“Are you going to ride the bus home, honey, or you want me or your father to pick you up?”
Longer than what was a normal stare, Olen glared at the school and the sign directly in front of it that read: School Buses Only.
His brown, drowsy eyes searched for him, the boy who had Olen’s life in a wreck. His mind told him that he wasn’t there, when he didn’t see a red haired crew-cut boy. His words trailed off some more into what would happen if the plan that Whisk-pey outlined fell through.
“Olen, are you okay?” his mother’s voice was raised.
“Yes, Mom, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I asked if you wanted either your dad or I to pick you up and you didn’t say anything. Maybe you did and I just didn’t hear you!”
“Oh, yeah, Mom, you didn’t hear me: I said I wanted you to pick me up. I think you need to lay off the wine a little at night. It’s messing with your hearing!” Olen smiled.
Martha thought about it for a moment as Olen was getting out of the car. “Hey, honey, before you go can I ask you something?”
“Sure, Mom, ask away.”
“This may sound strange and you may think I am a strange one for asking you this, but do you have anything in your room like … um… a pet, a dog, cat, hamster anything like that?”
Olen rolled his eyes, his face turning to a bizarre blankness. “I know. Just asking. You’re right I need to lay off the wine. See you at three, honey!”
Olen got past the bus zone, just missing the school breakfast that he looked forward to. However, that morning, that sunny and cool morning was different for Olen. That was the morning when Whisk-pey elaborated a plan that would stop Charles Henry not only from bullying him, but from bullying whoever else he was torturing.
Olen had a look of gloom and sadness on his face. Although the plan seemed tight and well thought out, something was missing, not from the plan but from Olen himself. He just didn’t know what it was. I must admit, Olen, the plan that the girl came up with sounds pretty good.
“It’s good to hear that you’re calling her a girl instead of…, well I’m not going to say the word!” She deserves my respect. She earned it! Olen smiled. Anyway, Olen I know you don’t want to think about this so early in your school day, but is Charles going to be looking for you again, so you can either give in to him like you usually do or you can handle this by making yourself available and Whisk-pey and her Ento friend will do the rest.
“Yeah, you are right. Tell me something that I don’t know already!” Olen replied to his double. You stood up to Mrs. Forsite so you can stand up to Charles Henry too.
“The difference is Ms. Forsite gives out embarcing moments if she doesn’t like you and Charles Henry gives out punches.”
You do have a point, but like I said before, I don’t know why, but I believe in you, Olen. I think you can do this.
“Really?” Olen replied.
Well, on second thought, being that it’s Charles Henry we’re talking about and not Mrs. Forsite, I think I may have to reconsider, Olen.
Olen smiled. The smile was a brief one, for just a couple of feet away from him and coming off the 210 bus, was Charles Henry.
“I want my stuff after school. Meet me in the football field,” he hollered.
Chapter 16
With her acute eyesight, Whisk-pey kept a close watch on Olen from the trees that were close to every building in which Olen had his six classes. “Charles usually bullies me before first period but mainly after school. After school is better for him because after sixth period is when all of the teacher are in the classroom preparing for their after school meeting.”
“No worries, I will watch the front just in case he tries something in the morning. If not then we will count on him to bully you at the end of your sixth period class.”
“And if he tries to bully me before the end of my sixth period class, Whisk-pey, then what?”
“That’s why Ento will be tucked away in your book bag to serve as a distraction. He will make the call to me and I will be there quickly.”
“Make the call? Ento has a cell phone or something?”
“Cell phone? What is that?”
“Awh, never mind, I will show you when we get home later.”
“Oh, okay. We have a way of hearing each other through the airwaves, Olen. It’s what my people can do.”
Olen’s smile remained fastened on his boyish face from the time Ento jumped in his book page and said: “I’m here, Olen, but just pretend I’m not,” until the nerve wrecking moment of the sixth period bell that will release all the kids to go home for the weekend will echo through the school walls.
“You’re going to be alright, Olen. Whisk-pey is going to take care of everything. All you have to do is just like she told you; you engage that little bully as long as possible and one shot from her trusty sling-shot is going to take him out,” Ento assured Olen of a guaranteed victory.
Olen, the frog is right, let her take this bully out for how bad he treated you and all the other kids he has bullied overtime! Olen didn’t reply to his double or to Ento verbally. He rubbed his back gently.
When the ball field was in sight along with the thirty or more people, one of them being Charles, Olen reached at his stomach, cuffing it with one hand.
“I don’t feel good, I think I am getting sick!”
“Sick? I know what that means and I know what it will do. No, Olen. It’s just nerves. You have to go through with this. Come on, you can’t give up now,” Ento said when he hopped out of the book bag and onto Olen’s shoulder.
Olen turned to look at Ento. “Okay, I will go through with this, I won’t give up,” Olen whispered.
“Well look who showed up, ladies and gentlemen! It’s Microscope Boy. Look at the thick glasses on his girl face!”
Whisk-pey was in a tree that overhung one of the school buildings, watching. She was looking to find a suitable aim that would give her a better view on the target than the position she occupied at the moment.
“Come on in here, Microscope Boy. Don’t be afraid yet. We have a lot to talk about.”
Olen held his stomach. Charles yanked on his shirt pulling him through the gated fence that led into the football field. This time Olen held his balance and his glasses which fell below his nose.
“I want to see if Microscope Boy here has learned his lesson. If he has, he will have a good weekend. If he hasn’t, he will have a bad weekend.”
Olen gazed at the many students out there in that football field; how they laughed, and mocked him. But what surprised him the most was that so many of the popular kids were out there as well.
I’m scared! Olen thought. I am too, Olen, but I trust Whisk-pey on this, and I think you should too. She is going to fix everything.”
“Microscope Boy was supposed to give me a certain amount of money the other day, tell them how much?” Olen hesitated. “Come on, Microscope Boy, don’t be shy, tell them!”
“It was ten dollars!”
“Louder, I don’t think they can hear you,” Charles yelled.
“Ten dollars!”
“There, that’s better!” An array of laughter followed.
“As you can see,” Charles said, grabbing Olen’s face and holding it out toward his fellow schoolmates, “I knocked Microscope Boy around a little bit for not giving me what belongs to me, but he promised that he wouldn’t make that mistake ever again, right, Microscope Boy?”
“Yes, I made that promise,” Olen replied timidly.
“Very good. He made a promise. Now prove to all your fellow schoolmates how you are so mad at yourself and you’re not going to let that happen again, and give me what you owe me.”
Olen took a deep breath and dug in his pockets.
Whisk-pey, who had found a tree that shielded her and gave her a better aim at Charles, was observing the scene.
“No, Olen, you don’t want to do this, this isn’t part of the plan, you can’t give in to him!” Olen he
ard Ento from the top compartment of his bag.
“He sees his faults now. Looks like Olen is going to go home without a knot on his head today.”
More mocking came from the circle that was beginning to form around Olen and Charles. “Hurry up, you toothpick, before I break you in half,” he said then his laughter sought out the airwaves. “What’s taking you so long, Microscope Boy. Give me my money!” Charles’s demands were beneath the loud crowd of kids.
Suddenly he took his hand out of his pocket and placed his book bag front side up on the ground so Ento would be facing up.
“I’m not giving you anything, Charles,” Olen yelled.
The crowd became silent. “Did I hear what I think I heard, beanpole?”
“Whisk-pey, I know you’re close; hold off. I can handle this!”
Most of the school kids looked around for someone. Others questioned Olen’s action and asked who Whisk-pey was. Taking heed to Olen’s request, Whisk-pey pulled back.
What are you up to? Whatever it is, I hope it works, Olen, Whisk-pey thought.
“I said give me my money,” Charles yelled.
“I don’t think you heard me, Charles. This is my money and I am not giving it to you. What are you going to do, bully me and hit me like you usually do, if I don’t give you my money?”
“Why, you little…”
“Do you dislike your sausage nose, oink, oink, or is it your chubby body, Charles, that you don’t feel good about yourself, so you go around bullying me and other people?”
Charles pulled away. He touched his nose dumbly then touched his protruding stomach.
“It’s not small, Charles! It’s pretty out there, just like my glasses, and they are not small either. There pretty big actually!”
There was some laughter from the crowd of kids but mostly observation. They were struck with disbelief of the bravery that Olen suddenly displayed. “The money in my pocket belongs to me. It’s not yours. The same with all the other kids you bullied to get something from, Charles. You took something that didn’t belong to you, whether it was money, self esteem, candy, their courage – you took it without permission, so that makes you a thief!”
“Oh, I ought to sock you one good one across the face!”
“Go right ahead, Charles, but you should hit me on the right cheek that one doesn’t have a bruise on it. Could be the twin bruised cheeks socked on by Charles Henry the big bad bully!”
Now the crowd of kids was overtaken with laughter. Whisk-pey smiled from the top of the tree. “There will be no money taken today because Charles Henry has retired. He will no longer be known as the big bad bully of the school but a reformed kid of the school.”
Charles bowed his head.
The crowd cheered Olen on. Then several other students rushed Charles, grabbing money, watches, baseball cards and everything else Charles had taken from them. Olen turned to pick up his book bag and not only did he hear the chant of “Olen, Olen,” from behind him, but he saw Whisk-pey in one of the overhanging trees. He could see her bright smile and giving him a hand signal.
“What is she doing? I can barely see her,” Olen whispered.
“She is giving you the thumbs up. That means ‘tremendous work, you fellow’!”
Camden Jones was tired of coloring, he had colored most of the pictures in Olen’s sketchbook and he wanted something more exciting, more rewarding to do. Not to say that coloring for Camden wasn’t satisfying – it was - but at his age it was hard to keep his attention.
“Mom, I’m going to the creek. I will be back!”
“Are you going with Olen?”
“No, I am going with my go-cart!”
“Now you know I don’t like you out there by yourself, Cam. People are crazy!”
“Mom, I’m seven years old. Come on. I think I will be okay,” Camden said.
“Be careful on that go-cart. Your dad will have a fit if something happens to you on it.”
Camden smiled. “Okay, mom, I will be back in an hour.”
“Okay, I should have dinner ready by then!”
“Mom?”
“Yes, son?”
“Do you think Dad will be home to eat dinner with us today? I miss him!”
Camden’s mother turned from the stove. “I am not sure, honey, but I hope he is. I haven’t heard from him today.”
Camden drove his black go-cart with the oversize red wheels through the red and muddy trail behind his house.
Those tires, all-purpose, durable thread, gripped the mud with ease, making Camden’s turn precise and kicking up dirt as it turned into the curve of the trail before straightening out. As the trail led him into trees, Camden raised his hand and slapped the wooden sign that he and Olen made that read: Super Track.
As the long path stretched before him, Camden saw something up ahead. He could see it from about a mile away, it was that large.
“What is that?” he asked aloud. As the long narrow trail widened, what was in the middle of the super track turned to face the boy.
Camden stopped, cut off the engine of his go-cart and got out. “Oh, man! Oh my freaking man, is that a bird?” Camden asked himself. “If it is, it is a big and pretty bird.” The feathered bird was blue, white, and tinted orange. Its feathers felt like fur when Camden touched its wing gently.
“Where did a bird like you come from? It’s going to be hard to hide you, but I will do my best,” Camden said.
With the length of the bird being ten times the size of a large eagle, Camden used some caution. When he walked up closer he noticed that the bird’s eyes were closed. He took another step and then noticed blood – lots of blood dripping from the bird’s underside.
He walked closer to see where the blood was coming from.
“Oh my, bird, you are bleeding. Your leg is all cut up! Who did this to you?” With Camden’s voice being young, and loud, the bird’s eyes opened.
“Oh my Lordy, so freaking cool,” Camden said when he saw the bird’s light blue, marble-like eyes.
Camden stepped back as the bird moved one wing. The wing made contact with Camden. He fell backwards, gently hitting a tree. When the bird’s eyes focused on Camden, it yelled. Camden yelled too and ran backwards behind a tree.
He poked his head out when he heard the bird ask, “Who are you and where am I?”
“Oh, it gets better and better,” Camden said. “You can talk!”
“Of course I can talk. Why wouldn’t I be able to talk?”
“And you sound like a girl, a girl that’s a lot older than my sister,” Camden said.
“Of course, my name is Gilma, and ‘a lot older than your sister’, what does that suppose to mean?”
“I don’t know…, but your leg looks pretty bad. I can go get something for it, if you promise not to eat me or something like that.”
Gilma laughed, “I promise I won’t eat you, but you still haven’t told me who you are and where I am.”
“You don’t know where we are?”
“No,” Gilma replied in a grunt.
“This is called my Super Track but the city is Charlotte and the state I live in is North Carolina.”
“City? State? What is that?”
“You don’t know what a city and state is? I am going to have to teach you a lot,” Camden replied.
“I suppose you haven’t met anyone by the name of Whisk-pey have you?”
In the last couple of days King Fenris had developed a blueprint that blueprint was a system of tearing everything that related to the Canine people down and building a city that reflected his kingship and the Wolf-people. The Canine people were now slaves and the Wolf-people ruled over them with an iron rod. The Canine-women were to make the best food that was physically possible for the Wolf-people then what was left over from their meals the Canine-people would be able to eat.
The Canine-men (those who didn’t escape out of the city during the battle) worked extremely hard to build the city that their self-appointed king dreamed of. Ma
ny of the Canine-people (mainly the canine-women) cried when the cities beams were torn down and burned to ashes.
“What about the beam faces? They spoke to me every morning when I went out into the yard to pick flowers,” one of the Canine-women said as she was ordered to get back to her required duties. The Canine-people learned from the Wolf-people how to build stone dwellings instead of tree houses. They were amazed at what they learned but also saddened when all their tree houses were torn down and burned.
“This place will no longer be that of the tree houses and tree assemblies but this will be called the City of Stones. There will never be anything built out of trees here ever again,” King Fenris said to all of the Canine workers. The stone house which the Canine-men were building wasn’t at all a Canine house but a Canine prison, a house of confinement for the Canine-people.
Inside each of these stone-built prisons was a hard bed and bars that went around the entire ten by ten single confinement. They were built all over the city. The Canine-people became slaves in their own houses, lying on the floor to sleep while watched closely by the wild beast.
Some of the Canine-people couldn’t take the extreme rule that was enforced upon them and tried to escape during the construction after they learned in detailed what the punishment would be for those who tried to escape the city.
There were two types of punishment that was enforced if any of the Canine-people were caught trying to escape. “This is your new home, a city built with precious stone. This will be the way of life for all of you serving the Wolf-people until you die,” King Fenris told them at the beginning of the takeover.
“Now for those of you who are caught violating my law, you will be judged and your punishment will be one of two things. If we feel that you, the one who violates my law, is a good worker, strong and he does more than his fair share of work, then your life will be spared but you will be beaten with many lashes and you will not be taken to the Healing Well you will work while you heal!
“Those of you that are weak and do far less in your day to day tasks and can barely lift a hand to pick up a building tool, your life will not be spared, you will be thrown into The Den of Beasts without question!”
The Land of Make Believe Page 17