One day, Phil, Wendy and Ishkabob are “hanging-out” on the front porch when his friend, Jimi, rides up. Jimi has a fanny pack on with a small collection of miniature cars inside. Jimi pours them out onto the porch, spilling sand all over, Phil says he has a better idea, “there’s dirt under the porch, that way mom doesn’t “grump” at us for getting the porch dirty.” Jimi gathers up the cars as Phil removes the lattice door. Jimi asks if he plays in here often, Phil tells him he never has, but has looked, wondering what it would be like. They move cobwebs and leaves; soon enough roads appear in the brown earth. The sound of boys pretending to be car engines emits from under the porch. Time slips away from them and the movement of his feet means nothing to his brain, until Phil feels a sharp pain in his ankle. Looking down he sees a white scorpion on his sock, he slaps and kills it. The boys are about to return to the world of their imagination, when Jimi sees a lot of the scorpions, ruining the game. They gather the cars quickly and beat a hasty retreat into the sunlight. It’s cooler in the open air as they check each other for stragglers. The color drains from Phil’s face and he sits down, hard, onto the ground. Sweat pops out on his forehead and he falls over onto the grass. Jimi runs to the door, knocking hard and fast. When his mom answers all she can make out from Jimi, talking 120 miles per hour, is Phil, bite, scorpion. She’s on the ground without knowing she moved, scooping him up, she feels the heat radiating from his body, (yeah, adrenaline, what a rush) and running to the bathroom. She shuts the drain, cranking the cold water full blast. She peels his clothes off and immerses him in the cold water. Phil is limp in the tub as she dials 911 for an ambulance. Wendy and Ishkabob are motionless on the floor, Wendy watches, worried about Phil. The paramedics arrive, telling Phil’s mom the cold tub was the best thing for him until he could get proper medical attention. As the siren fades into the distance, Wendy realizes Ishkabob is having issues of his own. Ishkabob is unresponsive, and Wendy wonders how in the world she can cool him off. The tub has cold water, and even if she could get up to it, she couldn’t get Ishkabob there. The rides! No, it would be the same problem. She thinks, time slipping away from her, well, at least he would be comfortable in his own bed until I can think of something. She grabs his arms, dragging him across the tile floor of the bathroom, then down the hardwood floor of the hall to their bedroom. Wendy stops to catch her breath, looking around the room. There is the night stand, with his lamp, the clock radio, and a glass of water. The bed, almost neatly made, only one corner of the comforter is touching the floor. Phil’s slippers, their beds, actually centered on the rug. Phil’s closet door is slightly ajar. Wendy pulls Ishkabob to his bed, and then hears a voice say, “We now return to psychedelic weekend with The Amboy Dukes.” “Come along if you care Come along if you dare Take a ride to the land inside of your mind Beyond the seas of thought Beyond the realm of what Across the streams of hopes and dreams  Where things are really not “ The scorpions poison sends Ishkabobs mind into a delirium of the past. Ishkabob feels the heat and opens his eyes; excitement floods him when he sees the sand and the small waves coming in from the ocean. Phil places a plastic bucket on darker, firmer sand and Ishkabob helps hold the bucket steady as Phil begins to fill it with sand and a shovel, love for this boy fills him with each shovel full. The bucket is filled countless times creating a large mound of sand, then Phil shows him how to make doors and windows in the mound, creating a castle. Turrets rise into the sky, ports to fire from ring the structure, and Ishkabob is drawing lines in the walls to make it look like stone. Every structure has a key spot that holds it together, but sand castles have trigger spots that will bring down portions, great and small. Ishkabob is working on a door for the one turret when he feels a tickle on his legs, he looks down to see the sand like the incoming tide, covering them and inching higher. The idea to run is put on hold when the side of the turret buries him completely. His screams for help are only heard by Wendy, who can do nothing to help him in the real world where he is fighting the fever. Wendy says right out loud, “Think, Wendy think! How can I cool him down? Phil’s glass of water, but how can I get him up there?” As an idea begins to form, the song on the radio has changed. Wendy does not hear The Chambers Brothers singing “Time has come today”, because only Ishkabob feels the effects as the word “time” reverberates into distortion. Wendy runs to the closet to get a pair of shoe strings, cotton knit necktie, and Phil’s belt. Ishkabob is on the crest of the next wave, ready for “the tumbling tide”. Ishkabob’s mind is spinning as the poison distorts the distorted music on the radio, turning it into a carousel melody; the spinning slows to a stop. Ishkabob opens his eyes to the smell of popcorn, funnel cakes, and hot dogs; he’s excited to be at the carnival. Wendy’s had her turn; now he gets to choose, there, the big circle thing, let’s do that. They get on first, and the attendant locks the bar in place, he moves to a long lever, and says, “Have fun, kid.” Ishkabob’s stomach rolls over and knots up when the carnie grins, revealing only one black tooth in his mouth. He pulls the lever, creating a screaming sound; the seat slides back and up at the same time, then stops, rocking back and forth. Ishkabob has a bad feeling as fear grips his heart. More people get on and their seat stops at the very top, rocking back and forth, Ishkabob looks, seeing people the size of ants, and squeezing his eyes shut so hard tears trickle down his cheeks. The two minuet ride takes an hour as panic gnaws at Ishkabob, making him want to lash out at someone. Phil takes them on his ride, “The Round-up”, and when Wendy “breaks wind” from the centrifugal force, he finds his opportunity. He knows it wasn’t her fault for his fear, but it’s easier to make her feel bad too, than to admit his weakness. He calls her “windy” and makes the “fart” sound, feeling better until she wishes him dead. Phil is angrier than they have ever seen, and he heads for home on his bike, what should have been a fun day is now ruined. Phil turns his bike down a steep, dirt path, picking up speed as he goes. Ishkabob turns to tell Wendy how sorry he is, but causes Phil’s foot to slip on the pedal. Ishkabob feels pain. Ishkabob hears a deep, throaty growl, and then pain explodes anew as his side is ripped open. He feels Phil’s fear and a hot, sticky sensation. He hears the growl again and feels too weak to think, then fresh pain rips through him and the daylight fades. Trying to remain calm, hearing Ishkabob living through her nightmare, she drags her supplies to the foot of the bed, not caring about her exhaustion from the climb in Phil’s closet gathering the stuff. She ties a shoe string to each end of the belt, then drags Ishkabob over and ties a shoe string around him. She positions him at the corner of the comforter, and then ties the other shoe string around herself. She ties a loose knot in the necktie, wearing it like a bandolier, and then begins climbing the comforter. After the commercials on the radio, Pink Floyd comes on, Wendy does not hear the song, but the poison in Ishkabob’s system catches the lyrics: “The lunatic is in my head The lunatic is in my head You raise the blade, you make the change You re-arrange me ’till I’m sane You lock the door And throw away the key There’s someone in my head but it’s not me. And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear You shout and no one seems to hear And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon "I can’t think of anything to say except... I think it’s marvelous! Ha, Ha, Ha!" The singer goes into the lunatics laugh and Ishkabob opens his eyes to see the butler turn, and the knife sticking out of his back. Unable to stop, he follows into a room with candles, an open coffin, and a dead woman. The butler says, “This is Madam, she got angry with Master over a hair appointment. She poisoned his soup-de-jour, and blamed me. In this case “the butler did it, but not before she tried “to give me the axe” so to speak.” She sits up, reaching for Ishkabob, as he steps back, her arm elongates, stretching, closer to Ishkabob. He tries to run, but it’s like a dream, the faster he runs means nothing, he goes nowhere. Ishkabobs thrashing almost pulls Wendy’s grip loose, she holds tight, sweating freely, muscles aching, exhaustion catching up to her. She looks up and sees that she’s close to the top, when Ishkabob stops, momentarily. Gathering up her strength, she climbs on. She pulls herself over the top, then rounds the bedpost, and jumps. Hendrix is on the radio, and as her feet leave the bed he says, “S’cuse me while I kiss the sky…..”. Her weight pulls Ishkabob to the top as she lands on the floor. She runs under the bed and around the post to where the shoe string won’t slip, then ties it off, and sits down for a minuet to get some strength back for the climb up again. While Wendy is resting, “The Electric Prunes” come on singing about how they had “too much to dream last night”, causing her to laugh uncontrollably. When her laughter tapers off, she’s rejuvenated, knowing most of the physical part is done, and she climbs back up the comforter again. She unties Ishkabob and pulls him the length of the bed. She pauses, then hoisting him onto her shoulder, feeling the heat radiating from him; she makes her way onto the night stand. She gently lowers him, then pulls the necktie off and dips the wide end into the glass of water. It’s so hard being patient, but she has to wait until the tie is good and wet. Just like playing hide and seek, she counts as far as she can, all the way to 25. She pulls it dripping from the glass and covers Ishkabob with it, leaving his nose and mouth out. Now that Ishkabob is cooling, she sits to rest a little bit, but the exertion has taken its toll, and she falls unwillingly asleep. Ishkabob finally cools enough that he begins to actually rest, the fever breaks. Hours have passed in the blink of an eye and Phil has been released from the hospital. The scorpion was not deadly, just made him very sick for a while. He goes into his bedroom and wonders what went on in his absence. He gently lays Wendy and Ishkabob in their beds, noting that Ishkabob is soaking wet from his necktie, but will get the whole story once they all wake up. It has been a very crazy day.