The Boy in the bunker

The loose cannon

Hey! Hey! 👋..... 👋 psssst!!!! I know you can hear me! Hey! I've got some toys too! Hey look at what I have in my hand!

Khalid, the noisy boy, yelled at a group of soldiers  who were sitting right next to a war tank , three houses away from their house. Some were playing cards while the other few were holding guns. One of the soldiers were busy cleaning a small handheld firearm. He had a rather funny hair cut which stood out from the rest in the group. They heard Khalid and turned around to the noisy boy's yelling for a few seconds.

Khalid: Hey!!! 👋. ..

Khalid called out to the funny haired soldier's attention as he slowly approached the table. His eyes were gleaming with curiosity. His gait  was as careless as he was.

Khalid:  Hey!!! 👋 What's that?

Funny haired soldier: None of your business kid, and don't come near me.

Khalid: Is that a toy? That looks weird!
I've got some toys too! Look! I made this one yesterday!

He was one of the kids in the village who didn't really have the interest to learn the ABC. But, he had curiosity like no other. It didn't matter to him how big or small things were. If it looked weird or sounded different, you can bet a dollar to a dime that he would stare at it, touch it..... or steal it.  Stolen weird things are his bragging rights. He was audacious, proud and a bully.

He showed the soldier , in an almost taunting way , his sling shot. It was made of  straw pipes glued together by rubber bands. It had a thin red rubber band projectile , pretended to insert a pebble inside it and carelessly aimed it at the funny haired soldier's head. He jerked his body back and forth , released the sling shot projectile like a strong catapult, and let go of it
as if he hit a bull's eye.

Khalid: Boom!!!! Hey , I think the baby birds on your hair died!

Everyone burst into a laughing feat. One of the funny haired soldier's comrades jokingly said , "this kid thinks you've got a bird's nest above that head of yours! Hahahahahaha!

Funny haired soldier: Not funny!....Hey kid, told you not to come near me or this baby of mine might unload by itself , let's see what your special sling shot can do about it!"

Khalid almost peed his pants. But the stunned boy didn't move an inch. He was scared but still very curious. He didn't let his fear get the best of him. He stood still, and actually waited for the funny haired soldier's handheld firearm to unload.

Funny haired soldier: Woah!!!! We have ourselves here a curious nitwit! 🤔 So you're really waiting for this baby to show some magic?! Huh?!!!

The other soldiers sensed a tone of threat in the Funny haired soldier's scratchy voice. One of them warned "Easy Ferdie, easy! He's just a little boy"  Put it down... your gun Ferdie ...put it down!"

Ferdie , the funny haired soldier let out a strong hiss and told Khalid to back off. The noisy boy didn't have a clue as to what just happened and even thought the Funny haired soldier was just playing. 

"Go home kid!"  Said one of the soldiers who played cards. "Go home and don't come around again, play with your friends!"

Khalid: But , Why? Why can't I play with you?!" I wanna play here now!  I can't play with my friends, they're all with their moms, can't go out. They're all scared of your tanks and uniform and loud hailer, they're scared of all of you! They don't want you around here! But....me?!  I like your uniform and tanks ! and I promise to play well with you! I'm not scared!so why can't we play together?!"

"Go home this isn't the right time to play" Ferdie, after coming back to his senses , instructed Khalid. "This isn't a playground kid, at least it isn't anymore now. Go home and maybe you should tell your friends the same thing too. Not to come around , just don't come around and piss me off again!" You understand?!"

Khalid didn't say a word but , still came near Ferdie and handed him his sling shot.

Khalid: Take it, my sling shot! It's yours , we're friends now, aren't we?"  He slowly turned his back and walked away. Ferdie just held the slingshot in his hand and stared at it in amazement. He shook his head in disbelief and sat on the edge of the table.  It didn't make sense to him why Khalid would want to be friends with him. He was odd and ... just odd.
Audaciously odd.

Khalid went back to their house wondering what the handheld gun was. It added a spark in his stash of curiosity. He immediately went to his father and told him what he had seen. His voice was as big as his description.

Khalid's father was a man around his mid 20s. Younger than most of the other local folks. He was physically in shape and his hair was jet black. He had Khalid at 15. He was matched by his parents with the daughter of his mother's friend when he was only 10, and got married at 14. A young father with a wife who died due to postpartum sepsis. Since then , local folks have suspected the young father to be mentally unstable. He was often seen tending his backyard vegetable garden, but late in the afternoon he would roam around the village picking up dirt and left overs. Not that they didn't have anything to eat.

Khalid never saw his mom. It was just him and his father from the start.

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"What have we got to lose in a world full of fools, the loosing trend of honesty had gone far away down the road and went back to its loose ends" (@frankie252018)