Bombs were the last thing on his mind. It was scotch tape that was presently obsessing him. He had no idea why the image of scotch tape floated there, as it hovering in space, as the explosions and mayhem and chaos reigned around him.

Pierre Leclaire was a soldier in an army of two. Him and his dog Rufus. They had a gun, three boxes of crayons and a wad of chewed up Bubblicious. His mom had always told him he could make the most creative things out of nothing, so the bubblicious had become somewhat of an obsession.

Today, he thanked his lucky stars he had it.

He ripped off two piece of the gum, leaving lots more for other uses. He rolled one piece into a ball and rammed it deep into his left ear. Then he did the same with the other piece, sticking it deep into his right canal.

For a moment, the ringing was all he could hear. The bombs kept dropping. Rufus had dug a hole in the ground and cowered like the dog he was. But then the gum slipped a little, in his left ear. The explosions came back, full force.

This was when he started dreaming of the scotch tape. If he had a simple piece, he could tape the gum in his ears, and save his hearing. If only he'd listened to his mother. He'd had a roll yesterday, but he had no idea bombs would drop and life would come to this: Rufus cowering in a crater in the ground, he with gum popping in and out of his ears.

If only he'd listened to his mother!