Chapter I
Barney woke up with a jolt of energy one Saturday morning, nice and snug in his bed, sunlight creeping into the room through the crack in between the curtains on his window. Wiping the crusty rheum from his eyes, he climbed out of bed and went to put on some clothes; a white tank top with a green plaid shirt over it, black denim shorts, and white micro crew socks. Barney was known to be an early bird, and it was not anything out of the ordinary to see him getting dressed to go outside a mere 10-15 minutes after he even wakes up. Going to the bathroom, he combed his curly Ginger hair out of his face, tidied it up and then brushed his teeth, went back to his room, put on deodorant, and then walked downstairs.
Grabbing a banana, he walked out into the backyard porch, sat down on the couch, and relaxed (while eating the banana). Barney loved going outside for some fresh air, especially in the morning. The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, there were barely any clouds in the sky, and it had to be at least 15 degrees (Celsius) outside. Just another beautiful day in Niagara Falls. What he liked even more, however, was that his home wasn’t even too far away from the falls themselves, so sometimes if you listened you could actually hear them. And if you asked anyone how it felt hearing the sound of the water in the morning, believe me, they would tell you that it was magnificent. The sound of the birds singing was no different. Not everyone will like that, but to people like Barney, hearing birds chirping and rushing water at the same time was some of the most soothing kinds of music one could ever listen to. Putting on his black n blue Nike sneakers and tossing his banana peel in the trash can that lay just beside the door, he got up and walked down the small wooden staircase into the backyard to jump on the trampoline.
The next person to wake up was Bertie, one of Barney’s brothers. Usually, Bertie tended to rest a bit longer, but this time he was only in bed for about 10 minutes before he was up and at ‘em. Unlike Barney, who slept in his underwear, Bertie slept with clothes on, sometimes changing into pyjamas, but other times he just sleeps with what he’s already wearing. Looking at his alarm clock, Bertie saw that it was 8:53 AM. Eh, whatever, he thought to himself as he lumbered out of bed and over to his window to take a quick peek outside. Almost immediately, the light from the sun shined on him. Shutting the blinds, he walked over to his dresser, which had a mirror. His hair was a mess. But that wasn’t too much of a surprise for him. He had much longer hair than either of his brothers, having been growing it since he was 3. And of course, because of genes and whatnot, it was all curly and thick. And we all know that with hair like that, brushing it regularly is a must. What sucks though is that, because it quite literally reaches down almost to his waist, clearing out all those tangles and knots takes FOREVER. The task at hand was eventually completed though, and Bertie then went to open his closet. Shuffling through his many shirts, some of which were from brands like Zoo York, others had logos from iconic films like Back to The Future, and bands like AC/DC, The Tea Party, Nirvana, or Motörhead. It was never that easy to for him to choose a shirt, because he liked a lot of them. Then he finally plucked out a black shirt with an astronaut drawing a smiley face on the moon with yellow spray paint. Changing into that, a pair of black pants, and black ankle socks, he then walked back over to the mirror, picked out a black hair tie, and tied his hair into a ponytail. Then he walked back to his bed, sat down, opened the drawer in his nightstand, and picked up his inhaler. Bertie had been having trouble with his asthma the past few years. He was diagnosed when he was 10, but back then it wasn’t as much of a nuisance as it is now. After he was done with it, he got up and left the room.
When he went downstairs to the living room, he saw his other brother, Bartram, sitting on the couch watching The Big Bang Theory on the TV. “Oh, mornin’ Bert,” he said as he turned to look at him. “Hey Bart,” Bertie said as he sat down beside him. Bartram was also one of the three brothers, having the same curly ginger hair, freckles, and pale skin. His hair was cropped short at the sides, and the top of his head carried a big man bun with light blue highlights. He was wearing a rainbow tie dye shirt and white camo shorts.
“Did ya sleep well?” Bartram asked. “Yeah, it was alright I guess,” Bertie replied. “How’s that book coming along?” Bartram slumped a little bit when he was asked the question. “Horribly.” Bertie stared at Bart, a look of slight concern on his face. “How come? Last time I asked you said it was going quite smoothly.” Sitting up, Bart let out a big sigh. “I think I might have writers’ block again. I spent the whole night trying to think of something, but I couldn’t jot anything down at all.” Bartram was really into books and literature, and for quite a while now he had been trying to write a novel of his own, but was constantly starting over, either because he lost interest in the idea, he couldn’t think of anything for certain parts, or he just randomly dropped the project to start fresh on something more favourable. Just a couple months ago he had finally started to really get into the groove with one of his stories and had made more progress than he had ever done before. Unfortunately, lately he had gotten writer’s block again and was having trouble moving the story along. “Having issues with that again?” Bertie asked. “Yup,” Bartram responded solemnly. “And what sucks even more is that I woke up at 5 in the morning and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I spent a lot of that time either trying to think of something for the book or trying desperately to get just a few more hours of sleep.”