Robbie Larson's Legendary Snow Day

By David Towner

     After a record snowfall, four Minnesota boys are enjoying a rare day off school by digging a system of snow tunnels to each others houses, a local tradition.  As they navigate their way through the massive mounds, they get more of an adventure than they bargained for when they enter a portal uncovered beneath the snow by Robbie, the youngest of the group. 

     When their adventure lands them in the midst of one of Blackbeard's evil schemes, twelve-year-old Davey, the self-appointed leader of the group, struggles to find the solution to getting back home but it's not until the group, including Monica, Davey and Robbie's 16 year old sister, decides to set aside their differences and cooperate, that they can uncover the solution to get home in time for Christmas.    

    The story is driven by Robbie's imagination, resulting in a unique series of character parallels and manifestations including a peculiar depiction of pirates.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Splash MKTG
• Release date: Jan 11, 2024
• ISBN: 9798988353065

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DAVID TOWNER

Copyright © 2023 Splash MKTG

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means without the prior written permission of the author.

Oh, fare ye well home, oh fare ye well, we leave ye with regret…

The singing parrot in Robbie Larson’s pirate-themed video game is the bane of his family’s household and the sole disruption to an otherwise peaceful domain. Tonight is no exception. Guapo, as the parrot is called by his plundering owner, is on another raucous, squawking adventure. Gracefully soaring over an inland forest, he takes an unexpected downward dive, targeting a large wooden door which seems way out of place on the remote forest floor. Just as a collision appears imminent, the door opens and Guapo dives into the darkness below. On a mission now, he maneuvers through the narrow passageway for several seconds until it becomes brighter and brighter. Finally, he emerges over a majestic island paradise, swooping over a tropical rainforest canopy and eventually soaring over the vast seas, spotting a large ship on the horizon at six o’clock.

Now, nine-year-old Robbie Larson is glued to this game with every fiber of his being. His bedroom has completely faded from his attention. All he can focus on is the screen before him and the radio, softly playing traditional Christmas tunes as he hums along.

Guapo doesn’t sing this time but instead squawks a warning.

Merchant vessel, six o’clock! Squawk!

Robbie wastes no time when he sees the targeted ship rising on the horizon. He mashes down on the blue button in the center of his controller, clicking it as fast as he possibly can. In response, his ship’s cannons fire.

The cannonballs launch out of their barrels and arc high against the blue sky. Robbie watches with a grin as they pummel the other ship, sending splintering wood in all directions.

DIRECT HIT! the screen reads.

Direct hit! Guapo announces.

Alright! cheers Robbie just as more words appear on his screen.

SET SAIL TO LEVEL II?

YESSS! Robbie cheers even louder, bouncing up and down in his seat.

The noise in Robbie’s room never goes unnoticed. Neither the parrot nor his raucous celebrations are particularly conducive to Robbie’s brother’s work. Davey Larson dreams of being a civil engineer, not the typical dream for a twelve-year-old boy, but he’d committed to this dream when he was six years old, and he will see it through. His bedroom walls are adorned with posters of the world’s most famous bridges and tunnels, including The Channel Tunnel, a collage of New York’s most recognizable throughways, and several fictional labyrinths. All the sketches he’s been working on are rolled tightly, secured with rubber bands, and placed upright in every available corner.

On this particular night, Davey is working at his drafting table, diligently designing his most recent concept, an elaborate schematic, featuring a complex series of tunnels, intertwined through a symmetrical subdivision. Important stuff. So, when Guapo begins his next rendition of Oh fare ye well home, Davey decides he’s had enough.

He throws his pencil down and rises from his chair on a mission. He’s positive Robbie can hear him coming. He stomps loudly down the hall to make sure of it.

SHUT THAT THING UP! he hollers as he throws open Robbie’s bedroom door.

No! Robbie says without even looking up from his game. These interruptions don’t even faze him. Davey is always throwing fits like this.

Davey, too, knows how this always goes. He slams the door.

God, that thing is driving me crazy… he mutters to himself as he tries to calm himself down. Designing complex infrastructure is difficult enough under the best of circumstances. It is virtually impossible with a shaky hand and a distracted mind.

In the last bedroom at the end of the hallway, Robbie’s sister, Monica, is spending her evening lounging on her bed and talking on the phone. This is also a normal night for her. There isn’t much she enjoys more in life than gossip. She finds it to be the most rewarding component of a sixteen-year-old’s life.

Oh my god, she says with a laugh. Lora, her newest confidential informant, has just told her a salacious story about the basketball team’s latest party. She can hardly believe what she’s just heard, but she has to turn the topic back to her primary interest, her crush. Did Jake say anything about me?

She tries to be subtle, but she knows Lora sees right through her. Just as she can tell Lora is inhaling to respond, Monica is drowned out by Robbie’s game.

Oh, fare ye well home, oh fare ye well, we leave you with regret…

Shut your freakin’ pie hole! she yells, banging against the closest wall with her foot. She knows it’ll do no good, but she simply cannot listen to that thing anymore.

What? Lora’s voice is soft and surprised, and Monica’s heart drops.

No, Monica says, her voice frantic. Not you, not you. My brother plays this stupid video game…

The living room is the quietest room in the house, mostly because it’s too far from Robbie’s room for the video game to make much of an impact. Tonight, Mrs. Larson and her husband are the ones enjoying the peace and quiet.

Mrs. Larson finally finished putting up the Christmas decorations yesterday, one of her least favorite tasks of the year. Yet she always decides to go all out, even if it takes weeks to accomplish. There isn’t a corner, wall, or window on the first floor without some type of illuminated adornment. The task of removing the festive decorations will fall on her husband, like always, but only after he grows tired of looking at them as spring approaches. This evening, she hasn’t found the energy to get out of her Christmas-themed hospital scrubs. She sits on the couch, soaking her feet in a small tub of warm water, glassy-eyed. On the television is one of her usual British documentaries, this one about the history of nautical navigation.

The Elizabethan era introduced a new threat to nautical travel: piracy, the monotone narrator says. Although no ship was safe from thievery, pirates on the Atlantic preferred frigates that could handle their pilfered cargo and allow escape from government forces. The ‘Man o War’ style frigate could accommodate nearly 200 men and haul approximately 360 tons…

Her husband, Mr. Larson, doesn’t have much interest in this type of trivial information. A thin, scholarly man, he chooses to spend all his free time off work by working. As his wife watches her documentary, he rhythmically pounds out an email on his laptop. All his legal files for his current cases are organized in several-feet-high piles all around him.

Davey storms in during the first commercial break, disrupting the couple’s peace.

Mom, you gotta make him quit, he says, his voice stern.

Son. Mr. Larson picks up a file and flips through it without even looking up at him. "Your mother works twelve-hour days. She doesn’t need to come home to more