Little Friends' Jamboree

Yorbe is the nine year old boy whom I belong to. He's not a bad kid. I mean he treats me well, though he has been stern with me, if he felt I wasn't co-operating.I had tried to explain to him. Oh, before I go on, I must tell you, they speak my language. Or, I speak theirs, it is however you want to look at it. Ok, back to what I was saying before. I tried to tell Yorbe, that even though I am small by comparison to him, I am an adult and not some little creature. Yorbe would just give a smirk of a smile and a pat on the head.

Back on Earth I was known as John Crane. But as Yorbe's pet, I am named Chips. He called me Chips, cause of the brown color of my hair. He told me, it reminded him of the color of wood chips. Hence, that is my name---Chips. It is hard to argue with someone over a hundred feet!

I spend a good amount of time with Yorbe. He has taken me to school a few times. The first time was scary. Heck, each time is scary. You have all those curious children touching and poking. It was at Yorbe's school I met other of my fellow earthlings. One named Sally, who belongs to a female fiend of Yorbe's, I have spoken with her. Like me, she is trying to adjust to her new life as a child's pet. A few times at school, the giant children raced us. I never won a race. Yorbe,I was surprized to find,never became angry over me losing. I thought the first time, he might want to trade me away or get a new "Little Friend." I think one reason he was so understanding, was the fact, of his infirmities. His left arm is shorter than the other and not as developed. I think there might have been a problem at birth. He also walks with a limp. Yet, with those infirmities, Yorbe is a strapping young boy.

The children had also built toy cars for us and raced us around the class room during recess. Once their free-time was over, Yorbe's giant hand would come and engulf me in darkness, where I was later placed on his desk or in his pocket.

Feeding time was something that took me a while to get use to. While I have plates and other utensils in my "Home," Yorbe likes to feed me from out of his hand. Or during his supper, he places me on the side of his plate, where he shoves over a small portion for me. His parents don't really approve of that, especially if they have guests. Yorbe then, keeps me hidden in his pants pocket, where he shoves food down to me between two fingers for me to eat. What a life.

Last week was a turning point in my life with Yorbe. I knew something special must be happening, for Yorbe before bed the night before, kept promising me something special. I had notice him reading last night, his Little Friends Hand book. Coming over to my "Home," is Yorbe. He was wearing a light blue uniform. I guess thats what it must be. A blue gulf shirt and blue shorts. "Hi Chips! We are going away for a couple of days." With youthful energy, Yorbe opened the door to my cage and his giant hand reaches for me. His fingers enwrapped themselves around me. I can barely see over his fingers.

His grip his tight, now I know something is up. Whenever he holds me tight, is a sign he is excited. Opening his hand up, I find I can breath easier. "Look what I got for you. It is clothes just like mine." He pulls my shirt off. "Let me put your new clothes on you." To say the least, I was full of embarrassment. But after all, I was only three inches tall to him. "Chip do you like it," he said, his big green eyes looking down at me earnestly.

"Yeah," I shouted up to him; (Oh, all us Little Friends, wear a device around our necks, that enables our giant masters to hear us) "It is really neat clothes Yorbe." His eyes brightened with such joy. I was surprise to see, that what I thought, a three inch person, mattered to him. He picked me up and pressed me hard up against the side of his face. I then was dropped into his shirt pocket. The pocket was deep, which prevented me from seeing were I was going.

A short time later, I heard him say to me, "Chips, we are going for a special time. I'm going to have you sleep, so it will be a surprise for you." I heard a hissing sound. And that is all I remembered.

When I woke up, I was in the middle of Yorbe's giant hand. I heard the loud, I mean really loud voices, of other giant children. Walking to edge of my master's hand, I saw a whole room of giant children, all dressed like Yorbe, though the little girls wore dresses. I also saw the children's "Little Friends."

The giant children were taken to a tent. An adult said, "Welcome to the Annual Little Friends Jamboree. To start off will be the Little Friends make-up contest." Yorbe placed me back into his shirt pocket. I could hear his heart beating with fast excitement. When I was taken out, Yorbe sat in a chair that tilted back. I looked around. There were hundreds of these chairs. I was placed on Yorbe's face. An adult giant told me what to do. It was a contest, to see which Little Friend could come up with an inventive make-up on their master's face in the quickest time. A buzzer sounded, us tiny people were off. I climbed around Yorbe's huge face. He giggled many times, as I climbed over his nose and forehead applying make-up. I was trying to make him look like an American Indian Chief. Yorbe came in fourth. Later that first day, we had a lunch and there was a film about us Little Friends, which followed. It was hard for me to hear it, from the sounds the other children made.

Next came the wind game. All us tiny people sat on a red ball. Our giant masters were to blow on it. Our task, was to stay on the ball. No easy task. As the ball moved, I had to keep moving my feet to keep me from falling off. I felt like I was in a summer wind storm, with Yorbe's hot breath pushing the ball forward. We came in sixth.

Then finally, came night. The giant children slept in tents. I slept with yorbe up on his pillow. A string (rope to me) was placed around my waist attached to Yorbe's middle finger. I guess to keep us from running away?

The next day came more games. At one point, a group of girls sang a song about their Little Friends. It was a cute song. I guess.

Part Two

"No. But next year I will," was his response.

The models were very good, though I imagined the parents must have helped out with these fantastic models. One girl made a sixty foot replica of the Chicago Sears Tower. I judged it to be about sixty feet tall, to me that is. Seeing that and other models was making me homesick for my world.

One model that was sitting on the ground was a replica of one of our space shuttles; it looked so real. I wanted it to be real. Many of the giant children were admiring it. I heard one boy ask, "Does it fly?" I tried to imagine that the response would be---yes. I asked Yorbe if he could lower his hand, so I could get a better look. He did. I spotted what I thought was an entrance hatch. I jumped off his hand on to the ground. I ran to the hatch. It was fake.

There was a loud pounding sound. It became intense. Turning around, I was staring at a group of giant sneakers and shoes. I was surrounded by a group of giant children. They were all shaking their heads and fingers at me. One girl yelled down at me, "Bad Little Friend, Bad." One pair of sneakers came thundering towards me, as they pounded the ground under its immense weight. I bent my back as far as it would let me. Towering over me was Yorbe. He stretched, it seemed to me, for miles into the sky. The sun was behind him, glinting off his hair. The light created a sort of halo affect. He was so big. So powerful. For a moment I thought I was looking up at a young God. But this was no God. It was a boy. It was my master. A hand came zooming down. I could feel the pressure of air the opened hand had made, before it reached me. I found myself in a tight darkness.

When he opened his hand up, I looked into a pair of angry eyes. One of the other children, a boy with short yellow hair, placed his index finger on my chest. The air was knocked out of me. After the dizziness had left me, I heard that boy say to Yorbe, "You should punish him."

"Oh man, what did I get myself into," I thought to myself.

"It's ok. He didn't mean to do it. Chips is sometimes silly," said Yorbe.

I looked back into Yorbe's big round eyes; the anger was gone. "Well, Chips should show he is still sorry," said the other boy, wanting some sort of satisfaction from me. I looked up at the boy, and saw his "Little Friend" standing still in his shirt pocket, like an obedient soldier. I wondered what this boy was like as a master. I however, was glad, he wasn't mine.

"He will show he is sorry," said Yorbe, to the boy and to the other children standing around. Yorbe lifted his hand up close to his face.

"Ok Chips. Show what a good Little Friend you are." Part of me didn't want to do anything. For I am an adult. But an adult, who belongs to a little boy. And I thought, Yorbe was being very big, even for a giant, about what had happened. I walked to the end of his hand, knelt down and reaching out to the tip of his nose, I kissed it.

"How sweet," said many of the girls.

Some of the boys responded, "Yorbe, you trained him well." Yorbe then tilted his hand, and I rolled out of his hand into his shirt pocket.

At lunch time, some of our giant masters let us mingle for a short while, with other "Little Friends." I went over to the man, who belonged to the boy with the yellow hair. I found out he use to be a CEO for a stock investment firm. A few times, when we were talking, he would abruptly stop and turn back, looking up at his master. When he did, the boy smiled and handed him between two very big fingers, food from off his plate. I then spotted Sally. I started walking over to her, when a pair of fingers lifted me up from behind and by my shirt collar. I was brought before the face of a giant boy, who I had never seen before. He turned me around a few times. He poked me gently and turned to Yorbe saying, "Your "Little Friend" seems in good shape." The boy then placed me back on the table.

"He is. Some afternoon you should come over to my house with your "Little Friend," and we could race them. Hey, where's your Little Friend? Maybe he would like seeing other tiny people like him?" asked Yorbe.

The boy reached into the front pocket of his shorts and pulled out a young teen, who was eating something. "I don't like him to talk to other "Little Friends," he may pick up their bad habits. I don't want him to act like yours." He then dropped the teen back into his pocket.

Yorbe picked me up between two fingers and with his other finger started stroking my head. He then said to the boy, "It is like I said before. Chips likes to get silly. He's a good boy."

Part Three

"They at least look out for us. I should be glad (ha,ha) for these small mercys," I thought to myself.

At the end of the examination, our giant masters picked us up and placed numbers on us. We were then brought down before a blue screen. An older giant child told us, "Little Friends, when you hear the buzzer, run into the blue screen. And no matter what you see or think you feel, you are safe. If you stop more than five seconds you are pulled out of the game."

The ground was shaking beneath our feet, as our giant masters did a jig of impatience, behind us. The buzzer sounded and off we went. I found myself running through an area of New Mexico. A place I had went to as a child. I wanted to stop but I knew I couldn't. I knew this was an illusion, but it felt so real. So hot. I was starting to crave for some water. Up ahead, I saw a small pond of very blue water. As I ran closer to it. I could smell the fresh water. I was almost upon it. I wanted to stop for want of thirst. I heard a voice. It was Yorbe. "No boy, don't stop. You can do it." The way he was talking to me, reminded me of the way I use to talk to my dog. The water looked so good and I was feeling so drained. However, I knew this wasn't real. I pushed on. "Good boy Chips!" shouted the voice of my youthful master.

From underneath my blue shirt, I could feel my heart beating wildly. Up ahead, as I ran around an out crop of boulders, I saw another person. He was smaller than me. Nearing the person, I said out loud, "No it can't be." But it was! It was Yorbe!! As I passed him he waved and smiled. I thought maybe this was part of the game to trick me into stopping. I didn't stop. I ran on. After he was out of my vision, I heard a blood wrenching scream. The scream was of a person in grave trouble. I turned and looked behind me. A creature was chasing Yorbe, or I should say an image. I turned around and kept running. I heard that awful scream again. It sounded so real. I knew it had to be fake, but I never liked the idea anyone in trouble. I turned around.

"Oh crap!" I said out loud. I was face to face with a weird looking monster. At its feet, which were a series of suction cups, was Yorbe. I picked him up. A violent pain crossed my chest. And everything went blank.

I opened my eyes. I could not focus them at first. I moved my hands and felt something warm and leathery. I sat up. My head was spinning. Sight returned to my eyes. I was in the middle of a giant hand. "You all better now," said Yorbe. I couldn't speak. I still felt so weak. I saw his huge face. It filled the sky above me. His mighty giant features looked soft. His eyes full of beautiful concern. He brought me closer to his face. I was pressed up against his warm skin. "You're the best Little Friend a guy could have."

All the while, he kept me pressed up against the side of his face, I thought to myself, "What the heck happened? Was this game really a learning tool for the giant children. Do they learn more about their Little Friend this way?" I had no answers. The only thing I did know, I slept well that night.

The next and final day of the Jamboree, (Yorbe told me this) was a drawing contest to be done by our giant masters. Before that event, Yorbe was parading me around proudly before all his friends. There is nothing greater and sweeter, on Earth, or here on this world of giants, than the admiration from a child.

Near the time of the contest, Yorbe was looking worried. "What's wrong?" I asked him.

"I write with my bad hand. I can write ok, but draw I can't" His giant face became long. I was thinking what I could do to help. On Earth, I was very good at drawing diagrams. I told him what to draw. And the kind of moves to make. I told him the kind of quiet signals I would give him, in regards of how to use his hand. We went over this for a good spell. Yorbe was very attentive.

I stretched out on his giant hand, which was stunted. The contest started, I had my left arm down between two fingers, depending on how hard I pinched or banged their sides, this let him know what angle he should go, how hard to press down on the pen. It was a long shot. But it worked!

I had him draw the Loop from Chicago. And we won the contest! Yorbe was given a special commemorative medal that was put around his neck and hung down to the middle of his chest. He placed me on top of the gold colored medal, that showed a Little Friend standing in a giant hand. A child who was a winner from the last year Little Friends Jamboree, placed a blue bandana, the was trimmed in red, around Yorbe's neck. Pictures were taken of Yorbe and me. "Our picture will be on the cover of the next issue of Little Friends Magazine!" exclaimed Yorbe.

When all the excitement had ended and we were back home, Yorbe stretched out on his bed. I sat on his pillow, while he looked wide- eyed at his metal. He then sat up. He placed me on his lap. Yorbe took his bandana off. Yorbe tore a very thin piece off. Handing me the piece Yorbe said, "Here this is for you to wear around your neck." I tied it around my neck. Yorbe smiled and patted me on the head. "You are the best Little Friend there is."

Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part, when he said that, "I thought it was from a friend to a friend."

THE END

By Timothy Lacey 7-7-2001