Alandra steadied the dinner tray on her left hand and knocked three quick times on the old door. She paused a moment and listened with her large ear, but heard nothing. Again she quickly wrapped with her knuckles three times, and heard something inside. Pushing the door open she saw her brother bent over in a corner, busily fidgeting with something on his old worktable. The light in the castle tower was quite dim, the only light coming from the eight candles mounted on the wall in a rough circle, surrounding the room. Alandra always thought they gave the room a warm, yet eerie yellowish tint.
“William? Do you have a moment?” With that the little mouse turned and smiled brightly, as if just realizing she was there. He set down the wooden and metal contraption and turned to her fully, pushing up his glasses with a thin hand. “Hello there. You really mustn’t sneak in on me like that. Next time try and knock on the door please.” His sister frowned and set down the heavy tray, which was filled catered many fruits and vegetables and even some bread, on the free chair near the door since there was not a single space anywhere else in the room. Every table and shelf was covered in tools and half build contraptions made by her brother. “I did knock, twice as a matter of fact and you never answered. I brought you up dinner since you didn’t have the decency to come downstairs and dine with the rest of us.” William shook his head and turned back to his invention again, his quick fingers going over it with a tiny screwdriver. “Oh you so over react Alandra. I will be down and at the table by five thirty, I assure you.”
His sister sighed heavily and stepped forward, placing her hand on his shoulder. “Brother dearest? Its past eleven at night. You have been in here for over twelve hours already. What are you working on anyway?” She couldn’t help but be inquisitive, its one of the inherative natures of her species. She peeked over, furrowing her brow as she tried to even have a general idea of what he was tinkering with. William’s tone turned quickly and his voice quickened and became excited as it always did when he was discussing his inventions.
“Well, this is a neat little thing I thought of last night when I saw Marcus come in from the gardens with his hands dirty. He was picking carrots. So, I thought, what if there was a way to pick carrots and not get your hands dirty? So I invented this!” He held up the contraption high so the light showed it to his sister. It was perhaps two feet long, and had a wooden crank on the side of it, a series of iron gears in the middle, a rather long elastic band up the side, a large metal spring on the other side, and at the end were five, long and thin metal claws.
“And that is to do…What exactly?” She inquired, still looking at the item with her hand on her brother’s shoulder. He smiled and stood up, walking to a closed window and pushed away several forgotten contraptions, and pulled out a washing tub filled with soil. Alandra cringed at seeing this, knowing the fit Elissa the maid would have when she saw her clean basin filled with dirt. She again shook her head at her brother’s actions and walked beside him. He was only a few inches taller then herself, and she was considered tiny, even for a mouse. His hair was light brown and unkempt, his mind always on other things then his personal grooming. Alandra noticed her sibling’s bangs were much too long and she would have to cut them soon. Now she noticed that there was something else in the tub except dirt, and saw the top of a carrot in the middle of the soil, with the rest of it buried underneath.
William grinned, large flat teeth shining even in the pale light. “Well, to begin with, its not a ‘that’ as you called it. I call it a carrot twister.” He paused for dramatic effect and his ears dipped, seeing she wasn’t impressed in the slightest. “Well no matter.” He continued, “Its quite handy. Watch this.” He set the carrot twister down with the claws pointing to the floor. Grabbing the crank, he started turning it quickly, and Alandra heard a loud clicking sound as the gears moved, stretching the spring on the other side quite taught, the claws opening a tiny bit as he worked, and even rotated in a slow circle. William grunted with the last few turns, and flipped a switch on the side. The tool quivered with its open claws, the spring only held with that little latch on the side. The mouse inventor took a breath and straightened, the effort put into getting it prepared, obviously tiring. Again he flashed those large teeth and continued without further pause, “All you have to do is put the top of the twister over the carrot and squeeze this button.” He made a small nod to a bright red button near the handle, just about the size of a coin. William put the tool over the green top of the carrot and steadied himself, lining it up perfectly. His thumb pushed the button and there was a small clicking sound as the claws turned in a slow arc, then with the suddenness of a thunderclap, the machine snapped shut with a tremendous CLANG, that startled Alandra and actually made her blink in surprise.
With a grin, William raised the heavy machine with both his paws and showed that it indeed hold the carrot in his metallic talons, although the carrot was crushed and cut in many places due to the sheer strength of the twister. “See dear sister? Now, you, or anyone can pick carrots from the soil easily. I dare you or anyone else to find a simpler method then what I have just done.” During his little speech, William set down his invention and replaced the carrot in the soil, smoothing the dirt around it so it lay natural in the soil once again. Alandra stepped up wordlessly, and reached out with her small paw and grabbed the top of the carrot, pulling it up by its top and handed it to her brother. “There.” Is all she said. William shook his head with the carrot and shook a finger at her criticizeingly. “Yet your hands are dirty now!” He exclaimed with fever, as if she just preformed a mortal sin. She grabbed his paws and held them palm upwards so her could look at them.
“And your hands are covered in grease from your little play thing. Dirt can be washed off easily and quickly, yet grease will leave a mark for quite a while. Also, the strength needed to use your machine is a lot, and anyone would be tired after using it more then three or four times. There is no way a farmer could pick an entire field with it. That’s simply not plausible brother.”
With that William paused in thought. He looked down and picked up the twister, hefting it in his greasy paws as if testing its weight. He nods and turned, speaking low, and his sister was unsure if he was addressing her, the tool or simply talking to himself. “I see the band is too long, and too thick. Too much tension. It may be appropriate for squash, or even cabbage, but not carrots, no, not carrots. And gears could be smaller, but more. That also could reduce the weight, and grease? Hmmmm…I suppose I could try a dry lubricant, maybe talc powder, or even better, waxed gears. Yes, that could work….And also……” He trailed off and sat down back at his bench, taking the small screwdriver again, and this time instead of fine tuning the machine, he started to disassemble it.
Alandra started to say something then closed her mouth, thinking better to keep silent. She made her way to the exit of the room and took the handle of the great oaken doorway. She paused a moment and sighed, then closed the door, ending the view of her brother, who still rambled quietly to himself. She leaned against the wall outside the tower room, and considered whether to take back the plate of food she brought up and thought it better that it is there for him if he needed it. With that thought, she then whispered, “Goodnight brother.” The she hoisted her skirt a little and walked down the dimly lit stairway to the floor below, and to the rest of her family.
By, Bombur
