Tuesday 7 January 2014

Social Fiction Project


Hindsight

          “Get down!” Sean hissed at his brother. Gesturing towards the hostile silhouettes entering the door. The young boy dropped almost instantly, hitting the hay covered floor almost soundlessly. 
          “Come out, I know you’re in there!” The man in the blue uniform stomped through the barn aimlessly, aggravated like yellow jacket whose nest had been knocked from its place by a well-aimed marble. The only difference was there was no slingshot, only a strange remote control. And instead of a marble, the weapon in question was a 12-foot tall orange and white robot.
          Earlier that day, the Sean and Tony Bodner had stumbled upon an old, seemingly abandoned barn down the road from their home. As two young boys, the discovery of this mysterious building caused their curiosity to reach past the contentment of seeing the outside. The old shack screamed for their attention and begged for exploration. Naturally, the brothers obliged. 
          “This is so cool!” the ecstatic Tony gawked. “Can we go in?” 
          Sean looked around, unsure, yet his curiosity and thirst for adventure outweighed the timid voice of caution in his head. He gnawed the inside of his cheek, contemplating the situation as his younger brother eagerly awaited his reply. 
          “Alright, lets do it,” he decided, “but we need to be quick and sneaky. Okay?”
          “Yeah!” Tony blurted, and without missing a beat took off towards the rickety door. Sean caught the back of his shirt before he could get to close.
          “Wait!” The older boy ordered. “We can’t just run yelling, or we’ll get caught! Like I said, be sneaky.” With a nod of understanding between the pair, they treaded carefully towards the side door of the barn. Upon grasping the knob, they quickly realized it was locked; sneaking in would not be quite as simple as they had presumed. However, the inquisitiveness of young boys cannot simply be extinguished by a mere locked door.
          “It’s locked,” thought Tony. “Nobody locks doors out here.” A slight look of downcast confusion crossed his face, but quickly disappeared as he came upon a realization. His though was interrupted by his brother’s voice, who had come to the same conclusion.
          “That’s right, nobody locks their doors,” Sean continued, “because nobody has anything they need to hide. But the guy who used to live here… He must’a been rich!”
          “Or maybe he was a spy!” Tony interjected.
          “Or he had a private jet! But either way, there’s something in here that he wanted to keep really safe,” Sean concluded with a twinkle of excitement in his eye, “And we’re gonna go find it!” Abandoning the side door and any sense of caution they previously had, the boys searched the perimeter of the barn, quickly finding an old broken window. The brothers exchanged a look that confirmed that the same thought had just crossed both their minds.
          “Gimme a boost!” Tony started towards the window. Balancing himself on the wall with his hands, he raised a foot for Sean to assist him. After helping his brother through, Sean clambered through the dark hole in the wall and tumbled to the ground. At first, it seemed like a regular old barn. Before long, though, the boys attention had fallen on the looming object in the back corner, which was covered by a thick white tarp and an unhealthy layer of dust. Once again, the duo exchanged glances, this time with a combination of wonder and the slightest hint of nervousness.
          “What is it?” Tony whispered, awestruck.
          “I’m gonna find out.” Sean couldn’t help his inquiring mind, and ambitiously plodded towards the tall figure, tearing back the sheet from the object. What they saw next caused both of the boys to draw back in awe. Standing before them was a giant mechanical creature. Orange and white, it stood on two legs and seemed as if it had just beamed itself straight out of a sci-fi movie.
          “I’m gonna try it,” Sean declared.
          “I don’t know,” his brother said hesitantly. “Maybe we shouldn’t. I don’t wanna get in trouble or anything.”
          “Come on, we came this far, why not try it out? It won’t hurt anybody. Let’s fire this baby up!”
Finally giving into his Sean’s persistence, Tony agree. Discovering a backpack-like remote control, they piloted the mech out of the barn, after opening the main doors with the large arm on the front of the robot. Their mischief did not stop there, though. At first they simply took turns driving the machine around the field. Then the began giving each other rides. Their minds clouded with youthful ecstasy, they had no idea the trouble they were getting into. Before long, they had stopped traffic on the highway, stolen cows, and a wide array of other simple, playful acts.
          Their game was put to a sudden halt when a familiar-looking black and white van arrived on the scene. Without thinking, Sean, who was controlling it panicked and grabbed the van with the mech’s giant arm. A window shattered, and the officer in the front seat disappeared from view. In a panicked stupor, the boys suddenly found themselves back inside the abandoned barn, this time as a refuge. Before long the officers from the van had also reached the boy’s impromptu shelter. The officers began to search, but the barn was just too dark and too messy to discern anything.
          “What now?” Tony whispered under his breath.
          “We can’t just go home… We still have the robot and the police probably talked to mom and dad.” Sean searched his mind for ideas, looking distraught. “We need to go. Watch this.” Still grasping the controls to the robot, he steered it in an uncertain direction and hoped it was the right one. By some stroke of luck, he was correct and the mech suddenly burst through the back wall of the barn. The structure began to collapse due to the age-worn structure. With a cry, the officer fled. In a bold move of improvisation, Sean hit a button on the remote. A panel on the from of the machine swung open, revealing two small seats. Seizing their inevitable destiny without another word, the brothers climbed inside. They didn’t know what they were getting into now, but they had no choice now; the only direction to go was forwards.
          “Where are we going?” inquired Tony.
          “I guess we will find out when we get there,” Sean replied. “But there is no turning back now. We can only move forward. Onwards to the next adventure.”

Sean's Twitter Feed: https://twitter.com/SeanBodner


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