“Whoooo, whoooo,”
the owl questioningly stated, startling Niel into a sitting position
from the crumpled mess of pillows, sheets, dreams, and flesh he had
resided as moments before. Uuuugh, it cant be that time already, he
wishfully hoped as he slipped out of bed and drug his weary body
toward the Owl, snagging a mouse along the way which screamed for
it's life in a high pitch voice Niel had convinced himself didn't lie
within the audible range of a human.
“I'm sorry lil'
buddy, it is what it is; it's only natural.”
The mouse cried
“Natural?? Look who's talking!Who are you to judge whats natu---”
Niels eye's snapped swiftly shut as wind left it's wake in his face,
and the wailing Pandora's Box of guilt was forever stolen from his
ears.
“Did someone
say... who?” winked the owl, who had somehow appeared back upon his
perch from his swift movement, licking his beak after slurping in the
last little strand of tail.
“Haha. Thanks for
waking me up, Owlie. Thank you for saving my ear drums from bursting
from all that high pitched whining.... and thanks for ruining
spaghetti for me forever.”
“Anytime,”
winked Owlie once more with one beady eye open, glistening with the
dreams of the stars, an eyelid drooping heavily in harmonic
opposition to the rising sun, whose rays crept across the lawn,
climbing up the wall and slipping through the blinds, spilling into
the bedroom. “I'll see you and Mama at break... fast.... “
“You mean
dinner?” Niel prodded at the now slightly suggestive Owlie, taking
advantage of the Owl's transitional stages between reality and the
imaginarium of unlimited possibilities.
“Whoo.... ooo...
?” Owl questioningly whistled once again, through a closed beak,
now too weak to fight with waking might the queries which now might
be imposed upon him.
As each foot took
turns pitter-pattering Niel over to his dresser, he chuckled to
himself, pondering how abstract it was that Mama Nature had conceived
of two Children whose waking life could lay in total chronological
opposition of each other... well, if he could even call himself a
Child. Should he even go to school today? Niel peered over towards
the quote he had sloppily pasted on the wall almost a year ago now,
which read: “To be unique, you have to be a little bit weird.”
Mmm, alright.. I'll embrace myself, love me excise amounts of
weirdness, and go to school today. He copied the quote down on a
piece of paper, to remind himself throughout the day, and shoved it
into a crumpled state in his pocket. He whisked his Suit out of the
drawer, slipping himself into it like a naked banana moving in
reverse, guiding his clumsy body with such swiftness that you could
safely assume his muscle memory had mastered the move long ago.
Niel cruised
through his house, gallantly galloping off every wall and soaring
over every obstacle he could, in a hopeful attempt at stumbling into
a bout of courage that would allow for him to feel comfortable in his
own skin for at least a day. He grabbed his backpack, a muffin,
yogurt, and a banana, and glided out the door, across the dewy grass
whose every blade sparkled with a microscopic model of the sun,
juggling his breakfast items in his arms until they nestled in their
final resting places within his tangle of arms. The boy continued
this motion onto the very edge of the sidewalk, halting right as his
feet reached the cliff of the curb, and he swayed back and forth,
attempting to gain his balance and composure yet coming across in
reality as more of a bobblehead to the oncoming husky Yellow Rhino
and it's occupants, as it slowed it's thunderous trot right before
him, grazing Niel's still bobbling body as it whisked past him, and
leaving him feeling lucky that balance had worked in his favor today.
Make sure to thank Mama for providing me a well balanced breakfast,
he noted to himself as his eyes oogled out.
Mr. Oxpecker pulled
on White Rhino's reigns, attempting to park the mighty mass next to
the curb with the now bewildered boy.
“That'll sure
wake you up, better than a cup of coffee, don't ya think!?” shouted
Mr. Oxpecker, trying to speak one level above the accumulation of
hum-drum rabbling the students were creating.
“I'll take a bit
less caffeine next time,” Niel yelled, as he climbed onto White
Rhino and looked around for a seat. He was able to scout out quick
glances from a few of the other students in his periphreal vision
which his eyes would turn to reach out and attempt to capture,
embrace, yet their eyes would already have been lured away by
something more appealing. Peacock whipped open his tail, drawing
away the last tad bits of potential connections Niel could have
potentially built, leaving only distant ooos and aaahs in it's place
which did nothing for him, with his eyes remaining dancing around
nakedly, and him attempting to hide his soul behind something,
anything. Should he get off and just go home now? He could. It was
definitely the path of least resistance. The Yellow Rhino began to
chug forward with it's heavy trot, so now was his chance to “escape”!
Niel did the best flop he could, having watched all the different
ways the Cheat-Hah's had when they faced one another on the
television. He fell and did a barrel roll towards the exit, but as
soon as Mr. Oxpecker saw this, he pulled on the reigns, and Niel's
plan was ruined; he had lost all momentum back towards the door.
“You alright
there, buddy??” he yells.
“Yeah, I must have slipped or
something' Niel yells back. Niel brushes himself off, and realizes
something.. . Wait. He could hide his self, he could hide his soul;
he would simply hide behind his Skin!
As the Yellow Rhino
begins to start it's heavy-set acceleration once again towards the
school, Niel noticed that something was different; what was it? No
,it wasn't the wind bobbling him around, that was normal.. That's
when he realized. It was crawling onto his face. A sly, little smirk
had planted itself on his lips, peeling them apart to reveal the
white which had previously been hiding underneath. It grew until full
maturity, at which point it made the decision to lay in a state of
suspended animation. It continued where it lay as he started the
locomotion of his feet towards a seat which lay open to him a few
rows down, a pearl which he would gently propel himself to and grasp,
before the peer pressures could clamp down on him and freeze him once
again, like the smirk which now appeared to be permanently framed on
his face. In the few meters separating him from the seat, the
rhythmic motions of his feet were able to develop//mature into his
gallop, squeezing out a sigh of absolute relief as he slipped into
the seat--
“Ouchh!” Niel
yelled in surprise, as he bounced back up to a standing position.
“Why'd you do
that to me, Banana Peel Niel? I just waxed my quills this morning!”
Whitney the Whiney Porcupiney squealed.
“We'll both get
over it.. After all, I got the worst end of it; the butt-end,” Niel
whispered, picking the needle-like pricks from his bottom as he
walked towards the back of the bus in search of another diamond in
this madhouse of coals. As White Rhino started to pick up some
momentum, it hurled it's inertia between other participants on the
road, swerving around an Elephant, a Horse, and even gaining on a
Cheat-Hah! The wind began to pick up, so Niel began to lean backwards
against it, creating an obtuse angle relative to the Rhino's back. He
shuffled further toward the back, spotting a vacant spot calling his
name. He darted into it before he could acknowledge who was sitting
in the spot besides him. He slowly lifts his eyes, spotting ten toes,
attached to two feet, straddled wide, with the right further in front
than the left. His eyes moved up the hairy, black legs, to the low,
hung belt... then he knew.
“H... Hey Monkey
Junkey. W.. what's up?” Monkey Junkey keeps his eyes focused on the
blur passing by him, yet you could tell his mind was in a vacant
place, which made Niel feel like he was seeing everything and nothing
at the same time. He shuddered, convincing himself it was the cool
wind, but rightfully knowing that it was because the company he had
chosen. Time thickened and slowed, and what felt like ages passed
before Monkey Junkie smoothly reaches over to pick something up off
the back of the Yellow Rhino, leans back, then begins a slow turn
towards Niel, focuses deep into Niel's eyes, and says “wuddup. Call
me MJ.”
Niel breaks eye
contact, then looks straight forward, but his curiosity got the best
of him. He wanted to know if MJ was really.. a … well junky! He
turns towards MJ to find him gazing right at him.
“Whoa! Geez monk,
way to make me feel awkward!” Niel exclaims.
“No problemo,
just trying to read your energy.. and you know what? It's black. That
mean's you're hiding something,” MJ says, comfortably bathing
within the awkwardness of the whole situation, still seated in his
relaxed position.
“You know what? I
find that kind of weird,” Niel says, turning forward.
“Well to be
unique, you've got to be a little bit weird,” MJ winks at him.
Niel quickly spins
around towards MJ with excitement that he knew about that as well.
“How... what..
who...” Niel begins.
“Haha dang bud,
what's up with the survey?” MJ jokingly replies, letting out a
halfway suppressed laugh, the other half of which came out as more of
high pitched whine.
Niel look on at MJ,
dumbstruck, then faced forward, dumbfounded that there was someone
else who felt the same way as the Rhino hurled closer to school,
whizzing by an Elephant dressed in red, spewing water out over a
burning Beaver's wooden home, the smell of which waifed it's way into
the nostrils of Niel's Skin, filling it in.
“You know, you
ain't so bad, especially for a monk. You just gotta relax some,
embrace your monk weirdness,” MJ winks. “We all have our
specialties, you know?”
Niel smiles, and
faces forward, with the smile that none could see but him beginning
to surface again. It was nice to finally have someone who he felt
comfortable with on the way to school. Maybe he could sit next to MJ
more often.
Yellow Rhino pulls
into the semicircle and slows down to a halt.
As the kids begun to
hectically get up in a glob of orderly chaos, Niel gets up as well,
stepping out and into the aisle, then – Riiiiip – everyone
instantly shuts up and turns his way, as he freezes up, looks down,
and sees his tail underneath MJ's foot; he frantically drops his
backpack, and tries to pick up his tail, but the damage has been
done, and jaws, beaks, and snouts dropped open; Niels red and white
checkered boxers shined out at everyone's faces, and MJ slowly
removed his foot as Niel rolled up his tail, and scrambled off the
bus. He heard talking on the bus as he tried to scurry inside, and
find solace in a bathroom, talking that grew into a commotion, a loud
commotion at that! They had figured out that he wasn't really a
monkey, but rather a human! He ran inside the front door, tripping
and stumbling over the front steps, then once inside the main
hallway, dropping his tail again, ripping his tail off this time!
Students dropped
what they were doing to see him scurry and jump and climb his way to
the bathroom down the hallway, still acting like a monkey, even
though everyone knew. What would they do him? And when did this
hallway get so darn long? He heard the front door's bust open behind
him at the front entrance, and the whole mob gushed in thunderous
roar, the Cheat-Hah's leading the pack, leg's pumping full speed.
Niel turned the
last corner and threw open the door to go lock the stall, and sit on
the seat, but the Animals were right on his tail, and he had no
option but to hold his ground inside the bathroom, leeeaning his
weight against the door, holding off the Animals, when
“Eeeeeeek!”
screams a Monkey, as it pushes it's way in, one finger at a time,
and finally pushes the door fully open and Niel fall's out of the
way!
The crowd comes
rushing in and surrounds him, shouting things as they rip off his
monkey mask, pulling off his suit, and leaving him no breathing room
as he tucked his head into his arms to block out all the madness
which was about to happen.
“Heeeeyyyy!
Listen up!” MJ screeched, and everyone shut up. “We all know that
Niel is a human bean –“
“Being,” Pig
corrects from the crowd.
“Yes, bean,
that's what I said,” replies MJ, rolling his eyes. Niel lifts his
watery eyes slightly towards MJ. “Now, we all know that Niel has
been faking being a Monkey all this time,” says Niel, and the crowd
beguns a slight murmur again; “Quiet! Well we all know that this is
the first human bean we've had at school, and I know you all want
autographs,” Niels head looks fully up with a look of bewilderment,
so if “you could create a line, starting at Peacock, we can all get
our turn, okay? And I expect you will each treat him with the respect
and dignity he deserves... even if he did make monkeys look clumsier
than we really are.” He winks at Niel. “We each have our own
attributes to bring to the table. As a human, he has the ability to
make all kinds of tools, tools that can mimick anything that any of
us Children were biologically built to do. Heck, look at the
camouflage he built!” MJ giggles at the crowd, who joins in.
Niel stands up in
utter surprise, almost buckling at the knees from the situation
taking a full 180 degree spin from what he originally expected,
basking in the warmth of having all eyes set on him.
MJ jumps near the
end of the line, with a huge smile on his face at having guided the
suggestive mob with a more positive interpretation of the situation.
Niel used his ingenuity of tools to pluck a feather from Peacock,
dips it in squids ink bag, then starts autographing away.
When it was MJ's
turn, he walked up, and Niel grabbed the paper to sign it, then
realized that it looked familiar.
“You dropped this
on the bus earlier.. I found it while on there, and just wanted to
say thank you for opening my eye's,” MJ says.
Niel glances down
and sees his quote. He looks back up. “No, thanks for opening
everyone else's eyes. And thanks for getting me out of that Skin,
monk, that thing was uncomfortable as heck! I don't know how you live
with Skin like that.” They put an arm around each other, laughing
and having a good time, as they walk out of the bathroom and down the
hallway, with a group following close behind, celebrating, truly
celebrating, the weirdness within us all.
