I made it a point to walk more often in town, rather than drive. Running errands while taking note of anything or anyone I thought suspicious. It wasn’t hard to find, mind you, as everywhere you went, the effects of Funko’s were ever present.
I had driven by this one park quite a few times on my way to do groceries and such. The equipment looked almost brand new, my guess based on what I’d seen was that it hadn’t gotten much use at all. In the weeks that I’d been here, I’d seen maybe a total of 10 people playing in the park. Mainly just the swings, parents pushing their little ones, or sliding them down slides. But as I walked down the sidewalk paying much closer attention, I found a completely different view in front of me.
There were dozens of people running around, playing on the jungle gyms, swinging on swings, sliding, playing little grouped games in the grass, sports I’d never have guessed any of the kids in town would be interested in, like skating and football. It was quite nice, hearing the happy yelling and laughing in a place literally built for fun. However, it was clear from the moment I set eyes on it, that this was a direct effect of Funko’s Footwear. The people here were not the same townspeople I’d lived with for a short while.
It was the fact that nearly everyone in the park was male. Except for Moms, Aunts and Grandmas, the occasional little girl playing in the little clubhouse with her friends, everyone on the playground and in the field, was a boy. All ages, ranging from toddlers to what looked like High School seniors were darting about having fun in the warm dry air, the sun was shining, but not scolding hot.
The younger ones were mainly in the sand, or on the jungle gym, running down the little brightest playing tag or pirates. Squealing and yelling in glee. The groups in the fields were mainly playing assorted sports, there were teams playing against each other, and looking at them, I couldn’t help but notice that each group was a literal embodiment of the sport they were enjoying. The soccer players were thin and lithe, long strong legs pounding the ground kicking at the ball. The footballers were thickly built, top heavy and sweating like bulls. On the baseball diamond in the far corner, boys in hats were hitting homers with ease. It was like each one was made in a mold, specifically for each purpose!
I caught sight of a blonde boy I swore I recognized from my spying outside the store a month ago; He was in younger group playing football, apparently on the “skins” team as lifted his sweaty t-shirt from his torso and tossed it in a pile along with half of his friends. I recognized him by the shoes he was wearing.
A pair of battered cleats I’d watched him complain about as he’d walked out of Funko’s as they had clearly been far, far too large for his size. Now though, he seemed comfortable, even enjoying them as he ground his heel into the grass. They looked to be a wide size 13, although the rest of him made it clear they shouldn’t fit at all. He was small, but built like a tank. His whole body thicker than it should be for his apparent age. And catching his voice, it was clear a few changes had occurred in the month since I’d seen him.
His hair, for one thing, was clipped down into what I’d best guess is a standard “High & Tight” style, the color so blonde it was almost transparent. Previously, he’d had longer, golden colored hair that swept across his forehead in a “Bieber” style. He’d been shorter, and rail thin, even slightly younger looking, and had fell on his butt as he tripped down the sidewalk in the cleats, finally yelling at his Grandpa in a shrill squeal, “But I don’t even play football!!!” as he’d loaded himself into the backseat of an old Buick.
I looked around to see if I could recognize any of the other boys in the park, seeing a few that looked familiar, the skater boy was barreling around the back pavement with a small group, all swearing and cheering as each landed their tricks. There were a few I’d thought I’d seen before, albeit all different than they were now.
What was going on? I muttered to myself, seeing a whole town worth of people changing in front of my eyes!