Comic-Man becomes ... NOVEL-Man!

OK, so it's been a little over a week since I embarked on this little trip. And where are we on the road to 50K words? Ta daa -- a whopping 4,650!!
Yea, most folks are in the 25K-30K range by now.
So why am I posting here when I should be writing? Good question!!!

Here's some opening grafs for you to peruse; spolier --- typos and grammar issues ahead! :)



Julius flung the fraying mustard-yellow suitcase into the bus luggage compartment and quickly returned to the curb, trying to blend back in with the crowd. He almost made it.
“Uh, hey, m’man, can you get that in there a little farther?”
Julius’ shoulders drooped and his head rolled forward under the weight of the words. He turned reluctantly to face his accuser, a thin young man with wild curly hair and a sketch of a mustache on his light-brown face. His big smile compelled Julius to step back toward the bus.
“Got a few more people comin’. Gonna need the space,” the man said, still smiling. Julius smiled back and immediately wished he could wipe it off his face.
He reached out his right arm and used the tips of his bony fingers to move the suitcase up and back. It seemed to glow among the rest of the backpacks, duffle bags and he had to turn away. As he did he looked around at the rest of the campers’ traveling gear. Much more suited to the trip he thought, but then his eyes settled on a set of white plastic Giant Eagle shopping bags, with clothes showing throwing the stretching plastic.
Maybe I should be chill and count my blessings, he thought.
He readjusted his black and gold Pirate baseball cap for the 20th time, then stuffed his hands in the pockets of his red Members Only jacket and walked back to the curb. Knew you weren’t going to need no coat, he berated himself, then remembered it wouldn’t fit the suitcase so he had to come up with some way to bring it. Julius was still debating the decision with himself, a full trial session going on his head, when his mother tapped him in the chest.
“Did you get your brother and sisters’ on there also,” she asked him. Although, Juanita Carol Crawford didn’t really ask her kids anything and Julius answered with that in mind.
“Yes, ma, I did theirs first.” The Pirate cap required another adjustment.
Juanita stood eye-to-eye with her oldest son, now 15. She looked at his face and saw the worry. Yes, he was now getter taller than her and soon would be in high school, but she couldn’t help but still see a timid eighth-grader hiding beneath the brim of the oversized baseball cap. She wanted to reassure him. She wanted to pop him and say “get it together.” As usual, she tried to do both.
“When ya’ll get there, find out if you and your brother can be together, in the same bunk or whatever,” Juanita strategized. “They might split ya’ll up by ages, so it might not work. If not, try to stay together. The girls will probably be together anyway.”
Orders received, Julius looked up and scanned the crowd. He saw his sisters, Latisha and Cleo, nodding their heads furiously and laughing with three other girls. Then Cleo shrieked as their brother Antony came up from behind clapped her on the back.
“Oww, dang, whachyoudoin’,” she wailed. She balled up a small powerful fist and rapped Antony in his frail chest. The 10-year-old bellowed, “Dang, what was that for! Always gotta be hittin somebody,” he muttered as he turned to walk toward Julius and their mother.
Julius watched the exchange. He watched the other girls, one light-skinned with jetblack permed hair, the other a honey brown with short hair, big hoop earrings and glistening full lups. Both had beautiful smiles.
“J?” “J?”
His mother’s voice snapped him out of his daydream.
“Pay attention while you’re gone, alright?” she pleaded.