Expiration Date 2076

Chapter VIII

     That day the two workers had a quick egg breakfast, then went straight to work. On the first floor, behind the kitchen and under the staircase, was where they would put it together. Jack showed the designs to the girl. They were preliminary sketches, but the the prodject was more or less planned out from start to finish. Jack did calculations on measurements, weights, amounts, and expenses while FreyFrey organized all of the nuts, gears, bolts, screws, springs, washers, and such from the twelve buckets. Mr. Reeler had already stocked up on some of these and separated them, so she had an idea where everything went. They took a break for lunch.

     "What exactly are we building?" FreyFrey inquired suddenly.

      "You will see." Mr. Reeler replied calmly.

     "No, I want to know." FreyFrey was angry with this answer. She deserved to know. 

     "You will, but until then, will you enjoy the mystery of it?" This reminded her why she had agreed to the whole thing in the first place. She accepted the mystery, and promised to enjoy it while it lasted.

     Mr. Reeler put a few pieces together, making a the same small component over and over. He showed FreyFrey and told to make twenty. She worked away at her task, and Jack left to buy a few more things and do errands. She built the last one and looked at the clock on the wall. Jack had only been gone for two hours. With her spare time, she looked at the designs, trying to understand all the markings. She had not see them before. The symbols on the papers were not used in Algebra II or Calculus. She knew they were not for engineering. Page after page, until she found copies. She could understand them. There was one set in the foreign language, and there was another in English. The truck rumbled outside; he was back. She hurried to put the papers back. His footsteps walked around the house to the back, where the sole door to the construction room was. The handle creaked and a few papers fell to the floor.

     "I will take over. Would you carry the supplies in? There are some groceries that need to be put away in the kitchen as well."

     "Yeah, sure! I'll do it now." 

     "Did I startle you? You seem a bit excited."

     "No, just all the working. I just finished the last one." she said as she went hurriedly past him and outside. She hadn't meant to be nervous. Looking through the papers could have spoiled the mystery of it all, and neither of them had wanted that. Her curiosity had become too strong, that was all. Each trip to the truck to unload brought her more peace. He would not make her leave even if she figured it out. She had the most important peice, the package. 

     The rest of the day was spent organizing the new supplies and re-writing notes. That night Mr. Reeler told FreyFrey an old legend about a man who went fishing with a net at night. A big wave tipped over his boat, he lost his net, and drowned.