The big red button

Professor Kompressor finished the invention, but he was not at all happy with it. It had all sorts of exciting electronics and circuits, but they were hidden inside a grey metal box. It looked dull. He decided to give it a bit of flair by adding a red button. A big red shiny button. This made the contraption look much more interesting.

Having worked on the device since first thing that morning, the Professor was tired and in need of a lie down. As he was walking up the stairs he said to Maud, who was busy dusting in the hallway, “Whatever you do, Maud, don’t push that red button. I’m not sure what the machine is for yet. It may not be safe.”

He should perhaps have made sure that Maud paid attention, because sometimes she was in her own world. This might have been one of those times. She was humming to herself, waving the duster around in the air as if she was conducting an orchestra.

It was not long before the Professor was fast asleep.

As Maud carried on tidying up downstairs she noticed the boring grey box and the shiny button. It had a strange attraction on her. She was quite a nosy character and liked have a peek at the Professor’s secrets. His inventions were often weird and amusing, and besides she enjoyed gossiping about what he was up to.

“I wonder what that box is for?” she thought as she felt her fingers being drawn towards the red button.

“Surely it can’t do any harm?” she convinced herself as she pushed it.

Nothing happened.

Absolutely nothing.

When the Professor woke up he felt a bit odd. He could not quite put his thumb on what it was, but something was definitely different.

He got out of bed and went downstairs. It was time for a mid afternoon drink so he went to the kitchen to prepare a nice cup of coffee with a generous helping of milk and a smidgeon of sugar. As he was sipping the drink, he could not help thinking that something had changed.

“No gniog stahw?” he wondered.

Maud had finished the cleaning and was about to leave for the village. She went into the kitchen to say goodbye.

“Rosseforp gniog mi,” she said giving the Professor a little wave. “Retal uoy ees.”

Professor Kompressor gave her a confused look as she left. His brain was trying to figure out what was going on.

Then he remembered the invention and the red button.

“Sdrawkcab lla si siht,“ he decided, because it was...

“Thgir sgniht tes ot evah,” he thought with a smile and pushed the button.

Suddenly everything was back to normal. Left was left, right was right and things were no longer back to front.

“That Maud,” thought the Professor, “she’s just impossible. Can’t help herself, can she?”

The End

This is the first attempt at writing a very short Professor Kompressor story (less than 500 words), hopefully with an entertaining twist. If there were to be enough of these (in the fullness of time), they may eventually make up a collection that would perhaps best be called "The Professor's shorts".