Leo the LEGO:

Nick Hoeper-Tomich

Leo the LEGO hears the giant leave and opens his eyes. Finally I can be alone, he thinks to himself. Leo looks around and sees that the giant has disassembled his favorite car. That makes Leo sad. He had worked on that car for months and now it was destroyed. I guess I will rebuild it.

Leo starts looking for parts of the car. He sees a wheel and grabs it and drags it over and starts a parts pile. He than spots his muffler and puts that in the pile. This will go by in no time, he thinks while smiling to himself. He finds his steering wheel peaking out under a pile of LEGO bricks. Leo pushes and pulls but cannot make the wheel budge from under the bricks. Leo quickly gives up and sits down in exhaustion. What can I do to solve this problem, Leo muses to himself. Then he gets an idea.

Leo jumps up and goes off to find a lever to pry the bricks up. He finds a long stick and pushes it under the bricks. He puts all his weight on the lever and watches as the bricks move off the steering wheel. He quickly pulls the steering wheel out before the bricks come crashing down. That was a close one. Leo brushes the dust off his clothes and picks up the steering wheel and puts it on the pile.

Leo finds most of the remaining car parts with ease. He finds another wheel, two seats, a bumper, another wheel, the engine, two windows, the windshield, and the trunk of the car. That leaves him with the hood, a wheel, three windows, and a bumper left to find. He makes a checklist and continues looking.

Leo finds the hood on top of a giant block. He sets up a rope and quickly climbs up to get it. He puts the hood on the pile and makes a check next to the hood on his list. The last wheel is nowhere to be found. Leo searches high and low but cannot see a sign of the wheel’s location. Leo takes out his list and draws a star next to the wheel. He moves on to the next thing on the list, three windows. Leo quickly finds two of the three windows. They were together under a house made of brick. The other is nowhere to be found. Leo sees a shining glint in the corner of his eye. That must be it.

The light was coming from the top of the table. Leo looks up, and up, and up. The table was at an astronomical height. What am I going to do? Leo asks himself. He quickly comes up with an idea. He is going to build a cannon that will shoot a rope up to the top of the table. He will than build a basket with which he will pull himself up. He builds this contraption in no-time out of all the pieces that are scattered on the ground. He fires the cannon.

BOOM!

The rope misses and comes falling back down. Leo repacks the cannon and fires again.

BOOM!

The rope reaches the right height but fails to catch hold of anything. Leo, stalwart, again repacks the cannon and fires.

BOOM!

Third time is a charm and the rope catches the table. Leo attaches the basket and begins the huge ascent. He reaches the top after an hour of effort. He stops, catching his breath and looks down. The LEGO bricks below are almost invisible because they are so far below. He sees his prize and lets out a yell of happiness. He picks up the window and begins descending the rope. He gets to the bottom and puts the window on the pile and checks the list. Almost done!

Leo scratches his head in dismay and frustration. I am so close to the end of my list. Where could the rest of these parts be? He asks himself. He walks around looking high and low. He checks on top of huge piles of blocks and under the rug. The wheel and the bumper are no where to be found. Leo climbs up onto the table again and looks for the parts again.

“There they are!” he yells in excitement.

The part is located in the bottom of the fish tank. Leo quickly assembles a boat and puts it into the tank. This can't be that hard. The boat shakes with a violent impact. Leo looks down and sees a giant gold fish is attacking the bottom of his boat. Leaks begin to appear and water begins to rush in. I have to hurry.

Leo dives overboard and swims down to the bottom and quickly retrieves the missing car parts. He begins to swim back to the surface when a piece of seaweed grabs his leg. He is trapped and can't move. The fish sees this and begins swimming towards him. Leo quickly cuts through the plant and swims to the surface. He climbs into his boat right when the fish reaches the surface. Leo paddles back to the edge and jumps back down to the table. That was a close call.

Triumphantly Leo holds the car parts above his head. He quickly descends back to the floor and assembles his car. He jumps in behind the wheel and fires up the engine and cruises around the floor at high speed. Leo thinks about all the hard work he had done this morning and decides that it was worth the effort to just feel the wind through his hair. He smiles.