Today Is The Day

The boy disappeared behind a door, throwing out toys and books and figures. One after another and another and another. “Aha! There you are!” He came out with a huge smile on his face and Captain Hawk in his hand. 

“I’ve been waiting for this time to come!!! Today is the day. Today, the world will recognise my artistic talents! They will remember my name!”

Samuel took a deep breath. *Breathe in..*  *Breathe out…* 

“You have what it takes to be a space ranger, believe in yourself!” 

Samuel pulled out his chair and set himself up at this drawing desk. He put Captain Hawk down. With a white piece of paper in front of him - pencils and colours on its side, and Captain Hawk, standing; staring at him in the eyes, Samuel felt at ease. Everything is where it should be. Everything is perfect. I can do this. With his favorite pencil in this hand, Samuel began to draw. 

“This line is way off,” Samuel reached for an eraser—. 

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Who could it be? Samuel looked at the phone then he answered the call.

“Hey, Sammy, Tim Jardin and I are planning on going to watch Star Wars in the evening. My place. Are you interested?” said an upbeat voice. It’s Connor from school. 

Samuel stared at the paper and frowned, “I can’t”.

“Too bad,” Connor then went off and talked to someone else. Samuel hung up and put his phone aside. 

Back to work. Samuel erased the line and drew a new one. The boy continued to draw. 

“—Samuel! Come down here, I’ve got you something from the mall,” shouted his mom. 

“I’ll check it out later, leave it by the sofa,” the boy shouted back. 

“What was that? Say that again! The TV is on, I can’t hear you very well,” replied his mom.

Samuel left his chair and walked towards the stairs, “leave it on the sofa, mom”. Maybe today is not so perfect. 

The son walked back to his room and to his place. 

Samuel writhed in his chair. “This chair is hard..” Draw, Samuel. Draw. You’ve wasted so much time already. The boy drew an oval and a couple of lines then, frustrated at the chair and himself, he erased them all. “I can’t draw in this chair.” The boy turned around and his eyes fell on his bed, and then his pillow. He got off the chair then sprinted to his bed, snatched his pillow, and put it on the chair. “That’s better. Way better. Now I can finally draw.”

When the boy picked up one of the pencils and started sketching his hero, *squeak…* “what’s that noise?”. Focus, Samuel. Don’t let anything disturb you!  His pencil made some more scratches on the paper sheet, Samuel was focused. *Squeak.* Stay focus. *Squeak!* Focus. *Squeak!!* Fo...cus… *Squeak!!!!!*. The wooden pencil rolled off his hand before it hit Captain Hawk. “I can’t draw like this. What is that noise!”. 

The boy looked under his drawing desk but nothing was out of the ordinary. He opened the drawers. Then closed it when he was greeted with an old half-eaten peanut butter sandwich - he will have to take that out of there. The boy went to his bed and under the cover; he found nothing but disappointment. Then he remembered that his sister was home so he ran out of his room and knocked on her door. “Isabella! Isabella! Hey! Open up! Isabell—” 

Isabella opened up but she did not let him in, “what do you want?”. 

“I’m trying to draw Captain Hawk but then there’s this annoying sound and I can’t draw,” blinded by his own emotions, Samuel was shouting by the end of the sentence.  

“Then don’t.” his sister said the words with great disinterest. But Samuel knew exactly what to say next. 

“You’re not helping.” his voice was more monotonic than what he initially anticipated. 

“Fine, I’ll help you, brother,” Isabella rolled her eyes, as usual, “honestly, if you’re gonna draw, draw something else… who cares about Captain Hawk anyway.”

“I do,” protested Samuel. 

“Yeah, only you.” Isabella smirked. 

They reached Samuel’s room but only the boy went inside. 

“Your room is a mess! I’m not going in there.” Isabella looked with disgust.

“Come on, you said you’re gonna help. You said it yourself!” Samuel turned to his sister. 

“Stop whining, will you? It’s not rocket science, brother. It’s probably the rats. Just look at this mess!” Isabella took a step back, the girl was ready to leave. 

“Come on, don’t be ridiculous. If you’re right, I should have noticed the noise a long time ago, but I didn’t. You’re being nonsensical. There’s no rats in my room!” Samuel looked at her sister, his hands flung up in the air. 

“You wanna look for the sound? Clean your room then. Samuel, you've got to be kidding me, there’s junk everywhere unbelievable.” Isabella raised her voice higher and louder. 

“And you are going to help me,” Samuel grabbed Isabella by her arm and pulled her in. 

The siblings looked under shoe boxes and cabinets, inside the closet; and behind the closet, they moved the bed over, and they searched under piles of homework and heaps of clothes. They even cleaned the room. But they did not find anything. 

“You have what it takes to be a space ranger —,” 

*squeak* 

“Samuel.”

“What?” His eyebrows rose. 

“I think I found it. You owe me big time, brother, big time”. Maybe it was because Samuel was tired and frustrated, he was hearing things. He heard his sister laughed. 

“What is it? Come on, tell me, Isabella!” 

***

“It’s Captain Hawk?” Samuel was left dumbfounded; and his mouth agape. He slowly sat down on his chair. Samuel shut his eyes for a couple of minutes before opening them again. 

“I cannot let that disturb me. I’ll have to fix him later... because right now, I have to draw. From now on, nothing can stop me.”