a day in the life of Eli Foxx: A very short day

a small boy who lives on his own takes his larger than normal companion for a stroll in the city of the future.

The morning sun rises gracefully as another day begins. Rex, a 12 year old boy with rough silver hair, lays in bed tossing and turning in a deep sleep. In dream land he stands tall, above a stone castle wall, sounding the retaliation against the sinister armies of Emperor Phil. “Get them; shoot them down with your bows. You there, executioner, chop off his head”, commands a forceful Eli in attempt to rally his chain-mailed soldiers to victory. Suddenly, an evil spell is bestowed upon the small boy who cannot escape, leaving his face slobbery.

It seems the spell came from Ethan, Eli’s Siberian Tiger, licking his master’s face to wake him up. “Ethan, what are you doing!?” Eli barks at his striped companion now in the real world. “I was just about to win”, he adds.

Ethan is sat looking at his master light-heartedly. His eyes stare longingly at Eli as his stomach growls with hunger. Noticing that he would not be left alone until the cat was fed; Eli decides to crawl out from the bed sheets to feed him.

Seeing his master getting up from slumber makes Ethan so excited that he starts prancing around. Eli manages to stumble to his feet to begin walking. He totters along the velvet red bridge that is placed between the island of his bed and the rest of his room, atop a clear pool below. Well he only manages a few steps until he is unsteadied by the tiger, falling face first into the deep blue.

Once Eli rises to the top of the water, he issues Ethan with the stare of death before casually swimming to the edge to get out. First things first, Eli must feed his pet. He makes his way into the kitchen to the giant food box, reaches inside to pull out the leg of an antelope and throws it for Ethan who makes haste after his breakfast and begins gnawing away.

Now that Ethan is fed, Eli can sort himself out. He enters the bathroom to chew his morning dental pill used for mouth hygiene and stands in the giant air dryer. Within seconds he is completely dry, even his clothes are toasty.

“Time for your walk Ethan, you ready?!” Eli calls whilst fastening his cerulean jacket with a pale zipper.

Ethan casually totters towards the exit carrying a lead and the handles of two identical backpacks, of a navy colour with long tassels dangling from the posterior, in his mouth. As soon as Eli enters the room, he efficiently attaches Ethan’s backpack around his shoulders and the lead around his neck before placing on his own bag. The room is plain compared to the rest of the house. Walls coloured cream and a satin padded floor with a maroon ‘X’ on the ground. It’s completely empty except for a large rotating handle on the wall. Eli stands by Ethan above the ‘X’ to begin turning the wall handle, playing a jolly little jingle in the process. The tune speeds up then slows down. It goes slower, and slower and slower until it is barely there, creeping up on its foes. Then ‘POP’ the roof swings open leaving the sight of the clear skies above. The boy and tiger are then launched 50 feet into the air from the spring loaded floor below.  At peak, Eli pulls the tassels on the two backpacks, throwing a parachute up so they can glide safely down.

At this height, the vibrant yellows, exotic oranges and lime greens of the lofty buildings can be appreciated for miles under the sky blue of the dome above. A lengthy pool can be seen distantly surrounded by purple or navy skyscrapers both pointed and squared. Countless automobiles float around like vibrant bees in a colossal hive. The olive colours of the odd tall standing tree pop up here and there along the dark splotched white marble of the walkway and a radiant sun image completes the cloudless crown.

It only takes the couple a minute or two to land where they commence the walk. Stop number one is the local park, a reasonable sized garden at the centre of a rainbow city. A stone circuit leads around the border of the open green grassland. A vast collection of tropical trees stand tall, imported from all over the world, with bloom in masses of colours. Crimson, butterscotch, aquamarine and jade speckled near and far.  Animals roam around without a care in the world. Dogs, cats, bears, rhinos, elephants, flamingos all run wild, to take advantage of the time outside of their owner’s apartments.  Eli lets Ethan off his lead as he slowly strolls around the stoned pathway of the park, with his hands in his pockets and his emerald eyes staring blankly into the sky, left with his own thoughts.

‘It’s such a nice day, and then it is always a nice day. With this stupid climate dome all we get is sun. I remember that time my father took me to the mountains where there was snow. That was awesome, we got to board and build snowmen... Then he turned it into work, started some Bond stunts to capture some prince or something. So much effort.’

Eli suddenly hears a scream coming from inside the park. He snaps back to real life and carelessly turns his head to face the open fields.

‘That will be Ethan.’

He deeply exhales and changes the course of his walk towards the direction of the scream. He arrives on site to find Ethan stood on top of what, was previously, a flowerbed with a fluffy brown tail, curling out of the side of his cheek. A middle aged woman, wearing a purple dress suit with a matching hat, stands pounding away fruitlessly at Ethan’s head with her purple handbag.

“Let go of him, you beast” she shrieks in a very high pitch, only for Ethan to stand comfortably ignoring her efforts.

‘I suppose I’d best help’ Eli thinks to himself, hands still in his pockets.

“Ethan, drop it! If it’s not in a colourful packet, it’s not yours!” Eli commands confidently.

Ethan tactically withdraws eye contact looking at the ground, though he cannot help his eyes twitching up to see if his master has conceded.

“Ethan, drop it!” Eli repeats sounding much firmer.

Knowing that he would not win this battle, Ethan retreats. He opens his sharp jaw to reveal a very soggy chimp wearing a baby’s nappy, shivering in terror. Eli makes his way towards his tiger and starts patting him contentedly. “Good boy, did that dirty monkey taste bad” He chirps along.

The dressed up old woman swiftly heads for her chimp, which is now sat in a puddle of drool. “Oh! My poor baby!” she fusses, picking up her companion, cuddling it for protection. “How can you be so heartless, praising this… this monster” She comically babbles on.

“Well… he did drop it. He usually just swallows” Eli coolly replies, still stroking Ethan with a smile on his face.

Mystified, the middle aged women huffs and walks off still fretting over her drenched chimp. Eli decides that Ethan has gotten into enough trouble for today so re-attaches his lead and the two of head for the exit.

Apart from the occasional pull and a haul or two the exit from the park goes smoothly. If you can count tearing up another bed of flowers, chewing up the boosters of a small child’s floating scooter, and a cheeky duck dinner as smooth.

Upon leaving the park, they encounter the monster arena. A 50 foot tall steel caged arena where only the most malicious monsters are pitted against each other. It’s the closest thing to sport in this multi-coloured city. Today’s battle includes the mighty Cerberus; a three headed dog about three times the size of Ethan. It stands muscles torn with ratty fur as dark as the three of clubs. It is facing one of the most repulsive things that have ever walked this earth. Standing at a mere 4 foot 3 (5 if she wasn’t bent over) she has super sharp knitting needles and eerie fake choppers, with the ability to mock her opponents with an occasional nap. None other than Old Mrs. Thunder-Tramp from the old folk’s home. Ghastly.

‘Aww. I was really looking forwards to seeing the battle today, but this fight seems useless. Old Mrs. Thunder-tramp has never lost a fight, and the Cerberus is far from deadly. I’d put a bet on but even then the odds aren’t worth it.’

Eli gives ‘the battle’ a pass and takes Ethan to ‘marine lagoon’, the towns own mass aquarium, just up the road. Found inside this epic tank are numerous aquatic species from the chirpy brown nosed dolphin to the over-sized hump back whale. As Eli and Ethan pass by they look inside to see a toothless shark who’s mouth droops like a wet sponge, a group of orchestral clams practicing their latest master-piece, hundreds of tiny glow fish lighting up the sand covered sea bottom and Eli’s personal enemy, the giant squid who is hid behind a rock shaking his fist in the boys direction.

'I am so tired. I haven’t been up this early in ages. Time for home I think.'

Eli walks Ethan to the end of the tank then turns around to head home. They took a long route around the area, so it is only a short while back to Eli’s apartment. At the foot of the building is a huge scissor lift with yellow handlebars. The boy and tiger step up onto the platform, press the button of the apartment (number 42) and the lift does the rest of the work. It rapidly rises; extending all of its long metal prods almost vertical. Above the lift, a wall high up extends out leaving a huge opening, this is where the lift stops. Eli and Ethan step off the lift into the cream walled room with a satin floor and a maroon ‘X’ mark.

Both of them leisurely make their way along Eli’s bridge to bed. Ethan steps up first and gets comfy, followed by Eli who makes a bed in the fur of Ethan’s stomach.

“Good night… stupid tiger” are Eli’s last words before he slips into dream world.

 

The end

Author's Note

soon the world will be painted rainbow and the giant octopus will attack!!