On Sunday morning, I got up early because I was just too excited about Robee. The Tinkering Contest presentations were tomorrow at school. I couldn’t wait to show Ms. Harris and the rest of the class what I created. I decided to check on my project before I had to get dressed and eat breakfast. "Lulu!! It’s time to wake up!" I shouted as I was looking for my robe and slippers.
Lulu, bleary-eyed, yawned and stretched. "Ohhhh…I just had the most wonderful dream!" smiled Lulu, with her eyes half open. "I was eating a stack of pancakes with maple syrup. Deee-lic-cious! I think those pancakes are organic too! I can just taste it in my mouth still."
"Stop thinking about food!" I scolded. "It’s time to get serious! I need to check on Robee. I feel like something may be missing. I may need to take it up a notch." Lulu, still yawning walked dreamily ten paces behind me. She was so slow that I could barely hear the usual tip-tapping sound from her paws as we continued downstairs towards the garage door.
When I stepped into the garage, I got the shock of my life. Bolts, plastic covers, bottle caps – the scattered remains of my special tinkering project – were all over the garage floor.
"AHH! MONSTERS WERE HERE! RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIIFEEEE!" Lulu shouted as she tried to hide in the corner of the garage.
"Calm down, Lulu!" I yelled back as I tried to figure out what happened overnight. I looked up and saw that the garage window was a tiny bit ajar. I walked over to it and got a view of something that had me steaming mad. Mr. Snuffles the cat was in our backyard meticulously licking his paws. "That good for nothing cat!" I yelled. He must have gotten out of his house somehow. At that moment, Mr. Snuffles looked up and I swear I saw a sneaky smile across his face. He didn’t see me and was continuing to lick his paws, cleaning away his guilt.
"Lulu, this was no monster job," I angrily explained. "This was a disaster by Mr. Snuffles!" Lulu didn’t know what to think. Mr. Snuffles scared the living daylights out of her so it was cute how she was still trying to protect me, while also trying to avoid confrontation with the scariest cat in our neighborhood.
"Um, Chloe are you going to do anything crazy?! Because I think that I’m too pretty to get scratched, ok?" pleaded Lulu. "Of course, I’m always gonna be here for you – just here inside the house."
As Lulu continued to talk, the blood was boiling inside of me. Lulu was right. Mr. Snuffles was an evil cat! My project, MY TINKERING PROJECT WAS DESTROYED!!! Mr. Snuffles continued to lick his paws in our backyard. I couldn’t believe he had the nerve to still hang around our house. I tiptoed outside and grabbed the watering hose. I slowly walked over to the faucet and turned on the water. "This stupid cat is not going to know what hit him," I thought. I pointed the hose in Mr. Snuffles’ direction, closed my eyes and just sprayed. I sprayed with all my might. I sprayed liked my life depended on it, which it felt like it did. My project was ruined and that horrible white cat had caused enough drama in my life.
Then it all sort of happened in slow motion. You see, Mr. Snuffles like most cats, hated water. Mr. Snuffles actually despised water more than most cats. When the cold water from my hose finally hit the angelic white fur of Mr. Snuffles, he let out a MEOWING SCREAM. His scream was so loud, I thought for sure there really was a monster in here. Of course, the scream scared Lulu even more. I heard some loud clanging in the garage which I was sure was most-likely Lulu hiding from the "monster". I opened my eyes and looked up. Mr. Snuffles had jumped about one hundred feet high into the air. I couldn’t believe my eyes! When he finally landed on the muddy grass he was scurrying to find patches of dry land. He was unsuccessful, of course as I was pointing my trusty watering hose at him wherever he went. He slid all around in the wet grass, which continued to get muddier and muddier with all the water. The grass was so muddy, that Mr. Snuffles’ perfect white fur turned into an ugly, dirty gray black. Finally, Mr. Snuffles made his escape through a small opening in the fence between our two houses. He never looked back.
"Take that you evil cat!" Lulu yelled. "That’s right you big sissy! Run home to Mommy Sally!" Lulu shouted.
"Lulu he’s gone now," I said. "I don’t think he heard you."
Lulu started to jump up and down and started barking hysterically, "Good luck cleaning the dirt off of you! Don’t you ever come back here again!"
With the hose still dripping drops of water, I surveyed the damage. The backyard was now a mess, covered in muddy puddles. Mom’s peonies that she had just planted were drooped over, sopping wet.
"Chloe!" I heard Mom call from inside the house. "Oh no. Not only do I not have a Tinkering Project, I’m in trouble. Big Time."
Read More in Chapter 6: Robot Hacking
