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Where We Left Off:
Gus and Ollie cracked a huge case involving a con-man and a car crash.
The Little Engine That Could:
There were severe storms in May, but we were fortunate to come through unscathed. From one day to the next, we had no idea what to expect from the weather. Spring in mid-May did deliver on the promise of new wildlife babies which were recent case files, 08-476 and 09-477. The calendar just passed Mother’s Day.
Things were stressful as noted in the case file about the deer and deforestation. Ollie, Gus, and I were in need of a good old fashioned mystery. We considered ourselves lucky there were fun things to do too. The Grumpy Old Man built four miniature, critter-sized picnic tables and I put them around the Winchester-Nabu estate.
As Ollie and I were setting up the little table in a corner that borders the woods, something caught our attention.
“Auntie, what’s that? There’s something right near you.” Ollie sat up and tapped his paw on the top ledge of his buggy’s lower screen.
I turned from Ollie to the spot that had his attention. There was something brown on top of a cement-colored rock. I got closer and took a photo before picking up the metal object. I brought it over to show Ollie letting him take a few sniffs.
“I’m sure your grandpa will know exactly what this is, but why it’s over here is the mystery,” I said.
Gus finished chewing on grass and caught up to us. I balanced the remaining picnic table and the artifact in one arm while pushing Ollie’s buggy with the other. The three of us went up to the Big Rock to set up the last table. The birds were braver than the squirrels to eat off the table and get the breakfast of birdseed and peanuts.
“All right, guys,” I said after a few minutes of watching the animals eat, “let’s get back and show this to the Grumpy Old Man.”
I took a few more photos when we reached the house. I knew that if I wanted to scrap this piece of metal, I’d have to be discreet. The Grumpy Old Man has been clinging to every rusted scrap no matter how broken or the simple fact that he no longer has the machines that use the parts. I had found a milk crate full of broken parts and he wouldn’t let me give them away to be scrapped. Every Sunday for months, I’d been cleaning and organizing his hoarded hardware, tools, antiques, wood, and a lot of useless things.
He wasn’t ready to meet with us. The cats and I went into the kitchen so I could get their dishes for Second Breakfast. By then, the coffee finished brewing. It was my day off from teaching classes which meant I was able to dedicate my day to detective agency business.
Oliver and Gus gathered around me for treats. I set up the monitor to display the photos taken of the artifact. The computer was ready for research. After playing his treat game, Ollie sat on top of the stack of thick old, musty Chilton’s books on cars that I brought in from the Grumpy Old Man’s garage. I guess it was a good thing I didn’t throw them away while cleaning and organizing.
“These are stinky.” Ollie sniffed his paw after being on the manuals and jumped down.
Gus was polite to his cousin (a rare occurrence) and started to clean him. I knew it wouldn’t be that simple. After a few brotherly passes over Ollie’s marmalade stripes, Gus opened his jaw and clamped onto his neck. I wasted my energy telling him to stop. He never obeys. Ollie can handle himself. He wriggled free. They boxed for a few seconds and then dispersed to “their corners,” which meant Gus got on top of his elaborate cardboard fort and, Ollie went under a chair where blankets hang over it for a lovely tented space.
“Boys, can we get back to work?” I said. “I bet my grandfather had the Time Life books. They probably got sold at the garage sale. I’d hate to reference a pirated copy for any of these books. I check the library app and nothing came up for them.”
“We could wait and ask the Grumpy Old Man what it is and what he used it for.” Ollie placed one white-mitted paw out from under the blanket fort.
“Nah,” I said. “If he starts mowing, he’ll be out there all day. We can figure this out.”
The reverse image searches use AI. It was frustrating trying to avoid that damaging technology.
Gus settled down in a loaf position. He recalled all of his inspections outdoors and in the buildings. Most of them anyway. “I remember there was another artifact that matched this one. I think you gave it to the handyman to scrap with some other things.”
“I probably did,” I admitted. It was useful information nonetheless. If there had been a pair of these things, that indicated symmetrical application of parts.
My back hurt. I started to move around to stretch. Gus and Ollie had fallen asleep while I went through the manuals. It took all day. I hadn’t realized it was the middle of the afternoon. All of us needed lunch. I woke them up gently with soft words and pets. They stretched in down-cat, up-cat movements like yoga. Gus got to the floor and flopped to his side for extra long fingers to toes stretch. After lunch, it was time for treats and catnip.
“This is what I need.” Ollie quickly licked the dried catnip off of the bacon toy. He rolled over and started to bunny kick it.
There are two useful reactions to catnip: these boys get relaxed, not excited; and, Ollie can tap into other planes of existence. He gets the best information. The downside is waiting for him to come back to this world. It takes time.
I shifted to online research. I saw when Ollie started move his arms and legs. Gus was snuggled tightly against me on the bed. He lifted his head and told me Ollie should be waking up from his astral trip any moment. Ollie yawned and stretched with his bright white belly up.
“I think I found out the artifact’s purpose,” Oliver said.
“Is it for a teleporter? I really want a teleporter,” I said.
“I bet it’s for endless treats,” Gus wished aloud.
“You’re both wrong.” Ollie turned over and sat up. He blinked slowly a few times and yawned again. “The artifact comes from an old vehicle. No huge surprise there. But, what’s exciting is that our Grumpy Old Man wanted to create a type of quiet engine that’s also scalable and can be taken from one machine to any other machine!”
“That would be remarkable,” I said. “Since he lost most of his hearing from being around loud engines his whole life, making something quieter would be a fantastic mission. Electric vehicles are quieter, but those are owned by big companies. Creating something not only open source with the right-to-repair, but also easily scalable in power output—well, I think that would be worth a Nobel Prize.”
Gus jumped off the bed to look at Ollie at eye-level. “Do you think it’s possible? Can he do it?”
“I don’t think our grandpa is interested in saving the world, Gus. I think he just likes putting machines together.”
The three of us finished our discussion in time for First Dinner. We went downstairs and found the Grumpy Old Man dozing while sitting on the couch with his laptop open on his lap. The Cook was already preparing the boys’ dishes.
Case Findings:
A rusty metal artifact was discovered in a corner of the property. Gus and Ollie believe it ended up there accidentally during an excavation around the Grumpy Old Man’s garage. With the power of catnip, we learned that the artifact was from an old car. The exciting part of the reveal is what Oliver learned in an astral dimension. The Grumpy Old Man was trying to invent an engine that’s quiet and can be used for almost any kind of power needs. Having the right-to-repair is a massive issue in technology. To us, it makes no sense that someone can buy something like a John Deere lawn mower and not be allowed to fix it themselves because of a company’s intellectual property. That seems to be how the Maker community at large feels too.
Maybe this rusty old artifact we found won’t be necessary for a big idea like that. If you could invent something, what would it be?
Case Status: Closed