If he had not forgotten to set his alarm clock and woken up late, Arthur would have

been overjoyed about the perfect weather outside.

The trees were moving to the desires of the breeze and the sun warmed the skin of those passing underneath its reach.

It had been a two-month stay in the hostel and Arthur decided it was past time to move on to the next.

He shook the arm of the room’s other occupant. Thomas or Tom as he preferred to be called because he thought it made him seem more mature, responded with a groan and slowly rose from his slumber.

“Its time to move”, Arthur told the younger boy.

Arthur’s words fell on ears that didn’t bother to translate the noise. After a few seconds, Tom

responded, “But its only been like two weeks” before slamming his head back into his

pillow.

Arthur rolled his eyes and responded, “it’s been two months and if you don’t

hurry, we will miss breakfast and an early start on the trip.”

Tom slowly rose and began assembling his earthly possessions. When he was done, he placed his stuffed hiking backpack beside Arthur’s.

Arthur went through a checklist, which was responded to with multiple affirmative grunts.

They both picked up their bags before leaving their room and saying

goodbye to the other members of the hostel. It was summer and the number of people in

the building was increased due to school groups and vacationers looking for a cheap

place to stay.

The boys then headed out the hostel doors in search of breakfast and a new

home. After some debate they decided to keep it simple with a quick stop at a local restaurant

for something fast and filling.

Arthur paid for the food while Tom secured a table and some ketchup for the battle to come. With the power of a young apatite, they both devoured two sausage biscuits, an apple for health and a shared five hash browns for everything, except health.

They both finished the meal and head out the door headed to the post office.

Once outside Tom asked, “why do we have to travel this way? We can just use a plane or a

train.”

Arthur thought for a second and responded, “We do it this way for two reasons. The first is that it saves money…”

Tom interrupted stating, “we have plenty of money though, that’s why we both work pretty much every day.”

Arthur sagely responded, “ just because we have money does not mean we can just spend it on whatever we want. We need to save up to buy food and hopefully a more permanent living space.”

Tom responded, “At least if we both turn out as deadbeats on the street, we will be comfortable. Every time we travel it kills my back for a week.”

Arthur responded, “maybe if you practiced more your back would not hurt as much and I wouldn’t have to pick up your slack for that week you’re off complaining about your back.”

Tom responded, “but practicing for something would mess with my no effort lifestyle.”

Arthur responds, “speaking of practicing, reason two is that the longer we go without practicing the harder it is to travel. If you don’t use it you lose it.”

By the end of the conversation, they had reached the post office.

Tom asked, “where are we going this time?”

Arthur responded, “I’m thinking somewhere further south. These winters are getting on my nerves.”

“But snow rocks” Tom responded.

Arthur chuckled, “It would rock more if we didn’t have to work in two feet of it. Anyway, lets go 200 miles south. That should put us about here”.

Tom’s face paled and he said, “wait 200 miles. But that’s like 10 hours of traveling!”

“Now you know why I wanted to start earlier this morning. We’ll probably arrive by 8 P.M and will still have to find somewhere to sleep unless we want to snuggle up in some bushes for the night.”

“Maybe we will get lucky and find a bench. I can see it now. Splinters everywhere and rotting

wood for a pillow.”

“I’ll leave you to your bench fantasies and go turn in our stuff.”

Arthur walked over to the window in the wall and asked the old man behind it for a box and enough stamps to cover sixty pounds.

The man gave Arthur a large box and a few minutes later Arthur returned a full box taped and stamped appropriately.

The man smiled and took the box along with stating that it would likely take a week for the box to arrive.

Arthur thanked the man and walked out the doors to meet up with Tom. They were headed two

blocks away to the nearest park.

The only things they had on them were their cloths, two 100-dollar bills, two feathers, two needles, some string and a single carved wooden necklace of a howling wolf with a metal band on the back.

Both walked into the forest where they figured no one could see them and made sure to look over their shoulders for anyone nearby.

They both pulled out their money and set it on the ground. The boys then pulled out the needles and with practiced precision poked themselves in the forefinger of

their right hands.

With their other hand, each then pulled out a feather. Each took a glance at the other with Arthur offering a “good luck”

“luck is for losers.”

They then placed the feathers in the blood from the needle prick and waited.

“I bet that I’m first”, said Tom.

“We’ve done this like twenty times and you still think you have a chance to break your losing streak?” responded Arthur.

Both waited and one minute later an American goldfinch stood in a pile of cloths.

Tom looked down in disdain and five seconds later a robin stood a few feet away from the goldfinch in a similarly sized pile of clothes.

The goldfinch gave off a resounding victory tweet before flapping it’s wings a few times and preparing to take flight.

The robin immediately jumped in the air and flapped its wings in order to gain distance from

the ground.

It then promptly plummeted from the air and hit the ground with a splat.

The finch tweeted even louder while the robin stared up at the sky from a sprawled position on the ground.

A minute later, the robin removed itself from the ground and joined the goldfinch in the air where they took flight together after a few more practice flaps.

At the start, both flew with some difficulty due to a lack of familiarity with their avian forms.

Outstretched branches from the tallest trees served as their resting spots while they struggled to find their rhythm.

After an hour of practice, both the robin and goldfinch grew familiar with their muscles once again and were taking turns circling each other to prove aerial dominance.

The landscape below their eyes fluctuated between suburbs, rural farmhouses, heavily wooded areas, and empty plains.

The hours passed slowly at first, but began to fly by just like the sun over

the birds’ heads.

The sky began to darken when they finally saw the lights of a city a few

miles away.

Both the robin and the goldfinch were weary, but continued on until they

spotted a secluded patch of woods that was far from sight but not far enough to reach

civilization.

Both the birds landed with a crunch in the leaves of a magnolia tree. They then stuck out their respective right wings and plucked the longest feather on the limb with their peaks.

One minute later, a naked Arthur stood up and looked down at the robin with a grin.

Five seconds later, a naked Tom stood up and said, “man my back is killing me.”

Arthur grinned harder and said “nice subject change slowpoke.”

He continued sarcastically saying “and I’m sure your back will feel great tomorrow morning.”

“Just hurry up and go get some cloths so we can find somewhere to sleep.”

Arthur placed the feather in the rim of his ear and pulled out a pointed canine nail. He put the fore finger of his right hand in his mouth and bit down to draw blood.

He then placed the nail into the blood stream and waited.

A minute later, a sheltie stood where Arthur once had.

Tom looked at the sheltie and said “try to find me some underwear this time instead of just shorts and a t shirt. Actually scratch that and please get some cloths that are not from a dumpster.

The sheltie gave an affirmative woof and Tom climbed the magnolia tree’s low branches in order to avoid detection.

The sheltie ran off towards the city and upon exiting the tree line, began looking for somewhere

with cloths.

He walked towards a bus stop and looked for a map to get his bearings in the

city. After looking at the map for a few minutes, he located a cheap hotel that they could

go to after getting cloths.

The sheltie began walking towards a dumpster to begin his clothing search but remembered his friends warning. Now that he thought about it, wearing dumpster

cloths might not be completely safe. He remembered with a shiver the rash he got once from an especially smelly sock.

He redirected towards a Goodwill and the sheltie began to formulate a plan of action while waiting for someone to enter the building.

Once a woman appeared and began approaching the door, the sheltie quickly darted into the opening door with her.

He then ran towards the clothing section hoping to avoid the store clerk’s

detection long enough to grab some clothing.

Once there, he grabbed two t shirts, one pair of shorts and a pair of jeans.

He then noticed the screaming clerk running towards him and had enough time to grab a pair of underwear.

The sheltie then ran towards the exit careful to keep the cumbersome load gripped between his teeth while not dropping anything.

Thankfully, a man entered just as the sheltie ran out of the building.

He rounded a corner and could still hear the screaming clerk before eventually crossing a road and heading back to the magnolia tree.