Chapter 2: Just Say Cheese!
My destination was a few blocks from my home - the trip only took a few minutes. Upon my arrival to the small white building Professor Croak greeted me at the door. "Welcome, Louis! The machine is right around the corner." He led me farther into the building to a big white room I'd never seen before. The walls were lined with shelves full of tools and electronic devices. In the middle of the room was a photo booth. The Professor nodded towards it and said, "This is the time machine!" He walked closer and pointed to the inside. "Let's jump in!" I did as he said and climbed onto the black bench. The booth was lit by a florescent light on the roof. Directly in front of where I was sitting was a glass panel shielding a giant camera. Below the panel was a board full of knobs and switches. Croak jumped in and sat next to me. He started pointing to the buttons on the board in front of us. "This one reclines the seat, this one turns on the radio, this one controls the air conditioning, this one combs your hair." He droned on and on like this for about an hour. "And this one sprays whipped cream into your mouth! Any questions?" He looked at me and waited for an answer. "Yes, all that other stuff is nice but how do I set the year I want to travel to?" Croak immediately pointed to a numeric keypad and said, "This will take care of that! Just key in the year and say the password!" Puzzled, I asked, "A password? What is it?" Croak frowned. "Well, I don't know why but everybody has been breaking it. People who get into this booth seem to figure it out on their first try. It's a very hard password to guess, too!" I looked at Croak and repeated my question, "What is the password?" Croak sighed. "The password is Cheese. I wish I knew why everybody can guess it so easily. Oh well. Now, if you'll step out I need to show you one important thing on the side of this great invention." I got out and walked next to where the Professor was standing. He pointed to a big purple button. "Press this and the machine will shrink to the size of a Pokeball." "Cool! That'll come in handy! Now it's time to try this thing out!" I jumped inside and punched in the year 80,000. Before I could say the password Croak interrupted me. "Now, there are a few more things I should tell you. Remember today's date, June 14, 2002. That way when you are done you can come back to the present. Also, do not push the bright red self-destruct button that is on the control board! If you do, the machine will blow up in only 2 minutes. That could get nasty. Anyways, have fun!" He backed away from the machine and I said only one word, "Cheese!"
My destination was a few blocks from my home - the trip only took a few minutes. Upon my arrival to the small white building Professor Croak greeted me at the door. "Welcome, Louis! The machine is right around the corner." He led me farther into the building to a big white room I'd never seen before. The walls were lined with shelves full of tools and electronic devices. In the middle of the room was a photo booth. The Professor nodded towards it and said, "This is the time machine!" He walked closer and pointed to the inside. "Let's jump in!" I did as he said and climbed onto the black bench. The booth was lit by a florescent light on the roof. Directly in front of where I was sitting was a glass panel shielding a giant camera. Below the panel was a board full of knobs and switches. Croak jumped in and sat next to me. He started pointing to the buttons on the board in front of us. "This one reclines the seat, this one turns on the radio, this one controls the air conditioning, this one combs your hair." He droned on and on like this for about an hour. "And this one sprays whipped cream into your mouth! Any questions?" He looked at me and waited for an answer. "Yes, all that other stuff is nice but how do I set the year I want to travel to?" Croak immediately pointed to a numeric keypad and said, "This will take care of that! Just key in the year and say the password!" Puzzled, I asked, "A password? What is it?" Croak frowned. "Well, I don't know why but everybody has been breaking it. People who get into this booth seem to figure it out on their first try. It's a very hard password to guess, too!" I looked at Croak and repeated my question, "What is the password?" Croak sighed. "The password is Cheese. I wish I knew why everybody can guess it so easily. Oh well. Now, if you'll step out I need to show you one important thing on the side of this great invention." I got out and walked next to where the Professor was standing. He pointed to a big purple button. "Press this and the machine will shrink to the size of a Pokeball." "Cool! That'll come in handy! Now it's time to try this thing out!" I jumped inside and punched in the year 80,000. Before I could say the password Croak interrupted me. "Now, there are a few more things I should tell you. Remember today's date, June 14, 2002. That way when you are done you can come back to the present. Also, do not push the bright red self-destruct button that is on the control board! If you do, the machine will blow up in only 2 minutes. That could get nasty. Anyways, have fun!" He backed away from the machine and I said only one word, "Cheese!"