A TRUE STORY

BY
GEORGE NOURIS

GEORGE NOURIS PO BOX 4, GIANNITSA 58100, GREECE, MOBILE: 0030 6972024776

E-MAIL: GEORGENOURIS@GMAIL.COM

My father was nothing like the other fathers. He was always happy as if
every morning he found a golden pirate coin underneath his pillow. And
the most important thing was that he was an amazing inventor. He could
transform a rusty washing machine into an atomic submarine for dogs or
an old ice-cream machine into a machine launching snow in peanut taste.
My friends would no doubt give away their glass balls or their rare
baseball cards to have an amazing day with him. I was lucky indeed.

I often noticed him as he was timpering in the attic. The best of all was
the trial time. I was his official assistant. When he told me to prepare the
trial field, which is the backyard, I knew what I had to do.
We would put on our helmets, turn the machine on and wait. If we
heard a squeaking noise, this meant that the invention worked and we
celebrated it with my mums applepie. If you saw screws hurling, wed
better hide. My father used to say that it didnt matter as long as we were
having a good time.

I wasnt taken aback by him. On a November day though, something

strange happened. A story I would like to narrate.
Everything started when he won the second place in a competition. He
had constructed a teacup for naggers. As soon as the water came to boil,
you didnt hear the fizz but music. It was hilarious when I tried to prepare
blackberry tea for my aunt Margaret. She jumped off her armchair and
danced like a little girl.

So, we decided to visit grandpas village to celebrate the great success.

This time of the year was wonderful. The surface of the lake was frozen
so I could skate undisturbed. I had prepared my red skates the previous
night.
In the morning we got into the car and left. By midday we had arrived
and our grandpa welcomed us with sandwiches and cocoa. As soon as I
had finished, I went straight to the lake. I started gliding on my skates and
I could make out the fish under the ice. My father arrived later. He
considered it a good idea to construct a bicycle on skates. I ask him to try
mine, but the only thing he managed was to fall down.

The next day we fished in the lake by opening holes in the ice, following
the path of the bears and I discovered in the storeroom my dads dusty
inventions. I felt like a treasure hunter.
At night we sat around the fireplace and grandpa decided to narrate
various stories. Some were scary, others exciting. I knew though that they
were simply grandpas fairy tales. And then he told us about little Lucy.

Lucy lived with her mother in a nearby village. She was twelve but by
the age of two she had become handicapped. The poor girl couldnt go
down a waterslide or ride a bike like the rest of the children. She sat
thoughtful in her wheelchair and she looked out of the window.
What made her really happy, and nobody knows why, were the pencil
sharpeners. Pencil sharpeners that all children used. Not even her mother
could explain that. Every Tuesday her mother would buy her one and she
forgot her sadness for a while. She would eye them with joy. Her drawers
were full of small, big, colourful pencil sharpeners and ones in weird
shapes. Her collection became larger week by week, but it would never
be enough...

At that point grandpa stopped the story without finishing it.

The poor girl, my mother sighed.
That very moment my father did something I had never expected. He
stood up and talked in an intense look.
I dont understand the point of the story. The only thing you managed
was to ruin our night, he said and left the room.
It was the first time I had seen him angry. In the morning we were ready
to get back to town. I couldnt understand what had happened. I felt bad
for Lucy. She never skated on the lake. But why did my dads mood
change? I looked at my parents from the back seat and I was sure that
there was a mystery.

The following days dad wasnt very talkative. He looked like the other
fathers. I couldnt stand it. With courage I went to the attic and talked to
him. Then I learnt the truth.
When he was my age, his best friend had hit her waist and became
handicapped. Just like Lucy. My father felt guilty for the accident. He
never saw her again. I was so sorry.
With all the strength I had asked him to find a solution. He looked at me
and his face lit up as if he had discovered a gold coin. Something great
was going to happen. I saw that in his eyes.

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The following weeks I saw him run like the wind. He would lock
himself in his lab, eat in a hurry, talk continuously on the phone and work
relentlessly on his mysterious idea, until he revealed his plan.
He decided to construct a pencil sharpener in the size of a truck for little
Lucy. We looked at him in surprise as he was showing his plans. I
couldnt believe it! The pencil sharpener had an opening like the mouth of
a huge lion! Polar bears and other figures would mechanically move.
Music would be heard by trumpets! And the best of all, if there was a
pencil in the shape of a telegraph pole, it could have a wonderful sharp
edge for writing.

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To manage that he asked for his friends help. So inventors and

engineers from Italy and Sweden, South Africa and the North Pole, set
out to make the craziest idea come true.
The news spread fast of course. From a whisper in the neighborhood it
became news on the TV. Everybody knew about my fathers plan. Even
the president of the country stated that he would support his attempt.

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And while months were passing by, the work for the huge pencil
sharpener was going on. Journalists were trying to shoot the house while
strangers were asking for autographs. People had gone crazy. I didnt
understand what was going on.
Nobody thought of Lucy though. Apart from the children. Her room
was full of thousands letters each of which had a pencil sharpener inside.
Lucy was happy and she patiently waited for the day that dad would
finish his invention. I, on the other hand, was looking forward to meeting
her.

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After a long time the invention was completed. The pencil sharpener
loaded and they set off. For the next three days there was a panic in
Lucys garden. My father and his friends were putting the device together.
It wasnt just that as thousands of people had surrounded the house and
they were waiting.
On the fourth day my father wiped his forehead with satisfaction. Then
the people applauded. The flashes of the cameras scared the birds away.
The president of the country smiled proudly in front of the cameras. It
was so noisy that I shut my ears. I wanted so much to talk to Lucy.

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My father uncovered the pencil sharpener and everybody wept with joy.
The president rushed to press the button. But where was little Lucy? They
didnt say a word about the girl and I wondered whether everything
happened for her or for the grown ones. The crowd wanted to see the
pencil sharpener, the journalists were jumping up and down for a shot and
time was passing by. The president pressed the red button, but nothing
happened. He was losing his patience.
Had they made a mistake? There was no music, the figures did not
move and a threatening cloud of smoke terrorised the people. The
invention didnt work. The crowd was getting furious. The politicians
sweated and hid. In the end there was nobody left. The garden filled with
debris, the flowers had been ruined and my father was sitting sad.

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Then Lucy appeared in her wheelchair for the first time. She was
beautiful.
I am sorry, my father said.
You are wrong. Its wonderful, she replied.
The first snow flakes covered the human traces. Lucy invited us in for
tea. We saw her famous collection and we talked. Stories filled the house
and for a while we forgot what had happened. But what was that noise?

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A magic melody. Where did it come from? My father suddenly stood

up. He moved out of breath towards the door and we followed. He looked
at us and went out. He rushed to the garden and then we saw a miracle.
The pencil sharpener worked on its own. The gears turned! The bears, the
soldiers of the royal guard and the other figures were dancing!
My father couldnt explain it but we where there and fortunately there
was no one else to see. We laughed and danced until the snow was so
thick that it covered everything apart from the melody! It was the best
end for the story.

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Before I say goodbye Id like to tell you that Lucy and I became best
friends. Every time we go to the lake, we go ice skating with this
special wheelchair that my father has designed.
I dont want to forget the most important thing though. One evening I
accidentally heard my father talking on the phone to his old friend. She
saw him on TV. After many years they had become friends all over again.
And all these thanks to Lucy and her pencil sharpener which stands in her
garden which by accident works whenever she wishes to.

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