Bomba 4th Of July Growth

Somewhere on the lakeside, an otter and a kangaroo sprawled out on their picnic blanket staring up into the night sky. A cool breeze blew across the crowd of people in the grass waiting the 4th of July fireworks to begin. The sun set an hour ago; it was only a few minutes until the main event. Bomba yawned, rubbing at his eyes before he leaned against Alkali.

“How much longer do we have to wait anyway? It’s late and I have work tomorrow,” Bomba complained.

The kangaroo looked at his phone, grey face lit up by the screen. “Five minutes. Maybe ten if they’re running late on preparations,” Alkali replied. The yellow otter groaned in response. Alkali knew Bomba wasn’t much for staying up late.

Alkali chuckled and pushed against his fiancé. “Just a little longer. Try to stay awake. Think about explosive growth instead, that might help keep you awake,” he teased.

The fireworks started soon after. Red, blue, green, multicolored lights filled the starry skies above. That was enough to get Bomba excited. His yellow rudder swished back and forth over the grass. He’d never really enjoyed fireworks until he moved in with Alkali. Watching fireworks go off was fine, but sitting with someone you love at the same time was much nicer. Warm summer nights out by the lake with his kangaroo… couldn’t be much better. His mind started to drift as the fireworks filled his vision, swimming amongst the pleasant feeling of the summer breeze and the beautiful lights.

Explosive growth didn’t sound too bad after all. Could be funny to write a story about that when they returned home. His name was Bomba, there were fireworks going off, explosive growth… that had all the makings of a short and silly story to him. His eyes fluttered slightly as the drowsiness started to wash over him yet again. His eyes were filled with the reflection of the fireworks above just before he drifted to rest.

Things happened pretty quickly after that.

For starters, Alkali noticed Bomba leaned heavier on him with each passing second. He tried to push the otter away so he wouldn’t be flattened, but the act of moving was quickly removed from his options. With an explosive burst upward his partner rose into the sky. The kangaroo’s eyes went wide, just before the otter flopped onto his side. He yelped as the tsunami of yellow fur fell on him, covering him from head to toe in 100 feet of otter. Explosive growth indeed. Alkali was trapped under the thigh of his fiancé, dizzied by the sudden force of Bomba’s size change. There would be no escaping for the evening.

Minutes later the otter yawned again and rolled to his back, eyes fluttering open. “Oh man, did I drift off? Sorry. Didn’t mean to,” he muttered. When Alkali didn’t reply Bomba’s eyes opened a little wider. “Hun? Where are you?”

He couldn’t find the kangaroo but he did see a crowd of people staring up at him from the grass. Bomba’s face went bright red as he sat up. “Oh no, sorry! I didn’t mean to do this. Please just uhh, ignore me. The fireworks are still going off!”

Most of the crowd took the otter’s words to heart and scooted away, but some started to crawl up his side. They brought their picnic blankets with them and started to make a new place to watch the finale of the show. Bomba thought about trying to brush them off, so he could find his fiancé and enjoy the fireworks in peace. But then he realized: they were probably just trying to find a free space now that he’d taken up much more room. He couldn’t fault them for that. It was kind of his fault.

So the otter shrugged and laid back in the grass, hands behind his head to watch the finale with the oohs and aahs of the tiny folks on his belly. He could find Alkali later; 4th of July only came along once a year and he wasn’t going to let a little Bombastic growth ruin the evening.