The Triumph of Industry

"Who do you want to be?" said the doctor. He was cleaning his glasses with the sleeve of his sport coat.

"I want to be a hydro-electric pump designer," said the little girl.

"Why don’t you show me how that works with your Barbie doll," Said the Doctor.

"Okay," said the little girl. "Watch."

She popped Barbie’s head off with a flick of her index finger.

"You must take Barbie’s head off quite often," said the doctor, "It looks like you’ve practiced."

"Barbie loses her head very easily," said the girl.

Then she took a Bic pen and poked a hole In Barbie’s left foot. Then she poked another one on the right foot.

She put the hollowed tube of the Bic pen into the top of Barbie’s neck.

"If you pour water into Barbie through the Bic," said the girl, "Then you can create downward pressure because water displaces the air and creates the conditions necessary for a vacuum, except the air needs to go somewhere so it heads for her feet.: but then you can control the displacement by opening and closing her foot holes."

The girl demonstrated by pressing her thumbs on Barbie’s feet. Water spurted out of the Bic pen atop Barbie’s neck in perfect accord.

"That’s why Sir Thomas Crapper called it a "foot valve"in the first place, "said the girl.

"You know, "she said, "You can’t make this kind of stuff up."

S.K.