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Hey, Dude! Part One
All stories on this web site are purely FICTIONAL. The people depicted within these stories only exist in someone's IMAGINATION. Any resemblence between anyone depicted in these stories and any real person, living or dead, is an incredible COINCIDENCE too bizarre to be believed. If you think that you or someone you know is depicted in one of these stories it's only because you're a twisted perverted little fucker who sees conspiracies and plots where none exist. You probably suspect that your own MOTHER had sex with ALIENS and COWS and stuff. Well, she didn't. It's all in your head. Now take your tranquilizers and RELAX.
Hey, Dude!
part 1
(for: gavroche)
Ronald Frank caught sight of the three kids running toward him in the
mall, but then he was distracted by a shop window with several dozen
cool shoes. A high call from one of them returned his attention, and
then they were twenty feet from him, three boys of maybe junior high
school age, running crazily through the crowd and laughing and shouting
to each other. Ronny paused in front of the Wherehouse outlet, trying to
place the thump of the dance tune playing loudly within.
Then, there was a strange fluttering noise followed by a 'FFRTHRUMP'
and a muffled shriek... and next thing he knew he was watching the
vaulted glass and structural beams of the mall roof glide silently past
him. He could not hear anything, and the floor seemed oddly soft. He was
very, very tired, but... if he went to sleep.. would he be home in time
for dinner? and Mom would really be pissed....
The ceiling was different all of a sudden. Now it was low and light
grey, though the floor under him was still soft like a bed. He tried to
shake his head to clear it, but something was holding him down, and his
neck hurt like a son of a bitch. Oh Jesus Sweet Christ... what time is
it? Mom's gonna have a fit..... "Well, young man.. awake at last?"
A strange man's voice spoke to him from somewhere outside his rather
vertical line of vision. "Sure I'm awake, what's going on, where...."
But all that came out was a really scary croak, like the noise the
assistant demon would make in the bad sci-fi pictures he loved to rent.
"Just give it some time, Ronald, it'll come back slowly."
He, with supreme effort, turned his head over about ten degrees and
located the voice. A man he'd never seen was standing over him, by his
bed. But, but, it wasn't his bed, this wasn't his house... panic rose
like a whirlwind. The man came at him! Ron tried to get away, but he
couldn't move, he couldn't talk, he was gonna cry, oh, no....
"Ronald!" the man sort of barked at him.
"Hhhhu.." he gasped.
"Do you know where you are?"
"Ssscared...."
"Don't be scared, son.. do you remember anything?"
"Mom."
"You remember your mom, Ronald?"
"Yeh. Wher' she...?" He was starting to get the hang of talking with
this tube up his nose...
"She's gone home for the evening, but we'll call her in just a sec,
kiddo. You're in a hospital. Do you remember getting here?"
A HOSPITAL.... A HOSPITAL... What am I doing in a hospital, where'd
the mall go, where are those kids.... Ron stared at the man, completely
stunned for the first time in his life. "Whhhaaatt, what, wh..." Tears
began in his eyes. Sixteen-year-old boys were expressly forbidden to
cry in public, but he had forgotten that. Along with a number of other
things, it seemed.
"Someone ran into you at the mall last weekend, and when you fell you
cracked your noggin a good one on the sidewalk. You've been sleeping
since you were brought here. I'm Doctor Martin, I'm a neurologist that
Dr. Penzsman called in. You remember any of the last four days?"
FOUR DAYS! FOUR DAYS!! NO FUCKIN' WAY, DUUDE!!!! "I remember the
kids." he whispered. "They were running, then there was this noise, then
I could see the roof of the mall, and now I'm here." He was really
trying not to cry, but Ronald needed his Mom more than any boy on the
planet just then, and she wasn't there, and he was utterly terrified.
"The Oscar boy ran into you and knocked you backwards. Like I said,
you bumped it pretty hard on the way down. I'm going in to phone your
parents, be right back."
"Whh.... what time is.."
Dr. Martin checked his watch. "It's two-thirty AM, kiddo."
"Well, she's sleeping." he whispered, still completely disconnected
from the present reality. "Don't wake 'em.."
"Ronald, if I waited till later to call them, your Mother'd have my ass
and my license, in that order. I'll be right back."
He tried to think, tried to feel where four days had gone. But there
was nothing, no sense of time, nothing at all, between then and now.
"Fucking *weird* shit, man.." he thought to himself.
"Ronnie, honey, you awake...?"
Mom was always bugging him to get up. "Sure, Mom, I'm fine, except
it's two-thirty or something." Relief flooded him.
"Um, no, dear, it's nearly four, you must have dozed off again. You
feel alright, Darling?"
"Mommy, is he talking?" Darcie was here, too, but Ron couldn't see
her. "Sure he is." said Dad's voice."Hi, Squeeks, what's up..?" Dad was
here; but he hadn't called him 'Squeeks' in more than five years. Darcie
sniveled and buried her face in Mom's dress.
"Nothin', Dad. This is real weird.. I lost four days.." They were
standing around the bed. The familiar faces seemed to give him strength.
It was starting to make some sense now. The running kids had knocked him
down, and he had hit his head. Okay, I can deal with this. "Good
morning, again, young man." Dr. Martin was here, too. "Let's sit you up
and see how you're doing.......
So it went for the next day, into the evening. They cut him loose,
drew out the tubes, fed him some soup. Mom and Dad stayed around, and
then Dr. Martin asked him if he wanted to try walking. They helped him
out of the high hospital bed, and after a wobbly start, he managed to
make it to the bathroom on his own. He had been pissing in a tube for
five days, and it was a relief not to have to be helped. "I wanna go
home, Doc. I need to get home" he said, after his folks left to get
some rest.
"I think tomorrow afternoon, we'll let you out of here. How's your
focus?" Ronald glanced over at the books on the table. After a moment,
they pulled in sharp. "Better, Doc, it only takes a sec, now."
"Alright, kiddo, I've other patients. You get back in the sack and get
some more sleep, and we'll start processing you tomorrow. Cool?"
"Way Cool!" That was the little game they had been playing all day;
'Cool?/WayCool!'.. Doc wasn't such a bad dude. Ron climbed up into bed,
and was overwhelmed by dizziness for a moment. He stayed on his hands
and knees till it passed, then rolled the blanket over him and slept. He
even dreamed, this time.
He had been awake for some while, and it was about ten thirty on
Friday morning. Dr. Martin walked in with some papers. "How do you feel
for some visitors, kiddo, Cool?"
"Sure, Doc, fine, you know that."
Dr. Martin sat on the edge of the bed and gave him a grave look.
"Ronald, the boy who accidentally ran into you is here with his parents.
You okay with that?"
"Well, um, sure, Doc, he didn't mean to...."
"They're absolutely scared shitless, Ron, especially the boy. Be real
nice and gentle to them, this isn't easy. You sure you want to see
them?"
"Yeah, no problem, Doc. He didn't mean it."
"Okay, Ron. The boy's name is Geoff Oscar. He's twelve and very, very
nervous. Be patient with him. Cool?"
"Way Cool!"
They must have been right outside. A couple and a kid walked in. Ron
stared at the boy. For a minute, he thought it was the kid on Home
Improvement, Jonathan what's-his-name. He had the same hair, cut the
same way, the same dimples, the same eyes... God, his eyes were cute.
Ronald was suddenly very aware of how long it had been since he had
beaten off.... five days: a record!
They shuffled up to him. No one was smiling, so Ronny did his best. He
stuck out his hand to the man. "Hi, I'm Ronny Frank."
The man took it. "I'm Greg." he said. "Greg Oscar. This is my wife
Carla and our son Geoffrey." ("Who did this to you..." Ron could hear
them thinking.)
"Hi, Geoff!" He said as warmly as he could. Greg pushed the cowering
youngster closer to the bed. The boy's hands were twisted together and
his thin shoulders hunched up. A stray lock of golden brown hair skewed
out from underneath the strap of his baseball cap. He met Ron's gaze for
a second and then went back to staring at the floor.
"Geoffrey, say hello to Ronald.." said his Mom.
".....hi..."
"Geoff, dude, I'm okay, okay? I'm goin' home this afternoon, I'm goin'
back to school Monday. You didn't mean it...."
The boy's marvelous clear hazel eyes raised to his for another moment.
His chin quivered, his teeth chattered for an instant and then he tried
to speak.
"I... I'm so, so sorry, I'm so sorry, I....awwwww..." He went to his
knees beside Ron's bed and started to bawl. Both parents bent down to
pick him up, still crying piteously. ".....s-s-s-sorry, s-sorry,..." he
whimpered.
Ron reached over and got the kid's sleeve in his hand. "Hey, Geoff?"
"....hik! y-yeahhh...?"
"Geoff, you wanna be friends?"
"I dunno."
"You think I hate you?"
"I dunno."
"You don't gotta apologize, Geoff, you didn't mean to, didja?"
"If Geoffrey hadn't been running in a crowded mall, none of this would
be happening!"
Geoff responded to his mother's unnecessary observation by starting to
cry all over again. Ron knew how to handle parents. "Um, Mr. and Mrs.
Oscar, could I talk to Geoff for a minute?"
"Of course Ronald."
"Um, like, private, for a minute..?." The man and woman looked at each
other. "Sure." the father said. Then it was just the two boys.
"Dude, yer takin' this way too hard, it's just an accident, and I'm
okay, now, I'm fine. I really am! We can be friends, maybe, cool?"
"I'm twelve..." whispered Geoff, shaking his head.
"I'm sixteen and a quarter." said Ron.
"How can we... how can we be friends? I'm a kid..."
"Dude, chill, okay? I kinda like you."
"You don't even know me, I could be a complete dork!"
"Naw, I can tell. If you want, we could be friends. It's up to you."
Ron had Geoff's interest. The boy looked puzzled. "What would we do?"
"Well, I could take you places in my car."
"You gotta car?"
"It's my Dad's, but I can use it. We could trade cool games.. what
kind of computer you got?...."
And so it went. Fifteen minutes later, when Geoff's parents came back
in to collect him, the two kids were chatting like they had grown up
together. Geoff didn't want to leave. "Mom, five more minutes, pleeeease"
he whined.
"No, Geoff, Ronald has to get ready to go to his house. You can maybe
talk to him later. Say goodbye, now."
"Um, Ron? I gotta go. You sure I can call you? I wanna see your
computer and your R.C. racers."
"Call me Saturday, Geoff, okay? Nice meeting you, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar.
I know it was just an accident, no one's to blame."
They said goodbye and turned to go. Just as they left and the door was
closing, Mr. Oscar said something sharply to Geoff and his mother
slapped him, really hard, across the face. Shocked, Ron heard the boy
wail and begin to sob loudly. Then the door shut tight. The persistent
image and the remembrance of what had happened in the hall completely
doused the exquisitely hard boner he'd popped beneath the blanket, just
from being near to so adorable a boy as Geoff. "I gotta help that kid.."
thought Ron. "They're bein' mean to him, and it wasn't his fault. I gotta
help him...."
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