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The Rock

by Young Thinker



Chapter One

I always said that the only good thing I ever did in my life was to be bad. What? Yeah, you read that right. By being as bad as I was, people were able to see the good in their own children; no matter how bad they were.

My younger sister, Kate, wasn't far off my heels. We had both been guests of the governors 'Baloney Penthouse' several times, usually at the same time.

Kate and I looked and acted like twins although we were fifteen months apart. Our parents got the family thing over in two shots. They did a shitty job of raising us until we were old enough to fend for ourselves. That point was nine for me and eight for Kate.

The old man was a drunk and put the old lady in the hospital a lot. She had a coke habit that needed to be fed. Most of the beatings were not from her turning tricks but keeping the money from him.

I guess I did a second good thing. The old man started pawing Kate when she was six and I happened to get in a good shot to his nuts. I had to hide from him for two weeks and Kate and I were inseparable after that.

We used to sit on the swings at the playground and dream about what it would be like to have been raised by normal parents. That's all it was, just dreams. We finally figured that nothing good would ever come out of our lives.

Our 'good life' started the summer before I started High School. I had just turned fourteen and Kate was thirteen. I was digging a grave for the only member of our family that ever showed us any sign of love.

Roscoe was only three years old when he met his maker at the end of the old man's size twelve shoe. He lingered for two days and finally gave up but he waited until Kate and I got home. I picked him up and laid him in my lap. He reached up and licked my face and then Kate's and let go. We were devastated. I hated the old man even more, if that was possible.

I knew that I had to go down at least three feet to keep other animals from digging him up. Mr. Chan, our only friend, had some lime powder that he said would help too.

He and I made a small wooden casket and lined it with Roscoe's old blanket. We gently placed him inside with his favorite chew toys and nailed it shut. Kate and I buried him in a corner of the yard. That's where I dug up the rock.

It was pure black and didn't seem to be damaged from my shovel. Nothing I tried would even put a scratch in it. It was an irregular shape and about the size of a softball. I took it to Mr. Chan to see if he knew what it was. He seemed to know everything. I held it out to him but he wouldn't touch it.

"I know what rock is. Where you get?" he said in his broken English.

"I found it when I was digging Roscoe's grave." I told him.

"You have very powerful rock. It not good for you to have." He said.

"Why not," Kate asked.

"Make wishes come true. But could be dangerous to use," he told her.

I held it out again. "I not touch. Is bad for me to touch," he said with a frightened look on his face. "Sit. I tell you about rock." We all sat.

"Rock believe to be from big rock that came out of sky. It break into many, many pieces and go all over world. Most every one found has brought disaster to holder and anyone who touch. Nobody know why."

"So, what should I do with it?" I asked.

"Take to sea and drop in," he said. "Never touch again."

"Ok, what happened to these other people that had one?" Kate asked.

"All die," was his reply. "They all do odd things when they have rock."

"Like what?" I asked.

"I knew guy who rock make very strong and he go crazy. He kill many people before caught," he said. "He blame rock to police but rock gone when police look."

"Another, rock make very smart but started making ways to kill people. He never kill but was sent to 'nut house'. He blame rock to police but again was gone when police look. He kill self."

Kate got up and headed toward the door. "Come on, Donny. He's nuts."

"You touch rock too?" Mr. Chan asked.

"Yeah. So what?" Kate asked sarcastically. She really didn't like him. She thought he was creepy.

"Here." He reached under the counter and brought out a cloth bag that had a tie string on the open end. He put it on the counter and backed away. "Put in bag and never touch again."

Kate took the rock from my hand and started waving it in front of him as he coward behind the counter. "Look old man. I'm touching it and I'll keep on touching it."

"Take my word," he yelled. "Rock no good."

"Sorry Mr. Chan," I said as I took it from my sister and put it in the bag. She stormed out of the store.

"Take rock and drop in sea," he said as he recovered. "For own good."

"We'll see," I said as I left the store.

"If not, be careful with wish," he shouted after me.

Kate and I walked in silence for a while. I was the first one to talk.

"What if he's right?" I asked.

Kate stopped and turned toward me with her hands on her hips. "A wishing stone? Get real." She got a smug look on her face. "Ok. Make a wish, smarty."

"It has to be a good one," I said.

"What will it be, brains or brawn?" she asked.

"Let's think about it." I said. "What is the one thing that we would most like to do?"

"How about stopping time until we can figure out our lives?" she said downheartedly.

"That's it." I said. "We can ask to be able to stop time whenever we want to."

"Stop time. Right." She said sarcastically. Then she got a serious look in her eyes. "We couldn't stay that way." Kate said. "Ok smart ass. You're the brain here. Figure out a way to ask it so we don't stay as the only people alive."

I thought for a minute. Then it came to me. I took the rock from the bag and we both held on to it.

"We wish to be able to stop and restart time whenever we wish, even without touching this rock, just by saying or thinking 'stop time' or 'start time'." I said.

Nothing happened. Disappointed, I put the rock back in the bag. Then I remembered what I had just said.

"Stop time," I thought. Everything but Kate and I came to a halt. There was no sound and no movement anywhere; not even a breeze. It was really eerie.

"What just happened?" Kate asked as she cautiously looked around.

"I did it," I said excitedly. "I thought it and it happened. I stopped time. You and I are connected through this rock and we are the only things moving right now."

"Holy shit. The old man was right." She admitted. "What now? Can you start it up again?"

"Try it." I said. "I stopped it, see if you can start it."

Everything started up again.

"It works. It actually works." I said as we both got big grins on our faces.

Kate whispered in my ear. "Let's stop it and think about what we can do with it."

"I don't know why you have to whisper but it's stopped." I whispered back to her.

"I've read stories about this." I said in a normal voice. "Let's walk to the mall and talk on the way."

"The perfect place to try out our new 'powers'." Kate said with a devious look on her face. She looped her arm through mine as we started walking.

---

Chapter Two

You know how you never really think of something until you're confronted with it? That's how I felt on the way to the mall. Not about the time thing. It was something a lot more tangible than that.

Being a fourteen-year old boy and not having the proper upbringing, my mind just naturally drifted from, what good that my sister and I could do, to sex. Of course, it didn't help matters to have my sister's budding tits rubbing against my arm the whole way to the mall.

Oh, I've thought about what Kate would look like in the buff, but I never had any thoughts of trying anything with her. We never even played Doctor when we were younger. I will admit to pounding the old pud a few times while thinking of her but I never did anything for real. Ya can't hang me for my thoughts.

I tried thinking about something else but nothing worked. I had a full-fledged hard-on before we went three blocks. My thoughts would go back to Kate's tits or Jamie Peterson's ass.

Jamie was to be a sophomore in the upcoming school year. It was because of her that Kate was sent away the last time. Somehow Jamie broke into a teacher's locked desk and took the answers to an upcoming exam. She made copies and put the originals in Kate's locker. Kate was charged with B&E of school property and spent six months in the can.

We found out later that her parents found the copies and destroyed them. Kate and I have been looking for a way to get even ever since. She became our first project quite by accident.

We had just walked, non-stop, fifteen blocks. I didn't know about Kate but I knew that I was tired. Neither of us had restarted time so we didn't have to hastle with things like stoplights.

We did take a cop and put him back into his car. He had a motorist pulled over and was writing him a ticket. He hadn't written in the license plate number so I wrote his in. We found out that it is real easy moving people while we have time stopped.

We got to the mall and headed toward the food-court to get a cold drink. I work for the "Tasty Burger" on the weekends. It's strictly under the table because I'm too young to work there. I just clean up and empty the trash. When I bring Kate with me we get a free meal.

I went to the counter and climbed over. Luckily, no one was in my way. I knew that the pop machine wouldn't work so I went to the cooler and grabbed a couple of Cokes.

"Donny." I heard Kate calling me. "Guess who's here."

I turned around to see her pointing at Jamie P...

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