ASK A LIBRARIAN
Freddy and the gang got just about everything they needed from Mr. Pumpernickel’s junkyard, including thousands of rivets, metal sheeting for the exterior of the time travel machine, super strong windows that had come off a demolished bank building, and engine parts from a junked race car. Over the next three days they banged, molded, screwed, hammered, and bent the time machine into shape.
“That magnetic transformer needs to be polarized in the opposite circuitry where it is presently in order to provide adequate navigational capability,” Theodore said to Wally.
The purple Fry stared at him blankly. “HUH?”
Theodore sighed and said, “Switch the blue and red wires so we can steer.”
“Gotcha, Teddio.”
Si, Meese, and Curly put the blue suede Elvis seat in and bolted it down, and then Howie put in the steering wheel.
“How exactly do you steer through time?” Howie asked.
“Very carefully,” replied Theodore.
Freddy and Theodore examined the blueprints they had drawn up and then compared them with the plans in the logbook.
“It looks perfect,” said Theodore.
“Yeah, but we have two problems. First, we don’t have this thing.” He pointed to the drawings where a small object resembling a gyroscope sat on top of the time machine. “According to the plans, that’s the thing that creates the hole in the time-space continuum that will allow us to leave our time and go to another. But Finklebean doesn’t say how to build it. Without that, it won’t work.”
“Okay, we’ve got the first problem nailed down; what’s the second one, Freddio?” asked Si, cheerfully.
“The second problem is we still don’t have a way to power the time machine,” Freddy added gloomily. “And without those two things it’s just a big lump of metal. And the science competition is tomorrow. I don’t know what we’re going to do. I’m out of answers.”
Howie snapped his fingers. “Questions and answers? Remember, Freddy? It’s ‘Ask A Librarian Week.’ Maybe that lady at the library can help us. And she knew Silas Finklebean.”
“Well,” said Theodore. “Perhaps she can help.”
Freddy sighed. “We don’t have anything to lose, I guess.”
Freddy and Howie rode their bikes down to the library. Inside they found the librarian working at the front desk.
“Can I help you, boys?” she said pleasantly.
“Uh, yes, Ms., uh …,” began Freddy.
“Oh, where are my manners. My name is Mildred Maraschino.”
“Okay, Ms. Maraschino. We were wondering if you could tell us anything else about Silas Finklebean.”
“Like what?”
“Well, you said he was a very lucky person. And that he was very generous.”
“That’s right, he was. And he loved children. They were his best friends actually. All the adults thought he was, well, not exactly right in the head.”
“That happens to me and my dad all the time,” replied Freddy, knowingly. “Did you know much about his inventions?”
Mildred hesitated, eyeing the boys closely. “I was very young back then. I do remember that he was a very careful man. He planned for every possibility.”
“That’s what my dad taught me too,” said Freddy. “Every scientist has to think that way. You have to be responsible, but you still can have fun.”
“I think you and Silas would’ve gotten on very well,” said Mildred, smiling. She hesitated and then plucked something out of her desk drawer. “Silas gave me this.” She held it up. It was a small mirror. “He said this was a wishing mirror. He told me if you looked into it and concentrated very hard, you could make a wish and it would come true.”
“Boy, I could use one of those,” said Freddy.
“I’ve tried to make it work over the years, but I guess I wasn’t doing it right. My wish never came true,” she added sadly. She handed the mirror to Freddy.
He looked into it, and then concentrated very hard. What he was wishing for was an answer to their dilemma. I need to find that gyroscope device. I need to find that gyroscope device. He said this to himself over and over. Nothing happened, though, and he finally handed the mirror back.
“Silas must’ve really liked you to give you a wishing mirror, even if it didn’t work right,” said Howie.
“I think of all the children he knew, he liked me the best,” she replied. “I don’t think he gave anyone else anything he’d made.”
Freddy thought for a moment, and then it struck him. “Did Silas ever give you something else? Maybe something to keep safe for him?”
Mildred looked taken aback. “Why do you ask that?”
“Because you said he planned for every possibility. And you said you were the only one he ever gave anything he’d made. I bet he trusted you.”
Mildred looked a little uncomfortable, but finally, she said, “I live just down the street. Would you boys like to see something?”
They both nodded.
A few minutes later they were walking into Mildred’s little cottage. It was cozy inside with lots of dainty knickknacks everywhere. Mildred excused herself. While she was gone Freddy looked over some old family pictures on the fireplace mantel. One of them surprised him. He was about to say something to Howie but then Mildred came back into the room holding a small box.
“Is that what Silas wanted you to keep safe?” Freddy said, pointing at the box.
Mildred nodded, put the box on the coffee table, and opened it. Freddy and Howie looked at each other excitedly. It was the gyroscope-like thing from the time machine plans.
“What did he say when he gave that to you?” asked Freddy.
Mildred closed her eyes and her brow wrinkled as she thought hard. “He told me that it held the key to everyone’s future. And that he wouldn’t trust it with an adult, but that it would be safe with a child. I never knew what he meant by that.” She opened her eyes and continued, “Do you?”
Freddy could hardly contain his excitement. “I think I know exactly what he meant. Ms.Maraschino, do you mind if we borrow it?”
She put her hand protectively on top of the device. “I’m not sure.”
“We’ll take good care of it, I promise,” said Freddy.
“I’ve never let this out of my possession since he gave it to me.”
Freddy glanced over at the pictures on the mantel and then turned back to her. “If you let us take it, I think that the next wish you make in your wishing mirror might just come true. And Silas did say it would be safe with a child.”
Mildred still looked unsure. “My wish? How can you —”
“Just trust me, Ms. Maraschino,” said Freddy. “I know I’m just a kid, but I’m also a scientist, a very trustworthy one.”
Mildred looked doubtful for a moment, and then she finally said, “Well, until you both came along no one seemed to care about Silas anymore, which was very sad indeed. So, yes, you can take it.”
As Freddy took the box, Mildred added, “Do you think you’ll be able to find your future with it?”
Freddy patted the box. “I think our future looks really bright now.”