Hello, everyone!

I remember very well the day I published the first chapter of this story. It was raining and due to the time difference, I waited almost all night for the first review and counted the readings. A lot has changed since then.

I never thought too much about "what" I write. I liked to put my characters in tragic situations and describe their grief. But now I find myself in one such situation. One of my relatives died.

For some reason, my grandfather always reminded me of Inspector Gadget. He was just as kind, cheerful, courageous and stubborn. He always supported me in everything. He was the one who took me to the cafe to buy me hot chocolate with whipped cream, and I also liked going to the circus with him. I miss him a lot.

Every writer needs to express in a text what he has experienced and what he feels. I unknowingly put small parts of my early childhood here.

Therefore, a small dedication was added at the beginning of this story.

Thank you. Enjoy it!

Your Artgirl657

11. Inspector Brown

"Trust me, it's easy," Sophie said as she tightened the screws on John's ankles. "First, you have to move the weight of your body forward."

"But my body is too heavy. I can't hold on," John said, sitting on the bed holding his wand. Looking at his metal feet, the distance to the wheelchair seemed like a thousand miles.

"Nonsense. Come on, I'll help you," his sister said, she giving him her hand.

John hesitated for a moment. He was a little scared. He squeezed her palm in disbelief and tried to stand up. Sophie made sure he didn't lose his balance.

"One step is enough," she said.

With the creaking and use of all John's forces, his titanium lower limbs began to move. It wasn't very fast, but it was like walking. He took a few steps.

"Hooray," Penny shouted happily, standing nearby, clapping. "Well done, Uncle John!"

"Everything that seemed obvious before now seemed incredibly "heavy" to my uncle. Keep an ink pen in a hand, make coffee or just walk to the bedroom. He had to learn all this again with his metal limbs. And if only this ... First of all, he had to get used to his gadgets.

It was a joy for us to see how he was making progress. Whatever happened, Uncle John never gave up, and in this case, it was doubly true. When something went wrong, he kept trying until he learned it.

We were all happy and thought luck was coming back to us, but John felt something was wrong with Sophie. Something is bothering her. He couldn't explain it ..."

"Sophie, is something wrong?" John asked after a moment of silence. He was sitting in an office chair in his sister's lab. Sophie held a screwdriver in her hand, repairing one of the telescopic arms in his hat.

"No, nothing. What should happen?" she asked in surprise.

"I don't know. I find you so ... sad."

"Oh, it just seems to you. I couldn't be happier," she said with a smile. "They'll let you go home tomorrow!"

For some reason, it seemed to John that there was something Sophie was worried about. It wasn't her real warm smile he had always known. He said nothing, just smiled at her.

"Wait, I'll show you something," she said after a moment, setting the screwdriver on the table.

"What are you doing?"

"You will see," she said.

John peered into the next room and saw Sophie returning with a cup of coffee.

"You didn't have to," he said dismissively. "I already had breakfast today."

"It doesn't matter. Just take it," she said, handing him the cup.

John didn't let himself be prompted for long and took it. But before he could take the first sip, Sophie deliberately slammed into him.

John didn't shout, just narrowed his eyes and waited for him to hear the mug fall to the ground. But that did not happen. Instead, he saw a metal telescopic arm over his head again as before. The coffee spilled out of the cup, but the object itself remained intact and the arm held it tightly in its glove.

"Oh, it's still not perfect," Sophie said, disappointed.

Another of the same hands appeared from John's hat and poured hot coffee into a cup.

"Almost," she added with a smile.

"What is it?" John asked incomprehensibly.

"I call it the helping Gadget hand. If you wear your hat, nothing bad will happen to you. The hand will always help you."

"Wowsers," John said in astonishment, watching the yellow-gloved hand wave to him in greeting. "H... hello."

"At least I'll be sure you're safe," Sophie sighed. "Would you like some coffee or tea? Tell the Gadget hand what you want."

"Oh, in that case, I'd ask you for tea with milk and two sugar cubes," John said confidently, taking the filled cup with a smile.

Sophie began to laugh.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

"Am I interrupting?" a male voice said.

Sophie turned to see her husband standing in the doorway. "Not at all, just come on, Frank."

John noticed that Frank was holding a school bag, and it occurred to him that he probably hadn't come alone.

"Mom, you won't believe this... I taught Brain to fetch!" it came from the hallway, and a small, cheerful little girl with blond braids soon ran into the room. "Wow, what are you doing here, Uncle?" Penny asked in astonishment.

"Don't you see? We're having a tea party here with your mom," John said with a laugh and took his niece on his lap.

"You know, John..." Frank began uncertainly. "Sophie and I ... We think you shouldn't be home alone now. You're not completely healthy yet. What if you needed something? And..."

"You don't have to explain it to me," John interrupted him. "I've been thinking about it myself."

"But where will you live now? We don't have a vacant bed at home ..."

"What about my room?" Penny shouted excitedly. "Uncle John can sleep with me in my room."

"That's not a bad idea," Sophie said. "Frank, what do you think?"

"If Brain doesn't mind..." Frank said, winking at his wife.

"Of course he doesn't!" Penny said excitedly. She jumped up and started dancing around the room. "Hooray! Uncle John will be living with us now ..."

"I've always wanted this. To finally be all together."

Chief Quimby's office ...

"How far are you with the case of Dr. Claw? Do you have any new evidence?" a tall man in the green uniform asked Quimby, who was sitting across from him.

"A large number of weapons of various types, including hand grenades and several crates of ammunition, have disappeared from the Metrocity military base," Quimby began. "The action was fast and well thought out. Two security men are slightly injured. "

"And what else...?"

"We haven't found out more yet," the helpless Quimby admitted. "We're still working on that case."

Colonel Higgins get up from his chair and approached the window.

"Damn, man! It's extremely annoying for us when a group of armed robbers hangs around the world and we don't know what they're up to. "

"I understand you, but what more can we do?"

"Apparently you didn't entrust the right people. After all ... I just heard from your subordinates that you want to fire a police officer for risking his life to stop the assassins in time."

"He disobeyed my order!" Quimby shouted angrily.

"John Brown is an admirable man, Quimby," Higgins continued. "Not everyone can match him. I've seen this young man investigate a lot of cases, and it hasn't happened that he hasn't clarified one yet. He always uses different methods and believes in his often hasty theories, but overall, he would be quite a promising police officer - I'm willing to repeat that in front of whoever you want. "

The police chief did not say a word. He had to agree with the colonel. That's exactly what John was.

"Call me as soon as you find out something new. Nice to meet you, Mr. Quimby! Thank you!" Higgins said, and left quietly.

Meanwhile in the house of Dollars...

When Frank returned home from work, he could smell the freshly baked chicken through the half-open front door. He hung up his coat in the hall and entered the living room. Soon after, he heard a soft dog bark. He bent down and stroked Brain, who came to greet him.

"Penny, where's Mom?" he asked his daughter, who was doing her homework at the table.

"She's upstairs with Uncle now," Penny said. "She wants to teach him how to use some of his gadgets."

"Oh no…"

"So, if I understand correctly..." John said, rubbing his chin. "The devices only follow my verbal commands."

"Right," said Sophie, who was sitting at a desk in her room, writing notes in her notebook. This eighty-page scientific paper, which included several schemes, described the whole process of Sophie's project. There was every detail in it that seemed important to her in some way, including John's recovery. She could say she researched her brother.

"But if you want something," she continued. "It's polite to ask for it. Unfortunately, in some life situations, there's no time for that. To make it faster and communication between you easier, I've come up with the message 'Go, go gadget ...'

"What about Gadget hand?" he asked. "How does it work, even though I didn't order it?"

"It's very complicated, but I'll try to explain it to you. I intentionally connected one of the side wires to your memory chip. The Gadget hand knows what you're thinking and decides what to do."

"Well, sure! It makes perfect sense now. That's why sometimes it seems to me that it's reading my minds," John said, looking up at the robotic arm in the yellow glove. "Right?"

"It's not just your guess. It's true," Sophie said with a smile.

"Okay, I'll try it. I wonder how many gadgets I remembered from the manual, "John said, standing in the middle of the room.

After a moment's thought, he remembered one. "Go, go gadget… skates."

As soon as he finished the sentence, a pair of pink roller skates appeared on his shoes. John tried to keep his balance, but instead drove off uncontrollably and headed down the stairs. "WOWSERS!"

As soon as Frank heard this in the kitchen, he went to see what was happening. He opened the door to the hall, but before he could go upstairs, John was knocked him to the ground and they both rolled toward the main door.

There was a bang. Brain pricked up his ears and began to bark in fright. He was relieved to see both of his masters land safely in a wardrobe between umbrellas and coats.

"Hurrah!" Sophie shouted excitedly and ran downstairs behind them. "Frank, did you see that? It really works!"

"I'm sorry I don't share your enthusiasm with you," her husband replied as he looked at his broken glasses.

"Are you okay, John?" Sophie asked him carefully.

"Yes, I am," John said. "But I have to say, I really didn't expect this."

"I've installed a lot of police gadgets in your hat," Sophie continued. "I'm sure they'll come in handy."

"Well, if I'm still working as a police officer ..." he said disappointedly.

"What do you mean?"

"I disobeyed the order," he continued. "I bet my boss will fire me now."

"Don't worry," Sophie reassured him, "It won't happen ..."

She couldn't say more because the phone rang in the living room. Then Penny ran into the room. "Uncle John! Mr. Quimby is calling you. He wants you on the phone."

"Keep your fingers crossed for me, sis" he said, and disappeared outside the door.

John took a deep breath, then put the phone to his ear.

"Good evening, Chief Quimby," he said into the phone in a kind voice. "Thank you, I'm doing better now. What? No, I don't know anything about that. I've made a mistake once before and I'm not going to continue in this case." Then John stopped. "Really !? Oh, thank you. Thank you very much, chief. Say hello to the boys in the department. What? Sure. I'll call you tomorrow. Good night."

After hung up, he stared thoughtfully at the wall.

"Bad news?" Sophie asked expecting the worst.

John looked at her. He slowly opened his mouth and shouted. "I'm promoted!"

"What?!"

"I was appointed a police inspector." he said with a smile. "I'll get it officially tomorrow."

"Oh my god, you did it." Sophie shouted, hugging him tightly. "You did it! I'm so proud of you."

Everyone was very happy. They started laughing.

"Congratulations, John!" Frank said, shaking his brother-in-law's hand.

"Thanks, Frank."

"I always said you'd be a famous police inspector," Penny said. "Now you're going to catch bad guys all over the world."

John laughed.

"We have to celebrate properly!" Frank said, running for spare glasses.

"And let's play music," Penny shouted happily. "Mom, please ... Shall we play music?"

"Sure, honey," Sophie said with a smile. She pulled an album from the top shelf and carefully placed the needle on the vinyl record.

A familiar melody echoed through the house.

"I couldn't be happier. We all lived together now, and Uncle John became a police inspector. I wished it would stay that way forever ..."

To be continued...