“Sorry, Grandpa’s not home. He went into town to buy some supplies for an invention he is working on. He should be back soon.” Buster thanked Logan and slowly walked back to Ernest’s shed.
“I will just sit here and wait for him,” Buster thought to himself, “Logan said Ernest wouldn’t be long.” So Buster sat down in a soft grassy place and leaned up against the side of the shed. He closed his eyes and his body began to relax. The sun and the cool breeze felt so good on his face. He began to feel sleepy.
“Soon I will have a clone to do all of my chores for me,” Buster said to himself as he yawned. “Never again will I miss out on any sort of fun.” Buster smiled. Before long he was fast asleep, and he began to dream.

“Buster! You are just the person I wanted to see!” Buster looked up and saw Ernest Evergreen walking up the path towards his shed. Ernest smiled and waived at him. Buster immediately hopped up and greeted Ernest.
“Good to see you, I have the best idea for an invention,” Buster said eagerly. “I was wondering if you could build a. . .“
“I’ve built a fabulous new machine,” Ernest interrupted, “and I wanted you to be the first to try it! I’m sure you will just love it!” Buster was curious. He followed Ernest into his workshop.
Ernest’s workshop was as messy as the Slydale’s garage. There were piles of tools, bits and pieces of wire and wood, broken items and half-finished inventions everywhere. But what immediately drew Buster’s eye was a huge object in the middle of the room covered by a sheet. Ernest stood by the covered object proudly. Whatever the sheet was hiding was taller than Ernest!
“What is it?” asked Buster. Just then Ernest pulled off of the sheet to reveal a large contraption. It resembled a phone booth, but it had all sorts of dials and pipes and wires coming out of it. There was also a very large pipe that came out of the top and off to the side. At the end of the pipe was something that looked like an old lampshade with all sorts of wires attached to it. Directly below the lampshade, on the ground, was painted a large red circle.
“It’s a cloning machine,” answered Ernest. “You just stand in the red circle and we can make a copy of you.” Buster was ecstatic. He couldn’t believe his ears! Ernest has already invented just what he had wanted. Now he was going to have his very own clone to do all of his work!
“Wow!” Buster exclaimed, “It’s perfect! Can I try it?”
“I was hoping you would,” Ernest motioned to Buster to stand in the red circle. Buster walked over and stood up straight. Ernest pushed a few buttons on the side of the machine and it whirred to life. Lights flashed, and a fan on the top of the phone booth that Buster didn’t notice before began to spin.
“Ready?” Ernest called. Buster nodded his head. Ernest pulled a lever and the lampshade above Buster’s head began to glow. The light that came down on him made Buster’s fur tingle and his ears ring. He stood as still as he could. After about ten seconds the light faded and Ernest turned the machine off. Then we walked over to the front of the machine and opened the big door. Buster couldn’t believe his eyes.
There, inside the box was. . . himself. Or at least a perfect replica of himself. The clone timidly walked out of the box and looked at Buster. They stared at each other for a moment. Buster was amazed, every detail was perfect, the clone even had the little scar on his forehead from when he had fallen out of a tree when he was younger. They were even wearing the same clothes.
“Amazing!” exclaimed Buster. “My very own clone! Now I will never have to do work again. Oh, thank you, Ernest!” Ernest smiled. Then Buster beckoned his clone to follow him and they ran back to his house. Buster walked into the garage and his clone followed.
“Buster Two,” Buster said to his clone, “I am supposed to clean out the garage today, but the weather is much to nice to be inside. Would you do it for me?”
“Oh sure,” said Buster Two, “I’ve never cleaned out a garage before, it should be fun.”
“Uh, yah, fun,” Buster said. “Well, I’m going off to play with my friends. I will be back in a few hours.” He bid his clone good-bye and walked down the street towards the park.

Buster had a fabulous afternoon with his friends. They played several rounds of Capture the Flag and then all went to get ice cream. As Buster sat outside the ice cream parlor licking his chocolate cone, he couldn’t remember having a more perfect day in his life. Late in the afternoon, he bid his friends good-bye and went to check on Buster Two’s progress.