Of all the strange toys and all the houses in all the town, this one had to roll into Alex’s.
Dad presented Alex with a car, but not just any toy car. This one was larger than most. It was designed to look like a real car, with lots of little accents and details. The side mirrors had a chrome sticker to provide an actual reflection. The spoiler had a sticker that said “Zoom!” The only thing that seemed out of place was the radio antenna, coming out of the trunk, sticking up way too tall, completely out of scale with the rest of the car.
But the strangeness came with Alex realized it could drive without anyone pushing it. Dad flipped a switch on the bottom, and the car seemed to come to life on it’s own. Without anyone touching it, the vehicle would zip back and forth across the living room. It seemed to take a particular interest in the cat, which quickly vacated upstairs.
Amelia found herself so astonished, she needed to lean against the Ottoman to support herself.
After several minutes of wonderment, Dad walked over and handed a curious little box to Alex. A thin wire supported by a straw stuck out the front of the box. On top were two levers, one that could only go forward and back, and one that could only go left and right.
Alex fiddled with the levers for a bit, but noticed a curious thing as he did so. The car seemed to move about in unison with the lever. Screaming with delight, Alex realized that he could control the car from a distance. No longer would he be forced to get down on his knees and push things along himself! No longer would be struggle to convince his sister to bring toys back to him that rolled out of his reach (she never listened anyway)! The power! The incredible –whoops!
Alex, lost in the wonderment of his newfound power, accidentally drove the car into Amelia. Knocked off balance, she fell backward and sat on the car with a sickening CRACK! Dad ran over and checked on Amelia, who was fine, and even thought it was pretty funny. Then he checked out the car. The drivewheel could still spin, but the pinion system for steering was snapped in several places.
Dad shook his head, smiled, and apologized to Alex. “They’re not designed for little girls to butt-stomp,” Dad explained. “Good thing we got this at the dollar store.”
Alex wasn’t sure what that meant, but he sadly relinquished the control box back to his father. He’d need to practice driving some more before he did that again. Perhaps he’d go read up on driving on his dad’s computer….
CASE: CRUNCHED
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