Pen to the Paper 17: The Announcement

"You're a baby, Caleb."

"Man, forget you, Nick. It's hot!"

Nick checked the thermostat. "It's 75 degrees, man. That's seriously spring temps."

"Too hot. Look at me! I'm melting!"

Nick shook his head. "What do you want it set to, then?"

I thought for a second. "68."

Nick looked at me with shock. "Dude, what are you trying to do? Make me freeze?"

"Man, you're a baby. Even that's warm for me. Those seven degrees is the difference between me dying and being semi-comfortable."

"68 is kinda chilly, man."

"Dude, I can be outside at 40 degrees and feel fine. I'll put on a hoodie if I know I'll be out there for a while, but other than that…"

"We are talking Fahrenheit, right?" Nick asked.

"No. Kelvin."

Nick shook his head. "You're something else, Caleb. You're something else."

"I'm a Nord. 15% resistance to frost damage."

Nick looked at me with a puzzled look.

"Skyrim reference."

"Oh," he said, walking to the control panel. "The crowds waiting. You going to get on there or what?"

"No, I have a plan."

Converting the bird suit wasn't that difficult. I went to the guy who helped my design and create the suit and had him make me a tailcoat entirely out of black feathers. It did split down the center, as I find tailcoats that don't split unclassy. I'm a classy man, so you have to have that split. The feather pants seemed to shine in the sunlight, and my orange tie brought the whole look together.

I had been preserving the snow since it fell last week. It never snows down here in the Hellish temperatures of the South. On the bright side, the two weeks of spring that rapidly turn into a scorching summer are absolutely gorgeous… if you go to the right state parks. Though nothing will ever compete with the rolling plains of the Mid-West or the majestic mountains of Colorado, the South can be a beautiful place.

I snapped out of my trance and checked the integrity of my machine. Everything seemed to be in working order. I pressed the timer, set off in a dead sprint on the catwalk, dove off of it, tucking my arms in and spinning as I fell.

"Three… two… one…" I muttered as the ground grew ever closer. On one, the ground being way too close for my comfort, I spread my wings and began to soar, only a few feet from the ground. Simultaneously, my machine erupted, sending a shower of snow down onto the audience and the stage. Soon, the entire Pen to the Paper Arena was covered in snow. Real snow that I paid way too much to get scooped up and hauled here. Luckily for me, the Pen to the Paper audience was large enough to splurge on cool things like this.

Doing a flip mid-air, I landed on stage, sliding sideways to a halt in front of the microphone. "I don't do these entrances because they are absolutely epic," I said. "They are just genuinely fun.

"Y’know, I had a lot of fun in the little bit of snow we had last week. Melted next day, as is typical, but because it had rained before, we were able to grab the sleds we hadn't used in years and go sledding in the two centimeters of snow we had. The snow fight that followed was just super fun… I suck at throwing them, though. My aim is awful. So of course the only time I hit someone is when my grandmother came outside with the garbage… Sorry, not sorry, Grandma. Then, for old time's sake, we headed inside and made some hot chocolate, even though we were only wearing sweaters out there.

"Keeping the snow from melting was tough. Especially with Nick putting the darn thermostat on 75… I love the dude, but, man… he gets cold easy.

"But enough about that, who's ready for some announcements!?!?!?"

The crowd went wild, cheering. Or were their teeth chattering that loudly? It was hard to tell. And I was getting some angry glares…

Smiling smugly, I said, "Well, let's get on with it then!

"In third place, we have Rosemandle's Lonely. It was a beautiful poem about waiting for the right person.

"In second place is none other than Sanjana_S! Her wonderfully descriptive work Decades Wrapped in the Dark made you feel as if you were in solitary confinement with the man, it made you think like he thought, it made you confused like he was. It was amazing. Which is why it was difficult to not give her first place… but I definitely think that first place is deserving of its place.

"First place was a beautiful piece of literature. It pulled on your heart strings really well, and the ending was very well done. In first place, we have Love Letter Found in the Ruins of the War by roboggeek! I loved everything about this!"

I stood silently for a moment while the crowd cheered in congratulation.

"Some honorable mention," I said after a while.

"I really enjoyed All Hail! (Pen to the Paper 17) by StephanieMarie. The rhyme scheme was great! I'm a sucker for a good rhyme scheme, and the poem itself was wonderful.

"Time at the Typewriter by jtwannabewriter was also a wonderful read! I absolutely loved it.

"Spiral… by michaelistrans was a great mind-wandering that I enjoyed reading."

"LovelyNB's I Fall to pieces in the NICU was another great write! Though I will never be a mother, she did a wonderful job giving a peak into the thoughts and feelings of a mother separated from her baby, unable to do the motherly duties she likely longs for. To hold the child, to feed the child… it was an amazing little write.

"Finally, but not lastly nor leastly, we have Roses311Sublime's Filler. I had a few good laughs in it!

"Thank you one and all for entering! I'll see you guys next month!" I said, pulling something out of my inner pocket. Throwing it to the ground, a puff of smoke exploded in front of me. By the time the smoke cleared, I was gone.

Once the elevator clicked into the floor of the multi-purpose room that I call the dressing room, I approached Nick and slapped him across the face.

"OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?"

I pulled off my jacket and pointed at the wet spot beneath my arms. "Did you turn the thermostat up!?"

He put his hand on his neck and laughed nervously as I stared angrily at him, cracking my knuckles.