Walking along the sidewalk kicking rocks under the summer sun, Lucas still had his arms folded and a scowl on his face. How dare that shopkeeper be so rude to him! Even if the Lucas couldn't actually buy anything and the man was running late for his lunch break, there was just no excuse. All that dramatic talk about "finding your purpose" only to Lucas that his purpose was to "spread disease." Disease! And then to just rush Lucas out and lock the door before even giving him a chance to respond to the insult. It was bad enough that Lucas already felt useless before he went in. Why on earth would a shop play such a mean trick on someone who just came in to look around?
He tried to put it out of his mind and go through his boring summer day as normally as he could. He took a nice long walk down the boardwalk and came in and out of a couple of town parks. After a few hours, he had forgotten all about the seemingly dirty trick that the seemingly nice shopkeeper had pulled on him. By the time he got home, he was tired and thirsty and getting rather sunburned. Dinner was soup and salad with an earthy new type of herbal tea his mom had found at the health food store; it could have been better but it could have been worse. Lucas played video games for a while before making his way up to the family bathroom for his evening shower.
Although Lucas had stopped thinking about the incident at the magic shop, he had been starting notice something very strange since his time on the boardwalk. Wiry brownish-gray hairs had been growing in all over his bare arms and legs and now he could clearly see that they were practically everywhere except his hands and feet. It was even showing up on his face, even though he was sure he shaved this morning (as well as a 14-year-old can shave, anyway). Lucas already knew puberty was supposed to be a weird time for everyone, but he never expected to get so much body hair so quickly. All this hair was rather stinky, too, so shower time was a definite relief. Perhaps tomorrow he could shave a bit better and maybe try that thing girls do where they shave their legs. For now, though, it was time to finish his evening hygiene and get ready for some more video games before bedtime.