章節 6: Chapter 1: The Valley of Green and Titanic Park, 5022
I went to the Valley of Green on the morning of my seventeenth birthday. Dad asked me to mow the lawn, but heck. Who cared about the lawn when you could hoverscoot? For those who don't know what a hoverscooter is, it's a combination of a hoverboard and an electric scooter. It was a big deal amongst the teenagers of 5022.
Hoverscooting was my favorite past time when I was young. It helped get my mind off Mother's death. She died when I was twelve years old, from a rare illness called pneumonia. She and I used to hoverscoot all the time at the Valley of Green.
I remember it perfectly: its lush, green hills and meadows, its wildflowers, and its lake. A meteorite impact a thousand years ago into Greenville's soil created it.
Mother and I would get up early and spend all day flying and digging for fossils, while Dad worked at the space center. Life seemed perfect, but everything changed when Mother died. I lost myself to a state of despair, but I tried to hide it from Dada. That was what I used to call Dad, just like how he and PPMC liked to call me "Dan the Man".
The day I flew at the Valley of Green, I was the happiest I had been in a long time. For once, Mother's death did not blind me. I felt wide open and free.
My hoverscooter, Hoverscooter 22, was red and black and about the size of a six-foot-long surfboard.
Red is my favorite color.
Usually when I went out hoverscooting, I wore a white and black t-shirt with a red jacket over it and blue jeans. I was rather handsome. My hair was chocolate-colored, and it had tufts in it.
My eyes are large and brown, so I haven't lost all my teenage self, thank goodness.
It was August 3rd, 5022, which was the peak of the summer season. The Valley of Green always looked best in August. The wildflowers were in full bloom, and the Sun's rays lit up the lake in a mystical fashion. It felt like the fairies were there. I was a fairy myself, flying around on Hoverscooter 22.
I strapped my feet into her red buckles and aimed for the heavens above. I accidentally scared a flock of birds, and they quickly flew away from me.
I acted out an air reverse, a big air, and a semi-circle. After ten minutes, I decided to pull off a risky move. I was very impulsive as a teenager. Don't try this at home, kids.
I unbuckled my feet from my hoverscooter and dropped headfirst towards the lake, but before I could hit it, I caught myself. Yes! I finally got that trick right, and I didn't die!
The second I had both feet back in the buckles, I ascended upward. My eyes landed on Downtown Greenville's skyline, so I took a moment to brake my hoverscooter.
Downtown Greenville was about an hour-long drive from the Valley of Green, as well as my neighborhood. It was one of the largest cities in the whole U.S.A., as big as 2022 New York City.
I was a little tired, so I decided to take a break. I steered Hoverscooter 22 down in the valley and landed next to a cluster of flowers. They ranged in colors from pink, yellow, and purple and smelled like roses. I wanted to pick some for my crush. There was a girl from school I liked... Molly. We had been friends since 1st grade, but I was terrible at flirting. Because of that, it was difficult for Molly and I to hook up. Even sadder, I did not even know her favorite flower. That's how gullible I was.
Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh.
I picked about six flowers and arranged them as a little bouquet in my hands. I then returned to my hoverboard. Molly usually went on morning walks at Titanic Park, so if I was going to find her, then that was the best place to start.
Titanic Park was a huge park located in the heart of my neighborhood. It was about as large as Falls Park on the Reedy in Downtown Greenville.
I jumped onto my hoverboard and lifted into the sky. I hugged the bouquet close to my chest, so I wouldn't lose it while I flew.
My spirit reborn, I left the Valley of Green and went to my next destination. It was a quick flight there, only about ten minutes. I zoomed over green hills, sparkling rivers, and a brief section of I-85, one of the main highways that cut through Greenville. Finally, I reached it.
Titanic Park was shady, because so many tree groves grew in it. It had a massive playground, a track, a stage, and countless parking lots. It was a popular spot for soccer, football, tennis, and baseball, and I admit was one of the most beautiful places in the whole Upstate.
Unfortunately, I was not able to take the beauty in for long because my hoverscooter ran out of fuel.
Puff!
Puff!
No, seriously? Now was not a good time!
I stomped on the tail of my board, assuming that would help, and begged, "No! No! No! No! Not good! Not good! Stop!" Yeah right, like that was going to bring my hoverboard back to life. I saw that I was dropping in on none other than Molly herself (what a coincidence). "Molly! Look out! Above!" I yelled.
It did not take long for her to see me. "Dan?" she asked.
"Yes, it's Dan!"
Poor Molly. Her eyes came flying out of her sockets, and she frightfully dove out of the way. However, she landed in a puddle of mud. Wait. Was that mud? Yeah, it was.
I quickly unstrapped my feet and hopped off my hoverscooter onto Titanic Park's paved track. The scent of concrete caused me to gag, but I got used to it quickly. I tucked my board under my left armpit but kept the flowers in my right hand.
All right, Dan, you can do this. It's just a girl. No, it's not just a girl; it's Molly! I remember thinking to myself.
It took a moment for me to build up my confidence, but I finally hid the flowers behind my back and jogged to the love of my life.
She brushed mud off her orange sundress.
Cripes! Why did she have to be so hot? I wanted to run my fingers through her silky, golden hair and lose myself to her blueberry blue eyes. Despite her looks, she had a rebellious personality. She loved to make fun of me. Was that a form of flirting?
This was the first thing Molly said to me when she stood up from her mud bath: "You're a jerk!"
I just laughed, because that was something we could both agree on.
"Sorry, Molly, but my hoverscooter ran out of fuel," I explained.
"If that's the case, then why don't you buy a car, you doofus?"
"I'll get one eventually!" I argued. I asked for a car for my seventeenth birthday, but the odds of that actually happening were slim.
Molly knew that, and she sarcastically chuckled. "Sure, Dan, sure." She was not too thrilled that her dress now had mud all over it. I did not blame her.
All right, deep breaths, Dan. You can win this chick's heart.
"Um, Molly, I just got back from the Valley of Green, and I–um–well... I wanted to give you something," I stammered.
"Really? What is it?" A smile stretched across her face. Did she actually like me? Would my flowers make up for my accident?
I blushed, but I followed through with my act, even though I was extremely nervous. "Just take them!" I quickly pulled the flowers out from behind my back and gave them to Molly.
She accepted them with flying colors. "Oh, Dan, thank you." Sniffing the flowers, she hugged them to her breasts. Just like I wanted, we met eyes. I wanted to stare at them forever–those blueberry blue stars. I had to say something, something that would surely win her heart.
"Molly, you–um," I stuttered, "you look... como un burro."
Oh, shut up, Dan! I basically just told Molly she looked like a donkey.
"I don't know why I even bother!" she screamed. She chucked the flowers on the ground and slapped me across the cheek.
Smack!
"Ow! I'm sorry, but I'm not good around women!" I yelled.
"Huh?" Molly sighed. "Well, if you put it that way, I guess it's okay." She leaned down and picked up the bouquet again. At least it didn't take her long to cool down.
She leaned in close to my face, causing me to blush even more than I already was, and asked, "Say, Dan, don't you have a birthday today?"
"Huh? Today's my birthday?" Shoot, I felt stupid. Who forgot their own birthday? Only somebody named Daniel Matton.
Molly laughed. "Ha! Stubborn boy can't even remember his own birthday. He's distracted by other things."
My cheeks flushed. I was so embarrassed, and she just made it worse. "You don't need to rub it in. I'm sorry, dude, but I have to go. Dada will be expecting me."
"Good luck," Molly scoffed.
I glared at her.
Dada had just returned from a recent space exploration. He was walking the dog when I snuck out. We had a Golden Retriever named Claude. He was my only company when Dada was off on missions. Him, hoverscooting, geologic time, and writing.
That's another thing I should mention.
I was a writer when I was young, but I mostly wrote stories about prehistoric animals and life. It made me feel like a real paleontologist. At the time, I was working on a story about a T-Rex who fell in love during the K.T. Mass Extinction at the end of the Mesozoic Era. Goofy, I know, but it was the closest thing I had to a Cretaceous Quetzalcoatlus. I promised Mother I would one day meet one.
Molly and I went our separate ways, only because I was too embarrassed to hang around her any longer.
"Oh, dude, we should get together soon. It'll be a late birthday gift," she said while I walked away. There she went again, rubbing in my own mistakes.
"Sure," I mumbled.
I marched down Titanic Park's sidewalk, under one of the tree groves, and thought about what an idiot I must have looked like. On the bright side, I was seventeen that day! Now that was exciting. The thought of it helped me forget about the awkward encounter I had with Molly.
I stopped walking when I saw an empty water bottle on the sidewalk. Litter! No one littered at my favorite park! I decided to take a small detour and picked up the bottle, looking around for a trash can. I saw one next to a bench. "Perfect!" Lifting the bottle over my head, I took a deep breath and brought back my arm. I chucked the bottle towards the can.
Halfway to it, a green laser appeared, and it scanned it. The trash can's top opened, and the water bottle landed right in it.
Excited, I clenched my fists. "Yes! Ten points for Dan Matton!" I made peace signs with my hands. "Yoo-hoo! I rock!" Dropping my arms, I closed my eyes and skipped down the sidewalk. The whole way home, I sung, "I am seventeen! I am seventeen!"
But little did I know that something waited for me in my bedroom.
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