The Emerald Green Machine

In a land not so far away, in a time not so long ago, lived a boy named Billy. Billy lived with his uncle Ed in a town called Not-So-Nice, on a street named O-So-Cruel.

            Because Billy and his uncle were poor, they didn’t have a very pretty house and Billy didn’t have very nice clothes. In fact, the house was falling down and Billy’s clothes were old and patched. Oh, and Billy also had a rather large nose, just like his uncle Ed.

            Like most of the kids in the town, Billy went to U-Be-Nice School. After school, he had to work in his uncle Ed’s shop, called I-Can-Fix-It. Billy’s uncle was a tinkerer, someone who fixes things and invents things. Billy had been helping his uncle since he was very young, so he was also good at fixing things and inventing new things.

After helping in the shop, what Billy liked most of all was going out to play. Most of the kids played in the park named Dat-Wuz-Mean.

Because Billy and his uncle Ed were poor, the other kids didn’t want to play with him. They teased him about his patched clothes and the size of his nose. Because Billy didn’t always live in Not-So-Nice, but came from a place called Not-Like-Us, the other kids teased him every day.

While Billy was playing by himself in the park one day, running after a ball, the ball rolled toward one of the bigger kids, who quickly snatched it up and said, “Why don’t you use your nose instead of your foot?”

All the other kids pointed their fingers at Billy and laughed. Billy didn’t understand why he was teased so much. He just wanted to be friends. He was very angry and bitter and thought, “Someday I’ll pay them all back!”

That evening, after finishing his chores, Billy said, “Uncle Ed, I’ve finished my chores. I’m going to my room now.”

Uncle Ed yelled back from another room, “I’ve got some tinkering to do tonight, Billy. How about giving me a hand?”

“Not tonight, Uncle Ed, if you don’t mind,” Billy answered back.

With a gizmo in his hand and oil stains on his clothes, Uncle Ed walked into the room where he knew Billy would be. There he saw Billy standing with his back to him and his head hung low.

“Billy,” Uncle Ed said. “Is everything all right?”

Billy quickly lifted his head and put on the best smile he could as he turned to face his uncle. In the happiest voice he could muster up, Billy answered, “Sure, Uncle Ed, everything’s fine. I just need a little time to myself.”

Uncle Ed tilted his head, looked over the top of his glasses, and said, “If something is wrong and it’s making you feel blue, I’m sure if we talk about it, we’ll be able to see it through.”

“Uncle Ed, I’m fine,” Billy replied, as he turned and slowly walked to his room.

Uncle Ed felt sad as he watched Billy walk away. He then returned to the shop to continue tinkering.