Awakening

by Clyde Andrews

part 1 of 3

The alarm clock buzzed repeatedly until it was slapped by its owner: a boy, arriving at his seventeenth birthday. All he wanted to do was miss school and spend the day doing what he wanted, which meant absolutely nothing other than sitting in front of the telly or playing Xbox or just hanging out with his friends. He knew his parents would not let him do that. He knew they would make him go to school on his birthday. So, naturally, he turned over in his bed and tried to get some more sleep before the inevitable knock at his bedroom door.

“Get up! Get up now, James Fletcher, this instant!” his mother called from the other side of the door.

James groaned, then stretched, then yawned, and then groaned some more. Eventually prying himself from his warm bed and shuffling to the bathroom. Half asleep he looked at himself as he disrobed, wondering about how he wished he could stay in bed. He then immediately noticed that he was missing his navel.

“Oh my God!” he screamed, nearly falling backwards and having to grab the towel rail for support; bathroom paraphernalia scattering everywhere. Where had his navel gone? He was horrified. He was shocked. His birthday was now marred by the fact his stomach now looked as flat and as uninteresting as a blank billboard.

Puberty was sure baffling, and he was now confused. Was this normal, he thought? When going through puberty did people’s navels fall off? James could not remember reading about that. He did not remember his human biology teacher saying anything like this would happen either.

James cursed to himself quietly: “Far out, just what I need. I’m a damn freak now. Great, I have Phys.Ed. today, too. I just hope I don’t have to play skins in basketball, I’ll surely be found out.”

James’s Mum called from the other side of the bathroom door: “Hurry up in there, James. You’ll be late for school and I’m not driving you today. I have too much to do.”

Now James was depressed. Sure, the navel was useless after birth, but it certainly did look weird when it was missing.

Walking to school — which was only a few streets away — James tried to think of a way to get out of P.E. Since it was his birthday he was now open to all sorts of pranks, punches, and general derision by his peers. He was not unpopular, but he was not popular either. A missing navel would surely result in the most humiliating teasing he had ever received. Before he knew it, he was at the human zoo called high school.

“Hey birthday boy, you been avoiding me today, or what?” Will said, with a cheesy smile as he approached James.

“Um, I’ve had a weird day already... I’ve got something to show you... later,” James replied.

“Sure, whatever. Where you sitting?”

James knew that Will wanted to sit with him. He always did.

“Do you mind if I sit with you today?” a soft feminine voice suddenly interrupted. It belonged to Mandy Walters, the most stunningly beautiful girl in class.

James was speechless. She had never talked to him before. Why was she paying attention to him now? Never, ever in his wildest dreams had he thought he would have a chance with Mandy. And now she wanted to sit with him. He just opened and closed his mouth for a reply.

“I know when I’m not welcome. I’ll talk to you later, James,” Will said as he moved on to another desk.

James did not answer, he was still stunned that Mandy even knew he existed.

“Okay class, settle down. We have a lot to get through,” Mr. Tan droned.

“I think you’re cute, James.”

“You do?... I mean, ugh, yeah sure...” James’s voice broke at that moment, making half of the sentence come out in an awkward squeak.

Mandy just smiled, she just looked at him as if there was nothing else that mattered.

Mr. Tan was scribbling equations on the blackboard, when Mandy suddenly touched James’s knee and gave him a warm smile and a wink.

“What are you doing?” James whispered, almost instinctively. He was not angry, just absolutely surprised that she had done such a thing. In fact this was the first time any girl had even touched him.

“I told you. I think that you’re cute. Why, don’t you like it?” Mandy said in a rather sensual tone.

“No — I mean, yeah...”

“I heard it was your birthday today. I wondered if you wanted to go out some time?” she whispered with a sexy smile.

James could not believe it. Mandy Walters was asking him out. ‘My God this is all happening too fast’, he thought. First he lost his navel and now the hottest girl in class was asking him out.

“AHH, I just felt SOMETHING!” Mandy screamed, immediately withdrawing her hand and standing up. Her chair crashed backwards to the floor. The class laughed at the interruption of the routine.

“What?” James replied, puzzled.

“James Fletcher and Mandy Walters, I want to see you after class. How dare you interrupt my class with such behaviour!” Mr. Tan said.

“Mr. Tan, I... I want to sit somewhere else,” Mandy said, her anger subduing slightly.

“Granted. Just hurry up, please. I have a class to teach. I do not want any more distractions. We have a lot to get through today.”

James was left sitting alone. He looked down at his leg to see what had happened when she had put her hand on it. James noticed to his chagrin, that his jeans were moving; something was in there wriggling frantically about.

“What the heck is that?” James cried, rushing up from his chair and leaving the classroom before Mr. Tan could protest. More laughter from the rest of the class.

Moments later James was in the boys’ locker room. Breathing heavily and in an absolute panic. He had just inspected his genitals, and was now as white as a sheet at what he saw. Where his penis was supposed to be he now had a snake. A whopping great half-metre long brown snake with white markings all over it.

He quickly stuffed the snake into his boxers and put his jeans back on. Closing his eyes, James prayed that this was all just a horrible dream. When he opened them, Will was standing in front of him smiling cheekily like he always did.

“What happened, James?” Will said, now looking puzzled and concerned for his best mate. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost. Are you all right? Mr. Tan sent me here to see what all the fuss was about.”

“I- I- I don’t know... I just don’t know... Look!” Again James pulled down his pants. Looking directly at Will was his snake, the snake that was now lashing and swaying back and forth, hissing like mad. Will just stood there with his mouth wide open saying nothing.

After some time Will said, “My God, James, that’s some package you’ve got there... Where did that come from? I mean, I’ve seen you naked heaps of times before and you’ve certainly have never had that... that snake between your legs. Where did your dick go?”

“I don’t know... This is terrible — and it appeared just after Mandy Walters asked me out, too!”

“What? Mandy Walters? Mandy Walters asked you out? Man, are you the lucky one... Sorry, well you were lucky, that is until your friend showed up,” Will said beginning to chuckle.

“It’s not funny, Will. I’m serious. This is a disaster. LOOK AT IT.”

“I can’t help but look at it, James. It’s huge.”

“Puberty sure is weird. Did any of this happen to you?” James was desperate. Will was naturally the one James confided in when it came to the pitfalls of growing up.

“Gosh no! I mean, my voice goes weird every now and again, but heck nothin’ like this ever happened to me. And what do you mean ‘any of this’? Why, has something else happened to you today?”

“Yeah, this morning I lost my belly-button!”

“Yeah, but from what I can see — and believe me it’s hard ’cause of that thing waving back and forth — it looks like your belly-button is where it should be.” Will was almost hypnotised by the snake. It kept on swaying from side to side and Will’s head followed it like a spectator at a tennis match.

James checked his navel. It had come back and was just where it should be. But that presented another problem. His snake would surely come out and visit when he had to put on his gym shorts this afternoon for P.E. A navel now seemed rather insignificant compared to this. He could just hear everyone now. In fact, he could just hear all the taunts he was going to get from Mandy and her crowd when he returned to class. He suddenly felt very sick.

“Hey, James. How do you go... you know... can you piss from that thing or what?”

“Damn, I hadn’t thought of that...”

“And for that matter, does it get ‘happy’ you know, like when girls such as Mandy get you going?... What happens then?” James ignored him. He was not in the mood for Will’s humour.

“I dunno,” he eventually remarked, stressed out by this whole situation.

“If I were you, I’d go see somebody about that. I really don’t think it’s normal,” Will added.

Snapping out of it and pulling his jeans back up, James said, “Will, can you tell, Mr. Tan I’m going to see the Doctor?”

“Sure, I think that would be... the best thing given the circumstances, I’d say.”

James got a sick note from administration and went straight to the school’s recommended doctor. A Mr. Williams drove him and then informed James’s mother as to his whereabouts. Mr. Williams was worried and kept reassuring James, who looked like he was going to pass out in a heartbeat.

James, however, was somewhat preoccupied. He hoped and prayed that the darn snake wasn’t poisonous. ‘Imagine if it bit me in the balls’, he thought. He felt queasy again.

“The doctor will see you now, Mr. Fletcher,” the receptionist chirped.

James went in to see Dr. L.J.P. He’d always thought it was a funny name, but at this stage he was really worrying about how to explain all this. Mr. Williams just waited in reception, reading a six-year old New Scientist magazine.

James almost reluctantly entered the doctor’s office. Sitting behind a heavy oak desk was a man with salt and pepper hair, chubby face, little round gold-rimmed glasses — altogether very neat in his appearance. He looked up as James entered. “Take a seat, dear fellow. What can I do for you today?”

James sat down and then began to fidget, not because he did not know how to explain his plight but because of his snake; it was sure making things uncomfortable. It actually felt like it had wrapped itself around his left leg.

After what seemed an eternity, James muttered: “I- I have been having a few... problems... lately, Doctor.”

“Go on,” L.J.P. added, sitting back in his chair.

“Well, this morning when I woke up my belly-button kind of vanished. Then in maths class my... um, dick turned into a... a... snake!”

L.J.P. raised an eyebrow. Not in surprise; he knew what this boy was going through, and that realisation warmed his heart. “I see. How old are you?”

“Seventeen... today... actually, Doctor.”

“Happy birthday!” L.J.P. smiled happily: he had found a magician.

“Thanks... Um, aren’t you going to have a look at it, I mean, I don’t want it to be a poisonous snake? It may bite me, after all.”

“Actually I had better do a full examination. Just in case there are some other surprises on you. Please take off all your clothes.”

But L.J.P. was distracted. He needed to set a plan in motion to make sure this innocent young magician did not get seduced to the other side of magic — the dark side. “Anyway, young man, I already know what’s happened to you.”

“You do?” James said as he pulled down his pants once more.

Before L.J.P., right where the boy’s penis should have been was a live, writhing carpet snake; totally harmless and non-poisonous, but the sight of it made L.J.P. take in his breath. Sure he had seen snakes before, but not like this.

“You’re going through magolescence,” L.J.P. said as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“What? Magolescence? What’s that?” James was dumbfounded again. That seemed to be a regular occurrence today. He had heard of puberty, he had heard of adolescence... But magolescence? He now looked worried again, and he took off his shirt with a pained look on his face.

“Never fear, dear fellow. I will explain all. I have some pamphlets here somewhere... Ah, yes, here they are,” L.J.P. said as he rummaged through the top drawer of his desk.

James flicked through them and was even more confused than ever as he read the titles on each pamphlet. One said: ‘So you’re going through Magolescence." Another was: “Magolescence, don’t panic!” James was speechless, it sounded like he had some rare disease, and that this Doctor was now preparing him for the worst.

“How long did you lose your navel for?” L.J.P. suddenly said, changing the subject.

“Um, I don’t know, but I had it back when I realised I had this... snake,” James said, thinking back to the locker room. Just then he suddenly felt more comfortable down below, lighter even. He quickly looked down at his genitals. Expecting to see the massive carpet snake, he was instead greeted by his own penis. It had returned and the sight of it gave him great joy.

“Ahh, there you go,” L.J.P. smiled, seeing the instant transformation.

“Phew, I don’t know how much longer I could have lasted with that thing down there,” James sighed relief.

“It would not have been long. Your body still needs to function, and a snake isn’t designed to fit there, that’s for sure,” L.J.P. chuckled. “Now magolescence is the development of a magician’s magical abilities...”

“Um, excuse me, doctor. Did you say ‘magician’?” James was shocked, and not for the first time today either.

“Yes, yes, magician. You are a magician and you are going through magolescence. When I went through magolescence I ignited everything I touched. Still makes me laugh to think about it even today. It gave my parents something to worry about, I can tell you,” he chuckled.

“So let me get this straight. I can do magic? I mean... I’m a... magician that can do magic and my body is doing all sorts of weird things because it is getting ready for all that?”

Proceed to part 2...

Copyright © 2005 by Clyde Andrews