by Spencer Baum
“Then I flew straight up,” Joseph continued. “I jumped out of the tree and went as high as I could go before I freaked out. I came back down and landed on the roof of the library, then I went up again. I kept doing that. Going up, getting scared, coming down, and after a few tries, I felt confident enough to go really, really high. I went up until I couldn’t see anything on the ground anymore, and even though I was scared, I kept going up, and before I knew it, I was close to a cloud. I kept going, keeping my eyes on that cloud, and then I plunged right into it. It was crazy! I was inside a cloud! It was like fog all around me for just a second and then I came out on top. I stopped, and just floated above the cloud for a minute. The city, the mountains, the whole world was beneath me. It was unbelievable! I floated back down slowly, and, I’m not kidding, going slowly, it took like ten minutes to get down to the roof of the library.”
“That long descent was when I called him,” Jackie said.
Joseph laughed. “That was awesome. Middle of the night, high in the sky, and my cell phone rang! When I saw it was Jackie, I answered it. It was hysterical. I was having a phone conversation while I was floating over downtown.”
“I’m jealous,” said Kevin. “Last night I just fell asleep on the couch.”
“Did you have strange dreams?” asked Jackie. “I did.”
“Yes, I did,” said Kevin. “Really vivid, memorable dreams.”
“I think our brains must be ramped up,” said Jackie. “My dreams were one after another, and I can remember them all. There was one where I was driving in a car race, and another where my hair grew so fast I had to keep cutting it, and one where I turned into a butterfly.”
“I bet you loved that one,” said Joseph.
“It was amazing! I didn’t want to wake up.”
Jackie was beaming at the memory.
“That’s awesome,” said Kevin, thinking that one of his dreams had a nice moment too. “My mom was in one of my dreams. It was a real memory. I had forgotten about it until the dream. It was kind of nice to see her.”
“So it was a good memory?” said Jackie.
“I guess so. I was a little kid. I was getting my hair cut. Your guy, Joseph, Lou Sweeney – he was on the radio, and he was going on about some woman and some place called Shuberville.”
“Are you serious?” said Joseph. “You heard that broadcast live when it happened?”
“What, was it a good one?” Kevin asked.
“A good one? It’s only the most important, legendary radio broadcast in history!”
Joseph had a look on his face like he’d just been told the secret of life. These were a funny pair – Jackie and her animal tracks, Joseph and his radio announcer. Kevin thought about when he had tried to play Megaduck the day before, and how lame it had seemed. He wished that he had something he cared about so much that it was still interesting even in the face of exploding mountains, butterfly chases, and super powers.
“What was so important about it?” Kevin asked.
“It was the last broadcast he ever did on national radio!” Joseph said. “The Demon Queen has been chasing him ever since! At least, that’s what some people think.”
“Some people – you’re one of them, Joseph,” said Jackie.
“Well, I don’t know. All I know is he’s gone, and there are people on the Internet who say The Demon Queen is responsible. They say she doesn’t like being called out by name, and comes to get anyone who speaks about her.”
“If you think this all sounds like a ghost story you’d tell around a campfire, you’re right,” Jackie said to Kevin.
“I’m just saying it’s what some people think,” said Joseph. “All I know for sure is that Lou went off the air half-way through that broadcast, and no one’s heard from him since.”
“I remember the words Demon Queen of Shuberville,” said Kevin. “What was he talking about?”
“Oh boy, here we go,” said Jackie.
“Seriously, Jackie you’ve got to admit it doesn’t sound so strange after what’s happened to us now, does it?” said Joseph.
“I’ll give you that,” said Jackie. “If Lou Sweeney said he ate the sap from an elm tree and could fly--”
“You wouldn’t believe him. You’d call him that Crazy Fart on the radio. But it’s true! You have to admit it! All this time, it’s been true.”
“I don’t know if I have to admit anything,” said Jackie. “I still think Lou Sweeney’s a crazy fart. Come on, Joseph -- the way he used to get all worked up…”
“Not used to, Jackie. He’s only in hiding, and will make a return to radio someday, as soon as it’s safe,” said Joseph. “At least, that’s what some people believe.”
“First things first,” said Jackie. “Like what happened at Turquoise Mountain yesterday. We need to figure that out before the police show up at Kevin’s house.”
As they continued walking toward the mountain, Kevin learned all he’d ever want to know about Lou Sweeney, starting from his early days in fringe talk radio and going through the final broadcast. Jackie, growing bored with this conversation, began playing games with the rocks far in front of them. Using the same powers that allowed her to send an aspirin bottle into the sky, she made rocks float from the ground and dance in the air, creating the effect of popcorn popping in the grass ahead of them.
“You can see why some people might find this to sound a little wacko,” she said.
Kevin smiled. “In my dream, the radio broadcast did suddenly go off the air,” he said.
“That’s right,” said Joseph. “His last words were ‘The Demon Queen of Shuberville.’”
“Yeah,” said Kevin. “They were.”
“Don’t get excited you two,” said Jackie. “Have you ever thought that this is all a hoax, meant to generate interest in a has-been radio announcer?”
“You don’t have to insult Lou,” said Joseph.
“I’m not listening to this anymore,” said Jackie. “You’ll have to forgive my brother. He’s really a smart guy, he just gets so taken up in this Lou Sweeney stuff. I’m ready to talk about something else. Did you have any other interesting dreams?”
Kevin thought about the magic monkey, the basketball uniform, the adoring crowd. He had tried out once for basketball in middle school, and was cut on the first day.
“What are you smiling about?” Jackie said. “You did have another dream. What was it?”
“Nothing worth mentioning,” said Kevin. “I’m just happy, I guess.”
“Alright, but I think you had another interesting dream and I want to hear about it later,” said Jackie. She opened her phone and began clicking around on the Internet.
“I did some research last night on the response of elm trees to termite infestation. There are a couple of really strange things about what happened yesterday.”
“A couple?” said Joseph.
“Okay, a lot, but more than even we know. For instance, the sap inside that elm tree shouldn’t have been sweet, it should have been stinky and gross. When elms are fighting off infestation, the sap turns rotten, especially when the tree is sick, and that tree was sick. Here, look at this.”
She held her phone so Joseph and Kevin could see the screen. It showed a map of the United States, with the bottom right half of it shaded red. Kevin’s eyes drifted to the top of New Mexico, which was pink.
“This map shows the places where tree-eating termites live,” she said. “Look, their concentration in Turquoise is so light – it’s highly unusual that we saw them at all.”
“Maybe we saw the first case. Those maps can be outdated,” said Joseph. “Insects are always moving.”
“I know. I think we witnessed a brand new phenomenon yesterday. I think it was the first time the tree-eating termite attacked and killed a New Mexico elm, and I think that the wild result, which has never happened before, is that the elm produces this delicious, amazing sap.”
“Sounds sensible enough,” said Kevin.
“It
doesn’t explain anything, though,” said Joseph.
“But maybe it does if it’s a new occurrence. Maybe this sap, which no one has ever tried before, has amazing nutritional value. Maybe it’s so good for you that it opens up all this hidden potential of the human body.”
“Too convenient,” said Joseph, shaking his head.
“We’ll see who’s right when we get to the bottom of all of this,” said Jackie. “Speaking of which, are we going to walk the whole way?”
“I’m not,” said Joseph, with a mischievous grin. He took two running steps and leaped, at first flying forward like the greatest long jumper in history, only to take off right at the point where gravity should have pulled him back down. Watching Joseph soar into the blue sky was breathtaking, but also a little frightening. There was so much open space above him. Kevin hoped he didn’t go too high.
Joseph did a feet over head flip, like a swimmer in a giant pool, and came back down to where Jackie and Kevin stood.
“I saw our footprints from yesterday,” Joseph said. “I have an idea.”
“A rare occurrence indeed,” said Jackie.
“Ha ha ha,” said Joseph. “Seriously, I was thinking -- if we can lift heavy cellar doors, why can’t I lift you two into the sky?”
“Oh boy, this oughta be good,” said Jackie.
“Grab my wrist, Kevin,” Joseph said extending his arm, “and then grab onto Jackie’s so we form a chain. Just grab her, she’ll never have the guts to do this of her own free will.”
Jackie gently took Kevin’s hand in hers.
“You underestimate me, Dear Brother,” she said. “Just don’t go too high.”
The three of them now made a human chain with Kevin in the middle.
“Where’s the fun in staying close to the ground,” Joseph said with a smile.
Jackie pulled closer to Kevin and said, “I don’t know if I want--”
Before she could protest any further, Joseph took off, and Kevin had the strange sensation he was holding onto a helium balloon, except that it kept climbing even after it pulled his arm taught.
The three friends were a mix of shrieks and laughter as they floated upward, and in a few seconds they were higher than the nearby trees with what seemed like the whole world beneath them.
Chapter 8
They spoke very little as Joseph took them on a trek above the earth. What could they say that was more interesting than the landscape below? Green grass and sage became a miniature forest of wonders. Kevin’s eyes caught a field mouse scurrying into a hole beneath a shrub, sending a grasshopper flitting on its way. He widened his view and understood that the mouse was running from a bird, a hawk that had narrowly missed in a divebomb attack. The hawk took off again, careful not to fly into their space, careful to leave this hunting ground to the strange new three-headed bird that owned the sky.
Even up here, in space Kevin was never meant to occupy, the hum followed, finding its way into the sound of the wind rushing past his ears. There was a noticeable change in the hum as they approached the mountain, like someone inside was singing in a booming voice that skipped the normal airways of sound and took a direct line into Kevin’s head.
There were two songs, performed simultaneously. One called him close, made him want to reach inside and touch it. The other was ugly and frightening.
Two nights prior, Kevin’s dad and Cassandra sat in the living room, talking well past midnight. Kevin had tried not to listen but he couldn’t help himself. The next morning he was off for his first day of high school. He was nervous and couldn’t sleep.
“It seems like the hum has been getting louder ever since Courtney died, but I’m the only one who notices,” Kevin’s dad had said.
“I’m sorry, Benjamin. I wish I could share your experience,” said Cassandra, “but I don’t. I haven’t noticed a change.”
“It’s not a change so much as a clarity. It could be that there hasn’t been a change at all, and I’m simply hearing it better.”
“What do you hear?”
“I hear deep into the mountain. I hear both parts of it, like everyone, but I hear them so clearly now. The dark sounds are the same as ever, but the bright ones – I feel like I can hear the bright sounds all the way down to their source. For years, I felt like I could hear the bright sounds just to a point. I always hit a wall. But today, I closed my eyes and listened -- now I can hear through that wall. What’s weird is, on the other side, the bright sounds are strong, incredibly strong, and they are tied to the dark sounds. Light and dark work in unison, one feeding the other.”
Normally, Kevin had no problem tuning out his dad, especially when the conversation was about the hum, but this conversation was different. Kevin’s dad was sharing an important personal detail with a woman, and that woman wasn’t Kevin’s mom.
Kevin had stared at the ceiling all night, stewing about how much he hated Cassandra. Now he was flying to her house to gather evidence that might link Cassandra to yesterday’s explosion. He was doing it to protect himself, but if this little escapade just happened to get Cassandra permanently out of his dad’s life, all the better.
“We should land before we get to her house,” Jackie said, “to make sure she doesn’t see us.”
“She’s not home,” said Kevin. “Last night she told the Hearers she would be at an art gallery all day today.”
“Perfect,” said Joseph. “We can land at her front door.”
“Let’s be careful, please,” said Jackie. “We’re trying to prove we aren’t criminals.”
Joseph brought them down in front of a small red-brick structure hidden in a nook between tree-covered hills.
“Does she actually live in this tiny place?” said Joseph. “I assumed from her truck that she was rich.”
“I don’t know much about her,” said Kevin. “My dad and I drove out here once to give her something. She didn’t invite us inside. My dad’s weird about being this close to the mountain.”
I am too, Kevin thought, but didn’t say.
Joseph pointed to a yellow decal on the back door of the small house. “This is an old bomb shelter. She owns a Mountain Ranger and lives in a bomb shelter. This is one interesting lady.”
Joseph went around to the side window and pressed his nose against the glass.
“What do you see in there?” asked Jackie.
“Do you think you can turn the lock so we can open the door?” Joseph said to Jackie.
“Yes, but I don’t know if I want to,” said Jackie. “That’s trespassing.”
“We’re already trespassing,” said Joseph. “Do you want to find proof that Cassandra blew up Turquoise Mountain or not?”
“We can’t just break into her house,” said Jackie.
“She and Kevin’s dad are friends. She won’t mind. Besides, I see some interesting stuff in there.”
“Like what?” said Jackie.
“Unlock the door and I’ll show you.”
“Fine,” said Jackie. She gazed through the window, and inside the house, the deadbolt on the front door unlocked.
“Shall I open the door for you as well, Sir?” Jackie said.
“Sure. It wouldn’t hurt to make sure there are no booby traps waiting for us.”
“See what I live with, Kevin? Booby traps. Good grief.”
But even as Jackie made fun of her brother, she did as he asked, using her powers to turn the knob and open the door.
“No alarms, no lasers, no buckets of water falling from the doorframe – I think you can go inside now,” said Jackie. “Only my brother would think there might be booby traps on the door.”
Joseph was already leading them inside, making a straight line to a bookcase in the back corner. The house was a crowded one-room space, with bookcases against every wall and a large circular table in the center of the room. Stacks of paper, some neatly arranged, others on the verge of tumbling, occupied the entire table.
“Yes, only I would have thought to look for booby
traps my dear sister, but that’s because only I would have spotted this from afar and understood what it means about the occupant,” said Joseph. He pulled a book from the shelf and held it up for them to see. The title of the book was Unafraid of the Truth: An Autobiography of Lou Sweeney.
“Holy smokes, she’s one of you people,” said Jackie. “Now I see why you wanted in here so bad.”
“Mountain Ranger, Bomb Shelter, Lou Sweeney…I think I might be in love,” said Joseph.
“Hey look at this, she likes Peter Gerrard too,” said Jackie.
Kevin’s ears perked up, and he joined Jackie at a separate bookcase on the opposite wall. All three shelves of books were titles Kevin recognized from a different time in his life. The Origin of Insect Societies; Migrations and Manipulations: A Study of Birds and Butterflies; Life in the Anthill.
“This was our delivery the last time I was here,” he said. “All my mom’s Peter Gerrard books. Cassandra asked if she could have them.”
“Here’s something else that’s interesting,” Joseph announced from the other end of the room. He was holding up an old newspaper.
Kevin turned back to the shelves of Peter Gerrard books, not interested in whatever weirdness had caught Joseph’s attention now.
“Your mom liked Peter Gerrard?” said Jackie. “He died in Turquoise, you know.”
“I know,” said Kevin. “I’m guessing you like him too. Ants and butterflies and animal tracks – he’s right up your alley.”
“This is unbelievable,” Joseph murmured as he flipped through the pages of the yellowed newspaper.
“Yes, I think he’s interesting,” said Jackie. “He went crazy, you know.”
“My mom didn’t think so,” said Kevin. “She thought he only appeared crazy to people who don’t understand what he did.”
“Was your mom a professor or something?”
“No, she was just a normal person who became obsessed with Peter Gerrard. Part of it was that she loved the outdoors. At some point after I was born she just got all into it. She started hiking trails that he used to hike, observing all the bugs he used to study. One time she followed the migration of the Monarch butterfly from Canada to Mexico, just like Gerrard did.”