Bridgeworld

by Travis McBee

  At night the couple would retreat into the cool air of Will’s back yard and would lay in the dewy grass and stare up at the warm night sky which was alien and fascinating to Abby, and familiar and comfortable to Will. They would simply lay there for hours and enjoy the simplicity of each others company. It was Will’s favorite part of each of their day’s and secretly Abby’s as well. After a while the days dripped by and Will’s birthday arrived.

  * * *

  Will’s birthday had always been an eventful day. The town would break into a large scale celebration with hotdogs grilling in every backyard and bands marching up and down main street in a massive parade. When the sun fell the occasion would be punctuated with the rolling thunder of fireworks which lit up the sky in fluorescent flowers of brilliance. Yes Pleasant Valley did enjoy Will’s birthday, because it also happened to be the Fourth of July.

  “...Happy birthday to you!” The chorus of voices finished. Will took a breath and held it for a second as he made his private wish and then with a sudden burst of wind he released the breath upon the fifteen candles that were staggered about the cake causing the little flames to flicker and disappear on each one.

  “What did you wish for will?” His mother asked from the other end of the dining room table. She asked that same question every year.

  “Can’t tell you that,” Will replied as he always did when his mother asked but smiled none the less.

  “Stop pitter pattering around and cut the cake Will,” His father chuckled from his mother’s side, his eyes yearning for the chocolate cake with the still smoking candles.

  Will grabbed the knife and slid it through the cake in clean, neat, strokes and ladled four pieces of the sticky chocolate cake onto four milky white plates that his mom saved for special occasions. He slid the plates around the table and only the etiquette of birthday boy first kept the cake from being torn apart by his apparently ravenous father. Abby flashed a smile of gratitude when he slid her a piece and looked at it closely. Will picked up his fork and dipped a piece of the spongy cake into his mouth. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sweet ecstasy sweeping across his tongue in moist waves of delight.

  The entire table followed suit with Abby and Mr. Haynes digging in with the most fervor. Abby had developed a taste for Earth food and had yet to find something she didn’t like.

  “Oh!” Abby gasped, “Thees ees delicious,”

  “Why thank you dear,” His mom said smiling widely as she always did when praise was sent for her culinary aptitude.

  Will’s father was devouring the cake in the meantime. He shouldn’t have been so hungry considering the fact that they had cleared away a hardy breakfast moments before. The Haynes always celebrated their son’s birthday in the morning due to the extenuating events that are synonymous with the evening of the fourth of July. After their short bout with the cake, in which the cake would lose, they would head into the living room and Will would unwrap presents with mounting excitement and insurmountable joy.

  Steven Haynes was the first to finish his cake, chocolate was his favorite, and he sat smacking his lips around at the small group. Barbara was delicately eating a slender piece of cake with utmost femininity and grace while Will was doing his best imitation of his father smacking away at the rich chocolaty euphoria with disregard for any manners. Steven’s eyes fell on Abby who was sitting with an empty plate staring at Steven with a big smile that was tinged around the edges with the dark brown of the icing. She smiled at him and shot him a wink that clearly broadcasted “Yay cake!”. Steven smiled at the girl and suddenly felt that he approved of Will’s choice, he approved entirely. After all good taste in cake is indicative of a good mind, right? Right?

  Will finished his cake and dropped his fork to the plate with a ringing clatter. A moment later Barbara did the same, minus the fork drop. She looked at the smiling faces and her face echoed theirs.

  “Well it looks like everyone enjoyed my cake,” She laughed noticing the dark stain around Abby’s lips.

  “Wi, eet was amazing,” Abby decreed.

  “Great as always mom,” Will said.

  “I love you,” Steven said simply fluttering his eye lashes at his wife.

  The entire party laughed at the amorous atmosphere between the elder couple and spirits were high as Barbara shooed them into the living room to open presents.

  “You two can go off on your own afterwards if you like,” She told them as they made the exodus.

  They walked into the living room and Will was surprised, although not entirely pleasantly, to see only a small parcel lying wrapped in a bright paper laying on the couch. He picked it up and sat down where it had been. Abby placed herself next to him and studied the gift with rapt attention. It was about the size of a shoe box and apparently very light due to the easy way that Will handled it.

  “I know we couldn’t get you a lot this year since you don’t live at home anymore but I think that will help,” His mother told him as she took a seat in the chair across from the couch.

  Will tore the paper off and revealed a brown box with the simple swoosh of Nike emblazoned across the lid. It was in fact a shoe box, and when Will prized the lid off he found, surprise surprise, a pair of new tennis shoes. He pulled the shoes out of the box, and a wave of new shoe aroma filled his nostrils as he found himself breathing the rather pleasant smell in deeply.

  “You’re old ones look a bit dinged up,” His father informed him, “So we figured you could use a new pair since you apparently don’t want the ole monogarb style.

  For the first time in as long as he could remember Will considered his feet. He had never bothered to check the feet of the other students to be honest. As a boy clothing mattered slightly more than what a housewife in china was making for dinner, and only very slightly. He had trouped around space with his faithful old pair of Nikes without thought. He had pulled them on without consideration when he changed into his zegma suit and when the game or practice was over he would slide them onto his feet again and continue about his life without a second thought. He was a one pair of shoes type of guy and that was all there was to it.

  Now that the subject had been broached Will examined his shoes which had been almost new when he had departed for his new school. They were once a shiny black with neat white trim but now the black was as dull as a lump of coal and the white seemed to have absorbed vast quantities of the black so that it took on a lifeless gray pigmentation. The soles of the shoes seemed to be ready to make a grand farewell from the rest of the shoes and Will could see a healthy gap racing along the edges as the two parties worked on their divorce. Will wiggled his toes and discovered for the first time that the shoes which had once been slightly too big had now become a cramped coffin over his feet. In shoe years, his were dead and that was putting it nicely.

  “Ha-ha I guess you’re right,” Will said looking up from his shoes at his parents, “I never bothered to think about my shoes,”

  “That son,” His father told him, “Is because you’re a man.”

  Barbara smacked her forehead with an open palm and Abby giggled at the joke. Will simply smiled and slid his old pair of shoes off to reveal a pair of dirty callused feet. He had once worn socks but those had dissolved to nothing within his first month of school and he had gotten into the habit of just going without them.

  “Oh here you go,” His mom said brightly and threw him a bag.

  Will caught the bag and discovered it to be a jumbo bag of thirty pairs of cotton socks. He looked at them and then glanced down at his feet.

  “Best birthday my feet ever had,” Will commented quietly.

  * * *

  The fourth of July didn’t really begin in Pleasant Valley until the annual parade that snaked its way from the high school, down Main Street, and ended in the fair grounds at the end of town took place. The fairgrounds would then be opened up and throngs of people would enter the temporary carnival, that set itself up there every year, where spinning teacups wound their way am
ongst the fresh aroma of funnel cakes and cotton candy while screams of fear and delight filtered down from the Ferris Wheel that swung its riders up into the hot Alabama sky.

  Will led Abby into town and together they found a place to sit on the curb outside of Hale’s Drugstore. The sun had risen high into the sky and the heat would have been unbearable if not for the coke floats his mom had given them before they had departed. Will sipped on his slowly without much enthusiasm but Abby sucked voraciously at the straw until all that was left in the glass was vestiges of foam and small sticky beads that clung to the side of the glass.

  “Thirsty?” Will asked with a chuckle

  “No, eet ees just very good,” Abby replied smacking her lips, “Everything ‘ere tastes good.”

  “Well not everything,” Will laughed thinking of Earth’s version of broccoli and other assorted vegetables, “But most stuff does anyways,”

  The street was beginning to fill up with people as they gathered to watch the parade. The town may have been small, but like football games everyone turned out for the Fourth of July Parade and the sidewalks soon became cramped with the throng of people. Will decided to stand up to give some kids who had wandered over a place at the curb. He stood behind Abby and looked at the clocks that hung around town to find that it was noon, and time for the parade to commence.

  The parade began with the distant repercussions of the high school drum line and moments later they appeared along with the red and gold column that was the Python Marching Band marching down the street playing a patriotic song that reverberated from the low buildings that lined the streets. Leading the band was the ancient wrinkled soldiers of the local American Legion outpost. The grizzled veterans marched with pride in their limp ridden steps as medals from forgotten battles blazed with the afternoon sun on their chests.

  Behind the group of soldiers an equally antique convertible driven by the mayor himself trickled smoothly down the street ferrying the waving figure of the reigning prom queen. For Pleasant Valley the high school was the main attraction and prom queen also meant town queen. Behind the queen a small band of boy scouts scurried along in their uniforms throwing candy out of small satchels slung around each of their necks. After the sweet slingers one of the two fire trucks of the town strutted its way down the street honking its horn and squirting water into the air which fell upon the crowd in a refreshing mist.

  The fire truck was followed by two policemen who sat atop large horses who gently neighing as they walked down the crowded street. Will heard a soft gasp escape Abby and looked down to see her eyes wide as she stared at the horses in awe. Guess there’s not that many horses in space Will thought laughing to himself.

  Following the horses was the sheriff riding his motorcycle with a big grin as he threw candy into the crowd from a small bag draped over a handle bar. As the soft snore of his engine slipped away a group of girl scouts pranced along again throwing candy, Will would have preferred cookies. The girl scouts were chased by a procession of jittering old cars that outdated their owners by more than a decade. ‘Pleasant Valley Auto Club’ was written on a banner that hung dutifully from the front of the lead car.

  Breathing in the smoky exhaust of the old cars came the Pleasant Valley Python football team who received a roar from the football starved crowd, many of whom were already looking towards august and the return of their favorite sport. The skimpy outfits of the cheerleaders danced around in their wake and once again Abby’s mouth fell open in shock. Will assumed it was because of the short skirts that whisked around their upper thighs and made a point of not looking at them in case Abby were to glance his way.

  The end of the small but enjoyable parade was brought about with the singing bagpipes that Arnie McDoogle, the proudest Scotch American in Alabama, carried over his shoulder. When the blaring whine of his tones fell away the crowd began to enter the street and follow the parade towards the fair and the festivities that awaited. Will looked down at Abby and found that the girl had a lap inundated with candy that she had scooped up from the street.

  “Hungry babe?” Will laughed

  Abby glanced upwards at him and shot him an expression of curiosity and bewilderment that was somehow so adorable that it reminded him of a puppy. He guessed that she didn’t know what she had collected so he squatted down so that his lips where level with her ear.

  “It’s called candy,” He whispered, “You eat it. Well you have unwrap it first I should add.”

  Abby still looked confused so Will snatched a jolly rancher from her trove and twisted it out of its wrapping and popped it into her mouth. Her eyes widened as the sugar zinged about her mouth.

  “Good huh?” he smiled.

  Abby didn’t speak but the large grin that spread across her face was answer enough. He helped her contain her candy and helped her to her feet and hand in hand they made their way after the parade and towards the festival that awaited.

  The festival was small, crowded, and incredibly fun. Abby and Will ran into Mike at the bumper car ring and somehow coerced Abby into getting behind the wheel of one of the bouncing machines of madness. After the first few collisions Abby got the hang of it and when their turn was over Will had to drag her out of the car with her laughingly protesting the whole way. She didn’t enjoy the small rollercoaster as much and screamed the whole way down the small hill, Will laughed to himself as he imagined her strapping into one of the mammoth coasters that adorned the parks in Florida.

  She enjoyed the teacups even less and after a few seconds of Will and Mike working furiously at the wheel in the center she turned a nasty shade of green which made Will and Mike back off instantly. She had wobbled dizzily off of the ride and they sat on a bench for close to fifteen minutes before she thought she could walk normally again without revisiting all the food she had eaten that day.

  She did enjoy the ride around the Ferris wheel and had ooed quietly when their bucket reached the top and afforded them a view of the sun shooting golden rays across the clouds to the west. Will took advantage of the moment and stole a kiss from her and was reminded instantly of a cheesy chick flick Jessica had made him watch once with a rather memorable scene on a Ferris wheel a lot like the one they rode.

  Towards the end of the night they found themselves on the summit of a small hill to watch the firework show that lit up the small town below. Will was leaning comfortably back with his head resting in his hands and Abby lay perpendicular to him resting her head on his chest. Mike had gone his separate way earlier when a group of football players had hailed him and he had disappeared with a amiable wave.

  “Zey are beautiful,” Abby remarked as a shell exploded in the night air, “Zey doo all of zis for your birthday?”

  Will laughed and his heaving chest bounced Abby’s head up and down so she picked it up and rested it on a hand with an elbow spiked into the ground and stared down at Will.

  “No,” Will said after a few chuckles, “It’s independence day. The country is celebrating its birthday you might say, it has nothing to do with me,”

  “Oh. Do you celebrate everyone’s birthday, even ze countries’?” Abby asked him

  “Yeah. For the most part. Don’t yall?”

  “No we do not ‘ave anything like zis,” She replied frowning slightly, “Zere are no special days, only work days and off days, and the two breaks of course.”

  “Oh, I guess I never noticed,” Will frowned suddenly remembering that he had had no holiday’s while at Bridgeworld. He hadn’t noticed, perhaps because of the fact that he got Wednesday’s off he had never felt the burning urge for a three day weekend like he did when he was on Earth. Still, no holidays or birthdays? That’s a rip.

  “You know somezing Will?” Abby said smiling down at him

  “What’s that Abby?” Will returned the smile

  “I know why your parents like Earth,” she said sweetly, “I like it too,”

  “Oh you just like the food,” Will joked at her feeling touched by the first kind
thing he had ever heard about his planet from a non-terry.

  “Zis ees true,” Abby laughed, “But I like you even more,” she added and leaned down and placed a kiss upon his lips.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Scared of Moving

  The return to Bridgeworld for Will was as uneventful as intergalactic travel can be. Three days after the joint spectacle of Will’s birthday and the fourth of July, Steven Haynes loaded the two teenagers into the car and drove them out to the small field outside of Riverdale and after a brief pause the giant saucer that was the school’s Terra Shuttle descended and the constantly apathetic figure of Mr. Roberts appeared to welcome them aboard. His face betrayed a slight sign of shock at the sight of Abby and Will considered it a miracle that emotion had wormed it’s way onto the man’s face, no matter how slight. Once they were snugly on board the ship Mr. Roberts reunited Will with his Lingus and monogarb and Abby abandoned the ruby necklace that was her Vocor and the French accent that went along with it. Will was not sad to see it go since he found the French accent nauseating and irritating, instead of the general consensus that it was a drop dead enthralling accent that his friends seemed to share.

  School resumed without a hitch in momentum and the second season turned out to be much like the first. Will wasn’t drowning in a pool of studying from his classes anymore since the midterms had passed but he still found himself spending hours in the Study Hall working his way through enough work to keep himself from getting bored.