Bigger Than Life
The stars were out in the sky, stretched across the horizon as if there was a
great god sleeping on earth who had suddenly gotten cold, and pulled the great
blanket of stars closer to get warmer. The stars were out, and Joe was very,
very, hungry. He looked about for his father and could not find him anywhere in
his large apartment, its every nook and cranny stocked full of toys, most of
them broken or thrown about in tiny little pieces and parts. Where was his
daddy? He was ever so hungry...
He crawled across the blue carpeted floor and looked into the small room that
his dad usually kept locked, the one he was always scolded for when he went
into.
"Daddy? Daddy I’m hungwy." He said as loud as he could, hoping that
his daddy would hear him and come out of the small little room. After his daddy
didn’t reply, he did the only other thing he could think of: he cried.
"Waaahhhh!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs for a few minutes,
heard a sigh from the other side of the door, and heard the rustling of papers
and boots. Finally the door opened, and his daddy stood there, wearing, as
usual, nothing but diaper and tie and the tiny hairs on his mostly bald head.
"What do you want son? Your father is very busy right now." His daddy
sighed and smoothed back his few hairs with a pudgy arm. Joe remembered the last
time his daddy had taken him somewhere. They had driven far away, and when they
got to the place, the people were shocked and stared at Joe and his daddy as if
they were both crazy.
"What is this? A grown man crawling on the ground and a baby talking like
an adult?" Someone had shouted that briefly before passing out. What did
that mean? Joe had no idea. He didn’t see anything odd about his daddy. His
daddy had always been a small pudgy person with few hairs, and unlike Joe, was
not potty trained and still had to wear a diaper. But Joe didn’t find this
astonishing. It was just normal life for the citizens of Block AA125.
"Daddy I’m hungwy!" He shouted, then quieted, realizing that his
daddy hated it when he shouted, since his voice was much louder and deeper
sounding then his daddies. His daddy looked at him for a moment with cold dead
eyes, but brightened just a bit before speaking.
"Okay. I'll be right back with a bottle for you." His daddy took the
small metal key from a notch in his diaper, stretched on his toes to reach the
keyhole, and locked the door before heading to the enlarged kitchen to prepare a
bottle.
Joe crawled over to a corner and picked up a few pieces of his new Lego model
kit, then tried to jam them together so that they would look like the picture on
the package. And as usual, he failed. Somehow he ended up creating a cross
between a rabbit and a donkey, and his daddy found him sobbing in the corner
when he came back with his bottle.
"Oh son, let me do that for you. Here." His daddy sat down on the
ground near him and tossed him the bottle, then took apart Joe's creation and
began working on it while Joe sucked eagerly on the bottle and grinned at the
taste of fresh milk.
"Tank you daddy." He said happily. His father glanced at him and
scowled as he noticed the bit of milk that had dribbled down his sons face, and
then realized that there was a significant amount of stubble growing on his face
as well, but turned back to assembling the pieces together.
"Here." His daddy said, gruffly tossing him the finished contraption.
He looked at it, amazed, then immediately began playing with it, rolling it
across the floor and testing how many times he could toss it into a wall before
it would break. He didn’t notice when his daddy left the room, but looked up
and cringe when his daddy returned with something he had called a
"shaver" and "gel" in hand.
"Nooo! Waaah! I don’t wanna!" He said, sobbing as his daddy neared
him, shaver in hand. He remembered what had happened the last time his daddy had
"shaved" him. He had ended up with little cuts all over his face that
had stung for a week. He scooted back on the carpet, bumping into a table and
knocking a book onto the floor.'
"Sit still!" His daddy commanded in his squeaky and soft yet
commanding tone. He sat still, too frightened to move as his father began
applying the gel. Soon the shaver followed, but surprisingly, he managed not to
receive any cuts. His daddy wiped his fat hands off on a paper towel, then
turned stiffly and went back into his office without another word, leaving Joe
to play with his toys once again.
I wonder why the people were all scared and s'uff. Oh well... I wonder what'll
happen if I throw this out the window...?