Seven year old Victor Crowley rolled over sleepily in his little bed, his sleep was being disturbed by a racket in the swamp. Victor thought that was odd as no one ever came out this far into Honey Island unless they were there to yell at him or throw eggs at him. Hearing voices, he pulled the blankets around him, hoping they'd make him invisible to whoever was causing trouble.

Listening closer, Victor heard four voices that he had never heard before, they were talking about their vacation and how beautiful Honey Island Swamp was. Tourists? thought Victor, they never got tourists to the swamp, just grumpy old fishermen. Victor's eyes snapped open, he threw off his blankets and painfully got to his feet. Victor had many illnesses, some made his skin thick and lumpy, others made his muscles tight and both made it difficult for him to walk, but regardless he wanted to see the newcomers.

Victor left his bedroom, his father was eating breakfast and reading the paper at the table. For a few seconds Victor thought that maybe he could just sneak out and see the tourists without his father noticing, however as he neared the front door, his father almost jumped out of his seat to rush over to him.

"Victor, what are you doing?" his Daddy asked, he was surprised and clearly not in a good way

"Tourists, daddy, tourists" Victor squeaked, pointing at the door

A look of anxiety flashed over Thomas Crowley's face, he tried to hide it but Victor knew that his father worried about him and how people would react to how he looked.

"Maybe we should just let them be" his father tried but Victor was persistent, he looked up at his father and gave him the same sad look that always got him extra cookies for dessert. After a few moments of consideration his dad finally, reluctantly caved in.

"Okay, okay, no need to give me that look no more"

Victor smiled his brightest smile.

"I'll go first, okay? you just watch me from the porch"

Victor nodded a little sadly, he wished that his father wouldn't act so ashamed of him.

Thomas Crowley opened the door and hesitantly left his house, little Victor following slowly behind.

The old empty cabin that had neighboured Thomas Crowley's for so many years finally had some life back in it. Two kids, a boy about Victor's age with a mop of blond hair, and a girl in her teens were carrying supplies indoors, singing and skipping as they did.

The parents, a skinny looking geek in a vest sweater was taking boxes out of the trunk of his station wagon while his wife was busy chain smoking nearby. She regarded Thomas suspiciously as he approached her husband.

"You need a hand there?" Thomas asked as friendly as he could, yet still he startled the smaller man

"Uh, no, no, I'm just fine, thank you" the weasel like man spluttered, almost hitting his head

The man seemed intimidated by Thomas's size so before any uncomfortable silence could settle, Thomas held out his hand in friendship.

"I'm Thomas Crowley, your neighbour"

The man shook his hand, he had an unexpected tight grip.

"Peter Myers, my family's vacationing here for a few days"

"Oh where you from?"

"A little town in Illinois, we wanted to spread our wings a bit this summer, my wife Edith used to come here when she was younger, she'd come over and say hello but she's enjoying her medicine a little too much"

Edith blew a puff of smoke towards Peter, aggressively.

"My kids are inside somewhere, I think"

Peter raised his voice.

"Kids, come on, get your butts out here!"

The two kids darted out of the house immediately, running up to their father, looking like two rabbits about to be shot.

"This is Mr. Crowley, he lives right across from us"

"Hi Mr. Crowley" the girl said sheepishly

The boy however didn't say anything at all, he just stared blankly at Thomas.

"Aren't you going to say hello" Peter prompted the boy

"Hi" the boy whispered, reminding Thomas of Victor

"You got any kids, Tom"

"Thomas" he corrected Peter "Yeah I got one, names Victor" he said quietly

"Has he grown up and moved out, I can't wait for these two to do that" he said with a strange, twisted smile

"No he's on the porch" Thomas said uneasily "he's shy"

"Invite him over, I'm sure these two would love to meet him"

Thomas didn't want to, he didn't know this weirdo from adam and there was something off about him. He didn't want to risk Victor getting upset because of something stupid Peter or his kids might say to him.

"Look I'll be honest with you" Thomas started defensively before realising that Peter and the children weren't looking at him anymore, turning Thomas saw Victor standing beside him.

"Victor, I told you to wait"

"That thing is your son?" Peter sneered

Thomas snapped and grabbed Peter by his sweater, the girl ran to her mother begging her to try and stop Thomas but she simply smiled and shook her head, she wanted to see her husband get his ass kicked.

"Apologize!" Thomas yelled, practically spitting at Peter

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" the little man wailed

Thomas released his grip on Peter, letting him go. Thomas then tapped Victor gently on the shoulder.

"Let's go back home, son"

Victor nodded sadly, taking his father's hand.

"Filthy inbreds" Peter said, not as quietly as he thought

Thomas let go of Victor's hand, he threw a punch right at Peter's smug face but he didn't expect the girl to get between the two of them, his fist connected with her face, sending her to the ground. Thomas froze. He didn't want to hit her, it was an accident. He let his anger get the best of him and now a teenage girl was lying in the dirt, her nose bloody and face all scratched up.

Victor was shocked by his father's outburst, but even more so by the girl he had punched, who got to her feet. Her dad was rambling about something called lawsuits but the girl, through tearful eyes took her brother's hand and looked over at Victor.

"You wanna get out of here?" she asked

Victor looked at his father, he had never seen him look so sad. They didn't have a lot of money but the skinny man kept saying that Victor's daddy would pay every dollar or go to jail. Victor was worried that this was his fault, if he had just waited on the porch none of this would have happened.

Victor nodded at the girl, he took her hand and she lead them over to the station wagon. She gestured for Victor and the other boy to get in the back, they did as she got into the driver's seat in the front. Victor looked back at the adults, the skinny man was still shouting at his daddy, neither had noticed that they were gone.

The girl turned the key in the ignition and the car roared into life, the adults then paid attention. They rushed over to the station wagon but too late as the girl sped away, leaving nothing but dust in her wake.

Soon they had pulled onto the main road, past Gertrude's Bayou Store and toward the city. No one spoke. Victor knew the girl was focusing all her attention on the road, she looked like she was trying to distract herself from what just happened. The little boy next to Victor looked scared.

Victor introduced himself to break the silence.

"I'm Michael" the boy replied, nervously

"Friend?" Victor asked

Michael smiled warmly "Yeah, we can be friends" he held out his hand and Victor shook it

"Where we going?" Victor asked

"I dunno" Michael admitted before turning to his sister "Hey Judith, where we headed"

Judith paused, Victor still saw tears dripping down her face.

"We're getting ice cream" she finally decided

"I want chocolate!" Michael replied happily "What about you, Victor?"

Victor and his dad enjoyed ice cream usually only on their birthdays but Victor knew his favourite flavor.

"Vanilla with sprinkles" he squeaked

Judith let out a cry and pressed her foot quickly onto the brakes, the car slammed to a halt.

"What's wrong, Judy?" Michael asked

Judith let out a sigh before swinging her door open and leaving the car. Judith proceeded to pick something up from the road and bring it back, holding it carefully in her arms.

"Michael, you've got a new buddy" she said with a smile, handing a bunny rabbit to the boy.

The rabbit had dirty fur and seemed startled but was content enough sitting on Michael's lap.

"He's so cute" Michael whispered to Victor, encouraging him to pet the rabbit

The rabbit's head was sweaty but soft, it enjoyed the pets and Victor enjoyed giving them.

"My sister Cynthia would love this" Michael said after a moment

"Where she?"

"We had to leave her at home with our babysitter" he said sadly

Judith rolled her eyes and pulled onto the road again.

"Can I ask you something?"

Victor nodded.

"Why do you look like that?"

Victor shrugged "Was born like this"