Editorial: The epic adventure of Flash, Andy and the apple guy

Today we want to tell you a story. What, you're leaving already? C'moooon, we promise it'll be an interesting one! Here it goes...

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Flash. Flash was among the coolest kids in his neighborhood and did what every other cool and popular kid does... like hanging out with friends, going to parties, riding a bicycle and dating hot chicks with D-cups. At a certain point, Flash decided he's big enough to start exploring the nearby neighborhoods. He went to several previously unknown to him places, and most of them seemed pretty hospitable. He had a fun time.

One rainy day, though, Flash was so bored that he decided to pay a visit to the Mobile hood. It was a place he had only heard stories of, which only made it more attractive to him. Later that day, he took his umbrella and set off. Once he finally reached the Mobile hood, Flash was stupefied. He'd never seen such a strange place, it was as if everyone there was playing the same games he knew, but in an entirely different way. What impressed him the most was how small everything was. People were driving their compact cars through overly narrow roads, while most of the kids were having their fun time at a peculiarly tiny playground. It was that playground that caught Flash's attention. At the far end of it, there was a small brightly-lit structure with colorful images of fancy toys painted all over it, yet no one seemed to go in there and take the toys. After a few moments of examination, Flash kind of figured it out why the kids weren't going inside – there was a large and heavy-looking padlock on the structure's door. “Probably the parents have locked it...” he thought, “but why?” Nevertheless, it seemed like almost everyone was happy with their life in this somewhat detached, yet busy place.

Flash stayed there and watched for a little while, then decided it was about time to go home, as it was already getting dark and the rain didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. As weird as it was, Flash kind of liked the Mobile hood. After that he usually went there at least once or twice a week to play with the kids, and he even made some new friends there. In the Mobile hood, there were these two guys everyone looked up to. One of them was so popular because he was a very smart kid. Everyone was calling him “the apple guy”, probably because of his insatiable appetite for apples. The other wasn't any less weird, as he wasn't a regular boy, but an android, whose parents decided to call “Andy”. Android or not, everyone in the hood seemed to like him, as he was a very open and approachable type of person. One day, while hanging around in the Mobile hood, Flash heard the apple guy and Andy argue about something. As he got closer, it became clear that it was about that structure at the end of the playground that looked like an awesome room full of toys from a kid's dreams.

“I think that if we get Flash and the others, we'll be able to bust right through the door and take the toys!”, said Andy.

“I told you a hundred times already, there's no need to do any of that. Do you realize that we may get grounded for this?! I told you, when we grow up, they'll just hand us the toys.” replied the apple guy.

“I do not agree,” Andy insisted, “I think we can have the toys right here and now!”

“Whatever...” the apple guy shrugged.

And so Andy, Flash and the rest of the gang (except for the apple guy and his most loyal followers) started thinking of ways to break in. The task wasn't as easy as they thought at first, but thanks to Flash's ingenuity (he took a really big stone and smashed the padlock with it), they finally made it inside. It was fun indeed; there were some really cool toys and games to play with that couldn't be found on the outside, but there was also this big pile of seemingly random ad fliers that took up most of the space inside the room. At the bottom of the pile, there were also a few adult magazines, but fortunately the kids didn't find those.

They knew that they shouldn't reveal their secret, or else they could end up grounded for days or even weeks; that's why at the end of each day they put all the toys back in their places and pretended that nothing has happened. One morning, as Flash was just finishing with his breakfast and was planning to go and play at the Mobile hood, his father suddenly said:

“Oh, and by the way, you are not allowed to go to the Mobile hood anymore.”

“Why not?!” Flash was shocked.

“You see, it turns out that you've damaged some property over at the Mobile hood and we had to pay a fine. And, since we want you to feel the consequences of your own actions, from now on, you are only allowed to play here in the PC hood.”

It was the end of a fairy-tale. Obviously, there were some security cameras installed near the playground in the Mobile hood that allowed city officials to find out who's broken the padlock. When the other kids heard that Flash was grounded, they quickly realized that their parents have found out about their little secret.

After a few days, just hanging out by the playground, Andy and the apple guy were having a grown-up conversation:

“... But it was cool playing with all those fancy toys, wasn't it?”, Andy asked.

“Yeah, I have to admit you almost had it right there.” the apple guy admitted, “But in the end, it seems it was me who was right – we will still have to wait until we grow up to be allowed to play with the toys.”

“OK, you were right. But if it wasn't for me and Flash, we wouldn't have all these sweet memories now, would we?”

“Yes, indeed. Let's drink to that!”, and they opened their beer cans.