Monthly Drawing 20b: Special Delivery

Bill Masterson hummed to himself as he walked from the Nickerson’s porch back to his bicycle. He’d been ‘Billy’ up until this summer. However, when he started his new job delivering groceries for Sanders’ IGA, he decided he was grown up enough to be called “Bill”.

Sure, he was still delivering on his bike rather than a car even though he’d had his license for two months now but, that was only because he was the local deliveryman. At least that’s what he told himself. 

Anyway, he was graduating next year and-

“Hello!” he was interrupted by a happy, little voice somewhere near his waist.

He looked down to see a small blonde girl in a purple dress looking up at him. Bill wasn't sure but, she might have been seven or eight. She held something behind her back as she rocked back and forth on her heels with nervous energy.

“Hey, kid” he said started walking again.

“Hey! Stop!” the girl called out, halfway between a whine and a command. 

“Look, kid” Bill said, trying both to be patient and show he was a grown-up with things to do,” Whaddya want? I gotta get back to work.”

“You should play with me!” She flashed a huge grin, still rocking on her heels.

“I told you, kid,” he said, turning, “I gotta get back to work”

He heard the sounds of small feet on the sidewalk and the girl passed him and stopped in front of him.

“C’mon, kid I-“

“I have a pet fox!” she chirped

“Really?” he was skeptical but, it would be cool if she did, “You’ve got a pet fox?”

“Yup!” she said, matter-of-factly, “She’s small and red and has big ears and a biiiiiiiiig bushy tail and everything!”

“She sounds great,” Bill laughed in spite of himself,”What’s her name?”

“I don’t know, yet,” she said, with a contemplative look. She looked back at Bill. There was a greenish glow behind her back as she asked ”What’s your name”

“William Bartholomew Masterson” The words seemed to spill out of him. Why didn’t he just say “Bill”? 

“Oh,” the girl smiled, “Then her name's Wilhelmina!”

“Great.” Bill said, preparing to leave again, “But, I-“

“Wanna see her?” the girl’s grinned.

“Well, yeah!” Bill said. If the girl was telling the truth, seeing a real live fox would be cool. It was probably just a stuffed animal but, you never knew…

“Ready?” the girl said, her grin was huge.

“Yeah. Where-“

The girl pulled a strange stick from behind her back and pointed it at him. The tip of it glowed.

“Yay! I knew you’d want to play with me!” she giggled. 

“What’s tha-“ He began but, a beam of green light erupted from the stick and enveloped him. 

For a second, all he could see was green but, before he could panic, the light was gone. It was replaced with a strange feeling. It permeated his entire body. It wasn’t quite a tingle, it wasn’t quite pressure but, it was strange.

“What did you-“ his mouth felt odd

“Just getting my fox!” the girl smiled, “ Awww, here she comes now!”

The girl seemed to get taller as the legs of Bill’s pants pooled over his feet. As they dropped from his hips, he realized he was the one getting smaller. He was too stunned to move.

He fell to the lawn and his skin began to itch. Then there was an embarrassing pressure at the small of his back and an even more disconcerting one at his crotch. 

“We’re gonna have so much fun!” Bill heard the girl chirp.