A Childhood Toy

Volvo
A childhood toy can predict who you will be in the future. Girls are getting dolls; that is why there are more women in the fashion industry. In addition to fashion, women are better with interior design, because they are more creative. They can imagine how a room will look with furniture. Males, on the other hand, are better with engineering. Automotive, construction and the computer industry developers are mostly male. The first toy that predicted my future was an electric car. I still remember my reaction when I got it, how important it was to me, and what happened to my best childhood toy.
It was Christmas time and as a five year old boy I believed in Santa Claus. I was sitting in the window, watching for the first star in the sky. It was a couple minutes after 4pm and that is when I saw it. The star was shining so brightly, I knew Santa Claus would come. I could not wait anymore! I helped my mom with Dinner so we could start Christmas Eve as soon as possible. The food was so good and afterwards, I asked my mom when Santa Claus would knock on our door. She just told me to be patient, or he would bring me nothing. She then added, if I stayed by the Christmas Tree, he would never come. I asked my brother if he wanted to go upstairs and watch TV. He agreed so we both went upstairs while my mom washed the dishes. An hour later she came upstairs and the first words coming out of my mouth were about Santa Claus. She said, “I don’t know, I haven’t heard anything,” so we continued watching TV. Fifteen minutes later, she said she heard a door closing and steps coming from downstairs. My brother and I were racing to see who could get under the Christmas Tree first. He won, diving under the tree pulling his present out.
Finally, it was my turn. There was this huge box wrapped in green paper with gold bells on it. It took me five seconds to unwrap my present. Inside was this beautiful shining red semi truck with an open trailer. I took the remote, wanting to play with it, but it was not working. I thought that Santa Claus gave me a broken truck, but I flipped the remote upside down and realized it needed batteries. After I put batteries in, and hit the red button, the horn sounded. Everybody in the room jumped, because it was loud and noisy. I then pressed the forward arrow. It was awesome! The front headlights turned on and the truck started moving forward. An hour later my mom told me to go to bed, and that tomorrow I would have more time to play with my new truck. I remember that I took my truck with me and set it on the table next to my bed. I could fall asleep looking at it, knowing first thing in the morning I would see my new toy.
Early the next morning my mom woke me. I wanted to play with my new toy, but she told me we had to go to church. She then added I could have some time to play when we got back. I was thinking about my red truck all the time. Every step, every street, I was thinking about my red semi. I was thinking what to name it. Two hours later when I was back from church, I took a closer look at my new toy. The truck had a silver front grill with a line and a “Volvo” sign on the top. It had “Volvo” stickers on the doors and trailer. There was even a big red “Volvo” sign on the remote. Seeing “Volvo” everywhere was giving me only one idea. I named it “Volvo”.
I was playing with my truck everyday, replacing the battery every second day. One day I wanted to see how strong my truck was, so I put in new batteries and went to my dad’s garage. I was looking for something heavy. I saw a 25 pound steel hammer but it was too heavy for me. I asked my brother to give me a hand. We put it carefully on the trailer. My brother stood next to me to see what would happen. Carefully, I pushed the forward button, and the truck was giving a weird noise but not moving. My brother was laughing and saying that I just broke my truck. He was right. My best toy, which was like my best friend, just died.
In my dad’s garage there were many tools. All I needed to fix my “Volvo” was a screw driver. I took it to my room, put it on the table and started to take it apart. Inside were two elements. One element was an electrical board and other was an electric engine. I knew that the engine was broken. I asked my dad if he could buy me the exact same engine and he did. He also was helping me with welding. It was a long day.
I was proud of myself for figuring out what was wrong. I hope one day I’ll be the father of a son who will have such crazy ideas and I’ll be able to help him fix his own truck.