Chapter 5: The Sentence

After a while, Bishop McNelty, Star, and her mother left to go back home. Mrs. McNelty took Chloe home with her so that she could get some dinner while Mr. Torba stayed with Nazzu. Nazzu and his dad were watching a new movie in the Virtual Reality Box when a Neon City Police Department Robot Unit came through the door. His name was Officer PD389. He had a tall, but square, upper body shell and a cylindrical lower body shell. The lower shell was powered by Fly Away’s new anti-gravity technology. It was rather strange for both Nazzu and  Mr. Torba to see the floating robot since the city only had a few models in operation.

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Officer PD389 levitated across the hospital room to where the father and son were seated. “Good evening, Mr. Torba. I am here on account of a crime committed by your son, Nazzu Torba, against Fly Away Enterprise.”

“Very well, officer. Would you mind informing my son of what his crime is and what his sentence will be?”

“Yes sir,” replied the Robot Unit. “The honorable Judge Gillan reviewed the surveillance videos from the warehouse repair floor and the African combo park. He has charged Nazzu with being an accessory to the theft of a damaged Def-Grav 100 from the Fly Away Enterprise Repair Warehouse and for destruction of said Def-Grav 100, property of Mr. Felix Moody.”

Nazzu’s face twisted with horror at the thoughts of what the robot officer was about to say next. Was he going to have to go to jail? Nazzu looked at his dad, who simply nodded his head back toward the officer.

Officer PD389 continued, “Fly Away enterprises has agreed not to press charges against Nazzu Torba or Kett Comer. Instead, the company has agreed to give Mr. Moody a brand new hoverboard, free of cost, under the condition that each of the aforementioned boys works forty hours of community service under the supervision of Fly Away Enterprise’s Janitorial Division.”

Nazzu couldn’t  believe it! He let out a sigh of relief as he realized that he wasn’t going to jail. However, the look on his father’s face gave way to the realization that he was not going to get out of this one that easily. Mr. Torba turned toward the Officer Unit and asked, “When are the boys expected to start their community service?”

“In one week. The judge wanted to allow Nazzu Torba a few days to recover from his injuries prior to requiring said perpetrator to report for service. Kett Comer will also be participating in said community service along with Nazzu Torba next week.”

“Thank you, officer. Nazzu will be at the Janitorial Office ready to work next week,” replied Mr. Torba.

The officer unit did an about face and left the room as smoothly as he had entered. Mr. Torba turned toward his son with a scowl on his face. Nazzu was really afraid of what his dad was going to say.

“Nazzu, I am going down to the hospital’s cafeteria for some coffee. While I’m away, you are going to figure out what you think is an appropriate punishment for yourself. When I come back, we’ll talk and I’ll decide what your punishment will be.”

Chapter 4: The Awakening

Nazzu could barely make it out, but he could have sworn he heard the voice of his father. But where was he? All he could see was darkness in every direction. Then, as his father’s voice grew stronger, there appeared to be a glimmer of light in the distance. As Nazzu headed toward the light, his blue eyes began to open as he regained consciousness. Suddenly, like a flood of rushing water, the sunlight from hospital room window began to overwhelm his senses. The dazed young boy went to cover his eyes and realized that he couldn’t. For some reason he couldn’t move his left arm. Nazzu didn’t have much time to figure out what was happening before being suddenly embraced by his sister and startled by a loud uproar of “Praise God,” and “Thank you, Jesus!” from a room full of familiar faces.

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After a couple of minutes, Nazzu began to get his bearings. His dad, Chloe, his friend Star, Star’s mother, and Mrs. McNelty, the Children’s Bishop, were all there with him in a stark, white hospital room. Mr. Torba, seeing fear and panic washing over Nazzu’s face , began to reassure him that he was going to be fine. He informed his incapacitated son as to why he couldn’t move his left arm. He had broken his arm when he fell from the Def-Grav 100. The doctors had to put his arm in a medical force field to allow it to heal. It was a strange feeling seeing his arm but not being able to move or touch it.

“You are a very fortunate young man,” Mr. Torba said.

Nazzu looked up at his dad and asked, “What happened to me?” Then, as if reliving a bad dream, Nazzu remembered that Kett and he had stolen the Def-Grav 100 from his dad’s shop and taken it to the park to try it out. Nazzu’s countenance went from one of confusion to horror as bits and pieces of that fateful day slowly began to replay in his head.

“Well,” his dad began, “You and Kett were out joy-ratching on a faulty Def-Grav and it exploded while you were riding it through the termite mounds. Fortunately for you, the explosion threw you sideways into one of the mounds and broke your fall.  You could have been seriously injured or even killed!  Thank God for keeping you safe.  Aside from being unconscious for the past two days, you only broke two bones in the  middle of your left arm.”

“I’ve been asleep for two days?!” exclaimed Nazzu. Nazzu was thrilled to find out that he had been knocked out for such a long time. “It’s like I am one of those characters in the movies,” he thought as he began to stare off in the distance and smile. However, glimpsing the rigid, menacing stare of his father, quickly brought Nazzu back to his senses. Looking down at his bed covers, Nazzu asked his dad, “Did Kett get hurt too?”

Mr. Torba shook his head, “No, but he is the one who brought the Midtown medics to you after you blacked out. We’ll talk more about Kett a little later, once your visitors have gone home. Kett also told the medics who you were so that they could reach me and let me know what had happened. You gave us all a big scare! I hope, for your sake, that what you did was worth it, because you’ve got a hefty price to pay for what you’ve done.”

“Yes sir,” whispered Nazzu as he hung his head in shame. He felt terrible for lying to his dad, stealing the Def-Grav, and scaring his family and friends.

Mr. Torba bent over Nazzu’s hospital bed and gently raised his chin up to where their eyes met. Nazzu stared into his dad’s hazel eyes. “Son, I love you. And I forgive you for lying to me. There is nothing you can do to make me stop loving you. But there are consequences for the decisions you made the other day. I want you to know that all of us in this room are here to support you and help you through what you are about to go through. Okay?”

As Nazzu looked around the room, he felt the love of God coming from each person. However, in spite of all his friends’ and family’s support, the foreboding words of his dad began to sink in. “What does he mean ‘what you are about to go through’?” Nazzu pondered.

Chapter 1: The Plan

He could not believe how his afternoon was turning out! Nazzu and his friend, Kett, were on their way over to the Fly Away Enterprises campus, just inside the city limits of Neon City. Fly Away was one of the country’s leading manufacturers of shuttlecraft and hoverboards. The research performed at this location was on the cutting edge of anti-gravitational technology. Hence, the company took great care to guard their secrets behind the new research. In fact, the factory looked more like a military base than a manufacturing center. Armed guards monitored who could come in and out. Only people who worked there were allowed on campus.

Fortunately for Nazzu, his father wasn’t one of those highfalutin researchers or engineers. He was a certified F.A.E. hoverboard repairman and was the head technician of the hoverboard repair department. The security was more lax at the repair shop since it was open to Fly Away customers who needed to drop off their hoverboards, so the shop was separate from the research facilities. This was quite wonderful for Nazzu and his little sister Chloe. This meant they could stop by to see their dad on their way home from school. Mr. Torba always enjoyed their brief afternoon visits. They were typically the highlight of his workday.

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Recently, Mr. Torba’s workload had increased significantly as Fly Away had recently developed a new line of hoverboards called the Def-Grav series. These boards had a gravity producing force field that would hold a rider’s feet to the board whenever they flipped upside-down during mid-flight. However, there were still some technical glitches that were being discovered, hence providing Mr. Torba and his crew with many hours of hard work over the past few weeks.

Nazzu, on the other hand, was completely obsessed with the new Def-Gravs. After seeing the theatrics and feats that the stunt men could perform on the Def 100s, you could not but be in awe and amazement of the newest Fly Away hoverboard. Everyone who hoverboarded dreamed of buying one of  the Def-Grav 100s. They were all the rage at school, but they were very expensive, so usually only the kids from wealthy families could afford them.

Nazzu had drifted off into a daydream when Kett nudged him to let him know that their shuttle-pod stop was coming up. Kett was one of Nazzu’s classmates. He was only twelve years old, but Kett looked like he was a regular fifteen-year-old boy with black wavy hair. Fortunately for Kett, being taller than his classmates brought a bit of respect from his shorter counterparts. In fact, Nazzu thought Kett was one of the coolest kids in his grade. But Kett had never seemed interested in being buddies until lately.

Over the past couple of weeks, Kett had started spending more time with him: hanging out together after school and even inviting Nazzu to his birthday party last week. Nazzu was thrilled! He had always wanted to be friends with Kett and now out of the blue, he and Kett were buds. They talked about a few things, but Kett really seemed interested in his dad’s job. In fact, today Kett kept bugging Nazzu to take him to go see where Mr. Torba worked. Not wanting to disappoint his new friend, Nazzu agreed. He and Kett hopped on the city shuttle-pod and headed over to Fly Away’s factory repair shop after school was out.

The two boys were almost at their stop when Kett leaned over to ask Nazzu, “So Naz, do you think your dad will have any of those new Def 100s at the shop? ”

Nazzu replied, “Yeah, he’s been real busy working on them. Since some of the Def-Grav force fields are glitching, he’s having to recalibrate a lot of them for his customers. I can show you one of the new ones if you want.”

Kett looked at Nazzu with his light brown eyes and flashed a devious smile. “Have you ever ridden one?”

Nazzu shook his head, staring at the floor. “No. Dad won’t let me. He says they’re too dangerous right now. Maybe later when Fly Away comes out with a more stable model.”

“Aw, moonroids! That’s crazy! Have you seen the commercials? Those guys are doing lunar crazy tricks and they’re totally fine.” Kett leaned closer as he whispered, “How about we take one for a ride?”

Nazzu turned his head suddenly, “What?! Do you have one? That would be so lunar!”

Kett shook his head, “Naw man, I don’t have one. But your dad has a lot of them just laying around the shop, right? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind us borrowing one for just a short ride.”

With a look of disbelief, Nazzu answered, “Oh, he’ll never agree to that.”

“Who said anything about asking?” Kett replied. “We’ll just sneak one out the back door and have it back before he ever misses it. Come on, Naz. Don’t you want to see how it feels to hoverboard upside-down?”

Nazzu reluctantly answered, “I don’t know, if my dad finds out, I’ll…”

Kett cut him off, “What?! You’re not chicken are you?”

“No, no!” Nazzu quickly replied. “I’ve been wanting forever to ride a Def 100…just as long as we bring it back before Dad finds out.”

Kett smiled, “We’re just gonna borrow one for a couple of hours. We’ll have it back before your dad knows it’s gone. Promise.”

“Alright then, let’s do this!” Nazzu said as the Neon City shuttle pod came to a stop at the Fly Away Enterprise platform.

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