Solonik's Game

1) The Day Arrives

Solonik's Game

By George Holm

Also by George Holm on Wattpad

Lester's Keeper
Song, Unheard
The Girl in the Headscarf

© 2016 George Holm. All rights reserved.

For the Olivers, who created and foster my madness - G.H.

Billy Baxter shifted anxiously in the swivel chair of his computer station. He glanced at the wall clock, chewed a fingernail, spit it out and moved onto the next finger. His feet were a blur of restless motion beneath the desk. He looked again at the clock, sighed, spotted another substantial crescent of healthy fingernail and went after it.

At the front of the room, his computer teacher continued to drone on about something or another. Billy was generally an enthusiastic student, particularly of all things computational, but today he had bigger, more immediate concerns. Today was finally the day.

Minutes earlier - at 2.37PM to be precise - his excitement had been kindled. As he utilized deft keystrokes to cycle between the open windows on his computer desktop, a long awaited e-mail had arrived in his account. It was a delivery confirmation. He had opened the mail, eyes wide, heart pounding. A package had arrived at his home. Fearing it might have been left unattended on his porch he had scoured the e-mail for a confirmation of acceptance. A digital image of Sally Baxter's unmistakable signature had greeted him, confirming his mother had received his goods safely.

The knowledge had done little to settle him though; the feeling was reminiscent of Christmas morning as a kid, more intense even. School could not end soon enough. The seconds took on a cruel, stretched feeling. He spit another fingernail floorward. The wall clock now displayed 2.57PM. Only three more minutes.

***

Billy tossed his bike aside, leapt onto the paved driveway and bolted along it in long strides. He bounded up the steps to his front door and twisted the handle but the door was locked. He hammered his fist on the door briefly, then turned and leapt back down the steps without awaiting a response. He rounded the corner of the house, sprinted along its side, through the back gates and toward the house's back entrance.

The back door lay open, the scent of freshly baked bread migrating outward and onto the breeze of the spring day. The rich aroma sent his mouth watering, but ultimately Billy had no time for grazing. He tossed the school rucksack off his shoulders, discarding it by the kitchen door.

"Mom?!" he shouted. "Mom, where are you?! Where is it?!"

He charged between rooms, but there was no sign of his mother. The excitement that had been swelling in him was now in danger of overflowing. He bolted up the stairs three at a time and flung open the door to his mother's room, too excited to show consideration to either the structure itself or any privacy it may have offered.
Sally Baxter lay atop the bed beside a discarded novel. A sleep mask concealed her eyes and she was snoring gently.

"Mom!"

She sprung awake like a marionette jerked harshly on its strings, then appeared to recall the mask on her face and fumbled for it. She missed it once before finding purchase on its side and pulling it free.

"Billy, what the hell? Are you trying to give me a damned heart attack?"

Billy failed to register either her displeasure or her question. "Where is it?! Where's my package?! Please Mom!"

His mother's face brightened in a wide grin. "I don't know what you're talking about Bill," she teased.

Billy almost hopped on the spot from infantile excitement. "I know it's here. You signed for it! I got the delivery notice in school!"

Billy's mother was up now, ruffling her boy's unkempt red hair. "It's in your room Bill. Have fun."

Billy turned with feline verve and continued his charge through the upper half of the house, headed now for the bedroom door at the end of the hall. A large metal road sign had been fixed to the door. No Entry, it declared.
As the sign began to loom large in view, Billy's little sister Emily emerged from the door one before his own.

"Hi Bill!" she smiled, the white grin broken by a single missing tooth.
He lifted her aloft, kissed her on the cheek.

"Can't talk now Teethless. We can play later!" Billy dropped Emily back to the floor, her rubbing to erase the kiss from her cheek with mock disgust. He pushed open the door to his bedroom, crossed the threshold and flung it closed behind him, sending the road sign rattling a metallic tune in his wake.

Billy immediately spotted the package nestled amongst his bedcovers. He ran to the window, pulling the curtains closed firmly, then flicked on the ceiling light. He dropped to his knees and regarded the thing atop his bed with wide eyes and an expression of wonder.

After all the waiting it was finally here.

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Hi all! I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of Solonik's Game!

Please remember to vote, comment and share if you enjoyed the story!

Leave your comments and questions and I will try to respond to them all. G.H.

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