The Shimmering Ship

By: Radio Rancher
(Copyright 2015 by the author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

With contributions by Str8mayb

Author's Note:

Hello, this is Del again. Radio Rancher Let me use the computer again on the condition that I continue telling the story. I think he has some crazy idea that people enjoy my telling stuff. He said he got several emails asking him to let me write the next chapter.

Chapter 20

Mark and Randy settled in rather quickly, and I noticed that Gavin and Leon were spending a lot of time here as well. No one objected, and the thing that we liked the most was that Bish and Gerry were spending a lot of time here, too.  Both of them were very loving, and they really love Gavin and Leon. The most surprising thing was when Bish asked Mark and Randy if they would consider letting him and Gerry adopt them as well.  We knew that Mark and Randy were here temporarily, and that Linda was searching for a family for them.  Since our family had already grown to huge proportions, Linda was inclined to want to find them a family that would be smaller and maybe more intimate. She was extremely pleased to hear that Bish and Gerry wanted to adopt Mark and Randy, and she didn't take very long to arrive with the proper papers in hand, to seal the deal, once and for all. 

They didn't move out right away, though, because Bish and Gerry decided to add more rooms to their house, and give Mark and Randy a room of their own, that was comparable to Leon and Gavin's room.  Gerry and Bish were really enjoying being parents, and they were very loving to all four of the boys. Mark and Randy were extremely happy, for the first time in either of their lives.  From the time they had been babies; neither of their parents seemed to care about them. They seemed to be grudgingly taken care of, if you could call it that. They got fed and changed, as babies, but they were never held or cuddled. The only thing that helped at all was that they got to be with one another.  Since they had no experience at being loved, they figured that they weren't lovable, so they didn't see any reason to be good to anyone else. Of course, now, that had all changed.  They still had a hard time believing that the very people that they had treated so badly had become their best friends, and that their friends' parents wanted them as their own kids. It was simply mind boggling to them.

Another benefit that Mark and Randy acquired through being friends with Gavin and Leon, was that Gavin and Leon, along with Jamie and I, helped them with their school work, and by the end of the month, Mark and Randy had improved in every subject; going from mostly D's and F's to Mostly A's with a few B's, and both of them were totally amazed at how much fun it could be to learn.

Jamie and I also helped them in another way, by giving both boys more capacity to remember things. We had watched them when they first decided that they wanted to improve their school work, and we asked them if they would like us to give them some help in retaining what they were being taught.

They surprised us by saying "Yes" and saying it quite strongly, both vocally and in their heads as well.  We looked around in their minds a little, and we discovered that they were both, in fact, very intelligent. They had actually suppressed their ability to learn and retain knowledge. I suppose they did it in the belief that somehow they were much too tough to be smart.

If things keep improving the way they have been, I suspect that those two boys will graduate at the top of their class.

It turns out that they had actually learned quite a lot of things already, but had simply suppressed the knowledge. Once we released it to them, they remembered huge amounts of things, which they were thus able to use, and they just kept learning.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to tell you about something that happened because of Gavin and Leon's little display of tigers.

When Jamie saw how cute they were, lying there snuggled up together, purring, he suggested to me that we do something like that with each other, and so, while we thought no one was looking, we transformed ourselves into tigers as well, and, of course, Most everyone saw us, and those that didn't notice, for what ever reason, were quickly informed that we had made the change; that little trick got Mark and Randy interested, of course, and they begged us to show them how to do it.

Jamie and I were somewhat reluctant to teach them, at first, because of their past behavior, so we changed back into human form and sat down with the boys. Jamie asked,

"Guys, I have to admit that I'm impressed by the change in your attitudes." Jamie told them, "but, given the way you acted before, I'm kinda worried that you might slip back into the violent way you used to act." He paused and looked at each of them.  "Would you let me search your minds, and see how your attitudes are progressing?  If I'm sure you've really completely accepted that you don't have to be vicious to get along, we will teach you how to change, and we will show you more talents and abilities that most people don't realize they have.

The two boys readily agreed, so Jamie and I examined their minds. We were amazed to see how they had changed. The fear and loathing they had originally shown was now completely gone.

"You guys are amazing." I told them. "I can hardly believe you are the same people that chased the little kids, and teased them."

"I think a lot of it comes from watching all of you guys, and the way you treat each other, and now, us." Mark said, smiling.

"Yeah, for the first time that I can ever remember, someone has treated us like we are important, like we belong." Randy added.

"Well, you are, and you do. I am very proud of you two." Jamie giggled. "I think, if you are willing to help us, maybe we can give the other bullies at school a lesson, like you two have had, that might help them learn to consider other people's feelings."

"I think that would really be kewl." Randy giggled.

"Me, too," said Mark.

I felt a surge of pride from each of them, as they thought of how it had felt when we had whipped their butts, and that they would be able to put the same fear into the likes of "Scary Larry and Thick Rick" as most of us called them. We taught Mark and Randy a way that they could transform themselves, while not calling attention to themselves while doing it. Anyone who glanced at them while they were changing would see them as human, and not see the animal they became. The only people that would see the animal would be the person who was their intended subject.

The bully wouldn't see them change either; he would only see them as the Animal they became.

If we had thought that Gavin and Leon were going to transform themselves into animals, ahead of time, we might have thought about teaching them to do it the new way, and saved a lot of people some frightening moments.

We passed the knowledge of the new method to all the guys and they were tickled to have a new tool to use in the fight to stop the bullies.

Larry and Rick were even more aggressive than Mark and Randy had been. They were actually emboldened by the change in Mark and Randy and acted like they now had to pick up where the other boys had left off. They thought that somehow there needed to be bullies in any school, and they saw it as their responsibility, now that Mark and Randy had reformed.

Well, that was a mistake, and I think it is time to tell you how they discovered it.

It was Saturday afternoon, and there were about fifteen kids having fun on the playground. They were having a wonderful time on the swings and other equipment, and were laughing and playing to their heart's content.

Scary Larry and Thick Rick were hiding behind the bushes at the edge of the playground and were just about ready to make their move. One of them had a big thick plastic straw and the other had a supply of BBs to put in it. The older one, who was the boss, had the idea in his tiny brain to shoot the BBs at any and all of the small kids that he could possibly manage to hit. He particularly enjoyed aiming at the back of the neck and watching them grab their neck and jump and turn, looking for the bee that must have stung them.  Larry was the one with the weapon, and Rick carried the ammo. They both felt so powerful. They knew that they could hurt any and all of the little wimps, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop them.

Larry whispered to Rick, "Look, there's that little snot nose Reggie. I'm gonna get him good. I still can't figure out what the hell happened to Randy and Mark. They have turned into the damnedest Goodie Two Shoes I have ever seen. Tigers my ass!!!" Rick handed Larry several BBs and Larry slipped them into the straw.  He took a really deep breath and put the straw up to his mouth and blew as hard as he could, hitting Reggie smack in the back of his neck. Reggie let out a bloodcurdling scream. It even startled Larry and Rick.

"Holy Shit! That little twerp has some powerful lungs. I didn't think anyone could scream that loud." Both boys crouched down lower behind the bushes, laughing uproariously.

Gavin, Leo, Jamie, Dale and I had decided to have some fun in the park and were almost to the playground when we heard the most incredible scream.

"What the..." Jamie said, as we saw Larry crouch down behind a bush. Rick was right beside him. They were both loudly broadcasting their glee over their triumphant attack on Reggie, and continued to think of other targets of their warfare.

I pathed to Jamie, 'let's teach these Bozos a lesson they won't soon forget.'

As we watched, Rick loaded Larry's straw with BBs. Jamie then closed his eyes and concentrated.  When Larry took a deep breath to fire, he inhaled and swallowed all the BBs from the straw. That was followed by coughing, choking and cursing from Larry and a cacophony of chortles and continuing cackling from Rick.

Larry then turned to hit Thick Rick, who wasn't as thick as Larry thought and ducked, just in time, which resulted in Larry losing his balance and landing with a thud, on his butt. The noise had attracted the attention of all the little kids who were laughing uproariously.

Larry, of course, was angered beyond reason and jumped up yelling, "I'm going to fix you little rugrats!" He took a step forward, and promptly had his pants fall down around his ankles, exposing a colorful set of boxers which were covered with Sponge Bob Squarepants. To further embarrass him, his shoes were tied together and he fell forward right into the bushes.

With Larry's boxers displayed so wonderfully, Rick was heard asking, "Dude, Where the @&%# did you get those Underoos?  I didn't know they made boxers like that."

Larry Replied, "What are you talking about, dumb ass.  I'm wearing white Calvin Klein's."  Larry then got a look at himself, "WTF!"

At that moment, right on cue, Randy and Mark walked up behind the bullies. What the little kids saw was Mark and Randy walk out of the woods, and Mark was smiling, holding the white boxers.  What the Bullies saw was two very large fierce looking Tigers, one of which had Larry's skid-marked boxers dangling from his sharp teeth. What the little kids heard was Randy asking Thick Rick and Scary Larry if they had lost something. What Larry and Rick heard was a mighty roar, causing them to soil themselves. The Keystone Cops would have been proud of the exit the two bullies made, leaving the park as quickly as they could, with Larry holding onto Rick for dear life.

The little ones were all laughing; Mark noticed one of the kids was, Kurt, the one they were picking on 'that day'. He went over to the boy and knelt down, "Kurt, I'm really sorry about what we did before."  He then stood up and said to everyone, "I think this calls for some Ice Cream! My treat!"

A loud cheer went up, and no one noticed the underwear disappear as they headed to the concession stand.

Everyone got a double dip ice cream cone. The little boy that Mark and Randy had bullied before, dropped his double chocolate cone right on his new white shirt; he began crying. Mark said, "Don't cry, Kurt, I'll get you another."

Kurt watched as Mark left and sobbed to Randy, "I'm not crying about losing the ice cream, it's my shirt. Mommy will really be mad at me."

"Yeah, she does have a temper, if I remember correctly." Randy took out his handkerchief and wiped the chocolate stain right off Kurt's shirt. "There you go, Kurt, good as new."

The boy gave him a big hug, "Thanks."

Mark returned with a new cone and the boy attacked it very carefully. Randy went over to Jamie and showed him the chocolate stained handkerchief, "Thanks for teaching me that little trick; it really came in handy." Randy then flicked the handkerchief a couple of times, then put the clean hankie back in his pocket.

Jamie said, "You could have just vanished the stain on the shirt."

"But then I'd have to explain Quantum Physics to a six-year-old." Randy laughed.

"Hey, I'm six!" Jamie pouted.

"Yeah, today, anyway."

As they were walking back to the park, Kurt was walking with Jamie, Dale, Randy, Mark and the rest.  Mark told Kurt, "We will really try to make sure you guys don't get picked on anymore. If you have any problems just let one of us know and we'll handle it."

Kurt nodded and smiled at all of them, "Thanks."

"I am really proud of you guys, today." Jamie beamed at Mark and Randy. "I have been meaning to talk to Kurt for some time now, and just never managed to see him when I could. Now that you guys opened the door, so to speak, hopefully I can get to know him a little better. He doesn't really have any close friends, and his mom keeps a pretty tight reign on him. The only time he gets to be with other kids his age is when he is playing in the park. I'm surprised that she wasn't standing there ready to pounce on those two jerks. If looks could kill, Del and I would both have been dead, that day. She blamed us for making him cry, and there was no changing her mind about it, without going in there and making her forget it happened, and we certainly weren't going to do that.

"Yeah," Mark agreed, "We were watching you guys and I think she really did think it was you two that teased him. I must admit that I came close to coming out and telling her that it wasn't you, but I was scared that you would have told her it was us. Now that I know you, I am sure that you wouldn't have, but I also bet that when you looked at me and I saw your eyes, I would have confessed." 

"That makes me feel good." Jamie giggled. "It just makes me realize that I was right to try to make you see how wrong you were to be bullies. I know this is going to sound silly, but I could really feel that you weren't really bad guys; you were just victims yourselves. I think that is true of Rick, too. I'm still not sure about Larry. There was an awful lot of hate coming from him."

Suddenly Dale shifted to his Delaran form momentarily, then resumed his human form. Boys, we need to return home immediately. We have received an emergency call for help from my people and others, and we must respond quickly. There is no time to waste. We will need everyone's help with this. The boys morphed into eagles and left Dale standing there flatfooted in the park. Dale fooled them, though, by being at home waiting for them when they arrived. "What took you smart-alecs so long?" Dale grinned. 

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:

Hip Hip Hooray it is finally here and it is about time <GRIN>! :) It is really very nice to see another chapter in this charming story. Lions and Tigers Oh MY! Great job, Del, now get busy on the next chapter.

The Story Lover AKA TSL

Associate Editor's Notes:

It's nice to see this story move along again. I will now apologize for contributing to the delay as I have been keeping RR busy editing my four ongoing stories and several short stories...  Anyway, now we get back on track and move on.  Let us hear from you, please.

Str8mayb

Re-posted  9/11/2015