Mr. Brown was a history buff. He loved everything from the Renaissance to revolutions. His favorite subject, however, was a certain revolution. The French Revolution. He collected anything about the subject he could, from small artifacts, to replicas of Marie Antionette's dresses. He had almost everything, except the one thing he considered a prize: a guillotine. He had always wanted one ever since his fascination with the era began, which happened to be in 8th grade in history class. He had asked his parents for one when he was smaller, but to his dismay, his parents refused to let him buy one. But his parents weren't stopping him now. He was a grown man, after all, and no parents of his would rule over his decisions. He had been keeping his eye on one guillotine, a particularly cheap one, for a while now, and was planning on buying it, providing he won the auction. Today began like any other day for him. Wake up, get dressed, walk through his museum of a house, eat breakfast, and check to see if anyone else had outdone his bid. As soon as he finished munching on his cereal, he went downstairs, to his computer room, and logged on to his windows 98 computer. The thing was horribly slow, and very outdated, but he had been saving up cash for his french execution device. He finally managed to open up his web browser, and he checked the auction. He had won, the ending bid being $1728.09. He paid for the guillotine, and it was said to deliver a couple weeks later.
Weeks had passed, and the day had come that Mr.Brown received his guillotine. It arrived at his door in a big, wooden crate, and a man was there to help him unbox it, and move it to where he wanted it to be. The delivery man wheeled it into his house, and put it down in his living room as directed. Mr.Brown, being who he was, wanted a picture. A picture of him strapped in the guillotine.
"But Mr.Brown," the delivery boy said, wary of the possible consequences, "the string holding the blade up is rotting. It could fall at any given moment. It's really dangerous, and I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."
Mr.Brown just laughed it off, urging the boy to strap himself in the device. The boy finally complied, as the historian handed him his iPhone to take a picture of him in the guillotine. The man put on a silly expression, and the boy took the picture. Everything went well.
"Mind helping me up, boy? These bones aren't as strong as they used to be, y'know."
The delivery boy walked over, and began to unstrap the eccentric historian from the deadly machine. The boy gasped, as he had just undone the first buckle. The string had begun to break. Mr.Brown laughed it off again, reassuring the boy to continue. The boy did so, speeding his pace. It took a while, and they chattered on, and the boy finally released the man from his bonds in the guillotine.
"Let me lay here a second." Said Mr.Brown, laying in the device to steady himself so he could stand. The boy's eyes widened. Snap! Went the guillotine.
