Confusing Earth - Chapter 19: Flame
Links to earlier chapters below this chapter!
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Chapter 19: Flame
Nathan, Maree and Liam arrived at the shops. Nathan grabbed Liam out of the car and carried him into the shops with Maree walking alongside. Nathan grabbed Maree’s hand. She pulled away from him.
“I’m middle aged” protested Maree, “You don’t need to hold my hand. I’m not a child.” She put her hands on her hips and stared at Nathan.
“Pretty childish response for someone who isn’t one” said Nathan, “Anyway, you are not used to living here so I was just trying to take care of you.”
Maree looked at Nathan for a moment then said, “Okay sorry, but I’m alright if you want to just have to hold Liam without worrying about me.”
“Okay” said Nathan, but he thought, ‘I think I’m the one that needs to be worried about. I’m having a talk with a space creature. I must be out of my mind’.
Walking through the shops, they went up to a supermarket and Nathan grabbed a trolley. He sat Liam in the seat in the front of the trolley and strapped him in. He continued to walk pushing Liam in the trolley. Liam looked down at the straps holding him in and thought, “great. I’ve gone from being a strapping businessman to being strapped into things by other people.” Nathan saw Liam looking down at the straps indignantly and said, “Don’t worry Liam. It won’t be for long. It’s just to stop you from falling out while we are at the shops.” Liam let out an audible sigh.
“I know” responded Nathan, “You shouldn’t be in the position you are unable to keep yourself up in the first place. But just think, you are free of the corruption from where you are from and you are helping your planet get resources to keep people alive. You are a hero – even in a nappy.” Liam let out a little smile.
They went through to a chemist and they left the chemist with cold tablets, cough medicine, nasal sprays, vitamin C tablets and horseradish pills.
“Just about bought the whole shop” said Maree as they continued through the shopping centre.
“We need to try everything to fix her” said Nathan, “We can’t have her changing all the time.”
They headed back to the car.
Jack looked at the shop across the road from where he was leaning on his crutches. Behind the clear transparent barrier you could see through into the shop, he could see confectionery nutrition.
“Food” sighed Jack longingly. His dog next to him howled in agreement.
“We’re going to need to find a way to take it” said Jack.
“Woof” was the reply. Jack felt faint and a little bit sick. He had not eaten for three days. He had decided to find his family and deserted the house in doing so. He could have returned to the house at the end of each days search but he didn’t want to be a device controlled by the organisation anymore. Part of stopping being a device was to stop any relationship with the organisation – including use of and checking the portal and being in the house provided by them. It gave him a weird feeling being there. So there he was living on the street, looking for his family and starving as he tried to work out how to survive since he left his money behind also. He looked at the shop, imagining the confectionery nutrition gently caressing his tastebuds, tempting him to eat more and more. But alas, it was only imagination. The only thing caressing his tastebuds was the taste of stale air and some fur obtained by accident when sleeping with his dog. He felt he would die without nutrition from some other source than his dog and air. He was probably right. Then he saw it. A weapon on the ground. It looked similar to ray guns used by law enforcers on Banbazoia. It was small and seemed kind of cheap but it was a weapon all the same. He picked it up.
‘I could threaten the person in the shop with this so they give me the confectionery nutrition’ he thought, ‘I wouldn’t want to actually shoot it but they don’t know that’. Jack patted his dog on the head.
“I’m going to get us some food” he said. He crutched his way into the shop. He went up to the teenage boy at the register and pointed the weapon at him.
“Give me all the confectionery nutrition in the front of this store or I’ll shoot you” said Jack.
The boy looked at him for a moment then said, “Sir that’s a water pistol.”
“Ha!” said Jack, “I bet you’re scared now. It’ll cause a massive wave of the water element that will drown you and kill you unless you give me the confectionery nutrition.”
“No” said the boy, “It will shoot a small bit of water onto me.”
“I’ve had enough of this” said Jack, “You asked for it.” He squirted the water pistol. A tiny stream of water squirted onto the boy’s shirt.
“Oh” said Jack, feeling disappointed, “Well, ha, because you didn’t do what I said, your shirt got wet.” Jack’s stomach rumbled. The boy looked at this man, threatening him with a water pistol and weak and clearly starving.
‘Should I call the police or a mental hospital or just give him a hand?’ he thought.
Jack started to leak through his eyes.
“I’m so hungry” he sobbed, “And I’ve lost my family. And my boss is pure evil. Well my ex-boss. I just want a normal life. I want my family back.” He continued to leak.
The boy looked at this man, who was crying in his shop and clearly delusional given he threatened him with a water pistol.
‘He is obviously an addict’ he thought, ‘and that’s why he has lost everything’. The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out some money. He put the money in the cash register. He then grabbed some chocolate from behind the counter and put it on the counter.
“This is yours” he said, “I am giving it to you. It’s yours.” Jack looked at the confectionery nutrition and at the boy.
“Thank you” he said, leakages emerging anew in his eyes.
“That’s okay” said the boy, “Just remember though, you can get help. Someone can help you break the cycle.” Jack looked at the boy.
“You’re right” he said, “Others can help break this cycle. I just need to find them first. Thank you.”
Jack left the store and his dog was sitting out the front. Jack crossed the road back to the place with the children’s leisure equipment and then to his personal tree he and his dog had been living under.
Nathan, Liam and Maree returned to Nathan’s house to a scene of chaos. Max was running around in a clear panic with a heap of wet facecloths in his arms. He saw them in the doorway but ignored them and just ran into the lounge room. Nathan, Liam and Maree entered the lounge room to see Bella lying on the floor moaning. “What’s going on?” asked Nathan.
“She’s having an infantile being” answered Max quickly.
“What?!” exclaimed Nathan, “You haven’t even been here long enough.”
“Not a human one” said Max, “It turns out her Banbazoidian form was ready to have one but she didn’t know and it’s been on hold all this time she has been in human form.”
“So we have to get her back to normal?” said Nathan.
“I think it may be too late” said Max, “The real worry is with her constantly changing like this that something may go wrong. Because she is not one form or another it might just stop it all together midway or it might end up stuck in a bad place in her human form or any number of issues. It is a real uncertainty.”
Nathan looked at Bella in pain and thought of the fact a baby made like this probably wouldn’t be in human form and looked at this worried alien family around him and he felt faint.
He just sighed and said, “Looks like we’ll have to work this out. It will be okay Bella. Just relax.”
Then he muttered to himself “Out of the frying pan and into a massive flame”.
PREVIOUS CHAPTERS
Chapter 18: Second: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-18-second
Chapter 17: Glasses: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-17-glasses
Chapter 16: Spider: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-16-spider
Chapter 15: Sister: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-15-sister
Chapter 14: Sprinkle: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-14-sprinkle
Chapter 13: Jam: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-13-jam
Chapter 12: Rite: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-12-rite
Chapter 11: Lovely: https://steemit.com/writing/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-11-lovely
Chapter 10: Currant: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-10-currant
Chapter 9: Reliable: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-9-reliable
Chapter 8: Caressing: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-8-caressing
Chapter 7: Shades: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-7-shades
Chapter 6: Wonder: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-6-wonder
Chapter 5: Stepping: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-5-stepping
Chapter 4: Stench: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-4-stench
Chapter 3: Value: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-3-value
Chapter 2: Launch: https://steemit.com/fiction/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-2-launch
Chapter 1: Splash : https://steemit.com/writing/@birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-1-splash
LINKS
Birchmark Website: http://birchmark.com.au/
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