Gigantic Bubble Gum.
I was standing at a beach, sweating. It was a sunny day, and I was waiting for my parents to come back to pick me. Two hours ago, my mom dropped me to an athletics class, not knowing that today’s class was cancelled. I had nothing with me except my almost-finished water bottle and a watch.
I swiped my sweaty forehead. I had nothing to do. I wished I’d brought an extra change of clothes to swim at the beach, but unfortunately, I didn’t.
Nothing was interesting. But I watched a family (beside me) with one girl and a boy with their parents, on their picnic table, eating burgers.
A miserable-looking-young-man was selling bubble gums to the family. They bought one, and gave it to their elder daughter, as her brother was too small eat it. I checked my watch - one more hour to go. So, I continued watching the family beside me. Now, the girl was blowing the gum – it was as big as her head. She blew some more. It grew bigger and bigger. Bigger than her head. The parents got nervous and told their daughter not to blow the gum anymore. But the girl ignored them – or couldn’t hear them. The pink bubble gum grew amazingly big. I’ve never seen the bubble gums like that huge before. Well, that was interesting. I stepped closer to get a better look. The girl’s face was fully covered with the bubble. She seemed to be struggling for breath, but she looked like enjoying it. That was confusing. The parents panicked as the girl’s face became pale with no air, but they couldn’t do anything, as they were too stunned to move. The bubble gum grew incredibly big. Crowed gathered around us to see what’s happening. Some tried to pop the bubble, but it was no use. It was like a rubber.
“Stop!” Someone screamed. The person was a woman. She looked around 50~60 age. She ran towards us, holding a needle in her hand. She popped the girl’s gigantic bubble with the needle. The girl collapsed with a gasp, color coming back to her face. And now, everyone’s eyes turned to the strange woman. The woman looked stunned. Her clothes were dirty with dusts, and her long curly brown hair was massed with dirt. She was gasping; probably because she’d ran all the ways till here.
“That… is… the stolen magical bubble gum from Willie Wonka’s factory.” She stammered, “Where did you get it from? It’s a failure. It was kept secretly away ‘cause it’s dangerous…”
The family told about the strange young man who sold the gum to them and everything else that just happened with some difficulty. But I doubt that the woman was actually listening, because she kept peering back at the shore.
“What’s wrong?” I asked to her. The woman’s face was pale. Not with fear, but with anger. She was still staring at the shore. She ignored me, and ran down to the shore, towards a man: the man who sold the gum. He panicked when he saw the woman storming towards him. The woman grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him furiously.
“Never in my life!…Why did you sell the gum to them?!” She demanded, “The girl could’ve died if I didn’t come here in the right time!”
The son scowled in confusion. “Ma… Mother…” He stammered, trying to pull himself out of the woman’s (or the mother’s. Whatever.) grips. “But… An officer told me to sell it here. I never knew this was a failure.”
“Don’t try to fool me Petric Jhonson! I know that you are-”
“Mother, I swear that I didn’t do that in purpose. It was a coincident!” The son protested.
The woman raised her eyebrows and said, “Sure?”
He shrugged. “Hundred percent. Unless the officer tricked me.”
The woman seemed to settle a bit. She let go off her son’s shoulders, and they both walked away from us. The sun was setting, and their shadows silhouetted on the sand. I stared at the beautiful color reflected at the sea’s surface. The crowed separated, and the family started arranging their stuffs.
Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice calling me. It was my elder brother. I was delighted. My brother picks me up very rarely, but he takes me to buy chocolates. Excited, I ran towards him, and together, we walked away from the beach.