Life of an Inanimate Object: Part XII: Partners in Crime

Post date: Apr 28, 2017 11:59:46 AM

By: Megan Cichon, Entertainment Editor

Posted April 28th, 2017

Part XII: Partners in Crime

After Galen returned from school the next day, he tossed his backpack onto his bed. This time, however, instead of unpacking his notebook and getting right to work with me, he pulled me out from behind his ear and set me gently on the nightstand. I was very confused, as I watched Galen reach in his backpack and pull out his wallet. He stuffed it in his back pocket and exited the room. I looked around, confused.

“Where’d he go?” One of my buddies asked.

“I don’t know where he goes,” Aaron called out, “but last time he left, he came back with you.”

Fear raced through me. My eraser was gone now...what if Galen had left to replace me? I tried to push the thought out, but it kept returning. Aaron had no eraser...was that when Galen decided to use me instead? NO, I thought, I’m twice as tall as Aaron. There has to be an alternative to replacing me. But then I wondered how useful I could really be without an eraser. Thoughts like this persisted for the hour and a half Galen was gone. Then suddenly, I heard the door open.

“Hi there!” Galen’s mother called, “How was the store?”

He bought me from a store, I thought in dismay.

As Galen walked up the steps, I heard the familiar rustling of a plastic bag, and I started to feel a cold pit open wide inside of me. The door opened, and Galen walked into the room. I shuddered as he dropped the bag on the bed and started pulling out items: printer ink, a pencil case, another pencil sharpener, and a strange box.

Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh...

Galen tore open the box, and I saw a pink rectangle fall onto the bed. I swallowed hard.

What if he got a glitter pen? I thought, remembering all the kids at school I’d seen using them, what if he’s finally giving into peer pressure?

“GALEN!” His mother called, “DINNER!”

Galen picked up the pink thing and set it next to me.

“There we go,” he muttered, “Now I can keep on writing...”

He trailed off, leaving his room and heading down the steps. I swallowed nervously, and risked a glance at the pink blob. I didn’t know much, but it definitely wasn’t a pen or pencil.

“Hi there!” The blob cried eagerly, scaring me, “My name is Elvin! We’re gonna be hanging out a lot, so I guess we’d better get to know each other now. What’s your favorite color? Or do you like all colors? My favorite color is pink! You know how they say ‘real men wear pink’? Well, I wear pink all the time! Do you hate pens, or are you friends with them? I have a few good pen pals, but some pens can be real jerks--”

“Why are we going to be ‘hanging out’ a lot?” I interrupted, a tad freaked out by this pink blob sitting next to me.

“Oh, that weird kid--”

“His name is Galen,” I snapped.

“Galen? What a cool name! Anyways,” Elvin continued, “I can see that your eraser is gone. Well, I’m an eraser, I get to fix all of your mistakes!”

I thought he was a bit too pumped about his job. However, he had a point. If he was my replacement eraser, we’d be spending a ton of time together.

“My favorite color is yellow. Because I’m yellow,” I told him, “And I don’t really know many pens. Galen tends to only use pencils.”

“That’s so cool!” Elvin shouted, “Pencils are awesome, mostly because I’ll only ever interact with pencils. Because I’m an eraser!”

He continued his blubbering at high speeds.

“So where’d you come from? That kid Gavin--”

“Galen.”

“Sorry, Galen, must’ve bought us at the same store. I thought it was a really sketchy store though. The floor was way too dirty, and the lights were really weird. Also, the box I was in was super uncomfortable...”