Fuzzy Red Loofa~ An "A Night Without Armor" Short Story

A short story featuring Logan, Ozzie and Keno from my book "A Night Without Armor" when they were kids and Logan decides to dye his hair red for the first time. Why did he dye it red?

“We won’t be here long,” Keno said and looked down at Logan and I. “I’m going to see if there is anything I can do for some money. You guys can walk around town if you want.”
“How much money do we have?” Logan turned to me and I shrugged.
“Let’s go to the park,” I said and Logan moaned.
“In a little bit,” Logan said. “I’m starving.”
It was true, we hadn’t had much in the past few days but this was also the first town we’d reached in those days. I followed Logan down the street of a small town where people walked down the street, passing a seven-year-old and eleven-year-old alone as if it were completely normal.
We went into a drug store and looked around until I stopped by the candy aisle, wishing that we had enough Pieces if just for one candy bar. Then I realized that I’d lost Logan, one would think that he was the baby sitter, what with him being older by four years, but really I was the one watching him. I left the aisle and looked around the store until I finally found him a few aisles over.
“What are you doing?” I asked after seeing a devilish grin appear on his lips as he held a box. “What’s that?”
“Red hair dye,” he said fiendishly.
“For what?” I asked and Logan rolled his eyes.
“To dye my hair red.”
“I like it blonde,” I said and Logan crossed his arms. “Besides, we don’t have any money for it.”
“Do you think Keno’s the only one that does odd jobs?” Logan said and pulled out some Pieces and grinned. “What do you think Keno will say?”
“He’ll say that you look like a fuzzy red loofa and then beat the crap out of you,” I said and took the box to look at it. “I don’t think you should get it.”
“I’ll get you a candy bar.”

“Keno says that bribing is not good parenting,” I said as I bit into the chocolate bar while Logan had his head submerged in the bathroom sink.
“Good thing I’m not Keno or a parent,” Logan replied before getting a paper towel to dry his now blazingly bright red hair. “Ta-dah! What do you think?”
“I think Keno’s going to beat you up,” I said and discarded the candy wrapper in the trash. “You look like a fuzzy red loofa.”
“Shut up,” Logan said and looked in the mirror.
“Can we go to the park now?” I asked with impatience.
“Fine, fine,” Logan grumbled.

It was nearing dusk, we’d been at the park for a while and I’d found a few other kids to play with while Logan sat at the park bench, waiting for Keno to pick us up. Chances were that this was going to be where we’d go to sleep tonight. It wasn’t the most luxurious of hotels but it was all that we could hope for.
I looked over to see that Logan had sat far away from the mothers that watched their children play. It had been a year since we were out on our own and he seemed to avoid all encounters with any motherly figure.
The light began to fade rapidly and the mothers soon called to their children so they could all go home for dinner. I sat on top of the slide, watching the kids run to their mothers.
“Hey,” I looked down to see a boy, about my age, that I had been playing with. “See you tomorrow?”
I nodded but really I wasn’t too sure. When I looked over to the bench Logan had been sitting on I saw him standing next to Keno, trying not to look at Logan’s bright hair. I didn’t know how long he’d been standing there, possibly for twenty minutes waiting to call me over but decided to allow me to play for a little while longer. He’d told me that there would be many times where we would forget that I was still a kid and to hold on to every chance I got.
I slid down the slide and went over to them. Keno now turned to look at Logan’s hair with disdain.
“What happened to you?” Keno asked.
“Dyed my hair,” Logan shrugged.
“Where’d you get the money?”
“What’s for dinner?” I asked, interrupting their squabble. Keno pulled out a sandwich from a bag in his hand and broke it into three pieces, saving the smallest for himself. We sat in one of the tunnels as the rain started to pour. It almost seemed like every night we had to sleep outside it would rain and what was sad was that I was getting used to this life. After a whole year I was rapidly forgetting what it was like to be at home, sleeping in my own bed or to have a full home-cooked meal at a kitchen table. I was slowly forgetting what it was like to have a blanket when I was cold, which was most of the time, or to sit on our hill with a cool breeze to lull us to sleep on a warm summer night. For Logan and Keno, however, forgetting wouldn’t be so easy.
“It does not make me look like a fuzzy red loofa,” Logan grumbled.
“Loofa, no,” Keno said but took Logan’s new hair in with mock fascination. “Kitten, yes.”
“Come on,” Logan sighed. “It makes me look like a force to be reckoned with!”
“No it makes you look like a fourteen year old kid who scrounged up enough money to buy red hair dye and put it on in the bathroom of the same store he bought it in.” Keno said with an amused quirk of the lips at Logan’s pout.
“Well I like it,” Logan crossed his arms. “Red is a good color and when we go to kick some demon butt we’ll be seeing the color a lot more.”
“Demon blood is black.”
“Crap.”
“I haven’t seen any demons in awhile,” I said and pretended not to notice the slightest flinch Keno did.
“No, I think we lost them,” Keno said and turned away to look out the entrance of the tunnel, watching the rain drops hit the ground.

Author's Note

Alright... so I got bored today and decided to think of the true reason of why Logan dyes his hair red... Sure, he likes the color but I wanted to add a more insightful... entertaining reason...
So sad that it was a mistake of Crayola identity... haha

The picture is the character design for Logan that my sister drew.. I very much enjoy the small little cartoon in the corner.. it gave me inspiration for the end of chapter 1.. i hope you can see it..