Once upon a time there was a boy named Giorgio.
Giorgio loved everything that had to do with electronics, technology and these kinds of things.
One day Giorgio was trying to figure out what would be a good present for Donato. Donato was one of Giorgio classmates but they rarely hang out together and Giorgio had not idea what he would like.
If only Giorgio could read his mind…
“Wait a minute!” Thought Giorgio. “That’s it!”
Giorgio ran to his room and started taking things out form every single drawer, shelf or closet, even from under the bed.
A wile later he emerged with a weird looking machine. This machine was above and beyond anything Giorgio had made before. There was a kind of proboscis sticking out and 2 large round things.
It kind of looked like an elephant with ears that spun while the machine was working.
This machine was pretty advanced. At the end of the proboscis there was a sensor that, when pointed at someone, could read his or her mind.
This sensor would then transform the image of the thing the person thought into a tridimensional virtual object, which the machine would then build.
At the end of the process the object would pretty much materialize right by it.
Giorgio decided to test it. He thought about a book he lost a few months before and activated the machine.
The ears spun, the machine made weird elephant like noises but at the end, there it was: a new copy of the book Giorgio had lost: “The adventure of…” a book about a kid that gets stuck in a library, Giorgio loved it.
Satisfied Giorgio placed the book in his bookshelf, picked up the machine, some wrapping paper, and went to the party. He was going to make it just in time.
There was only one detail that still needed to be worked out. How was Giorgio going to tell Donato to think about the present that he would like the most? Giorgio did not want to let him know that he had no idea what to get him.
Once at the party Giorgio kept the machine hidden in a bag and carefully got closer and closer to Donato trying to see if he could catch him in a conversation about presents.
Donato was talking about anything except presents, so Giorgio came up with another plan.
“Pssst! Patricia …” Giorgio called. “I have a favor to ask.” He continued. “Can you go over there and ask Donato to think about which would be his most favorite present? … Don’t tell him I asked you to do it!”
Patricia was used at Giorgio sometimes making weird requests, but she thought he was cute and so she was usually ok with it.
She nodded and walked toward Donato.
“Donato,” She said taking advantage of a moment of pause in the conversation a group of friend was having with him. “If you could have anything in the whole world as your present, what it would be?”
Giorgio activated the machine from inside his bag; the proboscis was slightly sticking out and pointing to Donato.
Donato turned toward Patricia but did not respond, instead he said “Hold that thought, I’ll be right back!” Donato ran down the hallway.
Giorgio’s machine started making noises … the ears were spinning. Giorgio acted as if nothing was happening.
Donato, meanwhile, had reached the end of the hallway and entered the bathroom.
When the machine stopped Giorgio opened the bag.
“Oh, No!” Giorgio screamed. “Poop!”
A few kids looked at him making a weird face, they probably thought he had some kind of accident. They didn’t know what was going on, how could they?
But Giorgio understood what had happened: Donato had to go to the bathroom so when the machine read his mind he was thinking about going to the bathroom.
Giorgio also went to the bathroom right after Donato came out. He now needed to figure out how to clean it. Looking around in the bathroom he could not find anything useful.
So he got an idea. He turned the machine on, pointed the proboscides to himself … and there, the machine made a bunch of cleaning rags and antibacterial spray.
A while later Giorgio finally had cleaned the machine, by then there was a line of kids waiting outside the bathroom.
Now Giorgio had to come up with a new plan but he didn’t even know where Donato was.
“What’s that thing?” A voice behind Giorgio asked. Giorgio jumped. It was Patricia.
Giorgio came up with something fast. “I just still need to wrap Donato’s present.” He said.
“By the way …” Patricia continued “I know what Donato would really like”.
“You do?”
“Yep!”
“Well, what is it?”
“It doesn’t matter, you already got his present anyway.”
“But … But I want to know if I got it right…”
“Guess.” Patricia taunted Giorgio.
“Oh, I don’t know … Are you thinking of it right now?” Asked Giorgio. “I will try to read your mind.”
Giorgio was sure, that was the best idea he had in the whole day, Patricia would think of the present Donato wanted … he would point the machine at Patricia … Ka-boom. The machine would make a perfect present for Donato
“Ok” Replied Patricia.
“Close your eyes and concentrate…” Said Giorgio.
He turned the machine on but made sure to keep the volume down, no need for special effects this time.
“What!?” Giorgio screamed.
Inside the bag Giorgio could see a picture of himself and Donato hugging like best buddies…
“You think that I should give Donato a fake picture?”
“You are not very good at reading minds”. Answered Patricia. She walked away a bit disappointed.
What had just happened? Giorgio though. What was Patricia thinking? Was the machine broken?
Giorgio Thought about it for a little while.
Then he got up and walked straight to Donato.
“How are you?” He asked. “Happy birthday!” He continued without waiting for an answer. “You know … I didn’t bring a present, I had no idea what to get for your birthday … we don’t hang out much. So here is my plan, let’s have some play dates in the next few days, I’ll get you a late present.”
Giorgio was relieved, Donato looked at him and with a big smile in his face said: “I knew you were crazy … but I also knew you were great! Right now you are being both!” As he said that he gave Giorgio a big squeeze, like best buddies.
Click. Someone from the other side of the room took a picture.