NEW TITLE PROPOSAL: Josh and the Big, Black Box

Once upon a time there was a young man named Josh. I call Josh a young man, because that is exactly what he is. He is not a little boy anymore because he is almost 10 years old. Josh has one big brother and one little brother and two little sisters. His big brother, Mike is in junior high school and walks around every day with his iPod glued to his ear. He also talks on his cell phone a lot which is pretty annoying. His little brother, Cameron is seven and in the 2nd grade. He gets into Josh's stuff a lot but for the most part, they get along well together. His sisters are identical twins and their names are Ruby Claire and Amber Clarisse. They have red hair and they are five years old. The twins are nice enough but Josh is glad they have more boys than girls in his family. He really gets so frustrated when the twins want to watch Strawberry Shortcake DVDs! Yucky..he doesn't like those at all. Girls seems to like such silly things!

Whenever that happens he goes into his room, lies down on his bed and starts to think about the things boys like to think about. His favorite thing to think about is... how famous he will be when he grows up. You see, Josh is certain that someday he will be a famous inventor! At almost 10 years old he has already designed and built a robot that can walk. He has plans for a "Clean Machine" (a robot that cleans your room for you); a "Dog-bot" (an automatic dog poop picker-upper); and a "Hair-cutter Hat" (a computerized hat that cuts your hair perfectly, conveniently, and quickly every time). Josh loves to think about his inventions, however, his mind power far out weighs his access to the tools and supplies he needs to make his inventions real. And this alone is the source of great frustration for Josh.

All that changed one day when Josh got a new neighbor. Josh was at school when the moving truck arrived but by the time he got home in the afternoon, the movers where hard at work unloading things from their truck. Josh normally would not have paid much attention to contents of a new neighbor's house but the things the movers were unloading for this neighbor were very exciting to Josh. So interesting in fact, that he sat himself down on the front porch with a large after school snack (1 ham sandwich, 3 carrots, 2 chocolate chip cookies, and a glass of milk) to watch. The first thing that caught Josh's eye was a ...bunch of stuff that looked like they belonged to a boy just his age! Along with the usual things like Legos, a microscope, balls and roller skates, a scooter, and some bats,he saw boxes and gears, and pulleys. He spied boxes of metal and wood and boxes of wheels~all sizes. There were power tools and hand tools, a gigantic workbench, nails, nuts, bolts rivets, safety glasses and a grinder!

His mind was really spinning about all the things he could use this stuff for. The only thing he wanted to do was make friends with the new neighbor right away so they could play together and they could make useful new things that other people want to buy! As things kept coming out of the truck he was about to get up and run in for another cookie but just about then, something mysterious happened. They took this big boxy thing out of the truck. It took three men to lift it and it was covered up with a big black tarp. They were whisperng and looking over their shoulders to make sure no one was paying attention. Josh leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him watching. As they inched the big boxy thing down the ramp suddenly, and with no warning, the tarp slipped completely off. Josh saw that it was a big machine with some Italian writing on the side. The men scurried quickly to cover it up...again looking over thier shoulders, hoping no one had seen what happened. They were sure their secret was safe! Josh was glad they hadn't seen him and was wishing he had paid better attention in his Italian class. He had no idea what it said or what it was but he definitely knew... it was important! Josh was also pretty sure that what he saw under that tarp, very few other people had ever seen before.

Josh was just about to run and ask what it was when he got the feeling that if they knew he had seen the big black box they would go crazy. He decided he had better get to know his neighbor a little better before asking about the mysterious black box and anyway he wanted another chocolate chip cookie before his little brother at them all. So he went inside. But he was too late. He got into the kitchen just as Cameron stuffed the last cookie into his pocket and ran away! Oh Cameron! he thought.

Josh wandered into the living room to see what was going on but his sisters were watching Strawberry Short Cake. Strawberry Short Cake again? You have got to be kidding me! Josh thought to himself. Oh well, maybe if I go upstairs and think hard enough I can figure out whats inside that big black box. Just then Josh got an idea. He ran to the garage and grabbed a 15 foot piece of plywood. It was big and kind of heavy but he managed to shove it up five flights of stairs without destroying anyway. Once he arrived in his bedroom, he opened the window and pushed the wood over to the ledge on his neighbors house. He was just about to climb out the window and shimmy across the board when...