Marlin Clark

Chuck Jones

Chuck was always the popular guy. Chuck knew how to flirt, he knew how to play football, he even knew how to write music. When Chuck entered a room, time would stop. When Chuck left a room, every oxygen atom would follow him. Chuck was loved and hated by all in Freedville. However, Chuck despised living in Freedville. Detested it, almost.

Chuck wasn't allowed to go on to the internet until he was 11, when school homework required internet research. Before he was exposed to the reality of the world through the web, Freedville was all he knew. A small town, with diners and book shops. One elementary school, one middle school, one high school. There was no College, but there was leaflets. The Ivy Leagues were the only view of the outside world any child from Freedville saw, and even then, it seemed like a whole dream away.

Chuck's first google search was for a project on Dinosaurs. He printed off pictures of bones, and atomic explosions. He stuck all of them on an A3 sheet of paper and labelled each species of Dinosaur. The explosion was stuck on the centre of the poster, to resemble the meteor that would later end most Dinosaur's lives. It also became an image that Chuck would later recognise as his brain when he accidentally ended up on an adult website. His first image of the outside world was a scantily clad woman perched in an awkward position that managed to show off both her breasts and her back side. And that was it, Chuck was hooked.

Chuck was not particularly hooked on porn, but on anything that wasn't typical. He started listening to indie rock music and watching old German expressionism films. Yet somehow, still managing to maintain his jock status.

At 11 years old, Chuck was the guy who everyone respected. He looked like a child model, and spoke with a kindness that made any classmate want to protect him. When Chuck turned 12, a new kid rolled into town in a battered Chevrolet, his name was Spider. Spider was Chuck's new neighbour, and his new best friend. The first time they met was when Chuck's parents, Maureen and Ted Jones, surprised their new neighbours with a freshly baked cherry pie.

"Remember Chuck, these new folk, they're from a big city. They might look different, and speak different, but they're just as normal as us, okay?" Maureen Jones informed.

"Mabel and Bobby. They sure do sound lovely." Ted Jones enthused as he knocked at the door.

The door knocker at number 37, Jefferson Road was gold and shaped like a lions head. The house itself was identical to the other 49 that stretched along the green street. Built in the 1930's it had the typical three steps up to the front door made of dark wood. The house had four columns stretching up to the second floor, creating a patio for the light wood wooden rocking chair and chess table. The windows were rectangular and the upper floor almost identical from the outside to the lower floor. There was one attic room window, from which a boy, not much older than Chuck himself, was peering out of.

The door opened and there stood two women. Although according to Chuck's young and adolescent brain, she could've passed for a man. Mabel Alexander was butch, according to Maureen Jones. She wore baggy jeans and unflattering sweaters with collared t-shirts poking out from underneath. Bobby Alexander was quite the opposite, she was wearing a flowing baby blue dress, presumably made from cotton, and a white cardigan that had silver gems attached to the shoulders. Bobby wore dark blue kitten heels almost everyday.

Chuck would later learn that Mabel Alexander also wore dresses on occasion, and often brushed her long hair and curled it into loose waves. But on the 24th of January, Mabel's hair was pushed into a slick low ponytail.

"Roberta!" Ted Jones exhaled, grasping her in an overwhelming hug. "I didn't know you go by Bobby now! How modern of you. And Mabel, I suppose you two are..."

In Chuck's semi-small minded mind, he supposed the two were sisters, that looked very different. Or cousins, perhaps even best friends.

"Married!" Exclaimed Bobby Alexander, extending her left arm towards Chuck's father.

"Congratulations! I didn't know you were..." Ted Jones voice trailed off, he didn't know how to word such a thing.

"Gay. Yes, very much so. I met Mabel in Los Angeles while I was in College. We settled down and had a child, but I guess I never could let go of Freedville." Bobby chucked, grimacing.

"How lovely." Maureen Jones muttered, clenching her fists awkwardly.

Although Maureen did not want to present herself as homophobic, she didn't fully understand the whole thing. Being a devoted child of God, as well as the child of two of the most Christian parents to have existed in the confides of Freedville, she stayed un-opinionated on the subject. Up until now. Later that day, Chuck heard his mother say,

"Two homosexuals living on our doorstep. Ted, I don't know if I like this. What if they infect our son, they have a son of their own, somehow... What if they become gay together?".

The next day was Monday, and the first day Chuck would talk to Spider. It was warm for January, but it always seemed to be warm in Freedville.

"This is Spider Alexander, he moved here all the way from California." Said Miss Stevens, smiling at Spider as she held each of his shoulders. "Be nice to him."

The kids were not nice to Spider. The girls ran away yelling 'watch out, Spider's about', the boys would throw their shoes at him in order to 'squash' him. Spider would just laugh. So Chuck decided to approach Spider at recess.

"My mum thinks we're going to become gay together." Chuck said, throwing a tennis ball against the floor and catching it again.

"I don't think I'm gay Chuck, sorry." Spider said, watching the tennis ball like a cat.

"I don't think she meant it in a positive way. And I also don't think I'm gay. I've never caught cooties off a boy or anything." Chuck laughed, so did Spider.

"Why are you being nice to me, I'm the new kid with two mom's. I'm like the anti-christ to you conservative kids." Spider joked, his eyes sparkled.

"I think it's cool that you have two mom's. It's different... Have you ever watched Nosferatu?" Chuck asked, pausing his game of tennis ball bouncing.

"No, what is it?"

"It's a German black and white film about a vampire."

"And it's in German?"

"Yeah, it's spooky."

"Sounds cool."

"Do you want to come round after school and watch it? I've got a link online thats illegal but the only popups are the good kind of popups."

"It's a date..." Chuck looked awkwardly at the new boy. "Dude, I'm kidding."

And now five years later, Chuck and Spider are like the perfect matching set. Stood next to each other you'd think they were the gender swapped Betty and Veronica. Chuck's blonde hair with strawberry tones, Spider's brunette mop that was dark enough to almost be black. And although Chuck may have grown up to be a jock, and Spider a nerd, they have always remained the best of friends.

Chuck's fascination with new things, with the outside world, never stopped. So when a mysterious girl with lilac hair and expensive looking shoes strolled past him on his way to gym, he had to investigate.