The Incomparable Protagonist (Installment 1)

When Johnny Pamplemousse was seven or eight (I forget the specific date of this particular occurrence) he woke up in the middle of the night with a strange craving. It was strange for several reasons. First of all, he was not generally prone to waking up in the middle of the night. Secondly, on those rare nights when he did wake up, he did not want for food. And last, if he were to crave some food, it would most likely be peanut butter, or maybe ice cream. But on this night, the date of which I forget, he craved raisins. It's not that he didn't like raisins. They were fine as far as Johnny was concerned. But they certainly weren't among his favorite snacks. And he couldn't recall ever having a craving for them, day or night, before. But, on this night, he woke up, he woke up hungry, and he craved raisins. So the logical next step was for Johnny to search out some raisins.

He headed downstairs to the kitchen. He first checked the pantry, no raisins. Next he checked the cabinets, no raisins. He even looked in the refrigerator, no raisins. And his craving seemed to be growing stronger. On top of that, he had no desire to eat anything else besides raisins. He actually felt like he was going a little bit crazy. All he could think of was raisins. He just had to have some.

He found himself in the living room, kneeling next to the coffee table in the darkness. He wasn't exactly praying, per se, but he was staring at the ceiling, holding his upturned hands out, and just yearning with all his might for raisins. A moment passed. Then, something rather odd happened. Slowly, at first, but then with steadily increasing speed, raisins just started appearing in little Johnny's hands. He just stayed kneeling, staring stunned at his hands as raisins flowed over his fingers onto the coffee table. Not until they started spilling over the sides of the table did he make any type of reaction. He tried to close his hands but the as the raisins continued to appear, they forced his fists open and burst out onto the living room floor. He was starting to panic. Again, he looked up to the ceiling and screamed in his head "Stoooooooooooooooooooooooooop!" And they did.

-friday