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Shook Chapter 8: Stuck In 1800
The Blue family's in Georiga! Bear, the behemoth they call the family dog is off to Aunt Cerulean's house while he others are off to there own adventures. But when things get out of hand, a decsion has to be made. Can Dyan do it?...
“That’s a part of the Georgia State Railroad Museum, which is right next to the children’s museum,” said Mrs. Blue.
“Well, can we go there too? I’ve got to have a closer look at those diesel trains,” Navy said smiling.
Mrs. Blue looked at the trains for a moment. “Hmm, I’ll think about it.”
“Yes!” Navy whispered, dragging his fist down. “Then I’ll come too.”
“Me too,” added Maya.
And so the family split up, with Royal and the little boy twins off to their aunt’s house with Mr. Blue, and the rest to the children’s museum with Mrs. Blue. Everyone hugged Bear goodbye before Mr. Blue drove off to his sister's house.
It was chilly outside, so Dyan slipped on a big blue hoodie. Maya had told her the hoodie used to be hers, and before that, it had been Royal's.
The entrance to the children’s museum was a big, brick archway, with a slide on one side curling down and stairs on the other. Below was a huge, square-shaped pit with a garden on one side, and playing equipment on the other.
“Oh, a choice!” Maya rubbed her hands together. “I choose the slide!” Maya grabbed the bars at the starting of the slide and slid down.
“Me too!” True followed Maya and her giggles echoed as she slid out of view.
Navy walked past Dyan over to the stairs. He looked out at all the small children playing around with a plain face.
Dyan shrugged and chose the slide.
The museum was blissful. Dyan, True, and Maya became an unbreakable trio. They slid on slides, pretended to drive pirate ships, and imagined they were in a magical garden. Mrs. Blue had gone to the building blocks by the back of the museum to watch Teal play. Navy sat on a bench and crossed his arms, looking at birds.
At some point, Dyan and the others began pretending they were rich ladies in the 1800’s, and this was a normal day at the park.
“Say, Lady Dyan, should we go for a spin on that spinny, rope contraption?” Maya asked, in her best Victorian accent. She pointed to a poll with ropes connected to it.
Dyan pinched the edges of her shirt and bowed. “Why sure Lady Maya, but only if Lady True agrees,” Dyan smiled at True, who yelled “I do-I mean, I agree!”
So Dyan and True climbed onto the ropes, and Maya grabbed the rope and spun around in a circle.
Then Maya began to go faster, to where Dyan could feel the rush of cold air, and then she stopped.
“There,” She said between breaths. “Now I wish to have a ride.”
And so Dyan hopped off, and grabbed the ropes. She spun Maya and True at a fast pace, her high-tops making the wood chips on the ground splash up.
“Wee, this is most enjoyable!” True mimicked what Dyan had been saying all day.
So then Dyan went faster, and then faster still, until everything became a blur of colors and moving objects.
“Lady Dyan, this is a bit too quick!” Maya told her.
“I… cannot stop!” Dyan told them. Her legs were out of control, as if she were a fan that had to keep spinning. “No seriously, I can’t stop!”
“Abandon ship!” True yelled, and jumped for it.
Then she shrieked.
At the sound of this Dyan let go of the ropes and dropped straight to the ground. She saw the pole still spinning as the blur of Maya whirled around and around as if in a blender.
Dyan waited until she got her mind straight and then looked over to True, who was now crying.
Her top lip had a red line down it and was bleeding.
“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry!” Dyan covered her mouth.
“WAAAAHHH!” True cried, until Mrs. Blue rushed over.
Her eyes widened and she kneeled down to Ture. “What happened!?”
Dyan began to explain herself. “I-I spun True too fast on the-”
“Dyan spun the dumb rope too fast and I fell off!” True yelled viciously over Dyan at the top of her lungs. “I HATE YOU, DYAN HU-WAAHHH!” True cried.
Mrs. Blue picked True up and sat her down at a nearby bench. “Don’t worry.” She pulled a wad of napkins out of her purse and gave some to True, who took a clump and put it on her lip.
Dyan turned to see other kids and some parents starting to walk over and stare at them. Navy cut through the small crowd. “What happened?”
While Mrs. Blue went over to tell Navy, Dyan walked up to True gingerly. She could hardly look at True's face without glancing away. She could almost feel the crowd staring a hole through her back. Dyan was scolding herself in her mind. True was very little, and she had hurt her. How could she?
“I’m really sorry,” Dyan said.
“I’ll never forgive you Dyan, I hate you!” True yelled at her, muffled through the napkins. Dyan could see red splotches on the napkin where True was bleeding out, and Dyan’s heart beat faster.
“W-will she be okay?” Dyan asked Mrs. Blue.
“I hope so-" began Mrs. Blue.
Dyan's eyes went wide.
Mrs. Blue put her hands up. "But don't panic, she’s not gonna die or anything, so you don’t need to worry. Jesus, I don’t want two little girls to cry today.”
Dyan wiped her eyes. When it got painful to swallow, Dyan knew she was about to cry, and she didn’t wanna cry in front of everyone.
The museum staff asked if True was okay, and when Mrs. Blue said yes, they announced they were going to have a fun science experiment involving a bottle rocket, and asked if True wanted to see it. True’s eyes lit up and soon she was back happy.
And so the group went off to see the bottle rocket experiment, True stepping on Dyan’s foot in the process. Mrs. Blue scolded her, but Dyan felt she deserved it.
Dyan slumped over to the science experiment with Maya at her side.
“Don’t mind True. She’s such a big baby.” Maya said, leaning down to see Dyan's face.
“But now she hates me,” said Dyan.
To that Maya said, “Who cares!? She’s said she hated me tons of times! And I wouldn’t give two macaroni pieces about it.”
Dyan stared off at the other side of the playground at the stairs above the wooden maze, where she saw Navy sitting by himself with his hands on his cheeks.
“What’s Navy up to?” Dyan asked.
“Don’t know,” was Maya’s answer, and the girls started to walk towards him.
“'You bored?” Dyan asked, sitting next to the Navy on the steps.
“Very.”
“Dude, there’s a big playground right in front of you. Go play.” Maya told her brother.
“I’m 13! I’ve outgrown playgrounds! All I wanted to do was go to that train museum, and we haven’t even gone to it yet and I’ve waited for hours!” Navy massaged his face.
The three sat there quiet for a moment.
Then Maya smiled. “Why don’t we go over there now?”
Dyan turned to her. “But the science experiment is still going on.”
“Yeah, Mom and True and Teal can do that, and we can go to the train museum!”
Navy’s mouth formed an O. That’s…actually a good idea. Let’s go.” Navy got up and began to walk up the rest of the stairs, towards the exit.
The trio walked out of the children's museum and out to the field beside it. Dyan glanced at where True and Mrs. Blue sat with Teal, watching the bottle rocket. Dyan wondered for a second if it was a good idea to leave without telling Mrs. Blue, but she shook this thought away. She didn't want to cause another scene.
She caught up with Maya and Navy.
Find out what happens next in the next part!
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