Chapter Four; Cassie, You Did It Again
That afternoon after Nathan and Cassie got home I could tell that they were really excited about something. "Hey guys, how was the fieldtrip?" I asked them.
"It was great! I got an idea for my science project!" Cassie exclaimed.
"Oh really? And what's that?" I asked her.
"I'm not telling you silly!" she told me. "It's going to be a surprise."
"Well alright munchkin but just be careful. I got some big news of my own by the way." I said.
"What?" she asked me.
"I'm going to be Peter's new b-ball coach." I told her proudly.
"Congratulations." She told me before she turned back over to Nathan. "C'mon Nathan let's get started." She told him.
"But I still don't understand how you're going to build a shrink_" he began before she quickly covered his mouth and I looked at her with a state of confusion and bewilderment before she pulled him away.
"Dad I think that she's up to something." Jane said as she came out of her bedroom wearing a denim vest with jeans and a pair of brown boots. She also had her hair pulled back in fancy red braids.
"When isn't she?" I questioned my oldest daughter.
"Good point." She said. "Anyway, I'm ready for my first riding lesson." She told me.
"And you look cute as a button. I'll just tell your brother and aunt and uncle that we're on our way so they know to look after the younger ones." I said before I turned to walk down the hallway and went inside Cassie's bedroom to find her climbing on top of her chair and getting something out of the closet.
"What are you doing?" I asked her.
"Oh I'm just getting my microscope." She told me nervously.
"Well what do you need a microscope for?"
"My science project, it has to do with something really tiny."
"Well,.. ok. I just wanted to let you know that I'm taking your sister to her lessons now. So mind your brother and Uncle Mickey and Aunt Martha." I told her.
"Yes Daddy." She told me.
"Alright, I love you both and I'll be back in a little bit." I told them as Cassie waited until I left the house until she finished getting out her microscope.
"Now I need a laser." She said as she set the machine down on the bed. "Hey Nathan can you find me Angel's laser light toy? That should be perfect!" she exclaimed.
"Well alright, but when are you going to tell me what you're doing?" he asked.
"Soon, trust me. There's just something that I need to do first." She told him before he turned around and left the room. Then Cassie walked over to her desk and pulled out one of the drawers and stopped for a moment to stare down at her mother's old sonic screwdriver. Although it was still painful for her to look at since she missed her so much, she took it inside her hand with a look of determination knowing that she would make her mother proud.
A couple of hours later Jane and I came back home. Mickey and Martha were already inside the kitchen cooking dinner. "Ah, there you are." Mickey began as he turned to look over at his niece with a grin. "So how did it go?" he asked her.
"It went alright until I fell off." She answered.
"Ouch," he began. "are you alright?" he wondered.
"Yeah, but I need a shower." She said before she turned to walk down the hallway.
"She seems to be handling it rather well." Mickey said.
"Yeah but I think that her mother has something to do with it. After all getting right back on a horse after you fall off it was one of her favorite expressions." I explained.
"Besides practice makes perfect." Mickey added.
"What's for dinner?" I asked them.
"Chicken and dumplings." He answered.
"That's great, it smells terrific. Anyway, I better go check on Cassie and see how her science project is coming along." I said as I walked down the hall and into her bedroom. "Hey guys I just wanted to let you know that I was home." I said when I suddenly saw what they had made.
For Cassie had her microscope attached to her entertainment center that now had different gears attached to the machine and a bright red laser. "Tada!" she cried as she held her arms wide open with triumph.
"Wow," I breathed. "you did such a great job, it looks amazing,.." I began with a pause. "What is it?" I asked her.
"It's a shrinking machine. I hope you don't mind but I used Mum's old sonic screwdriver to magnify the laser so that it's powerful enough to shrink anything." She told me.
"Of course I don't mind, that is so cool!" I exclaimed. "How does it work?" I questioned her.
"I'll show you." She told me as she walked over to the entertainment center and pulled back a shiny red lever that made the top of the machine recline backwards. "I'm setting it to maximum power so you better stand back." She said as she turned a few of the gears before pushing a big red button in the back of it and fired a bright ray of light onto one of her pillows.
I watched with great astonishment as it shrank down to the size of a marshmallow right before my eyes. My eyes widened with disbelief and excitement as I picked it up and held it inside the palm of my hand. "I don't believe it." I whispered. "It works! It actually works!" I cried. "Now how do you re enlarge it?" I asked her.
"Put it back down on the bed and you'll find out." She told me as I set it back down and stepped back while she turned a few other levers and knobs and pushed the button again and it returned to its original size.
"Oh my God! We're going to be so rich! Wait until I tell your mother!" I shouted excitedly.
"What?" Cassie asked inside a small little voice.
"Aren't you happy about it? Don't you know what you've invented?"
"No, I didn't invent it, it was somebody else's idea first. Besides I don't want to sell it! I want to use it to win the science fair." She told me. "Don't you care at all about my feelings?"
"Oh sweetheart, of course I do." I began as I squatted down in front of her. "look I'm sorry. I didn't mean that, I just got excited that's all. I'm really proud of you Cassie, and I'm so proud to call you my daughter." I told her. "I just know that you're going to win, I can feel it!" I told her with an excited whisper as I grinned at her and looked at her lovingly.
"Thanks Daddy," she began as she smiled back at me. "but I just got to make sure that nobody else touches this but me." She said before she put one of her blankets over the top of it and draped it there.
"Good, now you should probably wash up for supper because I have a feeling that it'll be ready soon." I told her.
"Good, I'm starving! What are we having?" she asked me.
"Chicken and dumplings one of your favorites." I said as I continued to grin at her.
"Yum!" she exclaimed as she ran out of the bedroom and Nathan rushed after her.
"Wait for me!" he called.
"Jane," I began as I knocked on the bathroom door after I heard the shower go off. "soup's on."
"Alright, I'll be right out!" she called. A few moments later she wrapped up inside a towel and walked into her bedroom to get dressed. Then after she had her clothes back on she turned to glance over at the strange object suddenly in the corner of the room. "Hmm, that's odd. I wonder what this is." She said to herself as she pulled the blanket off.
"This looks like Cassie's science experiment. I wonder what it does." She said as she started twisting the gears around unaware that the laser was now pointed directly at her. "Hmm, it doesn't appear to be doing anything." She said before she pushed the gigantic red button and vanished within a blink of an eye.