Slingshot

Mark had a great slingshot. It was painted red with the leftovers from that time dad was painting the mailbox pole. It had great range and piercing power. Mark called it piercing power, even though it would not pierce much, because it made the slingshot sound like a real gun.

He used it on different things, sometimes to further the cause of evil. Like when he broke Mrs. Stevenson’s window. Or when he hit that fat cat. Or got Suzy in the back of her head and she cried and told her mom.

But then the space invaders came. It was during the big game. Their black ships came down lightly, clouds of steam covered the ground, and the black armored many-legged many-headed monsters poured out on the school football field.

They terrorized everyone with with laser cannons and swirling knives. They whipped barbed tentacles around. They hissed and shouted. Everybody ran around in panic.

Dad said Washington was probably defending. Mom looked like she was about to die, because she knew Mark’s brother Jake was fighting on the front lines. Mark himself was looking for an opportunity to help.

Then it came. The alien leader, three times bigger than the biggest one, stood centerfield and wound down with a hiss of steam. The other monsters took take their places on the sidelines. He was challenging Earth to bring forth a champion. The universal language of the travelling bully was easy to understand.

Mark got out from his mom’s frantic embrace and ran to the mutilated green of the grass. He stood there for a second, shy. The mechanical beasts from space turned their dead eyes on him.

So he nailed his face. Took a single step towards the alien leader. Then another. Then more. He was walking forward until he got the leader’s attention.

Mark knew what to do. He reached in his back pocket. The slingshot was there.

The leader had a single, glowing eye in the center of his head.

Mark pulled out the slingshot with a trained motion. He got on one knee. He aimed. He shot.

Everything stood still for a second in disbelief. The whole world stopped. Everything held their breath.

Then the leader started to collapse to one side and, suddenly, all Hell broke loose.

Posted by: Paweł Kowaluk