Ty’s Power- Ryan’s Reward – Author: scriptboy – Idea: muscl4life
It was a normal Friday afternoon in the beginning of August when I had gone to the park to play basketball with my friends. My name is Ryan Johnson, I am nine years old and I was enjoying the last week of the summer vacation before school starts. I want to tell you about something very unusual that happened to me that afternoon. And oh, before I forget, I’m black.
My momma had given me a ride to the park. She works as a nurse at the local hospital and she wanted to drop me off at the park while she went to work. She didn’t have to give me a ride, since we live right down the street from the park, but she did because that was the only time we had to talk. My parents have died; I live at my momma’s house. She’s not my real momma, her name is Nadia. She is my guardian and she takes care of me, but I am usually pretty much on my own all the time and I spend all my free time on the street.
I work for a guy named Stanley. He’s kind of a bully. He is a tall, skinny guy who acts real tough all the time. He does drugs, and asks me to beg others for money in order to help support his drug habit. If I collect money from people, I need to give half of it to him! If I don’t, and he finds out, he usually beats me up. So every say I have to meet him at the basketball court by 5pm and I had better have some money, or else! To make matters worse: Nadia and Stanley are living together, so I have to put up with those two all the time. I hated the fact that they both did drugs, I decided not to participate in taking that junk at all.
I went to the basketball court a little early, just a little passed 3pm. I figured I was going to hang out at the park and beg for some money, and then play some basketball with my friends. Anyways, momma dropped me off at the park early because she wanted to take me shopping for some new shoes to wear at school afterwards. I wasn’t interested in doing that at all, I hated going to school because I would get bullied, teased, and pushed around a lot. I was actually surprised that she was willing to spend money on me at all, because normally she and Stanley were only interested in using money to buy drugs. I had no idea that my life was going to change that day.
For me, basketball was like an escape from all my problems. I really don’t have any friends, and I’m just too poor to go anywhere on my own just to hang out. I was supposed to gather some money for Nadia and Stanley, but I had not collected a dime yet so I figured I had better start asking. There were six other guys on the court, and since I had already bugged them enough for money, I realized I needed to look for someone new to ask.
It was about ten minutes after momma had dropped me off when this white kid came walking down the street. He wore a blue jersey and blue shorts, a perfect matching uniform! He looked more like a football player than a basketball player since he wasn’t very tall. He was a little stocky with short brown hair that was spiked on the top of his head. Great, someone new I could ask! I had never seen him there before, so I figured he was either from another neighborhood or visiting from out-of-town.
Since I was sitting on the little bench just behind the sideline, he walked towards me and sat down next to me. “Hey” I said to him and he said the same back. He seemed really friendly, but also kind of quiet. For about five minutes he didn’t say anything at all, he just observed my friends while they played a little game of three-on-three basketball.
When my friends stopped playing for a minute to drink some water out of the water fountain, he got up and walked towards them. “Can I play with you guys?” he asked out loud, not knowing who to address. Then Cory, the oldest kid in the group, turned towards him. “Hey, white boy! Do you think you can play basketball with us?”
The white boy shrugged and responded calmly, “Sure I can play! I don’t see why not…” Then Cory took a step towards him and shouted “Look here, momma’s boy! We don’t want another pretty face showing off on our court, okay? So just get out of here, home boy! We’re all black and we don’t want to play with some dumb white kid like you!”
I thought for sure that this kid was going to get mad and start another discussion, or possibly even a fight! Instead, this kid seemed really confident and sure of himself! His face didn’t change at all, he didn’t even respond to the insult! He just turned around, slowly walking towards me and sat back down on the bench, right next to me. “Hey,” I said to him, “You didn’t need to accept that from Cory! He insults white guys all the time, because he doesn’t think white boys can play basketball.” With that said, he just turned to me and smiled. I remember getting my first good look at him, when I saw him looking at me with his big, blue eyes. I found it really weird that he didn’t even get angry. I sensed there was something really unusual about this guy. Either this kid was clueless about the fact that he just got mocked by a black kid, or he was very good at basketball and knew it. I wanted to find out more about him. I felt like he had some big secret, there was something about him I didn’t know or understand, and I wanted to know what it was.
“My name is Ryan. What’s your name?” I asked. “I’m Peter!” he said, “I’m visiting my cousin Ty, but I’m actually from Canada.” I became curious and I wanted to know if he could really play basketball. “Are you any good at basketball?” I asked him. He shrugged and smiled. “I think I’m alright, I can play…” he responded. “Well, if you want to play with these guys, then you need to show them that you know how to play. So get up there and play. Don’t worry about Cory; he just has a big mouth!” He looked at me and had a smile on his face. “Thanks for the tip, dude!” he said.
Peter slowly stood up and walked to the center of the court. My friends were playing with just one hoop, so they never had to run to the hoop on the other side of the court. One of my friends had finally scored another point, and they decided to take a break. Peter looked over them and politely asked them once again if he could play. The guys just looked at Cory, who decided to ignore Peter. He continued to shoot some baskets, without giving Peter the chance to have the ball. I sensed that he started to feel frustrated, for he slowly began to look upset. That is when I saw something really, really weird happen on the basketball court.
Cory continued to hold on to the ball and waited for the other guys to get back on the court. Some of them had some water from the water fountain, and Cory waited for all five players to make it back on the court. He turned facing the hoop, with his back towards Peter. “Let’s wait for the home boy to get off the court!” Cory shouted, as he was dribbling the ball besides him.
Peter slowly walked to the far corner of the basketball court. It seemed like he was going to get off the court and leave altogether. My first thought was “What a wimp, he seems to have given up on playing with the guys, and now he’s walking off the court!” But he proved me wrong. When he reached the far corner of the basketball court, Peter turned around, facing the hoop on the opposite side of the court, where my friends were. It was a full size basketball court, so Peter was as far from them as possible. Then Peter extended his arms in front of him, with his hands open and his palms facing outward, as if he was ready to catch the ball. The very next time Cory dribbled the ball; it rolled away from him as soon as it hit the court, rather than bounce back up. “Huh?” Cory said, when he noticed the ball rolling away from him, completely on its own. To make matters even worse, I noticed that the ball was rolling straight towards Peter! When the ball was just a few feet away from him, it bounced up and landed straight in his hands. That was so weird! I became more and more curious about this mysterious kid.
Then he did something that blew my mind! He extended his left arm forward, pointing upwards. He held the basketball in the palm of his right hand, which he pulled as far back behind his head as possible. He almost looked like a quarterback who was about to throw a football and make a long touchdown pass! Then he hurled the ball straight towards the hoop on the opposite side of the court, making the ball travel at a very high arc. All six guys gasped as they witnessed Peter attempting a full-court shot on the basket which was right in front of them! The ball soared right over their heads and went straight through the hoop, bouncing hard as it came down on the court, where it immediately rolled back to Peter after the first bounce. Peter just stood there, not moving at all, but somehow he was in complete control of the basketball, no matter where it was on the court. The ball rolled straight back into his hands, he didn’t even have to bend over to catch it, the ball just jumped up in his hands on its own! Peter then slowly walked towards Cory, holding the ball in his hands. “Can I play now?” he asked him calmly, for the third time.
All the guys were amazed! As for me, I have never seen anyone make a full-court basket before! This kid had blown me away! Everyone was impressed, except for Cory. He realized that now there was no way he could say no to Peter, you just don’t deny a kid who can make a basket like that, the ball! But Cory got very angry and started shouting insults at him, as Peter walked closer to the hoop. “What is this? Is this some kind of magic trick? Get off the court, home boy! I don’t like to play with whites, no matter how good you are! Get lost before I hit you so hard, I’ll knock you teeth out!” Cory came ever closer and closer to Peter and I just knew he was looking for a fight! But Peter didn’t move, he just stood there with the ball in his hands, looking straight at Cory.
“Come on, Cory!” I shouted, “Let him play! You don’t see someone make a full-court basket like that every day! Especially not on his first try! Give the guy a break! What more does he need to do in order to prove that he can play basketball? He just made the hardest basket possible, all the way from the other end of the court! Just let him play!” But Cory kept on walking towards Peter.
Just when I thought for sure Cory was going to hit him, he suddenly began to shrink rapidly! It took only three seconds, but Cory found himself shrinking until he was only a foot tall! His clothes shrunk too, and Cory was standing there, looking up Peter, who was now almost five feet taller than him! All five remaining guys gasped in horror, they just stood there, looking at Peter with their mouths wide open. Cory realized he was a midget, and started to scream at the top of his lungs! Peter slowly walked towards the hoop, dribbling the ball a few times. He almost stepped on Cory, who tried desperately to run out of his way! Peter made another shot on basket, and the others slowly started to play again, although I could tell that the guys were scared of him. And Cory? He ran towards me, screaming! “Look at me! I’m a dwarf! How did he do that?” I thought it was funny, and I just laughed at him. Finally, someone who showed Cory who was the boss on the court! I thought Peter was awesome, and I wanted to get to know him better, no matter what!
After a few minutes, some of my friends had to leave, and there were only three left. “Come over here, Ryan!” Peter shouted at me. I was amazed, normally older kids never want to shoot hoops with a little kid like me! I guessed that Peter was probably fifteen or even sixteen years old, and I was only nine years-old! I was surprised that he even wanted to shoot some hoops with me, but I got up and joined him. Even though I felt a little intimidated by him, he still passed the ball to me a lot, and he constantly encouraged me to make a shot at the basket.
Finally, all the guys had eventually left the court, and it was just the two of us. We just shot a few baskets for fun until we were both sweaty and tired. As we both walked towards the water fountain, he started to talk to me. “Hey Ryan, thanks for standing up for me earlier” he said, as he gently rested his arm on my shoulder while he was walking next to me. “Well I couldn’t think of any reason why we could NOT let you play, after you made that full-court basket! That was incredible! How did you do that?” I asked him. He just chuckled and he really never answered my question, though. Then he stood in front of me, just by the bench, he turned towards me and said, “Have you seen Cory?” I wondered about that, but then I noticed the miniature form of Cory trying to climb up Peter’s shirt! “Peter, he’s climbing up your jersey!” I shouted, when Peter finally noticed the tiny teenager. Cory climbed on Peter’s right shoulder and started to plead with him. “Peter, don’t leave me like this! I’m sorry for what I said to you earlier! Please, change me back! I’ll do anything!” he said, as he started to beg Peter to change him back to normal.
Peter gently set Cory back down on the court, and as he sat down on the bench, Cory suddenly grew back to his normal size. Cory slowly walked up to Peter, who was sitting on the bench. “How did you do that?” he asked. Peter was silent for a few seconds, and then answered with one word, “Magic”. Cory turned around and walked away in disbelief, leaving me alone with Peter. This was finally my big chance to get to know him a little better.
“How did you do those things? You made a full court basket and you reduced Cory to a midget! There’s something really weird about you…” I asked him. I looked him in the eye as I sat down next to him. He just grinned and repeated his previous answer “It was magic”.
Then I realized that Stanley and Nadia would come over and pick me up soon. “Wow I wish you could work some magic in my life now…” I said, as I looked down at the court. I didn’t realize at first that Peter was looking straight at me, until I felt a warm tingle in my body. I looked right at him, and he smiled. Little did I realize then that he was able to read all my thoughts. Then he became serious, and said “I’m sorry to hear about your parents, Ryan” I gasped when he said that, and at that moment I knew for sure that he was some kind of a wizard or something. But I continued with the conversation, for I realized that there really was nothing I could hide from him anyway. “It’s not my parents I’m worried about,” I began, “but my drug-addicted foster parents. I was supposed to beg for money from you so I can give it to them. They would then use it to buy more drugs to support their habit.” Peter looked shocked when I said that. “How can you be living with foster parents when they are both drug addicts?” he asked me. The truth was that nobody had brought it up to the association of foster families before, and I was scared to tell anyone for the risk of losing my foster family. I told him that, and Peter fully understood. I felt I could completely trust Peter and I could talk to him about anything. He almost seemed like the big brother I had always wanted, plus he had these magic powers too! I felt so lucky to have met him.
A red car pulled up by the entrance to the park. I recognized it right away, it was Stanley and Nadia! “Oh, no!” I said to Peter, “Quick! Give me a few dollars!” Peter grabbed some money that he kept in his socks and gave me two dollars. “That’s all I have with me right now, Ryan.” He said. I got up, slowly walking towards the car, when both my foster parents got out of the car. “Did you get any money?” Stanley asked me, as I held the two dollars in my hand. “Only two dollars?” Nadia shouted at me. “That’s nothing at all! Why that will barely pay for a stick of gum! That’s horrible! You worthless, little twerp!” she added, as Stanley grabbed my arm. I saw they were both drugged since their eyes were all red. “No! What are you going to do to me? Leave me alone! Both of you are all doped up and I hate that!” I shouted, as Stanley started to drag me over to the back door of the car. Then Peter got up from the bench.
“Hold it you two! You aren’t capable of taking care of him! You belong in a rehab center!” Peter said to them. “Oh really?” Stanley responded, “And who is going to turn us in? You can’t make us go to the rehab center!”
Peter grinned, “Wanna bet?” Then Peter walked off the court towards the car. “Let Ryan go” he said to Nadia, and she immediately let go of my arm, allowing me to run towards Peter. I decided to stand right next to him, because I realized they could not hurt me as long as Peter was around. “What have we here? Are you going to be Ryan’s new foster parent? I don’t think so!” Stanley said calmly, as he walked straight towards Peter. While they were walking towards us, Peter bent down and grabbed a little box of matches that was lying on the ground and he turned towards me. “Hold on to this, Ryan” he said. I thought Peter was so cool, he wasn’t afraid of anything or of anyone; he was completely fearless and confident! Who wouldn’t be, if he had such power?
Suddenly, both Stanley and Nadia were transformed into two little bugs! The shrunk so fast, I almost didn’t see it! My mouth dropped wide open, as I was completely astonished by Peter amazing power and speed of transformation. Then I realized that people would not even dare to mess with this kid, he was able to do whatever he wanted! Then instantly the bugs disappeared, and materialized in the box, that was in my hand! I couldn’t believe that I was holding my foster parents in a little match box, within the palm of my hand. “There, we’ll drop them off at the rehab center later, okay?” Peter said to me, with a smile on his face. “I want to thank you for standing up for me on the basketball court, Ryan. That was very courageous of you, especially in front of all your friends. You really didn’t have to do that!” Peter said, “I know what your greatest wish is, and I can make it come true, as a reward for your courage.”
I couldn’t believe what he was saying to me, it sounded like music to my ears. I always wanted to be big and strong, and somehow Peter knew that this was what I wanted. “Yeah, I want to be a muscle boy! I want to be really big and strong, because I always get picked on at school by all the big guys. I hate that and that was one of the reasons I really didn’t even want to go back to school anymore!” I responded. “Well, you need to go to school, so we’ll have to work on your muscles a little bit. And you’ll need a new foster home!” Then I walked up to him and I realized that I didn’t want to go to another foster family. I wanted to be with Peter! I walked up to him and I wrapped my arms around him. ‘I just want to be with you, Peter! I don’t want to go to a foster home anymore! I just want to be with you, I want to be your little brother! Please don’t send me back to the foster parents’ association! I hate it there! I don’t want other foster parents; I just want to be with you!” I cried, as he held on to him as tight as possible.
“Why do you want to be a muscle boy? To seek revenge on your friends who pick on you all the time?” he asked me. “No!” I answered, “I will protect any other kid who gets picked on or bullied! I promise you, I won’t hurt anyone! I just want to be your muscle brother. I will do anything for you; I’ll do whatever you say!” I said to him. I realized that he wanted to know why I wanted to be big, and I understood that he wanted to be careful. “Very well, Ryan!” Peter said calmly, “I will grant you your wish as your reward for your bravery, and I will look into the possibility of adopting you as my little brother for the time being.”
I felt like we were brothers already! For the first time in my life, I had met someone who looked after me and my well being, rather than find ways to take advantage of me! I couldn’t believe it, I felt like I was dreaming! Peter was like an angel from heaven, and I had decided I was not going to let him out of my site! I hugged him again, and I whispered “Thank you” to him, while tears were rolling down my cheeks. While I was hugging him, I felt my legs started to grow longer! I was getting taller and taller! I was only 4’6” tall; I was looking at Peter’s chest. And now I was coming up to his chin, then his nose, and within just a few moments I noticed I was as tall as him! I was looking him straight in the eye! I looked down at my legs, and I noticed that my calves were shaped like diamonds and my thighs where getting all huge and muscular. As I started to pass Peter in height, I noticed my abdominals growing really large and defined, but it became harder to look at them for my chest started to grow bigger and wider. My pectorals were growing like balloons that were being inflated, and my arms were becoming thick and muscular as well! I flexed my right arm just to see the bicep rise up from my forearm, maintaining the shape of a softball. I looked at Peter again, and I noticed that I was now towering over him by almost a foot! “Wow! This is great!” I said, while looking down on him. Peter appeared to be shrinking even more, when, in fact, I was the one who was growing taller! My shoulders, my arms and my legs were huge, defined and muscular, and I felt my body weight increase as well! And I began to feel so strong! Nothing could stop me, I felt like I was stronger than anyone else I knew! I wanted to let go of Peter, just because I had grown so tall. But then I noticed that I was in fact lifting him off his feet, his shoes were dangling almost two feet off the ground! I figured Peter was about 5’8” tall, and if I was holding him almost two feet off the ground, then I must have reached a height that was over seven feet!
When I felt the growing stop, I set Peter down. He looked so small, like a little boy, standing there in front of me, with a wide grin on his face. I know he was admiring his work, as he looked me over. He walked around me twice, checking to make sure that I looked the way he wanted. “Let’s go to Ty’s house, where you can look in a mirror, alright Ryan?”
We then walked to his cousin’s house, where I got to meet Ty. I had the chance to look at myself in the mirror and I loved it! I still had exactly the same face of a little nine year-old boy, but I had a body that was fantastic! I was bulging with muscle all over, every time I flexed, I felt a surge of power going through me! But the best surprise came, when I walked back into the living room, where Peter presented me with adoption papers. He worked some magic and made a process that normally takes years to complete, take place in seconds. “Congratulations Ryan, you’re my brother now!” Peter said, as he held up the certificate with my name on it. “I love you, big bro!” I said, as I placed my hands under his armpits and gently lifted him up until he was above my head. I noticed that he looked down at me and then gasped when he saw how far off the ground I was holding him! “No, Ryan, you got it backwards! You’re my big brother now!” he said. I gently put him back down on the floor, when Ty walked up to Peter. “Are you going to take him with you, back to Canada?” he asked. “Yeah, he’s my muscle boy, and he’s my big brother now! He’s going back with me when I leave next week. But we’ll be back soon, don’t worry! All we need to do is drop off a little box with two bugs in it, and take them to the drug rehab center. And that will take care of his former foster parents. Welcome to the family, Ryan!” Peter said, while Ryan gave Ty a hug, lifting him off the ground as well.
“Let’s go get something to eat! Now that I’m so big, I’m hungry like a wolf!” I said, as both Peter and Ty chucked. I was the biggest guy in the house, and yet I was the youngest. But I knew I had some awesome company, now that I became a “big” brother for Peter.