Carnival Times

It was a fall evening. After school, since it was their 2-month break, Johnny and Celina planned on going to the carnival. It had been a year since they started dating. They both went home to get changed. They were going to meet up at the carnival at 5:00 pm. When 4:45 came Johnny left his house as he lived 10 minutes away. Celina left at 4:30 since she wanted to get some cotton candy and lemonade before they met up. Johnny had on a red sweater with a red cap and red shoes with blue jeans. Celina wore a blue cartoon shirt with black jeans and blue shoes and her hair was dyed light blue. When Johnny made it at 4:57 Celina had already been there for 6 minutes and she was coming from the lemonade stand. She had 2 lemonades and cotton candy. She gave Johnny a lemonade and they split the cotton candy while walking around the fair looking around. They went to the toss game where Johnny won Celina a giant teddy bear and he carried it around the fair for her. They got someone to hold the bear while they went on a roller coaster. Then they went on the ferris wheel and they kept the bear with them this time. They went to a few more games and on a few more rides before Johnny walked with Celina home. They lived on the same street but Johnny’s house was 3 houses down on the other side of the street. They had fun and after Celina went in Johnny went home. He won a goldfish and a stuffed animal. Celina had the big bear that Johnny won and she won a hermit crab.

Chapter 2- Rise & Shine

Johnny woke up in a rather, neutral, mood. He just put on some gray jogging pants and a red long sleeve shirt. He went downstairs and fed his goldfish that he won the night before. He put it on the kitchen counter. Then he went into the yard and raked the leaves into a large pile. As he was raking Celina had just woken up. She put on some black form - fitting pants and a white T - shirt with a black hoodie. She went downstairs and said good morning to her mom. She went outside, ran, and jumped in the pile of freshly raked leaves while laughing. Johnny laughed then said, “you’re raking those back up.” She kept laughing then said, “want to walk down the street to the store? I need to get a head of lettuce for my hermit crab to eat.” Johnny said, “sure let’s go.” He waited for her outside the store. She came out with a head of lettuce and a glass aquarium tank. Johnny grabbed the tank and said, “what is this for?” “Well, I just had it in the container from the fair but it needs something bigger”, said Celina. They walked back up the street and went to her house. She opened the front door and Johnny said, “Good morning”, to Celina’s mom, Janet. He went upstairs to her room and placed the aquarium on a white table. Celina said, “could you move clamps to the aquarium?” Johnny said, “you’re 16 and you named your hermit crab clamps?” Celina said, “yea, what’s wrong with it?” Johnny said, “nothing, nothing at all.

Chapter 3- When Forces Collide

Celina went over to Johnny’s house. She said, “good morning”, to Johnny’s mom, Deborah. Deborah said, “Oh, Good morning Celina!” Deborah was quite oftenly enthusiastic. Celina went up to Johnny’s room and said, “I need more lettuce.” Johnny was playing his game. She walked over to him and tapped him on his shoulder and when he looked up at her, they both smiled. He paused the game and said, “good morning.” She smiled again and said, “lettuce.” Johnny said, “wow, hungry crab?” She said, “many crabs.” Johnny said, “Oh! So… did you put sand or seawater in the habitat?” She said, “no, I got another habitat with a bowl part on it for that but could we maybe.. go to the beach and get some?” He said, “sure and while we’re out we can get a lot of fresh produce for clamps and her clampers.” He went downstairs and said to Deborah, “mom, can I use the car I want to go to the beach.” She said, “I guess so but make sure you have your license in your wallet.” They went to Celina's backyard and got 3 buckets. Johnny and Celina took a 30-minute drive to the beach. Johnny grabbed both buckets out of the trunk and took the lids off them. The first bucket he used to get a scoop of sand. He picked up as many shells as he could find to a total of 12. The second bucket he went in the water and laid it down then took it back out. The third bucket he left in the trunk. When he pulled the second bucket out there were 8 hermit crabs in the bucket. Celina wanted to keep them. As they were walking back to the car with Johnny, a bucket in each hand. A teen in a black shirt with black ripped jeans and black shoes said, “Celina!?” “Jack?”, said Celina. He said, “It’s nice to see you. How’ve you been?”

Chapter 4- Traversing

Celina said, “Johnny, this is Jack, my EX.” Johnny mumbled, “hm.” She said, “It’s getting dark, we should really get going. Goodbye Jack.” They continued walking to the car. Johnny put the buckets in the car. They drove to a nearby store. Johnny got a basket and asked, “do you have a daily diet or regimen you follow for clamps?” Celina replied, “No, I do not. Any suggestions?” Johnny said, “you should be good with blueberries, lettuce, some type of nuts, and maybe mangoes.” They got all of the food items he said and a measuring cup. They checked out and went back to the car. He opened the third bucket and said, “use this as your daily diet.” He measured half a cup of blueberries and poured it into the bucket. He pulled off two leaves of lettuce and put them in. Then he measured a cup of peanuts and poured them in. Since they got pre-chopped mangoes he put 10 in. Johnny put the basket up and they drove home. He went to Celina’s house first and asked, “why is the habitat in the front yard?” She said, “It was too big to fit in my room. Could you pour the stuff in while I go get clamps?” Before he could answer she went inside. He poured sand to just surface the bottom of one bowl in the habitat, then half way in the second bowl and put the shells on top. The third bowl, he poured the food in, then poured the seawater in the first bowl on top of the sand. Celina walked out with clamps and placed it in the habitat. She said, “you’re already done?! Thanks for your help today.” He said, “no problem, goodnight.” He drove home and parked the car. When he went inside his mom was already asleep. He took his shower and when he got out he heard a horn blowing. He looked out the window and a figure that got out of the old black van in front of Celina’s house looked familiar.

Chapter 5- Double Trouble

Johnny raised the window slightly. He heard them arguing. He sneaked out the front door and ran over to the yard. She gave him a look as to not get involved. He hid beside the van still listening. He overheard something about her being previously pregnant accidentally. Then Jack said, “is your new interest going to get bored of you and move on? Then you’ll be running right back to me.” Then Celina said, “after what you did! I’d never come back to a dirty piece of trash you call a person like you.” Then Jack got outraged and slapped her at which point Johnny ran from the other side of the van beating Jack. Celina somehow managed to pull Johnny off of him. When he got up he said, “Don’t you EVER come bothering her again.” Jack got in the van and left. They went inside Celina’s house. He washed the blood off his hands and she gave him some ice to put on his bruised knuckles. She said, “You didn’t have to do that, you know…” He said, “it wasn’t a problem. Just be glad that you didn’t wake any nosey neighbors. Now goodnight for real this time but I’m sleeping here. I already showered and everything.” She stayed silent then grabbed his hand and they went to her room. Since it was 1:00 AM, they quickly went into a slumber. Celina awakened at 4:58 AM and woke him up. She whispered, “Sorry to wake you but my mom comes at 5:00 AM every morning to see if I’m asleep when she gets home from work and she doesn’t know you’re here.” He said, “what does that mean?” They hear the front door open. Her eyes get wide and she whispers, “HIDE!!” Janet opens her door and says, “Good morning honey. You couldn’t sleep?” Celina says, “yea. Have you been in the backyard recently?” Janet says, “No, may I ask why?” Celina says, “Oh nothing…”

Chapter 6- Rider

Johnny comes out of hiding. Celina says, “could you help me with something later?” He said, “Sure what is it?” She said, “I want to put a terrarium in our backyard. Everything I need has been shipped in except the succulent plants. He says, “good, I’ve saved enough to get the truck I want plus customs and it should be ready with the additions today.” He goes home and his mom is still asleep. Then he goes upstairs and changes. When he comes back down his mom is awake. He said, “Good morning. My truck is ready.” She said, “Oh, how wonderful! Do you need a ride?” He said, “Yes. Thanks.” She said, “No problem, be ready in 10. See if Celina wants to come.” He texted her, “Wanna come with us to get my truck? We can get your stuff while we’re out.” She replied, “Yea. Be ready in 5.” Celina walked over and they all got in Deborah’s SUV. When they made it to the shop, the truck was already outside. Johnny, Celina, and Deborah all looked in amazement at the newly customized truck. It was a 2015 ram 1500 that he had painted red with black stripes, an 8” lift, 32” tires, new blue led lights and a light rack on top, new speakers with heavy bass, and double piped exhaust with one on each side of the rear. He got in and cranked it up, a loud deep running V8 HEMI engine ran. He tried out the lights and to his surprise were even blindingly bright in the sunlight. He looked at the spare tire under the truck and said, “I hope I never have a flat. That has to be a heavy tire to raise back up under here.” He told Celina, “get in and press the gas pedal until the rpm x1000 needle hits 7. I want to see my rolling coal feature.” A sufficient amount of black smoke came from both sides of the truck. He bluetoothed his phone to the radio in the truck and turned it all the way up. He played a song with a lot of bass and a lot of bass there was. Though the truck was outside the ground and the shop was shaking.

Chapter 7- Backyard Paradise Party

Deborah went back home. Celina rode with Johnny to get the things she needed. When they made it to the store they got large boxes and a basket full of flowers and soil. They went to another store and got bricks and concrete. They went to Janet’s house and set everything up the way Celina had it planned. They hung a fan over the concrete to dry it. Celina went inside and got her mom. She put a black blindfold on Janet and led her to the backyard. When she took the blindfold off, her mom was speechless yet amazed. A hammock under two trees, a canopy surrounded with flowers with bricks leading to the canopy and from the door with flowers on each side of the trail, a nice patio set under the canopy, and a wood grill on a perfectly square concrete platform that would also be used for karaoke. Her mom said, “Oh! It’s so nice. Thank you so much!” Celina led her to the hammock and said, “come on, rest and relaxation time.” Janet laid on the hammock and relaxed. A neighbor wanted a tree cut down. Johnny wanted to rent but ended up buying a big tex 16LP dump trailer he had to note out and bought a chainsaw and 5-gal. gas jug. He mixed the fuel and filled the tank on the saw and started cutting. After the tree was completely cut and cut into smaller pieces he loaded it in the trailer. He backed it in the driveway to the backyard and put some wood and leaves on top as a fire starter. Celina went to the store to get drinks, ice, and meat to grill. They invited the whole neighborhood. Everyone had a good time eating and doing karaoke. Everyone left and Celina cleaned up. There was wood left in the trailer and more neighbors wanted to pay Johnny to cut trees the next day. After he cut all the trees the trailer was piled.

Chapter 8- Money & Opportunity

After word got out, everyone in a 40 - mile radius wanted trees cut down by Johnny. Johnny didn’t have anywhere to put the wood from the previous tree so he could cut more trees. Deborah recommended Johnny dig a hole put a tarp down under and over the wood to protect it from rotting. He started digging and made a wide 4’ deep hole and placed a tarp. Then he unloaded the wood and put another tarp over it. He cut 5 trees and went home. The trailer was almost over capacity. He unloaded the trailer. He went into his room and Celina was there. He greeted her and she said, “we need firewood and I have a surprise for you.” He said, “whatever it is, it's too much. I know you like to go over the top often.” She grabbed his hand and they got in Janet’s car. Celina drove 5 minutes away to an abandoned sawmill. She gave him a paper and keys. He looked then his expression went as if he was slightly exasperated. “How much did you have to pay for this?”, he said. “Nothing, I knew the owner and he wanted to give it away.” she said. He hugged her tightly. He opened the door and looked around. He saw the wood storage and wood deposit. The power didn’t work but the shop was in pristine condition. He cleared all the old wood out. Since there was a wood powered generator around back, he burned it all to get power and see if all equipment was working. He seemed to like it a lot and got the idea of expanding the sawmill by putting a store on the side to sell wood and building a house connected to the shop but you would have to drive down the side street. They went home and he told his mom about it. She liked that he was enthusiastic about the entrepreneurial idea. She told him about licensing and property tax. The next day he went to the local courthouse and paid the tax on the property, applied for a business license, and got a permit to build on the property.

Chapter 9- High Spirits

Johnny’s business license finally came in the mail and he got utilities running at the plot so now he could get work on the property. He had a large wood surplus since he had still been cutting trees while waiting on paperwork. He loaded wood and transported it to the sawmill. After running so much wood through the sawmill he started building the shop. Many days Celina would come by and watch him build. After the first week, he had the frame and floor completely built along with the floor. He got electricians to come in. After which, he continued building the walls. After everything was built he got the things needed to run a functional store. He ran some wood through the mill to boost inventory. While he was building, Celina was doing errands for neighbors and saving to buy a car. The time came around for a 5 year memorial of Johnny’s father, Richard, passing away while on duty in the navy. Celina’s father, Bruce, came back from working offshore. Bruce bought Celina a used but not too used car. Johnny started building a 2 story, 4 bed, 3 bath house, with a 3 car garage. Business was running rather high. Higher than usual, even on an over - productive day. This higher rate of customers got even higher everyday. Profits were coming in an abundance of overflow. Wood was running out fast so he started cutting trees again every Saturday.

Chapter 10- Life is Good

Now that the house was completely framed, Johnny called the electrician back. After he was done, Johnny kept building. Celina was selling the wood in the shop. Johnny eventually came in the shop and said, ”guess what.” She looked at him with a curious expression as if to represent a question mark on her face. He said, “now that the walls are done, I’ll start on painting and flooring tomorrow. I’m gonna go get the materials now.” A customer came in. She nodded and started helping the customer. It was time to close and Celina went to look at the progress, she was amazed at how much he had got done. The cemented driveway was dry now. He parked on the driveway and put all the material in the garage. He got doors while he was out and started putting them up, starting with the garage and entry doors. He went into the shop and got all the profits of the day out of the safe. He said, “wow! This is as much as a week's profit when I first opened. Now it builds in a day.” Celina went home. Deborah came to the worksite. She said, “Johnny! You could come home for one day. I understand you want to get things done, but stop working so much.” He gave his mom an envelope with $10,000 and said, “I’ve been at home but only to take a shower and change clothes.” While confused with how he got so much that was in the envelope, and amazed at how much progress he accomplished, she was speechless. She walked back to her car and drove home. Now Johnny stood confused. The next day, he finished the floors and walls. He got a plumber to come by and it took him a week to finish. Now that everything else was done all that was left was furniture.

Chapter 11- New Beginnings

Johnny and Celina both agreed on the options they picked. He put the kitchen appliances on his truck first. After he put the stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, and microwave on, he put the washer and dryer on. He took them home since there wasn’t any more space on the truck. After they got all of the furniture moved in and put together, they made a plan to start moving in together in a week. Johnny put a garage door opener in his truck and Celina’s car. They told their parents about them moving. They’re parents were very supportive. After they moved all their things Johnny started cutting trees more often. Celina was always in the shop. Johnny found a stray dog on a property where he was cutting. Someone brought a dog kennel and Johnny took the dog home. Celina liked it and they kept it. While he was washing it, she went to get dog food and other supplies. Johnny started fencing the backyard while the dog was still in the bathroom waiting to dry. The hermit crab enclosure had its own fenced corner. He made a fenced corner for the dog. He brought the dog out and Celina pulled in the driveway. She fed the dog and took it to the vet. Johnny went to cut more trees and stock the shop. He saved all the bark that came off the trees since it couldn’t be used, he used it as firewood for the new grill and backyard entertainment area. On the news came a hurricane warning. Johnny completely sold out as everyone was preparing. He got as much as he could of his, Celina’s, Deborah’s, and Janet’s. They got the animals too and went to Nebraska. When they came back home, everything was ok.

The End- Plus a Little Something For You.

Thanks for reading to the end!! There is a second book coming out soon. There's a novel I'm working on but I may make another short story for the time being if I get enough reads to say that you guys like my work. And remember, a literary work is just another path, another way, another route, to knowledge.