"Soon and Very Soon" by Carol Kean

His name was Erik, not Earache,

and the birthmark that looked like a lizard was turning green, and his skin was flaking off, so it was no surprise that all the teasing and shunning had gotten so much worse. He'd learned to hide his dream-drawings and never, ever to ask anyone "Did you hear that?" because nobody else ever heard or saw the alien visions he did.

The latest was so real, he could still see the dragon-boat racing forward on the high water.

The river was brown and moving so fast, nobody would dare paddle anything on it. In the morning light, with the leaves all golden brown and the water looking like a dark ale he'd be happy to drink, the first boat had rushed past. In it, little people were rowing and singing in unison. The tune was familiar and Erik got mad at himself for not being quite able to place it and most of all, he was mad that he kept seeing things and hearing things like boaters singing in the floodwaters of the September rains.

Naturally, nobody else mentioned seeing any such strangeness on the river today.

Erik had a dragon boat of his own, a small version of one, anyway, something he had been working on in great secrecy. The others would laugh at him and smash it for fun.

-- 5 minutes are up--

source

Nobody in his right mind

would set out on those swift brown waters, but Erik had never been in his right mind. Not according to so-called dad or his brothers or anyone who ever had the misfortune of dealing with the tall, skinny kid who'd been left as a baby to die in a shallow grave in the woods. The woman he called "Mom" had found him. Nobody ever did come forward to claim him, and whoever tried but failed to kill him was out there, somewhere. Maybe. Probably.

Erik didn't like thinking about that.

But he liked thinking about swift-flowing rivers and secret places. Erik ran barefoot to his hideaway. Always barefoot, because no shoes fit his odd feet. At least he wasn't the only one with a bit of webbing between his fingers and toes. Erie, so called for her Lake Erie eyes, not because she was eerie, which she was, hid the webbing with her gloves and boots, and Eric and her parents knew she was mutant too, like maybe something in the drinking water had gotten them, just Erik the weird and Erie the beautiful. She had the same kind of odd features Eric had, all skinny and quick as a skink, with a triangle face and delicate features and over-sized eyes, but on a girl it was gorgeous and exotic; on a guy, it was just geeky or freaky.

Erik padded up the river bank to his hideaway. He had taken his boat out on test runs under the stars in recent weeks, but never out on high waters and never the hell in broad daylight.

Another dragon boat sailed past.

This time, Erik understood their words: "Soon and very soon, we are going to see the king."

Well, then, so would he!

End of Part One

Click here for Part Two

Today I tried @improv's suggestion:

set timer, type directly into Steemit.
Also, knowing in advance I had lizards on my mind, I set up the photo beforehand, as well. It's still tedious and time-consuming to type [source] (copy/paste URL here), compared to the ease of hyperlinking at the ol' wordpress blog.

Until next time,

Keangaroo

because Kean sounds like Kane (not keen, hint, hint)

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"Soon and Very Soon" - Part 1- Day 326: 5 Minute Freewrite, Prompt: Dirty Feet

"Soon and Very Soon" by Carol Kean

His name was Erik, not Earache,

Nobody in his right mind

End of Part One

Click here for Part Two

"Soon and Very Soon" - Part 1

"Soon and Very Soon" - Part 2

"Soon and Very Soon" - Part 3

"Soon and Very Soon" - Part 4

"Soon and Very Soon" - Part 5

Today I tried @improv's suggestion:

Until next time,

Keangaroo