Member-only story
Creative Nonfiction
Kaboom
Why my son has a collection of safty goggles.
The homework assignment was simple; make something to do with transportation. Something a child could fashion out of a toilet paper roll and buttons. Done. Back outdoors making sticks into guns or setting fires with magnifying glasses.
But no! This project was going to need special little gizmos, gears, and motors, a few pounds of paraffin wax, some Styrofoam, special wire, and batteries. Always, the batteries! We’d already been to RadioShack and a hardware store. Any other essentials would be found in the basement or under a sofa cushion. We’d find something old and rusty but still useful. We were a disorganized but resourceful bunch, low on funds, but rich with imagination. We were the mother and children of invention.
Daniel was busy all Saturday morning. Bits of the project covered the kitchen table. Lovely white blocks of paraffin waiting to be melted. Add a few drop of lavender, and I’ll use the leftovers in a warm, soothing hand treatment.
I explained that he would need to use a double boiler, throwing in some information about flash point and flames. He seemed to be paying attention. I had to run some errands.
“Do you want to come with me? We can stop at RadioShack.”
