In stress, I smashed my fist on my spruce desk. This idea is pointless! It will never work! I screamed in my head.

Edison approached from behind me and explained, “Aaron, calm down and try again, we will find the answer.”

I sighed. We’ve tried this a thousand times, Edison, I was about to shout. What held me from my will was that every one of us Muckers knew that Edison was not someone who gives up.

          The next morning, I received a message from the telephone machine. Urgent? Come now? It’s 6:00 AM! Mr. Edison never sent us to work so early. I put on my lab clothing and walked out the door. What is so important about this idea that Edison would be sending us to work at 6:00? I was thinking to myself, when the thought struck me. Hold on… It can’t be...  I started picking up pace and relying more on Edison right now than I ever did in my life. The Light Bulb! Has it functioned?

I burst through the factory door and saw that Edison had brought out a suitcase, and officials were filing in.

“Edison, what is going on?”

“I think we have the answer! Hurry, get the desks set up in front of them!”

          Wait… the answer?  No, no, no, that’s impossible. It’s way too early for an answer.

         

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“What a fail. Waste of our time.”

“Was that a joke? Did they actually think they could make it that easily?”

Depressed, I dropped down like a ragdoll on my desk stool. I wonder if Edison is going to continue with the project. I glanced over at Edison’s desk and noticed him sitting there with a light bulb clutched tightly in his hands, contemplating ideas.

          “Early end today. Everyone can go home.”

We all shut our suitcases and trudged out of the factory, three hours before we were supposed to leave. Sigh. I’ll work on it tomorrow.

The next day all hands were forced on deck and each Mucker was hypnotized into their work.

          “We will make this light bulb no matter what. After all this work, we cannot quit.”

          Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your usual speech, I thought. Then an idea sparked into my head like flint hitting steel. Hold on a second. If I put this tungsten wire in the light bulb, coil it, would it work? I tested this with one of the thousand spare light bulbs we have here in Menlo Park, New Jersey. IT WORKED??? Then the light bulb started fuming and went out. I could smell the burning smell of failure.

Edison rushed behind me and said, “How did you do that?! Come to the center table.”

I looked at Edison’s facial expression, which was rare astonishment. Picking up my lab gear, I glanced around and saw the factory. This place is massive, stocked with chemistry books, how can something like this actually work?

All the Muckers gathered around the center table, ditching their lab shelves that were stocked to the brim with chemistry equipment.

“I placed the tungsten wire filament through the light bulb, but this time I coiled it. But why does it matter? It does not work!” I exclaimed. My heart was beating so fast, it felt like it was going to rupture any moment.

“It doesn’t work because there is air.” Edison grabbed the vacuum and sucked the air out of the light bulb and touched the wire filament with each other. Along with the light bulb, all of our faces lit up brighter than the light bulb itself.

-Junho Oh