He was only fourteen years, but he had invented two machines. One helped him clean his room and the other alerted him when anyone approached his room.
Dexter's love for trinkets began when he was about five, and he'd collect metals and make a shape of something new, many times he didn't even know what he created. As he grew older, he'd visit the welder to make his creations.
Then he discovered batteries and their power.
At eleven years old, Dexter built his first robot, or at least he made one of his metals move when he was eleven, and at twelve years of age, he created Mr. Kleens.
Mr. Kleens helped him by putting away his clothes properly and arranging things in his room. He was a little help, and it made Dexter's mother complain less.
Soon, he decided he needed privacy from his pesky sister and his mother, so he created Alert, whose work was to sense the arrival of any object towards his room. It got him prepared and less shocked by people barging into his room.
Cleaning his room was great and getting alerts of approaching visitors was better, but Dexter wanted a machine which would solve all his problems; perform the rest of his chores, help him with homework, play video games with him, listen to him talk about his ideas, etc. He wanted to create a robot that would make his life easier.
He began the very next day after he got the idea. This was not a simple robot, and so its creation took more time than Dexter expected and he managed to finish three months later.
He had just discovered what would be the finishing touch to the robot, when it dawned on him that he had no name for the robot, and that bothered him, even more than the creation did. He needed a name to make it uniquely his.
Pacing and wondering brought no ideas and he was about hitting his head on the wall when his mother called him down for lunch. He was about to shout that he was not hungry when his stomach growled, shutting him up.
He was so absent minded, still thinking about what to name his latest invention, that he tripped at the foot of the stairs on his way downstairs.
"Easy, Dex," his mother warned, sending him a worried look. He had spent so much time alone in his room and studio, and she was getting worried.
"I'm fine," he murmured as he walked towards the dining table. Then he stopped suddenly as his eyes lightened up.
"Eureka!" he shouted, kissing his mother on the cheek before he ran back upstairs to his room and putting Alert on alert. He didn't need any distraction.
Two weeks later EasyDex was launched, and Dexter smiled as she spoke her first words, "Hello, I'm EasyDex and I make Dexter's life easier."
Pixabay Creative Commons
EasyDex's blue eyes and pink lips made her different and Dexter was already seeing her usefulness, making him feel proud and fulfilled.
Sitting by the window while EasyDex worked, Dexter smiled.
Life is easy with EasyDex.
This story was inspired by the Easydex Contest by @ceyonce.
Join Mannabase if you are interested in Universal Basic Income.