The two men sit on box-like, bronze-metal stools - one short, one tall - the men, not the stools. One is 35 years while the other is only six. Jad the dad reaches into his paper sack, pulls out paper-wrapped squarish objects; he pulls at the wrapper - open-faced sandwiches, stacked and separated by more paper.
� ���"Dad, what is all this?� �� � Trev turns up his nose without even knowing. Jad uses the paper sack as a tray on his lap, and separates the sandwiches; now they begin to take on some semblance of food, but Trev still isn't convinced. He shakes his head, winces on eye (it's something he's gotten good at doing; he can also smile with one side of his mouth).
� ���"These are Danish sandwiches,� �� � Jad hands him one of the sandwiches that looks most recognizable as American food. Trev takes it, puts his face into it, takes a bite - shrimp salad on his cheek and nose.
Still balancing the sandwich, still chewing, Trev stands up - now they're closer to the same height - he kind-of dances around, munching and dancing. When his mouth is almost not full, he stands over the bronze box-like thing he was sitting on and looks at it closer.
The thing has some round and square shapes on top, an inch high and the size of a spool of thread, with lines outlining the edges and other protrusions. The box-thing is a replica of a car battery only larger - the height of the seat of a chair. Trev can see writing incised in the bronze, � ���"What is this funny writing - this � ��˜o' with the line through it; they're all over the place.� �� �
� ���"That's a letter in the Danish alphabet,� �� � dad goes on, � ���"we don't have those in English.� �� �
� ���"What does it sound like?� �� � Trev asks. Trev gets his ability to wince from his father, who does it when he doesn't know something, � ���"I'm not sure; I'll have to ask someone.� �� � Jad goes on, � ���"These things we're sitting on are a larger version of a car battery. They used to be in every car"I guess this is some kind of memorial to the car battery.� �� �
Trev is quizzical, � ���"It's weird; why would anybody put a big heavy thing like this in a car? Wouldn't that slow it down?� �� � Jad nods his head in agreement, � ���"Now that cars are electric, we don't need these things.� �� � He puts the leftovers back in the paper wrapping and into the bag. He stands up, and they both step closer to an even larger metal battery with a bronze jagged form to symbolize a bolt of electricity coming out of it.
Father and son are in a sculpture garden, with other large forms in stone and metal scattered around the grassy plain and a hill slopping down with water in the distance. The two walk around the larger battery and examine the bolt of electricity. Trev can reach the lower part of the bolt; he runs his hand over it's smooth surface.
Jad tells him, � ���"This metal here is cold, but if it were really electricity, you couldn't run put your hand on it like this. It would knock you over, maybe kill you.� �� � Trev pulls his hand back, looks up at his dad, wondering.
� ���"Electricity is something we just don't completely understand, but it's very powerful,� �� � Jad points to a plaque next to the bolt of bronze. � ���"The first part is in Danish but under that, it's translated. Trev, you're learning to read, tell me what it says?� �� �
The boy scrutinizes the dark metal, � ���"To on-or the,� �� � he smiles; Jad nods, and says, � ���"2010 - To Honor the Invention of Electricity Without Batteries, by the American Peter Paul Sumaruck. The Country of Denmark Values Technology and a Car Without Batteries.� �� �
� ���"Major technology,� �� � Jad says, � ���"It's 2014 now, that was only 4 years ago. When you were born in 2008, the economy everywhere was in bad shape; people were out of work; lot's of people didn't want to depend on oil to power their cars - so expensive - and the thing called pollution - not so much now.� �� �
� ���"Oil like we put in the salad dressing?� �� �
� ���"Similar,� �� � Jad answers, � ���"that's olive oil; olives come from trees, but petroleum-oil, that comes from under the ground. Now we use it to make chemicals, they use it to make our clothes,� �� � he fingers the fabric of Trev's jacket. � ���"But we used to put it in our cars and trucks.� �� �
� ���"So this man, here,� �� � he points, � ���"Sumaruck - developed a technology to power things. That's how we heat our house, now.� �� �
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