31 Days

... a mere seven minutes lasted so much longer ...
the focus of Never's mind on the here and the now made every
second feel like a dozen more.
'Think of something, else ...'
His mind couldn't move any more than his leg, or his other leg
or his arm, or his other hand. Or in fact, the first hand, or the
other arm - I mean basically - or his head- BASICALLY he
couldn't move, neither physically nor mentalically.Every bump & pore like a mountain followed by the deepest of
caverns.
Every particle of salivary amylase oozed and felt like a smothering
of offensive accosting juices.
In reality it lasted seven minutes. In his mind, it was without time.
For in those seven minutes Never was lost.
That may very well have been the end of Never Pardon.
He went limp and empty.
Then he was there, back in that place ...
... floating in dream. Big beans all around.
Past here, beyond the presence of these big beans was that bigger
than big bean.
Inside which he knew what could be seen ... that floating bubbling
man ... and yes, he was there.
Never placed his hand on it's surface.

31 Days

Just as Never was upset beyond what he thought was his limit ...
the moist separation of It's face hole heralded a
#levelUp
of discomfort and creepy. the tongue snaking out from that gaping orific pit ...
The sinister events took a turn from
"iiiiiihh"
to
"eeeeeeuuughh"

31 Days

... "iiiiiiiiiiihhh" agitated beyond all comprehension, Never was
catatonised with creeped out fear.
All that quivered was his whimpering lower lip.
All that sounded were the high tones of the upper vocalulatory
region of his voice box.
All that twitched was that bit that's not your cheek but not yet
your eye, the bit that might twitch if your face were being mashed
at by a large gray man in the woods at night.
"have iiiitt"
'christ', thought Never, 'this is not at ALL okay'

31 Days

"easy now"came the hush. "eeeasy"
Dark eyes widening, hands closing in on Never's face."ih" Never whimpered, creeped out.
"go on. take it" - stroking Never's brow and cheeks, not gently ...
padding at his chin and mouth.
"i mash at you FAce"
"iiiiiih" Never affirmed his repulsion.

31 Days

As the eerie mist thickened across the outcrop, the figure loomed in."l-l-listen, you don't have to do this ..."
"Do what, exactly" calmed the gray shape ... still advancing ...
"Wh-whatever it is you're doing"
-backing away, Never's heel found a small stone, sending him three
quarters of his height downwards.
He fell backwards and scrambled without pause back to his full
height.
Too late.
The shape, the gray imposer, was upon him ...

31 Days

Outside Fenwicks's's' window ...
... it wasn't Chrimbo yet, but people were in a good mood.
Barry thumped his tubs on and off for, oh, gone nine hours.
Never did his little dance for the people, too.
At one point a little fecker of a kid tried to grab at one of Barry's
tubs but Barry is like a maniac on them things when he gets goin
.... and he was well and truly gone ... so the kid got accidentally
clattered with one of his thumping sticks. Fair enough.
paninis for lunch
They made 6 Euro, a small piece of cloth (probably a neckerchief)
and a banana.
Not a bad days fiddledy really.
Tub in Tub and thumping sticks stowed ...
"Cheers then."
Barry, walking off, gave a tiny wave, a stiff and sharp movement to
the air, bending only from the elbow.
The movement that, to these friends, meant 'cheers then, bye.'
Never sort of half did the movement, 'cos when he started it Barry
was already turned away, so he didn't bother to follow through.
"Cheers then." He said it louder, to counterbalance the lack of full
gesture.
Never Pardon was all about balancing things.
On the road home an eerie mist was huffing up ...

31 Days

"Barrreeeee. aaaaAAAAAyyyy ..."
"aaAAAAyyyyy"
"aaaAAAAAyyyyy"
- both gentlemen close their eyes and raise their brows in an
almost ecstatic show of enjoyment-
both "fffFELLaaaaAAAAsss"
Mr. Crimson pauses lapptating at his beans. Nothing moves save
for his eyes, in that demeaning cat manner ...
" ... hateful ..."
Barry Mancandy was Never's good friend. Friends since school.
He was a tub thumper in town, outside Fenwick's.
Sometimes he would thump outside Easons's, but he preferred
Fenwicks's'
s's'
"I want to try something today Never. Fancy some dancin' ?"
and off they went ...

31 Days

So Crimson sat on the kitchen floor lapping at his breakfast beans
contentedly.
"Mmm, pah, good beans, these, Pinky."
"They're Mitchell's brand"
"That, mah, explains it. 'The taste of care'. Nawmch"
"Stop plugging the beans, Mr Crimson, they sell themselves.
If you wanted to plug anything, plug
#boxofsOwnbrand oven-baked bean balls in a sauce"
-14 seconds of uncomfortable silence-
....
Mr Crimson slows back into lapping at his mmMitchell's beans.
Looking around grogleisurely, Never pops with excitement ...Hey it's Barry Mancandy!

31 Days

Never awoke to a red Cat padding at his face there."Hey, hey PINKY, where's MY DINNER"
Mr. Crimson was irritable when his belly wasn't busy.
- stirring ..
"RANGAR" Never sat sharply upright in his throne.
"What, where am, oh it's you Mr. Crimson, is it that time already?"
Crimson Cat raised his brows, lids holdfast, unimpressed like an
unmoving horizon.
"Make my belly busy, Pinky."
He strolled through into the kitchen room where his dinners
usually were.
"Who the feck is Rangar" ...

31 Days

Watching old cartoons and twilight zone episodes, Never
escaped and fell asleep.
He dreamed of three things.
1) A giant floating plate of beans.
2) A HUGE fork, for the beans.
3) Him eating the beans.
4) ... and a small ginger terrier dog, called Rangar.
FOUR things, he dreamt of FOUR things.The dream floated through his mind like a cloud. He loved his
beans and these giant dream beans were top notch.
In his dream, Never was floating too, that's how he could reach
the big beans. In his dream, however, there was one bean bigger
than the rest ... a semi transparent bigger than big bean, inside
which was a bubbling floating man.
Rangar said something about impending doom, but it just
sounded like a bark to Never, obviously.
At about half past threeNO ...
It was about half way between Three Thirty two and the one
after that ... most of the day lounged away, when Never's cat,
Mr. Crimson, sauntered in ...

31 Days

Never cleaned the kitchen room and wanted to throw the rubbish
away, but when he got to the door, he couldn't step outside.
Nothing magical or anything, it was gray inside his home and it
was far far too green outside today. He couldn't handle it.
It was messin' with his head. Wreckin' his buzz, so to speak.
Something his Da used to say resonated with him today ...
"Some days it's just too nice to be out in the world, son.
Some days the world can go and feck off and stop being so
bleedin' happy with itself."So he just threw the rubbish out. He'd handle it later, maybe.
So he had a nice breakfast #mondaymuffin and sat in his crushed
velvet chair. His Big comfy throne.
Never Pardon's day was off to an uneventful, yet comforting start.

31 Days

On the morning of December 1st, Never woke up with a funny taste
in his goblosh. His mouth, that is. His home, this metal trailer
smelled of last nights beans, as it often did, but the taste was not
one of overnight bean residue. There was an unusual minty
undertone, and an even more unusual leafy overtone.Sitting up in his kitchen bed, Never Pardon grogged to awakeny.
"Where's me troos."
It wasn't Monday. It was the day after that.
The particulars of the day were not really relevant to his trousers
you understand.
These were his everyday character trousers. Blue ones. Velvet on
the inside, normal denim on the out. Side.
He got up.
Outside it was a brisk and fresh morning ...