Wonder Made

Preface

•The Times They Are A'changin'•

•••

It ought to be said flatly: teenagers raised in small towns, who desire the adventures of larger landscapes, are oftentimes stricken with boredom.

Nestled between rolling, green hills found anywhere in America's heartland, Potter Oaks is one such town.

Pass through it on your way to bigger, better things and blink, you'll miss it. Try to search for its namesake on a map? Why, you'd have a better chance of finding a needle in a haystack of other, identical needles. Type its name into a search engine—Bing! would present you with the closest results—and your device is liable to explode—this proves especially true of Bing!

Find yourself curious to do just that? To tempt Fate? I implore you to rethink these impulses, as bravery is often the death of good sense, and curiosity? Well, it didn't kill all those cats coincidentally, but I digress.

Seventeen-year-old Peneloper Auttsley (future heroine within these pages) is one such afflicted, bored teenager. So bored is she, she's exclaimed over many family breakfasts of burnt toast and soggy cereals, that she is liable to melt, as there is too much sun in the Oaks and little of anything else. Melting, therefore, would both be a waste of her time and a lamentable consequence of circumstance.

However, for both town and teen, everything has changed. Last week, the wind, deciding to blow side-ways, brought a storm to the Oaks, the likes of which has never been seen. Rain crashed upon the asphalt, potholes turned into swirling vortexes of white water, unmanned vehicles took unsolicited road trips down side-streets. Children hid inside, parents hid from their children. Unrest, dismay, and nicotine usage tripled. 

Riding on the back of said storm had been a boy, tall, pale and pointed, who took up residence in the dilapidated house on Mire Hill, filling its empty halls with the smooth, siren's call of eighties pop-rock legend, Phil Collins.

This is a full retelling of what happened thereafter, to the town, and to Peneloper Auttsley of 1809 Melbourne Way, whose odd and unimpressive life became all the odder, and slightly more impressive, when Crispen Heavensley upended everything she thought she knew.

*This chapter was not brought to you by Bing!*