The Misadventures of Sheena

I can see the birds flying through the air; hear the wind rustling in the trees. It is a rather pleasant day in Hillwood and I am so glad to be a part of it. The world is amazing, so many creatures and beings here at this park, and nothing can possibly ruin it… except one thing.

I look over my shoulder to see the thick cloud of smoke, boiling up from the smoke stack of a factory on the outskirts of town. The wind is blowing in such a way today that the disgusting product of human over-consumption is headed this way, bound to ruin my day. I really need to do something; I cannot allow our beautiful Mother Earth to be soiled like this any longer.

"Eugene", I say to the boy next to me, "will you help me with something."

"Of course hun, what do you need," he replied?

Asking is really more of a formality, I know my boyfriend Eugene will do anything I ask of him just as I will do anything he asks of me. We are totally inseparable and it's been like this for a long time now. Even before we were "official" I would say we were together. Drama, nature, human rights, that's what we strive for and today I'm adding something new to the list.

"That cloud of smog, it's going to ruin the rest of our day at the park. It's too late to do anything now but I'm tired of it. We need to do something about the amount of pollution that goes on around Hillwood." I said all this with an air of importance and vigor in order to get him fired up as well.

"You're right Sheena," he says as I knew he would, "it's an outrage. But what can we do about it?"

I started thinking, and thinking, and thinking but nothing came to mind. People have tried protesting before; I know this because my parents were among them. Big companies like that would never just let us come in and talk to their corporate executives.

"I'm not sure but I'll think on it okay," I say to him finally?

"Alright, so will I" he says in return, "but for now let's get out of here I'd rather not stick around if I can't even see the sky."

We get up and begin our walk out of the park. As we are walking I look at my lovely Eugene. He is almost a whole head shorter than me, his curly red hair falls down around his face and his nose is off center, as if it has been broken many times. I continue down, seeing his un-tucked shirt and his bright purple skinny-jeans, and his untied shoes. Wait… untied shoes?

Before I can do anything he trips and falls face first into the grass.

"Oh Eugene are you alright?" I say frantically.

"I'm okay," comes his muffled reply.

I help him up and dust him off, telling him that I'll buy him a coffee at the little place on the next street. We sit down after getting our coffee, and I gaze into the eyes of the boy who I fell in love with so many years ago. He's clumsy, he's a jinx, he's allergic to everything, but he's also sweet and loyal and kind. I feel like we stick out compared to everyone else, our bright colors with peace signs and flowers piercing through the dull and dreary norms of Hillwoods fashion. Some people would call us hipsters; I call us hippies because it's what we are. Our job is to "freak out the squares" as Eugene says… I like that.

"Hey babe, let's go to my place I've got something to show you," I say standing up and beckoning him along. Like a trained puppy he stands and follows me out of the shop. A lot of our friends think I have him whipped, but that's just how Eugene is; devoted and eager to please. Plus I put out, which I'm sure is one reason why he's eager to please but still I know his love is real and strong. I'm bright enough to know that we're too young for that kind of stuff but I can do what I like with my body, it's mine after all.

We round the corner and walk up the stoop to my house where I open the door and let him inside. We walk up the stairs to my room, a colorful canvas that I painted myself, where I start looking through my drawers and he flops down on my bed.

"Here it is," I say pulling out a bag of white crystalline powder.

"Whoa Sheena, I draw the line at pot I'm not touching anything like that," he says with a suspicious look at the bag.

"It's not drugs dummy," I say giving him a playful shove, "it's something we can use to help with our pollution problem. Here we have a wonderful chemical called aluminum sulfate, used in water tanks to keep sulfates out of the water. Now what we need to do is go for a 'tour' in the factory and dump this somewhere. The effect could possibly shut down the factory for a week or too while we think of a more permanent solution."

"I'm not sure that would work, this stuff doesn't really have much of an effect like that."

"Well I don't know I'm not the sciency one," I say sheepishly, blushing deeply and looking away.

"You're cute when you're flustered," he says with a chuckle. I punch him in the shoulder and lay down next to him. We're new age kids in an old timey town. One day we might have enough courage to actually do something big, but for now we will probably just stick to protesting. We are still just freshman.

I pull out another bag, this one paper with a Komodo dragon insignia on the bottom. We roll up our joints and smoke a while in the comfort of my room. I'm sure I know how this day will end, me falling asleep on Eugene's bare chest and both of us exhausted. A lot of days end like this and I love it more than anything when he is the one who takes control and all his uncertainties and clumsiness leaves. I love him, almost as much as I love Mother Earth. I stand up and walk down to the kitchen to grab some snacks… I steal a bite of a half-finished sausage patty on the table, so I'm a hypocrite but oh well… Eugene's all that matters now

This should have been uploaded ages ago…. Unfortunately I've been dealing with college as well as losing all of my data. Anyway I'm sorry this has taken so long. This misadventure is a bit different. This is the life of the jinx and the hippie. Sheena and Eugene are an interesting couple and I always thought it would be interesting to watch them grow together… but I feel like Eugene might just go along with Sheena because he's so devoted to her…. Oh well anyway Chapter 9 will be the next installment of A Friend in Need where the others will have to deal with getting Sid back. No giant gun battles of course, just good Hey Arnold problem solving and using superior intellect to outwit these dangerous criminals. Sorry again for the long wait, here have a chapter!