Condemned boarded up buildings lined the crumbling roads and bits of paper and trash raced through the town. People had left several years ago, at least most of them had. Patrick had stayed, Gleneagles Spinney was his home and he couldn’t think of where else he would go. He figured that at some point he may leave, but for now he was happy where he was at. He habitually got up early, that was the best time to study the new species of insect he had discovered. He named it Dreadful Lad, sort of after his sister’s three year old unruly child who insisted that his uncle Patrick was a bug catcher, he couldn’t say Entomologist, kind of a joke to himself.
The Dreadful Lad typically measures less than an inch in length, it is a hexapod invertebrate (six legs, no spine). The legs are jointed and dark blue, although without the use of a microscope they look black. They have a chitinous exoskeleton (in short it is a long-chain polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, basically a byproduct of glucose) that will glisten in the sun light blue with flecks of silver, except on the females the thorax (midsection) is completely silver. The compound superpositioned eyes are a bright yellow. Basically they have bug eyes but they see only one image with them as opposed to other bugs that can see multiple images. Their antennae are extremely long and are yellow as well. Patrick was so excited at the discovery. Insects are fascinating to him, but they can cause great damage and he felt that he may be able to prove that they were the reasoning for the decimation of the crops which in turn brought the town to its death. So far he knew very little about them.
He was preparing for his hike to the river outside of town when the phone rang. It was his sister wanting him to yet again take her son Derrick for the day. He knew he shouldn’t have answered the phone but it is just the two of them now and she needs him. Her husband had died two years ago, well he disappeared. Patrick felt that he most likely just took off otherwise they would have found a body or something, right? However, his sister was insistent that he must be dead because he would never have just left her alone with their son. She had recently been talking about leaving the desolate, worn out town for the city where she could find work and provide a real home for Derrick. Patrick had to wonder if she stayed for two years only because she hoped that her husband, Emil, would return. This recent idea to move must mean that she has accepted that he is never going to come back. Patrick hurt for her and wanted her to find something to help her move her life forward. As always he told her to bring Derrick over.
After he wished her luck on her job hunt in the nearby city Patrick set off to the river with Derrick wreaking havoc behind him. Well, Derrick really wasn’t that bad, he loved his nephew and hoped great things for him. He looked back every now and then to check on Derrick, he was usually kicking or throwing something, this time he was breaking a twig off a bush as he passed by. Patrick saw the river just ahead, the spot he was looking for was under the willow tree. It hung low, tears dripping onto the ground, long and thin creating a lonely atmosphere of being lost or forgotten. This is where he found the colony of Dreadful Lad’s. It is the only place that he has ever seen any. They lay their eggs just at the edge of the water line of the river. He knew with Derrick here today would be more observation with very little study, more of an outing than a work day. He had packed some food but it was unlikely that Derrick would make it to lunch time before he wanted to go back to the house.
He laid down on the bank by the river and Derrick sat down beside him. He looked at the boy and smiled. Derrick was playing with his fingers in his lap and mumbling to himself. He understood about half of what the kid said, it always amazed him that his sister knew exactly every word. Derrick looked up, “Uncle Bug” and then something totally unintelligible to Patrick. Patrick answered in his most supportive voice with his usual, “Oh yeah?” Derrick giggled. “Why don’t you find me some special rocks, buddy.” Derrick loved rocks, Patrick thought that he was for sure geologist material. Derrick fell back and rolled around, grass and debris tangled in his hair at the back of his head. He clambered up to a standing position and started toward the river bank. “Not that way, go around to the other side of the tree” chided Patrick. As Derrick tried to turn he stumbled on his own feet and hit the ground, his short arms outstretched were not enough to keep his head from scraping. Patrick jumped up and helped him to his feet, brushing off the dirt from his forehead. He was a tough kid, he looked up with those brilliant green eyes and wriggled away, he could melt Patrick’s heart with those eyes.
He bumbled around the tree in what he thought was a fast run. Patrick grinned and laid back down. He could hear Derrick by the tree rustling the ground cover, digging and singing Three Blind Mice. Patrick was enjoying the morning’s cool breeze and the smell of earth. “Uncle Bug, What that?” Derrick’s voice broke into his mind drifting, he knew those words because Derrick said them a lot. He got up and went around the tree. Derrick was squatting and pointing to the base of the tree where he had been digging with the stick in his hand. Gleaming, half hidden under a root, were three palm sized red diamond cut forms. They reminded Patrick of the ring candies that his sister would get Derrick when she went to the city. He leaned in closer to inspect, putting his hand on Derrick’s shoulder. He reached down to grab one and as his fingers wrapped around it, he felt the ground beneath him shudder while a surge of heat went up his arm.
His vision was blurred and he felt dizzy, Derrick fell away from Patrick’s grasp onto his butt with a thud. His eyesight recovered quickly and he no longer felt faint, but confusion emerged quickly. He looked around and the surroundings were somewhere between futuristic and fantasy. He instinctively grabbed for Derrick’s hand. Large maroon fronds on thick sepia stalks overtook the landscape. A few feet away was a forest of tall amber trunks that leafed out ten to fifteen feet in the air. Leaves that were circular and a bright lime green. Dangling close to the trunk and just under the leaves were faceted steel blue diamonds. There was a taupe mist that hung in the atmosphere. A creature caught from the corner of his eye scampered behind a bush that was pink with wavy arm like foliage. It moved, but Patrick could not feel any wind or breeze. The creature was abnormal, to say the least. It had a long lizard like body, on cat like legs and a large head. He reached down and snatched Derrick into his arms and held him close and tight.
I think that this one has potential for a novel!