“That’s what I’d like to know!”
“Where did you get it?”
“I found it near the trash barrel behind Gormley’s.”
Mr. Cole handed the gismo back. “Why don’t you ask Mr. Gormley. If he threw it away, he’d know what it is.”
Jerry rolled the gismo in his hand. “It might have come from Hal’s Hobby Shop, too. He’s right next door to Gormley’s.”
Mr. Cole rose and switched the television off. “Well, ask Hal, too.” He smiled at Jerry. “There’s always a logical explanation for things like that. They don’t simply fall out of the sky.”
“Off that UFO, maybe?” Jerry grinned.
Mr. Cole tousled Jerry’s hair. “With an imagination like yours, Son, you’re bound to find out what it is!”
CHAPTER 2
A strange voice
The next afternoon Jerry leaned his bike against the maple tree and ran for the back stairs. His trip to the TV Clinic and Hal’s Hobby Shop had been fruitless. He scuffed into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. He stood looking in.
“Jerry,” his mother called from the hall, “close the refrigerator door, please.”
“I’m hungry,” Jerry called back.
“Then help yourself to apples. And Jerry, did you put your bike away in the garage?”
“I’ll do it later, Mom.” Jerry reached for two apples, slammed the refrigerator door, and ran upstairs to his room. He kicked the door shut with one foot and plopped down on his bed.
The crystal radio set he had made at school was on his nightstand. His pocket transistor was there too, but it was more fun to fool with the crystal set. Now for some quiet relaxing music, Jerry thought. He placed one apple on the stand, and with the other apple between his teeth, he picked the headphones up and adjusted them over his ears. He checked the aerial that ran behind his bed through the window screen to the top of the maple tree. Yes, it was attached securely. He glanced at the ground wired to the heating duct close by. It was in place, too. Then he reached for the crystal radio and moved the tuner bar across the coil until he heard the voice of a disk jockey on the local radio station.
He leaned his head back on his pillow and crunched into the apple while he listened to the beat of a new tune. He put his hand into his jeans pocket, pulled the gismo out, and rolled it between his fingers and palm. He liked the slippery feel of it. Placing the gismo on the pillow beside him, he turned his head and stared at the tiny knobs on the ends and one side. What had it been attached to, he wondered…wires?…clips? Did it fit into a slot? Was it a cartridge of some kind? And those fine hair-like wires on top! Were they antennae? He blew on them and they parted like the fur on a cat. Hal had said it might have come from a telephone truck or a lineman’s pocket. If so, it could have something to do with a telephone. Maybe it was a relay of some kind, or a new type of transformer.
Jerry took another bite of apple. Funny how grown-ups like Mr. Gormley, and even Hal, gave up so easily. He’d have to figure out the secret of the gismo himself.
Somebody was thumping on his door. “You there, Jerry?” It was Ron.
“Sure, come on in.” Jerry took the earphones off.
Ron walked in. “Your mom said it was okay to come up.”
Jerry reached for the apple on his night-stand. “Here, catch!” He lobbed the apple at Ron.
Ron caught it as it hit his stomach. “Thanks,” he said and bit into the apple. He flopped down on the foot of the bed. “Whatcha doing?”
“Fooling around with the gismo.”
“Got any ideas what it is yet?”
“Well, it isn’t a TV part.”
“How do you know?”
“Gormley said so. Picked up a couple of alligator clips at his store after school.”
“Then I’ll bet it’s a model-airplane motor like I said.”
Jerry shook his head. “Hal said it wasn’t that, either. He looked it over real good.” Jerry picked the gismo up and turned it over in his hand. It doesn’t come apart…no screws…no seams…nothing. These knobs on the ends and sides…maybe something was attached to them.”
“What, for instance?” Ron leaned back on the bed and munched loudly.
“Electric wires, maybe, like Hal said.”
“For what?”
“Oh, anything. It might be a battery of some kind, you know.”
“Yeah? How can you tell?”
Jerry sat up. “Remember in electric shop when we learned how batteries worked?”
“Sure, I remember.”
“Well, if this gismo is a battery, I could attach wires to the little knobs on it, then touch the wires to a flashlight bulb, and the bulb would light up.”
“Okay, let’s try it.” Ron sat up.
Jerry hurried to his desk, cluttered with bits of wire and parts of old radios. He rummaged about in one of the drawers and found his flashlight. Removing the glass from the front, he unscrewed the tiny bulb. He selected a short wire from his desk and wound one end of it carefully about an end knob on the gismo. The other end of the wire, he wound about the brass threads of the bulb. He found a second wire on his desk and fastened one end to the other end knob on the gismo.
He brought it over to the bed. Ron held the gismo while Jerry carefully touched the free end of the wire to the dot of solder on the flashlight bulb. They looked closely. There was no glimmer of light.
“Maybe if you attached a wire to the side knob it would work,” Ron suggested.
Jerry tried this, but still the bulb would not light.
Ron leaned back on one elbow and tossed his apple core into the wastepaper basket across the room. It landed with a loud thunk. “Well, it isn’t a battery,” he said. “Got any other bright ideas?”
Jerry sat with his chin in his hands. “If it doesn’t store electricity, maybe it conducts it. Remember when they showed us how a string of Christmas tree lights worked in a series?”
“Sure,” Ron said. “If one bulb was loose or burned-out, the whole string wouldn’t light.”
“Yea, because a loose or burned-out bulb wouldn’t conduct electricity.” Jerry leaned forward. “Now if we connect this gismo in a series with something else, we can tell if it conducts.” He went to his closet. “I’ve got my dry cell battery for starting model planes in here somewhere.” He hunted among the boxes under his clothes and brought out a large, round battery. He carried it to his desk. Reaching into his jeans, he pulled the two alligator clips out.
Ron joined him at the desk with the gismo. Jerry removed the wires from the gismo and the light bulb and carefully attached a clip to each wire. He clamped the wires to the two terminals on top of the battery. The loose end of one wire he fastened to one end knob of the gismo. The loose end of the other wire he wound around the brass threads of the flashlight bulb.
He selected a third wire from his desk and attached one end of it to the other end knob of the gismo. “There!” Jerry put his hands on his hips. “The gismo’s in a series.” He leaned forward and touched the dot of solder on the light bulb with the free end of the third wire. The bulb didn’t light. He tried again.
“Here,” Ron said. “Let’s try this.” He removed the third wire from the end of the gismo and attached it to the side