Paolo had been living in MammaSteena’s garage for three weeks…
And in that time he had made several improvements. He had reorganised all the tools, repaired a broken lawnmower, and built a machine that sorted screws by size. He had also dismantled the garage door opener, but that was a temporary situation.
His greatest discovery, however, was MammaSteena’s car.
Paolo loved the car. It had an engine, four wheels, a gearbox and a great many interesting things underneath. It was a perfectly respectable machine, although he couldn’t understand why anyone would build a vehicle capable of going so slowly. He decided to improve it as a surprise.
For three days he worked under the bonnet, installing pipes, pumps and an enormous turbocharger. He added two shiny exhaust tubes at the back, then a red button on the dashboard. The final touch was a little rocket booster beneath the boot.He called it the Fireball.
On Saturday morning, MammaSteena came into the garage and found Paolo standing proudly beside her car.
“Surprise!”
MammaSteena looked at the pipes sticking out of the bonnet. Then she looked at the rocket.
“Paolo. What have you done?”
“Made it faster!”
“How much faster?”
“LOTS!”
Before she could ask anything else, Paolo pressed the red button.
The engine roared, the windows rattled, and two enormous blue flames shot out of the exhaust pipes. A cardboard box full of Christmas decorations burst into flames. MammaSteena grabbed the fire extinguisher.
When the smoke cleared, the garage was black, the decorations were ruined, and three neighbours were standing in the driveway.
Paolo was delighted.
“And that’s just the starting system!”
