Invention 1: Bouncing Gobstoppers
"What we need ... is a really big stick..."

'Kerby!'

The girl darted out into the middle of the quiet road as her sister searched for the small bouncy ball in the grass. 'You beast, I want a go!' She tossed it back to the girl, who caught it neatly and grinned.

This time she wasn't so lucky, and the small green ball overshot the kerb and bounced into the grass again. 'Oh noooo!' She turned and dived for the safety of her side of the road, narrowly missing the ball as it came hurtling back.

'…Oops.'

'Elizaaa!' Her sister stamped her foot. 'That's the forth one you've lost that way!'

Eliza scurried to the grid and peered down at the ball bobbing gently amongst the dead leaves. 'Sorry Roberta, I don't know what happened, it sort of… flew.'

Her sister put her head on one side. 'Really.'

Together they poked their fingers through the metal, but the ball was at least three feet down. 'Do you reckon anyone's got a net or something?'

'You can ask if you want. I don't think the grid'll come off anyway.' Eliza pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes and pulled at the metal to no avail.

'We could… pour buckets of water down until the water level rises, and then-'

'Okay, Sorcerer's Apprentice. Off you go.'

'You're no fun…'

Their heads knocked together as they pondered the problem. 'What we need,' murmured Roberta, 'is a really big stick…'

'You know, I've got a big stick you can use.'

The girls cracked their heads together much harder than they intended. 'YAH!' They looked up simultaneously to see…

The man in the top hat grinned, showing pearly white teeth. 'Hi!'

Eliza recovered first. 'Don't… do that to people.'

'Oh I'm sorry little girl.'

Eliza was about to say she was nearly fifteen and not a little girl, but then he'd want to know why she was still playing bouncy balls with her little sister, so she didn't say anything. Roberta got straight to business. 'Have you really got a stick we can use?'

'Sure! This one here.' The man showed them his cane.

'It's full of candy,' Eliza pointed out unnecessarily.

'Well of course it's filled with candy – it wouldn't be a candy cane if it wasn't filled with candy now would it?'

The sisters exchanged looks.

'What do you need it for anyway?'

'Eliza threw our ball down the grid,' said Roberta, at the same time as Eliza blurted, 'It wasn't my fault!'

The change was incredible. The man's gloved fingers recoiled instantly, an expression of disgust on his pale features. 'Eeeew! Do you even know what lives down there? Little crabby, crawly creatures with six legs and sharp claws, that'll nip your little noses right off!'

Another look passed between the girls.

'Riiight.' Roberta's voice took on a cultured accent. 'And how do you propose to get our bouncy ball back then, mister?'

The man grinned. 'I don't.' He laughed: a sort of impish giggle. 'Instead, I want you two to test my latest invention.'

He reached into his coat with his free hand and produced a small ball, about the same size as the lost bouncy ball, but bright red. 'What's that?' asked Eliza, squinting at it.

Roberta's jaw had dropped. 'No…'

'But yes!' said the man, grinning that strange grin again. 'This, my dear children, is my latest invention: bouncing gobstopper!' He held it up and examined it. 'It needs a better name, but watch, watch!'

He stood up and went into the middle of the road, still wearing that smile. They could see he was wearing a plum-coloured velvet tailcoat and black waistcoat, with ridiculous high-heeled boots. Eliza's eyebrow rose.

Still smiling, he threw the gobstopper at the tarmac, and caught it as it shot back up again. 'See! Bouncing…' he threw it down again. '…gobstopper!' He caught it. 'And when you or your friend…'

'We're sisters!' they cried.

The man stopped, caught off guard. 'You are?'

'It's the hair isn't it?' Eliza looked pointedly at her sister's dark hair, a sharp contrast to her fair head.

He put his head on one side. 'I guess so. That's just… weird. But anyway!'

He bounced the sweet a few more times, then rubbed it on his sleeve and licked it. 'Yum! And when you or your sister are done bouncing, you just wash it a little, then eat it all up! But be careful not to bite it, my dears, or you'll shatter your little teeth.'

There was a pause, and then Roberta went: 'Woooooooooooooow…'

'We shouldn't accept food from strangers,' whispered Eliza worriedly. 'And they don't get stranger than him.'

'But he ate it! Do you even know who--'

'Berta, it's bright red! Do you know what kind of dye makes that colour? It's a type of beetle that they crush and--'

'Not in my factory,' interrupted the man. 'My red color is made from the juice of snozzberries, which tastes much nicer than beetles. Uergh.' He pulled a face.

'…Snozzberries?'

'Here! Try it!'

He threw it to Eliza, who missed.

Splash.

'…Oops.'

Roberta hit her across the back of the head. 'I don't BELIEVE you!'

The man closed his open mouth. 'Well. There goes the only bouncing gobstopper on the entire world,' he said sulkily.

'Don't make me feel worse than I am…' Eliza crouched over the grid again, where the red gobstopper floated alongside the green bouncy ball. The water's reflection showed Roberta's brown-haired head and the man's top-hatted one join her, their heads framing the edge. He smelled vaguely of peanuts.

'What we need,' he said pensively, 'is a really big stick.'

fin