One time I woke up very early before school. My mom and dad weren't awake, so I turned on my light and I got my toy box out from under my bed. Inside the box, there was a new toy I hadn't seen before. It was a little plastic toy that looked just like me, but older. He had black hair and brown eyes. He was wearing jeans, black shoes, and a green sweater. With a tie!
I picked him up and put him in front of my eyes so I could see him better, and said, "Where did you come from?"
"I came from the future," he said. "My name is Vincent from the Future. I'm ten years old."
"Wow!" I said.
"I need your help," said Vincent from the Future. "First, get my friend Marker out of the box. She's young, like you. She has a red shirt and a ponytail."
I dug inside my box and Vincent from the Future was right--there was another new toy inside my box. I picked her up and put her in front of my eyes too. Vincent from the Future hadn't said anything about it, but Marker also had glasses, long socks, black shoes, shorts and a scarf. Her hair was brown.
"Hi, Marker," I said.
"Hi, Vincent," said Marker. She was smaller than Vincent from the Future, about two and a half inches tall.
"Wait, are you from the future too?" I asked.
"Yeah!" said Marker.
"Why are you both so small?" I asked.
Vincent from the Future sighed sadly. "We drank green juice," he said, shaking his head. "We should have known better." Marker nodded gravely.
"Why would anyone drink green juice?" I asked, disgusted.
"You'll understand when you're older," said Vincent from the Future. "Anyway, like I said, I need your help. Now listen closely."
I put Vincent from the Future and Marker on a shelf next to my bed because I was tired of holding them, and because I wanted to be able to see them and listen very carefully. I sat down and looked at them.
"I'm ready," I said.
"Okay," said Vincent from the Future. "You're gonna want to sit down when you hear this."
"I'm already sitting down," I said.
"Oh, yeah. Well." Vincent from the Future looked around to make sure no one besides the three of us was listening. He whispered. "There's a bunch of tiny people stuck inside the light bulb in your lamp."
"wwwWWHAT?" I was glad I was sitting down, because I could have fallen over from the drama of it all.
"Yes," said Vincent from the Future, very seriously. He was silent for a moment, waiting for something. "You're not going to ask how they got in there?"
"Um, no?" I said.
"They were born in there!" shouted Marker.
"Yes, they were. But they weren't supposed to be born in there. Someone put their eggs inside there a long time ago. They were supposed to be born outside, in the cold, because they're cold people. It gets really hot in light bulbs so they hate it in there. They're miserable."
"What are we going to do?" I asked.
"We have to build a machine. Then we have to shrink ourselves with the machine. Then we need to use a drill to get inside the light bulb and get all the people out." Vincent from the Future paced a little bit, looking down in thought. "We should probably turn the light bulb off before we go inside."
"Why?" I asked.
"I'm not sure," said Vincent from the Future, "but I think a light bulb has something to do with electricity, which can be very dangerous."
"I know how to turn off a light bulb," said Marker, knowingly.
"Me too," I said. So I got up and unplugged the lamp. Then I sat back down to listen to the rest of the plan.
"We'll need supplies," said Vincent from the Future. "Blocks, Legos, springs, magnets, a toy firetruck, and most importantly, a tutu."
"My sister has a tutu," I said.
"You don't have a sister!" said Marker.
"Oh yeah," I said. "I just like to pretend I have a sister. But I have a tutu, so it's okay."
I got all the supplies and brought them back to Marker and Vincent from the Future, who made them into a shrinking machine and a drill. Marker did most of the work, even though she's little like me! Vincent from the Future said that's because she has a scientific mind.
"Do I have a scientific mind?" I asked.
"Definitely not," said Vincent from the Future. "I would know."
I got the light bulb out of the lamp and put in on the shelf next to Marker, Vincent from the Future, the drill and the shrinking machine. Marker powered up the shrinking machine and shrunk the drill first. Then she shrunk Vincent from the Future. Then she shrunk me. And then somehow, she shrunk herself. We all stood at the bottom of the light bulb, looking up. The light bulb was so big that I didn't notice at first that Marker was now the same height as me, and Vincent from the Future was much taller.
"Hey, you got taller!" I said.
"Well, actually, we all got a lot shorter. But you got more short," said Vincent from the Future. That made my brain hurt, and I understood what Vincent from the Future had meant about not having a scientific mind.
Marker got started on what she called "surveying the situation", which turned out to be walking around, looking at things and saying "Hm," a lot. She also knocked on different parts of the light bulb and then put her ear on the glass to listen.
"What is she doing?" I asked.
"Don't question to the method," said Vincent from the Future, coolly. The he looked a bit guilty. "Well, actually, I don't know what she's doing and I'm awfully curious about it too. I was just acting aloof to seem cool."
I didn't know what aloof meant but I sure appreciated that even a ten year old was confused.
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