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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Teens
- Theme: Science Fiction
- Subject: Courage / Heroism
- Published: 05/18/2011
A Time to Sigh
Born 1954, M, from Magalia, California, United StatesA Time To Sigh
Bart had seen it all. As senior partner of the world famous Gypsy Camp Explorers, Bart had been on more planets than the most salted spacefarer. Why, Bart had seen lizards that looked like apes, spiders with a six-foot leg-span, thirty-foot electrified grub worms, flatulent flowers, and teleporting panda bears. Bart had been places with three suns, trees that looked like mushrooms, and aerobatic cephalopods. Bart was fearless when it came to facing down just about any monster that dared threaten any one of his family. There was only one person in the whole universe that had Bart at a disadvantage, and that was Ches Thomas.
That kid was scary! Just the colors of his hair put Bart off. Ches had tri-colored hair today. Sometimes he had just one or two contrasting colors staining his curly locks, but even if he had but one color it was never normal. Blue-black, red-brown, silver-red with a black stripe, sparkles, sprinkles, blotches. The kid was weird! And as if that weren't enough, the leathers he wore exuded a symphony of smells that totally devastated olfactory functions. When the kid had first come to Gypsy Camp, Bart had tried to give the newcomer a break. He was Pax's nephew, he deserved some consideration. But Bart just couldn't keep up the optimism. And when Bart had warned him off with a small growl of displeasure, the rainbow colored, leather clad, overconfident spike headed offspring of a used car salesman had snarled right back at him. Baring his teeth! Bart had actually feared that the kid would try to use them.
Today, Bart realized as he was making his obligatory rounds of Gypsy Camp, his entire demeanor had changed from that of a confidant senior executive to that of a hesitant, wary, and even fearful subordinate. Bart dreaded the fact that he might actually encounter this wild looking youngster. He found himself cringing like a frightened puppy. Hunkering down in expectation of some mistreatment. This wouldn't do at all!
Bart made a conscious effort to straighten up, lift his tail, and put a little more confidence into his step. His determination, as of this moment, THINGS WERE GOING TO CHANGE! Gypsy Camp was HIS territory! Bart's lip curled up in a fashion that vaguely reminded one of Elvis Presley. Cultivating disdain for his recent timidity, he boldly entered into the quarantine compound. Scanning all of the holding containers, Bart scrupulously examined each of the creatures to be sure that it was safe and secure. This was no mere formality. There had been more than one occasion that specimen had escaped and caused not just a little inconvenience.
Bart looked intently at a likely candidate. Glaring right back at him from a roomy container, an ugly cross between a kangaroo and a vulture. It was obviously straining at the edge of the container with the obvious hope of getting at what it evidently thought would be a tidy snack. "Don't be stupid, feather puss," Bart growled. The creature's attention became more focused, and Bart snarled, "Yeah, I'm talking to you."
Moving through the compound, Bart continued his thorough examination. Finding everything in order, he entered engineer territory. As brave as Bart was, this was one area that inspired caution. You never knew when something would happen to ruin your whole day. Bart had been repeatedly captured, sprayed, greased, slimed, paralyzed and completely humiliated in this very area while in the process of caring for his responsibilities. Though Bart had never actually caught one of the denizens of the engineer's cave in the act of setting these traps for him, he was absolutely positive that he had been used as a guinea pig on all these numerous degrading occasions.
Then Bart spotted him. He wasn't exactly blocking Bart's path through the shop, but Bart would have to pass right next to him to complete his rounds. Ches' back was to Bart, but Bart refused to just slink by as if cowering in fear. Throwing caution to the wind, Bart straightened up and nearly strutted as he approached the dreaded one. All of Bart's attention was focused on Ches. Just a few more feet and he would be out of the shop and on his way to the office complex.
This would have been an excellent time to maintain focus on one's surroundings.
Gypsy Camp had been contracted for another monster hunt on Ardent. Bart still relived his last visit to this nightmare planet with lightening fast lizards, dog eating crabby looking ant things, and horribly creepy giant spiders. It was the spiders that still inhabited Bart's dreams. Bart had heard whispers of the project, but it still had not become necessary for him to take part in the preparations. In this instance Bart should have paid more attention to business. If he had he would have been spared what happened next.
Ches was working on an improved version of the gravitic manipulator that Bud had invented for use on Aquarella. Barney still called it the gravity broom, as he had found a simple use for the reversal of gravitic power to rid the camp of loose debris. Ches sought to perfect a focused beam that would hold a dangerous creature while it was being contained without injuring it or endangering one of Gypsy Camp's space happy critter catchers. At this moment Ches had the gravitic manipulator clamped into the test rack and set at half power. This was roughly enough force to pin full sized Sand Dragon in place. This was the invisible field in which Bart now found himself trapped.
Of course, Bart immediately realized his mistake. Again, of course, it was too late to do anything about it. The first thing that went through Bart's mind was that this was yet another humiliation perpetrated for the purpose of testing Gypsy Camp's gadgetry. This infuriated Bart, but the pressure of the field around him was such that he could do little more than whimper. Bart could see Ches from the corner of his eye, still bent over the test rack fooling with gauges and tinkering with gizmos with no thought of what was occurring behind him. The kid's posture drew attention to a particularly vulnerable area that Bart knew to be especially tender, just below the glutious maximus. But strain as he would, the invisible field held Bart fast against the shop wall.
Ches, as you can see, was totally unaware of Bart's predicament. Whereas he really did enjoy pulling Bart's chain occasionally, he really meant no harm. And, contrary to what Bart and many others thought, Ches' tendency toward bizarre dress was not intended to scare anyone. In fact, it was an attempt to entertain himself and others, to brighten up his day. It was a way to express a day's feelings in a harmless form of body art. Totally erasable, completely harmless, and for Ches, just plain fun. At this moment, though, hair style, clothing, or any sort of showboating were all far from his mind. He was working on a serious problem. The lives of his friends would depend on how well this gadget worked, and he had his entire attention focused on its dependability.
Neither Bart nor Ches had any idea what was on the other's mind. Neither were aware of anything except their own personal arena of thought. Which meant that neither were aware that one of the reptilian uglies which were contained in the quarantine complex had found a way out of its terrarium and was just now considering whether to indulge in a little snack or an full course meal, as it eyed both Ches and Bart. (I know. I know. Bart had just inspected this area. But you must remember that he is a small animal, of Border Collie and Terrier mix, and unable to see the securing latch atop the tallest containers. He takes his job and position of senior member of the exploration team seriously, so any criticism would hurt his feelings. So, cut him some slack! Ok?)
This particular reptile had come from Drum. With a body of a snake, but sporting very short legs with razor sharp talons, this particular reptile had the facial features of a jungle flower and was highly venomous. It raised itself up onto its hindmost portion, balancing on its rear legs and swaying from side to side as it made up its mind what was to be its next move. Neither of its intended victims were in the present realm enough to notice their surroundings so as to either flee or defend themselves.
Bart, being totally incapacitated, fumed. Ches, being totally engrossed in his project mumbled as he thought out loud. "This monster grabber better work. If Pax uses this thing and gets a hang nail out of the deal, Kate will shoot me, stuff me, and mount me in the hall next to the other trophies."
Kate wasn't really that bad, but she did have a temper. It was really sound thinking on the part of Ches to consider her reaction if her husband were to be endangered unreasonably while using any contraption that he had serviced, designed, or further developed. Everyone, with the exception of Barney, maybe, walked softly around Kate. Ches figured that Barney just had a warped sense of adventure, and didn't distinguish between facing down some giant fang faced interstellar troll or a pretty brown eyed doctor with the will and temperament of a wolverine of equal size. Everyone has a right to choose how they want to go, and Ches figured that Barney wanted to go out with a bang.
"If I increase the beam width to approximately four feet, it should allow them to hover over the scaly little monster in the grav sled and pin it while another contains it," Ches scratched his spikey head in thought. "But once its pinned, how will they move it?"
These were his thoughts as he turned just in time to see a huge red sunflower with legs lunge at an immobilized Bart. Without even thinking, Ches kicked the bench mat into the path of the striking reptile. The next things Ches observed was a tangled mess as the serpent struck the mat at approximately the same time as they both entered the irresistible field that held Bart.
Bart's perception was different, of course. Bart remembered this floral serpent for what it was. Rude, nasty, and hungry. He was able to see it just as it struck the cushion that Ches had flipped in his direction. He saw the fangs protruding from the underside as suddenly the reptile's weight was added to the pressure of the gravity field. Finding himself tangled in a two hundred pound mass of writhing spaghetti, and without power to break free of his bonds, Bart knew absolutely that this was the end. Yet even in the face of such fear, Bart struggled fiercely to find some advantage. Growling savagely, Bart fully intended to take this pansy faced reptile with him.
At just the moment when Bart saw an envenomed fang jerk, oh so closely, forward so that he wondered that he didn't feel the stab, a pole noose slipped into the field and roughly snagged the convulsing monster. Moments later, after the beast had disappeared from sight, Bart was released from his undignified entrapment. Still outraged, Bart would have gladly taken a bite from the most tender spot imaginable on Ches' anatomy, but Ches was instantly there holding Bart closely full of concern.
"You ok, stupid?" Ches crooned in a voice full of sympathy. "Dude, that was totally knarly. You got to keep your eyes open in this nuthouse." While Bart realized that the honorific should have been insulting, Ches's tone of voice conveyed the feelings that counted. "You were almost the dish of the day. That ugly dude wasn't kiddin', ya know."
While Bart's fur was still up on the back of his neck, he gave Ches a quick lick to both give and ask for forgiveness. The incident gave Bart quite a lot to think about. Though Ches was definitely a scary looking kid, he obviously was not the monster that Bart had thought. Bart had no idea why Ches decided to be so downright bizarre, but Bart was not going to let that get in his way of getting to know him.
At just about the time that Bart made this proud philosophical decision he happened to look again into Ches' face. Seeing a maniacal twinkle in his eye, Bart decided that this might take some time. Determined to complete his responsibilities, Bart ignored the anxiety of future trials that went along with his job. The amazing, colossal, unbelievable, unexplainable and totally improbable adventures of the world famous Gypsy Camp Explorers and their dog Bart would continue.
Sighing, Bart continued his inspection of the grounds.
A Time to Sigh(Ric Wooldridge)
A Time To Sigh
Bart had seen it all. As senior partner of the world famous Gypsy Camp Explorers, Bart had been on more planets than the most salted spacefarer. Why, Bart had seen lizards that looked like apes, spiders with a six-foot leg-span, thirty-foot electrified grub worms, flatulent flowers, and teleporting panda bears. Bart had been places with three suns, trees that looked like mushrooms, and aerobatic cephalopods. Bart was fearless when it came to facing down just about any monster that dared threaten any one of his family. There was only one person in the whole universe that had Bart at a disadvantage, and that was Ches Thomas.
That kid was scary! Just the colors of his hair put Bart off. Ches had tri-colored hair today. Sometimes he had just one or two contrasting colors staining his curly locks, but even if he had but one color it was never normal. Blue-black, red-brown, silver-red with a black stripe, sparkles, sprinkles, blotches. The kid was weird! And as if that weren't enough, the leathers he wore exuded a symphony of smells that totally devastated olfactory functions. When the kid had first come to Gypsy Camp, Bart had tried to give the newcomer a break. He was Pax's nephew, he deserved some consideration. But Bart just couldn't keep up the optimism. And when Bart had warned him off with a small growl of displeasure, the rainbow colored, leather clad, overconfident spike headed offspring of a used car salesman had snarled right back at him. Baring his teeth! Bart had actually feared that the kid would try to use them.
Today, Bart realized as he was making his obligatory rounds of Gypsy Camp, his entire demeanor had changed from that of a confidant senior executive to that of a hesitant, wary, and even fearful subordinate. Bart dreaded the fact that he might actually encounter this wild looking youngster. He found himself cringing like a frightened puppy. Hunkering down in expectation of some mistreatment. This wouldn't do at all!
Bart made a conscious effort to straighten up, lift his tail, and put a little more confidence into his step. His determination, as of this moment, THINGS WERE GOING TO CHANGE! Gypsy Camp was HIS territory! Bart's lip curled up in a fashion that vaguely reminded one of Elvis Presley. Cultivating disdain for his recent timidity, he boldly entered into the quarantine compound. Scanning all of the holding containers, Bart scrupulously examined each of the creatures to be sure that it was safe and secure. This was no mere formality. There had been more than one occasion that specimen had escaped and caused not just a little inconvenience.
Bart looked intently at a likely candidate. Glaring right back at him from a roomy container, an ugly cross between a kangaroo and a vulture. It was obviously straining at the edge of the container with the obvious hope of getting at what it evidently thought would be a tidy snack. "Don't be stupid, feather puss," Bart growled. The creature's attention became more focused, and Bart snarled, "Yeah, I'm talking to you."
Moving through the compound, Bart continued his thorough examination. Finding everything in order, he entered engineer territory. As brave as Bart was, this was one area that inspired caution. You never knew when something would happen to ruin your whole day. Bart had been repeatedly captured, sprayed, greased, slimed, paralyzed and completely humiliated in this very area while in the process of caring for his responsibilities. Though Bart had never actually caught one of the denizens of the engineer's cave in the act of setting these traps for him, he was absolutely positive that he had been used as a guinea pig on all these numerous degrading occasions.
Then Bart spotted him. He wasn't exactly blocking Bart's path through the shop, but Bart would have to pass right next to him to complete his rounds. Ches' back was to Bart, but Bart refused to just slink by as if cowering in fear. Throwing caution to the wind, Bart straightened up and nearly strutted as he approached the dreaded one. All of Bart's attention was focused on Ches. Just a few more feet and he would be out of the shop and on his way to the office complex.
This would have been an excellent time to maintain focus on one's surroundings.
Gypsy Camp had been contracted for another monster hunt on Ardent. Bart still relived his last visit to this nightmare planet with lightening fast lizards, dog eating crabby looking ant things, and horribly creepy giant spiders. It was the spiders that still inhabited Bart's dreams. Bart had heard whispers of the project, but it still had not become necessary for him to take part in the preparations. In this instance Bart should have paid more attention to business. If he had he would have been spared what happened next.
Ches was working on an improved version of the gravitic manipulator that Bud had invented for use on Aquarella. Barney still called it the gravity broom, as he had found a simple use for the reversal of gravitic power to rid the camp of loose debris. Ches sought to perfect a focused beam that would hold a dangerous creature while it was being contained without injuring it or endangering one of Gypsy Camp's space happy critter catchers. At this moment Ches had the gravitic manipulator clamped into the test rack and set at half power. This was roughly enough force to pin full sized Sand Dragon in place. This was the invisible field in which Bart now found himself trapped.
Of course, Bart immediately realized his mistake. Again, of course, it was too late to do anything about it. The first thing that went through Bart's mind was that this was yet another humiliation perpetrated for the purpose of testing Gypsy Camp's gadgetry. This infuriated Bart, but the pressure of the field around him was such that he could do little more than whimper. Bart could see Ches from the corner of his eye, still bent over the test rack fooling with gauges and tinkering with gizmos with no thought of what was occurring behind him. The kid's posture drew attention to a particularly vulnerable area that Bart knew to be especially tender, just below the glutious maximus. But strain as he would, the invisible field held Bart fast against the shop wall.
Ches, as you can see, was totally unaware of Bart's predicament. Whereas he really did enjoy pulling Bart's chain occasionally, he really meant no harm. And, contrary to what Bart and many others thought, Ches' tendency toward bizarre dress was not intended to scare anyone. In fact, it was an attempt to entertain himself and others, to brighten up his day. It was a way to express a day's feelings in a harmless form of body art. Totally erasable, completely harmless, and for Ches, just plain fun. At this moment, though, hair style, clothing, or any sort of showboating were all far from his mind. He was working on a serious problem. The lives of his friends would depend on how well this gadget worked, and he had his entire attention focused on its dependability.
Neither Bart nor Ches had any idea what was on the other's mind. Neither were aware of anything except their own personal arena of thought. Which meant that neither were aware that one of the reptilian uglies which were contained in the quarantine complex had found a way out of its terrarium and was just now considering whether to indulge in a little snack or an full course meal, as it eyed both Ches and Bart. (I know. I know. Bart had just inspected this area. But you must remember that he is a small animal, of Border Collie and Terrier mix, and unable to see the securing latch atop the tallest containers. He takes his job and position of senior member of the exploration team seriously, so any criticism would hurt his feelings. So, cut him some slack! Ok?)
This particular reptile had come from Drum. With a body of a snake, but sporting very short legs with razor sharp talons, this particular reptile had the facial features of a jungle flower and was highly venomous. It raised itself up onto its hindmost portion, balancing on its rear legs and swaying from side to side as it made up its mind what was to be its next move. Neither of its intended victims were in the present realm enough to notice their surroundings so as to either flee or defend themselves.
Bart, being totally incapacitated, fumed. Ches, being totally engrossed in his project mumbled as he thought out loud. "This monster grabber better work. If Pax uses this thing and gets a hang nail out of the deal, Kate will shoot me, stuff me, and mount me in the hall next to the other trophies."
Kate wasn't really that bad, but she did have a temper. It was really sound thinking on the part of Ches to consider her reaction if her husband were to be endangered unreasonably while using any contraption that he had serviced, designed, or further developed. Everyone, with the exception of Barney, maybe, walked softly around Kate. Ches figured that Barney just had a warped sense of adventure, and didn't distinguish between facing down some giant fang faced interstellar troll or a pretty brown eyed doctor with the will and temperament of a wolverine of equal size. Everyone has a right to choose how they want to go, and Ches figured that Barney wanted to go out with a bang.
"If I increase the beam width to approximately four feet, it should allow them to hover over the scaly little monster in the grav sled and pin it while another contains it," Ches scratched his spikey head in thought. "But once its pinned, how will they move it?"
These were his thoughts as he turned just in time to see a huge red sunflower with legs lunge at an immobilized Bart. Without even thinking, Ches kicked the bench mat into the path of the striking reptile. The next things Ches observed was a tangled mess as the serpent struck the mat at approximately the same time as they both entered the irresistible field that held Bart.
Bart's perception was different, of course. Bart remembered this floral serpent for what it was. Rude, nasty, and hungry. He was able to see it just as it struck the cushion that Ches had flipped in his direction. He saw the fangs protruding from the underside as suddenly the reptile's weight was added to the pressure of the gravity field. Finding himself tangled in a two hundred pound mass of writhing spaghetti, and without power to break free of his bonds, Bart knew absolutely that this was the end. Yet even in the face of such fear, Bart struggled fiercely to find some advantage. Growling savagely, Bart fully intended to take this pansy faced reptile with him.
At just the moment when Bart saw an envenomed fang jerk, oh so closely, forward so that he wondered that he didn't feel the stab, a pole noose slipped into the field and roughly snagged the convulsing monster. Moments later, after the beast had disappeared from sight, Bart was released from his undignified entrapment. Still outraged, Bart would have gladly taken a bite from the most tender spot imaginable on Ches' anatomy, but Ches was instantly there holding Bart closely full of concern.
"You ok, stupid?" Ches crooned in a voice full of sympathy. "Dude, that was totally knarly. You got to keep your eyes open in this nuthouse." While Bart realized that the honorific should have been insulting, Ches's tone of voice conveyed the feelings that counted. "You were almost the dish of the day. That ugly dude wasn't kiddin', ya know."
While Bart's fur was still up on the back of his neck, he gave Ches a quick lick to both give and ask for forgiveness. The incident gave Bart quite a lot to think about. Though Ches was definitely a scary looking kid, he obviously was not the monster that Bart had thought. Bart had no idea why Ches decided to be so downright bizarre, but Bart was not going to let that get in his way of getting to know him.
At just about the time that Bart made this proud philosophical decision he happened to look again into Ches' face. Seeing a maniacal twinkle in his eye, Bart decided that this might take some time. Determined to complete his responsibilities, Bart ignored the anxiety of future trials that went along with his job. The amazing, colossal, unbelievable, unexplainable and totally improbable adventures of the world famous Gypsy Camp Explorers and their dog Bart would continue.
Sighing, Bart continued his inspection of the grounds.
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