Brass Monkeys

by Terry Caszatt

  “I guess,” I said, and the edge was back in my voice, “except that I don’t know what I’m being tested for. I mean, what is it, the Bonehead of the Month Award?”

  Adjana smiled at me. “I understand, Billy. You’re feeling a bit grouchy about all this. In a way, you have every right.”

  “Exactly,” I said, my voice picking up a nice whiny sound. I was about to launch into a long “poor me” speech, but I never got a word out because that’s when the music started up. And not just any music either. It was Spanish music! Ravel’s “Bolero,” to be exact—one of my most all-time favorite hot tunes. Some curtains on the far side of the room rolled back, revealing the source of the music—a large student band.

  “Oh my goodness,” said Adjana. “The music means it’s nearly time for show and tell. Listen, Billy, do me a favor, please. When first hour is over, I want you to look me in the eye and tell me if it was a waste of time. Will you do that?”

  “For sure,” I said. “I’ll be glad to tell you.” My voice was cocky, but even as I said the words, my attitude was dissolving with each fantastic note of “Bolero.”

  “I take it you like that kind of music,” said Adjana. She was watching closely.

  “I live for it,” I said.

  “I suspected that,” she said with a gleam of amusement. “This semester we’re starting all our classes with Spanish music.”

  I stared at her. “You’re kidding.”

  An eyebrow went up. “I never joke about my classes. And now, you may want to find a good place to sit. See the desk on the far side of the room? That’s where the class will meet. Your friends will join you in a few minutes.” She gave me a parting smile. “You’re in for a treat today, because I believe Perkins the Lion is in charge of show and tell.”

  Before I could ask her who that was, a couple of girls grabbed me and the next thing I knew I was helping move chairs over to the desk. The band seemed to accompany us with that great driving center of “Bolero,” and I felt so good I could have worked the entire day.

  Harriet and Ray joined me then, all smiles, their hair still wet. Both were grinning expectantly at me. Harriet’s golden-brown eyes gleamed, and I thought she never looked prettier, but for a second or two I didn’t get it.

  “What?” I said to her. Then it hit me. “Holy Crow, your fur’s gone!”

  “And my tail and Amberlight spot,” she cried.

  “I lost my spot, too!” piped up Ray. “It’s the old Grotto water in Adjana’s pool.”

  They both began to explain in excited voices how the water that flowed directly from the mountainside and into the pool had great powers to heal.

  “That’s terrific,” I said. Harriet looked like her old radiant self, and even Ray seemed to have more sparkle in his eyes. I definitely felt glad for them both, but I also couldn’t help feeling a small twinge of envy. I still had my spot.

  Harriet knew how I felt and she leaned closer. “Listen,” she whispered, “I think there’s a good reason you didn’t go in the pool. I’m sure Adjana will explain it.”

  “I hope so,” I said. The band went into the last powerhouse notes of “Bolero” and by the time they finished, my moment of moodiness had melted away.

  There was a last flurry of kids arriving, along with a big group of Grotto teachers, including Lilah and Teddy. Then the kids in the front row began calling out excitedly, “Perks! The Lion! Here he comes!”

  48

  show and tell at the blue grotto

  The crowd quieted down, and I could hear a rush of footsteps coming from somewhere to our left. The kids were all craning and looking in that direction. From where I sat, I could see a big mound of blond hair bouncing along. Actually, it did look a bit like a lion.

  I was a little disappointed when I realized Perkins the Lion was actually a man. The kids let loose with thunderous applause as this really tall guy with a huge mane of blond hair stopped by the desk and bowed to us. He was carrying a large blue bag over his shoulder. I understood right away how Perkins had gotten his nickname. He not only had a mane of yellowish hair, but his eyes had a wild, golden caste to them. He smiled now, and it was obvious that his lion-like exterior covered a warm, friendly person.

  “I understand we have visitors today,” he began in a low, husky voice, “so at the risk of boring the students who know who I am, I’ll just briefly say to our guests that I’m Perkins Lemaxwell. I came down with Adjana in the early days, was involved in the big battle with Mingley, and this has been my home ever since. I teach the literature classes, some history, and I’m the advisor for the Notebook, a small publication that’s filled with student work.”

  He turned in a business-like way and set the blue bag on the desk.

  Now he began to lift objects out of the bag and set them on the desk. I saw what appeared to be a golden necklace, some copper-colored balls, a sword, and finally a silver ball. Talk about suspense, my head was nearly coming off as I strained to see over the other kids.

  Now Perkins picked up the silver ball and walked over to a column of blue water that bubbled up from the stone floor. He carefully placed the ball on top of the column of water where it balanced, and then began to slowly turn.

  He turned to the expectant crowd. “Are we ready?”

  The kids let out a big “Yes!”

  Perkins smiled and said, “Good. Then let show and tell begin.”

  Harriet and I exchanged a puzzled look. What was going on here? Perkins shook his big mane of hair and pointed off. “Now let’s bring on Mr. Toddwilly for the first part of our class!”

  I heard a crazy yell, and a young guy wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt came somersaulting into the open area in front of the band. He did a final double rotation and landed upright, facing us. The kids began cheering loudly and stamping their feet. “Toddwilly! Toddwilly!” they chanted.

  The young guy grinned at us. He was maybe thirty years old, dark-haired, and muscular. He swept us with a penetrating, gray-eyed gaze. “Let’s talk about the Greeks today. I mean, just briefly.” He walked over behind the desk. “Oh my gosh,” he said, “look what I found here.” He picked up the sword and held it aloft. Now he began to swing it about in a series of practiced, professional-looking moves. You could hear the blade making a lethal ziiip ziiip sound as it cut the air.

  “This is a Greek sword, isn’t it?” Toddwilly asked casually.

  The audience stirred with nervous laughter. No one knew.

  “This is a very special Greek sword,” said Toddwilly. He gave us a sober, gray-eyed look and the laughter died away. “I think it may have belonged to a young man. You can see the sword is shorter than usual and the grip is for a smaller hand. I wonder what that faraway young person was like?”

  “I’ll bet he was our age,” a girl called out. “A teenager.”

  “I think you’re right. What did he look like?” Toddwilly asked.

  “He had brown hair,” said another girl. “Brown eyes and an olive complexion.”

  “He liked sports,” Ray piped up suddenly and the kids laughed.

  “Indeed he did,” replied Toddwilly. “Excellent point. What else?”

  “He liked to read,” said Harriet. “He thought a lot.”

  Toddwilly smiled at this. “Wonderful! He’s more and more complex and real. What did he want out of life?”

  “He wanted to help people,” blurted out Ray, “but sometimes his temper got in the way.”

  “Terrific! Excellent work, young man,” cried Toddwilly. He stopped and eyed Ray. “And your name would be?”

  “Raymondo,” said Ray. “That’s me.”

  “Thank you, Raymondo,” said Toddwilly. “And what else? Keep going, people.”

  Ray leaned toward me and whispered. “Usually I don’t talk in class ‘cause it’s boring. But this is different.”

  I nodded. I couldn’t believe how relaxed and confident Ray seemed.

  “He wanted to make a difference in the world,” a boy called out. “He
had ideas.”

  “He did,” agreed Toddwilly. “He had marvelous ideas.”

  “He dreamed of a newer and better world,” I said, then cleared my throat in surprise at myself. “And he was passionate about stuff.”

  Toddwilly eyed me with surprise. “Now that’s very good. I’m impressed.” He looked over at Adjana. “Is this one of the new students?”

  Adjana smiled and nodded. “He came on the boat yesterday. His name is Billy Bumpus. He’s the one who brought McGinty’s book down.”

  “Ah hah,” said Toddwilly. “Brass Monkeys!” A wave of excitement spread across the room, and it seemed like the entire crowd was craning around to stare at me. “I think you’re absolutely right, Mr. Bumpus,” Toddwilly went on, “about him being passionate about life, because he had a favorite word he sometimes inscribed on his equipment. Do you know the Greek word ‘pothos’?”

  I shook my head. I didn’t have a clue and neither did anyone else.

  Toddwilly smiled. “Keep that word in mind. We’ll come back to it.” He slapped the sword on the desk, picked up the copper-colored balls, and began juggling them.

  “We’re in the stream now! We’re moving, aren’t we? Do you feel it?”

  The kids began applauding enthusiastically and I joined right in.

  I leaned toward Harriet and whispered, “What does he mean by that?”

  She didn’t even hesitate. “I think he means the excitement of learning,” she said in a low voice. “You know, like when you’re really grooving with it, you can feel it. It’s like you’re rolling down a beautiful stream.”

  “Whoa,” I said, “I can feel it.”

  “When you’re in the stream,” continued Toddwilly, “it’s never boring. It’s just the opposite. It’s filled with real people and events. Even the people from the past are there, all moving along. And if you think about it—all of us together—moving toward some hidden, mysterious end of the stream … it’s kind of like—”

  “An adventure,” said Harriet, her voice ringing out clearly.

  “That’s very good,” cried Toddwilly. “Stand up, young lady, and come out here.”

  Harriet smiled uncertainly, then stood and moved out to join him. Without a word, Toddwilly tossed one of the copper balls to her. “Juggle with me,” he said.

  Harriet gasped. “I can’t.”

  “You can,” he replied. He motioned for her to toss the ball back and Harriet did. Now he began tossing a single ball to Harriet, while keeping the rest going, then taking the ball back again and adding it in. It was so tense and quiet in the room you could have heard a teacup break in China.

  “Now explain to me, young woman—in your own words—why you think moving in the stream is such an adventure,” said Toddwilly. He suddenly snatched up the sword and added that in.

  “I think,” began Harriet, but she was stopped by nervous laughter from the audience. Toddwilly had caught the spinning sword by the handle. “I think that when you’re moving in the stream,” Harriet went on, “it’s exciting because you are mixing with those people from the past. And it’s a bit like watching yourself. Kind of like a doppelganger …“

  Toddwilly’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really? What do you mean by that?” Without missing a beat, he tossed the sword, butt first, to Harriet. We all gasped, but Harriet caught it like a champ.

  She only stammered a bit as she went on. “When you read or talk about somebody from the past … sometimes you actually see yourself.”

  Harriet tossed the sword back to Toddwilly without him calling for it, and he grinned and flipped her a ball.

  “You see yourself breathing, reading, playing,” said Harriet, “all those years ago. Sometimes when I read about Joan of Arc or Alexander the Great, I can actually feel some of the emotions they must have felt. And that makes the whole thing kind of like—she caught the sword again—an adventure.”

  Toddwilly kept on juggling, but you could tell he was studying Harriet now. “What’s your name?”

  Ray and I couldn’t keep our mouths shut so we blurted out her name as if Harriet didn’t know it herself. I saw guys standing up all over the room trying to get a better view of her.

  Toddwilly smiled. “Well, Harriet Grove, do you realize you’re holding Alexander the Great’s sword?”

  The class let out a cry of stunned surprise.

  “I believe it,” said Harriet fervently. And so did I. At that moment I would have believed anything this guy said.

  Toddwilly grinned and motioned for the sword. Harriet tossed it back.

  “We’ll juggle again sometime,” said Toddwilly. Harriet returned and sat down amid a burst of cheering and stamping feet. All this died away suddenly as a tall Stormie dressed in black leather burst into the pool area. Some of the kids screamed, while others scrambled back out of the way.

  “Look out Toddwilly-man!” Ray cried out.

  But Toddwilly seemed unconcerned. “Take your seats,” he called out. “There’s nothing to be alarmed about.”

  Perkins and Adjana also stepped forward and waved us back to our chairs. We sat down again, but reluctantly. I was breathing in a shallow way and my whole body felt like a coiled spring.

  The Stormie threw back his head and roared with laughter. His gray, wind-swept hair bobbed in a weird way. “You chattering fools, there’s plenty to be alarmed about,” he said in a guttural voice, “now that I’m here.” He drew his curved sword and leveled it at Toddwilly. “Where’s your man Perkins? He’s the one I came for!”

  “I’m right here,” said Perkins in a calm voice. He stepped out of the crowd on the far side of the room. “What is it you want?”

  “I want everything you stand for,” cried out the Stormie. “In particular, I want your stupid word pothos.”

  Perkins gave him a cool look. “No one can take words from us. Words live beyond the grasp of people like yourself. They soar beyond your dark classrooms, your music and incense. You can’t contain words. They have their own power and life. They live on.”

  “Wrong!” cried the Stormie. “I can kill them. I can crush them. I can change and make them do whatever I say! And today, I will demonstrate that by crushing pothos, the word, the idea, the spirit of it. Crush it!”

  He raised his sword and swung it around his head in a menacing way. The entire audience cried out a warning, but again Toddwilly and Perkins calmed us and urged us to stay in our seats. Harriet, Lilah, and Teddy did, but Ray and I stayed on our feet, poised to run. I thought the whole scene might be part of show and tell, but Ray had other ideas and he made me doubtful.

  “He’s a real Stormie, man,” he whispered to me. “And he’s out for trouble!”

  49

  the sword, the silver ball, and the necklace

  Toddwilly picked up Alexander’s sword from the desk and underhanded it to Perkins. The Lion caught it easily, then did a strange thing. He walked straight to where Ray and I stood. His gaze took in Lilah, Teddy, and Harriet, but then landed on me.

  “Pothos,” he said loudly, “means to have a strong and powerful hunger for some great and nearly unreachable goal. Have you ever had a goal like that, some grand thing you wanted and needed so badly? Have you ever felt that?”

  I didn’t say a word, but I could feel my lips quivering. I wanted to yell out, “Absolutely!” But I didn’t move because of the sudden, threatening advance of the Stormie. He came straight for Perkins.

  The kids in the front rows scuttled back out of the way and cried out in alarm. Perkins gave me a last, grave look, turned, and brought his sword up in a defensive position just in time. Then the two came together with a great clashing of metal. The Stormie grunted and said fiercely, “You mealy-mouthed shadrack!”

  I remembered the Stormie back in Ming’s school using the word “shadrack,” and it made me think Ray was right. But the class, along with Adjana and the other teachers, started rooting loudly for Perkins as if it were all a show. Finally, Ray and I joined in, but I think we were both s
uspicious of the Stormie.

  At first the Lion was doing great and holding his own, but then slowly he was driven back. Now it appeared as if the Stormie had wounded him.

  “Oh man,” Ray blurted out, “this ain’t good!”

  A moment later Perkins took what looked like a terrible cut across the shoulder and he went down, his sword clattering away. The entire audience, myself included, cried out in dismay. The Stormie smiled and raised his sword high, and that was all Ray could take.

  He yelled out something crazy and charged into the fight. He snatched up the Lion’s sword and tossed to him.

  “Thank you, young sir,” Perkins yelled to Ray. Then he began battling the Stormie with a new fierceness. Now the big Stormie began retreating, and with every clang of Perkins’s sword, we yelled in triumph. When he finally disarmed the Stormie with several clever thrusts, we clapped and roared like lunatics.

  At this, the Stormie smiled, saluted us, and left the room. Perkins walked toward me, stopped, and fixed me with those lion-like eyes. “Pothos,” he said. Then he turned and walked away, accompanied by a roar of cheering voices.

  I stood there stunned for a moment, then joined in, clapping wildly.

  Adjana came out now, smiling. “Thank you, Perkins. You and Toddwilly never let us down with your show and tell. Now,” her eyes swept the audience, “let’s move to the last part—the awarding of prizes. Who, by virtue of their splendid answers and their clear-minded thoughts, should get the Silver Ball?”

  Only a second passed before a cry of “Harriet! Harriet!” went up. In the next instant the kids broke out in thunderous applause. And Ray and I joined right in. I looked over and got a wink from Lilah. She and Teddy were cheering like mad.

  Adjana lifted the Silver Ball from the column of water and walked over to Harriet. “Miss Grove,” she said, “by virtue of your splendid answers and clear-minded thoughts, and by the logical and imaginative manner in which you rendered them, the Silver Ball is yours for the rest of the day.”

  Adjana handed the ball to Harriet, who seemed stunned. I saw tears shimmering at the corners of her eyes. Now she gave the crowd a trembling smile, which brought a further ovation from the kids.