Assignment: 1-2 page young adult fantasy narrative. This is one section of the midterm. I also had to do stuff with this narrative, but this is the fun part.
Al Henrys looked up from where
his Mastiff, Penelope, was laying a steaming pile on the boulevard.
He winced. Jake and Tony Easting were ambling down the sidewalk
towards him with smirks on their faces. Al pretended to ignore them.
“Good girl, Penny,” he said when the dog was done with her
business. She turned her enormous head upward in a slobbery dog grin.
Al was already reaching into his
pocket for a used grocery bag when Jake sneered, “Aren't you gonna
pick that shit up, shrimp?”
“Ugh,” Tony made a show of
grabbing his nose. “That stinks!”
Al rolled his eyes and said
nothing. He told himself they'd be bored of him someday- as he had
for the last two years. With a held gulp of air, Al bent to pick up
the smelly pile. There was a shove at his back and Al had to propel
himself further forward into a somersault to avoid landing in the
muck. What he'd already picked up flew out of his plastic-covered
hand in an arc, landing on the grass inches from his face. Rage
flooded his head as the stench flooded his nose.
Before Jake could start
laughing, the usually dull and amiable Penelope had tackled him to
the pavement. Her teeth shone from beneath dribbling jowls and the
growl coming out of her throat sounded like an enraged tractor. Jake
shielded his face with his arms, but couldn't rise with the two
enormous paws on his chest.
The sudden act of canine loyalty
was the least surprising thing: Tony had hardly made two steps toward
his fallen brother when three squirrels dropped out of a tree and
started mobbing him. One climbed up his leg, onto his shoulders, and
started darting round and round his neck biting his ears. Another
nipped at his left ankle, and the third followed the first upwards to
perch on Tony's shirt collar and scratch the bridge of his nose.
The beady eyes and cheeks
swollen with acorns must have a daunting one when it was so close it
had to be viewed cross-eyed. Tony flailed and ran off.
A few seconds passed and Al got
to his feet. Penelope was still standing on Jake. Al stood over his
head and said in a forced calm, “You have something to say to me?”
Jake's face scrunched up a
little. “Sorry,” he mumbled.
That was as good as it was gonna
get. All straightened a little more. “Thank you.”
“Freak,” Jake muttered.
Penelope looked up at Al, back
down at Jake, and then squatted where she was, peeing all over him.
When Al and Penelope got home, a
man in his late thirties and wearing a red fedora with a few too many
peacock feathers was sitting on the bench by the curb. “I know what
you did back there, kid.”
“What're you talking about?”
Al said.
“With the critters. Nice
trick,” the man nodded thoughtfully, not taking his eyes off Al.
“Especially for a newbie. What's your name, kid?”
“Al.”
“Al. Short and simple. I like
it.” The man fished in his inner jacket pocket and produced an
honest-to-goodness scroll complete with a velvety bow. “You'll need
this.”
“What?”
“Now that we've confirmed your
abilities, your magic will be blocked until you accept the dangers
that come with it and learn the rules.” He shoved the scroll into
Al's hands.
Al wondered if his blank look
would be enough to get any more explanation.
“Only open it when you're
ready. The string will know. One pull and there's no turning back.
Bye now.” And the guy disappeared. Along with the bench, which come
to think of it shouldn't have been there in the first place. How had
Al not noticed that?
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