks. "It wanted to save time. Ha-ha-ha." Flash flash flash. Klink spins in a circle, his GPS hiccuping, "Recalculating. Recalculating." His brain software crashes with a small ding. Grampa Al sits down next to Frank. "But the saying that is probably more to the point here is: Beware of snakes in the grass." "Right!" says Watson, now hungrily digging into his omelet. "Uh... why?" "Watch out for dangers you can't see," says Grampa Al. "History is full of scientists whose ideas were frightening or odd at first... but were then made popular by other people, who took credit for the work. Your guy Nikola Tesla is a great example. Not everyone knows