Copyright © 2013 by Travis McBee
All rights reserved.
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited.
Disclaimer: The persons, places, things, and otherwise animate or inanimate objects mentioned in this novel are figments of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to anything or anyone living (or dead) is unintentional.
www.TravisMcBee.com
Chronicles of a Second Grade Genius:
A Little Holiday Thrill
T.J. McBee
Meet Trevor
Trevor looked like your typical second grader. He was short like a second grader, with a head of shaggy blonde hair that was always blowing all over the place. His eyes were as blue as the sky, and his pants always had holes in the knees from playing at recess. He was as cool as any second grader could be. He was friends with everyone in the school, but had two best friends, Adam and Mike. The three of them were one of the best soccer trios in the grade.
Yes, Trevor seemed like a normal second grader, but Trevor had something most second graders did not. You see, when Trevor went home every day, he did something that was certainly not normal for a second grader; he went to his laboratory.
Trevor had a laboratory, because Trevor was a genius. He wasn’t just smart. He was very, very, smart and had always been like that. When he was two years old he built a model helicopter out of spare parts from a television, and he flew it into his sister’s hair. It got tangled up so badly that she had to have most of her hair cut off.
When he was three, he decided he wanted to drive, so he built a car out of a mixture of lawnmower parts, an old trailer, and spare lumber. When the police spotted him cruising down the road, they were so amazed they forgot to chase him. His parents found out that he had done this because he drove right by them while they were sitting outside of McDucks eating a hamburger. His dad was proud and patted him on his back, but his mom had a look like someone had rubbed something smelly right under her nose.
People always praised Trevor for being so creative, but Trevor laughed at his little inventions. He called them toys and proclaimed proudly, “One day I will build something no one has seen before and change the world!”
That day was coming.
Something to Change the World
It was almost Christmas and Trevor had been working for months and months in his basement, where he had built his laboratory. Everyone knew he had a laboratory, but no one would ever go down there to see exactly what he was up to. Loud noises were always coming up from the basement, and his mom and dad had learned to ignore them. Noises like minor explosions did not bother his parents in the least, but his sister was always annoyed by them. His best friends, Mike and Adam, were the only ones from school who would go down there with him, and the other kids in school always asked them what was down there. They would just tell tall tales of flying saucers and submarines that no one believed.
Everyone was very curious as to what he was working on so hard, but when people asked him what he was building, he would just smile and say, “Something that will change the world.”
He even kept it a secret from his best friends, Adam and Mike.
One day in school, when Miss Mchornet had her back turned to the class while she wrote the grammar sentences on the board, Trevor passed Mike and Adam each a note. They quickly opened the notes and read quietly,
Come to my house after school and I’ll show you what I’ve been working on.
Adam and Mike were so excited they yelled out loud, startling Suzy Stabo so much that she fell out of her chair.
School seemed to drag on forever that day, but when it finally let out, Mike and Adam ran as fast as they could to Trevor’s house. Trish, Trevor’s big sister, was sitting outside. She was smart but not as smart as Trevor, and she always resented him for it. She glared at them.
“I don’t know what kind of trouble you three are going to get into, but don’t you dare do anything to my stuff again, like when you covered my room in that goo,” she said meanly.
Adam and Mike laughed, remembering when they had set off the goo bomb in Trish’s room. It had covered everything in the room in green slime that looked like a giant had blown his nose with her bed. Trish had chased them out of the house with a broom held over her head, trying to hit them.
Trevor met them inside and the three went down to the laboratory. Computers beeped everywhere and tools lay all over the floor. In the corner, there was a large something under a sheet. Adam and Mike stared at it, then turned to Trevor.
“Gentlemen,” Trevor said,” let me show you my newest invention. The C.A.T.S!”
He pulled the sheet off revealing a large shiny machine that looked like a giant telescope. Adam walked around it with a look of confusion on his face. Mike looked at Trevor and asked, “What is it?”
C.A.T.S
A smirk came onto Trevor's face.
“It’s my ‘Causes All Things to Shrink’ invention,” Trevor replied. “And it will change the world!”
He walked over to it and flipped some switches; it started to buzz and glow. He took a lamp from a shelf, which looked mysteriously like the one from Trish's room, and placed it on an x that had been made with tape on the floor. He walked over to a table and handed Mike and Adam a pair of shaded goggles.
“Put these on,” he said as he walked over to his machine. “Everyone ready?”
Mike and Adam both nodded excitedly. Trevor pressed a button, and a bright flash lit up the room.
When the light had faded, everyone looked at the x on the floor. At first it looked like there was nothing there. Then, as the boys looked closer, they could see a tiny object lying on the floor. Trish’s lamp was now the perfect size for a doll house. It was exactly the same in every way, except now it was less than an inch tall. Mike walked over and picked it up. He stared at it for a second, and then looked at Trevor. “How did you do that?” he asked quietly.
How Did He Do That?!?
Trevor smiled and replied, “All I did was rearrange the atoms.”
Adam looked confused and said, “You did what with me?”
“Not Adams, Adam, Atoms, the things that make up every object in the universe.”
“What are you talking about?” Mike said with a look of complete bewilderment
“Ok, imagine this; everything in the universe, and I mean everything, you, me, a tree, is made up of tiny building blocks, kind of like you play with at home, only much, much smaller. These building blocks are called atoms.”
“Oh, I guess I understand,” said Mike. “But how do you make things smaller than they used to be?”
“Well my machine just takes most of the atoms away and makes the same object with fewer atoms. It’s the same as if you made a really big fort out of your blocks, but then Adam came over and borrowed half of your blocks. Well you can rebuild your fort with the blocks you have left, and it will look exactly the same; it will just be smaller.”
Mike smiled as he finally understood.
“What are you going to do with it,” Adam asked.
“I’m going to give the world a Christmas present,” replied Trevor. “I’m going to shrink the one thing that little kids fear at night more than anything else.”
“Monsters under the bed!” shouted out Adam.
“Cooties!” Mike screamed out terrified .
“No,” Trevor said quietly. “The moon”
Now, in truth, not many people are afraid of the moon. In fact, Trevor might be the only person in the world that the moon scares. Even he did not know why he was so scared of it. A big rock floating in space s
hould not be so terrifying to a genius, yet something about it completely freaked Trevor out, and he convinced himself it was a fear that everyone shared.
The boys made plans to meet back in the laboratory on Christmas Eve to shrink the moon, so that when everyone awoke the next morning on Christmas, they would not be able to see the moon and would no longer be afraid of it at night.
Changing the World
Christmas Eve finally came, and the boys met in Trevor’s basement at 7 o’clock at night. The machine was large, and it was hard for them to move it. Mike was pulling while Trevor and Adam pushed. They moved it to the big garage door that had been installed in the basement so the larger of Trevor’s inventions could make it out of the laboratory.
Around the door were many strange looking vehicles that Trevor had built over the years. There was a submarine sitting on a trailer in the corner, and a contraption that looked like a tank with a drill on the front of it. There was something under a tarp that looked like it might be a flying saucer.
Trevor walked over to the door and pressed the button to open it. A wave of cold air rushed into the laboratory, making the boys shiver. They pushed the C.A.T.S outside and pointed it at the moon.
The three of them put on their goggles and stood silently as Trevor began to count down.
“Five, Four, Three, Two, One.” He pushed the button activating the C.A.T.S. A flash lit up the entire neighborhood, and a sound like bells rang in all of their ears. Mike took his goggles off first and stared up.
“It didn’t work!” Mike yelled in disbelief.
Sure enough, up in the sky shone the moon as big and white as it had always been. Trevor looked confused, something that is not normal for a boy genius.
“I don’t understand. Why did it not work?” he yelled out in frustration.
“Oh it worked,” came a voice from around their ankles.
Ho-Ho-No!
Trevor jumped backwards in surprise. Adam completely forgot his tough guy act and screamed like Trish did when they had set her hair on fire with Trevor's portable microwave gun. Mike was a little slow to look down, but when he did, he fainted.
On the ground, about two inches tall, stood the one person you do not want to upset on Christmas Eve, Santa Clause. He wasn’t alone, next to him stood a tiny sleigh and nine reindeer. He was not very jolly looking. (Would you be if you had just gotten shrunk to the size of a doll?)
“Um…” started Trevor not knowing what to say for once in his life.
“Trevor! How dare you shrink me! You better return me to normal right now!” bellowed the angry little Santa.
“I can’t,” replied Trevor. “I can only shrink things, I can’t make them bigger.”
When Trevor said this, Santa put his hands over his face, and if the boys had had a magnifying glass, they would have seen that Santa was crying.
“Then Christmas is ruined!” Santa said after a few moments. “Who will want tiny toys?”
The boys looked at each other, feeling very bad about themselves.
“But Santa, don’t you have a workshop filled with normal size toys?” Trevor asked nervously.
“I do, but since I’m only two inches tall, it would take me too long to get up there, and I wouldn’t be able to deliver them, because I wouldn’t be able to pick them up,” Santa replied sadly.
Trevor, Mike, and Adam sat quietly thinking about a way to solve the problem. Finally Trevor thought of something and looked at Santa. “Couldn’t we go to the North Pole and get the presents and deliver them?”
Santa thought for a second then said, “But how will you get to the North Pole? It’s very far away.”
Trevor smiled and looked over at one the invention that was under a tarp. He walked over and pulled the cover off, revealing a small flying saucer just big enough to fit three boys and, hopefully, a bag of toys inside.
“Would this work?” he asked Santa.
The tiny Santa smiled and nodded.
To The North Pole!
The boys took Santa up to Trish’s doll house. Trevor promised Santa that as soon as he delivered all the toys, he would invent a way to make Santa big again. Then the boys went back to the laboratory and climbed into the flying saucer. Trevor turned it on, and lights began to light up along the edges of it. The bubble on top came down, sealing them all in.
“All systems ready?” Trevor asked.
“We are ready to launch,” replied Mike.
Trevor started to push button after button, and Mike grabbed the control stick, pulling it back. The flying saucer silently began to rise off the ground. It floated in place for a moment, then Trevor pushed one last button. With Mike steering and Trevor navigating, they flew towards the North Pole faster than any plane could fly. All Adam could do was hold on for dear life. Unlike Trevor, he had no fear of the moon, but riding in a homemade flying saucer going extremely fast…well that was something that scared Adam.
The flying saucer flew quickly over city after city; they were so high up that each one appeared to be just a patch of lights. At one point, they flew right by an airplane, and Adam could have sworn he saw his Uncle Joe staring out one of the windows as they zoomed past.
It seemed like hours, but finally, a beeping started to come out of the computer.
“We’re almost there,” said Trevor
The North Pole
By now, they were far away from all the cities, but in the distance they could see a small light. As they got closer, the light got bigger and bigger. Mike couldn’t believe it; they were at the North Pole! Santa’s workshop was right under them. It looked like a small town built out of gingerbread houses. People the height of the boys were running around everywhere. They looked confused and scared. Adam couldn’t understand why everyone looked so upset.
“Why are they so scared looking?” he asked.
“Oh, I don’t know, Adam, maybe because a flying saucer just came out of nowhere and is floating over them!” replied Trevor sarcastically.
Mike pushed the stick forward, and the flying saucer gently landed in the middle of one of the streets. Elves ran and hid as the bubble top went up to let the boys out. Trevor got out first and looked around at the empty streets. The elves were nowhere in sight.
“You can come out,” Trevor yelled to the deserted streets. “Santa sent us. He needs help.”
After he said this, little heads began to appear. Some came from around doors, others peeked up from behind trashcans. One elf, braver looking than the others walked up to the boys.
“My name is Marcus. I’m the head elf. What do you mean Santa is in trouble?”
“Santa got shrunk” Mike blurted out, “and he needs us to deliver the presents!”
Marcus looked at Mike, then back at Trevor.
“Ok then, follow me,” replied Marcus
Marcus led them along the streets of the North Pole. The gingerbread houses were all decorated for Christmas, with lights and wreaths hanging from each one. They turned a corner and found themselves staring at a giant building.
“Welcome to Santa’s workshop,” Marcus said as they approached the huge building. It was a massive building made completely from gingerbread. It had a large sign over the door that read “Santa’s Workshop, where dreams become reality”. They went to the front doors and followed Marcus inside.
They walked into a large room. As far as they could see were tables with elves working on toys. There was any type of toy a kid could imagine. Toy cars rolled on the ground, while model airplanes flew around the ceiling. At one table, a toy train was going around and around in a circle. On another, a small robot wheeled about, beeping and clicking. The three boys stood in amazement. This was the coolest place they had ever seen.
Marcus led them past table after table, each one had an amazing toy that an elf was working on. They walked across the factory floor and into a door at the far side. They had entered a smaller room with only fifteen elves in it. On a wall was a giant map of the Earth, with pins p
ushed in it all over. On the other wall was a huge computer that had a list of names scrolling down it.
“That’s the naughty or nice list. You will have the list on your computer in your flying saucer,” said Marcus. “Go to each house it tells you to and deliver the appropriate toy.”
He pointed to a large bag of toys sitting in the corner of the room. Adam went over and picked it up.
“Good luck, boys” Marcus told them. “And hurry, you don’t have much time left.”
Adam Saves Christmas
The boys climbed back into the flying saucer and took off. They cruised over the snow of the North Pole, towards their first house. When they arrived at the house, Mike made the saucer hover over the roof. Then the boys looked at each other, each wondering the same thing.
“Who’s going down the chimney?” asked Adam.
“Not it!” shouted out Trevor and Mike quickly.
Adam groaned. “Oh no.”
They tied a rope around Adam’s waist, and he climbed outside of the saucer. They gave him a walky talky, so he could call back for them to pull him up.
“Remember to bring the cookies back!” shouted Mike.
They lowered the terrified Adam down into the chimney. It was dark and scary. Adam had never been more afraid in his life. When he reached the bottom, he climbed out into the living room and looked around. In the corner sat a huge Christmas tree with lights all over it. He took the present he had brought with him and walked over to the tree and sat it down quietly. A plate of cookies sat on a table next to the tree. He grabbed the cookies and put them in his pocket.
“Grr.”
Was that my stomach? Adam thought to himself.
“Grr.”
That’s not my stomach! He turned around and saw a huge dog growling at him. Its teeth were white and shining.
He slowly pulled out his walky talky as he backed up towards the chimney.
“Guys pull me up,” he whispered into it.
“Are you done?” Trevor's voice came through the speaker.