color tone. After the academic questions, I didn’t see ya. I haven’t seen ya for a few hours, doll. Are you okay, darling? Where have ya been, honey?”
I gasp, dropping my mouth. “I…I…”
“Buffo,” the female voices shouts.
Buffo swings around, waving and smiling, when I hide behind his bicep.
The female smiles, dashing from the rock boulder, coming towards Buffo.
“Duchie,” I slide from Buffo, screaming and tossing my arm, sneering, not smiling.
Duchie slides to a stop, dropping her mouth.
Buffo chuckles and hugs Ketona, nodding to his friend. “Duchie’s here with us, too. Okay, we need to start our fun,” he spins and drags Ketona by the arm. “I guess. We use these the provided terrain vehicles for our next fun adventure…”
I trip over my own feet, being rushed by Buffo towards the line of terrain karts.
All the teens are loading into the karts, starting the engines. When a kart warms, the teen driver zooms off, driving the karts towards the high sloped mountain side.
Buffo assists Ketona into the seat, securing the webbing around her body.
I view Duchie.
She dances towards another terrain vehicle, sharing with a different male, not Buffo.
I exhale, asking. “I…”
He chuckles, sliding into the driver’s seat, starting the engine. He secures his own net webbing around his tallness. He winks at her. “I hope this color tone is as fun…”
I frown with annoyance, “Buffo, how are you able to have fun, within the same color tone? I mean, I saw the blue w…,” I pause then clear my throat. “Remember, when we both peeked inside the yellow tone color, holding Java and Hatch?”
He nods and smiles, driving up the sloped mountain side, following the next kart. “This country is pretty. I like the yellow soil. I’ve never seen yellow dirt, like this. Someone’s daddy told the secret to one of the other teens, before, entering the Citizenship Day. When a teen drops down, inside any color tone from the Cubby Hole, the park place changes from the original model into the teen’s bad fear, or good like. So, we figured out which teen had the least scary fear and bestest like, then the teen slid into the me-chee and returned back into the Cubby Hole for our continued…”
I slam both hands onto the console. “Wait! Have you returned back into the Cubby Hole, for a second time, Buffo?”
“Yeah.” He nods and drives higher up the slope between the rocks, creating twisting yellow tornadoes.
I gasp, viewing his nose profile. “And, you did not bother to advance into the...the red color tone.”
He laughs. “Naw, I had to go back into the Cubby Hole and answer the first silly question, about the color of the me-chee, which is always orange. I met the one-fourth question rule, staying inside this park place. I had to take my turn, being the first me-chee chair to land, inside the yellow room, exposing my nasty fear of…”
I exhale, growling. “Yeah, I know. I learned the same method. The first me-chee chair modifies into the teen’s fear, then the second time, the same teen falls into a different park place, the love answer is shared with the rest of the teens…”
“Yeah, I had to go back into the Cubby Hole, another time…”
I gasp then yell. “I’m been…stop.”
Buffo slows then halts the kart.
I jump out then finger the sign, frowning at him. “This is a mountain cougar warning sign, where they live, play, and prey on anything, everything, and me, too. This is crazy, Buffo. We can’t invade and interact with any type of wild animals. Cougars attack on people, cows, and dogs, when frightened or hunger…”
He nods, sitting inside the kart. “A cougar, the mammal is the heaviest cat in the world. The beast is secret and lonely native of the mountain terrain, working both night and daylight hours…”
I gasp, nodding and saying. “A cat!? I love cats. I wrote that down, as my love question, on my app for Citizenship Day.” I scan the boulders.
Alice Brown
Alexis D. Craig
Kels Barnholdt
Marilyn French
Jinni James
Guy Vanderhaeghe
Steven F. Havill
William McIlvanney
Carole Mortimer
Tamara Thorne