Gemotions

The patent application confirmation email pinged in Elias’s inbox. He leaned back in his chair, the squeak of the springs echoing in the otherwise silent workshop. He had spent months, if not years, perfecting his self-folding laundry basket. He opened the file, his lips curving upward as he scrolled through the details. Someone else, it seemed, had beaten him to the punch. The patent number glittered back at him. He chuckled, a soft sound. He pulled a discarded blueprint from the table, grabbed a red marker, and started altering the design, sketching in a miniature catapult for good measure.