Geo One Page Warmup

“Ooohh, now what’s this thing?” the raccoon asked as his fingers traced over the shiny, brightly-colored wheel. The mysterious gift had arrived at Geo’s doorstep in a package with no return address, and was nearly too large to fit through his door. Once setup it looked to be straight out of a game show, but rather than Fabulous Prizes (tm) each spot listed a different species. Raccoon… fox… crow… beetle… rat… elephant… a dizzying variety from all the kingdoms of animalia. Where the wheel came from, who made it, and its purpose were utterly unimportant to Geo at that point.

It was shiny, and made an impressive ‘click’ noise each time the pointer passed another metal divider. That alone was enough to pique the devious raccoon’s curiosity.

Geo spun the wheel aggressively, delighting in the rapid clicking that filled the room. The raccoon’s curiosity had got the best of him; his eyes followed the wheel as it rotated until he was too dizzy to continue. The raccoon shook his head to dispel the stars in his eyes but couldn’t shake the feeling that something heavy was weighing him down. He reached up to tug at his dapper red cap but his arms didn’t quite reach all the way. Geo furrowed his brows just before the cap covered his body entirely, raccoon appendages seemingly drawn up into the hat.

To any outside observer, it would seem that Geo had shrunk away and disappeared entirely with nothing but a tiny ‘squeak!’ and the flump of a cap on the floor. Beneath that cap a dramatic battle must have begun at once, because it shuddered and propelled itself off the ground several times. Finally, after a hard-fought battle against the fabric of his own clothes, a tiny rat pulled himself free from the folds with a desperate gasp of air. The grey furred rodent stood and brushed himself off with tiny hands that still hadn’t registered to Geo as being his own.

The former raccoon turned around to look at the pile of clothes, putting both hands on his hips in an exasperated motion. Geo started to unleash a series of annoyed curses and complaints, all utterly unintelligible as anything but high-pitched squeaks. He paused, realizing the new size of his clothes, then turned to look at the wheel. It said “RAT” in big, bold, blue letters. Geo put the pieces of the puzzle together in his head and squeaked in alarm. Oh no! Brighton would be home any minute and he might not notice what happened. Geo needed to turn back to normal, and fast! All he needed was to go to a different animal, any other animal as long as it would be taller.

He scanned his surroundings, trying to judge distances between furniture at an entirely new perspective. There weren’t many options for climbing up to the wheel so he’d need to make a leap to get it spinning again. The sofa was just barely close enough; Geo imagined he could reach if he got a head start and jumped with all his might. He scurried across the carpet to climb a leg of the sofa, marveling at how easy his grippy fingers and toes could hold onto the surfaces now. In no time he was at the top of the sofa cushions, wiping away sweat from his forehead with the back of a palm.

Geo braced himself, taking a few cautious steps backward before running at top speed toward the edge of the couch. This was going to work. He could already see the trajectory was carrying him right into one of the metal dividers! Perfect- OOF. He collided with the wheel, hanging on just barely with a single hand. There was one flaw with Geo’s perfect plan: he wasn’t heavy enough anymore to get the wheel to spin. “Geo, I’m back!” the voice of a coyote boomed through the front door. Uh oh.