CHAPTER ONE

*** Six-year old Calvin stands on top of a hill on a snowy, Winter afternoon with his tiger friend, Hobbes standing close by. The evening prior gifted them with a few feet of snow and here they are, about to enjoy their day with their usual sledding escapades.

"It's a magical world, Hobbes 'ol buddy," Calvin said as he and Hobbes sit on the sled simultaneously before coasting down the hill with demonic speed.

"Let's go exploring!"

***Twenty years later…- - -

"CALVIN, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

The constant blaring coming from Calvin's alarm clock has now permeated the entire house, enough to annoy his parents. His father barges in the room, half asleep; His eyes slightly open and defenseless due to his split second omission of his glasses.

He makes his way into Calvin's pitch dark bedroom, stepping through a river of dirty laundry before finally making it across the left side of Calvin's bed, where his clock lies. After frantically slamming on a bunch of buttons, the alarm finally shuts off.

With a quiet sigh and a small counterclockwise turn, he opens up the blinds to let the sunlight in. Today is June 1st; The time? 7:10 AM. We see an adult Calvin in bed, lying on his stomach, his body in the spread eagle position. He softly moans and groans as he slowly comes to.

"Huh? Wha…?"

"Son," Dad begins sternly. "It's time to go to work."

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Calvin quickly grabs his pillow and throws it at his Dad. The pillow hits Dad on the shoulder.

"Calvin, don't do this now!"

"I'M NOT GOING TO WORK," Calvin proclaimed, slowly rising to his feet. "IT'S AGAINST MY RIGHT AS A SOVEREIGN CITIZEN!"

"At this rate, you're going to wake up your mother," Dad walks towards the doorway with more pep and confidence in his steps, now that he can see a little bit. "Get dressed and come down for breakfast."

"I'M GONNA EAT YOUUU FOR F&*!# BREAKFAST! YOU GOT THAT?!"

A sigh is heard from the distance before an older woman arrives at the doorway wearing a pink nightgown and bandana. It was Calvin's Mom, clearly annoyed by all the ruckus so early in the morning.

"What's going on, dear," Mom asks Dad. He slightly turns his head, his back against his wife as he keeps his eye on Calvin, who's now making his way towards his closet. "Your son is starting his new job in an hour..."

"Wait, so now he's MY son," Mom's annoyance, as well as the volume of her voice increased tremendously. Dad fires back as he turns to face Mom fully, "Well whose room did we choose to conceive the kid?! I'll give you a hint: WASN'T MINE."

Just as Mom was getting ready to answer, Calvin walks past his parents with his signature clothing: red shirt with black stripes and black, skinny fit jeans. Both parents stare briefly in disbelief as they watch their 26-year old son race down the steps.

We see Calvin sitting on the couch in the living room with a bowl of Corn Flakes, watching some cartoons. We hear sounds of explosions and feet scurrying coming from the bright screen. Calvin laughs with abandon as he slurps on his milk. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, his parents are present. Dad is talking on the home phone, while Mom sits beside him at the kitchen table, concerned, as she grips on Dad's forearm. Both of them, like their son, are dressed and ready for the day.

"Yes, we should be ready to go in a few minutes," Dad said in a slightly hushed tone. This was his attempt to avoid Calvin from eavesdropping. "Thank you so much for hiring him, you don't know how rough things have been for us...uh-huh...uh-huh. I completely understand. Just be gentle with him...of course, mm-hmm...I see. Well, that's one option, but I don't want to take it that far, he's still a kid...yes. Shift ends at 4, yes, I'll be sure to remind him after I drop him off. Thank you so much. Take care."

Dad hangs up the phone. He takes a deep sigh before announcing, "Calvin! Time for us to go!" He kisses his wife's hand before assuring her, "Everything's going to be okay, sweetheart. He's going to have steady income now. It won't fall on me anymore."

"But my health, dear, and the bills," Mom slightly drifts off as it sounds like her voice was cut off by pain and sadness. She quickly pulls herself together. "This is his eighth job in three years. This can't go on forever."

"I know, honey. And it's no longer going to continue. They'll make sure of it."

Calvin enters the kitchen. Standing at 6'2" weighing 190 pounds with bushy blonde hair, if people in his town didn't know any better, they would assume that he was still a high school student. Dad opens the back door located at the other end of the kitchen, and as he walks out, his son quickly follows, but not before grabbing his sacked lunch Mom left for him at the dining table.

"Have a good day at work, Calvin," Mom said as he meets Calvin and Dad at the doorway. Their car sitting neatly on their driveway. Their old car was replaced nearly a decade ago with a yellow compact SUV.

"Dear, don't forget my appointment at noon," Mom politely reminded Dad. Dad gives his wife a quick nod before opening the driver's door. "I'll make sure to be back in time!" Calvin looks at both of his parents with a look of disbelief. "You're going to the doctor's AGAIN? What's going on?"

"Never mind that, Calvin, you have a job to do, remember?" Dad gives his son a stern look before entering the vehicle.Calvin rolled his eyes with a mumbled, "Yeah, whatever" before he opened his respective door to be inside the car. Within fifteen seconds, the car slowly backed out, made a right cutaway and just like that, Calvin was off to his first day at work.