"So you just plug this in here, and…" with a loud buzz the solar surfer's engine came to life. Only Jim's quick reflexes stopped it from taking off out of control, and smashing into the living-room wall. Tess let out a low whistle and looked up at her friend with wide gray eyes. "How do you even know all this stuff? I mean, that laser you built last year was pretty good…But this…" she tilted her head to the side, trying to take in the complexity of the vehicle. But her vision was obscured by the short cloud of curly dark brown hair that fell into her eyes. Tess pushed it back behind her ears absently.
Jim shrugged, "I read the books that my Dad brings home from his trips sometimes." His eyes suddenly lit up with excitement. "He promised that next time, he's going to get me a real working model space ship. One that flies and everything, so that I can see how they work."
Tess didn't comment, even at the age of 7 1/2 she knew that the chances of Jim's father actually remembering a promise were slim to none.
"Can you even ride this thing?" she asked after a moment, with a laugh that she hoped atleast sounded more real and genuine than it felt.
He flushed slightly, "Well…I know the theory. I was gonna try it out today… Wanna come with me?"
Grinning, Tess nodded and the two quickly stood up, each taking a hold of the hovering solar surfer and preparing to take it through the kitchen and out the back door.
"James Pleiades Hawkins!"
"Uh. Oh." Jim and Tess both turned towards the front door, each smiling and trying their best to look innocent, despite the fact that they were covered in engine grease and were currently holding a solar surfer in their hands.
Sarah Hawkins had put her grocery bags to one side and stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at the two children. "Where on earth did you get that?" she demanded, looking at her son.
"Uhh…" Jim looked up at the ceiling, apparently unable to think of something to say. It was Tess who eventually replied, "Jim built it Mrs. Hawkins."
Sarah's glare faltered, "He…What?" She looked at her son with a mixed expression of pride and disbelief. "You built this Jim? By yourself? Out of what?"
Flushing, Jim shifted his eyes to the side and shot Tess a glare. "Well. I mean. I know that I'm not supposed to go to the scrap yard alone. But I thought that…Well Mr. Darson said that I could use some of the old engine parts for free. So I thought it would be okay…" he trailed off with a grimace.
Sarah just continued looking at her son. She knew that he was smart…But…He's only 8! "Wait…You built a solar surfer, by yourself…Out of broken parts?"
Seeing that he was probably going to get out of this without punishment, Jim began to smile at his mother.
Tess chose that moment to say something "Sorry about the carpet Mrs. Hawkins." she piped up suddenly.
There was a pause, Sarah turned to look at the oil covered living-room carpet below the children's feet. Jim barely had time to glare at Tess, before Sarah reacted.
"James!"
With a scream of terror, the children fled the room, solar surfer in hand.
It was almost fifteen minutes before they had managed to carry the large vehicle all the way out to the canyons, even with the motivation of imminent death (at the hands of Sarah) to speed them up. By the time they got there, both had added a fair amount of sweat to the grime and engine oil covered clothes, skin and hair. They dropped the solar surfer and collapsed to the ground.
"You had to mention the carpet." Jim scolded once he had finally gotten his breath back.
"Well, it was your idea to build it in the living room in the first place."
Jim laughed, "Ok. Yeah. That was a bad idea. Anyway." He stood up and stood, grinning at Tess. "Shall we ride it?"
She surveyed the solar surfer apprehensively. "I dunno…Neither of us know how…And my Ma says that these things are dangerous."
"Well. I'll try first…And" Jim added "check that it's safe for girls like you to ride."
Tess flushed and opened her mouth to retort, but Jim moved too fast. With only a slight stumble and a hitch, he was on the solar surfer and had the engine roaring. Less than a moment later, he had taken off down the canyon.
Jim vanished from sight before reappearing again behind a large boulder, Tess's face turned pale as she watched him speed towards the edge of the cliff. Turn she bit her lip, Jim, TURN! She screamed as Jim plunged over the edge. Running forewords, Tess only made it a few metres before, with a loud WOOSH Jim shot back up the other side of the canyon and started to turn around back towards her.
Another second later, he had the solar surfer parked next to Tess. And half jumped and half fell of the vehicle, landing back on solid ground.
Tess punched him. "Don't. Ever. Do that again."
But Jim was grinning, his eyes sparkled. "Are you kidding!" he demanded, "that was the best thing ever!"