AT THE EDGE OF VISION MICHAEL HICKS
“Hurry, Livi! We have to find Abby before she falls off of that cliff!” Eli whispered to the empty space beside him. The hot noon sun had transformed the black asphalt of Sequoia Court into a vast, barren desert. Wiping away sweat that wasn’t there, the hero stood on tiptoe, peering warily around his family’s Camry for any sign of desert predators. His relief at being alone turned to sudden fear as the fire hydrant beside his leg sprouted legs and a tail: the giant poisonous lizards had come at last. Dashing around the car, he fled from his foes, one hand held rigidly behind him to pull Livi along. Leaping over the harrowing chasm of Doom (hidden so cleverly underneath a pile of leaves) with a silent, heroic bellow, he landed in a perfect crouch, right next to his neighbor, Mr. Byrnes. Under the camouflage of long dark bangs, he glanced up at the old man, looking with dread for the expression he knew would be there. Yep, there it was: the smile of Adults. When he told Mom that he would have to marry both Olivia and Abigail because the one left out would be lonely, the only answer he got was that smile. So, with a formal nod, he left Mr. Byrnes to Adulthood and returned to his World. Glancing perfunctorily at the massive trees overhead, locked in an endless wrestling match of bark and branches, he left the T-Rex and King Kong to their own devices—their battle was no concern of his. Eli walked toward the building a few blocks down the street, its image flickering in and out of his mind like a mirage. Reaching the front of the MLKJ library building, Elijah and Livi slipped inside the door just as the dinosaur’s teeth slammed against the metal—Kong must have lost, the useless ape. Slipping past the librarian, Michael Hicks
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