Waldo Botches Beveled Apparatus

The Appendapulator whirred and bonked, clanked and clonked, and then was still. "I just don't understand it, Waldo," said Gizmo Elf, inventor of the giant toymaking machine. "It looks like everything is working fine, but things aren't acting fine."

Waldo Elf looked up at Gizmo from the middle of a pile of flanges, sprockets, doo-dads and whingdings. "Know what, Gizmo? People say that about me all the time."

Waldo was a good elf, a hard worker, and a loyal friend. He was not, however, the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. Once, in elf school, a teacher asked him why sharks swam in salt water. 'Because pepper makes them sneeze.' was his answer.

"Well, I guess I'm just not looking hard enough. I've checked the hard drive, the soft drive, the zip drive, the zap drive, the RAM, the ROM, and the rims, and they're all fine. The dweezils are dweezling, and the flackers are flickering. And the beveled three-quarter clockwise apparator apparatus is...."

Gizmo's voice trailed off. "Waldo? You were supposed to fetch me a beveled three-quarter clockwise apparator apparatus, right?" Waldo nodded in agreement. Gizmo kneeled down next to the Appendapulator. "Well, then, how come there's a beveled three-quarter counter-clockwise apparator apparatus attatched to the Appendapulator?"

Waldo scratched his chin. "I dunno," he said, "I can't tell the difference. I have a digital watch."

"No wonder we popped Santa Claus out of the North Pole!" Gizmo shouted. "We're lucky we didn't pop him clear to the SOUTH Pole! Waldo, do you know what you've done?"

Waldo hung his head. "From the way you're shoutin' I'm guessin' I messed up pretty bad. Again."

How badly did Waldo mess things up this time? Keep reading the North Pole Times to find out!