| Hitler in the cupboard |
| Page 3 |
| Introducing the Cupboard |
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| "Mom" Aaron called, in anger, "Can't you make Mark stop leaving his toys in my room" This was the last straw, Plasticine clay coil snakes were strewn over his work desk., they left oily marks on his scrap paper, and on his notes. "Mom, they stained my report, now I got to do it all over" he whined. Aaron listened as his Mom, who was preparing dinner downstairs, told his younger brother, who was watching TV , to pick up after himself when he was done with his toys. "OK Mom," Mark answered. "And I don't want him playing in my room!" yelled Aaron from the top of the stairs, leaning on the banister. "You better listen to your brother" his mother added with a slight edge, to her voice, "Oh well, at least she's trying", he thought. Satisfied that justice had been done, Aaron turned back into his room to finish up his science report. This was his final project, and he had to do a great job on it, if he wanted to pull his grade up to an A. If he got an A, he could spend a week in Washington with his friend Stu, who's family was going at the end of July. He really wanted to go, but he had to get a A in Science , Math and English. Aaron picked up the scraps of clay, from his desk, and in a almost thoughtless gesture, rolled them into a ball, he then pinched the small ball of clay, before he knew it, he had made another little pudgy clay figure, then in a gesture of resignation, he put the clay figure onto a shelf in his Cupboard. It really worked out neat, he smiled. The cupboard was a beautiful thing. The wooden structure was painted a dark blue, with a pale blue trim, that almost matched his walls, then there was the neat pin stripe type of decoration in gold, around the outer edges, and around the doors. The Cupboard had a cool oversize bronze lock, it looked very old, and was shaped almost like a heart, it took up a large part of the center of the Cupboard's door. The piece looked like it was made to fit his room, he kept it atop his dresser, and level with his bookshelf adjacent to the window. It was cool how he got his mom to pick up the cupboard for him, although he lied when he told her the new owner of the house said he could have it. He was glad no one was around when they picked it up. Mostly he stored his school stuff in it, although little Mark, the pain in the butt, took to putting his games in there. He was glad the cupboard came with a large cast bronze key to work the lock. He enjoyed the clicking sound the lock made when he turned the key. Aaron locked the cupboard and slipped the key into it's hiding place, in his suit jacket pocket in his closet. He didn't want Mark to find it, and Mark would never think to look in his suit jacket's inner pocket. A perfect hiding place. Keeping the cupboard locked was the only way to keep Mark out. The thought crossed his mind, if he were living with his dad in California, he wouldn't have to worry about Mark getting into his things. The thought passed quickly, 'mom needs me" he sighed. He tossed open the Science text, and grabbed the book on the top of the stack he had checked out of the library, he set them before him, on his desk, with his note book in front and center.. His project was on Molecules. The library book had neat pictures, of what an artist thought a molecule might look like, if you were small enough to see one. . He thought the subject was kind of neat, It would be weird, being smaller than a molecule. He imagined he'd be floating. He had to ace this science project. He got his idea for it while crumbling a stale hamburger bun, in the school cafeteria the other day. He noticed it was a much smaller pile of crumbs, than it had been as a stale roll. Mr. Meadow, his Science teacher, said it had to do with the mass of the roll, It would lose volume and air, but would it also lose weight? He was glad Aaron had finally found a topic for his project, it was getting late in the semester. " it would be a good topic for your project" he suggested. The Idea of being tiny was one of Aaron's favorite fantasy games. But only Randy knew about it, and shared with him, in his games. Aaron thought Randy made out second best, when he found that box of toy figures. Ton's of army men, both green and brown. Even though he was getting old for it, he enjoyed playing with the toy soldiers. He and Randy and would make believe they were eye level with the toy soldiers, often lying flat on their stomachs to get the toy size point of view. Sometimes they would make great battles over the den furniture. It wasn't even too bad, when Mark discovered them playing, and wanted to join in. They would make Mark be a giant, a role he enjoyed playing, and he would proceed to stomp everyone, to order. It was way past his bed time, when he slammed closed the cover on his text book, turned down the radio, and placed his report in the folder he had picked up at the stationary store. "One "A" down," he thought to himself, as he turned off the lights and climbed under the cover. The night air blew a cool and sweet breeze outside his window. Now what was he going to do about his English project, he was too tired to worry about it. continued. |