Constant Corrections

It is another sweltering hot summer day. The humidity is suffocating. The lure of enjoying the great outdoors is quickly overshadowed by the sun induced, mosaic hallucinations. It is the ninth summer of his nine year life and he is stuck inside grandma’s apartment building. Housing a collection of seniors only rivaled by the suburbs of south Florida, finding variety of activity or any entertainment in this building is a lost cause. For the magical event’s that will soon transpire, this setting is surly and completely inadequate.

The boy is a Jacques Cousteau of inquisitiveness. He rarely accepts the ripples on the surface, preferring to delve deeper into the abyss of the unknown. This progressive state of consciousness is clearly a side effect of his up bringing. Being raised by a single mom, forced to work two jobs, he has parented and chaperoned himself and is quite proud indeed. His wealth of premature wisdom does not, however, harbor much restraint. He can’t stop once he has been compelled and this summer he has decided the dark corners of the apartment building and it’s inhabitants will be his subject of inquiry. He won’t rest until he understand and mentally maps everyone, everything, every inch.

As with most boys at this age, his imagination often gets the better of him. However, the inhabitants of this building truly are something out of his dreams. Their personalities, compulsions and eccentricities are as varied and unique as they are extreme. As isolated as the boy and his subjects first appear, they will soon all dance to the beat of one drum; a nine year old heart.

***

As Toby arrives in the Taxi with his mother, he is greeted by a familiar site. Ms. Hershey walking her elderly poodle and mumbling to herself about the hole in her slipper. Ms. Hershey hasn’t actually worn her slippers in three years, since Gingersnap, the aging poodle, made them the main course of a feeding rampage.

He opens the door and puts one foot on the sidewalk, assuring himself this is some sort of cruel prank. He awaits the giddy laughter and call from his mother to “get back in this cab boy.” When it doesn’t come he lets out an exhausted sigh. His disapproval soon becomes stinging anger as he lashes out at his now impatient mother, “Why can’t I just go to summer camp like all my friends? You enjoy torturing me by dumping me here and running away for the summer, don’t you?”

Obviously remorseful and compassionate to the situation his mother reminds him, “We already discussed this- I am not going to be able to afford summer camp this year. Things are really tight. I am going to pick up as many extra shifts at the diner as I can. When you get home though, things will be different. You’ll see.”