31 Tales (Volume II) - Powers Unlocked

Roll Over, Roll Over

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Rollie. Happy birthday to you" Roland's mother and grandmother sang just before the now four year old Roland blew out the candles on his small chocolate hedgehog cake. "Oh his Grandfather would love this" his grandmother smiled to his mother. Roland's mother sighed back from the other-side of the table. "How is Dad doing?" She asked her mother "he's struggling but I think he's going to pull through" her mother replied whilst Roland pulled on his mother's sleeve. "Mama where is Papa?" The little boy asked with his eyes wider than saucers. His mother shuffled nervously from foot to foot as she decided to distract herself by grabbing a knife ready to cut the poor little hedgehog into slices. "Well..." the woman begin as she picked up the knife from the knife block "your grandad isn't very well at the moment" she replied honestly as she walked back over to the cake. As she placed the knife into the cakes flesh and pushed down as she told her only son "do you remember the virus I told you about" she cut a slice of cake and placed it onto a paper plate. "Is it the scary virus?" Roland asked as his mother passed him his slice of cake. "That's right" his mother replied as she cut her own slice. As she looked over to her mother she struggled for a moment, wondering how she was going to go about giving her a slice. "Right Mum! how do we do this?" She laughed nervously. "Oh no that's ok darling I best be going home soon anyway" the old woman smiled warmly as she watched her grandson devour his cake with his bare hands. Like a bear eating a salmon it had just caught. In his rush to eat his cake a small chunk fell from his lips and rolled onto the floor by his mother's feet. As if out of nowhere their cat crawled between his owners feet to grab the morsel between his silvery paws as he bounced it between the two before gracefully nibbling on it. After making sure Roland was sat calmly enjoying his cake his mother and grandmother headed out into the lounge where they sat on opposite sides of two different sofas. "He misses his Grandfather you know Mum?" Roland's mother sighed resting her arm on the arm of the chair and leaning into her hand. "We all miss him dear but of course we can't visit him because it's too risky if only there were a way Roland could speak to his grandson without him actually being there." Four year old Roland's mother thought about this for a while as she said goodbye to her mother and watched her walk down the road to her car.

Later that evening Roland and his mother did their usual nighttime routine which consisted of teeth brushing, pyjama dressing and finally a bedtime story. Roland relaxed above his covers as his mother finished reading The Frog Prince, a delightful tale about a Princess who loses her favourite ball and encounters a frog who turns out to be a Prince, after being thrown against a wall. Still Roland refused to sleep "you're such a cheeky monkey" his mother giggled along with her son who was smiling from ear to ear. "I'll let you off just this once since it's your birthday" she tapped her son on the nose. Roland giggled in response "can you sing me song mama?" The little boy asked excitedly. His mother nodded as she thought of what song to sing, after a few seconds she thought of the perfect one for a restless little boy "There were ten in the bed and the little one says?" She sang smiling "roll over" Roland giggled in reply "roll over" his mum continued "So they all roll over and one fell out. There were nine in the bed and the
Little one says?" As she sung this Roland clapped along merrily not noticing his back smoothing out his spine like a person ironing out a crease. "Roll over roll over" he giggled as his skin began breaking up into leaf shaped segments not unlike the back of an armadillo. As the song continued Roland began curling up more and more until his face was at his feet. At first his mother just thought the boy was being silly so she jokingly placed a hand on his back only to notice it's change. Alarmed she stood up to look over her son in more depth. She watched in silent horror as Roland's body contorted into the shape of a ball. He looked almost exactly like a curled up armadillo or perhaps a prickle-less hedgehog, his skin still remaining flesh coloured. "Rollie?" His mother asked concerned placing a hand to her mouth, Roland didn't seem to notice his change in shape despite it being so unnatural that it should have broken every bone in his body. Did he even have bones anymore? Or was he just like one of those fuzzy curly snakes you can find and carnivals on little poles with googly eyes? "Roll over, Roll over" the little boy giggled as he rolled off of the bed and round in circles around the room. His mother wanted to scream, she should have screamed. Any other person would have if they had seen their son turn into a ball. Instead she just sat frozen in place as her only child rolled around besides the bed giggling innocently. "Rollie, it's... it's bedtime" his mother reminded him as calmly as she could. With no effort at all Roland uncurled himself and bounced back onto the bed besides his mother. "Did that hurt?" She asked him somewhat fascinated. "Did what hurt mama?" The boy asked raising an eyebrow. "You just turned into a ball" had she imagined it? "No. Don't be silly I was rolling" was she seeing things? "When is papa coming over?" Roland changed the subject. His mother snapped out of her confusion for just a moment. "He's ill remember Rollie like I told you. He's in the hospital." Roland looked down in thought. "I wanna see him" he looked up with wide eyes. His mother tried letting him down gently but Roland was having none of it and in a huff he reverted back into a ball and rolled right out of the room.