EDENVILLE

Franklin Boffinksi

By @silenttomorrows

Frank stood back and admired his work.  The wheel on the watermill  made a satisfying sound as the flow of the water pushed it around.

Eli Green looked down from thatching the roof, 'You've made a good job of that young Franklin, if I do say so myself'

'Aye, a good job' Jeremiah chimed in. There was not so much money in tinkering as there once had been, so Jeremiah Sloane worked as a labourer for Eli when he needed him. 

'Frank's the name, well I prefer Frank.  I know you were good friends with my father but he is mining in Russia these days. As he left me to take care of this place I thought I'd better make it ship safe; so I gotta thank you for the thatching and the price you gave.'

'You're like family Franklin... Frank.  Anyway, what you going to do here now you've got the olde water wheel turning once more?'

'Oh, it's powering the turbine, creating energy.  I like to be inventive. It runs in the family.  Come down from there and I'll show you.  We can brew up some tea in one of Jeremiah's kettles.'

They all trundled in through the oak door. Light spilled through the circular windows on to a tangle of cogs wires and some things that made pop pop noises. 

'Looks a mess if you ask me, what's all this, that looks a bit like er, one of them there drone things? Jeremiah questioned the goings on.

'It's not just a drone, it's better than that', Frank said excitedly. I've attached an electric toothbrush to it.  It means families can line their kids up and use the drone to clean all their teeth using the remote control.  The kids don't even have to put their PlayStation hand controllers down if they don't want to.'

'And you think there's a need for it - aren't the rotors a little big?'

'Aha', Frank continued excitedly,  'You noticed.  The rotors are larger because..... they can cut the kids hair at the same time as they brush their teeth.  Look, hand me the remote, I'll show you.'

They both watched as Frank manoeuvred the drone so the electric toothbrush entered a hole in the head of a manikin head with a hole bored into it for a mouth.  The electric toothbrush stretch and by means on small movements and flips Frank was able to demonstrate teeth cleaning.  Then he positioned the drone near his table and steadily moved it forward and the blades chopped off the heads of a bunch of flowers on the table.  'There, told you so' Frank,said with glee.

'And the hooks underneath Frank, what are the hooks for? Eli asked curiously'.

'I'm glad you asked that' Frank made the drone hover.  'How many times have you had to lift up a child in a crowd because they can't see past the people in front of them? Doesn't it make your neck ache whilst their heals kick you in the chest?' Frank Beamer as he explained. 'Not any more, because you can hook them onto your drone and just have them hover upwards so they can see.'

Frank sat down at his computer and said, 'I can also upset the American Election too.'

Eli and Jeremiah looked worried at each other. 'You mean you can actually hack into the computers or the United States of America?' They both spoke together, unable to hide the worry in their voices. 

Frank looked at them slightly bewildered. 'Oh no, I was still talking about the drone. It can carry a bucket of paint above the candidate that you don't like, and tip it onto their head'.

'Still you might get shot' Eli suggested.  He looked at the black and white photo on the wall of Franks great grandparents on their great American adventure and wondered what they would make of all this.  He remembered some of the stories Frank's dad had told him about their shenanigans.

Frank followed Eli's gaze, 'That photo was taken a long long time ago in 1891, it says so on the back.'

'Well things sure were simpler in those days' Jeremiah said.