The Story

Ian sat staring at the blank screen, his fingers posed over the keyboard. The leisurely blinking of the cursor slowly hypnotized him. Gradually his eyelids drooped downward as he sat there in a daze. Just before he fell completely asleep sitting there his fingers began to move, and he typed. His fingers danced over the keyboard as word after word filled the screen. The world fell away for Ian as he spilled out line after line.

“Ian dinner is ready,” his mom called from downstairs, but he didn’t hear her.

When Ian didn’t come down his mom came up and barged in. He didn’t even notice as the door crashed open, his focus all on the story that was spewing forth from him. She watched him for a few minutes then quietly left. The hours sped by as Ian worked, and it was well into the night when he finally came out of his daze. His eyes felt gritty and his vision was blurry. He tried to focus on the screen to read what he had written, but his eyes refused.

With a groan he saved his work and went downstairs looking for food. His mom had left a note for him on the kitchen table before she had left for her job hours ago.

Dear Ian,

I left your dinner in the fridge. Make sure to take out the trash and let the dog in before you go to bed.

Love mom.

He grabbed his plate from the fridge and ate before heading back upstairs. He flopped down on his bed and closed his eyes. He told himself he would only rest a few minutes then he would take care of the trash and let the dog in.

***

The buzzing of his alarm pulled him from his dreamless sleep and he looked over at the clock. Rubbing his eyes as he sat up, then it came to him, the trash and the dog. He jumped up and ran down stairs.

The dog, Scraps, had torn open the trash during the night and he cursed as he grabbed a new bag and started picking it up. Scraps came running from where ever he had spent the night to pounce on the boy. Barking and running around the playful dog made what should have been a simple job harder.

Stomping into the house he knew he was going to be late. He ran upstairs and jumped in the shower. Dressing quickly, he grabbed his book bag and headed for the door, but turned back at the last minute. He pulled the flash drive with his story on it and dropped it into his pocket. He hadn’t read it yet and he couldn’t remember what he had wrote.

***

He heard the bell ringing as he came into the school yard and sprinted towards the door. The guard was just closing it, so he yelled hoping to save himself a trip to the office. He slipped into his homeroom and took his seat as the teacher was about to take attendance.

“Mr. Mooby, late again.”

He smiled, “I was in my seat before you called my name, so I wasn’t really late.”

“You are to be in your seat before the bell Mr. Mooby.”

“Are you sure? I always thought it was before you called my name. I’m not even sure that the student handbook is clear on this point.”

“My classroom, my rules. That is your fifth tardy this month. I will inform the office you will be attending detention the rest of the week.”

He groaned and put his head on his desk.

***

Sitting in math class Ian listened to Mr. Howards drone on about the formula to figure out the area of a triangle. He couldn’t figure out why he would need this information and if he did he could look it up on the internet. He didn’t even think about it as he reach down and pulled the flash drive from his pocket. As he grew more bored with the class his mind wandered away and he began to spin the flash drive on his desk.

A hand came crashing down trapping the flash drive under it. “What exactly is this Mr. Mooby?”

“Well sir, it is what is called a flash drive. It is used with them new contraptions called computers.”

“I know what it is, why are you sitting here daydreaming and spinning it?”

“If you know what it is, why ask? I wasn’t really daydreaming I was super intently concentrating on your lesson.”

“Really. Then you should be able to figure out the answer to the problem on page 38.”

Ian wanted to groan, but he flipped to the page and looked at the problem. It wasn’t that hard.

***

Ian walked out of math class smiling as he tossed the flash drive into the air and caught it. Howards had looked pretty dumb for picking on him when he answered that question. He tossed the flash drive up, but Bradley Rooks knocked him out of the way and caught it.

“What you got here Ian? Bet this is packed full of gay porn you little faggot.”

Bradley Rooks was on the football team and loved picking on guys smaller then him. Ian smiled and held out his hand.

“Give it back to me and I won’t hurt you.”

“Yeah right, you hurt-“

Ian stepped in close and slammed his fist into Bradley’s side. He was short and skinny, but he also knew how to fight. As Bradley groaned Ian took the flash drive from his hand.

“Next time I won’t be as nice.”

***

Miss. Johansson was the kind of teacher that is remembered years after a student leaves her class. She worked hard to engage the students and get them involved. This year her prize student was Ian D. Mooby. He had been the kind of kid that sat in the back of the class and read comic books instead of paying attention at the beginning of the year. His first book report was on some graphic novel, but all her effort had paid off.

Ian walked into the class and tossed Miss Johansson the flash drive with a big smile on his face. He still hadn’t read what he had written, but he felt it was good.

“I wrote something last night.”

“Then I’ll have to have a look right now.”

She popped it into the computer and opened the file. The other students filed in and took their seats as she read silently. The bell rang and still she continued to read. The students looked at each other unsure what to do. Ian sat in his seat in the back of the class waiting.

Finally, she looked up. “Take out your books and read the next chapter silently. Mr. Mooby can you please come up here.”

Ian walked up slowly. He should have read it first. What if he had written something bad? He had been feeling so good until now. He reached her desk and just stood there as she closed the file and handed him back his flash drive.

“Ian that was…well to be honest it was great. I think you could get that published. I even know somebody that could do that for you.”

Ian was stunned. He had never considered getting anything he wrote published, he did it because it was fun.

“I know that is a big deal and you need to think about it so just take your time.”

“I will.”

He headed back to his seat, as he thought about what to do.

***

The rest of the school day passed in a daze and he rushed home to pop the flash drive into his computer and read what he had written. He reached the end and scrolled back to the top to read it again. After the third time he read it he sat back and thought about getting it published, putting it out there for the world to see. He closed the file and right clicked on it. Scrolling down he hovered the cursor over the command for a second then clicked it.