At Somersby-Taking Things Apart and Putting Them Back Together

[makesthings]

Somersby doesn't have that many good places to hide and most of the boys know them all by their last year.

After a few bribes and Nick using his charm, they convinced the groundskeeper to let them use a shed as long as nothing broke.

Over the few years that Nick and Sam have had access to it, its become a fairly serious workshop which at the moment is full of the sounds of metal as Sam waves something that was once a clock at Nick,

"It won't work if you do it like that."

Comments

[wordofa_sayre]

"You know what?"

He gives the apparatus a once-over, then turns and beams a grin at Sam.

"I think it will."

[makesthings]

"Good, this is why you should listen to me."

[wordofa_sayre]

"Sure," Nick says, cheerfully.

"And I will. When you're right."

[makesthings]

"I was right about this since I'm better at making things than you are and you know it. So now that you've weighed the bee, what do you do next?"

[wordofa_sayre]

"I measure its wingspan."

He turns and stares doubtfully at the cage.




"...Somehow."

[makesthings]

"It might help to make it stop. Could try smoking it like bee keepers do with hives."

[wordofa_sayre]

"Now that's the sort of idea that gives me hope that you might show real interest in science some day," Nick jibes.

"Don't suppose you have a bellows around anywhere, do you?"

[makesthings]

"Of course I do, I run as good a forge as I can with what's available."

[wordofa_sayre]

He grins at Sam.

"So... where is it?"

[makesthings]

Sam sighs and starts rummaging near the little forge he has built and then tosses the bellows which are small but still bellows at Nick.

[wordofa_sayre]

He makes a neat catch.

"Thanks."

Nick turns back toward the cage, muttering,

"Now all I need is something to make smoke..."


It looks as though he's on the verge of setting a corner of workbench on fire, if need be.

[makesthings]

"Nick, forge, grab some gloves and a piece of wood."

At times Sam really wonders how someone so smart can be so stupid.

[wordofa_sayre]

"You can't seriously mean you're going to let me rummage around your forge."

[makesthings]

"I'm going to let you near the fire with gloves to remove a piece of wood. If you start rummaging then I won't let you."

[wordofa_sayre]

His grin flashes, bright and delighted.

"You don't have to tell me twice."

It's not exactly rummaging. It just takes him a few moments to find all the pieces.

It's not like anything that Sameth's working on actually gets disturbed, or anything...

[makesthings]

Except for the spring that sets a small piles of gears going as Sam is by the forge is a quick stride,

"Charter, what did you do?"

[wordofa_sayre]

"Nothing! I didn't do anything!" Nick protests.

[makesthings]

"Of course you did."

The gears are finally stopped but a spring has escaped to somewhere,

"You can never leave well enough alone."

He's not annoyed just exasperated.

[wordofa_sayre]

"I didn't," he insists. "I just brushed against the edge of that spring there--"

He points, not quite touching it.

"-- just barely, just to adjust it the slightest bit--"

[makesthings]

"It didn't need adjusting. Fine, how do you think it needed adjusting?"

[wordofa_sayre]

"The tension's all wrong. Look here."

Nick shifts the gloves and wood to his other hand, and points again.

"See how it's twisting under the strain?"

[makesthings]

Sameth bends down and grabs some small pliers so he can get a better look,

"Its not that great a strain and imagine what it can do when it goes."

[wordofa_sayre]

"It'll either set things moving with a lot of force, or break entirely once the metal weakens," Nick says, dryly. "Your call. Maybe you can flip that wiggly coin of yours to find out."

[makesthings]

"Its not going to break at least I don't think so. Hand me the spring in your hair, its stronger."

Carefully he starts to take it apart and reposition things as he gets a different idea.

[wordofa_sayre]

"In my--"

He reaches up, bemused, only to become even more so when he finds a spring exactly where Sam had said.

"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle."

Beat.

"Here you go, old chap."