Mighty Mason

Seattle Here We Come

Midway through the week, school had been dismissed until after winter. On a Wednesday morning, the first sightings of snow were recorded; This observation prompted the dismissal of academic activities all around Wisconsin that same morning. The Rieckes had Thursday and early Friday to prepare for their relocation to the city of Seattle. Mr Riecke paid a collosal sum to effect the relocation - including fees charged for movement of their household properties and the initial rental fee at the new apartment they would be staying in. Nothing spectacular happened over their final two days in Wisconsin. Only Max had a few friends who were concerned about his departure. Mason and Maddie had no real friends per say. In Maddie's case, she always believed the reason smart people like herself had little or no friends was because being smart meant everyone else around her were stupid. Mason was the creator of his own problems - every time he tried to make a new friend something always held him back; when he was able to muster enough courage a calamity would occur.

On one occasion in the tenth grade, Mason got slapped in the face for asking one of his female friends to be his 'girlfriend'. The young mistress's name was Clara. Mason admired Clara from a distance for a really long while and he felt it was time to 'shoot his shot'. He bounced towards his teen crush's seat and asked the million dollar question, but he received a thumping in the face he would never forget. What made the slap more embarrassing was that it came in the midst of all his classmates. He cried and cried all the way home and had his siblings too comfort him. It was safe to say that Mason was the most disliked child in Wisconsin Senior High. He was the average student in terms of academics and he wasn't the most athletic prompting him to be the perfect prey for bullies.

As he and Maddie lay on the vast front porch covered with levelled grass, they remembered the many memories they had in their childhood city and thought of if they were ever going to be able to forget any of it. The memories were numerous - starting from when they first went to the Wisconsin Museum to when they all had their first hamburgers; so many memories!

"I wish we could forge all our memories into a tiny tablet we could swallow so we'd never forget any of it!" said Mason as he stared up looking at the stars.

"Yeah me too" said Maddie. After that, a prolonged silence followed - it lasted about five minutes before Maddie got hit with an idea.

"That's it. You're a genius Mase!" exclaimed Maddie. Maddison just got hit with an extremely huge idea; What was it?

"That's what?" asked Mason looking extremely confused.

"That's the way I could move everything from my laboratory! I just have to demolecularise all of it, put it into a tiny tablet that'll fit and take to our new house in Seattle until I'm able to find where to put it" said Maddison with a big smile.

"I don't know what you just said, but I like the fact that you admitted I'm a genius...I'm really going to miss this place though" said Mason.

"Everything's gonna be fine Mason" encouraged Maddie.

Maddison squeezed her elder brother's hand as they lay on the grass and continued telling each other stories about their stay in Wisconsin till they eventually fell asleep. Max came to wake up his siblings on the front porch. They had been having a lot of fun without him lately.

The Rieckes booked a flight for noon. This meant little Maddie had at least till eleven in the morning to bring her plan of moving her laboratory to reality. The sun dawned on the Rieckes residence in Wisconsin one last time. Maddie spent the whole night developing a machine that could shrink the size of everything in the laboratory small enough to enter into a tablet with a single zap! She was happy that her efforts weren't infructuous and so she saw her breakfast of pancakes and oatmeal as a deserved reward for her efforts.

The sun was going to set on the Rieckes at a different location since the late nineties when Cherry and her newly wedded husband moved into modern day Wisconsin for the very first time. Having given birth to all three of their kids at this warm and friendly city, it wasn't just the kids who would be feeling sad about leaving 'home'.

A few hours later, everyone was set to leave and so they packed their bags and other necessary items and headed for the airport. Their furniture and a host of other heavy items were guaranteed to reach them through cargo by Sunday evening. Maddison had her entire lair enclosed in a single tablet, Mason kept the scroll he found a couple of days ago in his bag pack, while Max was more concerned about his basketball than anything else. And so they all said their final goodbyes and started to accept in their minds the realities of living in Seattle.

"It's a fine town. I'm sure it'll be a lot more fun than Wisconsin" Max tried to console himself.

Their flight lasted nearly four hours and no sooner had they arrived than they boarded a bus that took them to the 'new' Rieckes residence. It was a very tall building with multiple floors. 'Boulevard Brooks' was the name written clearly on a sign board at the entrance. They walked slowly trying to cope with the burden of their heavy luggage. They reached the reception room where they met a young man dressed elegantly in a red designers suit. The man was the receptionist who later introduced himself as Mark Poppins. That name instantly reminded the entire family of the popular Disney series - Mary Poppins; the woman who flew around with an umbrella.

"You must be the Rieckes" continued Mark after introducing himself to the family of five.

"Yes Sir. We are for apartment number seventy three on the twenty fifth floor" said Mr Riecke.

Mark Poppins assisted them with the key to their apartment as well as some important directions they would need to take in order to arrive exactly at the apartment where they would be celebrating Christmas this year. With the numerous apartments in the high rise building, it was very easy for anybody to get lost. They struggled with their luggage and manoeuvred into the elevator. Maddie kept murmuring, spitting out her frustration into thin air - the reason for that being that she was the only one deemed worthy enough to assist her father with carrying his own bags; she just couldn't say no to Daddy!

Spending nearly three minutes in the Brooks Elevator, they finally arrived at the place they would now call home at least until the nearest future. Mason did the honour of opening the door with the keys handed to them earlier and mixed reactions followed after everybody looked around the house and had their first thoughts.

"Not bad" whispered Cherry into her lover's ear which was followed by a warm smile from him.

With the rest of their things set to reach them via cargo in Seattle by the end of Sunday, it was finally time to get some good nights rest. Everyone had found a place for their things at the moment - the arrangements would definitely change with time.

The three bedrooms at the apartment were allocated in similar fashion to the room allotments in Wisconsin - Maddison had her own room being a lady that couldn't sleep with the guys, while the boys stayed in the second room and the couple slept in the third.

Mason's bed was closer to the window than his brother's. He'd be enjoying the cool breeze at night while his brother got compensated by being the nearest to the only available socket in the room. It was only two in the morning and Mason got startled out of his sleep. Possibly, he had a dreadful nightmare! Mason knew they wouldn't be heading to church that day so a few minutes of staring into the blank skies wouldn't hurt a bit. Mason snugged out of his bed spread and sat atop his mattress. He placed his elbows on the louvres and stared out into oblivion, most likely thinking of what this city held for him.

Something really strange and frightening occurred. The moon with it's characteristic white color turned completely blue while Mason watched everything as it happened. After a little while, it appeared to be emitting strand-like radiations which randomly roamed the skies. It caught the attention of many onlookers, who turned on their lights and witnessed the occurrences through their windows just like Mason. Little wonder Seattle was sometimes referred to as the land of mysteries! The most strange of all that happened early that morning wasn't too far behind; Very similar to the retro lights used to create The Batman alert signal up in the sky in DC Comics, the moon shone it's light directly at Mason's window. A loud noise of chattery and murmuring followed with a number of fingers pointing at Mason from the distance, although no one could tell it was him. Frightened to death, Mason scurried back under his bed spread and the lights directed at him from the moon suddenly stopped.

The strangest part of all that had happened was that the abnormal behaviour of the moon wasn't observed anywhere else but Seattle. Mason certainly had a great deal on his hands - he would definitely be retreating to Maddison for possible explanations to his latest ordeal.

Morning arrived sooner than expected for Mason. He had a long and disturbing night; whereas the rest of the family slept rather peacefully. On any other day like today where there was no major activity for the day, the kids would just sit and watch television until breakfast or brunch was ready; only today, there was no television until later in the evening at least, with the rest of their property set to arrive on Sunday.

Mason pulled out his mobile phone to reply some texts or probably call any of his cousins to tell them about their safe arrival. Before Mason was able to do any of that, trending news popped up at the top of his notification grid - it was news about the events that occurred at two in the morning! It had everything in detail excluding Mason's personal details. Mason now looked out the window and saw numbers of press men and women with vehicles. They were conducting interviews with the man who was in charge of managing the property on which they lived. His pulse raced even faster when he turned and saw his mother standing behind him while he looked outside.

"Any problem honey?" asked Cherry who deemed it unusual for her first son to be startled at the sight of his own mother.

"No Mom. It's just...I just noticed the press arrived here a couple of minutes ago" answered Mason.

"That shouldn't frighten you. You didn't do anything wrong. Or is there something you'd like to let me know about?" asked Cherry again.

"No...absolutely nothing Mom" answered Mason.

Cherry gave Mason a peck on his cheek and turned to get her phone. They would definitely have to order something to eat for breakfast; their kitchen appliances and utensils were yet to arrive. The winter season started to set in and the warmth and coziness Max and Maddie enjoyed in their rooms could keep them in bed till eternity!

Shortly after, Maddie walked out of the apartment's only corridor. Mason ran to meet his little sister - he had never felt happier to see her sweet little face. He whispered into her ears while Cherry watched on. Maddie only picked up her glasses and directed Mason to come to her room. Mason needed someone to tell him what was happening and fast!