Feeling along the underside of the boardwalk, Jimmy slowly began to make his way towards the notched ladder he knew was nearby. Below him, silver fish glinted near the surface as they nibbled on bits of floating trash... and at one point, the boy swore he saw a long, creeping tentacle reach up out of the water to drag down the remaining pieces of a funnel cake, still floating in it's cardboard tub like a little boat.
Not that garbage freaked Jimmy out. He'd run away from home too many times in the past to disregard the contents of a full dumpster, or the warmth of a pile of old newspapers.
It was sea creatures that made him squirm.
There. There was the ladder, up ahead. Covered in a thin veil of slime, Jimmy hefted his soaking body up and out of the dirty water, and slowly began making his ascent up the slippery rails.
It would feel really... really... really good to give Derby one hell of a hug right now. There might actually be sea weed in his underwear, and if that meant he could yank it out and make Derby and Bif wear it like a pair of wigs, then God was not only real, he was merciful too.
Please God, let there be a God.
And let the property rent for this area go down $50 so he could get cable and watch cartoons on sunday.