The Neutron Show

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 2:

It's not unusual for people, when first waking up, to experience a limited form of amnesia about certain things, such as where they are, what day it is, or their plans for the coming day. When Jimmy awoke the next morning he had such an experience, albeit in a different form and more strongly than usual. He was, so far as he could tell, in his bedroom where he should have been, but it seemed to him that he should be somewhere else. Where exactly he felt he should have been escaped him, and as he dwelt more on the subject he suddenly realized that he could not remember coming home at all the previous day. He could remember taking his class pictures, having the spat with Cindy, and leaving for home, but everything between then and now was a blank. This in itself was unusual, as Jimmy had a photographic memory and could recall with ease virtually anything that had happened to him since before he had been old enough to talk.

His mother's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Jimmy! You'd had better get up or you'll be late for school!"

"Coming!" Jimmy called back. He tossed off his bedcovers, quickly dressed himself, and headed downstairs to the breakfast nook where his parents were already eating.

"Hiya, Jimbo," his father called, looking up briefly from his paper.

"Good morning, Sweetie," his mother said. "Did you want eggs and bacon this morning or just cold cereal?"

"Morning, Dad. Morning, Mom," Jimmy replied as he crossed over to the refrigerator and opened the door. "Nothing for me, thanks. I'm not really hungry this morning. I think I'll just have a glass of orange juice."

His mother rose to her feet, seeming strangely agitated as he reached for the carton of juice. "Oh, wait, Jimmy. Let me get that for you."

"That's okay, Mom. It's only a glass of juice. I think I'm old enough to –" His voiced trailed off as he removed the carton from the refrigerator. The first thing he noticed was that the carton seemed oddly light. The second thing he noticed was that it was warm. As he stood there it occurred to him that the interior of the refrigerator itself was no cooler than the kitchen itself. Puzzled, he shook the juice carton near his ear and heard nothing.

Hi father fidgeted nervously. "Something wrong, Jimmy?"

"This juice carton is empty," Jimmy replied. "And the refrigerator isn't working."

"Oh, that," his mother quickly answered. "I noticed that the refrigerator wasn't working earlier this morning so I poured all the juice down the drain. Can't be too careful about spoilage, you know. In fact," she hurried on as Jimmy turned back to examine the other contents in the refrigerator, "I emptied out all the packages in the refrigerator and freezer."

Jimmy nodded doubtfully. "Why did you leave the packages in the refrigerator if they're all empty?"

"That's really quite easy to explain, Jimmy," his father assured him. "You see…umm…Sugar Booger?"

"Well, dear," his mother said as she seemed to search for an answer, "I left them there to…umm…remember what I needed to replace once we fixed the refrigerator." She smiled brightly. "You see? No mystery at all there."

Jimmy was old enough to realize that an explanation as outlandish as this one could only mean that his parents were hiding something from him. But what? His birthday was still months away and he could think of no other reason his parents would try to deceive him. Deciding that he needed more information he turned his attention back to the juice carton. "And you sealed all the empty packages up again because…why?"

That seemed to leave both of his parents at a loss for words. Before either could say anything, however, the kitchen door burst open and Carl walked in. "Hey, Jimmy," he said. "Ready to go? I think that the bus is running early this morning so we'd better hurry if we're going to catch it."

"Yes, Jimmy," his mother agreed with a look of relief. "You'd better hurry off to school."

"But –" Jimmy started to say.

"No 'buts', young man," his father said in an unusually firm tone of voice. "School is more important that broken refrigerators or mysteriously re-sealed empty packages. Now, if it were about ducks –" He stopped short was Jimmy's mother jabbed him in the ribs with an elbow.

"Have a good day at school, dear," his mother told Jimmy as she half-guided, half-pushed him out the door. "I'm sure that things will be back to normal by the time you get back." Once Jimmy and Carl were outside she quickly closed the door behind them, effectively ending the conversation.

Jimmy stared at the door for a moment without moving. "Now, what was that all about?" he asked.

"What?" Carl asked, leading him away by the arm.

"What just happened in there," Jimmy replied, falling into step with his friend. "If I didn't know better I'd say they were hiding something from me."

"Oh, that," Carl said. "Parents always do that kind of thing. Every time I ask about stuff I don't understand they always say that its perfectly normal Mommy and Daddy stuff and that I'll understand when I'm older."

Jimmy shook his head impatiently. "I'm not talking about mortgages or whether a dress makes Mom look fat or not. I'm talking about –"

"Hey, Carl! Hey, Jimmy!" a voice called out. "Wait up!"

Carl and Jimmy turned to see Sheen running up. "Hey, Sheen," Carl said. "What's up?"

Sheen pulled up, panting. "Check this out," he said breathlessly, pulling out a brightly-colored plastic figure from his backpack. "It's the latest Ultra Lord action figure with patent-pending detachable Deluxe Battle Pack!"

The one unchanging constant in the Universe, Jimmy thought. As long as there's an Ultra Lord there will always be a Sheen. "That's great, Sheen," he said. "But what makes this battle pack different from the ones on your other Ultra Lord figures?"

"Are you kidding?" Sheen asked in surprise. "This one includes the exclusive nucleonic bi-directional torque administrator!"

Carl examined the plastic toy carefully. "It looks like a screwdriver."

"To the untrained eye, yes. But to a skilled cosmic avenger like Ultra Lord it also functions as a convenient pry bar and back scratcher."

A honking interrupted the three and they looked up to see the school bus waiting patiently at the curb for them. Without further discussion they hurried onto the bus and moved down the aisle, searching for empty seats to occupy. As they did so Jimmy was surprised to hear someone call to him, and even more surprised to see that it was none other than Betty Quinlan sitting alone.

"Hey, Betty," he said clumsily.

"Hi, Jimmy," she smiled. "Would you like to sit by me?"

"By…you?" Jimmy repeated, as though the two words were some equation he was having difficulty solving. "Me? By you? Really? You're not…this isn't a –"

Betty interrupted him by taking him arm and guiding him down onto the seat with her. Although the seat had ample space for the two of them Betty pulled him closer than actually necessary, locking his arm in hers. "I'm glad I had a chance to see you this morning, Jimmy," she said. "There's something I wanted to ask."

Betty's close proximity succeeded in shutting down most of Jimmy's higher brain functions. "Ask away," Jimmy said, his mind now operating completely on autopilot.

"Well," Betty said, the tips of her fingers gently brushing against his, "there's a concert in Retroville Park this evening and I was hoping that maybe you'd be interested in taking me."

"Concert," was all Jimmy said. Somehow the electric current generated by the contact between his and Betty's fingers was shorting out his speech center, keeping him from saying anything else.

"Yes. There's going to be a full moon tonight and it would be just so…romantic." The magnetism holding his eyes on hers was almost palpable. "Don't you think?"

"Romantic," Jimmy replied dreamily.

"I'm so glad." She moved closer to him and her voice become soft and intimate. "I can hardly wait." As she finished speaking the bus arrived at the school and came to a stop. Betty rose to go, giving Jimmy's hand a parting squeeze as she did so, and Jimmy stepped aside to let her exit. He was barely aware of Carl and Sheen as they moved forward.

"Hey, way to go, Jimmy!" Sheen congratulated him, giving him a "thumbs up" gesture. "A genuine date tonight with Betty Quinlan."

"Yeah. You go…uh…boyfriend," Carl added awkwardly.

A date with Betty Quinlan, Jimmy thought as he exited the bus. Who cares about broken refrigerators when you have a date with Betty Quinlan? He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he was completely oblivious to the pained look on Cindy Vortex's face as she watched him go.

End of Chapter 2.