Allie - The Fourth at Ozzieworld
Walking through the Ozzieworld amusement park, Tommy couldn’t help but notice an open door. Men in uniform were busily bustling in and out, carrying heavy crates and barrels. Of course he was just a tiny bit curious of what they were doing. Considering it was the fourth of July, he knew it had to be something awesome and explosive. But his older sister was such a killjoy; how could he sneak away? Tommy frowned, shaking his empty slushie cup. Then the idea hit him. “Oh geez, I really need to pee,” Tommy announced for all to hear.
“We didn’t need to know that,” Nicole sighed, but she knew her input would be ignored as her sister Sammy laughed with Tommy as they gave each other high fives. They were so immature.
“Come on sis! You know that was funny,” Tommy prodded.
“Just go to the bathroom,” Nicole rolled her eyes.
“Come on kid, buddy system,” Tommy started off, taking his brother’s hand. Tommy noticed the light was already starting to fade, so they would have to act fast before the fireworks began. “Don’t worry! We’ll be back before you miss me!” he shouted over his shoulder, and before anyone could argue, the duo melted into the crowd. As soon as they were on the other side of the massive blob of people, Tommy nudged his brother. “Hey Milo,” Tommy grinned, “check it out.”
“But I don’t have to go to the bathroom,” Milo mumbled.
“No, no, the building next to the bathroom!” Tommy groaned.
Milo wasn’t very impressed. “A door?” he asked curiously. It looked just like any other, he didn’t understand why Tommy was getting so excited.
“Yeah! Let’s go investigate,” Tommy added emphasis as if savoring the chance to use one of the biggest words he knew. Tommy pressed against the wall and started sliding towards it as if he were a super-spy. People passing noticed but didn’t care, which made him think that it was working. Milo followed calmly as if it were no big deal. That really made Tommy mad. He would have spun around right then and there, telling him off for making it so easy to give away their location. But then the employees might hear him instead, and he didn’t want to be the one in blame. So Tommy crouched behind some crates next to the door and pulled Milo down beside him. When the door burst open again, Tommy caught it with his foot right before it clicked shut and slid inside, Milo trailing behind.
The door closed behind them, clearly marked with a sign that read, “Employees Only”.
Inside was a large warehouse, which wasn’t a huge surprise since the word “WAREHOUSE” was painted in capitalized white letters above the door. As soon as they walked in, Milo was nearly knocked flat by his over-reactive senses. So many smells! Dust, perspiration, and gunpowder hung low in the air. Factory-fresh rubber and new coats of paint made themselves known with a force. “Well, this stinks,” Tommy grumbled, turning to leave. At first Milo thought Tommy was getting bugged too, only to find he wasn’t being bothered by anything. Except his own insanely high expectations.
But when Tommy went for the door, he found Milo staring awestruck at something behind him. “What?” Tommy pivoted on his heel, his jaw dropping to the floor. Looking past the boring old crates, boxes, and barrels, there stood the craziest thing he had ever seen. There stood a giant Ozzie the Owl head.
Ozzie the Owl was the mascot of the amusement park. He was a big ole barn owl with a cute smile. Only this owl had to be sixty feet tall with cheerful yellow eyes each the size of a small sedan. Next to this gargantuan bird was a slightly smaller Opa the Great Horned Owl head. When, where, why, and what the park would ever use these for, both boys had no idea. But they were getting real creepy, real fast.
Behind the towering shelves stocked with metal and plastic of all shapes and uses, Tommy found much more interesting replacements. The building began to look less like a warehouse and more like a private collection of amusement park rides.
Replacement bumper cars, swing sets, trolleys, miniature airplanes and rocket ships, and even a life-sized, fully functional steam engine! All of them ready to fix something broken at a moment’s notice. But it didn’t stop there. There were horse-drawn buggies, carousel animals, and spare rollercoaster parts were all there, each with a fresh coat of bright paint and plastered with enough plastic gems, mirrors, and glitter to make Milo sick to his stomach. “Why would anyone ever want to buy this?” Milo wondered aloud as the colors began to blur and fuzz. It was giving him a ridiculous headache.
But either Tommy didn’t notice or didn’t care; he was too busy digging through costume boxes and complimenting himself in a “magic” mirror. In fact, he was so busy he didn’t realize opening the next chest would rip a cord from its plug in the wall. But he did and with a crack, a fizz, and an impressive pop, the lights went out. After a few moments of silence, Milo’s voice called, “What did you do? I like it this way better!”
Tommy actually stopped to think for a change. “I...I have no idea. But don’t get used to it, I think I found a candle.” And with that, Tommy pulled out a lighter and let out a yelp. He hadn’t realized Milo was right next to him.
“Since when do you have a lighter?” Milo’s tone wasn’t accusing in the least, just curious. Even though Tommy was only nine.
“Here, catch,” Tommy tried to toss the candle to Milo, but he missed and it landed somewhere amongst the crates. “Great, you were supposed to lead us back with that,” Tommy grumbled.
“What?” Milo squawked. “You mean you don’t know the way out?” He quickly began searching for the candle, but he didn’t find it. In it’s place though, he found a Black Powder Dragon Extravaganza firework. Those things cost five hundred dollars at the store, and its fuse was lit. Milo quickly put two and two together. “Tommy…” Milo squeaked as he realized the surrounding crates were also stuffed to the gills with one thing: fireworks.
“We have to go! Now!” Milo cried, already taking off towards the door.
“What’s going on?!” Tommy shouted. The room was starting to reek of smoke.
“The building’s going to explode!” came the panicked reply faintly from the other side of the building. Tommy saw the fading light of the outside world as Milo held the door open. Tommy’s P.E. teacher would have been so proud of him after seeing how quickly he high-tailed it out of there.
They barely cleared the building before the whole building went up in smoke, flames, and beautiful colors. Milo and Tommy just sat there screaming their lungs out and clinging to each other. The roar of the fireworks was deafening. Tommy thought Ozzieworld would become one massive inferno, while Milo thought the entire amusement park was splitting in half. He knew that wasn’t logical, but logic and imagination didn’t quite go hand-in-hand.
Nicole let out a content sigh as she leaned back on the picnic blanket. “Hey look, they started the fireworks!” Nicole pointed to the huge mass starting to form in the sky. “If this is the beginning, the ending must be phenomenal! Too bad the boys are missing this. I wonder what’s taking them so long.”
“Hey, when ya gotta go, ya gotta go,” Sammy said through a mouth full of fried chicken. She waved the drumstick around to make her point.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I told him not to get that 72 oz. slushie,” Nicole murmured.
“LET’S GO!” Tommy bellowed, the words cracking with the strain of his voice. And Milo still couldn’t hear him. So Tommy took his brother’s hand and dragged him along. Tommy counted his lucky stars that Milo didn’t throw a tantrum and just followed. At first the path Tommy was taking was completely haywire, full of zigzags and backtracking, because he kept swerving to avoid security guards and within minutes, firefighters too. But then Tommy realized no one knew what happened, and more importantly, who was to blame. Yet people were still staring, and one person even tired to approach him, but a quick dash through the bushes and the stranger was left in the dust.
Under a star-studded hey trudged up the hill on the outskirts of the park. When they reached the picnic blanket, Tommy was doubled over and out of breath, Milo was taking apart his hearing aid, and both of them were huffing, puffing, and panting like dogs. Sammy looked at the imaginary watch on her wrist, mentioning sarcastically, “Look at the time, I still haven’t missed you yet!”
Tommy glared. “Ha ha, you know that’s a lie. But speaking of jokes, funny story why we’re so late,” Tommy tried to begin.
“Was it really that hard to go to the bathroom?” Sammy asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.
“Well you see-” Tommy started again, beginning to weave his web of lies as he spoke.
“Tommy, what ever you’re going to say, I don’t believe you,” Nicole looked at him with a unconvinced look of her own, crossing her arms and waiting for the truth.
“What? Why?!” Tommy whined.
“Because your pant leg is still on fire,” Nicole pointed out. Tommy realized that’s why so many people were staring. As he fumbled to put it out, Nicole noticed her younger brother, exclaiming, “Milo! What on earth happened to your hearing aid?!” he fingered through the pieces in his hand with a mild curiosity.
“It malfunctioned when the fireworks Tommy set off blew up the warehouse!” Milo chirped loudly, unaware of the racket he was making. Tommy slapped his forehead. There went all hope of getting out of trouble.
But Nicole was unsure of how to handle the situation. No one was injured, and now looking at Tommy’s handiwork, the fireworks were still more gorgeous than ever from the top of the hill. The bright, flashing lights of the responding fire trucks only added to the scene. She sighed. “You know what?” Nicole’s face of plaster shattered into a wide grin. “I think I’ll let this one slide.” Tommy let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, flopping down onto the blanket beside Nicole. Milo wiggled in between them and enjoyed the best 4th of July of his life.
“We didn’t need to know that,” Nicole sighed, but she knew her input would be ignored as her sister Sammy laughed with Tommy as they gave each other high fives. They were so immature.
“Come on sis! You know that was funny,” Tommy prodded.
“Just go to the bathroom,” Nicole rolled her eyes.
“Come on kid, buddy system,” Tommy started off, taking his brother’s hand. Tommy noticed the light was already starting to fade, so they would have to act fast before the fireworks began. “Don’t worry! We’ll be back before you miss me!” he shouted over his shoulder, and before anyone could argue, the duo melted into the crowd. As soon as they were on the other side of the massive blob of people, Tommy nudged his brother. “Hey Milo,” Tommy grinned, “check it out.”
“But I don’t have to go to the bathroom,” Milo mumbled.
“No, no, the building next to the bathroom!” Tommy groaned.
Milo wasn’t very impressed. “A door?” he asked curiously. It looked just like any other, he didn’t understand why Tommy was getting so excited.
“Yeah! Let’s go investigate,” Tommy added emphasis as if savoring the chance to use one of the biggest words he knew. Tommy pressed against the wall and started sliding towards it as if he were a super-spy. People passing noticed but didn’t care, which made him think that it was working. Milo followed calmly as if it were no big deal. That really made Tommy mad. He would have spun around right then and there, telling him off for making it so easy to give away their location. But then the employees might hear him instead, and he didn’t want to be the one in blame. So Tommy crouched behind some crates next to the door and pulled Milo down beside him. When the door burst open again, Tommy caught it with his foot right before it clicked shut and slid inside, Milo trailing behind.
The door closed behind them, clearly marked with a sign that read, “Employees Only”.
Inside was a large warehouse, which wasn’t a huge surprise since the word “WAREHOUSE” was painted in capitalized white letters above the door. As soon as they walked in, Milo was nearly knocked flat by his over-reactive senses. So many smells! Dust, perspiration, and gunpowder hung low in the air. Factory-fresh rubber and new coats of paint made themselves known with a force. “Well, this stinks,” Tommy grumbled, turning to leave. At first Milo thought Tommy was getting bugged too, only to find he wasn’t being bothered by anything. Except his own insanely high expectations.
But when Tommy went for the door, he found Milo staring awestruck at something behind him. “What?” Tommy pivoted on his heel, his jaw dropping to the floor. Looking past the boring old crates, boxes, and barrels, there stood the craziest thing he had ever seen. There stood a giant Ozzie the Owl head.
Ozzie the Owl was the mascot of the amusement park. He was a big ole barn owl with a cute smile. Only this owl had to be sixty feet tall with cheerful yellow eyes each the size of a small sedan. Next to this gargantuan bird was a slightly smaller Opa the Great Horned Owl head. When, where, why, and what the park would ever use these for, both boys had no idea. But they were getting real creepy, real fast.
Behind the towering shelves stocked with metal and plastic of all shapes and uses, Tommy found much more interesting replacements. The building began to look less like a warehouse and more like a private collection of amusement park rides.
Replacement bumper cars, swing sets, trolleys, miniature airplanes and rocket ships, and even a life-sized, fully functional steam engine! All of them ready to fix something broken at a moment’s notice. But it didn’t stop there. There were horse-drawn buggies, carousel animals, and spare rollercoaster parts were all there, each with a fresh coat of bright paint and plastered with enough plastic gems, mirrors, and glitter to make Milo sick to his stomach. “Why would anyone ever want to buy this?” Milo wondered aloud as the colors began to blur and fuzz. It was giving him a ridiculous headache.
But either Tommy didn’t notice or didn’t care; he was too busy digging through costume boxes and complimenting himself in a “magic” mirror. In fact, he was so busy he didn’t realize opening the next chest would rip a cord from its plug in the wall. But he did and with a crack, a fizz, and an impressive pop, the lights went out. After a few moments of silence, Milo’s voice called, “What did you do? I like it this way better!”
Tommy actually stopped to think for a change. “I...I have no idea. But don’t get used to it, I think I found a candle.” And with that, Tommy pulled out a lighter and let out a yelp. He hadn’t realized Milo was right next to him.
“Since when do you have a lighter?” Milo’s tone wasn’t accusing in the least, just curious. Even though Tommy was only nine.
“Here, catch,” Tommy tried to toss the candle to Milo, but he missed and it landed somewhere amongst the crates. “Great, you were supposed to lead us back with that,” Tommy grumbled.
“What?” Milo squawked. “You mean you don’t know the way out?” He quickly began searching for the candle, but he didn’t find it. In it’s place though, he found a Black Powder Dragon Extravaganza firework. Those things cost five hundred dollars at the store, and its fuse was lit. Milo quickly put two and two together. “Tommy…” Milo squeaked as he realized the surrounding crates were also stuffed to the gills with one thing: fireworks.
“We have to go! Now!” Milo cried, already taking off towards the door.
“What’s going on?!” Tommy shouted. The room was starting to reek of smoke.
“The building’s going to explode!” came the panicked reply faintly from the other side of the building. Tommy saw the fading light of the outside world as Milo held the door open. Tommy’s P.E. teacher would have been so proud of him after seeing how quickly he high-tailed it out of there.
They barely cleared the building before the whole building went up in smoke, flames, and beautiful colors. Milo and Tommy just sat there screaming their lungs out and clinging to each other. The roar of the fireworks was deafening. Tommy thought Ozzieworld would become one massive inferno, while Milo thought the entire amusement park was splitting in half. He knew that wasn’t logical, but logic and imagination didn’t quite go hand-in-hand.
Nicole let out a content sigh as she leaned back on the picnic blanket. “Hey look, they started the fireworks!” Nicole pointed to the huge mass starting to form in the sky. “If this is the beginning, the ending must be phenomenal! Too bad the boys are missing this. I wonder what’s taking them so long.”
“Hey, when ya gotta go, ya gotta go,” Sammy said through a mouth full of fried chicken. She waved the drumstick around to make her point.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I told him not to get that 72 oz. slushie,” Nicole murmured.
“LET’S GO!” Tommy bellowed, the words cracking with the strain of his voice. And Milo still couldn’t hear him. So Tommy took his brother’s hand and dragged him along. Tommy counted his lucky stars that Milo didn’t throw a tantrum and just followed. At first the path Tommy was taking was completely haywire, full of zigzags and backtracking, because he kept swerving to avoid security guards and within minutes, firefighters too. But then Tommy realized no one knew what happened, and more importantly, who was to blame. Yet people were still staring, and one person even tired to approach him, but a quick dash through the bushes and the stranger was left in the dust.
Under a star-studded hey trudged up the hill on the outskirts of the park. When they reached the picnic blanket, Tommy was doubled over and out of breath, Milo was taking apart his hearing aid, and both of them were huffing, puffing, and panting like dogs. Sammy looked at the imaginary watch on her wrist, mentioning sarcastically, “Look at the time, I still haven’t missed you yet!”
Tommy glared. “Ha ha, you know that’s a lie. But speaking of jokes, funny story why we’re so late,” Tommy tried to begin.
“Was it really that hard to go to the bathroom?” Sammy asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.
“Well you see-” Tommy started again, beginning to weave his web of lies as he spoke.
“Tommy, what ever you’re going to say, I don’t believe you,” Nicole looked at him with a unconvinced look of her own, crossing her arms and waiting for the truth.
“What? Why?!” Tommy whined.
“Because your pant leg is still on fire,” Nicole pointed out. Tommy realized that’s why so many people were staring. As he fumbled to put it out, Nicole noticed her younger brother, exclaiming, “Milo! What on earth happened to your hearing aid?!” he fingered through the pieces in his hand with a mild curiosity.
“It malfunctioned when the fireworks Tommy set off blew up the warehouse!” Milo chirped loudly, unaware of the racket he was making. Tommy slapped his forehead. There went all hope of getting out of trouble.
But Nicole was unsure of how to handle the situation. No one was injured, and now looking at Tommy’s handiwork, the fireworks were still more gorgeous than ever from the top of the hill. The bright, flashing lights of the responding fire trucks only added to the scene. She sighed. “You know what?” Nicole’s face of plaster shattered into a wide grin. “I think I’ll let this one slide.” Tommy let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, flopping down onto the blanket beside Nicole. Milo wiggled in between them and enjoyed the best 4th of July of his life.