“Hey Mister,
ya got Spiderman?”
“Not in that section, kid;
Marvel’s up front”
Gracias Ghouls
Day: March 16, 2016
Field Work
We all mustered for the morning brief before heading out to the field. The Chief had told us it was a standard background check.
“You know what to look for,” he had said, “memberships in subversive organizations, criminal records, unanswered questions, general skeletons in the closet.”
I think I hit the mother lode!
“Simmons, can you call The Chief? I think he needs to see this.”
Space Invaders
| WAVE | COOL| PREVENT | BRIGHT | WATCH |
“Wave goodbye to Grandpa, honey,” his mother said.
Without smiling, William lifted his right hand and showed his palm to his grandfather as Mom pulled the car away from the old farmhouse. The old man smiled and waved back to him.
Mom piloted the Honda down the quarter mile gravel drive to the road, and stopped to open the gate. William stayed busy with his head down, staring at the bright screen on his hand held game system. His thumbs were moving furiously as he fired cannon shot after cannon shot; in an effort to prevent the alien hordes from invading the earth.
He heard Mom talking to someone as she opened the gate. He felt the car shift on its springs as she climbed back into the driver’s seat and pull forward. He heard the electric motor wind the window down as she began to move.
“See you next year, Dad,” she said.
William looked up and there was Grandpa; leaning on the gate, smiling and watching them pull onto the road. As the distance increased he got smaller and smaller. William watched as his grandpa pushed the gate shut and vanished into the shimmering heat waves rising up from the asphalt. He looked at his mom.
“How’d he do that?” William asked.
“How’d he do what?”
“How’d he get from the house to the gate so quick?”
“That wasn’t really so quick,” Mom said, “I’ve seen him move faster. He does it all the time. When I was in the third grade I broke my arm at school. The nurse called your grandpa and told him that there had been an accident. She asked him to come down to the school to pick me up; so that he could take me to the ER and have the bone set. They spoke together for a few seconds and then she set the phone back on the cradle. As she turned around again, he came striding through the door.
“You know, he thinks you might be able to do it too and he says that he’ll train you when you’re ready. That’s part of the reason we come to the farm every summer. He’s continuously evaluating your capabilities.”
William looked down at the small screen on his hand held game system.
‘GAME OVER’ flashed on and off on the screen. The aliens had landed.
“Cool,” he said, “really cool.”
A Wednesday morning response to a Monday Writing Prompt generously provided by The Secret Keeper.
tnkerr-Writing Prompts and Practice 