Story a Day in May – Story 8

I have to admit, all I could think about from this prompt at first was 'Harold and the Purple Crayon.' Then I started thinking, what if Harold was all grown up. What if he was an action hero.

Harold 
by J. Smith Kirkland

Harold was content with mundane life and his job as an accountant, until he got the call that changed everything. “We have your cat, and if you don't do exactly what we tell you, the cat gets it.” The caller instructed him that at 10:45 he was to be at the corner and take the number 9 bus to the capitol building. They did not say why. But Harold heard Boots in the background, and knew he had to do what they said.

Harold quickly gathered his hat and coat, but did not know where he had left his bus pass. He looked for it on his dresser. He had a small box there where he kept odds and ends. When he opened it, he saw the bus pass, but also something that froze him for a moment. A broken purple crayon. As broken as his childhood dreams. He grabbed them both and put them in his pocket.

Harold and the other passengers are riding on the bus toward the capitol building. Some of them are getting ready to depart at the next stop when the driver yells, “I can't stop the bus!” Harold's phone chimes. It was the kidnapper.

“You have been tricked, Harold. The bus has a bomb on it, and if you speed goes below 25 miles per hour, it will explode. And it is programmed to run directly into the capitol building, where he have left you cat locked in an office.”

Harold looked back into his imagination for some idea of how he could stop the bus. A dragon, a policeman, a balloon. That's it. Harold started drawing. He told the people on the bus to stay clam, and that he could save them.

“Here put these on.”

The people asked, “Backpacks? How will they help up?”

“They're parachutes. Trust me.”

One by one he drew a parachute pack for everyone on the bus. And they all put them on. Then he drew jet engines on the side of the bus. All of the passengers and the bus driver jumped and floated down to safety. Harold aimed the bus for the river, and parachuted out over the capitol building.

Back at home with Boots safely on the couch, Harold took some tape and put the broken crayon pieces back together. With the crayon mended, he decided he would start mending his dreams also. He drew a big stack of money, an then a letter to take to work the next day. It simply said, “I quit.”  

The Prompt
Write a story inspired by today’s “You never know what will come out a broken crayon” visual prompt. 


Story A Day Framework 
just wrote free thought today, no framework.