The Putterer

The Putterist-Revision

Harvey Wilkins smoothed out his janitor's outfit, wiping sweat from his brow. Although his face was wrinkled, he still held on to his determination to invent a creation so amazing it would prove to himself that he was still alive after all his years of defeat. It had been sixty-eight years of trying out ideas and sixty-eight years of failing in each of his experiments.

For most of Wilkins' life, his hair had been a dark brown color. Now it was starting the slow transformation from brown, to white, to gone. Despite the lines on his face and silver in his hair Wilkins' eyes still twinkled with the light of curiosity. He was once a bright inventor, the brightest in his year, but he was now a just a janitor for one of the high schools dotting Oklahoma.

In Harvey's view, for the past decades, the pace of coming up with amazing creations or discoveries had been slowing down in the world, and now it's stuck. If the population continues living like this, humans will run out of the fossil fuel that powers most of the world. Wilkins hated this; hated how the human race built their world upon nonrenewable substances. He wanted to change the way the world worked. He wanted to invent something that could really make a difference.

By the time Wilkins made it to the parking lot, the sky was streaked with magnificent shades of red, pink, and purple. The trees were glowing with the rusty orange of October. It was a beautiful sight, and as he climbed into his car, Wilkins thought to himself, Maybe today will be the day--the day I do something amazing. It was a doubtful thought, but it was encouraging. Wilkins inserted the keys into the ignition and the car rumbled to life. As he took off, a puff of black smoke trailed from his rear exhaust.

After a long car ride pushing his car up the hills, Wilkins returned home. The sky had already turned a deep purple, dotted with stars. Wilkins opened the door to his home and stepped inside, scooped up Choppy, his pet hamster and constant companion, and walked down the hallway. The floor creaked as the aging man made his way to the living room and took a seat on the velvety armchair, setting little Choppy on his lap. When Wilkins had first bought this house, this room was bright and colorful, but now the living room had become a dank place with junk scattered over the floor. Wilkins sat in the musty armchair for hours, drifting in and out of consciousness, thinking of different inventions he had attempted to create. Suddenly, he jumped up letting out a shriek.

"I've done it! Oh, how I have done it! I have made a discovery that will change the entire universe!" Wilkins cried out, glancing at the startled hamster that had been thrown to the floor.

Wilkins bent down, apologizing to Choppy before picking him up and rushing to his garage. This was the place where all of his dreams become reality; this was where he invented things. Although he was not a full time inventor, Wilkins enjoyed puttering. He ran to the table, placing Choppy on the hamster wheel bolted to the table, then shoved items away to get a clear area. The entire time he muttered to himself.

"So, so stupid. No one ever thought of it! So simple. Just... Just..."

He gathered the materials he needed and dumped them onto the table. Two hours later he had fabricated a rather large machine that looked a lot like a misshapen fridge. This machine used an X-ray laser, initially powered by the city's electric grid, to fuse hydrogen and helium. The fusion process would release more energy to power the laser, and would also release a previously unknown byproduct known as the anti-gravity particle. These particles were strained out and stored in a large containment system placed beneath his house. He was about to turn it on, but stopped mid-movement. He picked up Choppy from the wheel and stared into his eyes.

"Oh, Choppy. Guess what I have done!" He cried to him, "I have created anti-gravity! Do you know what this means? Of course you don't! You're a hamster! It means that you, me, maybe even the entire world can float, or levitate, or even fly!" He twirled Choppy, and Choppy's tiny black eyes seemed to glare at him.

Wilkins settled back down in his seat, and placed Choppy on the table.

"But what will I do? Sell it for money, fame? Or will I give the knowledge away for all of humanity to use, but if I do this, how will I know the people of Earth will use it correctly? Should I keep this information for myself, but, oh, that would be too greedy. Should I tell someone? Or not? Oh, this could fix all of our questions, our problems! This could solve overpopulation! Global warming! If we use it right, we can send people to space without spending thousands of dollars! No longer will mankind need to have fossil fuels or sunlight to run their creations! With a flick of this switch, I can change the entire world!" Wilkins rambled on as Choppy dozed off. "But first, I need to make sure this works!"

Wilkins mustered all of his courage before flicking the switch of his machine. Immediately, the old house shot up into space like a bullet escaping Earth's gravity. Wilkins frantically looked out the window, seeing the world shrink before his eyes. The windows shattered. Wilkins screamed, "Too much anti-gravity! Too much force!" before he and Choppy exploded in the vacuum of space.

The next day the mailman walked by, thinking to himself, I could have sworn there was a house here...and I wonder what happened to the power last night? But then the mailman continued about his normal rounds, as did the rest of the world.