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Friends

By J.Price

The shape of things on Earth had changed a good deal the last two hundred years. Studying Horticulture, edible plants, ecology and water witching became mandatory study for students. Kids everywhere prefer to play games outside, even in the blazing sun. Sure, tons of sunscreen has to be applied. That is OK. Physical games must be played outside as always. Space is limited so there can be no jumping around and wild stuff inside buildings.

No one today can stay in direct sunlight very long. As far back as 1960 the discovery of seeding clouds took off. Chem trails shifted all the weather patterns and HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) ruined the earth’s stratosphere and ionosphere. The military focused a billion-watt pulsed radio beam into our upper atmosphere. It caused disruption in the subtle magnetic energies of our earth and ourselves. It opened holes that created an influx of radioactive rays creating cancers and multiple health problems.

Kids didn’t care about all that. Gordon and his friends are used to having limited outdoor time. They don’t live in a protect-o-dome like some families. Heck, kids were kids and needed play time.

Gordon has two best friends. Hay, short for Hayden, and Chewy. They have never known Chewy by any other name, Gordon claims Chewy told him he got his name from eating often and constantly chewing something. They thought this was odd as they all ate the same food. Besides, he always takes the smallest portion.

They play Pig and Horse every day. The three of them are lousy in sports but love basketball. It is not pretty watching their clumsy attempts at throwing baskets but they love it. The three friends are equals in the game. No one else wants to play with them for sure. They are so bad.

Tonight is Hay’s turn to have dinner for all of them. His mom is a whiz at creating interesting stuff for meals. They don’t care if it tastes really good, just good enough to swallow. She makes each meal pretty to look at but is usually tasteless. They have never met Chewy’s folks. That is OK. Instead they have gone back and forth from Hay’s house to Gordon’s for quite a long while.

Their parents have adult restrictions on where they can travel and what they can buy, do, spend, and visit. All those rules came on slowly, so Grammy said. When she was young it had been easier. You could live where you wanted, still work where you chose and marry who you loved, at least liked. Well, that was a long time ago.

Luckily, Hay’s mom and dad really like each other, everyone enjoys being in his house because it is full of happy stuff and feels good.

After dinner Hay put the board games out onto the table saying, “These are board games we play so we won’t be bored. Get it?”

“Yeah.” They groaned.

Electronic stuff had created too many microwave poisonings and was illegal to have. The population was now critically low because most people couldn’t have kids.

Hay is a good sport. They are all only children and 12 years old. Their birthdays are mere days apart. Good buddies for sure.

Gordon is fortunate to have the only dog between the three boys. They are hard to come by. He is a funny looking one with only three legs and a blind eye. Most of his fur is patchy due to radioactive residue. But he is a real pal and sleeps on his bed every night keeping him warm in the winter and far too hot in the summer. He named him Norm, short for Normal. Well, he almost was normal for these times.

The boys got a deck of cards and played rummy. Gordon loves that game and wins almost all the time. After dinner they played cribbage and Gordon lost. Chewy always wins that one.

Tonight they have a sleep over at Hay’s house. It is fun to stay up late and tell scary stories.

Long after the stories ended, in the middle of the night terrifying sounds woke them up. First came a deep gravel kind of growl followed by a sudden clicking noise. Then a face came nearly nose-to-nose with Hay and Gordon. They bounded out of bed when they first woke from the weird scary disturbance and now stood side by side, quivering with fear. Neither knew where Chewy was.

The face had gigantic shiny, big, black eyes, way out of proportion to the rest of the head. It had a mouth like a snake and two holes for a nose. It moved slowly swaying right to left. The body was hidden because the head was so big they couldn’t see it nor did they have time to look.

Hay and Gordon screamed, shaking with fear and grabbed each other for support holding on tight. They jumped back from the monster so fast they fell into a heap on the floor.

The monster disappeared.

Oh, My god, where was Chewy?

They looked for him and finally decided he was afraid and took off for home. Later they found a note from him that said. “I had to go home in a hurry. I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“Gosh,” said Hay, “He didn’t say anything about the monster.”

Gordon looked at Hay, “He left before it happened. I am glad he is OK. I am still shaking. Boy, will Chewy ever be surprised when we tell him what happened to us.”

“Oh, yeah.” Added Hay.

“Chewy, Hey, Chewy. Pay attention.” It was his mother. “I know you were flashing. Gone for hours. When you are Shape Shifting you need to keep your concentration. You blew it, didn’t you?

“Yes, Mom. I scared the crap out of my friends.”

“You need to be in complete control of your shape shifting or stop seeing your friends until you are. I know you want to spend time with them but you must never let that happen again, ever. Now, get busy and practice.”

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