Boy & Girl on a Boat

[Paycheck]

This is a dream I had last year. I wanted to practice my prose, so I thought this story would be simple enough for the task. You can read it in a plain environment on Single Forest.

Chapter One - Swimming!

“Hey! Hurry up!”

The girl looked off the side of the boat, poking her head out as far as she could. Dark hair laid over her head, swaying back and forth, and her stubby fingers tightly clutched to the side of the boat. “You’ve had enough fun! I want to keep moving!”

Coming from afar was a boy swimming proudly in the blue ocean. He did a backstroke toward the boat. The girl curiously watched. He’s going to hit his head, she thought. She had a big smile on her face, trying to contain her laughter, ready to spill out if he made a direct hit. As he closely approached, he quickly stopped and turned around, spitting water all over her face!

“Aah! The sea serpent attacked me!” She rubbed her eyes and fell back on her butt. The boy gave a loud hearty laugh!

“The sea serpent can’t leave his waters for long, otherwise he turns into a real monster!” The boy quickly climbed into the boat, coming close to tipping it. He didn’t know if he would turn into a monster later, but he thought he would definitely try to scare her later. He wildly shook his head, trying to dry his brown hair. The ends of each hair were much lighter, giving his hair a blond outline.

“As long as we keep moving,” she said. “Which way would you like to go today?”
The boy put a finger to his lips, and then circling the finger over his head, pointed… “Thattaway!” And so, they were off in his preferred path. They had no paddle to row their small row-boat. Not seeming to mind, they let themselves drift with the wind, which blew through the air as well as their hair. In all directions, they could only see the horizon meeting the blue outline of the ocean. The boat was already drifting in the opposite direction he originally pointed, but he was too busy putting on a pair of worn-out pants. It had seen better days, now with holes for both knees, some dark shades of green, and was snug around his waist, ending at his ankle tops. The girl had been wearing a small faded-red and pink dress with a couple small holes. It looked very fragile, but was her size.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

“What?” He replied, halfway through putting on a red shirt. “Was that another question?”

“Why aren’t you a real monster yet?”

The boy, unaware of her chance to change the subject, tried his best to think on his toes, which had no shoes to cover them. “Because,” he paused. “The sun hasn’t left yet!”

“You better turn into a real monster by then!”

“Not on your orders, ma’am.” He sarcastically answered. “Wanna eat? I’m starving.”

“I’m hungry too. How about some apples?”

“What else you got?” With that, the girl went to the far end of the boat and grabbed a dark blue bag. It was empty, but she intently scavenged through it. “I’ve got a banana!”

“Bleh, it’s a booger banana! Look, it’s blue!” He pointed at her empty hand. She looked, and he was right! Not only was it blue, but it had a couple of green spots! “Where did you find that?”

“That market yesterday was giving them away for free. I didn’t want to run out of food, and nobody wanted them anyway!”

“Bleh! Neither do I! Throw it out,” he cried trying to swat away the smell in the air. She looked at the banana sadly for a couple seconds, and then threw it off the side of the boat. It seemed to quickly sink. “You know those city-people don’t eat the best food.”

“Where are we going again?” She asked with a hint of anger in her tone.

“Thattaway!” He swung his right arm around in a twirl and pointed behind him. The boat was going further to the left, but he was too busy exploring the sky above to care. He lied down in the boat, stretching his legs out and putting his hands behind his head as a cushion. “What do you think the dragons are up to today?”

Her eyes lit up in surprise, and her attention was drawn up to the sky above. It was a very blue day, but there were a copious amount of puffy and silky clouds evenly spread over the ocean. She concentrated on the clouds, humming in thought.

“They look like they’re traveling in our direction,” the boy said, breaking the silence.
“You mean, thattaway?”

“Exactamundo!”

“They look like they’re looking for something today. None of them are roaring, or curling at each other to say hello.”

“What’s there to look for? All there is up there is dragons.”

“How do you know?”

“That’s all there is to see!

“That’s silly! I see rabbits and hats sometimes. Sometimes, there are people like us floating with the dragons!”

The boy looked away from the clouds and back at her- astonished. “Really?”

“Yes, but the dragons were roaring, ready to eat them!”

He shrugged. “No wonder I’ve never seen ‘em.”

“What do you think they’re looking for?”

“They’re not looking for anything, but I know what they want!” He stood up and hunched down to her eye level. “Do you know what that is?”

She felt somewhat intimidated, keeping a small distance from his face. She was almost ready to sit down, or hide under one of the three planks between them. “What is it?” She reluctantly answered.

Her terror had come true as he grabbed by the waist, bringing her up toward the sky! “YOU!” He gave her the loudest shout he could muster, and then threw her out of the boat. She made a large splash, and she quickly appeared out from under the surface, gasping for air. Her screams had exhausted her air supply before she hit the water. He watched her flail around, but he had no smile on his face showing satisfaction over the trickery he had pulled off. Staring intently at the water around her, he kept looking around for any suspicious movements from under the surface. At any moment, there might be the silhouette appearance of a mermaid. They would pretend to innocuously swim past them, but he knew better. Sharks were another thing entirely, and he had the fists to do the job of keeping sharks at bay. Any other creatures were unknown to them, but they both knew that anything could happen in strange waters. They were very far away from home. He was not going let someone- or something- take away the only thing around him that actually screamed when he threw it.

“You…” She took in more deep breaths. “You MEANIE!” Crying out, she raced back toward the boat. The boy was still staring, but now had a grin plastered on his face. He didn’t back away from her, and as she grabbed onto the side of the boat, he didn’t hesitate when she grabbed his right leg and pulled him into the water. He jumped in- clothes and all! He kept his jump close to his companion so that she would get splashed. After looking down into the abyss below for any unwelcome visitors, he quickly resurfaced to see his friend, who was giving him a look of disgust. Her eyes were partially covered by her dark hair lying flat over her head. He gave a big dopey smile, and splashed at her face!

She looked away in time and then swam toward him, batting at his face. She yelled and screamed at him, but she did not punch with force, batting at his face with loosely closed fists. However, he was still having fun! He abruptly grabbed her by the torso, raised her up despite her new-founded shouting, threw her a short distance back into the water! She seemed to glide, but still crashed onto her back. The boy then climbed back into the boat, and when she finally had gained a sense of equilibrium back, he was already extending a hand out to help her.

“I can get in myself!” She said with her own snark of pride. She proceeded to climb on, but the boat was tipping too far for her to make it over the ledge. She was low, and she stopped when she felt that the boat was going to flip over. She tried again, but the boy did not go on the other side to balance out the weight. Looking at the boy with that disgusted look he knew so well, she took his hand and was lifted back onto the boat.

“Our clothes will eventually dry. Don’t worry.” He looked at his clothes, seeing the red shirt hang off of his neck very loosely. It clung to his chest, but it was already so tight beforehand.

“I’m not worried about the clothes! I want to keep moving. Are you hungry, or not?”

“Are you hungry?”

“Yes!” She still sounded angry, but her tone was slowly being replaced with one of eagerness. Food wasn’t too unfamiliar to her, so she was always excited to be able to eat whenever she could. She waddled toward the bag, dripping on the way, and fumbled through it. Nothing was showing up, but then she found two green apples.

“Wow! That looks great!” he said. She was smiling now, both at him as well as at the food. She threw an apple toward him, and then they sat. There were three planks that extended across each side of the boat. During the day they sat on them, while they slept under them during the night. They usually could tell where the stars began and where the planks were in the middle of the night, but every once in a while the boy would eventually hit his head against one of them. Sometimes even when he slept during the daytime! They sat across each other, focusing on their meal.

“Mmmm. Thanks! It’s so good!”

She smiled in return. The apples were very cold to the touch, but were quenching for both their thirst and hunger. They had nothing else on their minds; closing their eyes and taking in the moist flavors of sweet and sour. He ate quickly while drops trailed off the side of his mouth. She ate in a line that circled around her entire apple, and took in big chucks at a time. There really was nothing in their hands, but they were very good at playing make-believe.

When they finished, they didn’t know where to store the remains. “Lets see who can throw the farthest while sitting down!” The boy felt that this would be a fun game, since the apple was just the right size.

“Don’t be tricky!” She answered. He smiled, ready to compete. He throttled his arm back and then threw the apple at high velocity. It was precise movement on his part, but to anyone else it looked like a simple whiplash. It launched vertically- reaching for the sky- and then slowly dropped to the surface. “Woo!” He raised a fist in the air and hoped for victory.

She took the remains of her apple, after looking out to see how far his apple went, and threw her arm back. Launching the apple, she put lots of strength into her throw. It moved diagonally, traveling further than her opponent!

“YAY! I did it!” She stood up, raising her arms in joy. Jumping over the planks, she rushed down and grabbed her companions head, quickly brushing her knuckles against his scalp. They both laughed, with the boy both laughing and grunting over his predicament. They eventually calmed down, done with shuffling against each other in play, now formed into a hug. They were still wet, but their hair was dry and crisp from the sun high above. They sunk down under the planks. The girl laid her head down against his cold chest, once more humming a tune in idle thought as she closed her eyes. The boy always thought that the tune was very pleasant, and it worked incredibly well with the wind flowing to and through them. He looked up at the clouds, and she followed suite. Puffy clouds and curly hooks curved in and out above them, slowly gliding with the wind’s direction.

“They’re so quiet today…,” she whispered after a couple minutes of humming.

“It’s soothing wind,” he replied. He knew this was true not only for the white dragons above their heads, but also for them too. The wind brushed slowly against their faces. Not too fast, and not too slow. They listened silently. Water splashed against their bed; waves crashed far off in the distance, and her hum created a harmony around the continuous hum that surrounded them.

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Chapter Two - Floating Home

They laid against each other. With her hands behind her head, the little girl rested her head on the pre-teen’s belly, while he had one arm gently around her. She had stopped humming a little while ago, now looking straight up at the sky above, and closed his eyes, taking in both the heat of the beating sun and the glow it gave off to his subdued vision. Without comment, she pressed on his torso and stood up. Her dress was much more dry now. She went for her bag, hoping to have some water for her parched throat, which was extensively used earlier when she was humming. She searched through her bag, and then looked out toward the horizon. She gasped.

“I see something! Come look!” She scrambled over to the tip of the boat trying to get a better view of what laid on the horizon. The boy kept to the bottom of the boat with drooping eyelids and a pleasant smile on his face, then adjusting his head against the other end of the boat and cushioning it with his hands.

The object was coming closer. It appeared to be a house, but it wasn’t very large and about one-story tall. As it approached, more details emerged. It looked dated. Walls were chipped, and windows without glass were letting sunlight into the house. It looked more like a large room instead of a house, and was balanced nicely on the water- flat with the ocean surface. Underneath the water there seemed to be steps, but they were completely rotted away so that all that was left was a ledge to climb. A wall was missing, abolished with only hints of debris remaining. Their row-boat was perhaps still several yards away, but even in the distance the house interior was shining with color.

“It’s coming towards us!” She said in anticipation, pointing at the house. “Lets hop on!”

“Lets wait to see what’s inside through that opening,” replied the boy. He casually pointed at the side of the house with the missing wall, Their boat smoothly sailed until they were parallel with the house. The boy stood up, leaning to get a better look for himself. It was only one room, and no one was inside.

“Looks like we didn’t get a surprise party!”

“Awwww,” said the girl. The boy hopped out of the boat and onto the ledge. She looked at the distance from the boat to the ledge, and seeing that it was too far, she looked up at the boy, who extending a hand out to her. She grabbed his open hand, and he pulled the boat toward him. Once she was close enough, she climbed up while the boy got started on lifting their vehicle out of the water. At first it was heavy for him, but when she able to reach for it, the lifting became very easy. They lifted it up and laid it against what was left of the damaged wall.

The room had faded colors. Blue, green, light brown, and large white spots. The roof was not very high, but it was a big room. It was, in fact, the sort of room you would use for childcare or preschool. So much leg-room and lots of room to walk or run in! They hadn’t been able to do this very often, with all exercise being done through swimming.

Their mouths were agape, in shock, but particularly in amazement. “TOYS!” They shouted in unison. His large smile returned, while she wildly explored. “Look at all of the toys!” she said. There were toys everywhere. Two large shelves adjacently faced each other on each end of the room, but there were only a few objects were left in them. A plushie dangled one foot on the ledge of a shelf, two board games sat on top of each other with one still in plastic wrap, but everything else was lying on the floor. Board games were either unopened or in a mess, balls of many sizes and designs idly sat with a smell of hot plastic, blankets and pillows laid on top of each other with a shine of mixed fabrics, toppled boxes were filled with various do-dads and tiddlywinks, and many characters and creatures made of both plastic and plush sat or stood around- ready for attention.

She was ready to give them all of her attention! Seeing three plastic bins in the far right corner of the room- filled to the brim with plush animals- she dashed forward shouting for joy. “Yippeeee!” she said as she leaped into the air, crashing into the bins! All of them fell over with her impact. A bin emptied it’s contents all over her head, trapping her underneath. At first she was laughing, but then she was quiet. She cooed with ooh’s and aaah’s as she was covered in this new warmth. The plushies had spent day after day idly basking in the sun, which appeared through the broken windows and absent wall. Their touch was soft and crisp, but their warmth was not at all subdued. It was just right, and now they were surrounding her, creating darkness. She let go of any lingering tension, and slowly closed her eyes.

The boy, however, did not dive right into the fun like she did. Both of them were making the floor creak under their pressure, and he saw that under the rugs was wood. Strolling around the room, he examined many different material things lying around. A pile of blankets lied on top of each other in many colors. A cherry-red towel laid over a puffy ocean-blue blanket, all underneath a large quilt with many elaborate designs stitched together in a combination of hues . A bin of plastic toys overflowed with various action-figures of men in uniforms, alien creatures from distant lands, silly animals with faces full of delight. Around all of the toys were different accessories of trucks, spears, or even plastic vegetables. An umbrella leaned against a wall, and the boy opened it, seeing the fabric shine with colors of the rainbow, and through the hues he could still see everything on the other side. He closed the umbrella and kept searching. A poster on the wall said “Reading is FUN!” and under the large bold letters read smaller text. “…because stories are the only thing worth living in!” He tilted his head- confused- and moved on.

Puppets controlled both by string and hand were scattered around the entire floor along with many carpet rugs, and at times he stopped in his tracks and continued to walk in place on a soft rug or two, giving his feet a remarkable massage . He looked back at the bin full of plastic toys. A brightly colored toy near the top caught his eye. It was a large rhinoceros! The rhino had a definite horn on it’s large nose, circularly flat hands and feet, and a very round body that made it look like a ball. What made the rhino stand out, though, was it’s blue colored finish, and it was also covered in light-blue polka dots! The legs were longer than its arms, and it was still able to stay standing if a child wanted it to- perhaps for an elaborate scene of make-believe with the other toys. Finally, it also bore a nice little smile, showing the boy that it was happy to see him. He picked up the rhino, looking it over completely.

“You’re really cool looking…” he said to the rhinoceros.

“What is?” His friend was looking at the shelf next to the bins she toppled over, looking for any special treasures or secret passageways, and only giving her friend half of her attention.

The boy was snapped out of his moderate trance, and looked at her. “Oh, this here! The blue is so bright.” She looked at him, and her eyes lit up.

“You’re right. The blue IS really bright on you!” she said. “What do you think?”

“Huh?” He was confused. The blue is really bright on me? He looked over himself, and he had to squint because of how bright the sun seemed to be reflecting off of him. He was completely blue! His clothes were blue too!

“Whoa! I think… this looks cool!” His face went back into a large smile, and she smiled in return.

“Why are you so blue?” she said. He didn’t know how to answer that at first.

“I, uh… I found this awesome-looking toy!” He realized that it wasn’t in his hands, and seemed to have dropped it. He looked around, and almost stepped on it! It was right behind him, and he hunched down to pick it up. He almost did, but was unable to. His hands were round and flat, not to mention covered in large polka dots. Standing back up, a few floorboards loudly creaked under his feet. He tried to look behind him, but then almost lost his balance!

“Wow! You’re getting really big!” she exclaimed. In fact, she was right. He was growing! His body was expanding from the center of his body into all directions. He spun around to look at her, and then watched over himself, noticing all of the changes; unable to think straight, or even think at all. He looked up at the girl, eyes wide in a mixture of both surprise and bewilderment! His girth that was previously only in his abdomen had now augmented to his entire front and back, curving outward into a sphere. He was forced to stand straight up. His limbs started to look like cylinders, and while they did not grow longer or shorter, they grew in size. His hands and feet became flat and round too. Finally, his upper body had grown outward so far that he could rest his arms on it, and it was completely spherical up to the top of his neck. His upper body made him rise a few inches in height, helping him see past his own self, but overall the process seemed to be complete. Light-blue polka-dots covered his entire body. His clothes disappeared too- perhaps absorbed into his body- like they were never there at all.

His breathing stopped, but then his breath returned to a more normal pace, seeming to be somewhat calm. The floorboards kept creaking under him, but he didn’t seem to mind. His eyelids were droopy again, while his mellow smile returned as well! He rested his arms on top of his belly in a relaxed gesture.

Save for the short waves hitting against their newly-occupied vessel, as well as the creaking floorboards below, it was a silent atmosphere. She looked straight at him without moving a muscle, still very wide-eyed. He looked at her. There was still a couple features of his previous self left over. Sure, his nose grew outward, a horn vertically cut through his vision, and his head was close to being abnormally massive, but his eyes and mouth stayed quite the same! He gave her a wide grin, silently responding to her astonished face.

He took one step toward her, making a large thud on the ground. Halting, in contemplation for a short moment, he then seemed to understand his footing easily and advanced a couple more steps.

“What do you think?” spoke the blue rhino, putting his arms to his sides and letting them dangle.
She reluctantly raised her arms out. “Come here,” she seemed to whisper, and he started to bend over to meet her height. At first he almost leaned in too far, still not used to being so top-heavy, and stood straight back up with another thud. She softly giggled, and he tried again as best as he could, being careful not to fall over. When he was face to face with her, instead of hesitation, she appeared to be excited and unable to contain herself. “You’re ADORABLE!”

Without his consent, she grabbed onto his horn and nose, starting to climb up! She pulled down, and then was almost hanging off the ground. At first he thought that she would be too heavy to have on his head and he would crash down, but when she was hanging he felt that she didn’t seem to weigh anything at all to him.

“You don’t mess with the monster, foooool!” He growled. A yelp escaped from her mouth as he raised his head, taking her with him. The boy leaned back up, and then spun around in a circle! The girl grabbed onto what was left of his neck while her legs dangled off of the sphere. He decided to experiment even more. “…Even if he looks blue-blue-BLUE!” he shouted, finishing his previous thought. The sphere leaned backward, and as she struggled to stay on, he quickly leaned forward, giving her whiplash. She was thrown at the bins she examined earlier, landing in the soft and exhilarating pool of plush, and disappeared under it.

He laughed over his victory. “You thought you could outsmart me, little one!” he said in a low tone, trying to impersonate a dark individual. “But, for as LITTLE as you know, I am still much BIGGER than you! Hahaha!” He tried his best possible roar, not seeming to notice that he was imitating a lion. The floor under his feet wasn’t of much concern to him either as he stomped in place. Some toys near the center of the pile shifted, and then she appeared from the top, yelling as loudly as she could! An object was in her hand, but he couldn’t tell what it was before she immediately threw it at his face! It was a direct impact, albeit a soft one, and it rolled off of him and back on the ground. It was a purple monkey with light stripes of purple all over it. The top of it’s head had a batch of short feather-like material spurting out, it’s eyes were made of marble and seemed to easily reflect off the sunlight coming from a window, and when it hit his face earlier he heard the dry sloshing of sand on the inside.

She was still in the pile, sitting in one of the plastic bins with other soft critters under her. Laughing wildly, almost gasping for breath, she rocked the bin back and forth like it was a ride. She held onto one of its sides with her soft fingers, which had turned very flexible- and purple! A tail swayed back and forth behind her, while her hair was spurting up into a small batch at the top of head, colored purple with light blue and green tips at the end. Her dress had disappeared, and it seemed to blend with her growing color. Her skin was now as soft as a cushion, shimmering with bright fur colors of a dark red and violet with the tips of each strand giving off a bright blue and green glow. Her face stretched while her ears grew, and her stomach had developed a bulge, looking like she swallowed a small kickball. Her feet were now like extra hands, and her tail had just finished completely growing out, making the sound of a pop when it stopped! It flailed around wildly as she continued laughing, trying to grab onto anything around it. Tipping too far, she fell backward with the bin and landed in the plushies, still heartily laughing without a moment to breath, clutching her stomach. Not only was her victory over the absolutely massive villain hilarious to her, she felt like she was being tickled by all of the fur on her body. Even then, it didn’t help that there was the feeling of many grains of sand rolling around in her.

Slowly advancing toward her, he wanted to see if he could surprise his primitive companion before she was done basking in her own glory. She opened her eyes, which were still the same, and her fur under her eyes was wet from tears. She quickly stood up once she saw the boy approach and jumped out of her spot, hopping back onto the boy’s head rather easily.

“HEY!” he shouted. “What are you doing?” She was observing his entire self as quickly as she could. Jumping down to look around his lower body, then jumping back up on his head before he could do anything else. She could sit or stand on his head, but couldn’t grab onto any part of his body other than his head, nose, or horn. His upper body was too smooth and taut to grab onto, and it didn’t contract when she pressed her hands against it. When she was done examining, she sat on the boy’s large nose. He was trying to spin or move in an unexpected gesture, but nothing could keep her off. “Get off of me!” he said, giving her angry eyes.

“Okay!” she smiled, jumped off, but then jumped back at him with her feet pushing his distended mass. Being pushed, he tried to gain footing against the ground, but there was nothing he could do to stop the fall! He yelled out in fear, and landed right where his rear should have been. A loud crack, similar to a shot, was heard. “Aieee!” he shouted. No pain was felt, and both of them looked at each other, wondering what happened under him. She crawled over to his backside. His butt made a hole in the floor. He put his round hands on the floor, pushing down in order to get out, but to no avail.

He was first feeling a little stressed out, a bit disoriented after the fall, but his companion jumped up on his head and distracted him from his personal dilemma. She looked at him upside down, grinning with satisfaction, but then her expression changed as she felt a new weight in her head build up. It grew until she couldn’t raise her head up, and she somersaulted down the boy’s body. When she regained composure, she was facing him again, and she felt the build-up in her head go away, seeming to make her feet and stomach larger. She looked like a ball with short arms and legs. They started stifling and snorting, eventually bursting out into full laughter at the trials and troubles each of them had to go through.

She crawled back toward him, and looked straight at his massive belly. Putting her right ear next to it, she closed her eyes. The boy was silent, but was also unable to look at her. He felt a couple taps, and heard a hollow thud from within himself in return. Feathers poked up in his view, and she jumped on him.

“I checked for you!” she said in delight. “It’s warm, hollow on the inside, but there’s this hummmmm I can hear.” The last statement she said like she was keeping a secret, whispering, and the boy proudly smiled upon hearing it. “I also hear some gurgles! Are you hungry AGAIN?” She knocked on his head as she emphasized her last word, and it made a hollow sound too! She laughed at him again, clutching her stomach. She dropped down on top of his stomach, then sliding off and onto the floor again. He was definitely feeling hungry, and tried to push himself out of the hole several times.

“Eeeeeeeugh! I’m stuck….” He pouted. “Could you hand me the rhino, please?”

She giggled. “Which one?” Indeed, there were more a few more rhinoceros lying around the room.