The Ether

by Laurice Elehwany Molinari

Though he tried to avoid it, tried to ignore it, Vero’s obsession with flying got him in trouble even with his feet firmly planted on the ground.

  Vero was now banned from the local pet store. The Pet Place had dogs, cats, reptiles, rodents, and birds for sale, and a photo of Vero’s face was stuck to every cash register with a big red line written through it. If an employee saw Vero, he was to kick him out of the store immediately.

  The Pet Place problems began one day when Vero and his family were strolling the suburban strip mall, eating ice cream they’d just purchased from the parlor boasting forty-seven flavors. Vero walked past the Pet Place and was suddenly overcome with such an intense and overwhelming sensation of suffocation and sadness that he doubled over and clutched his chest in pain. He’d been lagging behind his family, so Clover and his parents didn’t see him when he dropped his ice cream cone and walked through the open doors of the pet store.

  As he approached the bird section of the store, he saw cage upon cage of birds — macaws, canaries, exotics, and plain old finches. Vero locked eyes with a blue and gold Macaw.

  Help me.

  Vero heard the voice as if the bird had spoken the words aloud. Vero knew what he had to do.

  Slowly, he reached out his hand and unhinged the cage door. The Macaw bowed his head in gratitude and flew straight through the open doors of the pet store. Vero then opened the next cage, and the next, until all of the cage doors were standing wide open. At first, some of the larger birds blinked and hopped to their door, unsure of what to do next. But when Vero opened the finches’ cage and dozens and dozens of birds flew out through the main doors, the larger birds finally followed — just as Vero’s family walked inside the store to look for him.

  Vero’s parents and sister ducked and yelled as the birds escaped to freedom right above their heads. “What is this, a scene from The Birds?” Vero’s father asked. The pet store was now pure pandemonium.

  With each flying bird, Vero felt the weight on his chest grow lighter and lighter.

  Vero cost his parents a pretty penny that day, as the store manager expected them to pay for the lost birds. Vero would be doing chores for more than a year before his debt was paid off, but Vero didn’t care. He’d do it again in a heartbeat. But he was no longer allowed in the store.

  The local paper ran a story on the incident; but when the reporter called the house, Vero’s parents wouldn’t let him comment.

  Vero was also banned from playing any neighborhood games after dark — by the neighbor kids. One hot summer night, Angus Atwood — only child to the Atwood family and a year older than Vero — distributed the Atwood family’s collection of canning jars to all of the neighbor kids for catching fireflies. But Vero refused to take one. And he also chased the fireflies away, making them nearly impossible to catch, although a few kids still caught some.

  “What’s wrong with you, Vero?” Clover asked, her green eyes flashing dangerously. She stomped off for home to tell on him.

  After Clover left, Vero grabbed Angus’s jar and threw it on the cement sidewalk, shattering it and sending shards of glass flying everywhere.

  “What’d you do that for?” Angus shouted.

  “How would you like to be trapped in a jar?” Vero shouted back.

  “Who cares? They’re just stupid bugs!”

  The other kids opened their jars and let the fireflies escape after that, but Angus was determined. He caught a firefly in his hand and stuffed it in a jar. Angus then screwed the lid on tight and held the jar high above Vero’s head.

  Vero watched as the firefly desperately smashed its body against the glass, trying to escape its prison. Vero grew more distressed as the firefly’s light began to dim. As Angus jumped up to catch another firefly, Vero charged him. He ran headfirst into Angus’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him and the canning jar out of his hand.

  The jar rolled down the sidewalk, and Vero chased after it, catching it just before it rolled into a storm drain. Then he unscrewed the lid and set the firefly free.

  “My dad’s right!” Angus yelled after him. “You’re a lunatic!”

  3

  LOUSY BIRTHDAY

  Hurry up and blow out the candles!” Clover said. “I’m missing my show.”

  “Quiet, Clover,” Nora said, sliding the soccer ball themed birthday cake closer to Vero. “You only turn twelve once.”

  Vero looked at Clover with sad, steely gray eyes.

  Clover knew she was being mean. She didn’t like doing it, but she had to. Still, she mumbled, “Sorry.”

  Immediately, Vero’s eyes brightened. His eyes were the first things people seemed to notice about him. Typically a vivid pale gray like the wintertime sky, they changed between shades of blue, green, and gray, depending on the surrounding lighting. When Clover was small, she’d told Vero that his eyes were just like the mood ring she’d won at the state fair.

  Vero’s hair was dark brown, and height-wise he usually got placed in the middle row in the class picture. He’d always been skinny, and it drove Clover crazy when one of her friends would lift Vero up and spin him around because he weighed hardly anything. Her best friend Vicki especially loved to flip him over her hip when practicing her Judo moves.

  But as Clover watched Vero lean over his birthday candles that night, she noticed he was sitting taller in his chair. It also looked like he’d finally started putting on some weight. She wondered if Vicki would be able to lift him anymore.

  In every way, Vero looked like a normal twelve-year-old boy. But Clover knew he wasn’t normal.

  “Make a wish,” Nora said.

  “I wish this party would end,” Clover said.

  “Knock it off, Clover,” Dennis said.

  Vero sighed. He and Clover used to be so close. What happened?

  Even though they looked nothing alike and Clover was a year older than Vero, there was a time when Clover insisted they were twins. She had brilliant green eyes, which was how she got her name. She was tall and slender like their mom. Her hair was long and blonde, and she usually wore it in a ponytail under a baseball cap. She was very pretty, but she didn’t act like she knew it.

  Clover used to laugh at Vero’s jokes. They used to play soccer on the same coed team. They even sat next to each other on the school bus, where Clover told Vero stories she’d made up. Vero loved her stories about monsters and other creatures. Clover had always insisted the creatures were real — that she had seen them. Her parents would just chuckle and tell her it was nothing more than her overactive imagination. Her mom had said maybe Clover would become a writer one day.

  But now the stories had stopped because Clover and Vicki rode to school with Vicki’s older sister Molly. At school Clover ignored Vero whenever they passed each other in the halls. And at home, Clover hardly talked to Vero.

  “She’s going through a phase,” Nora explained. “Her hormones are going crazy. She’ll come out of it, you’ll see.”

  But Vero wasn’t so sure. He couldn’t explain it, but somehow he knew that if Clover didn’t come back to her old self soon, she’d be lost forever.

  Vero closed his eyes, made a wish to himself, and in one breath blew out all twelve candles. He heard his parents clapping; but when he opened his eyes, he realized his wish hadn’t been granted because Clover stood up from the table and said, “I don’t want any cake.” Then she went upstairs to her room and shut the door.

  His second official day as a twelve-year-old started out just as great as his birthday party. First, he woke up with his back hurting. Then the milk in Vero’s Cheerios was two days past the expiration date and tasted like it. Vero ate the cereal anyway. He told his mom about his sore back over his spoiled breakfast.

  “It’s time for a new mattress,” she said. “That’s probably what it is.”

  “I should be the one who gets a new mattress,” Clover chimed in. “After all, I’m the favorite.”

  “Not true,” Vero shot back.

  “Ask Dad.”

&nbs
p; “Dad, is Clover your favorite?”

  “Mom and I don’t play favorites,” Dennis said from behind his newspaper. “You both irritate me equally.”

  Nora slapped Dennis’s shoulder playfully. He put down the paper and stood up. “I’ve got to get to work,” he said.

  “You’ve got a Cheerio stuck to your sleeve,” Nora said.

  Vero smiled as he watched his mom wipe cereal off his dad’s suit jacket. Vero loved to watch his parents. After fifteen years of marriage, they still liked each other. Even though she was forty, Nora still looked a lot like she did in their wedding photos. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was dressed for her morning run. If not for the faint laugh lines, she could pass for Clover’s big sister. Dennis’s dark hair had a bit of gray in it, and his laugh lines were a bit more prominent than Nora’s.

  “Have fun on your run. I’ll go with you this weekend,” Dennis said, and he leaned over and kissed Nora. Clover looked at Vero and pretended to stick her index finger down her throat. Vero smiled at her, his sore back forgotten for the moment.

  That good feeling didn’t last very long. On the bus ride to Attleboro Middle School, Vero sat on a third grader’s brown-bag lunch. Unfortunately, Vero didn’t realize it until they’d reached the school, so the kid’s lunch was smushed. When the kid started crying, Vero gave him his own lunch. So not only did he spend the day hungry, but he also had to walk around school with a huge jelly stain on the back of his pants.

  The day brightened a bit when Vero got to be lab partners with Davina Acker in science. Davina was new to the school. Her family had recently moved to the area, and Vero thought she was beautiful. She had long brown hair that perfectly framed her sparkling blue eyes, and she had a warm smile for everyone.

  In an attempt to be a gentleman, Vero pulled out a stool for her to sit on at his lab table. Unfortunately, Danny Konrad walked past and purposely bumped Vero. So Vero accidentally pulled the stool out too far, and Davina fell hard on the cement floor.

  “Smooth move,” Tack said, shaking his head as he took a seat next to Nate at the table in front of Vero’s.

  Vero’s face burned red with embarrassment as he scrambled to help Davina stand up. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to . . . Are you all right?” Vero stammered.

  Davina got back on her feet while Vero collected her books.

  “Yes,” she answered, rubbing her backside. “But I might be sore later.”

  “I’m totally sorry. I only meant to . . . ”

  “I know. I’m only kidding,” Davina said without any bitterness. “You were just trying to be nice.”

  Vero sighed with relief. Vero caught Danny’s glare from across the room and quickly turned away. He definitely didn’t want any trouble from Danny. Even though they were both in the sixth grade, Danny was Clover’s age — he’d been held back in third grade.

  Vero remembered when Clover had a crush on Danny back in second grade. She’d drawn a pink heart around his head in their class photo. She had said she loved the way his dimples showed up whenever he cracked a smile. Clover still talks to Danny sometimes, and she says he’s only gotten better looking over time. But she no longer carries a torch for him.

  Clover didn’t say so, but Vero imagined the reason why she no longer crushed on Danny was because some of Danny’s favorite pastimes included knocking cafeteria trays out of kids’ hands — especially on creamed-corn days; hiding Nate’s clothes while he showered after gym class and then pulling the fire alarm; he even filled a teacher’s car with packing peanuts because he’d given Danny a D on his report card — though no one could prove it was him. Danny bragged about that one to all the kids, but no one would turn him in. Everyone kept their distance from Danny.

  “Do you still want to be partners for lab today?” Vero asked Davina.

  “Sure,” Davina said, pulling out her notebook. “I wonder what today’s lesson will be?”

  Their science teacher was Mr. Woods, a man whose wardrobe broke every fashion rule. He wore stripes with plaids, white socks with black pants, and sandals with suits. But every lesson was exciting. The kids had learned that the crazier his outfit, the more interesting the class.

  Mr. Woods entered the classroom wearing a multicolor plaid suit jacket with equally plaid pants. He was carrying a cage with a blanket draped over it.

  “This is going to be a good class,” Vero whispered to Davina.

  “What’s in the cage, Mr. Woods?” Danny shouted.

  “One of the most magnificent creatures ever known to man.” Mr. Woods motioned everyone to join him. “Come on, gather ’round.” Vero and Davina walked to the front of the room for a better view. When everyone had found a spot around the cage, Mr. Woods whipped the blanket off with the finesse of a magician. Sleeping peacefully in the corner of the cage was an orange and yellow snake.

  “Sweet!” Tack said. The rest of the class oohed and aahed. Everyone, that is, except Vero, who took a step away. He hated snakes. He hated everything about them. His shoulders suddenly throbbed painfully.

  “This is a corn snake,” Mr. Woods said as he opened the cage, waking the snake. He gingerly picked it up and held it between his outstretched hands. “It gets its name from Indian corn. The pattern on the snake’s body resembles the pattern on the corn cob.”

  Vero took another step back.

  “Don’t be scared,” Mr. Woods said. “The corn snake is nonvenomous and is actually rather docile. He’s only aggressive when he coils his body around his prey, constricting it, so it can no longer breathe. You can take turns holding him.”

  He held the snake out to Missy Baker whose blonde hair was always green during the first few weeks of school because she spent all summer in the pool. Her greenish hair provided a nice contrast to the snake’s orange and yellow body. The snake slithered up her arm and traveled onto Danny’s arm as he stood next to her.

  “Hey, I think he likes me,” Danny said.

  Nate picked up the snake. It coiled around his hand.

  “Hey, Nate,” Tack said. “That snake has your beady eyes.”

  “Very funny,” Nate said.

  “Snakes get a bad rep,” Mr. Woods continued. “The corn snake is very tame and makes a great pet.”

  Vero didn’t agree with him, but he kept his mouth shut. He wanted to get a good grade in the class.

  Mr. Woods removed the snake from Nate’s hand and said, “I want everyone to have a chance to hold him.” He placed the four-foot snake on Davina’s forearm. She giggled as the snake crawled up her shoulder and around her neck. Davina didn’t even flinch. She was perfectly comfortable with the creature.

  “See? He’s very sweet. I’ve raised him since birth,” Mr. Woods said.

  As Mr. Woods was talking, the snake looked up from Davina’s chest and seemed to stare at Vero. Vero held its gaze.

  “Next person,” Mr. Woods said. As he stepped forward to remove the snake from Davina’s shoulders, Vero swore the snake flicked its tongue and smiled at him. Then it began to squeeze Davina’s neck. Davina gasped for air, unable to speak. Mr. Woods desperately tried to pry the snake off of Davina, but it constricted tighter and tighter. And all the while it stared right at Vero.

  Davina’s face started turning blue. Kids were screaming. The classroom erupted into chaos.

  “Someone get a knife!” Mr. Woods shouted.

  Vero knew a knife could accidentally cut Davina. Suddenly, a cold resolve consumed Vero, and it was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. Vero stepped forward, grabbed the snake behind its head, and pinched — hard! The snake let out a violent hiss, but Vero continued to crush the snake’s head in his hand until it finally loosened its hold on Davina.

  Then Vero furiously unraveled the reptile from around her neck and hurled it against the wall with such force that the snake slumped to the ground, unmoving.

  Missy Baker was crying and shaking and rubbing her arm where the snake had been slithering only moments earlier. Nate was leaning a
gainst Mr. Woods’s desk, looking like he might throw up. Tack was balancing on top of a lab stool as if he’d seen a mouse scurry across the floor. And the rest of the class was staring at Vero like he was an alien who’d just stepped out of his spaceship. But the danger was past.

  Mr. Woods crouched next to Davina who was sitting on the floor, coughing and holding her neck.

  “I’m so sorry,” Mr. Woods whispered. His face looked ashen. “I . . . I had no idea . . . ”

  She could have died. She almost died. Despite his courageous performance a moment ago, Vero’s hands were shaking as he bent down until he was face-to-face with Davina. He was dimly aware of the rest of the class crowding behind him.

  “Are you okay?” Vero asked.

  Davina nodded. “I think so,” she said, her voice scratchy. She smiled and took Vero’s hand.

  Suddenly Danny was there too, and he frowned at Vero. He reached down for Davina’s other hand, and together they pulled her to her feet.

  Davina smiled and said to Vero, “I’d say this more than makes up for you pulling my stool out from under me.”

  Mr. Woods picked up the limp snake and said, “Davina, I want you to go to the nurse’s office, so she can take a look at your neck.” His voice had regained its usual tone, but Vero saw his hands shake as he finished putting the snake’s lifeless body back in its cage. “Missy, please walk with Davina. I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.”

  As Vero watched Davina leave, Tack walked up behind him and whispered, “Dude, there’s got to be an easier way to impress girls.”

  4

  BABY DOE

  Everyone credited Vero’s heroic defeat of the snake to “hysterical strength” brought on by an adrenaline rush. Vero had heard stories of people getting super-human strength in times of trouble, like a mom who lifted a car off her child, and a woman who swam across a raging river while dragging her unconscious husband to the shore. So Vero accepted the explanation.