​From Rockybado: Robot King of the Island

It was eleven o'clock at night when the boys were dropped off at their houses. They were all tired and sad that they had to leave their new best friends, Rockybado, Jeremy, Johnny, and everyone else whom they had just met.

When the Ingram's came home, their parents were already asleep. The boys quietly put on their pajamas and went to bed. The boys slept peacefully until the sun rose in the sky.

Ten o’clock the next morning arrived quickly, and David and Brody were still sleeping. David woke up now, but Brody was still sleeping soundly. Dawson, their oldest brother, went upstairs to check on him, only to find that the only thing his younger brother did was stir.

Brody was sleeping on his side. Completely mindless of everything going on around him. His eyes were closed. His chest was rising and falling steadily. His mouth was half open. His mood bracelet turned a dark blue, meaning he was calm. Their white cat, Honeybunny, and their white and grey-spotted cat, Felicia, climbed onto his bed and lay on top of him.

And Brody was snoring quietly.

It was thirty minutes later, the boy was still sleeping. He couldn’t help it since his sleep schedule was more messed up than it had been before the expedition to Texamilio. When Toby snuck into his older brother’s room, he brought with him a squirt gun. This ten-year-old was thinking about squirting Brody to the moon.

Squirt!

“TOBY!” was the first thing that came out of Brody’s mouth.

Toby did nothing else but smile menacingly. He was really going to get it, wasn’t he? Toby was cruisin’ for a bruisin’. It was obvious that Brody was really not happy. His peaceful sleep had been interrupted by his younger brother. And Toby was sure going to get it some time. Probably now. Brody chased Toby around the house until they both grew winded.

“You are such a nuisance,” Brody said to Toby once they both caught their breaths.
“I just wanted to wake you up. That’s all,” Toby answered.
“Well, you should have let me sleep in a little longer. My sleep schedule is destroyed.”
“You can’t say that,” Toby said.
“Why not?” Brody asked.
“Weren’t we only in Texamilio for about a week?”
“Good point, but I’m still tired.”

Toby and Brody said nothing for a few minutes. They stood in the common area, with their arms crossed. The boys were thinking about what today would entail. Tonight, David and Brody wanted to have their friends over for a sleepover party at their house.

It was now five o’clock in the afternoon, and Andrew, Adam, and John Garfield were at the Ingram's house. Dawson and Brett went to Merrillville to go bowling and have pizza with their friends.

"Hey, David?" John asked later.
"Yeah?" David asked.
"Did you meet Rockybado?" 
"That's why we went to Texamilio." 
"So, did you keep a photo of him?" 
"We forgot the camera," Brody answered for David.
"So, who is this Rockybado?" John questioned.
"He's a robot who lives in Texamilio, an island just west of Hawaii," Andrew said.
"How could you get to Hawaii and back in all but a little less than a week?!" John asked, surprised.
"In his spaceship," said Toby.
"How could you go all the way there in such little time?" 
“That has yet to be determined,” said Andrew. 

The Ingram’s ordered Chinese take-out for the kids while they watched a Sci-Fi movie. They then played board games. After that, they just felt like talking amongst themselves. It was nice being able to catch up with their old friends.

"Adam?" John asked.
"What?" Adam answered.
"How did you fly back to Crown Point when you got home?"
“We didn't actually do that, either. We went into Rockybado's spaceship." 
"What does Texamilio look like?"
"Well, kind of like Crown Point," Andrew answered.
"Not a chance! Texamilio must be a lush island that resembles Hawaii in many ways, since they’re so close.”
"Go see for yourself," said Brody. "It is full of grass, water, blue sky, streets, houses, cities. You know, all that kind of stuff."

The boys talked some more until they went to bed. The boys put on their pajamas and then fell asleep. Everyone was sleeping peacefully until Brody woke up. He couldn't fall back asleep. He went to the kitchen to get a drink of milk. On accident, as Brody tried to pour the milk into a glass, he dropped the glass, and it broke. The boys, of course, woke up to the sound of breaking glass.

"What was that?" David asked once he woke up abruptly.

They all tiptoed into the kitchen and saw a huge mess on the floor. There was a huge puddle of milk, and it was obvious that the glass was broken. Several big pieces and some small pieces on the floor. Splendid.

“BRODY!"

Brody gave everyone a blank stare after they all shouted his name. He was speechless. David, Toby, Andrew, Adam, and John kept staring at him. Brody suddenly grew embarrassed as he couldn’t help but freeze where he was. It didn’t help matters that everyone else also looked at him blankly. The room was filled with silence, like a milkshake filling a cup.

What just happened here? At about two o’clock in the morning?

“You spilled milk all over the floor, and you broke your favorite glass,” David said.
“Oh, darn,” Brody answered in a seemingly nonchalant manner.
“It was your favorite glass. It had robots and aliens all over it,” John replied.
“Oh well. I got that glass from a fast food joint when I was four.”
“There’s another one that you like, which should still be in your cupboard.”
“That’s my second favorite glass.”
“Can we help clean up the mess and then go back to bed? My sleep schedule is ruined,” Andrew questioned somewhat seriously, whereas everyone else took that as a joke.
“No! We’re all up. We should play some video games,” Adam replied.
“Good idea,” Brody answered.

The boys were nice enough to help Brody clean up the mess that he made. Then, Brody got another glass of milk in his second favorite glass. He met the boys back in the basement, where they all returned when Brody was getting himself another glass of milk. All of the boys were setting up the game consoles so that they could pull an all-nighter and play their favorite video games.

“We’re pulling an all-nighter,” David announced.
“Wait. What time is it?” Adam questioned.
“Only two o’clock.”
“We have a lot of time on our hands. So we can play as many video games as we want!” Andrew exclaimed.
“What are we playing?” Brody asked.

The boys looked at each other. They hadn’t quite thought about what they wanted to play. They only thought about the fact that they were going to play video games.  It was good that Brody had brought up what they were going to play, so that they could have some idea of what console needed to be plugged into the TV.

Everyone looked through the games that the Ingram’s have, and they couldn’t quite make up their minds about what they had in mind. Car racing games. Epic maze games. Battle games. Classic games. The possibilities were endless. The boys had to make up their minds in a “short” amount of time, or otherwise they would have almost no time to play video games.

They would be way too sleepy.

“Is everyone in the mood for playing car racing games?” Toby asked.

Everyone actually nodded or agreed otherwise. It was two o’clock in the morning, and they had about three and a half hours of sleep. They were now all wide awake, and they wanted some soda to keep it that way. David and Adam walked into the garage to get a whole case of grape soda, so the boys could have their sugar fix. When the two boys came back downstairs from their expedition in the garage, Brody, Andrew, John, and Toby were already playing some games.

Once everyone started drinking grape soda, a sense of hype emanated through the entire basement like a breeze. And everyone knew it. They were going to be so wound up tonight, since they had sugar rushing through their systems. All of the boys were shouting loudly while trying to beat each other at the car racing game on the relatively old console.

After a while, David and John stepped away from everyone else and decided to catch up. It has been about a week since they have seen each other, and John had moved to Valparaiso from Crown Point when school had just gotten out for the much-needed summer.

“So, how was the move to Valpo?” David asked.
“Very exhausting!” John answered.
“Where exactly do you live now?”
“We live on Jefferson Street.”
“We used to live on the exact same street.”
“Oh wow.”
“And then we lived on Coolwood Drive before we moved to Crown Point.”
“Oh, so the way south side.”
“Definitely. I loved it there, but I love it here more. So, why did you move?” David had to ask.
“My mom’s job has always been in Valpo, and the commute on Highway 30 was very hard in the winter. It wasn’t bad, but sometimes, the roads were not at their finest. So, we thought it would be easier to live in town,” John answered.
“Do you like it so far?”
“I love it.”
“I have a friend who lives only a few blocks away from you.”
“It’s a very small world, isn’t it?”
“It’s a very small world. However, he lives a little west of your house.”

After talking for a few more minutes, David and John eventually came back down into the basement to be with everybody else. The boys were still playing the same car racing game for the next five and a half hours. This game never got old. They could not help but try to win at least one round in the game. Toby was sprawled out on the recliner like a cat on a bed. Now, it was David, Brody, Andrew, Adam, and John who were still playing video games.

At the end of three and a half hours of continuous gaming….

“What time is it, John?” Andrew questioned.
“It is now 5:30 in the morning,” John answered as he looked at his wristwatch.
“Should we call it a night?”
“We should call it a night,” David answered for John. “I’m beyond exhausted.”
“Do we have anything tomorrow?” Brody asked.
“Thank God, no.”
“Yeah, but Mom and Dad are going to wonder what we’ve been up to all night.”
“Well, we’re growing boys. We need our sleep,” Andrew chimed in.

At 5:31 in the morning, the boys just now got ready for bed. Well, Toby fell asleep at four in the morning. He was so sound asleep that he couldn’t hear any noises made by the other boys. David, Brody, Andrew, Adam, and John finished their last car race, and then they returned to their sleeping bags.

All of the boys were trying to go back to sleep. It was, of course, very hard at first. They were all wound up after their exciting car races. But the truth was, they had to go back to bed now. It was so early in the morning, and Mr. and Mrs. Ingram would most likely wonder what the boys were up to all night long. Their first assumption would be that the boys played video games until the wee hours of the morning.

Toby, of course, fell asleep at four this morning. After all the boys tried going back to sleep, John was the first boy to actually do so at 5:42. Then, Brody fell asleep at 5:48. Andrew then fell asleep at 5:56. David fell asleep at six o’clock in the morning.  And Adam was the last boy to legitimately fall asleep at 6:05. 

At 6:30 in the morning, Dawson and Brett went downstairs to see what the boys were up to. All of the young boys in the basement were sleeping soundly by now. It was evident that David and Brody both forgot that they were doing something today, and it was going to be very exciting. If they had remembered, they probably would not have insisted on pulling an all-nighter. As a matter of fact, they would probably have been awake by now. No matter how much sleep the boys would have had, they would still be excited about what they were going to do. It was just all a matter of remembering what it was.

​“Goo monin, sleepyhead,” Brett said to David.
“What do you want?” David answered feebly after slowly waking up.
“It’s now 6:30! We are going to the amusement park at around ten o’clock, and John and his family are also coming with us.”
“That’s nice. Just let us sleep.”
“How long have you been up?” Dawson questioned.
“We went to bed literally thirty minutes ago,” David answered feebly.
“Well, you guys can sleep for a couple more hours.”
“Yeah. That’s what we’re doing right now.”

Spring 2019

Kevin Maggliardi, Levi Cranston’s (The Magic Video Game) friend, and Kevin's girlfriend, Shanti Lee, decided to spend a quiet evening at Kevin’s Cambridge apartment. No one else was home. Kevin had spent the afternoon with Jing Hao, Mike Wong, Levi, Jack Andrews, and Asad Prejesh. They went into downtown Boston to try an Italian restaurant that they had never been to before.

That evening, Jing, Mike, Jack, and Asad were going to some bars. Levi and his girlfriend, Mackenzie, spent an evening together at their apartment in Allston.

Kevin and Shanti decided to put on some goofy adult cartoons for a bit, while feasting on Indian food. Kevin was on the outer end of the couch, sitting sideways, while Shanti was nestled between him and where the pillows meet on the couch.

Her head was on his shoulder, and his head lay on top of her head. He took a deep breath, and Shanti wrapped her left arm around his chest. Then, she put her ear between his left armpit and his left breast. While she could hear his deep breathing, she could also hear his quiet heartbeat. She looked up, and Kevin’s eyes were closed. He must have been a little too tired of watching cartoons for over two hours.

Shanti got up and turned off the TV and returned to her place on the couch.

“Hey, Kevin?” Shanti asked.
“Yeah?” Kevin responded sleepily.
“Can I hear your heartbeat?”
“Yes.”

Without hesitation, Kevin pulled up his shirt up to his collarbone. Shanti could see his ribs every time he took a breath, and she also thought she could see his heart beating through his skin. His belly button was exposed, and she wanted to poke it with a q-tip. Her ear was pressed firmly on the lower part of his left breast, and she just paid attention to the intense whooshing of blood through his mitral valve.

“Your heart is so loud, fast, and strong. Are you nervous?” Shanti asked.
“No,” Kevin replied quietly with a soft smile.

He took a very deep breath, and Shanti noticed a couple skips in his heartbeat. She thought that was super cute.

“What is your heart rate, if you don’t mind my asking?” Shanti questioned.

Kevin checked his watch, which has that feature.

“122,” Kevin stated.
“Sounds way faster than that,” Shanti said. “I’m gonna get it to pound really hard for me. So get ready.”
“Okay!”

Shanti was wearing a white floral button-down shirt. She unbuttoned the top three buttons, so the top part of her chest and part of her bra were exposed. Her ear was still on his chest. She heard even louder and deeper heartbeats inside Kevin’s chest. He must have been getting really excited, so he checked his watch again.

“134,” Kevin replied.
“Good!” Shanti exclaimed.

Kevin’s left arm was wrapped around Shanti. She took his right hand and placed it on the top part of her chest, so that he could feel her fast and strong heartbeat as well. He placed his left hand over Shanti’s left ear, so his heartbeat was all she could hear. He was starting to breathe really hard, as he was so excited.

They were super happy with doing nothing other than this for at least ten minutes.

“Shanti?” Kevin got his girlfriend’s attention, with his hand still on her chest.
“Yeah?” Shanti replied.
“You ready to find out how fast my heart is beating?”
“Yes!”
“142.”
“Oh my God! You have a shit ton of adrenaline flowing through you.”

​Kevin let out a soft smile and then was quiet. His eyes were closed again, and Shanti thought he made a soft and cute noise through his mouth. His breathing was steady. His heart was racing, and chances were that it wouldn’t slow down any time soon.