Tuesday, September 6, 1988 Too Early-
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!
Charlie jumped at the harsh blaring. He clutched Winston and looked around, panicking.
"What's going on, Winston? Have we been hit? Is the wawp dwive damaged? Have the pwasma shiewds gone down?"
"Mayday, mayday, mission contwow! We'we out of contwow and cwashing into a stwange pwanet!"
"Charlie! Turn that thing off already!" Amy shouted down the stairs. Charlie looked around.
He hit the big snooze button, stopping the alarm. "Oh. So that's what that button does." He looked up at Mars. "Mission contwow. We'we going in. It's going to be a whiwe befowe we can wepaiw the ship."
But there was just static on the other end. He had lost contact with the home base.
Charlie slipped out of bed in his Marvin the Martian undies, which were stained with blood, something green, and the trace of "skidmarks" that never did quite come out. He had secretly rescued them out of the garbage twice before his mom gave up yet another fight with her stubborn little boy. He knelt against his bed to pray, but found himself staring at the dinosaurs on his bedspread, numbly trying to understand why he felt so tired after the crash landing on this strange new planet. He asked a big red apatosaurus if he knew, but the gentle creature just swayed its neck back and forth and continued chewing on a massive fern.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
The alarm jolted him out of a conversation with a yellow stegasaurus.
He looked around, startled. He grabbed Winston again. "What is it, Winston? Is the wife suppowt down now?" Winston just looked at him with his quiet dark eyes. Poor Winston didn't seem to be any more awake than he was.
"Charlie! Turn that off!" Amy yelled down the stairs.
Charlie examined his blaring alarm clock, trying to cover his ears with his shoulders as he tried to figure out how to turn the thing off. He slid the switch over once and the radio started singing the chorus of the "Belly Button" song again. He was too tired to add in his own lyrics this time. He slipped it over too far and the radio kept playing the belly button song. So he slid the switch the other way, and still the belly button song, then he almost jumped through the ceiling when he slipped it over one more notch and the alarm started blaring again. He gave up and crawled down on the floor, unplugging the thing before Amy yelled at him again.
Charlie stood up and stumbled through the mound of clothes and tripped over Frankie, tumbling through the bright yellow and red hibiscus flowers and past a startled yellow and red parrot onto the hard cement that was barely cushioned by a bright red carpet square.
Charlie pulled himself off the floor and picked Winston up. He stumbled over to his bathroom and stood by the toilet. He was too tired to sink a ship. Too tired to aim. Too tired to notice he was peeing on the floor. He tucked his little guy back in, not noticing the growing dark spot on the front of his underwear when he did.
Charlie vaguely remembered that whatever was going on today would require... clothes. And not his comfy, stained orange and black shorts, but the new long pants his mom had bought. And a shirt. Something he only wore at church in the months that were warm enough to avoid wearing one.
Charlie went over to the dresser he only used to put rocks and pinecones and books and bones and dinosaurs on. He glanced at the red headed girl on the cover of his book on the dresser. He smiled. She smiled back. "Have a wondewful day!"
"Thanks, Anne! You too!"
The book had a bright blue and yellow stegosaurus sticker on the cover now. It was his book. He'd gotten tired of waiting for his mom to read it, so he finished reading it himself. He claimed it as his own after he finished it. Amy gave in after he promised to let her borrow it.
Charlie opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of pants that didn't have a spot on the floor yet. He slipped them on. They were, as his mom had worried, a little too short at the leg and a little too wide at the hip. So he put on the blue and black belt with the big belt buckle he had tried to beg his mom not to buy. Even Charlie knew you weren't supposed to buy a belt buckle like that. Not in Silver Creek, anyway. Those were trophies that had to be won. He vowed to take it off and replace it with the boring rectangle that came with the belt when he got home.
Charlie opened the next drawer. Socks. Clean, white socks. Another item of clothes usually only reserved for church. He swallowed hard as he grabbed a pair and started to pull it apart.
"Charlie, honey! Hurry! You're going to be late for kindergarten!" his mom yelled down the stairs.
Kindergarten. That's right. That was today. That's why he had to be up so early. He set his jaw. Ok. He could do this. He was going to find it.
Charlie pulled the socks on, then searched through the new shirts hanging from a wire stretched between the studs of a unfinished wall. He pulled a blue shirt with a dinosaur in a spaceship circling a ringed planet off its hanger and draped it over his shoulder. He wasn't quite ready for that one yet, mission or not.
Charlie gently set Winston on his bed.
"Winston, you can't come with me. This is a top secwet mission. But I'm gonna find it and teww you all about it when I get home."
Charlie glanced at the picture of Jesus and waved, then remembered he hadn't quite gotten a prayer out, so he knelt and said a quick prayer asking for help to have a good day.
He grabbed Anne of Green Gables, thinking that if kids brought books to school, then maybe he'd have time to read it, and then he was off to his door. He took one last look at his "Warnign" sign and closed the door behind him.
As soon as he opened the door to the kitchen, his "two mommies" attacked him with a vengeance with a spray bottle, a washrag, and a comb. Before he knew it, he was combed and dressed with half of a piece of French toast in his stomach, standing in front of the front door, long hair somewhat tamed (Laura had lost the haircut battle) with his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles backpack full of mystery items he hadn't paid much attention to slung over his shoulders. Anne of Green Gables was sitting on the table after a round of heated negotiations.
Laura took a quick "first day of Kindergarten" picture, giving up on getting him to give anything but his goofy, cheesy smile.
Charlie hugged his mommy one last time and headed out the back door. He looked back longingly at his tree house and his trampoline and the Russian olive with the tire swing and his dirt piles and jumps.
When they passed the house he and Wayne had been building, Charlie looked around, but didn't see any signs of Wayne. Charlie frowned. After Wayne had given him the tool belt, hammer, and granitoid, his dad had told Charlie he couldn't go help Wayne without him. But his dad never had time to go to the house, and Charlie hadn't had a chance to see Wayne again. Lately, he hadn't even seen Wayne's truck.
Amy pulled at him several times, then panicked when she saw the bus come down the highway. She tugged at him hard that time and almost dragged him to the highway, arriving just as the big yellow bus pulled to a stop, lights flashing, stop sign extended.
Charlie turned to the bus. "Amy, wait! That's a stop sign!"
Clearly ignoring traffic laws, Amy pulled Charlie through the doors as soon as they opened. She said a quick hi to the bus driver, then dragged Charlie onto the bus, depositing him in an empty seat at the front as she joined her friends at the back. Charlie gazed around. He knew some of the kids from church, but wasn't really close to any of them. So he gazed out the window at the orange disk of the sun climbing over the mountains behind the dark brown haze that never did seem to clear.
A flock of sparrows flew over the bus. Charlie lept from his seat and joined them, soaring high over that yellow bus, watching it as it wove through a maze of streets, wondering if he'd find what he was looking for.
"Hey, wake up!"
Charlie looked around, startled to see a boy who must have been about his age, sitting next to him. The boy's blonde hair was in a bowl cut. He was wearing a black "Raiders" shirt. Charlie never cared for football, but it was on all the time at home, so he at least knew the teams if he didn't understand the game.
"Hello, anyone home?"
Charlie stared blankly at him.
The boy held out his hand. "Name's Phil. What's yers?"
Charlie shook the boy's hand timidly. "I'm Chawwie."
Phil laughed. "What kind of a name is 'Chawwie?"
Charlie frowned. "Not Chawwie, Chawwie!" He tried to make the l and r sound right, but his tongue wouldn't cooperate.
Phil shrugged. "Ok, Chawwie. Nice to meet you!"
Charlie opened his mouth, but stopped. This blonde, grinning boy might be his only friend. So he just shrugged. "Nice to meet you too." He wanted to say "Nice to meet you too, Phil," but he knew it wouldn't come out right.
Phil thought for a minute, then grinned. "Hey! I can be Super Phil and you can be Chawwie Boy, my sykick."
Charlie frowned, then shrugged. "Fine "
Phil lit up. "Cool! We need a secret handshake."
Charlie grinned. "A secwet handshake? That sounds cool!"
Phil nodded. "Yep, a secwet handshake."
Charlie frowned again. Did he really sound like that?
Phil thought a bit, then showed Charlie a handshake that started with an elbow bump, had a finger explosion, and ended with them stacking their fists on top of each other. Charlie didn't understand it at all, but he played along, his fist coming on top.
Phil bit his lip, then slipped his fist from the bottom to the top. "That's better."
Phil puffed out his chest proudly. "My daddy works out at the bank! His name is Christopher Olsen. What does your daddy do?"
Charlie lit up. "My daddy wowks at the bank too!"
Phil bit his lip. "Uh uh...!"
Charlie almost came back with a "He does so!" But he stopped again. "He does, weawwy!"
Phil laughed. "Weawwy?"
Charlie clenched his jaw. Yeah. His name is Wichard Thompson. But everyone cawws him Wich. Even though he always says he's bwoke."
Phil giggled. "Your dad's name is "Wichard but he goes by Wich?"
Charlie's face turned red. "No, Wichard with an awh."
Phil scowled. "Oh, that guy?"
Charlie curled his fingers in a fist and started breathing heavy. Nobody talked about his daddy like that. But he didn't want to be lonely, so he sat on his fist and bit his tongue.
They pulled up to the school. It was A long brown box that didn't look fun. But of course, they had to keep the secret. No one would think to look in a building like that. And at least there was a playground with swing sets, a slide, a big dome jungle gym, a merry-go-round, a fort...
Phil grabbed Charlie's arm. "Come on, silly! We can't stay on the bus!"
When they got off the bus, they saw four groups of kids surrounding ladies holding brightly colored signs with their names on them. The boys scanned the signs.
"Which teacher do you have, Chawie Boy?"
Charlie wrinkled his forehead and looked up in the hazy sky. "Uh, Miss Sunshine?"
Phil snickered. "There ain't no miss sunshine, dork! Do you mean Miss Day?"
Charlie nodded. "Yep, that's the one!"
Phil grinned. "Me, too!" He grabbed Charlie by the arm and dragged him to the group around a young-looking lady in a bright dress, who was holding up a bright blue sign with a big yellow sun on it. "Miss Day" was printed in big black letters across the sun. The boys joined the group. Miss Day smiled at the kids, welcoming them to kindergarten.
Charlie bent down next to Phil's ear. "Awh you excited to find the gawden?"
Phil scrunched his face up. "What 'gawden'?"
Charlie whispered, "You know, the secwet gawden! It must be a secwet, cause nobody talks 'bout it."
Phil shook his head. "You dummy! There ain't no gawden."
Charlie wrinkled his eyebrows. "How come they caww it kindewgawten then?"
Phil pulled on Charlie. "You're such a dork."
Charlie set his jaw. Fine. He'd find it by his self.
Charlie watched the other kids wide-eyed as they walked to their teachers. He recognized a few more from church and around town. He couldn't help but notice that he was taller than most of them. He kind of felt like one of those tall creatures in a Dr. Seuss book that didn't quite fit in. Curtis walked up and joined his class. Charlie said hi, Curtis returned his greeting and went to stand with some of the other kids. Curtis had never been mean to him, but they weren't really friends, either. Just two kids going to the same church.
Charlie noticed a small girl in a bright blue sundress and pink cowgirl boots getting out of an old pickup with a blonde girl. The girl in the blue dress waved back at the truck, then strode over to Miss Day's group. She had brown piggytails tied with bright blue bows and bright blue eyes, just like the sky on a clear day, and was followed by a blonde girl. His jaw dropped as he followed her with his eyes. He felt his heart do a somersault. She was so... so...
She arrived at the group. "Hi. My name is Katherine Dawn Williams, but I go by Katie, and I'm 5, but I'll be 6 next month on the 17th. And this is my cousin, Alyssa."
Charlie jumped. He was going to be 6 next month on the 17th, too.
Charlie's teacher introduced herself to the kids. But the only name Charlie remembered was "Katherine Dawn Williams, who goes by Katie, and who shared his birthday."
Phil tugged on his arm and whispered, "Be careful with the girls. They got coooooties!"
Charlie frowned. He had no idea what a "coooootie" was. But if a girl like Katherine Dawn Williams had them, he'd be happy to find out.
Miss Day led them into the big box. Charlie wrinkled his nose. It smelled of plastic and papers and eraser dust. Charlie and the rest of the kids followed Miss Day down the long, busy hall. She stopped the group in the hallway and said something, but Charlie was too busy watching the girl with the blue dress to notice what she was talking about. They continued to a door with bright blue paper and a big yellow sun on it, just like the sign. Charlie stared at the blue sky, trying to see birds, but he didn't see any.
The teacher opened the door, proudly.
"Welcome to your new classroom, students!" Charlie frowned, wondering how 'come they weren't kids no more. He saw the rows of desks and wrinkled his nose. He wasn't sure about those desk things. They looked like a trap.