by ipam
“What!?”
“Nephella is the mayor’s daughter. She’s become a good friend with me and Rincon, too.”
He smiles and nods. “Well, if she’s a friend of yours, then she’s a new friend of mine, too…”
I gasp, shaking my curls. “Buffo, you are…we are taking a wild chance, here, that no other teen won’t pass the three-fourths of the academic question set, or might fail to advance, into the next color tone…”
He laughs. “Naw, me and you will, tarrying both of us towards the golden color tone, for the golden job. We’ll exit from here, the orange color tone, after locating the cougar, then we be gone from here, soonest,” he nods and drives.
I exhale, frowning at him. “When,” I sniff then drop my mouth. I cover my nose with both hands.
Buffo slows the kart, staring at her. “What? What do you see?”
I scan the rocks. “I don’t see anything. I don’t hear anything. I smell something, like stingy pee-pee. Someone forgot to empty the cat’s litter box.”
He stops the kart, smiling and nodding. “This be the place.” He slides out then walks towards the big piles of rock. He grins and touches the stone. “Look at the size of the scratch marks from the cat.” He sniffs then exhales. “Poo! This place stinks.” He fingers the small pile of green leaves and shredded grass. “This is both dried and wet urine, both marking the cougar territory, and warning off predators. This be the place for a look see at the cat, honey. A cougar is an excellent stalker and ambush predator, living within the dense underbrush with little vegetation, in open area, like here.” He walks around then squats. He studies and touches the object. “I see four toes and four inches of a paw print, embedded into the dried mud. Yeah, this be the place for the cat.”
I sit and exhale inside the kart, not moving. I scan the high rocks, so wide and tall, blocking the hidden caves and part of the blue sky. I say. “We should stay inside the kart for our safety and a quick escape, Buffo. Let the cat come to us. Okay! If we had our cellies, we could snap a pic…”
He smiles, stands and touches his cat suit. “The cat suit records the body heat of the cougar and our heart rate, all at the same time, for the participating event, within each park place, or ya stay stuck inside the park place, the reason for the cat suit.” Buffo swings and advances to Ketona.
He assists her out the kart.
I frown, whispering. “Yeah, I keep forgetting, the reason for the Cubby Hole, and my torment, and torture on Citizenship Day…”
Buffo walks ten feet from the kart, cuddling and posing with Ketona. He says with a chuckle. “We stand here and glance at the cat eyes, or allow the cat suit to glance the cougar, then we be done, here. We go and get back into the room of mirrors, moving through the rest of the color tones, then inside the golden color tone. I’m so glad you’re, here, with me…”
I exhale, cuddling him. “I’m glad, too.”
We stand and cuddle, viewing the blue skyline, the green short shrubs, and the non-moving brown rocks.
Buffo exhales. “Okay, the cats are solitary animals. Only the mom and her kittens live in a group, being active around dawn and dusk. I gotta make some noise,” he leaves Ketona, alone, scooting towards the trees, squatting and looking for some dry branches.
The cougar sits and smells the girl through the thick green brushes and slender trees at Ketona.
The girl stands, alone, in front of the machine.
The cougar stands, sprinting along the edge of the smooth rock boulder. It leaps into the air, landing in the dust, stirring up yellow swirls.
I gasp with fear, seeing the cougar, looking like an overgrown domestic cat in sandy colors with black ears. The paws are large proportional to the big hind legs. The skull is round, holding a folding pair of backwards ear points for danger. It growls, showing long teeth then hisses at me.
Buffo yells, squatting low on top of the boulder, safely away from the hissing cougar. “Stand still, not moving, play dead! A cat considers dead prey non-threatening, within its senses and then retreats.”
The cougar growls at Ketona from the vocal yelling of Buffo.
I stand, holding my breath. I whisper, trying to calm my shaky kneecaps and legs. “It can leap as high as 18 feet in one bounce and 45 feet horizontally. The hissing cat is about thirty feet from me. The cougar’s top running speed is 50 miles per hour, but, only for short, powerful sprints rather than long chases. It can climb trees and swim in water. Cougars live to be about eight years old. I hope I live for the next eight minutes…”
Buffo watches from the boulder, staying alert for any sudden movement from cougar. He doesn’t possess any weapons, but the strong tree limb. He whispers, updating his mind and instincts about the growling cat. “The cougar is slender with lean muscles for jumping onto its prey then biting and breaking the neck, penning the prey to the ground for food. It’s about six feet long from nose to tail and weights about 119 pounds, heavier than Ketona…”
The cougar watches Ketona, sniffing its nostrils. It slowly stomps one paw forward then stops. The cat sniffs then lowers its shoulders.
I gasp with shock.
The white and black furry tiny cougar kitten waddles between the lower legs of her mama. The mother cougar growls and hisses, lowering her body, covering her baby.
I smile at the tender moment, whispering. “Female cougars are fiercely protective of their kittens and will fight with large bears to protect their babies. I’m not a bear, either. The litter size is, typically, two. This means, she has another baby kitten, inside the den, behind the tall rocks. The kittens are born blind and dependent on their mother. They’re weaned at three months old. At six months, the kittens hunt with their mother for small prey. The kitten looks about four months old. Awe, so deadly!”
The mother cougar back pedals from Ketona then grabs the wandering kitten by its neck. She back pedals further away from Ketona, carrying the baby with it wiggling side to side, staring at the stranger, too close, to their home den.
I back step from the mother cougar, holding her baby. She will not attack me with the babe in her mouth.
I feel the hands grab my arms then gasp.
Buffo squats then leans over the boulder rock, grabbing her arm. He lifts Ketona inside the air then cuddles the petite girl into his chest. He back pedals from the edge of the rock then jumps off the boulder.
We run towards the kart.
I wiggle from his manly grip then stumble onto the rock surface, sliding into the kart.
Buffo leaps inside then touches the steering column, turning to stare at Ketona.
I stomp the floor and the console. “Go Buffo!”
He taps the steering column, staring at her. “Ya have to drive.”
I gasp. “What!?”
He scoots out of the driver’s seat, jogging around the front bumper, says. “You gotta drive the other half of the terrain pathway, right back towards the flat plain, into the room of mirrors.”
“What!?” I look up at Buffo. He stands over my hair roots.
“Move and scoot into the driver’s seat, Ketona! Part of participating, within the park place, is doing the mechanical stuff, too. I drove up the slope. Ya gotta drive back down the slope, or you will not exit this park place, ever. Some of the kids have tried and failed, learning the hard lesson of the Cubby Hole.”
I drop my mouth, standing then sliding towards the driver’s seat. I nod, strapping into the webbing, which keeps me from falling out of the kart. I crank the engine then slap both hands onto the steering column.
Buffo exhales. “Look, this is like driving a car. There are two foot pedals. One for go. One for stop. There’s a steering column for turning left or right. Press the gas pedal then steer around the rocks. Ya know the big things with smooth sides and made of rocks,” he chuckles.
I say with nervousness. “I know.”
He surveys behind his collar bone. “The mother cougar’s taking care of her babies. She’s no bother to us, so just slowly guide
us down the slope towards the room of mirrors.”
I nod, pressing the gas pedal.
The kart slides to left.
I twirl the steering column to the right, straightening the kart.
Buffo smiles and yells over engine, tapping on the console. “We be done and are ready to leave…”
The loud bugle sound startles my eardrums, first then my mind, second.
I slow the kart, whipping my face behind my collar bone.
A herd of copper brown animals gallop in thundering sound towards us. They stand at five feet with boney wide antlers, protruding from their skulls.
I gasp.
Buffo yells. “A herd of elk, the natural food of the cougar, about 500 pounds each. Go. Go. Drive down the slope out of their running path…”
I stomp the gas pedal, sliding the kart left then right in the loose dirt. I whip around the large rock boulders. I travel down a slope, as the lead elk jumps upon the flattened rock boulders then leaps over the kart and my hair roots.
The other elk bulls and does fly the air, also, landing and running in front of the kart.
I scream, ducking my chin into my chest.
Buffo yells. “Naw. Naw. Keep moving the kart. We’re heading down the slope away from them. They jumping over us then veering towards the side of the mountain. Keep us trucking!”
I stomp the gas pedal.
The large bull leaps then lands behind the kart. It lowers its antlers then rams the rear bumper with its mighty force of brutal animal strength.
The kart swirls badly to the right, almost kissing the face of the rock boulder.
I release the gas pedal, twisting the steering column to the left, holding my breath from fright.
A second elk leaps then lands beside Buffo. It grunts and shakes it antlers side to side, slamming into the kart, denting the metal.
The kart slides sideways from second elk.
I spin the kart towards another rock then press the gas pedal. The kart spins around and around as the more flying elk land around us.
I straighten the kart then stomp the gas pedal.
We sail down the sharp slope. Both of us scream from the rough ride and scary adventure.
Buffo holds onto the seat edges, as I steer left and right of the non-moving stationary smaller rock boulders, in the middle of my chosen pathway.
I slam the brake pedal at the fallen elk, in front of the front bumper, spinning the kart around into a complete circle then emerge out of the circle, sliding into a new rock face on the left.
I whip the steering wheel to the right, avoiding the rock face then straighten into a semi-crooked line.
We slide down the slope.
I press the gas pedal faster than accidentally invade inside the middle of the galloping herd. The herd flows down the sloped mountain side with us.
The surprised bull elk runs next to Buffo, bulging with sound and thrusting its antlers, into the non-window, ripping part of the cloth rooftop.
I scream then blow the horn.
The bull elk veers away from the kart.
I yell. “Unweb. Unweb. Lay down! Lay down over the seat away from the antlers.”
Buffo unwebs then slides deep down between the seat and the floor.
I press the gas pedal, speeding between the elk herd as the kart is bounced side to side, from the violent impact with 500 pounds furry bodies.
The large elk stops then kicks its front hoof into the side of my door.
The kart spins into a circle then smashes between two slabs of rock boulders.
The kart stops.
I scream, stomping the gas pedal.
The kart is stuck, until we can get out and shove it through the small opening.
I jerk the tear roof top over my head then lay my body over Buffo. I hear the clicks of the elk hoofs dance on top of the rock boulder, smelling the stinky furry bodies. I taste the tiny molecules of rock dust, drifting down from the broken shards of rock boulders, between the fabric fibers of the cloth roofing material.
I see darkness, closing my eyelashes, feeling Buffo breath and hug his shoulders, protecting him from the elk herd.
The elk hoofs click and tap over the rocks, then silence.
I listen for more clicks, before moving out, from underneath our semi-protection of the rough cloth rooftop and wait for more silence. The silence sounds, like sweet music to my eardrums.
Buffo grunts then shuffles under my breasts.
I lift the cloth from us, viewing the blue skyline, between the twin rock boulders, then smile. I giggle. “The elk are gone. It’s all clear. We did it! We made it, sweetheart.”
Buffo sits upright then kisses my lips. He grins, gathering and rolling the cloth rooftop into a ball then places it, behind the seat. “Stay inside the driver’s seat! I’m climb up then jump down and shove the kart through the opening. Then, we be gone from here. This is my last ride, inside the orange color tone.”
I giggle and nod, kissing his scratched and bleeding face of tiny cuts and a few bruises.
He grunts, climbing with both his biceps and boot toes, between the twin rock peaks. Then, he stands on the rock, sliding down behind the kart.
Without words, he shoves his shoulder into the rear bumper of the tiny kart.
I stomp the gas pedal, helping give the kart movement.
The engines whine, as Buffo grunts.
The metal squeals, moving through the tight rock formation, then the kart is freed from its safety hold.
I release the gas pedal, sliding the kart into another complete circle, grinning.
Buffo smiles, strutting towards the kart, then slides into the seat. He webs into the chair.
I smile and stomp the gas pedal, soaring down the slope, without the elk.
I slow the kart, sliding into parking area.
Buffo leaps off the side passenger seat, running around the bumper.
I exhale, panting and giggling with my fun adventure.
Buffo pulls Ketona from the kart, smiling and chuckling. He cuddles her. “Ya okay, darling?”
I pant and cough with both fear and dust. “Yeah.”
He hugs her, kissing her hair roots. “We’ve have some fun chasing down the elks and running from the mama’s cat. Right!?”
“Yeah,” I whisper then breathe more air molecules, calming my racing heart and shaky knees.
He exhale, “Well, I guess we need to finish our quest of the Citizenship Day. It’s late. I hope Jara and Hatch catch up with us, soon. I wanna be home, before suppertime, working up a good appetite for my mama’s beef stew.” He leads Ketona towards the orange room of mirrors. He kisses her face then pulls back. “Ya still alive and breathing, darling.”
I slap his chest, nodding. “It’s just too much excitement for my teen heart organ, that’s all!”
He smiles. “I concur. Let’s move along!” Buffo escorts Ketona to her me-chee chair, assisting her inside then he turns and dashes to his me-chee chair.
I wiggle and giggle with contentment, being with Buffo. The fabric wraps around my body then the chair drops into darkness.
I scream with happiness.
Chapter 11
Red auditorium
I catch my breath then giggle with happiness, floating up and landing inside the Cubby Hole. The walls, ceiling, and floor are red colored. My me-chee shield is orange, coming from the orange park place. I really did not have fun, riding inside the land terrain vehicle, or chasing after the cougars, but I did have fun with Buffo.
I exhale, smiling and studying his me-chee chair. Buffo sits beside me, again. I really do love him with my heart and mind.
They both go together, my heart and mind.
He and I are perfect together, like my heart and mind. I can’t separate them, either.
I giggle with excitement.
We are both inside the Cubby Hole for the next set of academic questions, advancing into the red color tone then the green color tone, then the blue tone, and finally the gold color to
ne for our dream jobs.
I scan the room, not seeing Marsilla, Rincon, Nephella, or Lamis. They all have passed into the green color tone, or maybe, into the gold color tone, now. I don’t know really know, or really care, at this point.
I wanna be with Buffo.
Buffo wants to be with me then we will both live inside the same color tone, together.
I glance at her.
Duchie sits inside the orange shielding of her me-chee chair, looking at the forward wall.
I snort then snarl with both revenge and vengeance. If I were a violent person, then she could hear my vocal nasty animal sounds. I wiggle side to side inside my me-chee chair with mixed emotions.
The me-chee stands, raising his arms. “Welcome back to the Cubby Hole, teens! I hope you have enjoyed your fun in the sun. There is more fun to have inside the rest of the color tones. Please sit back and relax into your assigned me-chee chair!” The orange shield shimmers, around each teen, inside the me-chee chair. He says. “Close your eyelids! I will present the next series of academic questions for your individual answers. The time limit is fifteen seconds for each posed question. To remind, each schooler, again, for clarity of a proper verbal response, please state my answer is…then your vocal response. If you answer three-fourths, or more, of the academic questions, correctly, you will advance to the next color of red. If you answer one-fourth, or less, you will remain stationary inside the color tone of orange. If you, incorrectly, answer two-fourths of the academic questions, then you will slip back into the color of yellow. The first question, what is the color tone of the me-chee, inside the Cubby Hole, presently?”
I smile and say. “My answer is…red.”
Buffo swings his face, smiling and nodding at Ketona, for a brief second. He returns and stares at the forward wall of red color.
I giggle then listen to the next posed academic question, inside my me-chee chair.
The me-chee says. “How many irrational numbers are there between 1 and 6?”
I gasp with the simple answer. I study Buffo.
He wiggles side to side with anxiety.
I gasp. “This is an easy one, Buffo. Please, relax and think. Please remember, the correct answer.”