The Hatted Inventor: A Doodledline Story

My hat hung from its hook in an old and comforting manner, waiting for me to don it and my coat and be off toward my room of ever growing imaginings, also known as the most hated garage in the neighborhood. It is in fact so unpopular that the surrounding locals, aka the town, had a court hearing (after many informal gatherings) on whether or not they had anything legally binding on how I could be stopped. Apparently, the weird noises and unsettling smells that occasionally crept out of my workshop bothered them highly. While that matter is not entirely resolved, I am incredibly hopeful that, by revealing the world's first Auto Dawdle, the increased revenue and tourist population might make up for any and all shortcomings that my process
may have had.

I weighted on my top hat, now heavy with expectation shrugged on my coat, my determined face not registering in the mirror as I left the house and entered the garage, soldiering on like I was entering the battlefield. A battlefield indeed, for if this does not work, I will surely be out of house and home before the end of the month, debunked as disruptive and insane. Starting my invention, I slowly pilot it out of the garage, onto the street, and into the sky.

Instead of the applause or shouts that I had imagined from the crowd invited to watch my unveiling, there was instead an unsteady silence—broken only by me, of course, for controlled flight, especially the first, is indeed a shouting endeavor if ever there were one. I flew around the city twice before begrudgingly going back to the stationary and utterly boring world that was—no, sadly, is—my driveway.

The streets were now packed as the gossiping townsfolk had spread word that 'the Hatley girl had made a flying machine.' Only after the most courageous kid had shouted, "CRAZY HATLEY MADE A HOVER CAR," did the cheers and clapping spread over the crowd.

       Graciously, the mayor informed me later that week, that the lawsuit had been dropped by more than half the town and, due to these new developments, the judge had dismissed the case on the notion that without firm opposition, it was a waste of the courts time.