Whimsical Tales of Woe

The Inventor

Part Five: The Inventor

Ok... let's bring it back to something nice, as promised this one is a bit more light-hearted. Enjoy!

Prompt: A perky inventor and a worried friend.

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A plan of how this would unfold was already forming in her head. The barn workshop was scrupulously organised in a chaotic jumble of parts, parchment and tools. To anyone else it would have been a mess, but there were always patterns to be found in one's life and her workshop was no different.

One side of the great barn's interior was covered in a wallpaper of diagrams and schematics, notes and equations. There were years worth of knowledge on that wall, and she had never really found the time to pack it all way. Instead, she had accumulated a sort of mural made entirely out of parchment and paper, adding another layer with each new idea.

The space that she occupied most light hours of the day, was cluttered, but not dangerously so. She could never have her barn going up like a pyre. That would be devastating. Thus chaotic though it may appear, with half finished prototypes made of wood and a pile of carefully collected gears and springs stacked to the height of her hip, her workshop was organised. At least that is what she told herself.

It made perfect sense that the steel tools were sorted closest to her forge and that the softer metals were placed further away in perfect order depending on their heat resistance. She did not want to become caught up in a task and find her bars nought but puddles of molten liquid. Not that this ever had ever occurred, but it was possible.

"This is it." She hummed in excitement. Her body could barely contain it and the building anticipation became manifest in the tremble of her fingers. "Final safety checks..."

The contraption was set up on a beautifully constructed, yet sturdy, stand. It was magnificent. Made of mostly wood with custom metal hinges and supports, her latest piece drew inspiration from some of the best minds known in the modern age. Her workbench was full of notations she had made from studying their papers.

She had to adjust the measurements, naturally, but her lighter weight meant she had been able to add in a few adjustments of her own design. Building it had taken her the better part of a year, and that did not factor in the many months she had spent researching and planning. Running her hands along the smooth edges, she appreciated their dynamic curves and ensured any flaws were minimal enough to provide a safe interval between excellence and failure. She pulled at the levers on the control bar and felt the resistance of her mechanisms working. Satified she stepped back and put her hands on her hips.

"What do you think Gubo?" She addressed the hulking metal statue that occupied the corner of her barn. Made of copper, it was some type of deformed goat-sheep that her dear Thomas had given her on their first anniversary. He had told her she only had to look at the beast and know whatever she made, no matter how imperfect she thought it was, it would be better than the unsightly piece of art. They had laughed at the time, but Gubo had become a valued member in her constrictive process. "Do you think she will fly?"

The stature started off into the void, its unfortunate eyes pointing in different directions.

"Well, only one way to find out." Removing her leather apron, she dusted her hands and lifted the large contraption from its place carefully. This was not the first time she had taken it out of course, all minds of science knew you had to test things within the environment for which they were designed to function. But this was to be the day she would not test it, but use it, in its true setting.

"Wish me luck, Gubo!" She grinned at the goat-sheep. "Next time you see her she may be in pieces. And hopefully that statement only applies to one of us."