10/26/2021 02:01 AM  Nightmare on Cherry Lane Nightmare on Cherry Street   Wicket /1706817 Dustin sat there on his bike next to his sweet Suzie. She was so beautiful and brave. She barely knew Lucas but she was right here with them. He had to admire her for that. She didn't have to be here but she was. She was definitely a keeper. Dustin snapped out of his inner thoughts just as Mike looked in his direction. Mike started to talk about what was happening. He listened intently to Mike. It was hard to bring his thoughts under control, but he knew he couldn't let them run free. Mike was right of course. They owed it to their best pal to get off their collective asses and actually do what they do best. Doing anything without Lucas was going to be more difficult than anything he ever imagined. Dustin grew introspective for a moment. He didn't want to do this but something snapped inside of him. Someone had the audacity to take their friend away from them! Who was it and what gave them the right to do that? It was like a fire had ignited inside of Dustin's soul. His rabid imagination started to run forth with all the strength of a freight train. Mike took off on his bicycle heading in the direction of Cherry Lane. Dustin started to lift the foot so that he could go, but he stopped to look towards his girlfriend. That bicycle was still a piece of garbage. He didn't say anything to her. His look spoke volumes. He was so thankful that he had Suzie in his life. He had gravitated toward her when they were in camp because they were two halves of a whole. He didn't have to say anything. It was like they knew what one another was thinking. He must have been thinking or staring too long, because she had already taken off to follow Mike. He followed her trying to catch up with Mike and Suzie. ~*~ Cherry Lane had been just as he remembered it. Dustin could see all the cherry trees and the houses that looked like they were straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. He inhaled to smell the cherry blossoms, but all he could smell was the coppery smell of blood. Dustin felt a wave of nausea run through his body. This was his buddy's blood that he was smelling right now. He looked like he wanted to vomit, but he kept it down. Dustin had smelled blood before, but this was the first time he'd smelled it from someone he knew. He made eye contact with Suzie in front of the black and yellow police tape. He climbed off his bike to join her. "Can you see anything?" Dustin asked. He waited for Mike to join them. He knew they were going to need to go beyond the tape to see what had happened to their friend. Normally Dustin would have been the first one to break open the police tape and take the trip, but he was still a little hesitant. He didn't care about getting himself in trouble. But what worried him was getting Suzie in trouble. A stray thought entered his mind. Dustin had just taken Suzie to go see The Goonies. It had been a movie full of adventure with mostly kids that were close to their age. They could go into the forest and follow along a path that would lead them to a cave that had buried treasure. That would be the fun part, but they could also go into the woods to find a huge cult of devil worshipers who preyed upon children. Dustin's imagination was very active and right now it was running in about 700 different directions. He put a hand on Suzie's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. It was to let her know he was alright. He was ready to find out anything about who had killed his friend. Although aliens swooping down and trying to invade Earth was still a possibility in Dustin's mind, he wondered if maybe the Russians were still lurking. It was really something that they couldn't completely rule out as ludicrous as it might seem.   "I Am On A Curiosity Voyage, And I Need My Paddles To Travel." credit: james kriet 0 Comments

10/05/2021 04:23 PM  Who Can it Be Now? Who Can it Be Now?   Wicket /1706817 How could school be any more boring? Dustin Henderson sat at his desk feeling himself falling asleep just sitting there. It was really saying something when he would rather sleep than paying attention. His mother thought he was just too smart for most of the classes that were taught in school. Maybe he was? He tended to blame his wandering mind on other subjects. The town of Hawkins was not your typical sleepy little Midwestern hole in the wall. Most people thought about Ohio and Indiana as nothing but rows of cornfields as they traveled from New York to Los Angeles and back again. Dustin and his friends knew better than that. They knew that monsters were real and the Russians were hiding in the middle of America right under the government's nose. It was ironic really. Dustin was grinning like a fool in the middle of English class when the bell went off. The bone jarring sound jolted him back into the here and now. After his rousing internal debate about the Midwest, Dustin gathered his wits and his books heading into the hallway to where the lockers were waiting. Dustin shuffled into the hall with the other students not paying much attention to anyone else. Lunch was next and he was sure to meet up with his crew at their usual table. The debate however continued as to whether or not Max would sit with them or not. Max made Dustin trip over his own tongue most of the time. Girls were strange animals and he still had his "moments". Just ask Nancy Wheeler. Dustin shuddered and started toward the cafeteria leaving most of his books among other things in his locker. As he was heading toward the cafeteria, he saw a very odd looking man with a crew cut and horn rimmed glasses speaking with Mr. Clarke. Dustin studied the strange man very intensely. He never seen this man before. There was something really odd about him that was making him stand out especially when compared to Mr Clarke. Dustin couldn't hear their discussion but based on the looks between the two men, it looked to be very heated. Dustin was distracted enough by observing the conversation that he nearly ran into a wall. His hands reached out ramming into that cold concrete rather quickly. "Dammit!" He declared. Dustin straightened his path and headed into the cafeteria. The cafeteria at Hawkins Middle School was still with quite a few talking students. The anxiety of reaching the middle of the day was finally released as the kids walked into the room. Dustin moved over to the lunch line and started to gather his utensils. He noticed that Mr Clarke had walked into the cafeteria speaking with this mysterious man continuing their intense discussion. The more these two spoke the more curious that Dustin got. He started to lay out his utensils and the small carton of chocolate milk that every student received going in for lunch. The lunch lady handed him a plate even though Dustin was hardly paying her any attention. "Watch where you going kid!" He handed her his lunch money before walking off toward the table where he and his friends usually sat. Mr Clarke and his guest continued their discussion as they walked through the cafeteria. Dustin turned his head to the side trying to understand the depth of this conversation and what was going on with the two men. Something wasn't setting right with him. Maybe he was just paranoid, but considering all that he's been through in the past 3 years could anyone honestly blame him? Dustin shoved about three french fries into his mouth and started to chew. He cracked open the chocolate milk before taking a nice big drink. He wasn't even looking at his friends as he sat there. He was still too insanely curious as to what Mr Clarke was talking about with this man. Dustin had never seen Mr Clarke get this animated before. This definitely warranted a little more investigation on his part. The problem was did he want to do this alone, or did he want to see if someone would go with him?   "I Am On A Curiosity Voyage, And I Need My Paddles To Travel." credit: james kriet 0 Comments

09/23/2021 06:22 PM  Octopus's Garden Sept Drabble Octopus's Garden   Wicket /1706817 Features Pretty Young Thing and Outsider. His head was throbbing. Slowly his eyes started to open. His mind was in a haze. Dustin had been in the gym at the middle school only five minutes before now. Was it only five minutes? Time was a construct consisting of days, hours, minutes and seconds. The more technically gifted of the group of friends he spent time with, Dustin had always been more critically aware of passing time than his friends. That was why he felt like this just simply wasn't right. He tried his best to recall how he'd come to be in this location anyway. His mind was drawing a complete blank. Dustin's most powerful attribute was his brain, but it was failing him fast. "What the hell happened?" He groaned, rubbing his head. The sound of his words leaving his lips were almost like what the Beatles had done in The Yellow Submarine movie. Something was wrong. It all felt off to him somehow. His eyes opened slowly. "Toto I don't think this is Kansas anymore." He spoke to himself. The vibrations of the words he spoke passed through his lips into the world around him. It wasn't until his eyes truly focused that he realized that he wasn't in Hawkins anymore. His spoken observations sounded like they were dissipating the farther away they got. It felt like he was underwater.. He was in the Upside Down. He felt his stomach drop. The endless night around him with the twisted vegetation around him was his new prison. Just like what happened to Will had happened to him. Dustin was a prisoner in a dungeon that was filled with monsters that could kill him. Fear turned a cold hand to his spine paralyzing him in his spot. His friends would surely know he was gone. They knew when Will was gone. He had to believe that they would come for him. With all these worst case scenarios running through his head, Dustin was starting to really panic. "No, no. You can't let fear run away with you. Will survived here. I'm resourceful. I'm intelligent. I've read all the issues of Crisis on Infinite Earths! This is totally like the Anti-Monitor's base on the moon of Qward!" The Upside Down was exactly like being in the Anti-Matter universe. The heroes had all traveled there in an attempt to end the ultimate villain. Dustin had to pull it together just like those heroes had done. Taking one step forward was like trying to move in a swimming pool. Walking in a swimming pool was a difficult prospect. The currents and the waves of the water were all pushing back on you. That's what Dustin was experiencing trying to make his way through the Upside Down. The resistance made him even more determined to wade through everything around him. His teeth clenched. Sweat poured from his brow. He was using all the strength he could muster to move forward. They all began to march through his mind. Each of the faces of his friends came to him in rapid succession. It almost felt like his life was flashing before his eyes. He couldn't be dying! He was just fighting back. The fighting back made The Upside Down very upset. It attacked Dustin the only way it knew how. He wasn't going to give up that easily. Up ahead was a light. Dustin could almost swear that he felt a breeze coming from it. He kept pushing one foot in front of the other with fists clenched moving ahead again. He could feel his path toward the light getting easier to take. He ground his teeth together in dogged determination. "Just one more step. Just one more." This was a mantra he told himself to keep from falling into the abyss. He was so close. He could feel the bonds breaking. That very next step had brought Dustin the relief he was anticipating. The light was so brilliant that it nearly blinded him. He shaded his eyes with his arms to keep himself protected. The light emerged like a wave engulfing him completely. He was there one minute, then gone the next. ~*~ Dustin was dumped off unceremoniously right in front of the Byers' house. He landed with a thud and a few choice words leaving his lips that would have made a sailor blush. His sudden return had not gone unnoticed by Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler who had been walking out of the Byers' house to get in the car. Nancy screamed his name and raced toward Dustin. "What happened? Where have you been?" Dustin let his best pal's sister help pull him up without any resistance. Jonathan had joined them by this time. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you… then again, maybe you would." Hawkins was a city where the weird was an everyday occurrence. Dustin was just glad to be safe again.   "I Am On A Curiosity Voyage, And I Need My Paddles To Travel." credit: james kriet 0 Comments

09/20/2021 03:15 PM  A Nightmare on Cherry Lane /intro A Nightmare on Cherry Lane   Wicket /1706817 It was all a nightmare come true. After all that they’d been through, to lose any member of the team just felt wrong. Sure, it was good that Suzie was in town now and staying with Dustin and his mom, but he couldn’t help but be convinced he’d just led his girlfriend right into a death trap. Dustin had laid in the bed a little bit longer than he should have. The group wanted to meet at Cherry Lane. Losing Lucas did something to Dustin that he’d never anticipated. Sure, he was normally one for jumping into the fray to fight all the bad guys, but losing Lucas meant that they were not as invincible as they thought they were. Kids weren’t supposed to get killed. Dustin turned over in his bed. He heard his mother outside his door taking Suzie to the garage. She had that extra bicycle in there that had actually been hers back in the old dark ages, the fifties or something like that. Suzie was so sweet and so good, she’d taken the piece of junk with no complaints. After Suzie had taken off on that old piece of junk, Dustin covered his head back up and delved deeper until the covers. He didn’t want to come out and face the world. “Dustin!” He heard his mother knocking at his door a few minutes later. “Can I come in for a minute sweetheart?” She asked with a softer voice. She knew how close her son was to Lucas. This was affecting him and she felt so helpless right now. He stayed under the blankets. “No. Go away.” His mop of curls were all disheveled and awry. It hurt too much for him to think right now. He pulled the blankets over his head closer. All the lights were off in his room and even his electronic action figures and models were dark. This was completely out of character for him. This was what happened when one lost one’s best friend at an early age. The door opened and Dustin’s mom came in anyway. “Dustin, I really want you to get out of this room, okay. You and your friends need one another. It’s not good to isolate yourself like this sweetheart.” She started to turn on his lights and straighten up the toys that were laying all strewn about. Her sweet boy was always so full of life and with a spark that inspired others. Now, he wasn’t smiling. He was sitting in the dark all broken. She sat at the foot of his bed. “Lucas was a good kid, Dustin. I know he was your best friend. I am so sorry that this happened.” His mom was whispering because she didn’t honestly know what to say. Dustin knew what his mom was trying to do. She was all that Dustin had in terms of parents. He knew that this wasn’t an easy job for her. He tried not to be too much of a bother, but right now, he didn’t know what to do. “There are dangerous things out there Mom. Lucas wasn’t supposed to die. Kids don’t die.” He stared at the underside of the galaxy pattern on the blankets. “I don’t want to die.” His mother’s heart was breaking. He was so deep in this depression and she had no idea how to bring him out of it. She did know how to do one thing and that was to be his Mom. She tugged at his blankets and met his lost gaze. “I don’t want you to die either Dustin. I want you to live. If you stay in here under these blankets, how are you going to do that? Lucas wouldn’t want you to stop living would he?” Dustin didn’t cover his head back up when his mom spoke to him. He listened to her intently. She could tell that his mind was processing her words and making sense of them. He had fought against the Demogorgon with the others. He stopped the MIndflayer with the others. Dustin and his friends could have died either time with any of those monsters but they didn’t. Lucas had lived. Something else had stopped him. Dustin slowly sat up in his bed and clung to his mother. Mrs. Henderson held her son for just a few moments while stroking those sweet curls. He was trembling like a child in her arms. A silent tear in her eye raced down her cheek. “Now can you get up and head out after your friends? Suzie already left.” Dustin clung just a little bit longer to his mother before he leaned back. He used the back of his hand to push away a tear that he didn’t want anyone to see. “Yeah…” His voice choked even on such a simple word. His lips pursed together and he nodded. Mrs. Henderson took that as her cue to get up off the bed to give Dustin a chance to get up on his own feet. His mom was right. He did need to get out of this house. ~*~ On Cherry Lane Dustin pulled up on his bicycle right next to Suzie. He wasn’t smiling like he normally did. It was obvious that when he stood there straddling his bike, the sparkle had gone out of his eyes. How were they supposed to go on without Lucas? That was something they’d all have to figure out on their own. Mike was already there talking about a plan of action. Dustin just couldn’t seem to get himself into a position to be angry. Right now, he was still consumed by grief. Being here was something that he needed to do, but after that…? He just listened not saying a word.   "I Am On A Curiosity Voyage, And I Need My Paddles To Travel." credit: james kriet 0 Comments

07/29/2021 11:47 PM  In the Air Tonight In the Air Tonight   Wicket /1706817 “YOU GOTTA SEE THIS GUYS!” Dustin Henderson was all excited as he rode over toward MIke’s house one his bike to meet the others. He practically hopped off his bike while it was still rolling as he pulled his backpack off his shoulder. He laid the bag on the ground and unzipped it. “It’s a perfect model of the Imperial Shuttle Tydirium!” He was beaming with all sorts of glee because he’d gotten every last detail correct. For such a devotee of all things Star Wars, he had not forgotten a thing. Mike was impressed when he saw the model in Dustin’s hand as he held it closer. Dustin was really good with technical things like that and building the best models. “That’s really cool! It looks like the one in Return of the Jedi! Does it fly?” He asked in a remotest hint of a dare and a defiant stare. “HA! Does it fly? OF COURSE IT FLIES!” Dustin sat the model on the ground soon reaching into his bag to pull out the controls. He ignited the engine. He felt like a proud papa when his baby bird started to rise from the ground. The model took a perfect flight all around the neighborhood. Dustin didn’t care who saw it. He kept flying. He knew from the responses of his friends that they were sufficiently impressed at what he’d done. He was starting to get a little too arrogant himself. That’s when the bottom all fell out. The model ended up getting a little too close to the trellis with what Mike’s mom called morning glories when Dustin tried to make a sharp left turn. The left wing got caught in the flowers and tangled really badly. Dustin kept trying to use his controls to maneuver out of the mess when all he did was tear the petals of the flowers even more, making a huge mess. Dustin’s string of expletives would have made a sailor blush. Later on when he tried to recall what had happened, Dustin remembered cursing far too many times than he cared to admit. . In the middle of his histrionics, Mike kept trying to calm him down. Dustin couldn’t calm down. He couldn’t even speak coherent sentences. It wasn’t until Mike volunteered to climb the trellis to get his model did Dustin finally start to settle down. It was like watching a horror movie in slow motion. Mike reached that last little way to get Dustin’s model when he missed. His fall left all of them in shock. Dustin barely remembered the sound of the scream leaving his own mouth when Mike was Earthbound. The sound of his friend landing on the ground kept him awake all night long. There was nothing that could ever compare to hearing the sound of a human bone breaking. Mike was hurt and he was badly hurt. They had to get Nancy. Nancy had every right to be p!ssed off and who could blame her. Dustin had seen the color completely leave Nancy’s face when she came out to see what shape Mike was in as a result of the fall. Dustin had to admit to himself that he didn’t like to see the sight of MIke’s bone sticking out from his leg, especially when this was all HIS fault. If he had been a lot less like a baby then Mike wouldn’t have felt the need to climb up and get his model. Dustin couldn’t even look at the damned thing when it lay there on the ground after Mike fell. Then came the hospital. Nancy looked so upset. Mike blamed her for not watching him, but it wasn’t really Nancy’s fault. Yeah, Dustin had his crush on Mike’s big sister, but the whole thing was really HIS fault. Mike was still protecting him even when he was in absolute agony. Silently he moved over to sit beside Nancy and hold her hand. She needed a friend and he did his best to be that for her. He knew she loved Mike like a good sister did. He loved Mike like a brother. He just sat there not saying a word because no words needed to be said. He felt guilty as hell. He had kept tossing and turning the entire night. He couldn't rest in good conscience knowing what he’d done. He went to school the next day looking like death warmed over. His guilt was eating at him. He rode to the school the next morning thinking about what had happened. He didn’t even know for sure what happened to his model. Right now, he didn’t really even care. He had just chained his bike to the bike rack when he pulled up his backpack over his right shoulder. He was about to head into the school when he heard a familiar voice. Dustin looked over to see Nancy standing there next to the station wagon. He narrowed his eyes and wrinkled his nose. “Something happened to Mike?” He stopped his forward progression toward the school when Nancy spoke to him. Mike’s broken leg was his fault, so the guilt made him incline toward walking toward Nancy right about now. “He’s not in the hospital?” Dustin asked curiously. His mind was already computing a few places where Mike might have gone, if he wasn’t in the hospital. He was already starting to take a few steps toward Nancy despite the fact that school was going to start in about 15 minutes.   "I Am On A Curiosity Voyage, And I Need My Paddles To Travel." credit: james kriet 0 Comments

07/12/2021 06:57 PM  Arcade Fire Post #2 Arcade Fire   Wicket /1706817 att: Max and Katrina Man, the arcade was crowded! The onslaught of crowds on a night like this in the arcade meant that this was the place to be. He really did love coming here. His mother even said he spent too much time here. He was so focused on his game screen, that he didn’t realize that there had been a collision behind him with Max and the other girl. He only looked away for a split second but that’s all it took. The big old asteroid came out of nowhere and wiped out hsi star cruiser. Dustin finished his last life on Space Fury and made mocking motions with his fingers at the taunting voice of the Alien Overlord that spoke to every player that came here to feed this machine a pocketful of quarters. He was fully facing Max when the collision between the girls happened. He swallowed hard when he heard the girls talking. The looks that Max was giving him made him start to worry what was happening. He made his way to the girls. Normally he had a group of guys and Eleven that he hung out with for the most part. Being around two other girls started to make him a slight bit nervous. He was trying to get better, but his last bold move around a girl bit him right square in the ass. He hadn’t forgotten any of it no matter how hard he’d tried. Dustin jumped a foot when the loud cracking sound filled the arcade. The squealing sounds of games immediately being shut off by the immediate loss of power tore through the arcade. He had made his way to Max and the other girl as people started to mill about in the arcade. Hey! Are you two alright? Talk about the irresistible force and the immovable object.” He muttered to himself. Something about this sudden power surge and loss of lights set off the alarm bells in his head. Max had something about this being just a regular power outage. Dustin shook his head. He didn’ t think anything about this was normal. “We need to get out of here.” He told them both. Back at the Space Fury game however, the console was starting to spark a few extra times with the wiring behind it. Tiny little electrical sparks in the rear of the console started to make the wiring glow. It was a light blue at first until it finally began to glow in intensity. The following explosion at the Space Fury game that he’d just been on mere moments prior put the fear of God in his eyes. He practically jumped out of his skin when that happened. It was a bit too close for call. He wasn’t about to leave anyone behind if he could help it. Dustin made sure the other girl was with them. He did a double take as he tried to lead them to the nearest exit. He had been worried about how to act around girls earlier, but right now they had to get the hell OUT of the arcade. “Something tells me this is gonna get worse before it gets better.” He started to pull on Max’s arm. She could beat him for it later. “LETS GO.” He insisted. The Space Fury game was near the back of the arcade. Others around were starting to move toward where the lights were not realizing the depth to which this emergency was about to run. Dustin was walking faster. He didn’t want to break out in a dead run however. Running in a moment like this would induce panic. Panic wouldn’t do anything but get someone hurt. Sticking behind when every nerve ending in your body was crying out for you to run wasn’t a good thing either. The body’s response to fight or flight was what kept the human race for as long as it had. He’d learned all about that in science and in health for the past two years in school. Dustin wasn’t exactly ready to face anything from the Upside Down right now. He wanted to just get the hell out of there. Just as they were getting toward the front of the arcade, the Gauntlet game he was playing earlier in the evening was starting to smoke and smoulder. This couldn’t be a coincidence. The game he was on and then the last game he played both had been hotspots for what was happening? Dustin swallowed hard as he finally had eyes on the door. There had been some bad things that happened here. Will had said that this wasn’t a good place. Dustin was starting to think that he was right.   "I Am On A Curiosity Voyage, And I Need My Paddles To Travel." credit: james kriet 0 Comments

07/12/2021 05:29 PM  One More Night (THC July Drabble) One More Night.   Wicket /1706817 Summers in Indiana weren’t supposed to be this hot. Dustin was sitting next to his mother in the car as they were heading off into the heart of the country. Even with the air conditioner set on arctic chill, his curls looked as though they were melting. “Are we there yet?” He asked. He kept his face in front of the blast of air that poured out of the air conditioner. He tried to imagine being on Hoth with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. He knew he wasn’t, but a boy could dream couldn’t he? “We’re getting there Dustin. I want you to have fun with your cousins alright? I heard that a bunch of your cousins are going to play a game of softball in the area that your Uncle Fred cleared up this spring. It’s in a nice cool area.” She desperately wanted her son to not be so stagnant as he could be at times. Oh Dustin had his friends that he spent time with in Hawkins, but all in all, she knew he needed exercise. Maybe next summer she’d send him to summer camp. “Softball with a bunch of cousins that are ten to fifteen years older than I am? SURE MOM.” Dustin’s voice bordered on the edge of sarcasm. It wasn't that he didn’t like his older cousins. They were a bunch of hippies and potheads that he had absolutely nothing in common with for the most part. It was amusing however when they were all high as kites and tried to set off fireworks. He and several of his younger cousins had bets as to whether or not the older ones would set one another on fire this year while setting off fireworks that they bought in a roadside stand on the way here. Up ahead as a turn off from the main road. The road ahead was a dirt road that stirred up a cloud of dust as rubber tires made contact with it. When his mom turned down the way, the cloud billowed up like it did hundreds of times before. Uncle Fred was his mom’s big brother and he had three kids. Two of three were older than he was while the third was just younger than he was. It was certainly closer than the older cousins that were all stoners with looks like they’d walked directly out of the Australian Outback. He had other cousins that were his age that made their way toward the front yard of Uncle Fred’s when they heard a car coming. It wasn’t like he was totally without anyone his age there. He had several cousins that were his age and even slightly younger. The kids were all first cousins even though the older ones tended to walk by and pat the younger ones on the head when they did. Dustin saw his cousin Jonathan walking toward them as they pulled in the rather large front yard there in the country that Uncle Fred had. He barely waited for his mom’s car to stop before he jumped out to meet the cousin closest his age and who was just as much a nerd as he was. “Jon! Dude! Glad you made it!” He had a look of relief on his face. He had his walkman and plenty of batteries not only in his pockets, but hidden in places in his mom’s car that would not explode from being in the sun too long. Jon was the oldest in their branch of the family with a younger sister and a younger brother that was a toddler. He was like Dustin with his love for all the nerdly goodness of this world. “Of course I was coming. Any chance to get to see you again I ‘m gonna take. Mom’s making hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill. She said she was making enough for you and your mom. Did she bring the potato salad?” Dustin laughed. “Did she bring the potato salad?” His mom exited the car now with a covered dish of potato salad that would feet the 101st Airborne Division. He leaned in closer to his cousin. “”Potato peelers are evil, Dude. I'm sure that the Jawas used them to torment C3PO in Star Wars.” He showed his fingertips to his cousin and how sore they looked. The boys laughed and walked together toward the smell of hamburgers and hot dogs. It wasn’t that Dustin didn’t like his family. Every year it was the same thing. They would all go out to Uncle Fred’s for a family reunion every Fourth of July. They’d roast alive in the sun during the day and freeze at night. He had to admit that chasing lightning bugs still had a certain appeal even though he was an official teenager now. He also loved impaling a marshmallow or six on a stick and watching the dying embers of coal from the hotdogs and hamburgers being grilled left behind. If you were lucky, you could catch a good fire to watch the fluffy goodness turn into a crispy brown shell that was enough to send your taste buds on a journey directly to heaven. Years later when Dustin would sit on the patio of his apartment in the big city with his girlfriend Suzie watching fireworks explode over the Ohio River leaving colorful reflections in the water, he would tell her about times like this particular day. He and Jonathan were inseparable. Jonathan was the only reason why Dustin even agreed to go to these family reunions over the years as he got older. His older cousins would all eventually have children that he’d get a chance to mentor and be around as he, himself, had gotten older. Time passes and memories of these glorious innocent days of Fourths of July from his past, fade into memory. Dustin realized later just how much that was the peak of his life. He had no idea how one day these memories of the heat, infected bug bites and sunburns were nothing but pure bliss. Dustin Henderson loved the Fourth of July. He would always love the Fourth of July. So many of those family members in the past that went to those picnics were gone now. There was nothing more precious than a memory that one held of their loved ones when that’s all you had left. For that reason, the Fourth always was a good memory for Dustin. When it was just him and Suzie later in life, he made sure they had good and memorable times of their own. Old memories remained but new memories were always ready to be made. He wouldn’t let any of it die.   "I Am On A Curiosity Voyage, And I Need My Paddles To Travel." credit: james kriet 0 Comments

07/12/2021 05:29 PM  One More Night (THC July Drabble) One More Night.   Wicket /1706817 mentions Dark Crystal Summers in Indiana weren’t supposed to be this hot. Dustin was sitting next to his mother in the car as they were heading off into the heart of the country. Even with the air conditioner set on arctic chill, his curls looked as though they were melting. “Are we there yet?” He asked. He kept his face in front of the blast of air that poured out of the air conditioner. He tried to imagine being on Hoth with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. He knew he wasn’t, but a boy could dream couldn’t he? “We’re getting there Dustin. I want you to have fun with your cousins alright? I heard that a bunch of your cousins are going to play a game of softball in the area that your Uncle Fred cleared up this spring. It’s in a nice cool area.” She desperately wanted her son to not be so stagnant as he could be at times. Oh Dustin had his friends that he spent time with in Hawkins, but all in all, she knew he needed exercise. Maybe next summer she’d send him to summer camp. “Softball with a bunch of cousins that are ten to fifteen years older than I am? SURE MOM.” Dustin’s voice bordered on the edge of sarcasm. It wasn't that he didn’t like his older cousins. They were a bunch of hippies and potheads that he had absolutely nothing in common with for the most part. It was amusing however when they were all high as kites and tried to set off fireworks. He and several of his younger cousins had bets as to whether or not the older ones would set one another on fire this year while setting off fireworks that they bought in a roadside stand on the way here. Up ahead as a turn off from the main road. The road ahead was a dirt road that stirred up a cloud of dust as rubber tires made contact with it. When his mom turned down the way, the cloud billowed up like it did hundreds of times before. Uncle Fred was his mom’s big brother and he had three kids. Two of three were older than he was while the third was just younger than he was. It was certainly closer than the older cousins that were all stoners with looks like they’d walked directly out of the Australian Outback. He had other cousins that were his age that made their way toward the front yard of Uncle Fred’s when they heard a car coming. It wasn’t like he was totally without anyone his age there. He had several cousins that were his age and even slightly younger. The kids were all first cousins even though the older ones tended to walk by and pat the younger ones on the head when they did. Dustin saw his cousin Jonathan walking toward them as they pulled in the rather large front yard there in the country that Uncle Fred had. He barely waited for his mom’s car to stop before he jumped out to meet the cousin closest his age and who was just as much a nerd as he was. “Jon! Dude! Glad you made it!” He had a look of relief on his face. He had his walkman and plenty of batteries not only in his pockets, but hidden in places in his mom’s car that would not explode from being in the sun too long. Jon was the oldest in their branch of the family with a younger sister and a younger brother that was a toddler. He was like Dustin with his love for all the nerdly goodness of this world. “Of course I was coming. Any chance to get to see you again I ‘m gonna take. Mom’s making hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill. She said she was making enough for you and your mom. Did she bring the potato salad?” Dustin laughed. “Did she bring the potato salad?” His mom exited the car now with a covered dish of potato salad that would feet the 101st Airborne Division. He leaned in closer to his cousin. “”Potato peelers are evil, Dude. I'm sure that the Jawas used them to torment C3PO in Star Wars.” He showed his fingertips to his cousin and how sore they looked. The boys laughed and walked together toward the smell of hamburgers and hot dogs. It wasn’t that Dustin didn’t like his family. Every year it was the same thing. They would all go out to Uncle Fred’s for a family reunion every Fourth of July. They’d roast alive in the sun during the day and freeze at night. He had to admit that chasing lightning bugs still had a certain appeal even though he was an official teenager now. He also loved impaling a marshmallow or six on a stick and watching the dying embers of coal from the hotdogs and hamburgers being grilled left behind. If you were lucky, you could catch a good fire to watch the fluffy goodness turn into a crispy brown shell that was enough to send your taste buds on a journey directly to heaven. Years later when Dustin would sit on the patio of his apartment in the big city with his girlfriend Suzie watching fireworks explode over the Ohio River leaving colorful reflections in the water, he would tell her about times like this particular day. He and Jonathan were inseparable. Jonathan was the only reason why Dustin even agreed to go to these family reunions over the years as he got older. His older cousins would all eventually have children that he’d get a chance to mentor and be around as he, himself, had gotten older. Time passes and memories of these glorious innocent days of Fourths of July from his past, fade into memory. Dustin realized later just how much that was the peak of his life. He had no idea how one day these memories of the heat, infected bug bites and sunburns were nothing but pure bliss. Dustin Henderson loved the Fourth of July. He would always love the Fourth of July. So many of those family members in the past that went to those picnics were gone now. There was nothing more precious than a memory that one held of their loved ones when that’s all you had left. For that reason, the Fourth always was a good memory for Dustin. When it was just him and Suzie later in life, he made sure they had good and memorable times of their own. Old memories remained but new memories were always ready to be made. He wouldn’t let any of it die.   "I Am On A Curiosity Voyage, And I Need My Paddles To Travel." credit: james kriet 0 Comments

06/21/2021 11:58 PM  June Drabble THC Happy Father's Day   Wicket /1706817 Bleary optics slowly peeled open. The tangled mass of curls were matted with the blissful slumber of a night slept like a baby. Laying in his bed with his blankets up around his chin, Dustin Henderson had a few thoughts break though his waking mind. It was Sunday again. Not just any Sunday. It was Father’s Day. Big Deal. It was just another day to the boy who had enough problems all on his own. He managed to toss aside the blanket and push himself to a sitting position. A yawn erupted from the chasm of his very soul. Father’s Day meant more to other people, but not to Dustin. How could you appreciate something that you never had? He was wearing his favorite pair of Star Wars pajamas as he padded barefoot into the bathroom. He mumbled a few unintelligible words as he shuffled along on his predestined path. His mom was in the kitchen making breakfast. He could smell the bacon and eggs. Every year, she felt like she had to overcompensate for what he didn’t remember having in the first place. “Dustin? Your breakfast is almost done! Don’t let it get cold!” She called to him in a sing-song voice that really felt like the back end of a brillo pad. “”Yeah Mom. Okay.” He turned his head to the side to allow his voice to go swiftly down the hallway toward the kitchen. He was only 14 years old, but he knew the acoustics of sound and how it traveled. Being a genius was just his burden to bear. He reached for a washcloth and began the sullen task of washing his face so he could actually be more fully awake on this particular day of days. It meant something to his mother. It just simply didn’t to him. Mrs. Henderson was a rotund woman who had a big heart. She adored Dustin with all that she had. She hated that she couldn’t give him all the things in life that he deserved. All the books she’d read over the years told her that she was doing a good job. She thought she was too since the boy was never in any sort of trouble. She was just a single mom and felt like she had to make up for everything he missed including a father. The last crackling of the bacon struck her instincts as a cook. She had grabbed her paper towel covered plate. She used the spatula in her right hand to lay the meat on the towel to drain out all the grease. “Dustin!” She called out to her son again. The thought had once occurred to her that Dustin needed a positive male role model. The dating scene however didn’t really appeal to her. The unknown aspect of it all was enough to aggravate her ulcer. She wasn’t about to do it. Dustin was her top priority. Dustin was where all her devotion was focused. She moved to the refrigerator to pull out her carton of orange juice. She started to pour it into a clean glass. By now Dustin was finally in the kitchen. “Good morning, Sleepyhead. Got a big day planned for today?” She asked her son as she sat the glass on the table in front of where her son was sitting. She started to plate up his breakfast in a happy manner emanating her desire for how this day would go for them. “Probably Mom. I just woke up so I don’t know.” He mumbled. Dustin reached for the juice to tip it back into his parched gullet. The refreshing liquid laced with Vitamin C gave him a rush of energy that he needed. He sat it down just as his mom sat the plate in front of him. He may have just been a kid, but he could sense the same thing every year. The elephant in the room every Father’s Day was the fact that he didn’t have one. “Mom, can you sit down for a second please?” He decided it was time to address the situation once and for all. Mrs. Henderson knew she was overcompensating. She listened to Dustin and his request to sit. “Okay sweetheart. Is everything okay? The bacon isn’t too hot is it?” She was the textbook definition of a mother hen. “No. The bacon is fine. The eggs are fine. Everything is fine. And so am I.” He inhaled sharply before letting it out again. “You do this every year for as long as I can remember. It was fine when I was six, but I’m not six anymore. “ They said the eyes were the windows of the soul. Right now, his mom’s eyes told him everything. “I don’t remember Dad. I don’t blame him or you for what happened. No one planned on him getting sick.” Dustin knew what happened to his father. It was something that he’d been fully aware of all his life. His father had contracted pancreatic cancer and died when Dustin was an infant. His dad was originally from Ohio and lived near a nuclear reactor that existed in a place called Fernald. It was something that he couldn’t change and neither could his mother. Mrs. Henderson’s eyes began to cloud over with tears. “I’m sorry baby.” She reached to caress the disheveled brown curls of her son. “You know you’re just as smart as he was. Most brilliant man I ever knew.” Tears left her eyes racing down her cheeks and splashing on her shirt. “I know Mom. It’s okay. We can let him go this year okay? It’s been fourteen years. I turned out okay. I’m absolutely adorable and everybody loves me.” He grinned trying to ease the tension with a gentle smile. His grin was notoriously infectious and he knew it. “So let’s just tell Dad goodbye this year okay?” Mrs. Henderson pursed her lips and nodded through the tears. “Alright baby.” She managed to say. She began to breathe with measured breaths. She was trying to keep herself from losing all her self control. She pulled Dustin close to her heart and hugged him closely. He held onto his mom. He knew this was hard for her. He’d also known just how much he looked like his father. Pictures told a lot. He had no recollection of his father, but that didn’t turn off his feelings for how hard this was for his mother. He returned his mother’s embrace and whispered a few words in her ear. “Happy Father’s Day, Mom.”   "I Am On A Curiosity Voyage, And I Need My Paddles To Travel." credit: james kriet 0 Comments

06/17/2021 05:13 PM  Arcade Fire Entry post Arcade Fire   Wicket /1706817 Dustin usually liked going to the Arcade. He liked to travel the games and make sure his name was still on the top scores on each of the boards of his favorite games. Nobody could knock those Asteroids out of the sky like he could or clear off the boards in Pac-Man like he could and he knew it. He came this time with Mike and the other guys to the Arcade like they usually did. He’d gotten separated from Mike and went wandering off in another direction. The newest game was something called Gauntlet and it had four joysticks on the cabinet. It was drawing him in like nothing else could. Taking the joystick for the elf, he plugged in his quarters and started in on the fun. It was a dungeon game not unlike D&D but this time with graphics and a screen to go with it. “OH YEAH! Look at me go baby!” He laughed as he completely got into this new game. What was better to a video game junkie than a new game? Nothing if you had to tell the truth. Dustin’s attention focused so completely on the game that he didn’t really even notice anyone else around him. His palms were sweaty as he moved the joystick and kept slamming the button. Waves after waves kept coming after him and he kept putting them down while taking minimal damage. He was so giddy in the moment that he didn’t catch himself momentarily distracted by the fact that Max had walked into the section of the arcade where he was. That was when he took a fatal hit to his elf and turned into a pile of bones. “DAMMIT!” He shouted and slammed the free space in between the Elf’s control stick and the action buttons. He stuffed his hands back into his pockets and started to walk away from the cabinet. Dustin’s thoughts drifted back to when Will told them about the MIndFlayer being here around the Arcade. He was glad that Will was safe, but there was still something that pecked at the back of his brain when it came to the MindFlayer. What was so important about the Arcade that would bring a monster here? Dustin thought of himself as a more scientific member of the group even if it did mean that he got saddled with the moniker of nerd a bit too often. The boy adjusted his cap amidst his curls and continued on his walk through the arcade. Passing Max again, he saw her standing at the Pac-Man game with her quarters at the ready. He smirked to himself. As good as she was, he was better. He had more experience especially with this particular game where it stood in the arcade itself. He didn’t think anyone could beat him. He was starting to change his mind however as he was watching her clean off board after board. The sound of the musical interlude between certain levels of the game was something that Dustin had memorized. She’s gonna do it! He whispered to himself. There was a hint of the green eyed monster in his thoughts, but there was some admiration for her too. If anyone could do it, it was Mad Max. He let out an amused chuckle as he walked toward her. He stopped short however, feeling his nerves start to churn. This was Max he was talking about here. She was a girl that he thought was actually pretty terrific. What would she want with a little nerd like him? He turned his path toward another section of the Arcade. He was hiding beside the Space Fury game console. It was one of those games that talked to the opponents in order to entice them to levels of greatness. It wasn’t too unlike Asteroids in that it was a simple space shoot 'em up game. There was this one-eyed Alien Commander that egged you on to get you to lose your cool. This game was one of Dustin’s favorites too, but given how rattled he was by Max being here, he didn’t need to have the Alien Commander p/issing him off any further. “Does anyone dare challenge my Imperial Fleet?” The words of the Alien Commander made Dustin grimace as he tried to remain inconspicuous. Games that talked to you were a novel concept. Only a handful actually did it. It was definitely different than just the loud crashes and explosions that one heard when one was playing games like Asteroids. The sounds of the battle to show what game play was like to the uninitiated made Dustin raise his head up from his feeble attempt to hide by the game itself. What was he going to do? Was he just going to cower in the corner like a scared child? Nah, that wasn’t him. He couldn’t do that. He pulled another quarter out of his pocket. What the hell? This was an arcade right? He could try to go to Mike’s house to see if he took Lucas and Will there, but he thought better of it. If the MindFlayer was really here, then maybe he needed to get a better look at it himself. He plugged the quarter into the cabinet and waited for the words to come. “So! A creature for my amusement! Prepare for Battle!” Dustin curled his lip in preparation to face off in this battle. “You think you can scare me? HA! Bring it on you bug eyed creep!” He spoke to not one in particular. He was always one to get deeply into any game he played, shutting out the world around him. He also was very vocal when he played, so anyone in the arcade could hear him getting all excited about Space Fury again. It was who he was and what he did. One of these days however, he was going to make a video game that would knock all this stuff out of the water. As much as he loved the games, who else would be a better candidate than him? From all corners of the Arcade, everyone there would be able to tell that Dustin was at it again. Some shook their heads and continued about what they did best while they were there. He was too focused to really care   "I Am On A Curiosity Voyage, And I Need My Paddles To Travel." credit: james kriet 0 Comments

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