Stuart Adventures Chapter 2

Later in the day Stuart was at recess with his class. The weather was beautiful, but Stuart was in his usual place sitting on the bench with Robert. Robert was another of the less popular children and preferred not to be around those who would tease him, so he and Stuart usually hung out together. Robert was short and overweight which made him the target of many cruel jokes. Stuart felt sorry for him, but he had never been able to be much help other than consoling him afterwards. The school playground was pretty much dominated by the school bully named Akyra. He was a tall, thick boned boy with bad acne and bad breath. Akyra and his two buddies Skip and Jimmy seemed to enjoy bossing the other children around in school and often some of the other children's lunch money would end up in their hands after some well placed threats.

Stuart felt so full of energy today that he had to get up and do something. He asked Robert to go to the see-saw with him to which Robert reluctantly agreed. Soon they were enjoying themselves and talking freely. Stuart thought to himself that this was great, he was having so much fun and then he noticed that the see-saw was adjusted to give Robert the weight advantage since it was shifted to his side. It should have been impossible for Stuart's body weight to lift Robert even if the see-saw was evenly balanced so Stuart began to realize another hidden ability dealing with gravity control. While Stuart was concentrating on this, Akyra came up and knocked Robert off his end of the see-saw
while it was down and for just a second or two Stuart's end stayed up in the air as though he weighed nothing. Stuart quickly understood how strange it must seem and, without knowing how, he let his end down. Akyra looked a little surprised and then apparently forgot about it because he started asking the two of them what they thought they were doing on his see-saw. Robert started to get up and dust himself off when Skip and Jimmy showed up just in time to push him down again. Stuart jumped over the see-saw and put himself between Robert and the bullies. He lifted Robert lightly to his feet using one hand and turned angrily to Akyra. "Why are you so mean to us all the time?" asked Stuart. Akyra was obviously at a loss for words since no one had ever challenged him before and this was unfamiliar territory to him. Skip and Jimmie each grabbed Stuart's arms and shouted "Punch him in the gut Akyra!" Akyra drew back his fist and started to swing when Stuart suddenly pulled back making Akyra miss and fall in the dirt. Instead of jumping on Akyra, Stuart shook off Skip and Jimmie and helped Akyra to his feet.

Now Akyra was truly confused. He was used to dealing with other children through fear, and here he was being helped from the dirt by one of his former victims. Akyra felt ashamed and embarassed of what he'd done so he apologized to Robert and Stuart. They gladly accepted his apology and invited him to play with them for the duration of recess. Stuart was glad he had decided to settle the argument peacefully rather than the ways he had fantasized of handling Akyra in the past. As Stuart and Robert were walking home from school, Stuart's body began to fade and then he just vanished!