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 Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 10:55 am
Aaron sat in the seat formed by the exposed roots of the tree in his front yard. Far above him, a little wooden birdhouse swung lazily in the summer breeze. His eyes were closed as he leaned back against the solid trunk of the tree, his feet propped on what looked like a twenty-year-old bike. It had patches of rust and peeling paint, and the seat looked slightly lopsided, enough to be incredibly uncomfortable when ridden. It was also too big for the boy, but Aaron had never been a very particular child. Especially since it was harder to get away with tinkering with new things that David bought him.
It was 12:06, he spied, peeking at his bulky watch with one eye. Taig was late. Not like that came as any surprise, since Taig was always late, but today, they had a mission to complete.
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Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 2:26 pm
Squeakyclickclicksqueaky!
Taig pedals hard on his ridiculous looking bicycle. Once a baby blue, it's now a matted, sun-washed pale blue, its handles offwhite and its seat elongated in an old-fashioned banana shape, which, to the boy, is surprisingly comfortable, if not a little awkward. He pushes down hard, right foot, left foot, and the little wheel decorations click as the well worn tires rotate, albeit slowly.
Okay, so this bike riding thing is much harder than he'd anticipated. And so what if he'd fallen over quite a few times for the first couple blocks? He'd caught his balance eventually. At least Aaron didn't see him the first time he'd tried to ride; he would never be able to face his friend again after that.
After what seemed like the longest four blocks of his life, Taig can finally see the landmark tree with the little wooden birdhouse. He leaps off the bike and runs forward, pushing it by the handlebars, his boots announcing his arrival by their clomps on the pavement.
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Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 2:54 pm
Aaron peeked open one dark blue eye, then the other as Taig came pounding up. The perfect picture of summer relaxation, Aaron yawned and stretched his arms, the shadows of the leaves above spackling his white shirt. A few leaves lingered in his hair from his brief nap.
Standing up slowly, he tapped his watch sternly in Taig's direction. His stern look was disrupted by something in the corner of his vision. Slapping at his cheek, his hand came away with a caterpillar clinging to one of his long fingernails for dear life. Turning slightly red, the raven-haired boy shook his hand frantically, trying to shake the errant bug off, to little success. Finally, he flicked it at Taig instead.
Free of the many-legged creature at last, Aaron sought to hide his momentary lapse by picking up his bike and mumbling, "Let's go, yeah?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 3:30 pm
Taig leaps away from the airborne caterpillar flicked his way and nearly tangles his awkward limbs up in the bicycle. He instead stumbles backward and drags the bike with him in narrowly avoiding catastrophe. Slightly tilting his head in a mannerism he picked up from his mother, Taig relaxes and gives in to a crooked smirk at his friend's behaviour around bugs. He files that away mentally for future reference.
"Uh huh!" he chimes, thoroughly happy with himself in finding something that creeps his buddy out. Just as he begins to straddle his bike, he stops and looks up, brow pressed together slightly. "Go where, exactly?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 3:38 pm
Aaron turns to retort something in disbelief at Taig's forgetfulness when he realizes that he never told his friend about the mission, for fear that he'd blab it everywhere and get the plan axed before it even began by some parent or another. Clambering awkwardly onto the lopsided bike seat, he pushes off, starting to pick up speed as he rolls toward the steep hill down into town.
"The river."
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Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 3:47 pm
Taig blinks behind his large circular glasses twice before his lips curl into a toothy smile. "Oh!"
Pushing off with one foot, and subsequently wobbling for a few feet before gaining proper footing on the pedals, Taig tries his best to keep pace without making a huge fool of himself in front of, well, the only person whose opinion actually matters to him at this point.
The wind plays a game of tag with his ears, in return causing an annoying amount of noise to distract the already simple-minded boy. Grimacing, he ducks his head a little more and creates more of a curve to his back, suffering a temporary loss of balance before he can adjust to this new shift of weight. Too much to think about all at once makes him forget one thing or another!
"Why.. the river?" he pants, vibrating messily in time with his bike, which just skid against a pebble. "What's fun.. about that?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 4:01 pm
Once Aaron gets up to speed, he begins twisting the handlebars quickly in opposite directions, the right one forward, the left one towards him. Slowly, with the sound of grinding metal, his seat moves upwards, flattening out straight as it goes. The body of the bike begins to elongate as well, including the handlebars. The pedals are somehow still in range of the boy's dangling bare feet. In the end, the bike looks ridiculous; a peeling monstrosity with handlebars like antennae and tiny tires spinning beneath it, but it gives Aaron at least three feet more clearance above the road, which for a kid is quite the feeling, especially when one is going to be rolling down a steep hill soon. He'd need to paint the thing, though. Red, preferably.
Glancing back at the struggling Taig, he sticks out his tongue, considering whether or not to tell the other boy about his great idea. On one hand, it wouldn't hurt now, but on the other hand, the surprise value was great. "You'll see. It'll be fun, solemn swear."
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Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:54 am
Taig almost swerves right off the path while gaping at his friend's bike. Well, that just makes his look incredibly lame in comparison! He'll have to bug his mom to buy him a new one, now. Hrmph! His ears flap around and ones slaps his cheek, to his further annoyance.
"Yeah, and when'll I see?" huffs Taig in his borderline complaining voice, his legs cramping up from the excessive effort needed in pushing his bike along. "This is tiring."
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