Chapter 3, Odd Jobs (cont) 2

Suddenly, Blue is startled. He sits up and looks around, quickly trying to understand what all of the commotion is about. Soldiers are storming past him on both sides. As quickly as they arrived, they are gone. All except one, he appears to be someone of rank and importance although Blue, never concerning himself with military issues other than to abhor them, is impotent to recognize the rank and therefor suitably unimpressed. The officer, whose skin is pale and translucent, points toward the open field and orders Blue to join the ranks of the soldiers or get out. Blue finally adjusts to being awakened enough to actually see what is happening around him. The soldiers have fallen into rank in the distant field. A young girl is innocently tossing a beach ball up and down only a few yards away while just beyond her, Champ is quietly surveying the troops. Blue notices some tanks lined up in the field, their cannons trained on the peaceful Champ. "What on Earth are you doing here?", Blue demands, his sense of urgency and outrage immediately apparent to the officer. "I am here to kill that", the officer responds,"and I suggest you run along, little man, before you get yourself caught in the tussle." The officer then turns toward the girl and says, "come along Cynthia, daddy is going to kill the nasty beastie now." The girl stops throwing the ball, "I want my lollie now", she responds, "you told me I could have a lolly, remember?" She continues, singing the last syllable,"and I want to go back to the beach," she finishes as she kicks the beach ball directly at her father. He catches it and says,"of course, my little darling," and pulling a rather large lollipop from a pocket which didn't seem to exist seconds earlier, hands it to the little brat saying,"and we'll be back to the beach in no time, just as soon as I eliminate this," he pauses to find just the right word,"thing!"

"You can't do that!" Blue shouts.

"I can, little man. Now shut up and get out of my way or I'll have you thrown in prison." The officer ordered.

Blue realized he was going to get nowhere with the soldier, so he ran up onto a large boulder right next to Champ and tried to get the "monster's" attention. "Champ, Champ! Hey Champ, you have to listen to me, they are going to kill you!", Blue yelled. Champ simply turned his head and gently nuzzled his forehead into Blue's chest. "NO!" Blue added in earnest, "You don't get it, you have to run away, they are going to kill you!" Blue reached out to Champ but the monster just rolled over like a puppy wanting to play, his belly to the open sky and sunshine overhead. Blue jumped down from the rock, waving his arms to the soldiers and yelling, "Don't shoot, DON"T SHOOT, can't you see he's harmless?", as he ran up to Champ and hugged his massive neck, just under his smiling chin. Blue was fairly certain that Champ was smiling, and this made his plight seem even more urgent, ridiculous and morally charged. "You can't kill my friend!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

At that moment, all guns opened fire on Blue and Champ. Blue felt his chest burst open just before he saw a large missile of some sort detonate as it struck Champ in the belly. Blue and Champ were terminated instantly. Blue's head fell directly next to Champs large eye which looked at him lifelessly as Blues vision went blank.

"Defending Champ" by Blue acrylic on canvas

A second later, Blue woke up. He was lying on the beach. He felt as though someone had just stroked his cheek. He slowly opened his eyes. Startled, he sat upright. Champ was looking down at him, his large nostrils, directly over Blue's head. Blue didn't know what to do. He was so relieved that he wanted to hug Champ but he couldn't be sure what had happened. He wondered if this was really the first time he was actually seeing the monster or if in fact it was happening at all. He patted Champ on what he thought must be the nose and smiled. Blue began talking to Champ. He told him everything that had just happened and the monster just stayed right there and listened. "I can't believe you're alive," Blue whispered,"I can't believe I'm alive." He hugged Champ as best he could. It was more like laying up against Champs head, with feeling. "I want you to go back into the water," he told Champ,"please?" he reconsidered. "I think that something bad will happen to you if you don't,"he added. Champ raised his head from the beach slowly. He tucked his forehead into Blue's chest and turned away gently as if saying goodbye to an old friend. Blue sat on the beach and watched as Champ moved slowly back into Lake Champlain. He watched Champ swim for awhile until, finally, the monster who was his friend dove under the water and did not come back up. Blue's head was resting on his own forearm, his body stretched out on the sand facing the lake. The breeze across the water was cool and soothing. Blue again returned to sleep.

"Nurse! I'm gonna need some coffee in here, STAT!" Blue heard from above. He opened his eyes to see JW leaning over his face with bedhead and a mischievous grin. "Get me ten CCs of the good stuff and hold the cream, this one's flat-lining!" JW held a coffee over Blue and continued,"It took us a little while to find you but I think it's still hot. We thought you were dead!" "So did I," Blue responded. "What the hell are you doing sleeping out here man?" JW asked. "It's a long story," Blue said,"let's just forget it. I want to get home." Blue said as he got up from the sand. JW gave him the coffee as Tricia gave Blue a little kiss on the cheek. Back at the house, everyone piled in the van. Blue was driving and JW was riding shotgun. "Hold on a second," JW said to Blue. He reached over and pulled something from Blue's collar and handed it to him saying, "good morning sunshine". It was a single white clover flower.