It was a warm, breezy afternoon

It was a warm, breezy afternoon, the kind of day that practically begged for something whimsical and adventurous. Dudley, of course, had just the thing in mind. He lounged on his back porch, a half-finished joint dangling from his lips, when inspiration struck him like a thunderbolt of genius.

"Kites, man," he mumbled to himself, eyes squinting at the clouds. "I need to fly a kite. But, like, really fly it. High."

Not one to let minor details like having no actual kite slow him down, Dudley dug around in his closet and emerged with a tangled mess of old string, plastic grocery bags, and what appeared to be an inflatable pool toy shaped like a flamingo.

“This’ll work,” he said to himself with a nod. He grabbed the string and the flamingo—its name was Gary, according to the label—and set off to the park, his head full of dreams of catching the highest winds in all of kite-flying history.

At the park, a few families gave him odd looks as he plopped Gary down on the grass and started attaching the plastic bags to the string.

“This is next-level stuff,” Dudley muttered to no one in particular, the effects of the joint slowly kicking in. “This is how pioneers probably flew kites back in, like, ancient times. They probably didn’t even have real kites, just grocery bags and… flamingos.”

Finally, with a great deal of pride and absolutely zero aerodynamic consideration, Dudley held his makeshift contraption up to the wind. He squinted at the sky. “This is it, Gary. You’re gonna fly so high, people’ll think you’re a majestic bird or… some kind of flying pool float.”

He took a deep breath, held the string tightly, and started to run. Well, jog. Okay, maybe it was more of a wobbly skip. Either way, the kite-flamingo combo caught the breeze and started to lift.

"Yes! Yesss!" Dudley cheered, his heart soaring as high as Gary. The kite rose a whole three feet before the wind took an unexpected turn. Dudley, half stoned and completely unprepared, felt the flamingo jerk forward, yanking him off his feet.

With a surprised yelp, Dudley was dragged across the grass by his own flying creation. Gary, now riding a rogue gust, began to spin wildly above, while Dudley clung to the string for dear life, flopping around like a beached fish.

A group of kids gathered, watching in awe as Dudley, flat on his back, was slowly towed across the park by a pool toy.

"Dude, that guy’s flying his flamingo!" one of the kids shouted, pointing in disbelief.

Dudley, panting and thoroughly grass-stained, finally managed to get the string wrapped around a park bench, stopping his unwanted kite adventure.

"Okay, okay, maybe... maybe a little less high next time," he wheezed, staring up at Gary still spinning in the sky, victorious. The flamingo looked majestic, in a way only inflatable birds could, fluttering wildly in the breeze.

As Dudley lay there, catching his breath, one of the kids came up to him. "Is that supposed to be a kite?"

He nodded seriously, his gaze still on Gary. "It is now, little dude. It is now."

The kid stared for a moment, then just shrugged and walked away. Dudley lay back down on the grass, basking in the glory of his unexpected flight. "Kite flying," he muttered to himself, "nailed it."  #DudleyBud #DudleyAdventure #Dudley420