by ipam
Lamis sits in the wall corner away from the sunshine, wiping tears from her eyelashes. “I failed my academic questions…”
I slide next to the wall, sitting and patting her arm. I softy say. “That’s okay! I failed, too, so I’m here, too, with ya. We can go and do ‘the thing’ and then come back and leap back into the Cubby Hole.” I nod and encourage Lamis to finish the red color tone, since I am in a hurry to leave then beat upon Duchie for taking my guy.
Lamis shakes her curls, viewing the floor. “I failed. I couldn’t get the right answers. I answered all the questions, both hoping and praying, that I had reached the 75 percent to pass into the blue color tone. I wanted to make it into the blue color, making my parents, so proud of me. I studied, so hard, every day. I should’ve stopped at the green color tone with the first question then I’d have stayed inside the green color tone. I knew the answer to the first question. The first question is easy,” she tosses her hands then wipes her tears. “Now, I’m stuck, here, inside the red color tone with the other teens. This is my home and the home of my parents, so I guess that I will stay home here, foreverly. I’ll become a slaughter princess, like my mama,” she sobs with tears.
I frown with sadness, patting her arm. “Naw, there’s always hope. I missed my academic questions, too. I hope to get out of here, too. There’re plenty of chances of getting the 75 percent on the next round of academic questions, when we return into the Cubby Hole. Let’s figure out ‘the thing’ then get back…”
“Rincon said, differently.”
I exhale, shaking my curls. “And, Rincon is only a teen, not an adult. And, Rincon is not always right. Believe me! I’m always wrong, too, sometimes. Look, let’s stand and explore the park place. Ya need to calm your shaky nerves and relax your neurons, before going back into the Cubby Hole and conquering it,” I assist Lamis to stand.
We walk towards the archway.
I nod, smile, saying. “Okay! We stroll around the park place, spying on the other teens and looking for ‘the thing’ to do...”
“Ah, cotton fields.” Lamis stops inside the archway, smiling at the green plants.
I frown with confusion, surveying the miles and miles of tall green plants. “See, ya sound, very intelligent over me about these ugly green plants.” My boot stomps on the soft white ball, smashing its guts into the concrete flooring. I stop, lifting my boot, staring at the white puff of roundness. I squat then stare. “Lamis, what in the world is this thing on the floor?”
Lamis halts, wiping the tears from her eyelashes. She squats and blinks at the smashed object. “A cotton boll, that’s the product from the tall green plants.”
I scan the floor. “There’re numerous little white balls of cotton, rolling around the floor, from the soft breeze, or stomped to death, like mine. Why are they inside the mirrored room?”
Lamis smiles then slaps Ketona on the collar bone. “I know, now.” She swings towards the opening.
I skip beside her.
Lamis say. “The right thing is the cotton bolls, from the cotton plants. Geez, I should’ve recognized the height of the plants. They’re about six weeks from blooming with full cotton bolls. So, we need to walk down one of the cotton rows, collecting a couple of the cotton bolls for ‘the thing,’ for us, to return back into the Cubby Hole.” She giggles. “I guess it’s the food of the Cubby Hole goddesses, being girls.”
We giggle and jog towards the rows of green plants then slam into tall plants. The plants are too close for both set of boot prints, so I rush into an individual row, walking along side Lamis and her cotton row.
Lamis slowly walks, being smacked by the giant overlapping green leafy stems of the tall plants, saying. “Okay, we pick a handful of great big white cotton bolls for the invisible gods of the Cubby Hole. This should satisfy ‘the thing, thing.’ The cotton is white with no blemishes. The cotton part is soft, fluffy fibers. Some cotton bolls and cotton stalks are designed for decorative wreaths, too. This is a batch of growing cotton shrubs, without the bolls. It’ll be another two months, before the seed pods break open, so, now, there’re be very limited amount of cotton bolls blooming. So, keep your eyeballs peeled for some tiny balls of white, within the dark green.”
“Okay.” I nod, slapping away the annoying branches from my chest and arms, slowly walking down the overlapping stems of the plants. I don’t have to touch the leaves, since there’re slapping my rib cage. My walking pathway is clear and colored in red soil. I frown, asking. “How da ya know about cotton?”
“When I was a little girl, I visited the farm…”
I toss my arms then hit the dang bush, giggling with some relieve of my frustrations of Duchie, Buffo, and the Cubby Hole. “Yay hay! I got it, now. Your grandfather is a farmer, too, like Duchie’s and Buffo’s?”
Lamis calmly walks along the dirt between the rows of shrubs, knocking the tiny stems and leaves, before trucking down the soil. “Naw, I rode with my daddy to pick up and haul the live cows from the different farms into the numerous trailers. Then, the numerous trailers carried the cows into the slaughter houses. Then, the slaughter machines…”
“Thanks, I have a vivid imagination. So, what do we do when we retrieve the white cotton bolls attached onto the green cotton plants?”
She frowns with confusion, advancing down the row beside Ketona. “Don’t know! I’d suggest walking up and down the rows, like the rest of the teens…”
I scan the teens on both sides of my eyeballs, running with silliness up and down the cotton plants for fun. They laugh and play for fun. I frown with disappointment, not fun. I wanna leave the red color tone, immediately, and rescue Buffo from Duchie, before she brainwashes my guy into something. I exhale, saying. “I wanna travel a little faster through the row, looking for the cotton bolls then get back into the room of mirrors, so we…”
Lamis nods, walking slowly in the dirt, touching the plant, says. “I missed the last question within the blue color tone. I had trouble converting meters into feet…”
I stop, staring at her pretty blonde curls. “Ya don’t have to…to…con…come on, let’s finish our walk. Okay?” I stare ahead, narrowing my eyelashes, not seeing much, but, more green tall plants.
Lamis slowly walks, separating the stems from her queen-sized body, without harming the leaves of the plants. “What was the answer to the organism question? Organisms can convert nitrogen-containing organic molecules into nitrates. What is that?”
I nod and smile, flinging the annoying leaves and stems from my pleasure walk. “Decomposer is bacteria. Only bacteria can covert nitrogen-containing organic molecules into ammonia. Ammonia, which is a form of nitrogen-containing molecule, is subsequently converted to nitrate that plants can use to synthesize new organic compounds with nitrifying bacteria…”
Lamis drops her mouth, stopping and studying Ketona. “Ya got that one right plus the first question…”
“Naw, no, I missed it, like you, too.”
Lamis walks down the row, viewing the plants, “O! I missed that science question with zero percent. I thought, I had answered the math question, correctly. Ten discs sell at $3.00. So, 50 times $3.00 is $150.00. Then, $150.00 minus $230.00 is $80.00. When you divide $5.00 by $80.00, ya get 16 discs. So, 50 discs minus 16 discs are 34 discs that were sold at $5.00…”
I stop, tilting my head. “Naw, the answer is ten. If each musical disc costs $3.00, then $3.00 times 50 sold musical discs equals $150.00. The remaining $80 of the $230.00 would be the extra $2.00, from the $5.00 musical disc total sell cost. Therefore, 40 musical discs were sold at $5.00. So, the last 10 musical discs, not identified were sold at the cost of $3.00. The mathematical solution is ten musical,” nodding and smiling.
Lamis drops her mouth, frowning with confusion. “Ya got that one correct, also. That’s three answers, correctly.
I stop and stare at the dirt. “Ah naw! No. Nope!” I shake my curls, starting to walk slightly ahead of Lamis, not showing my fibbing facial features of ugliness
. “Naw, I missed it. I promise ya, I missed it, also. I’ve just been thinking about the questions, like you, especially, when I miss ‘em, then I’ve just now figured it out, inside my mind, too. I wished the me-chee gave us more than fifteen seconds to answer each question…”
She exhales, slowly pacing and viewing the dirt, too. “Me, too!”
Someone screams in the far distance.
I stop, narrowing my eyeballs at the huddled teens gathered inside a particular cotton row, three rows over from me. “I guess, they found…”
Lamis nods, fingering the object. “The teen girl fainted,” she views the skyline then Ketona. “Both the sizzling heat of the temperature day and Citizenship Day is getting to me, too.”
I bounce and smile, fingering the rest of the cotton row. I am secretly eager to complete the red color tone run then reaching Buffo. I say. “We…you’re doing great, Lamis. This respite will relax our minds, for the next round, of posed academic questions.” I raise my arms to avoid getting slapped by the plant leaves over my curls, smiling. “We’re almost, here. Let’s hurry up and find ‘the thing’ that we’re supposed to do, here, inside a big, wide cotton field and be gone, girlfriend,” I wink at her, smiling. “So, we both move into the green color tone then the blue one…”
I lead, walking and flinging the annoying stems from the cotton plants away from my body then stop. I smile, leaning into the plant, struggling with the inner leaves and twisted stems. I pick the objects then fling them beside my smile. “I found some white fluffy balls. Yeah, can we go back?”
Lamis smiles and frowns with sadness with moisture in her eyeballs. “I haven’t found one…”
I extend one of my three balls, smiling. “Take one of mine, please!” I am, most anxious, to return back into the Cubby Hole then drop down and on top of Duchie, literally.
Lamis frowns with sadness. “I can’t. I must retrieve a cotton boll with my hands. This is the purpose of the cat suit. It is an electromagnetic field that picks up our body temperature and our body reactions to chemicals, minerals, and matter, like a single cotton ball.”
“O! Okay! I learned something new, today. I’ll help ya look, for you, a cotton ball, too, then we leave and go back into the Cubby Hole.” I nod, turning and walking down the row of plants, searching for another cotton boll for Lamis. I am still most eager to leave and find Buffo.
I walk slowly, slapping the silly branches from my chest and face. I growl then frown with pain. I touch the red swollen patch on my hand.
Lamis leans into the plant, ripping at the leaves then emerges, smiling. “I found two cotton bolls…”
“My hand itches…”
Lamis gasps, viewing the red rash on Ketona. “You’re allergic to the white tissue of the cotton boll, which comes from the cotton seed. The white flower causes a reaction to the skin, when folks are allergic, like you. Ya got inflamed skin, looking like a rash, except the rash could spread to other body parts…”
I gasp, flinging the cotton bolls from my arms, landing on top of the plants. “What da I do? My hand itches and burns like fire,” scratching my hands.
Lamis exhales, collecting the cotton bolls on top of plant. “I know. First, we gotta walk away from the cotton field, holding the cotton bolls. Okay, so, bend your arm. I’m going to tuck the two bolls into the crook of your arm, inside your elbow. Your rash only covers your hands, because the cat suit protects the rest of your body.”
“Okay!” I carefully walk and hold the two precious cotton bolls, into my crooked elbow, for fear of not getting out of the red room of mirrors, being trapped here, foreverly.
Lamis smiles and nods. “Let’s walk back to the room, toting our treasure and on the way, I’ll collect the plant leaves. The oil will reduce the inflammation in both your hands, from the allergic reaction of the cotton bolls. Here’s a patch of leaves. Use your other hand and gently rub the oil from leaves over your stationary hand, while ya walk. You’ll be okay. I promise, Ketona.”
We walk slowly along the soil.
I gently rub the plant leaves over my stationary hand, holding the two cotton bolls, in the crook of my elbow as Lamis pulls more plant leaves then hands to me.
The rash starts to disappear with only the itchy feeling remaining. I gently rub my other hand, not moving my arm, which is very difficult.
We exit the cotton row, walking to the room of mirrors.
I stop and smile at my me-chee chair, flinging my arm out. The two cotton bolls drop then roll along the floor, catching the soft breeze. “My rash is gone and I’m gone, too. Bye, bye, red color tone.”
Lamis tosses her arms of cotton bolls into the air as they fly over her head.
We giggle and smile with relieve.
I hug her, saying. “Thank you, Lamis. You are very, very smart. I wouldn’t have figured out the cure for my rash, or the thing with the cotton bolls. I wish you the best of luck, in the rest of the color tones. I’ll see ya inside the gold circle. Okay? Well, I’m definitely ready for the next round of academic questions compared to this country hoe down dance,” I giggle, turning and skipping towards the rear of the wall.
Lamis yells.
I stop then spin to her.
Lamis rubs her fanny, shouting. “The cotton bolls are not ‘the thing.’ It’s the wrong thing.
I grunt the growl, marching to Lamis. “I don’t wanna go back into that field of balls and plants. So, what’s ‘the thing,’ then? I really wanna leave, here, now, this moment for the…”
Lamis frowns then bursts into tears, holding her face, standing beside her me-chee chair. “Don’t know! I really don’t know. I’m sorry. I don’t know, but I do not know that I’m going to be stuck, here, in the red color tone with you, forever. This is our destiny, if we can’t figure out ‘the thing,’ before Citizenship Day ends, like Rincon told...”
“Naw, ya want be stuck, here, and me, neither.” I exhale, viewing the floor. I hug Lamis, saying. “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out, together. Okay!” I scan the room, half-empty with the me-chee chairs. “Some of the teens have figured it out, and some have not. Look, let’s walk back down another cotton row, and see what we can find.”
Lamis nods then slowly spins towards the opening, staring at the floor.
Chapter 8
Cotton row
I exhale, slowly pacing, feeling, too much, defeat on Citizenship Day. I understand, why some of the teens want to stay put inside the current color tone, accepting their fate, without the fight.
However, I am not one of those teens, neither is Lamis, or Buffo.
I lead out the opening, walking towards the cotton rows, not waiting on Lamis. I slowly fling the annoying long stems of the cotton plants away from my body with determination of leaving the red room of mirrors.
Now, I understand. This is more a psychology game rather than a IQ test. You are required to overcome your deep desire, to give up and stay put, inside the current color tone by answering the easiest academic question, only. The name of the current color of the me-chee.
I shake my curls and the plant leaves from my face, whispering. “I am not giving up. I am reaching Buffo and beating up Duchie, a twofer.”
Lamis paces behind Ketona, down the parallel row.
I scream, halting then back stepping. “Spider, spider, spider…”
Lamis giggles and moves toward Ketona, leaning over the top of the plants, saying. “That’s a banana spider. Spiders are used as natural pesticides, eating the nasty boll weevils, which eat the precious cotton seeds. The spiders are one of Mother Nature’s best friends to us. They’re called banana spiders, because of the yellow bodies and slender frame. The female spider is the largest non-tarantula-like spider, here, in our township. She’s a good size, too, about three inches long with yellow spots of orange mixed into her yellow silk slender body,” she smiles and points at the spider, not scaring her. “Banana spiders are really wonderful creatures. Actually, they are shy and harmless to us. If bitten, it feels like a pinc
h and then some redness, kinda like a bee sting. I got plenty of them, too. See, the big spider web. That sucker is about three feet wide between the rows of plants, catching the flight paths of other insects…”
“And me,” I growl.”
She giggles. “Naw, Ketona. The web possesses a golden tint, like the bright sunlight, acting as camouflage from the poor flying insect. Then zap, it’s stuck and caught. The banana spider web is, specifically, woven at body chest level of a person, sometimes, higher for capturing mosquitoes, grasshoppers, stinkbugs, bees, butterflies, flies, moths, wasps, beetles, and dragonflies. However, banana spiders are afraid of cockroaches, since the cockroach is fast moving and large…”
I exhale, nodding. “Me, too! Look, all your datum is cool, Lamis.” I back step, panting from fright then halt a safe distance from the spider. I softly clap and nod. “Okay, you said it, first, being really smart, Lamis. The spider’s shy and won’t attack and bite us, like a snake. So, this is ‘the thing’ that we gotta do.”
Lamis frowns at the spider then Ketona. “ ‘The thing’ to do, what are we going to do, here?”
I finger the spider. “We…you…me are going to move the dang spider from its web, or present home base, not destroy the spider web...”
“How are we going to do that, Ketona!?”
I exhale, thinking of a solution, being anxious to leave the red color tone. I nod, breaking the stem from the plant. I wave the short branch around my face. “We, just, kinda scoot our new friend to the side, out of the way of our bodies…”
“We gotta run through the web. Naw, you’re crazy, Ketona.”
I exhale, nodding. “So, tell me, what’s ‘the thing’ to do here, inside a cotton field? Eat lunch?”
Lamis scans the cotton rows, saying. “I see some of the teens, huddling in certain spots. I guess, they have run upon another banana spider. This is their home. They would be living, everywhere, here, too.”