“Hey Greg, whatcha workin’ on?”
“AAAH!” Greg yelped. “Oh, it’s just you, Spencer. Could you please sneak up on me quieter next time? That heart attack you just gave me wasn’t quite life-ending enough.” After this sarcastic remark, he returned to his drawings.
Spencer Dinwiddie shrugged. “Whatever. I just wanted to see what you were drawin’.”
“None of your beeswax,” Greg said, taking pains to cover up his artistry by leaning over his sketchpad. “You’d just make fun.”
“Lemme see!” Spencer yelled, grabbing at the sketchpad in Greg’s lap. “If the next Picasso is on my team, I wanna know about it.”
“Fine,” Greg groaned, ceding the drawings to his teammate.
Spencer’s eyes grew wide as they scanned the artwork. “I might be needin’ some explanation for this. You writin’ a fantasy novel or somethin’?”
“No! Well, kinda. It’s just some concept art for the land of Monroevia.”
“Cool, cool,” Spencer said, not wanting to anger his teammate into denying him access to the drawings again. “I like the castles. Very swag.”
Greg looked around the locker room to make sure nobody was around to overhear. “When I retire, I’m going to find some place in Europe where they’ll let me build a kingdom. That’s my dream.”
Turning to the next page of the sketchpad, Spencer laughed. “And she’s gonna be your queen?” he asked. “I don’t know if these proportions are accurate, man. Her chest is pretty big. Wait, what does it say down here? ‘Queen Gaga’?”
“Shut up. Lady Gaga is my first choice, but obviously any hot girl will be sufficient to serve as queen next to King Monroe of Monroevia.”
Turning the page again, Spencer was greeted by a detailed map of the land of Monroevia. “You really went all out, dude. You sure you don’t have autism or something? There’s no way any government gonna be lettin’ you make all these new rivers and towns and stuff.”
“Okay, that’s it, fun time is over,” said Greg, snatching back his sketchpad. “You don’t need to poke fun at other people’s dreams, man. I just wanted it to be accurate to Medieval times. And if you tell anybody about Monroevia, I swear, you’re going to be buying donuts and picking up socks for me for the rest of your life.”
“Chill, man, I won’t tell a soul,” Spencer promised. “See you ’round.”
Once Spencer had left, Greg returned to his drawings. Monroevia would become reality one day. And when that marvelous day arrived, the doubters would be silenced and the haters would cease their hating. As the God-appointed leader of a strong and righteous kingdom, he would make sure of that, or his name wasn’t King Monroe of Monroevia.