Back In The Village

The boys were getting the hang of it, so after asking for directions from a civilian in Senneterre, they were easily able to get back on track and follow the Highway 117. Thirty minutes later, they finally reached Val-d’Or. If it weren’t for Tony’s flight inexperience, they would have arrived at Pascal’s speed, which would have been a mere ten minutes. During the trip, Tony had purposefully thrown himself off Pascal’s back under the pretense that he needed to practice his flying as soon as possible. Pascal found that it was in boring straight roads like these that Tony should not be transformed so he could then carry his a*s and make it home quicker. It was easy to convince a simple earthling that either he’d grab on or stay lost forever, but when Tony was in his nemusian form, he seemed like a completely different person: confident, proud, and even a little pretentious. There was no way he’d grab on if he could fly by himself. They followed the 3^rd Avenue as they entered Val-d’Or, and when the road forked into two, Tony decided that they should continue down Central Avenue, where the street ended once they came face to face with the IGA grocery store. It started raining lightly, and consequently the temperature became windy and a little cold. Any cover would have been of great comfort, especially since flying in altitude made it even colder.

“Let’s go sit there.” Tony suggested as he pointed at the park that was beside the grocery store. “We need to think about a shelter of some sort so we can cover ourselves until the rain stops. I can’t go home until I find some explanation anyway.” They discretely descended from the sky and sat down on one of the benches in the park to meditate. The trees around them shuffled as the wind whistled through the branches. The boys were shivering while they contemplated the bronze statue that depicted a prospector in his mining suit with a pickaxe. That statue was essentially the emblem of the town, since the town was known and even baptized for its abundant goldmines. There was nothing more typical than working in a mine when you lived in Val-d’Or.

            “Now I just need to calm down a little and I’ll be able to think up of something.” Tony said.

“So this is the town we’ve been looking for since the beginning?” Pascal asked, looking around, curious.

“Yup, this is finally it. Now the real problem is I can’t exactly get home until I come up with a story to explain all this to my parents.”

“Why come up with a story? Just tell ‘em about what happened. Getting captured by an alien, then discovering you’re an alien so you killed him and then flew back home. What’s so hard about saying that?”

“You don’t understand. You simply can’t say this type of thing on Earth. No one in this world even knows that aliens actually exist.”

“But they do exist.”

 “Everyone on this planet has been raised to believe that Earth is the only planet throughout outer space that has rational beings living on it.”

“In the whole universe?”

“Pretty much.”

“Well that’s stupid. How egocentric could you be to think that you’re the only living planet in the whole universe?”

“There are people who believe that other living beings exist somewhere in outer space, but it’s just that no one has any real proof about it. There was never any evidence of alien presence on Earth. How it works here, is that you can’t declare anything if you don’t have the proof.”

“Well how about that huge lizaard we beat up back at the amusement park? Isn’t that credible proof enough?”

“That’s exactly why I want us to remain silent about all of this. The powers we have, the knowledge we have; it’s dangerous. We’ll be in trouble if someone finds out.”

“But why? We’re just showing the Earth that they’ve been wrong the whole time!”

“Earthlings hate being told that they’re wrong. It could get us hunted, imprisoned, and even killed. It would be a threat to humanity if people started knowing that some aliens live on Earth. I’m actually worried about what’s gonna happen after they start showing that big dragon-monster in the news.”

“Well… the people of this planet will have to stop living in denial. They’ll have to accept the truth.”

“Not if they never see the truth. I’m convinced that it’s better if they just never know.”

Tony’s mother was well-known in town for the woman who lost her child and told it to everyone, so when a lady walked across the park and saw the two boys, she immediately pointed at Tony and said, “Hey, aren’t you the boy that--

The boys then ran off in panic and once they got to a back alley where no one was in the proximity, they discretely ascended to the sky and left off for a cold, dark, boring and uninhabited corner. Parks were too chancy and Tony now knew that he was a little more popular than he had expected. It started to rain heavily and the kids were getting cold.

“We have to get cover somewhere man! I’m freezing.” Pascal complained.

“Yeah that’s easier said than done. You can’t just enter a random building like that.” Tony replied.

“Why not?” Pascal asked, but Tony didn’t even bother to answer.

They came across Le Sommet, the biggest apartment building in Val-d’Or, which still had some light shining out the entrance door. “We can probably hide somewhere in there.” Pascal said.

“No we can’t, the doors are probably locked.” Tony said, but then, to wash out any doubt, a citizen opened the door without a key. Pascal noticed this and nudged his friend for the info, so they set down and decided to go in there for warmth. Once in the building, they found an elevator, and after explaining to Pascal what it was and playing around with it for a good five minutes, Tony changed back to his human form so then they played twenty minutes more. They eventually sat down and discussed, from time to time pressing on either a lower or a higher floor.

“So…you can’t just get home and be like, yo b*****s!” Pascal said in his best gangster voice.

“…Yo b***h what?”

“I dunno I just heard that at La Ronde.”

“Okay well say that around my parents and I won’t be allowed to hang out with you anymore.” In deep thought, Tony scratched his chin and said, “I could maybe say that I went on a school trip, and then Phillip dared me to show my butt out the window, and when I tried, I fell out of the school bus.”

“I’ll have to try that one day…”

“Nah that won’t work, who’d be stupid enough to fall down a bus window…and my mom will call the school for sure and I’ll be spanked for lying. Let’s go down.” Tony said, and then he pressed the �" button.

“She’ll spank you?”

“No.”

“Then why�"

“Never mind. I could simply say that I got kidnapped and I was able to run away.”

“Let’s go up.” And Pascal pressed the �' button.

“Yeah, I know! When I went to school, a man with a suspicious van asked me if I wanted candy and when I went to get it, he grabbed me and drove off.”

“I already tried to eat dog food once.”

“Hmm… no, too simple. I’ve been told so many times to never accept those candies; I’m not that dumb…”

“And I barfed you know. Didn’t taste like chicken at all. Tastes like camel toe.”

“Do you even know what’s a camel toe?”

“Nope. Just heard it somewhere.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Does this one sound good? You were about to get captured by a bad guy and… you know, you ran off like you always do. Just have to say that he had a…big garbage can, right? He ran in the school with it and he scooped you up.”

“Oh, of course, that’ll work thank you Pascal.”

Just then, when they reached the upper level, the elevator door opened, like usual, and their attention was understandably focused outside the door because, you know, in case there was a monster, a policeman, or simply anyone. They weren’t supposed to be there so they had to stay vigilant. The message got even clearer when at the other end of the wall across the open door laid a WANTED poster with Pascal flying above the street with the most killer-psycho face of destruction you could have. At the moment of the snapshot, Pascal was zigzagging through the speeding cars on the highway after having fallen asleep and then waking up just before landing point, so his face was probably trying to represent a holy-s**t-that-was-close kind of appearance. Tony was hanging down by an arm that Pascal was holding. Tony’s feet were almost scraping the top of a mini-van and just by his face it was obvious that he was screaming and crying as if he was heading down to the rape house. The door closed back gently.

“Okay,” Pascal said, nodding, as if everything were cool, “That picture’s not exactly on context, but okay.”

“So now, either we stick with the kidnapping thing and…we never see each other again ‘cause my mom’s gonna kill you--probably hire people to kill you-- or, we have yet to find some other story.”

They decided to go back down and leave the place before someone would come across the kidnapped kid and the criminal kid. When they arrived on the lowest floor, the door opened once again, to reveal a man that had just finished his night shift and probably wanted to go to sleep until noon or more after he’d arrive in his apartment that was on a higher level. The boys’ faces turned towards the man rapidly and they stared at him, wide-eyed, immobile, like a cat caught red-handed on the kitchen table, convinced that if it stops moving, the owner will ignore him. “Hey, I’ve seen those two kids before!” The man said, rubbing his weary eyes.

“Yo, b***h!” Pascal said with a West Coast hand symbol.

“Pardon his rudeness sir, he has ADHD and can’t always hold in his urges.” Tony clarified to the man, feeling a little nervous. “Now if you’ll excuse me…” He said as he tried to slither beside him, but the man blocked his way and said:  “Hold it, I’m pretty sure this kid’s a criminal. I remember his face from somewhere. What is that on your back? Is that… a sword? I’m calling the cops.”

“No no no! That won’t be necessary, you must be mistaking him for somebody else, we’ll just leave, we’re done here.” Tony tried to persuade him.

“You guys aren’t supposed to be here. I can see it in your eyes that you’re up to no good. You boys are staying here until you both give me your parents’ phone numbers.” The man persisted.

“Uh-oh…” Tony let out, but then a bursting flash of white light struck out from the elevator, blinding both Tony and the man. “Ow, what the hell? My eyes!” Tony screamed.

“Ah! What did you do to me?” The blinded man blared out. Tony felt a hand grab his arm and a second later, he was pulled out from the elevator and briefly after, he was out of the building and floating in the sky.

He rubbed his eyes with the hand he had left until he could start seeing something again, and then he asked Pascal, “What the heck was that just now?”

“Oh, I used to do that to scare big animals away during the night.” Pascal told him.

“You could have warned me or something.”

“That would ruin the whole point of this technique. Now, where to?”

Tony could see that it had stopped raining and that the weather was getting back to a comfortable level, so there was no point in loitering in town any longer. “First of all, let’s land somewhere safe so I can get on your back. I feel like my arm’s gonna rip off.”

“Okay, okay.” Pascal said and then he landed into a forested area in town so Tony could adjust himself properly for the road trip.

“I told you that I lived in Val-d’Or, but that was a miniature lie.” Tony told him.

“What do you mean by a miniature lie?”

“In fact, I live in this village right next to Val-d’Or, called Val-Senneville.” If we go that way, we’ll go along a route for some twenty minutes maybe and then we’ll be there. Just follow my directions.”

“Okay, here we go!” Pascal declared as he left for Tony’s house.

Tony was surprised that Val-d’Or was so empty. Because of that, he deducted that it was probably early in the morning so people were still sleeping or preparing to leave for work. That was ideal because not only the boys would have fewer chances of being caught flying, but that also meant that Tony’s parents would leave for work soon. That was only if this was a week day. If he was lucky enough, he wouldn’t have arrived during the weekend, and thus he could enter the house with the hidden key that was behind the garage, and rest all day before his parents and his brother would come back. He could show his house to Pascal, eat like a pig, and then recite his excuse plenty of times.

“I got captured by a gangster, and I murdered the gangster with a pair of scissors that I found in his office. After that, I begged in the streets, pretending to be a homeless kid, and it got me enough money to pay some cabs all the way up to here. Yup, quite an adventure…” That was Tony’s final, edited and perfected excuse that he would use before his mother would scold him and throw a fit. It seemed justifiable. Absolutely reasonable. That’s what it was going to be. The two heroes took a shortcut through the forest instead of going along the road that led to the small village of Val-Senneville so they could remain unexposed. When they arrived, they installed themselves on a treetop in the woods right behind Tony’s backyard. They were preparing for the ultimate moment to enter when everyone would leave the house; Tony’s parents gone to work, and Jimmy gone to school. His mother’s car wasn’t there, so it was one of those days where his mother worked early. That meant it was either a Tuesday or a Thursday. It shouldn’t take too long for the others to leave, he thought. Then it would leave him time to get comfortable again with the place after about a month of absence. He could chase and hug the hell out of his cats and then play Smash Brothers to level down his anxiety a little, until Tony’s mother would arrive at about 4:00 p.m. Tony kept repeating his excuse, like a politician practicing his speech. Each time Pascal would caricature a “Where the hell were you!” that was supposed to mimic a worried and angry mother.

            “Where the heck were you, you perverted, one-eyed, squirrel-mongering poop face!” Pascal shouted hysterically with all his might, crossing his eyes and tilting his head to the side, convulsing like he was having an epileptic attack. Tony told him to be as mad as can be, so he could handle the stress of any situation.

            “Shut up man, we’re gonna get busted if you scream like that!” Tony remarked. He then proceeded with his practiced explanation. “I got captured by a gangster, and I murdered�"

And Pascal smacked him in the face.

“What the hell! My mom would never slap me!”

“Sorry, I guess I was in the heat of the moment.”

Then, a burping sound was heard from Tony’s yard and it resonated throughout the whole Rue du Parc. He recognized it; it was definitely his brother. Jimmy had finally stepped out of the house, making his way for the bus stop. Big bro was ready for school.

 “We can finally get in?” Pascal asked.

“My dad’s still in, probably making himself breakfast.” Tony answered.

“It isn’t very comfortable here.”

“Yeah, I know!”

“There’s this branch getting up my butthole. Very unpleasant.”

“Be patient man. My dad should leave in like, not even an hour.”

Pascal, having absolutely no notion of what time was, believed that it meant it would be really soon. Two minutes later, tired of waiting, he said “F**k this,” dropped down the tree and started fooling around in the woods. “Hey! I could make myself a hut and live here!” He said.

“That is out of the question. You’d get caught way too fast. Too much people ride in these woods with four-wheelers and motorbikes.”

Pascal, having absolutely no notion of what a four-wheeler and a motorbike was, said: “That’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay. You remember what I told you about hiding and everything? It’s very important.”

Pascal sighed. “Okay, if you say so…”

Tony also climbed down the tree, and then he showed Pascal how to play tag. They played tag in the forest for a while until they finally heard the roaring of a pick-up truck. “Hey, shh! That’s my dad!” Tony said. They crept back to Tony’s backyard and they could see the pick-up going down the parking yard and into the street. Tony’s father drove off to work, leaving the house empty and ready to receive the two heroes.

            Tony scurried off to get the hidden key and then they raced to the entry door, overjoyed to find themselves at the end of their journey. It was almost too good to be true. Tony’s hand was shaking from excitement as he tried to insert the key into the door lock. “This is it…” He told his friend, “This is gonna be your first time seeing the inside of a human house, right?”

            “Oh yes! I can’t even imagine!” Pascal shouted eagerly. Tony was deeply amused to the thought of showing his friend something of such meager captivation. He had never seen someone so excited to the idea of visiting something as common as a house, and such a small and simple one at that! Compared to the wooden shelters that Pascal had slept under all his life, this would appear to him as luxurious as what an upper-class man’s fortress would appear to Tony’s eyes. His trailer house may not be much, but it was his home nonetheless, and he too, had never been so happy in all his life to find himself back into this house.

            Tony opened the door and they entered. “Welcome to my house, Pascal. This is the place where my family and I live every day.” Small tears started to form around his eyes. He hadn’t realised how greatly he had missed the place. He had considered so many times during his adventure how he might never see this place again, and yet here he was, as if nothing ever happened. It felt like he was dreaming.

            “Hey, don’t cry, this isn’t the time to be sad. You should be happy. Look at how solid these walls are… Heavy storms won’t bring this shelter down ey? Amazing! How could you guys even build that?”

            Tony couldn’t help but smile at Pascal’s bewilderment. “This is just the entrance. It’s where you take off your shoes. So yeah, first rule is to take off your shoes. Then I can show you the rest.”

            “Why?”

“Because that’s how it works when you’re a normal human being. It’s my house so just do as I say.”

Tony showed his house to Pascal and Pascal just marveled at the technology of the contemporary world. He asked dozens of “What’s this?” and dozens more of “What’s that?” Tony gladly answered them all, even though he knew that his friend didn’t understand half of what he was saying. Pascal then came across Minou the cat, who was chilling on the living room sofa while gazing at the magical world through the window. The boy was so surprised that he jumped with fright to the sight of it. “What in the world is this creature?”

“Meow.” It answered.

“Holy s**t is it dangerous? Should we kill it?”

“Calm down man, it’s a cat! You’ve never seen a cat?”

“No!”

“Well he’s completely harmless. He’s a member of the family.”

“Really? Whoa… can I touch it?”

“Yeah sure, but be gentle or else he might get angry.”

Pascal proceeded to touch the cat, and he was amazed by the softness of its caramel-colored fur. The cat just looked at him with a what-the-hell-do-you-want look, but it stayed unmoving. Tony followed next to pet his childhood companion. “I missed you, Minou!” He told him, but the cat ignored him as if it hadn’t given a single f**k about Tony’s sudden absence. Minou never seemed to give a f**k about anything. The only thing it cared about in life was the magical outside world and Tony’s father. “Oh well, this cat has always been an a*****e. I’ll force him to acknowledge my presence later.” He said.

Tony continued his exposition of the human household, and Pascal’s mind was simply blown. Tony ended the visit by showing him what a video game was. They started with Smash Brothers but Pascal didn’t understand a single thing so he tried to teach him how to play Mario Kart instead. After a couple of basic lessons, Tony told him to practice on his own while he would go take his shower because a shower was something very important in the human world. Tony had been thinking about it every day for weeks. Life always made more sense after a good, long shower. He came back with plenty of food from the fridge and sat down with Pascal in the game room. They ate to their heart’s content, and of course Pascal was amazed by all the never-seen-before ingredients that suddenly came out of nowhere. Tony then tested Pascal to see if he had somehow gotten any better from his practice, but no, it had gotten worse. He couldn’t even keep his eyes on the television screen; he always looked at his remote instead to see what buttons he was pressing on. When his character went off-road, he couldn’t help but spring out of the couch and try in vain to grab his character through the screen, even though Tony kept repeating that it didn’t work that way and that no, there was nothing on the other side of the screen. Pascal insisted that there was, and they argued for a good while because Tony was unable to logically explain how the images on the screen were produced. Tony then understood that it hadn’t been such a good idea to show him the television because he could see that Pascal was now mentally disturbed by the concept and he couldn’t shake it off. Tony turned off the television and convinced him to just forget about it and that it really wasn’t important.

“So what now?” Pascal asked. Now was actually a difficult moment for Tony, because it was time to tell Pascal the truth about the future that awaited him.

“Pascal, I have to tell you something.” He started.

“What’s the matter?” Pascal asked. He could see the concern in Tony’s face.

“I know that I brought you all the way here and I said that I’d show you how to live in society and all…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Pascal interrupted. “I can’t live here, right? That was obvious from the start.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve already made my mind about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Listen, we both know how clear it is that this won’t work. This isn’t where I belong. This is not the kind of life I was meant to have. I don’t even want this kind of life.”

“Pascal…”

“I’m not stupid. I already know that it’s impossible for me to adapt myself to this world.”

“I’m sorry that I can’t do anything for you.”

“Hey don’t sweat it! You did help me. By following you, I’ve found my new home. I’ve already decided where I’m gonna live. Press Forest has everything I need to survive and be happy.”

“You really don’t mind living in the woods for the rest of your life?”

“Of course I don’t mind! The question goes back to you. Would you mind living the rest of your days in a city, under a house like this one?”

“No… I don’t see any other way I could live.”

“Exactly. So no need to worry about me. The forest is my home. I have a lot more chances of dying and getting in trouble if I stay here, in this village.”

“But I told you that you could live with us, you know, and I… I couldn’t keep my promise.”

“That’s okay, buddy! You just wanted to make me feel better, right? I’m confident that you really did want to help me, but hey what could you do? I realised quite a while ago that it would come to this. My choice was already made.”

Tony sighed in relief. “So you liked that forest, ey?”

“It’s beautiful! There’s everything I need. Splendid lakes with lots of fish. Plus, it’s pretty close to your village, right? So we can still see each other from time to time. We could play hide & seek and stuff again.”

“Sure thing! I’ll show you plenty of other games I know.”

“There you go. I’ll just come visit you from time to time and we’ll play together!”

“Yeah, sounds good.” Tony said, but then something struck him. “But wait… okay, we he have to invent some rules here.”

“What do you mean, some rules?”

“Let me clarify a couple of things. First off, you remember that my family thinks you’re a criminal, right?”

“Oh… right.”

“So obviously you couldn’t just come here… and anyways I have school and stuff so I’m not always home. We need to find a way to communicate without my parents finding out about it.”

“Hmm... right. Well I could like, transform or something.”

“That’s it! When you want to see me, come here in your raven form, and knock on a window or something. Can you transform into anything else than a raven?”

“Well yeah, I’ve transformed into a couple of animals already.”

“Okay, would you be able to transform into a cat?”

“A cat? Wait, let me take a good look at it again.” Pascal went to the living room, grabbed Minou and observed the many angles of the cat’s anatomy.

“Don’t transform into Minou though. You have to have a different fur color at least if you want me to recognise you.”

“And what about this?” Pascal asked and then in a poof of mist, the boy was suddenly gone and a scrawny grey creature that resembled a cat was in his place.

“That is the ugliest cat I have ever seen!” Tony said as he burst out in laughter.

“Hey, quit it, it’s my first try.”

“Yeah well you better practice because other animals will feel like bullying you if you look like that. Ha-ha-ha!”

Pascal transformed back into his human form. “Tsk. You can laugh all you want but you can’t even transform at all so that just means I’m more powerful than you.”

“Yeah yeah, we’ll see about that. Start by putting your clothes back on. We’re not in the woods here, it’s considered indecent to be naked in public.”

“Yeah Cloudfire told me about that. Supposedly it’s really important.”

“He’s right, it’s essential. Oh, and by the way, very important tip that I should give you. Try to always be transformed in a bird of some sort when you fly over cities, okay? It will save you a lot of trouble. We’ve already gone through this together so you should know now how important it is to keep our identities as secret as possible. You have to make sure that no humans see you doing some sort of Birth Power, alright?”

“Yeah yeah, you’ve been bugging me with this for days, I get it.”

“Let me get you something that will help you. Be sure to never lose it.” Tony left into his bedroom and moments later he came back with a watch. “My friend, I will teach you something called Time.”

“What.”

“Let me explain the fundamentals.” Tony was able to give him his schedule by explaining that between this number and this number, he’s usually home, and that between this number and that one, he was usually not home. He also taught him the days of the week, and that if he ever lost track of what day or what time it was, he could simply ask any civilian in a city. Tony found it crucial that Pascal should understand the notion of time. “So remember, during the weekend, I’m here a lot more often.”

“Sounds good I’ll try to remember all of that.”

Tony also handed him one of his shirts, a pair of jeans, and a pair of underwear. And with that, the two heroes could finally say goodbye and go on with their usual life. With Pascal gone, life started to feel like it used to be before all of this happened. Everything smelled familiar again and it looked like all the magical alien stuff was nothing but a bad dream. Life was finally getting back to normal. To celebrate, Tony started by grabbing Minou and then proceeded to hug him while spinning several times, which would force the cat to react and cease to not give a s**t. He took out a can of Pepsi from the fridge and chugged it in the name of sweet liberty. He then brushed his teeth because he was tired of licking this thick layer of accumulated scum that surrounded his teeth, and then he decided to get back on track with his Banjo-Kazooie game. He was able to reposition himself after remembering in which world he was in, and how many golden jigsaw pieces he had been able to recover. Good heavens, now he knew exactly where he was and what he had to do. Three more golden jigsaw pieces and he would clear this level, and then Rambo passed by the game room. “So there you are, you big scaredy-cat!” Tony pronounced with exultation. The fat cat had finally decided to leave its safe zone and greet its old friend. Rambo dropped itself to side with a flop, and that was a signal that meant it was ready to get its belly scratched. Tony fell to its request and cuddled it until they were both satisfied. He went back to the task at hand, which was to get the seventh golden jigsaw piece in Rusty Bucket Bay. Twenty minutes later he woke up and realised that his character hadn’t moved at all. It made him realise that he had fallen asleep without even noticing and that meant that he was too exhausted to play video games. The most important thing right now after such a long and arduous adventure was to go rest in a nice, clean and comfortable bed. Tony listened to his body so he dived in his bed and fell into slumber almost immediately.

Tony woke up several hours later to the sound of the entrance door opening. He heard the typical clobbering of the high heels as his mother entered, and then, after removing her shoes and posing her purse, she walked past the bedroom, not even thinking of looking in the direction of the bedroom since her son was gone forever. She rinsed her thermos cup in the kitchen sink, turned on the living room TV, and sat down on the couch, reflecting over all the ingredients she would need for today’s supper. She put on her favourite soap opera and then headed back to the kitchen to prepare all the housewares and utensils in advance before taking a nap in front of the TV. That’s when she saw Tony, just standing there, in front of the kitchen.

“Hi mom.”

Struck with a moment of panic, Tony’s mother shrieked intensely loud as she took a step backwards and held her hands to her face. For a second she thought she was hallucinating, and then for another second she thought she was facing a ghost of her son and she felt horrified. It was only on the third second that she conceived that her son was right there, in front of her, in one piece, alive.

Tony was ready to give the perfected excuse he had worked on with Pascal. He had recited so many times that no matter what happened he wouldn’t break through the pressure. He was going to do this.

Tears started flowing heavily under his mother’s eyes, and she asked, “Tony, is that really you?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry for being away for so long.”

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness thank the lord!” She said in a shaky voice, “Are you okay? Are you alright? Did someone hurt you? Who hurt you, Tony? Tell me!” She grabbed hold of him and hugged him tightly, her tears smothering her mascara as she rubbed her face in Tony’s hair.

                “I’m�"I’m okay mom, I’m alright. It’s all okay now.”

“Oh my god I am so happy… I thought that… you know… I thought something bad had happened!” She said and then started sobbing again.

“No, nothing bad… I, I…” Tony stuttered.

“What happened honey? What took you so long? You had me so worried… my dear son, you’re finally back!”

“W-well, I got… there was this man and… and he kid-d… he kidnapped and… waaaaaah!” Tony replied before he started wailing like a baby and hugged the hell out of his mother. “Mommy… I missed you mommy!”

“It’s okay sweetheart… Everything’s fine. Mommy’s here now. It’s all over.” Tony was at long last reunited with his mother. They hugged each other incessantly and they cried it all out in harmony.