10/17

Episode 1 Chapter 4

"Oh, Crap!" Parker shrieked. His bold exclamation got the attention of the dogs who had been by the back doors eating their breakfast. His brain was in an uproar as he tried to fend off the assault of wet tongues and large paws for the second morning in a row. What the heck! Holy Freak, I'm dreaming. I have to be dreaming, he thought as he frantically shoved at his fury assailants. Like always the over excitable beasts thought he was playing with them. They jumped and pranced around him trying to land licks anywhere near his face. Their breath stank of the kibble and gravy they had just been enjoying. "Uck, Get off me!" he shouted, finally losing his temper.

One good shove on Rowdy caused him to back into the storage cubby along the back side of the kitchen. His large rear end wagged furiously as the dog squirmed to dodge Parker's arm and regain his balance. Moments later, as if it were happening in slow motion, Penny's large craft box that had been left precariously perched on a middle shelf and a glue gun that, for some reason, was plugged in and hot, both came tumbling toward Parker's exposed torso. Parker's startled shout caused the dogs to back up quick. His mind had just enough time to tense for the hated pain before the glue gun and random art supplies peppered his body. The pain never came.

"Parker!" his mother's shout made him open his eyes and look up. The glue gun was lying on his stomach, dripping a liquid globular of glue right into his belly button. A pair of blue handled scissors were leaning against his right hip where they landed after bouncing off his chest. Thumb tacks were scattered across both him and the floor, along with paper, pipe cleaners, beads and pebbles and anything else an eleven year old artist might consider essential to her creative world.

"Oh, God, Son" Mrs. Carlisle yelled. "Don't move," she said as she searched around for the broom or her slip on shoes. "Ray, get in here!" she shouted for Parker's dad. Parker, not able to think through his own mild panic, swatted at the glue gun. His mind told him that he must be in shock, because he could not feel anything where the little dots of heated glue were adhering to his skin. In fact, he hadn't felt anything at all. It had not been the pain that had made him open his eyes. It had been his mother's exclamation.

The moment his brain registered this, he focused all his attention on his now glued shut belly button, then the rest of his torso. His eye roved over the skin moving from his center, out to his extremities. There was not a mark on him. He should be covered in scratches from the dogs paws. He should have something that showed where the scissors had landed. His skin should be puckered and irritated where the glue gun had lain for a a few seconds. At the very least, he should be starting to blister under the pearls of hard glue stuck to his skin.

Parker checked every bit of open skin he could see, but there was nothing new. More than nothing new, there was nothing at all. Parker's eyes were riveted to the spot on the inside of his elbow where a little crescent shaped scar should have been.

"Baby, are you okay? Where are you hurt worst?" she asked with an admirable level of calm, no nonsense, as she swept aside the mess so she could safely crouch beside him. Her hand immediately went to his stomach to gently prod at the now dry glue clinging to his skin.

"Mom, I'm fine. Really. I have no idea how I'm fine, but nothing hurts," Parker said. His mother's eyes went wide as she realized the truth of that statement. Rowdy and Dot, seeing Mrs. Carlisle on the floor, jumped up from where she had made them lie down, clearly believing another romp was in the offing.

"No, sit," Parker and Mrs. Carlisle said at the same time. Both dogs froze at the two stern voices.

"What's going on in here." Mr. Carlisle asked, coming around the kitchen island. "Everything okay?"

"Ray, get the dogs out of here," His mom ordered without even looking up. All of her attention was on Parker. "This doesn't hurt?" she asked, pointing to the glue around his navel.