Frink thought back to all the wonderful years he'd spent with Caroline. He'd been married thirteen wonderful years. Max had recently turned ten and had just entered fourth grade at Springfield Elementary School. Frink worked away in the basement on his latest invention. He picked up a tiny lens with a pair of tweezers and carefully placed it at the end of a hollow tube. With the same tweezers he carefully connected some delicate wires and added another lens to the opposite end of the tube. Caroline walked down the stairs and switched on the main lights.
"Honey what are you working on? You've been at this thing for weeks now and have been very secretive about it." She said.
"Well my dear, um glayvin hey, I want to make sure my design is flawless before I show anyone, but you are not just anyone come over here and take a look."
She stepped over to the metal table that he was working on. He had the device placed on wooden support rods so it wasn't pressed against the hard surface of the table. There were several mirrors and prisms set up around it, almost like a shield.
"What is that? It looks like a gun out of a cheap science fiction space movie."
"You are partially correct. It is a gun, but it is not fiction nor is it cheap. It's a death ray."
"Death ray? It doesn't work, does it?" She asked with concern in her voice.
"No, not at the moment. Like I said it's not cheap and I don't have all the parts or equipment I need to make it fully functional wah hey. But if I can get some funding with the money and the supplies and the tools then ZOI, I can really get this baby to work."
"John, just what do you plan to do with it?"
"I don't know. I just had an urge to make it." He said running his fingers through his hair.
"I can't believe this! No! You can't do that. You've never made anything that would harm anyone. Why start now? I think you should just take it apart. In a way I'm glad your little toy is too expensive for you."

"Oh, Caroline." He said very disappointed and clearly hurt by her words. "Don't do this to me."
"Don't do what?"
"I have always had so much opposition on everything I have ever done. You, n'gey, though have always been the one that supported me no matter what. Please don't become one of them."
"I'm not one of them. I…I just don't like this. But you always have my support. Always."
He put his arms around her. "I hope so because I really need it, the way I need you." He pulled out a newspaper from his pocket. "Besides, I heard there's a philanthropist in town. He might just provide me with the funding I need. I'm going to go talk to him today."
"Oh no." She said slapping her forehead.
"Caroline, if I can sell this it could mean lots and lots of money and we would be so much better off. Please trust me on this."
"Well…alright." She said looking down. "Just remember to keep your head on straight. Max should be coming home soon. I'm going to take him out while you're away on your little mission."
"Ooh have fun you two." Said Frink as he made a final adjustment to his death ray and placed it in a padded suitcase.

Maximillian hopped off the bus. His stop was a few blocks away from his house but it didn't matter. That's why he always brought his skateboard. As soon as the bus doors flew open he threw his board out, jumped and landed on it. He careened his way down the sidewalk, arms out to his sides and his hair wildly flowing behind him. The day was gorgeous and he'd had a good day at school. Mrs. Krabapple hadn't assigned too much homework and he had finished most of it during lunch. What he didn't get to then he took care of on the bus so he had the whole afternoon free to play. While other kids were putting off their homework he had finished it and it would not be a burden on his mind while he played. He was supposed to meet his mother and go somewhere. She hadn't said where but he had a feeling it would be fun. There was a section of sidewalk ahead that had been constructed wrong and it buckled forming a small hill. Max sped up and when he hit it he soared into the air a few feet. He let out a happy scream when he landed and looked back to see how far he had made it. It was about the usual distance and he could tell because of the scrapes he'd left on the ground from making that jump many times over the past few years. He rounded one more corner and he arrived home. The garage was open and Max hopped off his skateboard. It kept on rolling right into the garage and stopped when it hit the wall. Pleased with how he'd parked it he ran in through the front door.
"Mom! I'm home. Where we going??" He asked as he jumped around excitedly. Caroline walked into the living room gave him a hug.
"It's a surprise. But first we'll stop by the Kwik-E-Mart. Come on, let's go."

They drove to the Kwik-E-Mart and Caroline picked out a few supplies for the house. Max was looking at the different types of ice cream.
"Go ahead and pick one out, Max." Said Caroline as she watched him reach into the icebox happily. While he was doing that she went to the cereal aisle. As she pulled out the last box of Krusty-Os she felt the box resist and pull in the opposite direction. Caroline looked up to find a tall woman with an equally tall blue beehive hair due. She was holding a spiky haired baby girl in one hand and in the other she held the same cereal box that Caroline had just picked. She smiled at her and in a raspy said, "You must be Professor Frink's wife. Hi, I'm Marge Simpson."
"Yes that's right. Hello Mrs. Simpson. I'm Caroline Frink. Well looks like we came here for that last box of Krusty-Os. What now?"
At that moment Max walked up to them holding the ice cream he'd chosen.
"It's O.K. mom. She can have it. Besides I'd like to get a different kind of cereal anyway." He said.
"Oh, and this must be your son." Said Marge as she looked down on the child. "What's your name?"
"I'm Maximillian, but you can call me Max. Nice to meet you, ma'am."
"Oh, he's so polite."
"What's the baby's name?" Asked Max as he reached up and tickled her softly. She laughed and grabbed his hand.
"This is Maggie. She's our youngest child. Say aren't you in Bart's class?"
"Yes Mrs. Simpson. He sits a few desks ahead of me."
"Please just call me Marge."
"Well it was nice talking to you, Marge but now we've got to be on our way. We're off the pet store."
"Pet store? YEAY!!" yelled Max from excitement. The two ladies laughed at the outburst then went to the counter to pay for their things.
"Hello Mrs. Simpson." Said Apu. "And Hello Mrs. Frink. I rarely see you come into my store."
"Yes, I don't do too much shopping but Max has been very good the last few days and I figured we'd stop in and buy him a treat."
"Ah yes. A very nice boy, and how is your husband?" Asked Apu.
"He's doing very well. In fact he remembers you."
"Remembers me?"
"Yes, he doesn't forget his top students even if they've graduated."
"Ah that." Said Apu embarrassed. "It wasn't anything really. Here you go ladies. Thank you, come again." He added as he handed them their change.

The pet store they went to wasn't very large but Max didn't care. He ran around looking at all the animals. He glanced at the puppies, watched the fish and petted the bunnies. After looking around a while he noticed that his mom hadn't budged from the bird section. There was a big glass bin and she was bent over it looking at the myriad of budgies in it. Max pressed his face against the glass and watched the active little birds chatter, play and hop around on their play gyms. There were so many colors and color combinations, yellows, greens, and blues. Some where striped and others were covered in little black dots or had different colors splashed on their bodies.
"Mom, what are you doing?" Asked Max with anticipation.
"We're getting a pair of budgies today. They'll be our family pets."
"BUDGIES!!!! YEAY!!!" Yelled Max. Caroline already had two of the little birds in her hands. Both of them were solid white with black eyes, orange beaks and pink feet.
"Do you like these, Max?" She asked holding them out to him. "These are the friendliest ones I could find."
Max reached out and petted one on the back. It was so soft.
"Yeah, mom. Those are great!"
"Good, then why don't you go pick out a cage for them and we can take them home."
Max chose a large cage so the birds would have room to play and after buying some food and other necessities for them, they now had two new additions to the family. In the car ride home they discussed names for the budgies.
"Well Max they need names. What do you think?"
"Hum, what about mom and dad?"
"No silly." Said Caroline with a laugh. "Pick real names, something different, unique cool." Max thought for a moment.
"Oh I got it. Vector and Scalar."
"Hum, two types of quantities from physics? I like it. So will your father."
"YEAY, Vector will be the boy and Scalar will be the girl."
Satisfied with the names they'd just endowed their new pets with the two drove home and set the birds up in their new quarters.

Frink arrived home later that night. He threw his keys on the table and sat down on the easy chair, resting his feet and said nothing. Caroline instantly knew something was wrong and kneeled down beside him rubbing his hair. A smile slowly crept on his face.
"How did it go, honey?" She asked.
"Well he wasn't interested in my death ray. I think you were right. It was a stupid idea."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I know it was important to you."
"Nah, not that important. I'll just add it to the other failures in the basement, never to see the light of day again. Besides I got more ideas where that came from."
"Are you sure you're alright?" She pressed on still concerned. He sat up and looked at her then gave her a warm hug.
"Yes, bwah hay goh hay. I'm fine."
"Dad, dad, dad!! You've got to meet Vector and Scalar!" Said Max as he ran into the room and jumped into his father's lap.
"Woe!!" yelled Frink as he caught his son in mid jump. "Slow down there you little energized particle. Vector and Scalar?"
"They're our new budgies!" Said Max as he pulled on Frink's arm trying to get him up.
"I took him to the pet store today. I thought it was time we got some family pets and these are easy to care for, plus it will help Max learn responsibility."
"Budgies? Ah yes, Melopsitticus undulatus. Let's have a look." They took him over to the birdcage. Frink took a look at the birds that were sitting so close to each other. "Aw, aren't they cute." He said as he pointed at them
"OW! Pain, pain in the glayvin!" He yelled as the female latched onto his finger and would not let go. Frink pulled back and looked at the bite he'd just received.
"Oh yeah, dad. Don't point at them. They don't like it."
"Well thank you for the warning, Max." He looked at his watch. "Zoi! Bedtime now. We've got to be at the convention center bright and early tomorrow. You get to help me with a presentation, son." Max smiled and ran upstairs. Frink looked at Caroline. "Too bad you aren't coming with us."
"Not this time. I promise I'll come to the next one, but I've been working so much I'll be sleeping in tomorrow. Besides you need these little father/son times."
He nodded in agreement and the two headed upstairs.

Bright and early that morning, Max and Frink unloaded all their devices and displays they needed for their set up. There were many other inventors there trying to sell their latest gadgets and Frink was no exception.
"What exactly are we doing, dad?" Asked Max.
"I have constructed miniature remote control airplanes that children can use."
"You mean RCs? That isn't new."
"No Max, not like that. Children can fly in these, and you will help me demonstrate them."
"What?" Said Max backing away. "I don't know about this."
"Oh come on, son. It'll be fun. Don't you want to fly around, like your little birds you just got? Your mother certainly does."
"Well I suppose it would be…"
"Good!" Said Frink cutting him off. "Here put these on." He said handing him a pair of goggles. Max looked at them then handed them back to Frink.
"I can't wear those. I won't be able to see anything, I'd have t take off my glasses."
"But Max, you'll look like a little aviator this way. Come on it will be fun." He removed Max's glasses and put the goggles on him. He then took out an old time aviator's cap and placed it over Max's head.
"Oh no, dad! This thing covers all of my hair!! I can barely see and I look like a dork!" Complained max as he squinted in the mirror.
"Nonsense. You look fine. Plus I just got all these pictures of you made."
"When did you do that??" Asked Max completely surprised.
"That doesn't matter. It's opening time. Now get in the plane."
"What plane? I can't see very well, and these goggles make my eyes look huge!"
Frink sighed, lifted his son up and placed him into a little miniature red biplane. "Just sit there and relax. I'll do the flying."

Max sat in the plane thinking that this was the craziest idea his father had ever had. He'd always liked his experiments but something about this wasn't quite right. He heard the engine suddenly come to life and felt the whole thing rumble. It taxied forward and soon he felt the pull of gravity as the small aircraft took flight. Well so far so good. His dad was doing a good job of demonstrating it to on lookers by just making left and right turns and flying around the arena. Max then felt a burst of acceleration. Why was he suddenly going faster? It was unnecessary. He looked around but only saw blurred images and flashes of light pass by him. The plane dropped altitude with no warning in a steep dive and Max screamed out.
"Dad!! What are you doing??" His voice was lost over the hum of the engine. The plane then lurched forward and Max felt the blood rush to his head. He thought for sure he would fall to his death. The plane was upside down in a loop-de-loop. As soon as it righted itself it quickly went into a barrel roll and Max watched in horror as the horizon spun in blurred 360s before him. He screamed to no avail. This was no longer fun. He wanted off. He wanted down, what ever so long as he didn't have to be in the air. How had he let himself be talked into riding an unmanned airplane? It was as if no one was in control. At least he wasn't and it was a horrible feeling. No one was flying this thing. He was alone up here. His sense of direction and balance had been thrown out like last week's garbage and he felt sick to his stomach. He called out but no one listened. At last the plane leveled off but was still moving too fast. Max saw a bright light before him that became larger and larger until he realized what it was he was looking at. He was headed straight for a window that wasn't open. The glass was reflecting the light of the sun making it look brighter than it really was. He put his arms up and screamed with all his might at the last second as he was hurled through the window. Max was thrown from his seat when the plane crashed into some tall hedges outside. He hit the ground on some grass knocking the wind out of him and rolled down a hill finally coming to a rest on his back. He just lay there and felt like he would fall asleep. The grass was warm and smelled fresh, he was just glad to be back on the ground.

Frink burst through the double doors at the front of the convention center. What had he done? It didn't take him long to find the smoking wreck by the side of the building. He ran to it looking around frantically then saw Max at the bottom of the hill. He jumped down the side sliding on his feet all the way to the bottom coming to a stop on his knees next to his son. Maximillian had passed out. Frink quickly removed the goggles and headgear and tried to revive him.
"Come on Max. Snap out of it! Max!! MAX!!!" He yelled as he patted his cheek gently. The boy's eyes slowly opened up and a fuzzy picture of his father slowly formed. Frink gently slipped Max's glasses onto his face and hugged him relived.
"Oh Max! Thank goodness. I'm so sorry. This wasn't supposed to happen, um hay." Max looked over at the crash and then quickly turned away. He made a fist and punched Frink in the stomach.
"Never EVER use me in one of your experiments again. Ow!" He said holding his arm after the punch. The blow didn't faze Frink because Max was too weak at the moment.
"Let's go home. I'm truly sorry. I was so worried about you. This really wasn't supposed to happen." Said Frink as he held Max up. He kissed him softly on the head.
"I know dad. Ow."
Frink bandaged up some of his wounds on the spot then picked him up and carried him back to the car. None of them were looking forward to explaining this one to Caroline.

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