The Adventures of Lil Peep won! Yay!

https://soundcloud.com/user-496754662/the-adventures-of-lil-peep-1

Once upon a time there lived a precocious eight year old boy, named Gustav. He lived with his little brother Oskar, his mother Liza and his invisible father. Oh he wasn't truly invisible. Father worked inside a Big Red Apple. Getting to and from this giant apple was quite a journey! Apparently it took a yellow taxi, a train, a submarine and another taxi just to get to this Apple. At the end of the day he had to do it all backwards.  All in all, Gustav's father was gone 16 hours a day, 6 days a week. His mother explained daddy yearns to climb the Ladder of Success.  Gustav wondered how high such a ladder must be! He imagined such a ladder being higher and longer than Jack and the Beanstalk's beanstalk.

All of this climbing meant Gustav's father would be gone when Gustav woke up and he'd return well after Gustav went to bed. On the weekends, his father mostly golfed and slept. Gustav couldn't believe his daddy preferred climbing ladders, golfing and sleeping rather than playing with his little boys. Perhaps, just perhaps, his father wasn't climbing ladders. Maybe, just maybe, he was a spy or even better--an invisible wizard!

But you see, nothing so magical ever happened, in Huntington, on the humdrum Island of Long. At least not yet...

Gustav grew up a cute, skinny kid with sandy-blond hair, an infectious grin and a vivid imagination. While other boys his age were getting addicted to DS games and Nintendo,  Gustav was roaming the neighborhood dancing for candy money. (He couldn't help it if he was resourceful as well as charming.) When his mother discovered his unique way of gouging their neighbors out of coinage, she signed him up for dance lessons. He was the only boy taking ballet, tap and hip hop. He was really good petty girls in pink tutus taunted him until the boy, with all the gifts, quit.

At 9 years old Gustav's imagination peeked. He had it settled his mind his absentee father wasn't merely MIA but an invisible Grand Wizard. Liza, his mother, explained for the umpteenth time how his father worked long hours with an exhausting commute. Gustav refused to believe his mother. Climbing ladders in an apple? How silly!

A few years back, when Gustav still sported his sleek blonde bowl cut, he remembered his invisible father kissing him on the forehead. Gustav drifted in that place between dreaming and awake but he distinctly heard his father say, "Sweet dreams wiz kid." When he opened his eyes his father had vanished, only his pungent Polo cologne lingered.  His father had never called him a "wiz kid" before. He assumed it was code for, "I'm a wizard and your next." He knew it had nothing to do with his report cards for they weren't wizard material.

Incessantly he droned on to his mother, "Daddy doesn't want me to have his powers. As the youngest son he's gotta pass them on to me—it's the wizard rules!"

Patiently Liza would explain, "Gussy, daddy's not a wizard, he's a workaholic—although he does seem like a ghost at times!"

This only fueled his belief. "So my father is a Ghost Wizard!" He was determined to confront his dad. He would get those powers if it were the last thing he did. After all they were rightfully his. Everyone knows being the second born son made you heir to such things.

One early September morning Gustav woke up, home alone. Still in his Power Ranger pjs he called out to his family. "Mama? Dad? Oskar!"  At first he thought his entire family had invisible powers too, until he saw the note left by his mother.

Gus,
I dropped Oskar off soccer practice.
I'm off to work. It's a teacher workday.
Be home around noon. Let Taz out.
There's Eggo waffles in the freezer.
Love ya,
Mama
P.S. Don't get into mischief!!!

Gus thought to himself, "Now's my chance," Taz yelped at the back door. (He had a doggie door but he preferred his humans let him out.) After letting Taz out he popped a couple of waffles into the toaster. If he was going to find his father he'd need to eat first. Everyone knows you can't battle on an empty stomach. He thought he may need to prove his worth in the fantastical Wizard World.

As the sweet smell of hot toasty waffles filled the kitchen Taz barked to be let back in. Guztav picked up the two waffles and said, "Hot, hot, hot!" Shoveling an entire waffle into his mouth he opened the squeaky screen door and with a mouth full said,  "Come in boy. I'm gonna need your help today Taz."  He pulled off a piece of waffle and tossed it to Taz. He caught it in the air and begged for more. "No more, Mama says you're gettin' fat." He shoved the entire second waffle into his own mouth. He had no time to waste. His mother would return in 3 hours.

His search for his ghost wizard of a father had begun. Gus began calling out for him as he ran throughout the house."Dad? Daddy? Ghost Wizard! Come out, come out wherever you are!" Nothing. Gus asked aloud, "So this is how it's gonna be huh?" He didn't really expect an answer. His father had been eluding him for years now and now he suspected it to be on purpose. "Is this a test? Do I have to find you?" Taz barked once. Once for yes two for no.  Gus took it as a sign. He started with front closet. He removed every coat, every shoe, every purse. On the top shelf were board games. He dumped Life, Pictionary, Moods, Apples to Apples, Clue and more all on the foyer's floor. Red and green Monopoly houses scattered into the living room. It rained pastel colored Monopoly money everywhere! Gus wasn't sure how big or small a ghost wizard could be. He needed to open every box, reach inside every boot. Such messy determination!

After emptying the front hall closet, he and Taz headed for the kitchen. He opened every cabinet, every drawer. He took out every cup, plate and bowl, every fork, spoon, knife and spatula. He piled them high on the kitchen island. Next he went to the refrigerator. He removed everything, the milk, yogurt, cheese, lunchmeat, lunchables ( only stopping to eat the Skittles' pack inside.) He continued emptying every Capris Sun juicebox, slurp, slurp, slurp... ketchup, mayonnaise and ice cream.. He opened every tupperware container. He placed the food on top of their round, teal-laminated, 50's style kitchen table.  He even checked inside each and every egg. Crack! Gloop. Crack! Gloop...  Next came the pantry filled with rice, Lucky Charms, Captain Crunch, tuna helper, dried beans, lentils, sugar and more. He had to be thorough. He had to open and dump the contents from each and every container. He believed once he became a Wizard he could put it all back with a snap of his fingers. He snapped his fingers. Taz looked up and paused his own eating frenzy! When he wasn't scolded for eating the blue stars, yellow diamonds and green clovers he continued devouring the cereal. It was his special way of helping.

When he'd emptied the entire contents of the kitchen he bounded up the stairs yelling his catchphrase, "Wizard of the Island of Long, you must pass your powers along!"

His mother would be home in less than 2 hours. There was no time to waste.

Upstairs it was a bit easier. He started in his parent's room. The tidy closet was packed full of suits, dresses, shirts and blouses. He piled them on top of the queen sized bed with the green quilted backboard. Taz scooted under the bed. Gustav assumed his puppy was helping and yelled, "Good boy, find daddy." The only thing he found were some dust bunnies. He came out and shook off the cobwebs and sneezed 3 times.

Gustov thought, "Three sneezes? It means we're getting close right Taz?"

Taz tilted his head at the boy and whined. Then he wobbled to his doggie bed in Gustav's room. His over-stuffed little belly hurt.

After the closet came the dresser drawers. He didn't like touching his mom's bras and underwear so he dumped the contents onto the abstract throw rug with splashes of greens, blues and peach. He was running out of time and patience. The waffle energy wore out an hour ago. Next he headed got the tiny bathroom across the hall. He plugged the sink, opened the medicine cabinet and dumped every pill bottle, toothpaste, shaving cream and razor. All of the pills were mixed up. In his searching frenzy he knocked over the container holding the families tooth brushes into the toilet. "Ah geez!"  Sticking his hand into the toilet, which still contained his own urine from this morning, he thought he'd better wash them off. But wait! The pills were still in the sink and now were a melty mess. He'd made his own abstract work of Advil, pseudoephed, Aleve and Tums. Quickly he looked in the cabinet under the sink, ridding it of shampoo,  conditioner, toilet paper... No dad! 

After performing the same ritual in the linen closet, Oskar's room and then his own. He was exhausted. He told himself, "I'll just rest my eyes then I'll clean up before mom gets home.." He stepped over a pile of Taz's puke in the hall. He remembered the commercial, "Now with rainbow marshmallows..."  Taz too, had made a masterful piece of abstract art.

Gustav noticed Taz circled up in a ball in his off-white lumpy comfy squishy doggie bed (which lay adjacent to his own bed.) "Move over Taz," Gustav rested his head next to Taz's soft belly and the rhythm of the dog's breathing made Gustav fall fast asleep.

-End of Chapter 1-

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