When I was a boy growing up on the farm, my world was stitched together with imagination and wide?open prairie skies. Every corner of the yard held possibility, and every forgotten piece of metal or wire was a key to some secret adventure.

One afternoon, I discovered a shallow electrical box in my father’s workshop. Nearby lay a burnt?out set of ignition points, a condenser, and a small toggle switch. Most people would see useless junk—bits and pieces that had outlived their purpose. But to a boy with a vivid imagination, they were treasures.

I carefully assembled the pieces inside the box. When I was finished, I didn’t just have scraps of metal and wire. I had created something extraordinary: a machine that gave me special powers. In my mind, that toggle switch could do two miraculous th...

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