The following day the two scientists were taking down readings from some new equipment that had just arrived. Both had to be familiar with the basics of the tasks the other was working on so that in the end they could fit everything together nicely. Frink read off the results. They wrote what they found on their clipboards.
"Twenty degrees Celsius. One hundred and sixty-five degrees. Up field shift. And it looks like ACK!" He coughed as steam shot all over his face after opening a small door. "Ok what are you getting, Owen." He said nothing. "Owen?"
"You know what Frink? You are so stupid. What idiot would think to look through an exhaust valve while the machine is still running? Only you." Frink looked down clearly hurt by his words, still Owen continued. "You're such a looser. I will be amazed if you do not bring this place to ruin." They walked on taking more measurements in silence. After a few steps he spoke again.
"I see you still haven't learned to speak correctly. Perhaps if you got rid of your horse teeth you might make yourself more understandable. Man, are you ugly. How many mirrors have you had to replace in the last few years?" Frink slammed his clipboard onto the floor.
"Ok pretty boy, at least I have a wife." He said crossing his arms. Owen's joking face went blank at those words and rapidly melded into rage. He came at Frink so fast he never saw it coming. He nailed him across the face with a nasty left cross, sending Frink instantly to the ground. He went down after him and pinned him with his knees to his back since Frink had landed on his stomach. Owen proceeded to pound his sides with punch after punch, left right, left right.

"AAAH!! Help!! Ow it hurts a person! Pain pain in the glayvin oh goh hay din hey din hay!!"
The other workers saw what happened and rushed to pull Owen off the helpless professor. Frink's own staff came and lifted him off the ground. They carried him back to his lab and gave him a first aid kit so he could tend to his wounds.
"Jeffery." Said Frink still trying to catch his breath from the ordeal. "Please get those readings for me. I no longer wish to work anywhere near Owen." And with that he handed him a clean clipboard, one that wasn't blood stained.

Frink sat at the table at home. He had all kinds of formulas scribbled out on a few sheets of paper but he still couldn't solve the problem for the Thanos Project. He was becoming very frustrated. He took off his glasses placing them on the table and just thought a moment about the problem. He was thinking too much in terms of biological cells. Perhaps he needed something more artificial. He put his thick glasses back on and scribbled more formulas out. Still no good. He suddenly felt two warm kisses one on each cheek.
"MWAH!!"

"What the?" He said pleasantly surprised. Both Caroline and Max had snuck up on him and kiss attacked him at the same time. He turned toward Caroline and said, "This was your idea wasn't it?"
"It sure was!" She said excitedly in her high pitched voice. "You looked like you could use some cheering up and a break from all that hard work."
"Yeah dad!! You promised you'd put up the Christmas lights and decorations today." Max said practically jumping up and down.
"Zoi, that's right. It nearly slipped my mind. Come on Son. We'll have the brightest house on the street and everyone will come and look at it!" He said as he pulled Max outside into the snow. Max helped him connect all the light sets together as Frink put them up around the edges of the roof. He then climbed up on a ladder and placed a plastic Santa with reindeer and all on the slope of the roof. Back on the ground he walked over to Max who was standing on the sidewalk to get a view of the whole house. Several of the neighborhood kids had gathered to watch as well. They knew that the Frink household always did something spectacular for Christmas. Frink kneeled down to Max's level and held out a large control pad.
"Dad? Do all the switches have to be remote controlled?"
"No not all of them, but having a remote control is more fun. It also looks cooler than just flipping a switch on the wall. Don't you think, um hay?" Max just laughed. Frink pushed one of the buttons and the lights came on a group at a time. First the bushes on the ground turned on, next the tree in the front yard, the lights on the roof and finally Santa and his reindeer. Everyone cheered at the sight until the lead reindeer began to glow brightly and made a strange buzzing sound. An explosion was heard and the thing shot off into the air, the other reindeer soon followed and burst into sparks in the sky. Kids screamed in horror.
"It's ok, don't worry bwah hey, reindeer were meant to fly." Said Frink trying to cover up his wiring blunder. Next Santa burst into flames at his feet and he began to melt into the blaze. More screams from the crowd. The gooified Santa then slipped off the roof in a massive red and white drop and splattered on the ground bubbling with only two eyes and a nose discernable in the shapeless blob. All the kid screamed terrified and ran off in all directions.
"No come back! Santa's not dead, he's just on a diet and is losing weight with the fat and the cholesterol and the…oh never mind." He said hanging his head down.
"It's ok dad." Said Max giggling. "Just lights will be fine this year. Besides that stupid Santa always looked fake to me."
"Yeah we would have gotten rid of him anyway. Come on Son let's go back inside and see what your mother is up to.

That night Frink slumped down on the couch. It was the first time that he had gotten a chance to do absolutely nothing, to think about nothing and just turn off his brain for a moment.
"Dad! DAd! DAD!" Yelled Max as he ran into the room and jumped on Frink's lap. "Do you know what day it is tomorrow?"
"Wednesday?"
"No. It's 'take your son to work day'. Oh can I come to work with you?"
"Aw, Max." He said picking him up and setting him on the ground. "Why don't you go with your mother to Frink Labs instead. It's more fun than my boring job."
"But I've been to Frink Labs hundreds of times. Pleeeeeease, Dad!!" Caroline had been standing in the doorway watching the whole conversation and she nodded in approval. Frink looked down at Max.
"Well, alright. I guess you can come."
"YEAY!!!" Cried Max happily.
Early in the morning Max and Frink loaded up their belongings in the car and headed off for work. Max pressed his face on the window and watched as other little boys were carried to their parents' jobs. He waved as he saw Bart riding with Homer on the way to the power plant. Bart waved back but he didn't seem too thrilled about being with Homer. Max sat back in his seat and looked up at his dad with a smile. Frink had a stern expression and just looked straight ahead as he drove.
"Are you ok?" Max asked concerned.
"Huh? Oh yes, yes. Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind. They have given me a really hard problem that I haven't been able to solve yet."
"I'm sure you'll get it in time, Dad. You can figure out some of the hardest stuff I've ever seen." Said Max reassuringly.
"Aw thanks. That's very sweet of you. Maximillian, you're one in a million." He said as he rubbed his hand over Max's hair. The child laughed at the silly comment.
The two arrived at the research facility. Max got out and just stood staring at the huge building.
"WOW this place is enormous!" He said.
"Yes I know. It took me a while to get used to it too. Come on son, I'll show you around."
Frink took Max inside and showed him the big machines and introduced him to his co-workers.
"Hey Phil. This is my son Maximillian."
"Hi." Said Max putting his hand out to shake.
"Hey cute kid, Frink. Gosh he looks just like you. I'll see you two around." Said Phil as he went about his business. The two received similar responses from the others.
"And this Max, is my lab." Said Frink as he opened a door into a large room. Max couldn't believe all the things inside, the workbenches, the equipment and the chemicals. Frink had at least fifteen people in there working on different tasks and he was in charge of all of them. Max felt really proud of his dad.
"Can I look around?" He asked.
"Of course you can."
Max went around looking at all the experiments. He was just tall enough to see over the tables. He watched as someone boiled some blue substance in a round flask over a Bunsen burner. He then moved on to watch the next person working but never interfered with them. Max was content to just watch. The day was progressing fast and soon several of the scientists asked if they could take their lunch. Frink agreed and they headed off.
"If you are hungry you can go get something to eat too." He said to Max.
"No, not yet. I want to stay here a while."

Phil and Bill sat at a table having lunch together. They were two of the ones who had asked Frink for their lunch break and now they were stuffing sandwiches down their faces.
"Isn't that kid cute?" Asked Phil.
"Yeah, he doesn't cause trouble, or is loud or obnoxious like most kids. Frink's lucky. He's got a really nice son." Responded Bill.
"WHAT?! Frink brought his son today?!?" Yelled a voice from behind them. The two turned to see Owen nearly choking on his food. "I didn't even KNOW that idiot HAD a son!" He stood up and left the room in a whirlwind of fury.
"Uh oh." Phil said.
"You never know who's listening, do you?" added Bill and they continued to eat.
Owen was furious. He stormed down the halls passing other parents with their kids. He looked each boy over as he searched for the Frink child. None of them were his and Owen continued on his way to Frink's lab.

Max was standing by the door to the lab and looked at all the dials and lights that were on the wall. He imagined he was on some futuristic spaceship en route to some distant planet. The front door of the lab suddenly slammed open startling Max and causing him to jump nearly three feet in the air. There in the doorway stood a tall blonde man with a sinister look. Max was so frightened he couldn't move and stood transfixed in Owen's gaze. Owen looked at the boy. This had to the child he'd heard of. A myriad of thoughts passed through his mind in a single second. This was Caroline's son. This boy should have been his. Still he could clearly see Frink in him, the large forehead, his over bite, the big teeth, he even dressed like Frink. He was clearly Frink's son too. Like a male lion that comes across the cubs of another male Owen hated him and wanted him out of his sight. A snarl curled on his lip. Max began to shake but still could not move from his spot. The moment seemed like an eternity for him as well. No one had ever looked at him this way. Even Nelson's glances did not have this feeling of utter terror come across them. Frink looked up from his shattered beaker that had broken when the door slammed shaking the entire room. When he saw how terrified Max was and that it was because of Owen he ran over to him and took Max by the hand. The young boy reassured by his father's presence ducked behind him and held onto his father's lab coat with a very firm grip.

"You are not allowed in here, goh hay! How many times have I told you to stay out of MY lab?! What do you want, Owen? Or are you just here to scare my son?"
"You never told me you had a little boy, Frinky. What's his name?" Said Owen in a sly voice.
"You never asked. Now get out of here before I have you removed." The lunch hour was over and Owen heard footsteps as everyone was returning to work. There were to many people around.
"Very well." He said and he left the room. Frink breathed a sigh of relief once he was gone. He could take Owen's punishment, he had for years, but scaring his son was unacceptable. No one did that! Frink would have fought for him, though he worried that he might not have done it very well. He felt Max's cold little hand in his and kneeled down in front of him.
"Max, are you alright?" The boy was still shaking and he threw his arms around his father in a strong hug. Frink could feel his little heart racing and he frowned.
"Who…was that?" Max finally managed to say in a stuttering voice.
"That my boy, was a mad scientist and I want you to stay away from him."

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