My Life: a story by Dan Ball
The Show:
Hi everyone, and welcome to the show! Well, ok, it's not actually a show, not a movie, not even a play. But that's how I see it sometimes. That's how I look back on it, like I'm watching it. What is 'it'? Well... 'It' is being a hero. 'It' is being the coolest. 'It' is knowing everyone, and having them all look up to you like a king. No, like a father, who always knows what to do. 'It', is freedom. 'It', is the ability to control time. To move through time at will, and bend it to perfection. 'It', is my life. Now don't start with your conclusions, and your hypotheses, and don't doubt my story. I mean, maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but just listen. Hear me out before you call me a liar. Listen to me, and watch with me the most wonderful show there is. Or so I think. Let's watch my life.
I guess I'll just start at the beginnings. I was in 5th, or 6th, or 9th grade. It's happened so many times I can't remember when the true beginning was. But I was your average boy, going to school, getting poor to bad grades. But I was happy. Wait, no I wasn't. I was miserable. I wasn't the best at any sport, I wasn't the smartest in my class, and I certainly wasn't the most popular boy in school. How could I be happy? I was nothing. Now I wasn't, and I'm still not, a very religious person, but one night, after a particularly lonely day at school, I prayed. I knelt down beside my bed, pressed, no, clamped my hands together, and prayed to god. "God. I'm not a bad person, I've never done anything that was unforgiven, and I know that I could be so much more. Why? Why don't you let me be someone special? Why can't I be the cool kid, or the talented kid, or the special kid? Because of you, I'm just, the kid. Please god. Please make me someone, give me some cool gift, something, anything." My hands turned white as I pressed them, still clamped together, to my forehead. My torso dropped to my bed shortly after one sad tear made its path down my face. Then, without making a sound, I slid into my bed, under my covers, and fell asleep. That night, I had a dream. A dream beyond all dreams. A dream that would change my life.
I woke up at 3:00 the next morning and I knew something was different. I knew something, I didn't know how I learned it, or how the knowledge was given to me, or even if it was something that I just finally realized. I didn't know how, but I knew that if I just snapped my fingers I would 'pause' time, and move freely within it. Ok, I know this sounds crazy, but it's true. Even though I knew, I had to test it. I looked up at the clock hanging above the shelves in my room, and snapped hard. Was this possible? No. It must've just been a coincidence. There's no way that I could've stopped the second hand on the clock from completing its usual rotation. I quickly ran downstairs; the two dots on the oven clock were no longer blinking. The unset VCR clock had also stopped it regular flashing. But wait. What about the others? What about my sister, and my parents? I ran upstairs and burst into my parent's room. "Mom, Dad! You gotta see this! It's amazing!" but they didn't move. Were they breathing? I gently pushed on my dad's shoulder. "NO WAY!" It was as solid as rock, the bed didn't even wiggle. This could mean only one thing. I was alone. Alone, but finally, free. Eagerly I ran into my bedroom, put on clothes and jogged downstairs. I opened the front door and began my journey into the night, as the most powerful man in the world.
The Power of the Man:
What to do, what to do. The world was at my fingertips, so I did the first thing I knew I had to do. I started building myself a new home that would eventually become my kingdom. By the third time, I knew what to do right away. Within this paused state of time, I went and found myself some heavy machinery and brought it all to my house. I started digging straight down next to my driveway. I just kept digging and digging, every now and then stopping to eat and go to the bathroom. Finally, after what was about 2 weeks for me, but no time for the rest of the world, I reached around 150 down, in a 12'by 15' rectangle. From there I started to dig sideways, towards the direction of my house. Another week and I had a giant room, no, more of a cavern. With steel beams holding the earth above, my cave stretched 200 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 75 feet up. This, I decided, would be one of the greatest rooms in my complex, my garage. After making a floor and walls from concrete, I realized that the only way I could stay alive down there was if I had some ventilation. I went out and found the largest commercial air handling units there are. I can never remember everything that happened next, but I know that in a short time, I had a fully functioning garage/repair shop/autobody shop. I even dug out another couple rooms adjacent to the garage for living and entertainment.
Now that I had a 'home base', it was time to go back into real time, and really make my life a wonder. I thought for a while, and finally came up with a design for a hydraulic lift that, when closed, blended into the driveway. With the use of a remote, however, a platform the size of a truck would lower down into the entrance to my garage. For the time being, I would keep this place a secret.
I did, though, want to show that I had changed in a good way, and that good things would come of me. So I went back in time, just so that it was daytime, and went to a Chrysler manufacturer. They had a prototype car that was beyond everything else, and I decided to "ask" them for one. This, I decided, would make me have the best, coolest, fastest car in America.
The next day, I drove to school in my new car, with new expensive clothes, and parked on the cement sidewalk area by the entrance. Who would have the guts to mess with the owner of this car? I walked into school knowing that that day would be great. That day would show everyone how special my life would be. That day, I would finally be the coolest kid in school.
Hi everyone, and welcome to the show! Well, ok, it's not actually a show, not a movie, not even a play. But that's how I see it sometimes. That's how I look back on it, like I'm watching it. What is 'it'? Well... 'It' is being a hero. 'It' is being the coolest. 'It' is knowing everyone, and having them all look up to you like a king. No, like a father, who always knows what to do. 'It', is freedom. 'It', is the ability to control time. To move through time at will, and bend it to perfection. 'It', is my life. Now don't start with your conclusions, and your hypotheses, and don't doubt my story. I mean, maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but just listen. Hear me out before you call me a liar. Listen to me, and watch with me the most wonderful show there is. Or so I think. Let's watch my life.
I guess I'll just start at the beginnings. I was in 5th, or 6th, or 9th grade. It's happened so many times I can't remember when the true beginning was. But I was your average boy, going to school, getting poor to bad grades. But I was happy. Wait, no I wasn't. I was miserable. I wasn't the best at any sport, I wasn't the smartest in my class, and I certainly wasn't the most popular boy in school. How could I be happy? I was nothing. Now I wasn't, and I'm still not, a very religious person, but one night, after a particularly lonely day at school, I prayed. I knelt down beside my bed, pressed, no, clamped my hands together, and prayed to god. "God. I'm not a bad person, I've never done anything that was unforgiven, and I know that I could be so much more. Why? Why don't you let me be someone special? Why can't I be the cool kid, or the talented kid, or the special kid? Because of you, I'm just, the kid. Please god. Please make me someone, give me some cool gift, something, anything." My hands turned white as I pressed them, still clamped together, to my forehead. My torso dropped to my bed shortly after one sad tear made its path down my face. Then, without making a sound, I slid into my bed, under my covers, and fell asleep. That night, I had a dream. A dream beyond all dreams. A dream that would change my life.
I woke up at 3:00 the next morning and I knew something was different. I knew something, I didn't know how I learned it, or how the knowledge was given to me, or even if it was something that I just finally realized. I didn't know how, but I knew that if I just snapped my fingers I would 'pause' time, and move freely within it. Ok, I know this sounds crazy, but it's true. Even though I knew, I had to test it. I looked up at the clock hanging above the shelves in my room, and snapped hard. Was this possible? No. It must've just been a coincidence. There's no way that I could've stopped the second hand on the clock from completing its usual rotation. I quickly ran downstairs; the two dots on the oven clock were no longer blinking. The unset VCR clock had also stopped it regular flashing. But wait. What about the others? What about my sister, and my parents? I ran upstairs and burst into my parent's room. "Mom, Dad! You gotta see this! It's amazing!" but they didn't move. Were they breathing? I gently pushed on my dad's shoulder. "NO WAY!" It was as solid as rock, the bed didn't even wiggle. This could mean only one thing. I was alone. Alone, but finally, free. Eagerly I ran into my bedroom, put on clothes and jogged downstairs. I opened the front door and began my journey into the night, as the most powerful man in the world.
The Power of the Man:
What to do, what to do. The world was at my fingertips, so I did the first thing I knew I had to do. I started building myself a new home that would eventually become my kingdom. By the third time, I knew what to do right away. Within this paused state of time, I went and found myself some heavy machinery and brought it all to my house. I started digging straight down next to my driveway. I just kept digging and digging, every now and then stopping to eat and go to the bathroom. Finally, after what was about 2 weeks for me, but no time for the rest of the world, I reached around 150 down, in a 12'by 15' rectangle. From there I started to dig sideways, towards the direction of my house. Another week and I had a giant room, no, more of a cavern. With steel beams holding the earth above, my cave stretched 200 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 75 feet up. This, I decided, would be one of the greatest rooms in my complex, my garage. After making a floor and walls from concrete, I realized that the only way I could stay alive down there was if I had some ventilation. I went out and found the largest commercial air handling units there are. I can never remember everything that happened next, but I know that in a short time, I had a fully functioning garage/repair shop/autobody shop. I even dug out another couple rooms adjacent to the garage for living and entertainment.
Now that I had a 'home base', it was time to go back into real time, and really make my life a wonder. I thought for a while, and finally came up with a design for a hydraulic lift that, when closed, blended into the driveway. With the use of a remote, however, a platform the size of a truck would lower down into the entrance to my garage. For the time being, I would keep this place a secret.
I did, though, want to show that I had changed in a good way, and that good things would come of me. So I went back in time, just so that it was daytime, and went to a Chrysler manufacturer. They had a prototype car that was beyond everything else, and I decided to "ask" them for one. This, I decided, would make me have the best, coolest, fastest car in America.
The next day, I drove to school in my new car, with new expensive clothes, and parked on the cement sidewalk area by the entrance. Who would have the guts to mess with the owner of this car? I walked into school knowing that that day would be great. That day would show everyone how special my life would be. That day, I would finally be the coolest kid in school.