Through the Wormhole

Chapter I: Sit Around, Drink Root Beer, and Play Portals and Aliens

Twelve years later

"Okay, strapped in?" Dan checked Hoverscooter 23's foot straps and puckered, blowing the two brown bangs that hung in front of his nose off his face. "Check! Ready to die?" He studied the Valley of Green's meadows and halted his hoverboard above Crater Lake. "Not really, but heck! I'd rather die than do the lawn." The lawn was sissy talk. Hoverscooting, the top sport of the 3020s, was what the cool kids did.

Dan nose-dived for Crater Lake's slippery, shiny surface and clutched 23's red nose, covering her black outlines. "Watch this, Mom! I'm finally going to do it!" He slipped his hand into the pocket of his ruby-colored jacket and wrapped his long fingers around the fossil—his last good memory of his mom before she fell ill.

Dan's bushy eyebrows arched up as he concentrated on the prize—to catch himself before 23 chucked him into the lake again.

Success! Dan turned 23 just before he hit it and rocketed for Green's edge, suddenly feeling like he had left a dinosaur valley. "I did it! Whoo-hoo!" he cheered, lifting his arms over his head. "I rock!" Downtown Greenville's skyscrapers entered his peripheral, and Dan soared toward them, flying the fastest he had ever flown! "Oh yeah! Look at this baby go, go, go!" he said, showing off his hoverscooting moves: air reverses, layback snaps, etc. What a sick machine the hoverscooter was until...

Puff! Puff!

"Wait, what? Oh, come on, dudette!" Dan stomped on 23's smoking tail. "Don't do this to me!"

Puff! Puff!

Was this Dan's punishment for calling out of mowing? He dropped into his neighborhood, Chanticleer's, Titanic Park like a bird whom Mom kicked out of the nest. With so many groves in the area, it was sometimes difficult to see people, especially that hot blonde trekking down the sidewalk.

"Molly!" Dan shouted. "Molly, look out!" Not that he didn't want to catch another glimpse of her sexy sundress moving up to her thighs at the sight of him.

"Dan?" Molly's big, blue eyes flew out of her sockets, and she dove out of the way, landing in one of the many bushes that decorated the sidewalk's outside section. "You jerk!" Dan heard her yell.

Him... a jerk? Dan admitted that he was, especially when it came to beautiful women—like Molly the Angel he's had a crush on since elementary school. That crush only grew after his mom died. Had it already been five years? What day was it again? Why was Dan thinking about this? He had to save his hoverscooter!

He jumped off 23, took in a quick whiff of the sidewalk's bitter cement, and caught her before she smacked his flying goggles right off his head. Dan tucked her under his armpit, and 23 brushed against his black jeans and belt. Whoa there! Molly was the girl Dan liked, but she probably hated him currently.

That she did. Molly crawled out of the bush, sticks and leaves clinging to her curls, and stood. "I hate you, Dan!"

He laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, Molly, but my hoverscooter ran out of fuel."

"If that's the case, then why don't you buy a car, you doofus?"

"I'll get one eventually!" Dan hoped by his next birthday. That was coming up, right, the big 1-7?

In a sarcastic tone, Molly said, "Sure, Dan, sure." She smiled and put her hands together. "Anyway... Happy birthday!"

Wait, what? Crap! What an idiot Dan was! "Huh? Today's my birthday?" Seriously, who forgot their own birthday? Dan's car was probably waiting for him back home, and what did he do? His lazy bum called out of mowing.