The Tiny Inventor of Alpville
by
Carroll J. Darby
The cozy village of Alpville was the perfect town to live in. All of the children in the town laughed and played in the streets from dusk until dawn…that is, all of the children, except for one. Maya, a small girl with big glasses, tucked herself away every day in her own private workshop. While other children splashed in the lake or skied down the snowy slopes, Maya tinkered with her latest inventions all alone. She was a whiz, unafraid to get her hands dirty working on her latest creation. Whether it was making a car or making the perfect tool to cut the crust off of her toast, Maya loved inventing and engineering.
It wasn’t that Maya didn’t enjoy playing with the other kids. She longed to have people her own age to play with, but they didn’t feel the same way. Whenever she tried, the other kids would tease her for playing with her metal toys instead of dolls. It didn’t help that the towns eccentric founder, Franklin Mcgillicutty, had been an inventor who had a few inventions that didn’t go exactly as planned. The town had been poor when it was founded 300 years ago, and a lot of the people were hungry. Franklin Mcgillicutty couldn’t stand to see his people starve, so he came up with a brilliant idea: He would make a robot with a built-in oven that would cook for everyone, every day. No one would be hungry and no one would be sad! He spent days making a robot he affectionately named Maker of Cupcakes and Desserts, or M.O.C.A.D, for short.
Unfortunately for him…M.O.C.A.D had a wire crossed somewhere. Instead of making tiny meals for everyone, M.O.C.A.D cooked one giant cupcake and dropped it on the town; nearly crushing everyone! All Franklin had wanted to do was help, but he accidentally made a bigger mess than what they started with. Unsure of how to fix M.O.C.A.D, he flipped a switch and sent his creation into the wilderness. Rumor had it for years that M.O.C.A.D was hiding in a cave far away, all alone, waiting for another chance to cook for the townsfolk.
Maya had grown up hearing that story often, and she had always hoped she could find M.O.C.A.D and make him right. She wanted everyone to see how cool inventing was, that it wasn’t dangerous or weird, but it seemed like no one gave her a chance.
The children would run around, pretending to be zapped by Maya’s inventions. Maya always tried to brush it off, but when she laid awake in bed at night, she’d think about it over and over. Why didn’t the other kids like her? What was she doing wrong?
That’s when Maya came up with a plan. Maybe she could make an invention so cool, so fun that all the kids wouldn’t have a choice but to be her friend! But what did the other kids like? Rollercoasters? Ferris Wheels? Flying?
“Flying!” Maya squealed, grabbing a pen and paper. She worked day and night constructing her invention: a ray that would allow people to fly! When she finally finished it, she couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll call it the Zapper-3000! They’ll all want to be my friend after this!”
She walked down to the park, carrying the Zapper-3000 with her. “I have something I made for all of you” She called out. She held up the ray. She waited for applause, for excitement…but the kids just stared at her, confused. “Wow, Maya made us a pile of junk!” Anthony, the meanest boy of all called, leading the kids in a laugh.
“It’s not a pile of junk!” Maya assured them. “It’s the Zapper-3000. It’ll give you the ability to fly. Here, let me show you!” Maya pressed the button…and suddenly, there were tall green things all around them. Were they trees? Where were they?
Maya turned her head…and stared directly into the eye of a fluffy caterpillar. The caterpillar blinked as it munched on a leaf. But how on earth was it her height?
“You shrunk us!” Anthony yelled. Maya looked up and realized those tall green things were blades of grass! “I can fix this!” She called, “I must have switched the wires!”
Maya started to climb up on the blade of grass, looking for a high place she could stand on to fix everyone. A cuddly butterfly zipped by, and Maya took a daring leap onto it’s back. She aimed the Zapper-3000 and…ZAP!
Everyone grew back to their normal size. Maya wiped her brow and relaxed…but the other kids looked far from relaxed.
“She is a mad scientist!” Anthony called.
“If you’d give me time to explain so you’d understand me-“
But it was too late. The kids walked away, Anthony leading them. Maya suddenly felt very alone. She opened her invention notebook and looked at all her creations for a long moment. Maybe she should go ski with the other kids? If she wanted them to like her if she wanted them to stop making fun of her…maybe she had to give up inventing.
Maya placed her invention notebook and the Zapper-3000 in the trashcan. Maybe she was like Franklin Mcgillicutty. Maybe her inventions weren’t any good, perhaps she’d be better off playing like the other kids.
Maya gave one last glance at her invention notebook before she made her way towards the mountain, where the other kids had gone. She watched them skiing and laughing, and decided she had to try to be like them. She strapped on her skis, but they felt all wobbly and wrong. She crept down the hill, her heart racing in her chest. With a big, brave breath, she began sliding down the hill. “Oh no!” She yelled, “Oh no, oh no!”
She raced down the hill, out of control! She burst through a snowman and came out the other side with a carrot in her mouth, screaming the whole way. The kids on the sidelines laughed as she spiraled down the hill. Suddenly, she was off course! She flailed her arms, trying to get back to the trail, but tripped and ended up rolling down the mountain. Maya finally came to a stop far into the woods at the base of the mountain.
She felt tears sting her eyes. She certainly wasn’t good at this. In a huff, she took off her skis, and that’s when she saw it:
A deep, dark cave in the mountain beside her. There was something shiny in it, something glistening. She took one step inside, curious to see what it was…and a bright light filled the cave. A giant robot blinked its eyes inches away from her.
It was Franklin Mcgillicutty’s robot, the Maker Of Cupcakes and Desserts, M.O.C.A.D! She had finally found it! Maybe now she could fix it, she could show the whole town-
THUMP! THUMP! M.O.C.A.D rose to his feet and thudded past her. She rushed towards him, trying to catch up, but he was too big and too fast. He marched towards the town…and it looked like he was fiddling around in his stomach?
“Oh no!” Maya gasped. M.O.C.A.D had opened the built-in oven in its stomach and put in a baking tin. “He’s going to drop food on the whole town!”
Maya had to stop this. She had to fix it. But how? M.O.C.A.D’s control panel was too high to reach. Could she build a giant net? Could she make a cupcake-eating robot champion?
She stopped for breath next to the lake. Overhead, M.O.C.A.D paced, it’s oven glowing a bright red. She looked up, to the trashcan where she had thrown her invention notebook and the Zapper-3000. If she failed on those, how could she possibly save the town?
A lightbulb went off over her head. That was it, the Zapper-3000! She could shrink the cupcake! Just as the idea came to her, M.O.C.A.D’s oven DINGED!
M.O.C.A.D pulled out the most beautiful cupcake you’ve ever seen. Pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles, she could almost smell it from a mile away. Down below, the townsfolk scrambled to get to safety.
Maya started up her Zapper-3000 with a roar. She aimed for the cupcake as M.O.C.A.D happily rose it into the air, about to drop it on the town below-
ZAP! A bright light shot out from Maya’s invention. In an instant, the cupcake split into hundreds of mini cupcakes that rained down on the town. People below cheered and danced as the cupcakes fell harmlessly on them. It was almost like a dream!
M.O.C.A.D looked down on all the townsfolk, confused. He turned his gaze to Maya, and the townsfolk fell silent. What was she going to do?
“I know you’re not trying to hurt anybody! You’re different, like me. Your ideas don’t always work out, but we shouldn’t have kicked you out of town for that. We should have helped you be even better at what you do, we should have accepted you.” M.O.C.A.D extended his hand for Maya. She stepped in it. Below, the townspeople ooh’d and ahh’d. M.O.C.A.D gave her a fantastic hug…it’s very first hug.
Everyone cheered as Maya stepped onto the ground again. Anthony and the other kids approached her. “I’ve always thought you were cool, Maya!” Anthony chimed. Maya started to feel bad. Anthony hadn’t always liked her. All the kids wanted to be her friend now, but did she really want to be friends with people who were mean to her before?
“Anthony, you never thought I was cool…but I think I’m cool. I like myself, and my inventing, and that’s what matters.” Anthony turned bright red, like a tomato about to pop. One of the kids asked if Maya wanted to come to play, but Maya shook her head.
“That’s okay, I think I’ll go invent some things. But I can show you how if you want?” A few of the kids nodded happily and followed Maya. She liked inventing, she loved being different, and that was okay. The other kids hadn’t liked her because they didn’t understand her. They were afraid of her being different. But if they had all been accepting, and worked together, they all could’ve helped each other grow.
Since the cupcake incident, Maya has continued inventing even more. Her and M.O.C.A.D. have a bake sale every week, and M.O.C.A.D even helps her with her inventions! Maya is glad she’s doing what she loves with people who love and respect her, even if one of those people is a giant robot. She thinks that might even make it better.
Comments are closed.