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 brain 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 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 would want to buy! He was just about to run into the house for another cookie but just then something mysterious happened. They took a 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 whispering and looking over their shoulders as the carried it 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 their 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 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 a Strawberry Short Cake DVD. 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. He thought and thought all afternoon but it just didn't make sense. Why were the movers acting to secretive about the box? What made it so heavy that 3 big, muscly men were needed to move it? Why was the writing on the side of box in Italian? What is it a project that went bad? An invention that could hurt people? Maybe it was a time machine? Just about the time josh really started making progress in this thoughts his mom called him down for dinner.

Just before bed that night Josh got an idea about the box. 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 (don't try this at home kids) without destroying anyway or disturbing his family. Once the house was quite and he was sure everyone was in bed, he opened his bedroom 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...He heard this blood curdling scream and he jumped back into his room before he fell off the make-shift bridge. He was shaking it scared him so bad as he thought everyone was asleep. Once his heart stopped racing he tiptoed to the door and looked out into the hall. He noticed the bathroom light was one and his mom and Ruby Clair were in there. He stepped into the hall a few feet and could hear his mom's angry whispering voice saying, "Ruby, why on earth did you go to bed with bubble gum in your mouth? Not only could you choke but now I am going to have to cut it right out of your matted, sticky hair. No matter what I do I cannot pull it out!" Oh brother, Josh thought and then chuckled to himself because he should have thought, "oh sister!" He realized that maybe it was a good thing as he knew better than to ever leave the house after dark alone. His parents would really be upset and he would be grounded for a month! He had tried it one other time and gotten caught and punished because it was such a dangerous thing to do.

Still he wanted to get to the neighbor's back yard so badly and see what was in that box. He had been about to make a big mistake and now he realized he would have to go exploring in broad daylight. Bummer now he had to think about just how he was going to get that big piece of wood down the stairs and outside again. He shut the door and laid back down on his bed, starring up at the shadows on the ceiling.

He thought about what he wanted to invent and decided it would be great to make the hair cutting hat first. That way he could sneak into the girls' rooms at night and give them a little haircut. He was sick and tired of them whining and bawling whenever mom had to shampoo, comb out, or put their hair up in pigtails. This episode with the gum was enough! He'd program the hair cutting machine to trim them up really nice. Maybe a Mohawk or just one little tuft of hair so they could tie a bow around it!

Then he thought about how much trouble he'd be in for doing that and decided that maybe he should go to sleep and worry about the exploration in the morning. He wondered if a guy could get in trouble just dreamin' up all this stuff. The next thing he knew it was morning and it was Saturday, no school! He had to figure out...a way into his neighbors house. Or rather, he had to figure out a way into his neighbors house to find out what was inside the black box!

Josh laid in bed for quite some time thinking over his options- of course there were many options. He could dig a tunnel underground from his house to his neighbors but... that would take forever and he couldn't wait that long. He could pretend he was a Pizza delivery guy... but... he didn't have a uniform, who knows when his neighbor would order pizza again and they probably won't take him seriously anyway, I mean he was only NINE! He could wait for his neighbor to leave and then climb in the window or sneak in the back door but... that would be dishonest AND illegal. And even though Josh had never even stepped foot inside a prison- he knew it was one place he wanted to avoid. Hum, perhaps there weren't as many options as he thought.

Josh was finally drawn out of bed around 10 am by the smell of pancakes on the griddle. He knew if he didn't hurry down stairs fast- he wouldn't get any. By the time he got into the kitchen the rest of the family had already eaten and had moved on to other activities. His mom however was still there flipping pancakes and cleaning up. "Good morning, sleepyhead!" beamed Josh's Mom, "How did you sleep?" Josh told his mom he didn't sleep well. When she asked why he decided to tell her the whole story. She listened patiently as he explained about the mysterious movers, the big black box, the 15 foot piece of ply wood and all of his flawed plans to discover what was in that box. After considering the situation Josh's mom said, "I have an idea! Go get dressed and meet me down stairs in 10 minutes." Josh was intrigued. He got dressed quickly and waited on the couch for his mom. When she came down stairs and lead Josh out the door. As she did we explained her plan. "Lets go next door and meet our new neighbor." She said. "Then you can talk to him all about his big black box." Josh wasn't so sure he liked his mom's idea but before he could voice his concerns she had already knocked on the door and he could hear heavy footsteps heading his way. thought Josh. Oh, no!!What am I going to do now?!

Just as Josh was about to turn and run back home the door flew open and a tall thin man with crazy black hair and tiny rectangular glasses bloomed, "HELLO NEIGHBORS! HOW ARE YOU THIS FINE FALL MORNING?" Josh was so stunned by his neighbors appearance and loud voice, he just stood and stared. "We are doing quite well, Professor Razzenbach." replied Josh's mom. "I've just come to introduce you to my son Josh. He is a scientist too you know. Perhaps someday he will teach, just like you. Anyway," she explained, "Josh here has a few questions for you about your big black box" Josh's mom leaned forward and winked when she said those last three words but Josh couldn't understand why? "WELL THEN JOSH, YOU'LL HAVE TO COME RIGHT IN AND HAVE YOUR FIRST LESSON IN PHSYCICS THEN, WON'T YOU?" at this Professor Razzenbach and Josh's mom both chuckled. Seeing the concerned look on Josh's face his mom said, "Don't worry Josh, you are in good hands. Thanks Professor Razzenbach, just send him home whenever you are done with him" And with this she turned and walked away. Josh's mind was running wild. When he is done with me? What does that mean? What if he locks me in the big black box and cuts me into pieces or sends me flying through space or through time. Josh was scared stiff. He wanted to scream and run away but he couldn't move an inch. Professor Razzenbach looked at Josh and said, "YOU LOOK AS SCARED AS AN ATOM ABOUT TO BE IONIZED! COME ON SON, FOLLOW ME." Josh swallowed hard and followed Professor Razzenbach through the mess of boxes that filled his front room. He had no idea what he was in for but he followed the Professor down to his basement and into a large room with a big sign that said PHYSICS LAB. Once they were inside the room, Professor Razzenbach whirled around and said...