Troy DaVinci was tired, Dog tired. He had been working for ten hours on his latest invention, the redactable transmodifier. He had figured out the problem with the antwerp capacitators but he was having trouble connecting the oscillating pinion arm to the enveloping chassis.
As the only living descendant of the famous Leonardo vast expectations were put upon him. While yet a child he had created the screaming nightmare reducer which secured him not only a sizable income but incredible fame and media attention. Since then his inventions had been received with only mild curiosity and lately a certain amount of derision. The Confounding Foundation Flayer had been viewed as failure, as had the Primitive Peoples Perplexity. After that had come the Giant Wonder, which was far from wonderful. A store clerk had lost an arm during a demonstration and his insurance premiums had since skyrocketed. He had taken the clerk into his employment and made him his assistant but the young man was far from grateful and took every opportunity to remind him of his inability to play the lyre which had been "his calling".
Troy sighed.
'Why do I continue on these adventures in futility?'
He poured himself another glass of Ouzo. He hated Ouzo but it was the only thing in the castle left to drink.
From the window he could see out onto the Great Lawn where his current lover, the princess Deltrina Malfosa, was rolling in the grass with Sven, the hirsute stable boy.
'Darn, they have such innocent fun' He thought to himself.
He lit another Marlboro and watched them holding each other in the grass as the sun slowly set.