Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Twenty Thirteen, The End; Flushed! 1

Final post of 2013!  Wow, what a year!  All the writing and all that coffee.  Perhaps the year is over, but this isn't the end of super powerful writing.  Oh no!  There will be more.  Please feel free to review through the previous posts from this year to get a look back.  Well, I am giving you the first part of a three part short story, so be sure to tune in this Friday for more.  I give you Flushed! which has nothing to do with poker.

Flushed! part I
Down at the park De’Angelo’s buddies were all ready dividing up teams, and they were all waiting for him to even them up. Five of his friends needed Dee to get a serious three-on-three game going. He had to hurry before the older kids, the teens, took over every court. Only, Dee had to stop home and go use the toilet. However, he flushed, but the water wouldn’t drain, and the porcelain bowl was at the brink of overflow.

“Mom!” The ten-year-old with the small Afro cried out through the closed door of the bathroom. 
“The toilet’s backed-up again. Kayla’s probably playing in here again.” De’Angelo’s three-year-old sister was a giggly whirlwind of destruction. She had been known to experiment with the toilet by flushing household objects down it. Objects that were not meant to travel through the piping of the commode, Kayla was determined to get them to swirl out of existence, or at least that’s what she believed happened to anything going down the toilet. Ever since she started her toilet training, her mom and dad have had to at times undo the entire toilet to rescue crayons, forks, hair brushes, her daddy’s aftershave, and even one of her brother’s pair of drawers.

“Dee,” his mother called in return. “I’m really busy right now. Try the plunger under the sink. You know how to use it.”

Dee puckered up his face in disgust. Not only did he hate anything involving the toilet, but the guys were expecting him. He would get the blame if they had to wait on him and lose out on a court. Opening up the bathroom door, he bellowed a complaint. The boy was ready to play with his tank top jersey, sagging black jeans, and his prized high-tops for which he paid 150 bucks. His dad made him earn the money by mowing people’s lawns and shoveling out their driveways. It took him nearly all of fourth grade to get the right amount of money. All the guys were totally jealous of him, which made the shoes worth the price.

More importantly, Amari Porter would probably be in the park and he loved making her swoon over his shoes, his Afro, and his basketball prowess. Unfortunately, Dee was better at bragging about his sporting ability than the fact that it wasn’t something he was exceptional at. He went out to play basketball mainly to put on a show for the guys and for Amari’s sake.

“Mom! I gotta meet up with the guys or the older kids will hog all the courts. I don’t have time for this.”

“Well, I don’t have time right now! Your dad’s gone with his buddies. It’s just you. Look, if the plunger doesn’t work, then leave it for later.”

“I’ll do it for ten bucks,” he offered. Money would be an acceptable payment for his valuable time, he thought.

His mom retorted, “How ‘bout you don’t help you go on punishment for the next two weeks?”

“Dang, Mom! All right.” He retrieved the plunger from under the sink and planned to do a half-hearted job of it, just to say he tried. Too bad for Dee because the toilet was so close to over-flowing that as he stuck the plunger head down in the water, some splashed all over his special shoes. “Aw…” He nearly swore, but knew his mom would smack him upside the head if he uttered something so sinful. Instead, he wailed in anguish, “My shoes. Mom…my shoes have got toilet water on them and there’s pee in that water!”

“Dee, give me a break. It won’t hurt your shoes any. Maybe it’ll give ‘em an extra shine,” she laughed. He was appalled that his mother would dare to joke about something so important to him. 

“Mom. This thing is too full.”

“Then, don’t put it in too fast. Spread your feet to try and keep your shoes dry.”

At that moment he heard his sister Kayla attempt to recite the alphabet song, quite unsuccessfully, and he knew if she came in the bathroom, she would interfere with any of his efforts. Before plunging any more, he quickly shut the bathroom door and locked it. Returning to the clogged toilet, he re-inserted the plunger slowly and deliberately this time, and less water splashed out, but some still did. Luckily, this time he was more careful with his shoes. Then, he pressed the head down into the drain a few times, and whatever had blocked the water flow to the drain had been dislodged. Finally, the bowl emptied.

Like his dad would do, De’Angelo flushed the toilet to reset the water level to where it normally was, but as he did so, he stepped on some of the liquid that spilled out early, and he slipped head first into the porcelain throne. As the water rushed down into the drain, suddenly Dee went along with it. De’Angelo had accidentally flushed himself down the toilet! Everything went black. Dee spun around and around, getting awfully dizzy. His screams were all garbled from the water he was now submerged in. The smell from the sewers was sickening and he wasn’t sure if he could refrain from throwing up. Being under the water so long, he wondered if he would drown, but he was very much alive. His body shot out of the end of a drain pipe and he landed in a flowing stream of water with a lazy current. The tall, skinny lad was finally able to get up on his feet. De’Angelo now stood within a cave of some kind. Stalagmites and stalactites protruded at the sides of this shallow pool of water. To his left and right were tunnels that projected light in this cave and it looked like if he followed the stream, it would lead to the outside.

“Dang. Am I in the sewers?” He glanced around and found no signs of raw sewage down here. In fact, there was no such odor since coming out of the large corrugated drainage pipe. “Hey. Mom! Can you hear me?” Dee wasn’t sure to follow the tunnels or the stream.

A little tiny wheelbarrow full of rocky chunks with crystals of some sort imbedded in them emerged from the right tunnel and pushing it was a man that would only come up to his chest. The man had neon orange skin that probably gave him enough light to see in the cave system down here. A line of perhaps a hundred were following behind single file. That explained the light down in the tunnels in this cave system, thought De'Angelo. All put together their bodies gave made it seem like daylight down here. They each had a bright purple hard hats. Just as the one in the lead reached the banks of the creek he turned to his right and proceeded towards the entrance to the cave. So far none of them even noticed Dee, until the tenth one in line came to an abrupt stop, dropped the levers to his wheelbarrow, spilling some of his load of stones. Rubbing his two eyes with his hands, he shouted and pointed right at Dee.

“Hey! Look there! Could it be?” He turned to the guy behind him. They had bright green work gloves and boots, plus they wore brown rubberized overalls that hung down at chest level, exposing their hairy chests. Each follicle glowed a sky blue and they almost seemed like one of those toys with the colored lights and little kids make pictures with.

The guy behind hollered with his hands cupped around his lips. “Bweebles! Bweebles! Look! It's the one prophets of old said would come in their stories and songs.”

Way up by the entrance to the cave, the leader refuted what number eleven claimed. “Tongo, you're always jumping to conclusions. Those prophecies have gone on for centuries and never has the One of Restoration ever appeared.”

“Hyphyn...look. He towers over us and his skin does not glow with the Orange like us. He has not been contaminated with the Orange sickness that stunts our growth and kills us when we are the Twenty-five.”

“Well, he does have hair so tall,” Hyphyn admitted. After removing his hardhat, he rubbed the top of his bald head, “Oh...how I wish the hair did grow.”

De'Angelo didn't know how to respond to the conversation. The one called Tongo, eleventh in line, let go of his wheelbarrow and ventured out into the stream to greet the strange visitor who had to be the one from the prophecy. He had to tilt his neck completely back to stare up at the much taller De'Angelo. “Hey...are you the new king destined to restore order among our warring factions?”

“Uh...I doubt it. I fell into my toilet and somehow flushed down into a cave. It was impossible.”

Tongo's eyes bugged out with the excitement after Dee's explanation. “That's part of the prophecy. He who swirls around and around and appears in the cave of Fashion...He will have hair so high...He will be free from the Orange. Tall and mighty will he be and yet a child. He will pass the test of the most dunked.” Clapping his palms together and patting his helmet in rhythmic joy, “So far, you fulfill all the signs, except for one.”

The leader of this group of little men, Hyphyn, joined in right behind Tongo. However, there were hardly any variation in any of their physical traits to distinguish one from the other and Dee thought perhaps they were clones. Hyphyn believed it was his job to negotiate with this boy who to them seemed so gigantic. “What do they call you in your land? We are the Bweebles.”

“They call me Dee. It's short for De'Angelo. I'm a person...a human. I'm really just a kid. Man, you Bweebles sure are tiny.” Dee was so amazed at these creatures. He wondered if he ended up in a fairy tale.

“Well, Master Dee, if you could come prove yourself to be our coming king, we would greatly appreciate it. You see, you resemble the description of an ancient prophecy. The one who would save us from the Orange. Then, our future children would no longer live with this wretched curse on us.”

“Well...I guess. What do I have to do? What happens if I'm not the guy you're hoping for?”

“A challenge has been set up that has stumped the Bweebles for centuries. If you pass it, it will prove you are the one. You will be our king, live in the Empty Palace, and you shall have your pick of any female in the land to be your wife and our queen. If not, we will return you to your land from where you came.” 

Until 2014!  Be good to yourselves!

Friday, December 27, 2013

Another Excerpt

I nearly forgot to post today.  I'm still working on a new short story.  Can't really call it flash fiction, but I don't have any new story to add.  So, I'll post another excerpt for Red-Headed Enchanted Justice.

Excerpt:
So, Gilbert, how is my little apprentice?” Sue had such a soothing 
voice. For Gilbert’s part she was the antithesis of what a witch 
should be. He had witnessed so many hangings or burnings at the 
stake of gals who were definitely not witches. Some of the people 
back then had no sense in their heads. It was just pure hysteria. 
The only genuine witch he had ever known was Sue and only after 
she stumbled upon his home in the forest that he refused to give up 
since his untimely death. Sue saw it as a perfect place for a witch 
to get away from any living person. 
 
As for Gilbert, the woodworker’s son, before his own death, he 
 watched his friend Cecily taken away from his run down village. 
Cecily and Gilbert were often antagonistic towards each other and 
they both were constantly exchanging insults. This was the way of 
children who took a liking to each other. She actually was a second 
cousin and it was thought the two were destined to be husband and 
wife. However, the priest came, stirring up the villagers into 
accusing Cecily as a witch because they saw her grappling a frog 
that fascinated her down by the old pond. Considered unladylike, 
they took her and tied a stone around her waist before pushing her 
in that same mucky body of water. It was a test to see if she was 
truly a witch. Of course, she drowned. Gilbert screamed at them to 
stop. They just ignored his cries. When she was proven not
a witch, they just tossed her dead body to her grief stricken 
father and didn’t offer any condolences or anything. 
 
A month or so later he had his mishap with breaching the royal 
walls and it was “off with his head”. Gilbert went straight to his 
parents to let them know what happened, but with his body dead 
they would never hear him. Never would they know the truth. He 
always hoped to be reunited with his parents and Cecily in the 
afterlife. The boy never found them, especially since Gilbert 
avoided leaving his boyhood home and had haunted it ever since.

Sue came along and she sensed his spirit in the house. With a bit of 
magic she strengthened his ghostly form so she could hear him 
when he spoke. Gilbert made up the name Prince Poppycock out of 
sheer amusement. He hoped that if he ever was born again, he 
would come back as royalty instead of the crappy peasant 
conditions he was originally thrust into. The witch would come 
and go, actually living in the city a few times under a guise. She 
tried her hand at marriage. Her husband dared to rough her up, but 
he had no clue of her powers. The faux prince would sometimes 
look at the fool strapped to a wall down in the cellar, moaning for 
centuries as Sue ate one chunk of his flesh every year. Using some 
kind of magic to slow his aging process and to keep infection from 
doing him in, that man moaned every day for death.

Looking at Ruthie in this mirrored dungeon, she was a girl that 
reminded him of his dear friend, Cecily. He vowed not to be as 
antagonistic with her in case she was ever done in by the ignorant 
fools of her day. So far, none of the guards, as he saw them, 
mentioned trying to kill her, but he was keeping his eye out for 
that. Those idiots wouldn’t believe her about his actions and he 
knew that. Gilbert thought of what he would do if they locked her 
in a worse dungeon than this one. At least her mother could be 
with her.

He responded to the witch. “She’s been put into a dungeon with a 
mirror by the authorities. They believe she is responsible for 
killing her own father and grandparents.”

And…let me guess who the real culprit is…the one who calls 
himself Prince Poppycock.”

Well, of course. Do you know what her own father did to her?”

Yes…I told you he could not be trusted with the girl. Her wicked 
grandmother hated her for no reason. I think accusing her of 
witchcraft.”

Something like that. Her grandfather was planning on 
dishonoring her. He was going to do the most unthinkable.”

Yes, I knew he would do that. He had done it to her before.”

The ghost boy stood on his feet while on the table. “That is 
despicable. Ruthie had also revealed that to me just this evening. 
And they chop my head off. I’m totally happy to see him get what 
he deserved. Dishonoring a little girl.”

You have done well to protect her. I’m guessing Ruthie may be in 
big trouble, however. They won’t believe her if she tells the truth. I 
foresee that they will lock her in a prison for children. She will be 
the youngest one there.”

I will put a stop to it, Witch. I promise you that.”

Don’t worry. That may be a good time for her to be a permanent 
resident with us. Being only a child, it’ll make it so much easier to 
raise her now and have her accept my offer of apprenticeship when 
she enters her teenage years. I will bring her to live with us.”

Gilbert grinned bigger than he had in ages. “My word, Witch. That 
is so grand. Sue. I love her. I need to somehow come alive again. 
She could be my mate.”
 
Sue just chortled under her breath. “Well, she’s too young for love 
now. But, in her teen years, she would be more than ready.”

One thing Gilbert did mention, “You know what, Sue. I think these 
people have a much better way of communicating instead of using 
a magic pot. It’s a phone. Perhaps we could get one.”

Hmm…I’m a little old fashioned. I think my way works just fine. 
Keep an eye on her. Protect her, but do be wise. The girl is already 
in enough trouble. Don’t make it worse with too many dead 
people.”

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Christmas Eve...Be Merry!

Once more...Merry Christmas to those who celebrate.  I don't have a long post today.  What I'm going to do is list some possible last minute gifts to the author in your life.  In addition, I have a list for those writers looking for the best way to handle the Christmas holiday.

Last Minute Gift Ideas:
  1. A "Look at me...I'm an author" coffee mug--whether you're super powerful or not.
  2. An "I wrote a book and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" T-shirt.
  3. Swiss Army Knife set with a pen for autographing books attached. (You want one with a can opener if you're a starving writer and need a way to open your Alpo.)
  4. Go out to a movie and give your author some piece and quiet.
  5. Condoms with world's luckiest author/world's luckiest author's boy toy (for the lady authors out there or whatever).
Writer's Guide to Christmas:
  1. Watch "A Christmas Story".
  2. Read something super powerful
  3. Say something controversial at your family gathering...especially if it's at your in-laws.
  4. Critique each Christmas greeting card by adding, "I could write better."
  5. Eat all the good Christmas candies.  Leave the weird stuff for others.
Have a wonderful holiday!  Avoid a crappy attitude!  Avoid stupidity and be safe. 

Friday, December 20, 2013

Those Youngling Varmints

Here is another round of flash fiction that wasn't so quickly made.  Many interruptions.  For those who celebrate, Merry Christmas.  I will post next Tuesday on Christmas Eve day. 

Those Youngling Varmints



Judy was determined to give her dog a bath, but Bella was not having any of it.  No matter how Judy commanded in her "I'm the master" voice, the lab just pranced around, panting, appearing to almost laugh at her in sport.  Finally, worn out from Bella giving her the slip, Judy caught the dog by the collar and lifted the fifty pound canine up off the floor.  Bella didn't protest and enjoyed the brief moment of being carried by her human, in fact she gave Judy a few dog-lick kisses.  Hauling the pooch up to the top of the steps to the second floor bathroom, Judy with a sense of victory maneuvered Bella over the tub, and released the animal into the water below.  The high-pitch yelp of a child suddenly cried out.
"Mom!" Judy realized her son Danny was in the tub taking his nightly bath.

Daniel’s 11-year-old sister Darla, who became startled by the commotion, emerged from her bedroom to investigate.  She had been in grey sweatpants and a green football jersey with the number 23 on it.  White fluffy slippers snuggled her feet.  Rolling her eyes, she guessed that her mom planned to wash the dog, but failed to notice her little brother already in the tub.  Parting her long brown hair out of her face, she almost pleaded with her mother.  “Keep it down.  I’m working on my report for tomorrow.”
"Oh, sorry, honey,” Judy apologized to her stunned boy.  “I didn't set the bath water for you, but for Bella.  I didn't even know you were there."  The dog and the boy both sat up.  Bella licked Danny's face and he giggled.  He wasn’t hurt in anyway. 
“Mom...that was partly my fault.  I heard the water running and thought it was Danny’s bath time.”  Scolding her mother, Darla raised her voice.  “Why are you washing Bella at this time anyway?”   
“Bella found a mud puddle outside and was just filthy.  I rinsed her off with the hose, but she smelled so bad that I thought I’d wash her up.”  Glancing at her wristwatch, Judy blurted, “Oh, I guess it is time for Danny’s bath.”
Danny asked, "Well, then can we both share the bath?"
“You’re not seriously gonna let him take a bath with a dog, right?”  Darla was certain her mother wasn’t crazy enough to let her brother do that. 
Judy had responded to Darla.  “Of course not.  Don’t you need to go finish your report?”
“I’m trying to.  You’re all being so loud out here.”  She considered how her brother was now all covered with Bella’s hair.  “Dang, Danny.  Look at all that dog hair on you.”  Darla retreated to her bedroom.
Her mother answered the blonde six-year-old’s dog-bath-sharing question. "Danny, you can’t take a bath with the dog.  That wouldn't be good.  Your sister’s right.  You’re already covered with dog hair." 
Danny scanned his arms, tee-heeing at the sight of Bella’s hair on them.  “Look at me, I’m turning into a dog.”
His mom advised, "Why don't you go downstairs and take a shower instead?"
Danny left the bathtub, dried himself off, trying to scrub as much of Bella off of him as he could, and he wrapped himself up at the waist and headed towards the basement to take the shower his mom suggested.  Bella barked after Daniel as he scuttled away from her sight.  
Just as Judy poured the special dog coat shampoo and readied the scrub brush, Bella suddenly bolted out of the water, taking a puddle's worth with her, splattered it all over the linoleum, and followed after Daniel, barking the whole way.
"Oh, no you don't, Bella."  Judy chased after her, but the dog had a four-leg advantage.  In fact, Bella scampered away so quickly, she lost sight of where the pet had gone.  She called up the stairs to Darla.  “Hey, Darla.  Can you help me with Bella for a second?”  Absolute silence was what came out of Darla’s room.  Muttering, “When I want them for something, they suddenly become hard of hearing…”  Even louder, she called, “Darla.  Take a break from your homework for a sec.  I need your help.”
An audible sigh bloomed behind Darla’s closed bedroom door which was something she did whenever she felt inconvenienced by her mother.  The door clicked open, and Darla yelled in annoyance.  “Mom…I’ve gotta finish my homework!  It’s due tomorrow.”
“Well, if you started it two weeks ago like you should have, you’d be done by now.  Anyway, this won’t take long.”  Judy could have done this task herself, but she preferred to have Darla chase after Bella because it would be easier on her.  That was what kids were for, she thought.   
“Why can’t you do it?”
“Because you’re younger than I am.”  Smirking, Judy almost said this with a degree of playfulness.
“God, Mom.”  Darla thumped her way down the steps and gave her mother an evil eye.  “You’re not that old.”
Judy hunched over, placed her hand on her back, and imitated an elderly woman walking around with a cane.  “Oo, my aching back.  Can you help an old lady out, dearie?”
Rolling her eyes, Darla huffed and puffed.  “God, Mom.  You’re so childish.  I should be the parent.”  Since her mother would not relent on the elderly woman character she played, Darla gave up.  “Fine.  But, if I don’t finish my report on time, I’m gonna tell Mr. Graham that it’s all your fault.”  Then, glancing side-to-side, she wondered, “Where’d she go?”
“Oh, dearie, I think that canine followed your brother down the stairs into the shower in the basement.”
“Stop doing that, Mom.  It’s humiliating.”  Stomping the entire way, Darla would comply with her mother’s request, but she wanted to make sure that she made loud and clear the eleven-year-old did not approve of this imposition—or a mother who couldn’t act her own age. 
Finding the half-bath in the basement by following faint dirty dog prints, Bella must have entered this area.  Danny must have been enjoying his shower, because the glass to the door was totally fogged up.  Darla saw the prints leading into the shower, so the dog had to be in there with Danny.  What was bizarre was that the spray of the nozzle sounded more like it rushed out of a faucet striking water as it pooled underneath.  Only, there was no such faucet down here.  Not only that, it seemed to be distant. 
Pounding on the shower door, Darla demanded, “Danny.  That dog better not be in there with you or you’ll be in big trouble.”  Either Danny ignored her or couldn’t hear her, but Darla received no response from her brother.  “Danny.  I know Bella’s in there with you.  Don’t make me open this door.”  However, nothing, but there were barks that only Bella could possibly make, and like Danny, they seemed coming from far away.  “Alright, Danny.  I’m counting to 3.  If you don’t open this door, I’m gonna open it.  You’re gonna be in trouble with Mom.”  Again, her brother said nothing.  “Okay, I’m counting.  One…open up.”  She again thudded her fist against the door.  “Danny…okay, that’s two.”  Darla became impatient with her little brother.  “Okay, Danny…I’m almost at three.  You’re gonna get in trouble.”  This threat would get her nowhere with him.  “That’s it, Danny.  Three.  I’m opening this door.”
Darla hated to barge in on his privacy, but she gave him fair warning.  She was the big sister, after all.  “Fine.  Have it your way.”  Prying the door open, swinging it into the small finished half-bath, Darla couldn’t believe it.  The only thing she saw at first was a bunch of fog, but daylight was shining through it.  There were no walls, no shower head, or no hot and cold nobs.  “What the heck?”  She backed her head out and saw the bathroom had not changed and that she indeed was still in her own home.  Everything was the same, except for the shower.  It looked like a big empty space that led to the outdoors.  Only…it was night outside, so she thought.  All of a sudden it was daytime.  “Danny?”  Darla still heard his voice echoing along with Bella’s barks.  The noise of rushing water was even more prevalent and of greater volume than a standard bathtub faucet, almost like something heard at a water park.
Darla stepped out into the fog and below her feet was a cobblestone pathway.  She followed it, but took a glance behind her to discover the fog had now obscured her view of the house.  The air smelled of flowers and a strong spice that resembled apple and cinnamon, and it also felt warm and humid.  Her sinuses opened up after being subjected for so long to the dryness of her home.  She forced a long, deliberate breath up her nasal passages, and she indulged in the wonderful aroma that now enveloped her. 
With the gentle roar of cascading wetness off a-ways, she began to relax in a manner that she never had done before in her young life.  “Whatever this place is, it’s totally nice.”  For only being eleven, she had way too much tension, and Darla knew that about herself.  Adults often complained that she took on more stress than should be allowable for someone her age, but she always was the type of girl to worry about everything.  Her family’s financial struggles, school, other kids at school, world hunger, natural disasters throughout the Earth, and whatever she heard on the news had weighed on her mind, as if it was her sole responsibility to do something about all these issues.  However, all that had melted away standing in this impossible place.    
As she continued on the pathway, her brother’s voice became closer, as well as Bella’s barking.  Finally, the fog gave way and in front of her was a small lake or a pond of crystal clear water.  On both sides of her were dark green leafy plants with fiery-colored flowers as big as the palm of Darla’s hand.  A small waterfall, perhaps ten feet high, explained the racket as it flowed from a tiny creek, giving source to the lake.  With the Sun in the deep blue sky, Darla’s face basked in the warmth and brilliance of its rays.  “This place seems like Heaven.  I hope I haven’t died.”
Up ahead, nearly 30 yards away her brother was rinsing the suds from his body-wash out of his hair and eyes.  He literally had been taking a shower underneath the benign waterfall.  The depth of the lake came up to his waist.  Bella enjoyed herself by running around Danny and going under the fall a few times.  Danny dove underneath the surface and came up to practice the swim strokes he had learned in lessons last summer.  That boy sure was having a blast gliding on top of the water, doing a front crawl with his bare bottom wiggling in the air.  Ending at the shore of the lake, the cobblestone path wound around until it ended right at the point where it was even with the fall.  A ramp led straight down into the water.  Danny’s forest green towel had been tossed on big leafy plants on the right side of the path, just before it sloped downwards.
Bella noticed Darla strolling towards the lake and bolted up the ramp to greet her along the cobblestone path.  The animal barked excitedly, almost as if explaining how she and Danny discovered this tiny, impossible paradise.  Suddenly, the dog shook its coat dry, spraying water all over Darla. 
“Hey, girl.  You got me all wet.”  She reached out to stroke her behind her ears, but then Bella dashed back into the water.
Darla was not prepared to go into the water, but as she approached the sloping end of the path, she knelt down to feel the lake with her hand.  The temperature had been just right for taking a bath in, so nice and warm.  She was tempted to run and retrieve her swimsuit.  Darla called out to Danny, “Danny.  What is this place?”
As he continued to splash, dive and reemerge from below the water, Danny swam around without a care in the world.  He stopped and stood long enough to face his sister.  Danny responded, “It’s like a magic place.  The water is so warm.  I took my shower here.  It’s like a giant bathtub.”
“Well, just be careful in case the water suddenly drops off.  I don’t want to have to jump in and rescue you.”  She was envious that he got to enjoy this place, but she could only stand and watch.  Looking around, she tried to figure out what added the heat to the pond.  Darla also started to believe that she had dozed off doing her homework and this was a bizarre dream.  Well, being such an awesome dream, Darla wished to continue it as long as possible.  “You know what, Danny?  I’m gonna go get my swimsuit.  I’ll get yours, too.”  Since all of this was a fantasy, she wouldn’t worry about Danny drowning or anything.  None of this could possibly have been real.
Shuffling back along the cobblestone path, Bella barked in protest of Darla leaving and decided to chase after her.  Passing through the layer of fog, Darla slowed her steps as there was no visibility.  Her arms swung in front of her as she hoped to feel her way through the shower and into the bathroom in the basement. 
“What?” Darla questioned in panic.  A wall had blocked her return into her house and she padded around for what should have been the shower stall.  Only, she ran her hands over the barrier in front of her, unable to see it, and it felt exactly like the tiled wall of the shower stall.  “Now how am I gonna get back?”  Bella rubbed her snout along Darla’s right side, and she gave an ear splitting bark.  “Bella.  Do you see a way to get back into the house?”  However, the dog would not be of any assistance, heavily panting and pawing at the wall.  She barked once more.
“Darla?” Danny had cried and must have been walking up behind her. 
“I’m over here, Danny.  Through the fog.”  Darla regained all the tension she had first lost upon entering this paradise.  Paradise wasn’t so nice if it meant being trapped inside of it.
“I can’t see you,” he whined. 
“Just keep following the path.  You’ll bump into me.  Or Bella.”
Darla hammered her fist against the wall.  “Mom!  Help!”
Meanwhile, Judy had become absorbed in the island adventure of contestants on a reality T.V. show.  It had been a half-hour or so since Darla went to retrieve Bella, but so far hadn’t come out of the basement.  Since she heard no commotion from either of her children or the family pet, she considered herself fortunate to have a moment of peace.  With her husband’s second shift work schedule, she was stuck with the burden of feeding them, compelling her kids to finish their homework, and transitioning them towards bedtime.  Darla had been a big help, but she, too, needed adult guidance, especially now that she was coping with physical changes that happen to girls her age.  This only added a layer to a pile of responsibilities suddenly tossed on the eleven-year-old since beginning fifth grade.  However, all that quiet was unnerving.  As bedtime approached, Danny usually turned into a hyperactive menace with an attitude.  Bella only added to the chaos.  Silence at this time in the evening never happened.
“Hey, Darla!”  Judy lazily yelled from the couch, unsure if she could even be heard.  “What’s taking you so long?”
Danny had joined his sister in rapping on the wall, shouting for their mother to come rescue them.  They both had attempted to find a way to go around the wall, wandering off the path and wading through shrubs and bushes.  Trying to keep his towel around his waist, Danny had to rescue it from being snagged on branches that were determined to steal it from him, so it seemed.  However, they had no luck.  The wall simply extended for miles, possibly.
Holding her face in her hands, Darla began to cry.  “I can’t believe we’re stuck in this place.” 
Danny offered his advice.  “Maybe we should get out of this fog.  You know, go back out of it so we can see if there is a way back home.” 
“Well, that’s a better idea than I could come up with.  C’mon, Bella.”  Darla had no idea where the black lab had gone.  The dog continued amusing itself pacing in and out of the fog zone.
The two kids again followed the path away from the fog and found the clearing where they could see the lake and the waterfall once more.  Only, as soon as they reached that point of visibility, they screamed and Danny dodged behind his sister while Bella barked protectively.  Right before them was this man who had been maybe nine feet tall with black mussed hair.  He had a nose and a mouth with two fangs protruding from his bottom jaw.  Instead of two eyes, he had a large solitary one in the center of his forehead.  It was all red around his iris with a black pupil.  The monstrous man wore a one piece sleeveless tunic, muddy brown in color that came down to his knees.  At the sight of the two children he cringed backwards and balled himself up on the ground.
“Ahh!  Leave me be!  Leave me be!” He cried.  “Don’t melt me!  Don’t melt me!”
Here was this beast of a man who no doubt could crush both Darla and Danny in the grip of his one hand, and he appeared to be terrified of them.  Darla, being the brave young woman that she was, dared to speak to the blubbering man-monster.  “What are you?  How can you be scared of us?  We’re scared of you.  I mean, look at you.”
Not even venturing a glance at them, he explained himself to Darla and Danny.   “I know what you little runts are capable of.  Us know you shoot fire out of your eyes.  That you’s bites is poisonous.  That you’s with your very minds can blows us all up.  Go away from me.”
Danny laughed at the frightened monster.  However, Darla scolded him.  “Don’t make fun of him, Danny.”
“But I can’t help laughing.  He’s a big, scary monster and he’s afraid of us.  That’s funny.”  Danny crept up to him and yelled, “Hey mister.  Boo!”
This freaked out the one-eyed giant so much he sprawled himself out facedown and he covered up his head with his arms.  Darla grabbed him by the arm.  “Stop that, Danny.”
“Ow.  Let go,” he wiggled free from her. 
“Listen mister,” Darla hoped to reassure him.  “We aren’t gonna hurt you.  I don’t think we can hurt you.  I can’t shoot fire out of my eyes and neither can my brother.”
“No.  Us know all about the younglings of your kind.  Go away.  How’d you get here anyway?”  His voice was quite muffled as he kept his mouth down along the cobblestone.  “Ah, Martha!  Martha! Come help me.  We’s got youngling varmints.”
“Look, mister.  We just want to go home.  Somehow we entered this strange world from the shower in our bathroom in our house.  How do we get back?”  The giant lifted his head to ogle the two kids. 
“Oh.  Martha must have accidentally opened the door that separates us Cyclops from you’s varmints. I knew she’d been tricked into the wrong bling ball.”
“Hey, what’s all of that ruckus, Brusus?” boomed a deep woman’s voice from on top of the rocky cliff next to the waterfall.  A one-eyed woman with her hair done up into a perfect cone stood up there.  She had the same type of tunic, but olive green with black trim.  “Ah, good uncle, is that there them varmint younglings?”  Then she guffawed while slapping her hairy knee.  “Brusus, you can’t be scared of those.  They won’t hurt ya if ya don’t mess with ‘em.  It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of them, but I do know they’re harmless unless you mess with ‘em.  Now get up off the path.”
As soon as she finished speaking, stepping around the side of the cliff were five more of the one-eyed creatures, all with scraggly hair and tunics of various colors.  The one in the lead as they entered the cobblestone path exclaimed, “Brusus, is it true you’s got varmint younglings?  Oh, I see ‘em. They’ll taste mighty scrumptious.”
Brusus, ashamed of his hysterics in front of the other creatures, bolted on his feet and shouted back to the other.  “Urk, they’ll waste ya if’in’ you try and catch ‘em.”
“Ah, I don’t believe any of that malarkey about them.  They’s ain’t poisonous or got powers.”
“Now, Urk,” Martha protested.  “Don’t be all hasty.” Addressing Brusus, she said, “Now, how you suppose those younglings got here?  Oh no!”  She clutched her face in terror.  “One of ‘em left something in the water.  Soap of some kind.  Good uncle, our water’s been contaminated.  Those younglings are swirling with filth.  Brusus, get rid of them before they kill us all with their diseases.”
Now, Darla was suddenly fearful of all of these creatures.  As for Bella she howled and pranced around in response to these giants in front of her, but she refrained from attacking any of them.  These beings freaked the animal out.  “Danny, did you take your body-wash bottle in the water with you?”
“Yeah.  I dropped it in on accident and just left it there.”  His hair needed brushing or combing as it was as unwieldy as the men-creatures.
Brusus looked at the two children in hesitation.  “Uh…what if one of ‘em bites me?  We ain’t got treatment for their venom.”
“Just quickly stomp on their heads.  That’ll end ‘em right then.”
Darla, hoping to keep Brusus afraid of them, threatened, “Don’t listen to her.  I will bite you.  Back home they call me Cobra Darla.”  She chomped her teeth while approaching Brusus.
“Ahh, she’s gonna bite me,” yelled Brusus and he sprinted the other direction, jumping over the entire lake just to get away from Darla. 
“Hey, Martha!” Darla cried out to her.  “You better help me and my brother to go home, or we’ll come up there and bite you.”
“You don’t frighten me, varmint.  One swift wallop will do you in.  Get ‘em Urk.”  The steps of the three Cyclops-like men bounded down the path with thunderous steps right towards the two children. 
Primal fear struck Darla, and she grabbed a hold of her brother’s hand.  She attempted to get him to run back through the fog.  Bella bravely ran around the front of them, offering to protect her two humans.  Danny resisted his sister’s tug, and nearly dropped his towel still covering his bottom half.  “Darla, we can’t go that way.  They’ll just catch up to us.”
“But…” Darla objected.  “They’ll kill us.”
Urk, dressed in a black tunic in only a few steps would be upon Darla and Danny.  Bella might have been a faithful pet, but was certainly no match for this giant.  Danny closed his eyes and imagined the ugly monster blowing up.  While lifting his foot to stomp on Bella, suddenly, Urk roared so intensely, that it knocked both Danny and Darla off their feet.  Urk then exploded into a ball of pink feathers that rained over the path and into the big leafy plants.  The other four monsters came to a complete halt with sheer terror washing over their faces. 
All four monsters turned tail and darted off as they high-stepped away from the two children.  “Ah.  They’re gonna kill us all!  It is true.  Brusus was right!”
“Good going, Danny.  I guess we do have powers here.  Uh, Danny…you’re towel fell off of you.”  Darla had pushed herself up onto her feet, and Danny followed suit.
“They must be all feathers on the inside,” concluded Danny.
Since Danny lost control of his towel, he had to retrieve it off the ground to once again conceal his body below his waist.  Martha pleaded with Darla and Danny.  “Please.  Don’t kill us all!”  She sheltered her eye with her arm to avoid the sight of the children.  Darla took this as an opportunity to once again convince Martha to help them get home.
“Alright.  Are you gonna help us, Martha?  Or do we need to come up there.  We can just blow you up right from here.”
Brusus had stood behind Martha as she shouted in agreement.  “Yes, I’ll help you.  But, I don’t know how you’s come into our land.”
“Woman,” Brusus addressed her.  “It’s that bling ball you thought would work to close all varmint doors coming into the Cyclops world.  It must have opened a door and then closed it on them.” 
“Oh, I know what to do.  Brusus, you wait here while I goes inside to redo what I done before.  That bling ball is just fine.  I forgets it has a door open and a door closed mode.  I must’ve had it in the door open mode. When I tell you, let the varmints know they can leave.”  Martha disappeared while Brusus anxiously waited outside, hoping the varmints wouldn’t attack him. 
Calling out to Martha, “These youngling varmints become quite ornery if they have to wait for too long.  Hurry up, now.”  Sweat plummeted off Brusus’ brow in sheets, hoping he wouldn’t end up a ball of feathers like that fool Urk.
 “Darla!  Danny!”  Bella barked excitedly and whipped around to run along the path back in through the fog as the voice of Judy could now be heard.  Darla and Danny locked their gaze on each other. 
Together, they both cried, “Mom!”  As they prepared to follow Bella, their mother emerged from the cloudy air with the dog in tow.  Both of her children ran up and embraced her with all their might.
“Okay, Brusus.  It’s all open,” exclaimed Martha.  “Tell them youngling varmints to scram on out of here.” 
Judy’s bottom of her chin nearly hit the cobblestone path as she viewed Brusus and the entire beautiful, fantastic landscape.  “What is this?”  She asked that to her children, not really anticipating a solid answer.
“C’mon, now, yous younglings, get on out of here and leave us be,” pleaded Brusus.  “Hey, Martha, one of them grown varmints has joined the younglings.  Oo, if only those little varmints weren’t with her, she’d makes a great roast.”
“Mom, let’s just get out of here.”  Darla was anxious to leave.  “I heard what you said, Brusus, about my mom!  You better not even think about harming my mom!”  She raised a pointed finger at him, feigning an attack.
“Just get out of here!”  Brusus yelled at her as he turned to run away from Darla’s sight.
Judy, her children, and her pet found their way back into the half-bath in the basement of the house.  As they stepped through past the shower stall, they looked back and only saw the tiled wall, instead of the murky atmosphere of the implausible land of the Cyclops people.  Moving through the basement and up the steps of their home, they spoke about their adventure.
Danny said, “It was all so neat.  The waterfall and the lake and the warm water.  Look, I’m all clean, too.  It was fun!”
“If I hadn’t seen it for my own eyes and you had told me you were in a strange world behind the shower, I would never have believed you.”  Judy had to admit that explaining this to anyone outside of her children, including their father, would be fraught with looks of disbelief.  Everyone would believe her to be crazy.  However, this wouldn’t stop her from trying.
Finally, Danny was in pajamas eating a night time snack.  Darla went to finish her fifth grade report.  Judy logged into her Friendface page to share what happened to her family.  As for Bella she discovered the back door wasn’t latched and managed to free herself to the backyard.  While yapping at the neighbor’s dog, Judy suddenly remembered that she hadn’t closed the back door all the way, and bolted to her feet.  Running for the outdoors, she hoped to prevent Bella from finding the mud in the backyard once more. 
“Bella!”  She whistled.  “Get in here, girl.”  Wandering towards the house was the black lab all covered in muck, panting carefree.  “Oh, Bella.  I’m gonna have to give you another bath.”  And so she did.