Chapter - A science toy

	Chapter - A science toy
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"Fred! You come up here this minute!"

"Yes, Mom."

Fred looked at John and shrugged eloquently. He didn't know what was up.

"Mom, is it OK if John comes up, too?"

"Yes. bring your friend."

They climbed the stairs to the second floor and went into Fred's room.

Fred's Mom glowered at them.

"How did you get a hand print on the outside of the window? And what were you doing to get soot on your hand off the outside wall? And I found one of your little science toys on the window ledge when I went to clean it. If it hadn't been stuck in the corner of of the window it might have fallen off and been lost. I clean your room every day. I don't appreciate you making extra work for me." She handed something to Fred.

"And another thing. Let's see your hand." She grabbed Fred's hand and held it up against the window, spreading the fingers apart.

"How did you make such a large hand print? It was at least two cms wider than your hand." Her voice dropped to a mutter, as if she was talking to herself. "Must have smeared it, althought the finger prints were clear enough."

"Well, then," she said in her normal loud voice, still frowning at them, "are you gonna do this again?"

"No, Mom." Fred said quickly, shaking his head.

"Good." said his Mom, and walked briskly out of the roon, with her bucket of water and rags.

"Now you boys behave."

John looked bewildered. "What was that about?"

Fred looked thoughtful. "Well, if the fingerprinters were clear, and the hand was bigger than mine, it wasn't mine. And ..."

He stoped to look at the "science toy" in his hand. His eyes grew wide. "And we have to go practise soccer."

He rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a small square of black foam that looked as if it had once held some kind of electronic component. He poked the wire lead on one end of the "science toy" into the foam and set it on a trophy shelf.

Then he said in a normal tone. "Come on then, let's go."

"Mom," he called, as they left the room. "John and I are going to the park. I'm going to take the soccer ball."

John grimaced at Fred, mouthing, "What?" and spreading his arms.

Fred mimed "Sssh" with his hand to his lips and led the way out of the house.

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