Day 4 & 5

Walking down the sidewalk Carol was joined by Anna and Daniel Jones. If there was competition to be found for Carol’s parents it was in the form of the Jones’ Parlor And Pizza. It was the best place to get an ice cream anything and a giant slice of any pizza they could or ever would be dreamt up. If it was pizza related in any way it could be found at the Jones’ place. Though their parent might have an occasional quarrel over business, the kids got along great. They had each been eating their chosen breakfast as they walked to school. Recently Anna was into frozen blueberry yogurt sprinkled with granola. While Daniel usually had a leftover slice of cold pizza any kind didn’t seem to bother him. Carol guessed he took after his father. He’d been the one to change Mrs. Jones’ ice cream parlor to a pizza place soon after they were engaged. Mrs. Jones loved the idea but put her foot down when her fiance was about to put the oven near the freezer. They’d finally found a way to mesh the two together while making both parties happy. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were an easy sort of person. They were always friendly and smiling. When someone entered the shop they felt as though they didn’t want to leave. It was as if no one else in the world cared for them better than the Jones.

As they continued to school chatting about the new recipes their parents were inventing a man came up to them.

“Hello, excuse me. I am looking for three people. Anna Jones, Carol Grant, and Daniel Jones; do you know where I might be able to find them?”

The three stared suspiciously at the man. “Is someone paying you for this? Cause this  is too close to a prank not to be one.” Anna couldn’t help but doubt the man.

“This is no prank. I am to deliver,” He lifted three small boxes from a sack  he carried at his waist. “These to Miss Jones, Miss Grant, and Sir Jones.”

“Sir?”

“Ow, I was warned.” The man looked as if he wished he could bite his tongue off. “I don’t suppose you could forget I said that could you?”

“If that is a hand delivered doughnut I can forget anything.” Daniel took the offered box.

Together they opened the parcels, each pulling out a unique ring. When they wanted to ask the man who had sent them he was gone. They hurried up the road hoping to catch sight of him but saw nothing. Unsure how they could have missed him the three continued on to school wearing the rings and forgetting about them.

Rubbing his eyes in hopes of wiping away the remains of sleep the brown haired boy got up off the edge off his bed and stumbled to the bathroom. Tripping over the dog laying in the hall one the way there. A rooster crowed in the background. The boy now more a young man than he realized splashed cold water in his face quickly drying in a towel. It was something his grandfather had shown him to do to ward off any remaining hopes of sleep. Then he grabbed his toothbrush and three it in his mouth. He brushed while he went back to his room to dress. When he came back out of his room he left the toothbrush where it belonged on the sink ledge.

There wasn’t anyone there to give him a cheery good morning or make sure he had breakfast ready. There wasn’t anyone there to make sure he got off to school on time or made sure that he had his homework done at night. This young man lived on his grandfather’s old farm.

Chores needed to be done before he thought about breakfast. Not that he minded he was used to things being this way. He liked mornings the best because the world was so quiet. No one knew he was there and he could watch as they woke up to start their busy day.

He was a good strong boy. Farmer’s knew how to milk the cows and throw the hay. He could find his way around a tractor. When he did settle down to a meal it usually contained a glass of raw milk along with whatever else might be on his plate. His grandfather usually cooked up a steak and maybe had some vegetables if they were in season.

Sometimes the neighbor ladies would trade them for eggs and milk. When they did it was for jams or butter or cheese or even homemade bread. It was then that he liked most. There was nothing that could beat a steak better than jam on buttered bread.

As he milked he watched the sun rise. When he threw grain to the chickens he could see the cars begin to drive about the town. It was when he watched the bus climb the hill near his house that he finished tossing hay to the animals. Removing his coveralls he would scoop up his worn notebooks to find his way out to the road.

He was quick to get on the bus and duck into a seat. There he’d open up a notebook and begin stretching with whatever medium he held in his hands. He was talented in so many forms of art. Although the only ones to ever see his work were his teachers. They all knew what his grandfather was like so they never brought up to him that he try to do anything with it. Once a teacher had come to the farm and he’d left with bullets flying after him.

However this morning was different. This morning he started on his chores. The pigs were given their usually sloppy meal along with as fresh a water as he could supply them. The cows were grained as he milked them. Once the buckets were safe inside a tank he would make sure they had enough hay to make it through the day. The horses were fed and hayed then put to pasture, unless it was too cold out then they stayed in their stalls. He would exercise them in the evenings when he could.  It was after he fed the chickens and just as he attended to the rabbits that he found something. It lay inside the animals dish. He picked it up and it slid onto his finger. The metal was dirty and cold but it looked like it might have a design on it. For a moment he looked up and saw the bus rising up the hill. There wasn’t time to waste on a ring if he dawdled he wouldn’t make it to school. Any chances in the world that his grandfather might take him were not to be thought of.

Tossing his coveralls over a banister in the barn he scooped up his papers and got out to the road as fast as his long legs would carry him.

Now one might think his grandfather mean and someone to promote child slave labor. It wasn’t so he was a farmer and a long time baptist. He believed that one must work for what they get. He also love the boy so much that he never wanted to let him go. If there was a chance in the world that the boy would think he needed him and stay because of it he’d take it. Although he hoped he would keep the boy just by making sure he never left. It might seem unjust but he was an old man of crushed hopes and dreams. He lost much in his lifetime and this one good thing he wanted to make sure stayed good for as long as he could keep it that way.

The bus pulled up and the young man climbed aboard. “Morning John Walter,” the driver greeted him.

“M-m-mornin’ s-s-sir.” John ducked into his usual seat and opened his books, letting the worlds he created take form on what little he had.

“The night has been wild but this morning was just bizarre. No one is going to believe this. See this.” He held up a silver ring containing a red stone so it could be view by the camcorder. “It appeared on my desk right out of the screen! The screen from my personal computer. I’ve been doing some work on this... on never mind you won’t care. It is a theory, well know may be more than a theory of how to bring images from the screen into a solid form. It might help lead the world to teleportation!” His redheaded face disappeared from view giving a close up image of his left pocket as he set the camera on his computer desk.

After a while scraping sounds could be heard as the device was shut off. When he watched the footage the next day he wondered how he had forgotten about the ring’s appearing act. He ended up skipping his home work for a few hours as he worked on more computer theorems. It was all numbers and letters and symbols to those who didn't know what they were looking at but to him they may all the sense in the world. In fact Rodger was on to inventing the next thing to teleportation and that was why the rings were suddenly appearing to the young AstroVallians if he was to invent this then it had to happen at just the right time. Someone was taking care to make sure that happened.

Note ~ These two days I put together because I didn't do much writing on day 4. My word count isn't caught back up but my sister bought some chocolate and peanut butter motivation for us. :) We aren't allowed to have it until that word count equals what it should! Ahhh....
Here is a great link to some awesome music. You Are My All In All