Chapter 10 #2
Conrad laughed. “I was going to say the same thing. We can set it aside for now. Instead. I came up with something a little more… interesting. I don’t know about you, but I was always interested in Egypt.
I got to go to one of the exhibits in DC with some of the stuff from Tut’s tomb.
Anyway, they had the most interesting gods, so what do you think about making one?
Like Sobek, the one with the body of a person and the head of a crocodile.
We could make it life-size and really get the detail.
I have pictures of the stone versions, but when they were new, they were painted.
So we could do all the bright colors and tons of detail. ”
“Okay. That sounds cool. Could we make his mouth open and close?”
“Sure. I have some servomotors that are a bit more heavy duty. They should be able to handle that.” He was getting really excited.
“I got an email with an invitation to a show. There’s a Lego exposition coming to Philadelphia in June.
I was invited to speak, and they asked for an original piece that hadn’t been shown anywhere. ”
“And you want this to be it?”
“Yeah. If you want, we could go. But that also means that we need to make the model in sections that we can remove and take apart. I’ve done it before, but it can be tricky and requires that we have extra strength built in. What do you think?”
“Is it a competition?” Forrest asked.
“Of sorts, yes. There would be other builders there. The piece we bring would be judged alongside the one we make while we’re there, and then the attendees vote on a winner. What do you think?”
Forrest smiled and nodded. “The only thing is we’d also need to find a way to make this funny and build in a story.”
“Oh, I’ve got the perfect story.” He chuckled. “I was thinking cats going after his tail. Something ridiculously cute like that. Egyptians loved and revered cats, so that will work.”
“Okay. Are you planning to make him with his feet apart?”
“Yeah. But we’ll need some sort of scenery around him.
Maybe Nile flowers of some type, and they could disguise a third support to make sure he’s stable.
So what we need to do is start with the feet and legs before developing the hips.
Once we have that, and it’s stable, we can build the torso and the rest of the figure.
The body should be black with gold and bright-colored ornamentation.
The crocodile head can be deep green. I think that will be incredibly dramatic. ”
“Okay. I just have one more question, do you want him my size or your size?” Forrest asked. “Why I’m asking is because we can use one of us as the basic model for proportions.”
“Okay. He’s a god, so we use you,” Conrad said.
“After all, you’re pretty godlike, if you ask me.
So take off your shoes and we’ll model your feet.
” Conrad got a tape measure and used it to get the size of Forrest’s feet and his legs, both length and circumference.
He also had him stand the way he wanted the model to be positioned and measured the distance between his feet.
Then he set up the table with base planes and marked out where the feet should go before adding sand-colored bricks under the area to raise it up.
“What’s that for?”
“We’re going to need to develop the ground around him with sand, maybe a pool for the plants behind him, but this way we can build that up without having to raise or lower him.
We simply build that section later.” Conrad got started on the feet and while Forrest looked up plants and flowers from the Nile region and began putting them together.
“I’m going big,” Forrest said.
“Perfect. Since he’s big, the rest will appear out of scale if we make it too small.
” He worked for a while getting the base of the foot right before adding the toes.
The hardest part was that the legs would be angled, so he had to build that into the ankle as well as the design of the foot so everything flowed properly.
He didn’t want it to look too straight, because the legs needed to come together in the middle above both feet.
It really was a balancing act, so to make the legs stronger, he’d have to build them solid, while the body and head would be hollow to reduce weight and stress on the entire system.
They worked for hours, getting the base right and strong. Once they had the legs and the hips built, it was almost dinnertime. Forrest had created some amazing water flowers that they’d put in the background on the edge of their Nile.
“I think I’ve about had enough for now,” Conrad rubbed his eyes and stepped back. What they had looked good but was devoid of real interest. That would come later.
“Yeah. My eyes are starting to cross.” They stood back to look at what they’d made.
“It’s strong and I think it will work really well, but I’ve had enough for now.
” Forrest put the bricks aside and began putting the rest away.
Conrad got the ones he had been using separated and put them back in their bins.
“Come on. Let’s go out to get something to eat. I’m tired of being inside. That is, if you’re okay with being seen together.”
“Sure.” Forrest followed him up the stairs, and they got their jackets and left the house, walking downtown to Molly Pitcher. After all their hours of work, they deserved a beer.
CONRAD FELT more energetic by the time they returned to the house after dinner and a couple of pints. “That was really good.”
“It was. I’d forgotten how good the beer is, and they make the best sandwiches.
” Conrad was full and pleasantly happy. He unlocked the door and let them inside before closing it afterward.
“Turn on the TV and see if you can find something fun to watch. I’ll get a few snacks and some sodas, unless you want more beer. ”
“No, I’ve had enough, and I don’t want to get drunk. I know I’m big, but I never drank all that much, so a few beers usually do me in.” He sat on the sofa, and Conrad got some chips and sodas and set them on the coffee table before sitting next to Forrest, and they put on the original Star Wars.
“God, I love this. My mom talks about seeing this in the theater when it first came out and what a sensation it was. She and Dad went together on a date, and they stood in line for hours to get tickets.” Conrad nestled next to Forrest as the opening panned up the screen and then the battle cruiser chased Princess Leia’s ship.
Forrest put an arm around him, and he watched the movie and settled in, relaxing quickly.
“My dad used to tell stories about it whenever we watched it. Apparently when he was a kid, the original action figures weren’t going to be available before Christmas, so they sold a card that said you’d ordered the gift, and the toys would arrive in January.
Dad wanted those figures so badly that he got the card for Christmas.
He got his toys. I wish we still had them. ” Forrest sighed.
“I think everyone does. Who could have known what a phenomenon the entire franchise would turn out to be?”
They settled in to watch the movie, but Conrad had seen it enough times that his attention started to wander at about the trash compactor scene, and he let his hands begin to wander as well.