By G. P. Avants

I don’t know about you but if there was a such a thing as bad luck it runs in my family. If anything can go wrong, as Murphy’s Law states, it will go wrong. Yep, I can tell you stories that you would not believe. So that it why my main character from Chronolocity: A Fistful of Chronotons, Levy Roarke walks in those shoes. He often states that he and his family feel like bad luck targets. It’s a given that whatever can go wrong will follow him no matter what time period he finds himself in. 

I this scene, Levy is recalling a moment that he regrets and wished he could have avoided. He also admits to having the hero complex like his father. More often than not when he attempts to help another person it inevitably comes back to bite him. This short excerpt allows us to see Levy’s attempt to dodge his bad luck by withholding his  urge to be the hero and help a fellow nerd in crisis. 

 I already have a conscience. “It’s just my way of…” Ahhh. He drummed his fingers on his forehead.
Headache?” Raul asked. 

“You could say that.” Levy sighed. “Watching Chris makes me think that all nerds and geeks are not created equal.” 

Raul listened and pursed his meaty lips. He lifted a thick black brow. “You are an above average nerd, Levy. You shouldn’t be someone you are not.” 

  “Are you a therapist now?” Levy shook his head.
“Who knows, maybe the nerds and geeks will run the world someday.”
   “Keep dreaming, Raul.” Levy squinted an eye. “I am still thinking of all the ways kids can mess with his name.” He narrowed his eyes, “Now you’re cooking, Crisco.” 

  Raul shook his head. “Really?”
  “I’m just saying.” Levy giggled, “The Chris KO-mpany. We make all things nerdy.” Raul shook his head, “Be careful teasing a fellow nerd or geek. We all need each other.” 

  “Thanks, Dad.” Levy twisted up his face.
  “Ew, how about, Neek? That’s a new word, right?” Raul quipped.
  Levy raised an eyebrow. “Hm.” Chris is alone in a sea of tables, each packed except his.    

  “There is a quietness around him that just isn’t natural,” Raul sat up straight, turned his head to listened.
“He has a force field around him,” Homar whispers. “NAZZZZ. NAZZZZNAZZZ.” “Nerdfield is more like it.” Chandler patted the table. “I’d say it keeps people a good ten feet away.” He mimed a huge sphere around his body and spilled his juice in the process. 

 “Nice. I think you need a slobfield.” Raul cackled and handed him a napkin, then gave him two more.
   Chandler glared back with a rippled sneer. “Thanks, Mom.”
  “You are welcome, Brah.” Raul pointed to his lip, “Don’t forget that little smudge too, dear.” He laughed.
 “Always perfect manners in Micronesia, Raul?”
  “Momma is always on my case. Just helping you out, man.”
 Levy sat with his hands resting on the table. He rubbed his fingers slowly together. “I’m glad I’m not on the “Z” list with this guy. It’s hard enough holding on to what little cool I do possess. I am not jinxing that.” 

  Chandler whispered in Levy’s ear. “Chris is the perfect example of why you keep your nerdy ways on the down low, even around here.” 

Levy folds his hands as he ponders. I wonder what this Chris Ko did to earn such a lowly step on the grunt caste system? 

Homar spoke into his other ear, “He’s better known as…‘X-man’.” He chuckled and made a dramatic X with his fingers.  

“Why?” Levy asked. “That sounds like a cool nickname to me.”
   Chandler drew a line between his own eyes. “They say Chris has a scar on his forehead.” “Like X marks the spot.”

    Homar tapped his pointer finger right between Levy’s eyebrows. “That’s what I heard anyway.”
    Levy pushed the in-your-face Homar back a foot. “I know what having a bullseye between your eyes is like. That’s why I fly low and stay off the radar.”
    Chandler whispered, “Here is the real scoop on the KO kid. It’s weird but… true story.” He beckoned them closer, “When he was in…I think second grade. He had a little accident at school.” 

    “You mean he wet himself?” Homar interjected.
    Chandler shook his head. “No, not that kind of accident. Some kid tripped him and then Chris smacked his forehead right on the corner of a desk.” He made a corner with his fingertips to illustrate. 

    “Aye.” Levy subconsciously rubbed his forehead.
     Raul groaned, “Ouch.”
     “The weird thing is Chris didn’t cry. Nerdeo the First got up without squirting one tear, and went right to the nurse.

The rest is history.” Homar stopped and laughed at his own nickname.
     “Nerdeo?” Raul frowned. 

    “That was mean,” Levy adds.
      “I was laughing at my ‘King of the Nerds, Nerdeo the First’ title. Did you get my pun?” Levy raised a finger. “That’s not a pun or even a joke.”
     “Whatever,” Homar pouted.
     “That had to hurt.” Raul blurted out. “Did it make him…slow or something?” They gazed over at the boy whose movements were slow and methodical. “He does seem a little…not there.” Again, Levy was thankful to have avoided any life-altering accidents. 

       Chandler chuckles, “What a mark to have for life, huh?”