Chapter One
Monday morning – the first Monday of the year. And today was not only the
beginning of a new week; it was also Day One of the Spring semester. With
eight-year-old Nathan still in the kitchen actively consuming a bowl of Sugar
Pops, Paul Pontiac, dropped his bowl and spoon in the sink, before trudging
toward his bedroom at the same pace one would slither through a gator-filled
swamp. Bus 39 was due to pull into their driveway in about twenty minutes.
However, this morning it was doubtful that would be sufficient time for him to
get ready.
“Paul,” Nathan said, guiding his wheelchair through the doorway of his older brother’s bedroom several minutes later. “Are you about ready to …?” Then instantly, his mouth gaped open, and his voice froze. “No. This can’t be.”
“What do you think?” Paul asked, twisting his slender fourteen-year-old torso 180 degrees, so he could catch a glimpse of his backside in the full-length mirror attached to his closet door. “It’s the latest style.”
“Well, I.”
Paul displayed a large grin. “I know. This outfit looks so good; it literally takes your breath away. Doesn't it?”
“W-e-l-l … I.”
Totally ignoring his brother's shocked expression, “You know, Nathan,” Paul continued. “The kids at school are bound to like me now.”
Nathan snorted in reply. “Paul. Your friends at school already like you.”
“I know. But I'd like to have some outside of the computer club. Don’t you think this outfit should do the trick?”
Nathan shook his head in disbelief.
Paul frowned. Even though his half-brother was a few years younger, he respected the boy's opinion. Ever since joining the Pontiac family just shortly before Christmas, Nathan had shown an incredible understanding of people – especially for someone his age.
“Tell me, Nathan,” he said, plopping across the side of the bed. “Which shoes do you think I should I wear with this ensemble – my tennis shoes, or the matching boots I bought? They both look good. But I’m not sure my Converses would add the coup de maître I’m looking for.”
Nathan opened his mouth to answer, but was soon interrupted by a bell-like sound coming from his older brother’s desktop. Apparently, Paul’s multi-core system had detected an incoming video message, and its screen was currently displaying a flashing user-id - Tim Hegler’s – their neighbor next-door.
“I’m going to have to get back to you,” Paul stated, dismissing his younger brother before diverting his attention to the monitor and clicking his wireless Microsoft optical mouse.
Tim’s face quickly came into view, while a creaking sound from the room’s wooden tongue-and-groove floor reverberated. Evidently, Nathan had decided to leave the room.
“Tim,” Paul yelled into the computer's microphone, even though there wasn’t a need to. “What’s up, Bro? You usually don’t call this early.”
“I wanted to see if you had heard about the …” Tim abruptly stopped mid- sentence, and his eyes bulged outward. “Surely you’re not going to be wearing that to school! Are you?”
“Don’t you just love it?” Paul did a turn-around in front of his monitor. “It’s the ‘IN’ thing this year.”
Tim looked at his friend and began to shake his head. “Paul,” he said, before briefly pausing. “That outfit is so hideous; I’m surprised it didn’t shatter your video cam into a billion microscopic-size pieces.”
Paul immediately scowled. “Hey! It’s not that bad.”
“Oh yes, it is! Your mom didn’t buy you that for Christmas, did she?”
“No.” Paul replied, shrugging his shoulders. “We stopped by the Salvation Army yesterday in hopes of finding an antique record player, and I found this on a nearby clothes rack. The overalls were on sale for just a dollar, and I got this matching flannel shirt for fifty cents.”
“I can easily understand why they were so cheap,” Tim stated, giving his friend an intelligent nod. “They both look like something a farmer in the early 1950s might wear.”
“Really? That’s fantastic!” Paul shouted as an exuberant grin raced across his face. “That's exactly the look I was aiming for.”
Tim's eyes rolled upward, and he briefly gazed toward the ceiling above.
“Paul. Do me a favor and ditch the outfit. You know today is going to be my first day at Gibsonville. And believe me, the last thing I need is for my best friend to be looking like a circus clown.”
“Tim. It’s really not all that b….” Paul began to say, when unexpectedly his friend suddenly looked away from his video cam.
“I’ve got to go,” Tim said. “Mom’s calling. … I’ll catch you a little later on the bus. … And don’t let me forget to tell you what happened at our school over Christmas, OK?”
“OK,” Paul answered, though he wondered what Tim could be referring to.
Just as their Skype communication ended, a bright flicker unexpectedly flashed across Paul’s twenty-four-inch flat screen monitor and the front of it instantly turned black. Then after remaining that way for several seconds, it unpredictably returned to life, with its animated 3-D screensaver already in progress.
I really do need to see what’s causing my video card to do that, Paul thought, taking a seat on his bed, so he could stick his feet inside the maroon-colored cowboy boots he had purchased to complete his ensemble.
A moment later, he was out the front door.