The story

Evan Makes the Rules

A boy who thinks the rules are for everyone else falls asleep angry, wakes up as a unicorn, and finds out what happens when you get exactly what you asked for.

Four chapters, scroll at your own pace.

Chapter One

Evan Breaks the Rules

Evan is seven, extremely smart, and completely certain that rules were invented for other people. His sister Sofia is not certain of this at all, and says so, loudly, from the top of the stairs.

Dinner is on the table. Evan wants dessert first. His mom says the same thing she says every night, in the same calm voice, and Evan hears the same unfair sentence he always hears.

The Legos are still on the floor. They have been on the floor since Tuesday. Evan explains that they are not a mess, they are a work in progress, and that a person cannot simply put away a work in progress.

His mom asks him to do it anyway. Evan folds his arms and says the thing he has been saving up all week.

“In my world, Evan makes the rules.”

Chapter Two

Evan Meets His Future

Evan falls asleep angry, which is the most dangerous way to fall asleep, because that is when dreams get ambitious.

He wakes up as a unicorn. A white one, with a blue bow tie that he did not choose but immediately approves of. And something is wrong: his mother is gone, trapped by a genie, somewhere on the other side of time.

So Evan does what Evan does. He builds a time machine out of the things in his room, because nobody told him he could not, and he sets the dial as far forward as it will go.

The future smells like frosting and rocket fuel. In front of him is a building the size of a mountain, with a golden llama out front holding a neon sign. The sign says EVAN INC.

A grown-up unicorn is waiting at the door. He holds up his palm, and written across it in blue marker is the number 444. The family code. The one only Evan and his mom know.

Evan looks at his own palm. 444. He is looking at himself.

“Every choice you make as a child helps shape the adult you'll become.”

Chapter Three

Evan Runs the Company

Future Evan hands him the keys. “Run it for a day,” he says, in the voice of somebody who already knows how this goes.

Evan starts by moving his desk as far from the employees as possible, because bosses need quiet. Then he eats dessert before dinner, because bosses need dessert.

The astronaut consultant tries to explain the launch schedule. Evan says he already knows. The rocket goes up sideways and takes the flagpole with it.

The head chef tries to explain the marshmallow situation. Evan says he already knows. The Dessert Laboratory fills, slowly and unstoppably, with humming marshmallows.

Then Evan finds the checks. Signing checks is extremely satisfying. One form has a very big number on it, and Evan likes big numbers, so he signs it without reading the word next to it.

The word was llamas. The number was six million. They arrive by lunchtime.

By four o'clock the moon manager is shouting into a radio, the robot dog has run off with the only working blueprint, and there is an inflatable llama wedged in the elevator doors. Somewhere in the chaos, a rubber chicken squeaks.

“Nobody listens to me.”

Chapter Four

Evan Learns to Lead

Future Evan does not shout. He does not say I told you so. He says four words that change everything: “Let's try it again.”

This time they walk the whole building. They start at the Invention Lab, and Evan asks a question instead of giving an order. Then he does the hardest part: he waits for the whole answer.

He takes notes. Real ones, in a real notebook, in handwriting that gets neater as the day goes on. The astronaut explains the launch window. The chef explains why dinner comes first. The purchasing clerk explains, very patiently, what six million of anything actually looks like.

The rockets fly straight. The marshmallows behave. Nobody orders any llamas. And the office clown, who still has not explained his job, drops a trail of Skittles down the hallway and makes the whole company laugh at exactly the right moment.

When Evan wakes up, he is a boy again, in his own bed, with his own Legos on the floor. His mother is downstairs. She is not trapped anywhere. He goes and finds her and says sorry, and means it.

Then he asks for something he has never asked for before: can we make the rules together?

“Reacting without the facts isn't a solution. It's a problem.”
“Bosses bark, but leaders listen.”

The end, and the beginning

Now it is your turn to make the rules. Together.

Evan asked his family to write their rules with him. You can do the same thing in about ten minutes.

Make Our Family Rules Explore Evan Inc.

The cast

Who you will meet

Seven characters, one very confused company, and a rubber chicken with no job description.

Evan
Founder, age seven
Smart, creative, and mischievous. Certain that rules should apply to everyone except him. In his dream he becomes a white unicorn with a blue bow tie, builds a time machine, and travels into the future.
Future Evan
Runs Evan Inc.
The grown-up Evan, who built the company young Evan is standing in. He does not lecture. He gives Evan a second chance, and the family code 444 written on his palm.
Sofia
Evan's sister
A dancing pink unicorn blowing bubble gum. She is entirely unimpressed by Evan's rules and says so.
Mom
Keeper of the family rules
Calm, patient, and the reason dinner comes before dessert. In the dream she has been trapped by a genie, which is why Evan builds the time machine in the first place.
The Company Clown
Job title unknown
Wears a sombrero, carries a squeaky rubber chicken, and drops Skittles wherever he goes. Nobody knows exactly what he does. Everybody is glad he is there.
The Astronaut Consultant
Mission Control
Knows the launch schedule by heart. Tries to explain it to Evan twice. The second time, Evan listens, and the rocket flies straight.
The Golden Llama
Holds the sign
Stands at the entrance of Evan Inc. holding the neon company sign. Not to be confused with the six million inflatable ones, which were entirely Evan's fault.

An Evan Inc. adventure