Here is a preview of "The Reunion of Powers" which has been posted in the Story Archive of the site. Enjoy!
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It was a lazy midsummer Saturday afternoon. The teenage boy stood in front of the entrance to a big, white building. “Old City Museum” it read on the sign, just above the boy’s head. The boy was tall and skinny, just over 15, with black hair and brown eyes. Wearing a button shirt and a pair of shorts that looked like an old cut-up pair of jeans, he opened the top flap of his backpack and lowered it to the floor for the little squirrel that stood in front of him.
“Alright, Peter” he said, “Get inside of the backpack before anyone sees you!”
The little hairy squirrel hopped inside, turned around and briefly peered through the opening before the boy grabbed the top of his backpack and set it straight up, knocking the squirrel on its back against the bottom of the pack. The boy covered the opening with the flap as he got up on his two feet.
He swung the backpack around his shoulder, opened a wide, glass door and walked into the museum, straight towards the gift shop which was located right in front of him. Once inside, he looked for the rack with all the postcards and picked one with a matching envelope. He walked up to the counter and was greeted with an old lady who had a very serious look on her face.
“Well, it’s good seeing you again, Daniel. Will that be all? Just one postcard?” she said to the teen.
“Yes Mrs. Woodard, that’ll be all for today!” was his answer, as he gave her a few Canadian Dollars.
“Can I buy one stamp with that? I need to mail this to the United States today.” Daniel added.
“You know, I haven’t seen much of either of you lately, you and that other boy from school. What is his name?” she responded while she put the card and a stamp in a paper bag.
‘You mean Peter?” Daniel answered.
“Yes, the two of you always seem to get into some kind of trouble every time you two are together when you’re at school! I’m rather surprised that Peter is not here with you!” she answered, feeling annoyed just even thinking about these two boys who always caused her trouble when she was teaching during school hours.
Suddenly, the squirrel managed to climb out of the backpack using its sharp claws, jumped on Daniel’s right shoulder, sat up straight, pointed its right paw at Mrs. Woodard and started laughing with a series of high squeaks!
The poor old lady had never seen a squirrel do that before and the look of the awful little creature laughing at her made her completely lose her mind as she screamed at the top of her lungs!
“Get that thing OUT of here this instant!!! Aaaaahhhh!!!” she screamed at Daniel, who just stood there and grinned.
Not only was the old lady, who was known at school to be very stiff and strict as she took on the role of Vice Principal of the High School, screaming out of complete panic and fear, but she started jumping up and down like a little girl as well!
The security guard finally walked in from the hall, after having heard the commotion.
“Alright kid, get out! You’re not supposed to bring any pets into the museum!” he said sternly, as he directed Daniel to the main entrance.
Daniel calmly walked out the door with his pet squirrel on his shoulder, laughing the whole way. As Daniel left the building, the security guard went back to the gift shop to find Mrs. Woodard, sitting down on a chair behind the counter, completely terrified and exhausted.
When he got outside, the squirrel ran down his shirt and his jeans and jumped on to the sidewalk, standing right in front of Daniel.
“Alright Peter, do your stuff.” Daniel replied, obviously instructing his squirrel that the coast was clear.
Immediately the squirrel’s furry, short legs began to expand as the feet got bigger and wider. The legs grew taller and straight, as the fur disappeared from the torso, legs and head. The fur turned into flesh as the whole body grew to over five-and-a-half feet tall and immediately took on the form of a human being. In an instant, the human was clothed with a basketball jersey, shorts and high tops. Where the squirrel once stood was now another teenage boy, with short, brown hair that was spiked upwards in the front. He had big blue eyes and a friendly smile on his face. He was muscular and tanned and looked just like he would fit in as a member of a swim team, a basketball team, or a gymnastics team. He immediately started laughing out loud, as he looked at his friend.
“Did you see the look on her face? That was hilarious!” Peter laughed, as both boys started walking down the sidewalk.
“I bet old Woodard won’t forget this for a long time!” Daniel said with a chuckle.