Short Stories Vol. 1

The Lego Boy

The boy appears visibly upset. He cannot seem to find the final piece to his Lego set, it is missing! "Why, why, why!" he screams. Frustrated, he gives up and decides to go to sleep. The bus to slumberland does not keep him waiting on this night, it arrives precisely on schedule. The next morning, he wakes up and attempts to rub the sleep from his eyes, but instead of rubbing the weariness of the morning away, he instead hears the sound of tapping, grinding plastic. With a confused expression, he opens his eyes and gazes at, what should be human hands, only to find that they are Lego hands! The magic of slumberland has transformed him into a Lego boy! With a strange mixture of fear, and confused excitement, he jumps out of bed and runs towards his parent's room, "Mom, Dad!" he yells, as his plastic feet clack with each step, "Look, look, look!" He tries to open the door, but seems to struggle for a moment, after all, doorknobs were not designed for Lego hands! After a few seconds of wrestling with the handle, he manages to open the door and peers inside the room, "Mom? Dad? HELLO?" His parents are gone, but he discovers a note that reads: "Out for a morning walk with the dogs and your two sisters, be home in a little while. We left you a new Lego set downstairs because we love you so much! Love, Mom and Dad." Not giving much further thought to the note, he runs into their bathroom to gaze into the mirror. In a delightful manner, a bellowing noise escapes while looking at his own reflection, "HAH, HAH, HAH!" His entire body is that of a Lego action figurine, but completely resemblant of his former self! His head is a cylinder; complete with a patch of plastic hair, his torso is a rhombus, his arms, pants, and legs are rectangles, and his feet are, well they are Lego feet; all decorated and detailed with the clothing he wore to bed! "Ha, Ha, Ha!" another boyish belly laugh that simply could not be contained escapes, and he says, "I can't believe this, I wish my parents could see me right now, they will never believe me!" Remembering the note, he quickly runs down the stairs to find the new Lego set, a brand new, and extraordinarily complex Lego set at that; a massive Transformer, the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, but a three-foot version, complete with his weapons trailer, storing all of his combat equipment: An Ion Blaster, Energon Swords, Energon Hooks, Energon Axes, Thermal Cannon, Knuckle-Spikes, and of course, the signature Shield; each with their own assembly requirements, so much fun for such a clever young man! Excitedly he tears open the box and begins to assemble the novel set. Now of course, being such a smart young man, building this set is a relatively easy feat; at least for this particular boy, but he simply enjoys it so much, he can't quite seem to get enough; the complexity of the set ignites the genius within! His new Lego body only assists in the expedition of such a build! In a remarkably short amount of time the Lego boy reaches the end of the assembly (Lego hands sure do come in "handy" for building Legos!), it is time to place the final piece, the AllSpark: The life-giving force that animates all Transformers, including the evil Decepticons; much to the Autobots chagrin. Excitement soon turns to panic when he realizes the final, and most important piece is missing, the AllSpark! "No, no, no, no!" he begins to cry and wail, "How could the most important piece be missing!" Frantically, he searches throughout the nearly complete Optimus Prime, checking up, down, inside, and out; sadly, finding nothing. He checks the box, nothing. He crawls around the floor, desperately looking, hoping that he simply dropped it in his excitement while blissfully building, nothing. With a reluctant sigh, his joy turns into a brewing storm of tears; a tantrum is beginning. In a rage that only children seem to understand, he begins to jump up and down, while small light-blue Lego tears fall from his eyes. He begins stomping his Lego feet into the ground, then resumes jumping up and down; he hears a rattle coming from inside him. Confused, he stops crying for a moment and jumps up and down a few more times to confirm the noise. Rattle, rattle, rattle: "There that sound is again, there must be a piece loose inside me!" he says to himself. He starts pounding on his Lego torso in a worried, yet fascinated fashion; a torso decorated with the pajamas he wore to bed. Suddenly, a compartment opens. There it is, the AllSpark; a sigh of relief escapes the boy, a newfound peace, and serenity enters his heart. The missing piece he was so desperately looking for, and needs, was within him the entire time.

©2021 Sean Riedel