kippurbird | place holding... please move on...

Chapter one

The clock above the teacher’s head seemed to be taking forever to reach the magical number of two thirty. The number that would free Braxious from the endless tedium that was fourth grade for another day. He sat slumped in front of his computer screen as Mrs. Hawkins finished discussing the homework for the day.

“And don’t forget that tomorrow is take your child to work day. I want an oral report prepared for Monday about what you did with your parent,” she finished up just as the clock reached two thirty. The buzzer rang, causing the classroom to spring to life immediately. Twenty students slammed down the screens to their computers, shoving them into their book bags, along with their other odds and ends. Braxious slung his over his shoulder and made his way out of the room with his friend Justin.

“So who are you going to go with?” Justin asked as they walked towards the front of the school. “I’m going with my mom on her run to Pluto and back.”

“My dad.” Braxious said with a sigh. They stepped out into the sunshine and the sigh became a groan. There at the curb was his father, leaning up against a wheeled red car, sunglasses pushed up on top of his head, surrounded by hovercars that waited a few inches off the roadside. “Why can’t we have a normal car?” he muttered as his dad waved at him.

“I think it’s neat.” Justin said. “Fuddy, but neat.”

“Everything about my dad is fuddy.”