Julia’s face comes into view over a small plastic house right by the border, so we’re well within range of her to use this building.
“Are you ready to play?” she says expectantly, rubbing her hands together excitedly. We all nod.
“Good. Okay. Here goes,” she says, clearing her throat. “JACK…” she begins, looking at me. “Was working at the grocery store.” I stand up and take a place behind the counter, wanting to avoid argument. “ANNA was shopping for dinner, and GINA was cleaning the grocery,” she continues as the other two take their intended positions. So far, so good. Maybe we’ll get through this one okay. It’s just a grocery store, after all…
“When SUDDENLY…” she says, a gleam in her eye. “…they heard a loud noise! And the ground SHOOK!” With little warning, we all grab for something to hang onto as Julia slams the ground outside the neighborhood hard with the heel of her hand. Luckily, Anna managed to grab something, but Gina and I both hit the ground hard. I don’t like where this is going.
“And it shook AGAIN! And AGAIN!”
This time we’re prepared, and I stare over at Julia’s shoulder, slamming downward on the carpet with little force, but enough to send us falling on our asses. A second passes, and she stands up, darting to the big closet again before returning with something behind her back.
“And then they SAW it!” she says, revealing what she’s got behind her back. It’s a big stuffed gorilla, really just a standard stuffed animal size, but it might as well be King Kong right now. She plops it in the street outside the grocery, her arm reaching in as far as it can so she can control the gorilla’s movement. “It was a giant gorilla, coming RIGHT toward them.”
Julia clears her throat, telling us we should be doing something. Anna, Gina, and I all make a gasping sound, looking toward the window. As we do, Julia’s arm rushes forward and smashes the gorilla into the building, and for a second it looks like the entire building is going to teeter over. This time, all of us fall over and roll back a little distance before standing back up.
Julia withdraws her hand for a second, and we hear a tearing sound, followed by the return of her hand. I turn to look at Gina, who looks a little terrified. I look over my shoulder and see Julia’s hand, a piece of duct tape stuck to her pinky finger, reaching in to the grocery store. I stagger back instinctively at the sight of something coming my way, but it instead sweeps over me, and Julia’s fingers wrap around Gina.
Damn it, Julia, leave her alone.
Gina tries to look calm, closing her eyes and just letting it happen. Then, Julia grabs the gorilla up with the other hand. I turn and look up. Julia winds the tape around Gina’s body several times, binding her arms to the side in a defenseless position before tugging on the end with a little snap. I hear Gina yelp quietly as it crunches lightly around her sides.
I literally want to kill this giant bitch right now.
Then, using an exposed sticky side to the tape, she wraps Gina’s completely powerless form into the left arm of the stuffed animal. At least I can know she’ll have cushioning if Julia tries anything else. A moment later the gorilla is back in the street with Gina poking out from under one of its arms.
“But GINA got too close to it and now the giant gorilla has her! Oh no, what’s going to happen to her?” she says, feigning fear. I decide I might as well be part of the story to make Julia happier and in the process try to shorten the time Gina has to stay hanging from that thing, so I stride confidently out the door.
“I’ll SAVE you, Gina!” I yell out bravely, in line with the style of narration being done by Julia. I just know she’s smiling a mile wide at my voluntary self-inclusion in the story. Gina herself smiles weakly at me but is probably pretty uncomfortable in her current position.
“Ooooh, here comes Jack to save Gina! But can he do anything to stop the gorilla?” says Julia gleefully. Her hand returns to the gorilla and grabs it up. I go into a crouching position to be prepared for whatever happens, but I’m still not ready. Julia slams the fluffy mass of the gorilla into me, knocking me back a few feet. I roll over backward, but go into a standing position pretty easily. I’m feeling alert right now in desire to get Gina out of that tape.
“Looks like the gorilla doesn’t LIKE Jack! What’s he going to do?” continues Julia happily. I step forward, closer to the gorilla and try to smile at Gina, who looks worried after the body slam I just got from a toy.
“It’s all good,” I whisper to Gina. She nods at me.
“Hmmm…” says Julia. “I’d think GINA would be scared if she had been caught by a giant gorilla. You don’t sound scared, Gina,” she says, almost accusingly.
Gina swallows hard, then starts making a pretend waling sound. It seems to satisfy Julia.
“And now she’s SCREAMING for her life. Oh, can Jack do anything to save her?”
I move forward and actually manage to grab onto the gorilla’s foot before Julia swings it outward, trying to knock me off. However, I clench on as hard as I can, and swing my legs up to get a better grip; I manage to hang on.
“Jack is DETERMINED. Maybe he can stop the gorilla!”
Hanging on and trying to get into a better position before Julia tries to knock me off again, I climb onto the leg of the gorilla, now in reaching distance of Gina, who’s attached to the arm of the thing just above me. I reach up and grab onto the arm of the gorilla, but it starts to sag as I do, making it hard to pull myself up. I gulp, but then see a possibility. I yank on the arm of the gorilla hard this time, allowing it to sag even lower. While it’s down, I come in reach of the tape edge.
It seems Julia’s not quite done with the game. “But what’s THIS? The gorilla is mad, and… oh no! It can FLY!” she says quickly, and suddenly I find myself hugging my body into the gorilla’s leg as hard as I can as Julia rockets us into the air above the little city. I open my eyes, looking to my left. Julia is dangling the gorilla at eye level, grinning ear to ear at me. “Can Jack do it? Can he save Gina?” she booms, smiling some more at me.
I try not to look down. Then, slowly getting my bearings, I reach back up and yank down on the arm, using it for support, and the tape edge comes into reach. I grab on and rip on it as hard as I can, allowing Gina to get free. “Grab onto its stomach,” I say. She nods, hanging on as the tape comes undone and she flops down against it. Before she is able to slip off the side, I quickly offer a hand and she takes it, squeezing the life out of it in fear of being this high in the air.
Using the tape, I try to secure us to the leg of the gorilla. I look to my left at Julia’s face.
“I did it! I saved her!” I call out optimistically, praying this story is over. Julia shakes her head no.
“I don’t think so yet! Look how high up you are still. I’d watch out if I were you, because the gorilla…” she begins, tipping the gorilla to the side. “… is still pretty mad at both of you!”
Gina clasps her hand around my bicep, locking her arm around me in a twist for extra support. With my other arm, I try to hang on to the tape, but it’s not enough to keep us up. The edge of the tape slips off the edge, and with it go the pair of us.
I look down at Gina, hanging on with both arms to my one arm, my other hand, sweating in fear, stuck to the tape; it’s the only reason we haven’t fallen already. It’s putting an awful strain on my whole body, though. Suddenly, I feel Gina’s sweaty hands slipping down my arm.
“GET MY LEG!” I yell down at her, and with a second remaining Gina switches her grip to my ankles, wrapping her arms around them and closing her eyes. I can hear her breathing heavily.
I look over to my left at Julia, who’s looking perfectly calm. Good God.
What kind of person is this?
“Help us… please?” I say, wrapping my other arm around the tape strip for extra support. It won’t last forever, though.
“What?” says Julia, as if she didn’t hear me.
“HELP US!”
As I say this, I feel Gina’s arms slip off my ankles.