Good morning to everyone. Well at least it's morning here early morning. I have been reading this site for a long time, and thought I would try my keyboard at writing a story for it. I have written several short stories around the internet on different topics and I thought I would try to compose something here. This will be my first story and if people like it I might make a series out of it.
First of all, this story is a work of fiction. It never really happened. It's not even based on real events or my personal experiences growing up. I was never involved in TUGs growing up. This story is a culmination of my writing experience and several of the other things that seem to be in stories listed here. This is meant to be a fun story. I won't include anything dealing with kidnapping, abuse, or of sexual nature so please don't ask. However, if anyone has suggestions about a path for the story to take let me know. I am open to ideas at least after this first introduction part. It will take a while for me to lay a foundation before I get to the tying part. I like to introduce my characters and provide some information about their backgrounds to let the reader connect with them.
Down on the Farm
Morning light flowed through the wind above his bed in the subterranean level of his house. The young boy had no alarm set. There was a clock in his room, but it rarely ever saw much use these days. He was too young to worry about setting it. His mind was still divided and clear from the difficulties that often accompanied the transition to adult hood. He never had a hard time getting up in the morning. It was just a little before 7:00 a.m. on the rolling dairy farm. He went to bed early as was his custom. Actually, it was a kerfew that his mother imposed an 8:30 pm bed time that had to be strictly adhered to. His older siblings were not bound by such rules, but privileges like staying up later at night were something that came with aging just like everything else.
Zac sat up in his bed and flipped the covers forward off his upper body and neatly onto his lap. The room was still cool with the heat of the day still some distance from reaching its hot point. The basement where he resided unlike the rest of the old farm house didn't have air conditioning. His parents had installed central air on the main floor of the house some time ago. There were also two single room air conditioners installed in the bedrooms on the second story of the house. However, none of the cool air managed to circulate down here. That was fine with Zac, he hated being cold in the first place.
The young boy let out a long and silent yawn as he raised his arms high above his head. The puffy sleeves slid down the length of his wrist gently exposing some of his bare skin to the cooler air. The covers had fallen off his upper half and landed gently in his lap covering on the lower half of him. The cute little cartoon girl was exposed to the open air now and no longer hid below the covers of the child’s bed. Zac finished his stretch and lowered his arms allowing the longs sleeves on the night gown to fall back to their proper place. Zac sat there a minute and looked around the room surveying the darkness mixed with the early morning light that flickered gingerly though the window that over-sat his bed.
Zac was 10 this year and starting to get older. The boy was a little short for his age still and still very much a child at heart. His eyes were a deep blue that clashed quietly with his short cut auburn brown hair. Zac shifted the covers off of himself completely and rolled his legs off over the side of the bed. The length of the nightgown followed his movements quickly. Zac stood up reaching his feet and let them fall hard upon the concrete floor that served as the base for his room. Then he stood up. His room was a corner of the basement that had been walled off with a panel board by his father and a small swinging door had been added to separate the 15 by 20 feet area. Zac was the youngest of his siblings and now that he had wanted his own room the previous year his father had to make a small addition to the house. The floor of the room was cold without carpet especially in the winter months of the year, but it was wonderful for another purpose.
When Zac reached his full height, the nightgown fell quickly to its full length just above his ankles. With the outfit full exposed, Dora the Explorer appear on his front dressed in a purple set of pajamas. Being the youngest of 3 children, a good part of Zac's wardrobe was composed of hamidown clothing from his two older siblings. He still had a number of outfits his eldest brother had worn several years ago that still fit him. Clothing was expensive when your parents were farmers and his mother hadn't been too picky as to which sibling his sleepwear had come from. Zac actually had 3 nightgowns in his pajama collection at the moment. Two of them featured Dora and the third Tinkerbell. They had all been his sister Emily's two years prior. She still liked characters from her younger childhood. However, Dora she was beginning to outgrow finally now that she was 11.
The nightgown was definitely well worn and faded, but it was comfortable and warm on cooler nights. Zac liked it quite a bit and it rarely saw wear beyond his room or an occasional trip to the breakfast table. Such would not be the case this morning. Zac slid the garment off over his head and allowed it to come to rest on the floor. He made the short trip across his room and stated getting ready for the day. He was more than old enough to pick out an outfit and dress himself. It was a Saturday the second one in May. The weather outside was definitely getting warmer, but the last chills of the year were not completely gone yet. Zac opened his drawer and pulled out some clothing. A long sleeved white t-shirt with a bear on the front. This had also been part of his sister's wardrobe passed onto him. He slipped it on over his head. Next, he drew out a pair of blue denim overalls. Zac wored his lets inside and pulled the straps over his shoulders and snapped them onto the front of the garment. The front apron part of the overalls covered the bear on his shirt completely. He finished off his outfit with a white pair of socks.
Zac now changed for the most part recrossed the room returning to his bed where he took a quick seat. He rolled his upper body forward using one hand to balance while he maneuvered his other one under the bed. He felt around a few inches back and fourth until he acquired what he was looking for. Once he had them, he brought them up from under the bed and set them neatly on the edge of the bed. Zac re-steadied himself as he returned to a sitting position and brought one leg upwards lodging his knee against his chest. Then the young boy reached over and took hold of the first roller skate. The skates were old and showed both their age and wear. They had been his eldest brother's originally and then worked their way down all the way to their current owner like many of the items currently in Zac's possession.
The skates were made of a heavy sturdy plastic mostly blue in color. The wheels orange with blue centers and the top of the toes and heels were a bright yellow in color. The roller skates were a set of the fisher price 123 skates from the late 80's and early 90's. They were designed to fit over a toddlers shoes so that they could learn how to roller skate. The back of the skate closed with a single Velcro strap and it expanded in the center to accommodate a wide variety of sizes. Zac pulled the strap snug across the top of his foot and then let it fall gently towards the floor. He then brought up his second leg and began to don the second half of the pair. The skates were old and too small to fit over his shoes. However, they still fit over top of socks on two settings from their largest expansion. In a year or two they would be to small to use at all. However, Zac never thought that far ahead.
With the second skate on, he let his feet fall down on the floor and gently raised himself to a standing positions. Then, the young skater tried to make his way forward. The right foot slid easily, but the left didn't move at all. The skates were designed to teach a new skater the ropes of how to roller skate. Zac steadied himself on the bed and brought his left foot up off the floor to his open hand. There was a switch at the front of the item that would set the wheels into one of three settings. The first would lock the wheels. The second would only let the wheels roll forward and the third unlocked the wheels for free movement. Zac set the switch to the third position and returned both of the skates to the floor to support his weight. Once that was done, he began to glide forward slowly towards the foot of his bed. The skates made a creaking sound as they moved showing their age. The moved slower and we're much easier to control than a more traditional pair of roller skates.
Zac had a newer pair that he wore when he went to the local rink, however, these were the pair that he learned on and they were much easier to handle things like stairs and other uncommon obstacles in. Besides, they were the only pair that his mother tolerated in the house. Still, they rolled freely across the cement floor of the basement with a steady progress. Zac kept one hand on his bed for balance as he made his way to the end of it. He arrived without any incident. Finally, the child reached down and took the helmet off the knob foot board of his bed. It was a hard shell skating helmet solid navy blue in color. Zac slipped it on top of his head and buckled the chin strap snugly under his chin. His parents weren't overly concerned about him wearing a helmet or not, but he did anyways. Unlike his older siblings, Zac had grown up in the generation where safety gear was the new thing. He had outgrown the last set of skating pads he had when he was 7, but he still wore a helmet. Something that his mother had picked up for him at his own request.
With everything in place, Zac made his way out of his room and across the rest of the basement. Zac was a little strange by the standards that most of the world is judged. His whole family was in it's own way. This was just a normal Saturday at home for him. The roller skates were just part of his normal wardrobe. He wore them around the house like many children wear house slippers. It had been this way ever since he could remember and his parents just tolerated it. Zac stopped at the base of the steps and knelt down. He took a second and locked the wheels on the skates with the switch before continuing up. He stopped again at the top of the steps and released the switch again. He was at the hall that led down towards the kitchen. This part of the house was hard wood floored, but a good portion of it wasn't and skating in a carpeted area was more difficult.
Zac made his way down the hallway to the kitchen. His mother heard him coming long before she saw him. The skating made moving quietly around the house all but impossible. The noise would likely have bothered a normal family, but Zac's family was a large group of early risers. It was part of their heritage and purpose in the word.
"Good morning mom" Zac commented as he made his way to the table and pulled out his chair.
The kitchen was large and spacious. Counters surrounded the bulk of it with a dishwasher and stove tucked back in one far corner. The center of the room was accented by a large kitchen table that encompassed most of the kitchen. Zac's mother was already on her way over to where her son was sitting with a plate of toast in one hand and a glass of milk in the other.
"Good mornin little crab. How's your shell today?"
His mother asked him as she set the food down in front of him. Once her hands had been freed up from carrying the food she rapped the top of her son's helmet gently with two fingers. This slid it forward an inch or two on the boys head. Zac reached up with both hands and steadied it back into place. The nick name had been his ever since this whole skating business started. If his mother didn't have picture of her son, she would swear on the weekends that his head was made of plastic.
Zac smiled back at his mother with a big grin. He liked the attention from the teasing as long as it wasn't mean.
"It's fine, got a big day ahead of me. I am going out exploring."
His mother locked eyes with him. "Well, you cannot go exploring on an empty stomach. Eat up before it gets cold."
His mother commented gesturing to the food in front of her youngest son. Zac dug into the small meal in front of him. His breakfast was always the same. Two slices of wheat toast with butter and an orange which his mother peeled and set out in slices on the side of the plate. He consumed it along with the glass of milk over the next few minutes.
"There you go, don't let any of it go to waste. Also, don't forget your watch. I don't want you late for lunch. Oh, and here is the radio in case you need to talk to me." His mother commented setting the two objects on the table in front of him.
"You mean the little crab can tell time?" A third voice added from across the room.
Zac and his mother turned towards the source already having identified it from memory and tone. The look was a matter of common human respect and custom. A young girls stood at the exit to the hallway leading into the kitchen on the far side. She was Zac's sister and the middle sibling of the family. Emily stood about an inch and a half above her brother's head when they were standing adjacent. The difference in their height was a little more than that, but Zac's skates and helmet helped to shorten the gap a little bit. The height advantage was simply the result of her being a year his senior in coming into this world.
Emily stood there at the end of the hallway still dressed in her bed clothes. They consisted of a mid length sleep shirt featuring Tinkerbell on the front and a pair of yellow pajama pants that she wore underneath the gown. Her feet were padded in a set of fleece moccasin style slippers and her hair was parted with a large band behind her ears. Aside from the difference in gender and height, standing side by side you would swear they were twins. Emily shared Zac's auburn hair and blue eyes. Zac ignored his sister's comment and continued eating. She crossed the room and took a seat across from her brother tucking her legs under the table and sliding her chair forward.
"I would expect that he could tell time at his age, but it's Saturday and here he is up stomping around with those dorky yellow roller skates at this early hour."
Their mother poured Emily a bowl of cereal with sliced bananas and milk. She crossed the room and set it down in front of her daughter and handed Emily a spoon. The she went back to the fridge and began preparing a glass of juice.
"You're the one who needs to learn to tell time Emily. Fred and your father have already been up and out in the barn for a good hour now. Your brother isn't the early riser, if you didn't stay up till midnight, you wouldn't be tired this morning when you had to get up early. Now go ahead and eat."
Zac sat silently smirking at the scolding his sister was getting. He preferred to let his mother fight this type of battle for him. Besides, he was finishing up his meal as the other members of his company exchanged idal conversation. He hastily chewed the last bit of his toast and gulped down the last of his milk. With the small meal consumed, the 10 year old boy reached out and took hold of the watch. It was a simple light blue colored one with a big digital display. He looped it over his left wrist and snapped it into place leaving the large face exposed showing the numbers on his wrist. He then took the radio off the table and clipped it onto one of the pockets on the lower part of his overalls before setting his skates on the floor and turning his attention towards the door.
"Thanks Mom, I appreciate you making it for me. I am off I will see you later."
"Glad you liked it. Lunch is at 1:00. Keep an eye on your watch so you aren't late and keep the radio on low in case I need to talk to you."
Zac nodded and looked down at his wrist watch acknowledging the command. He switched the radio on to a low volume. The watch had been a birthday present two years ago. His mother had got it for him when he was in second grade. He had just finished proving that he could tell time on a face clock and as a reward the large digital watch had appeared. It had been a curious present at first, mostly because his parents had gotten his sister one as well. It was the same watch accept it was pink in color rather than the light blue. His mother had taken care in telling him to take good care of the watch it was an expensive model that cost well over a hundred dollars and she expected him to take good care of it. For all it was, all it did was read out the time in a large LCD display on his left wrist. With the watch in place, Zac headed out the back door of the house and into his yard.
"Did you remember to get your watch too Emily?" Her mother asked her middle daughter as she continued to eat.
In between bites of cereal Emily put out a quick reply. "No, Mom. It's still sitting in the charger where it always is. I am not leaving the house today so I really don't need it. But if I do I will remember to take it with me."
Her mother nodded assuredly and headed back over to the counter to turn on the CB radio that sat on the kitchen counter. Everyone on the farm carried radios with them now. It allowed communication between the family and most of the hired help. The two workers that Zac's father kept on a full time pay roll to keep the farm running smoothly. Although he sometimes hired extra kids to fill in needed jobs over the summer and sometime on the weekends when harvest season was about. The radios gave the family a direct link to each other and a way for the children to notify their parents where they were and if they needed help with something. It also provided a way for Zac's mother to call on the boy when he was late for a meal or if there was a danger that he needed to avoid.
. . . . . . . .
Zac finished descending the last step to the bottom of the back porch onto the side walk. He stopped for a moment to switch the small switch on the bottom of his skates to unlock the wheels. Then, he began to make his way across the backyard. The family's dairy farm was more than 300 acres which, spanned both fields, pasture and even a heavily wooded area towards the rear of the property. Zac made his way down the sidewalk. There were several paved areas around the farm ideal for roller skating, however most of the paths and traveled ways around were either gravel or dirt. His skates carried him easily to the end of the sidewalk and onto the main driveway. Here, the matter of moving forward became much more difficult over the uneven ground the driveway gravel provided. Still, it was easier to traverse here than through the grass which offered the most resistance to his chosen mode of transportation.
Zac made his way along in the early morning light of spring day. He could easily see where he was going and looked around as he passed the various items of what served as their back yard. There were two areas that had primarily served as his play outside location growing up. The first was a fenced in areas with several trees set off about 100 feet back from the rear of the house. It had an old tractor tire which served as a sand box and a large wooded fort/swingset for playing on. This had been the whole of the outside world that he had known the first 5 years of his life. The whole area was surrounded with a chicken wire fence about 3 feet high to keep him and his sister in check when they were growing up. His mother would turn them loose in the area and close a gate to keep them corralled while they played outside.
Zac's father grew up in the time period when children were seen at breakfast and then departed to be on their own for the rest of the day. His mother didn't quite approve of that. When Zac had turned 6, his mother changed his avenues of exploration quite a bit more. During the next two year block of his life, he spent most of his time outside on a tether. He and his sister had been put on a leash type harness with a rope attached to a tether point someplace around the yard. There were several places set up for this around the farm where they could be secure and this allowed them more freedom to explore different part of the farm with or without the supervision of their parents. One end of a rope about 50 or 60 feet in length was tied to the harness and the other end was secured to a pole or tree some place. The tethers were not used in the fenced in area if Zac and Emily wanted to play there of course.
His father spent more time with him during this period showing him around the farm. He received lectures about where it was safe for him to be and where it wasn't. He had taken great pride in learning and become quite knowledgeable about the given boundaries. This thought visited his attention momentarily. However, most of his focus was set on exploring and the present situation he was in. All that had changed a little over two years earlier. With his coming of understanding, his mother had relinquished this system of control and he and his sister were given the run of the farm, with a few restrictions on where they were aloud to wander. It was a few days after his eighth birthday when his mother traded the tethers in on some portable radios. This gave her a direct link to them at all times and she checked in with them every half hour or so if she didn't hear from them.
Zac continued on his way, he had a destination in mind for the day. He wanted to traverse through the back woods and head all the way over to the old home of his great grandparents. It was a long trip of about 2 miles over a beaten path that connected the farm and their original home. Zac set out on his way. They had both departed from this world a few years prior. He had only known them briefly and the best he could recall of them was a few mixed images. Their property had fallen by will and testimate to Zac's uncle Mike. The property had been on the market for sometime, but for the past two years it remained vacant. It was a set back a good distance from the road and had a long paved driveway that was perfect for roller skating. It had more open area for the activity than anywhere on the farm that Zac knew about. He had visited their the summer before. His mother had granted him permission for the trip the previous year. The house sat empty and it wasn't like he would really be causing any harm there. He and his uncle got along very well.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Inside the house, Emily had recently finished eating her breakfast. Unlike her little brother she took a minute and brought the dishes across the room to her mother and handed them up to her.
"Thanks, it was quite good. I am going to head into the living room for some cartoons now."
Her mother took the dishes out of her daughters hands and passed her the pink wrist watch in return. Emily gave her mother a hard look, but didn't speak any further. She just slipped it around her left wrist and slid the sleeve or her night gown over it. Arguing on the subject did little good. She knew that and it was just easier to wear the silly thing than argue with her mother about it. It was a promise she had made several times the previous year and then forgot the wrist watch when she departed. Emily smiled and departed the kitchen for the living room. Her mother just smiled and poured herself a third cup of coffee. It was going to be a long day.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Zac's journey down the lane that led between the two main fields took a good 20 minutes to complete. The second leg of his trek would take even longer. The long gravel path concluded at the edge of the woods that bordered the back of his father's property and served as a barrier between the farm and where his great grandparents had resided. The gravel road gave way to a dirt path that curved and lead through the forested area. It wound in some places and it's total length was a little over a mile in construction. Zac began to make his way down it towards his destination. The trek was slow going. The tree canopy blocked some of the sunlight that hovered above. The ground was uneven in places and tree roots and brush bared part of his way.
The roller skates didn't do anything to expedite his journey. However, he was having a good time picking his way through the terrain and they added a welcome challenge to what would have otherwise been a 20 minute walk through the woods. The trip took the young man a little under half an hour to complete. He had made it more that 30 times the year before alone and on several occasions in the company of his parents when he was younger. He knew the route well and traversed it without incident. The large white house was coming into view in the distance and Zac could see it clearly now through the trees. The plan at least in his mind was to get there, skate for an hour or two and then make the return journey for lunch. After another 50 yards or so, the path wound to it's conclusion and began to open up into the back yard. Zac rounded the last bend of the journey and stopped suddenly.
The young man quickly veered off the side of the path and hid his presence behind an oak tree that stood there. His mind had been in the present and it alerted him quickly to what his eyes came to meet. Cautiously, the young boy peered his head around the corner of the large tree trying to keep his presents hidden from the person he now observed. There was an old swing composed of two ropes and a board of wood that they suspended off a tree branch in the back yard. Zac had spent time swinging on it the previous summer and when his great grandparents had resided here. It should have been vacant, but to his surprise there was a young girl his age give or take a year. He couldn't tell from his vantage point looking at her back. Still, she didn't look like anyone he had seen at school or around. This was a small farming community and he knew most of the children within two miles of where he resided. The girl was new an unfamiliar to him.
He stood back for a while observing her not knowing what to do. His plans of skating in the driveway were put on hold and held back at his finding her there. However, her mere presence didn't catch his attention, rather it was her demeanor that drew his gaze. The girl shot a quick sideways glance looking at something. It gave Zac a momentary look at her face. Not that it really helped. All it did was confirm that he didn't know who she was. However, that was going to change soon enough and it would change him for the rest of his life.
I am going to stop here for now. This has gotten a lot longer than I intended it to. I will continue the story in the near future now that everything is properly set in place. I will most likely post the next part of this story sometime in the next 8 to 10 days. Thanks for reading and I feel free to leave some comments about what you liked and didn't. I am new to writing here and hopefully my works will be well recieved.
Alex