Earthly Worlds

by Billy Wright

  So absorbed was he that he didn’t notice Liz until she was standing before him with an expression of mixed amusement and worry. She was fully dressed for work.

  He switched off the grinding wheel and grinned at her sheepishly. “Huh. It’s daylight.”

  “Yeah, no kidding, Profoundly Observant One.”

  “Couldn’t sleep.”

  “And Captain Obvious as well!” Her tone was good-natured, but there was worry behind it.

  “I’m all right,” he said. “Just had a bad dream.”

  She came close and kissed him. “I’m off to work. Kids are already off to school.”

  “Wow, I have been a little absorbed.”

  “Yeah, we could hear you tinkering back here. How’s it going?”

  He held up the thing that now looked very much like a hunting knife, but without a grip. “Almost ready for tempering.”

  “Well, don’t let it give you any attitude.” She paused with a smirk. “Get it?”

  He blinked.

  “Temper?”

  He chuckled. “Oh, geez.”

  She guffawed and slapped her knee. “Hah! I kill me. With that, I bid you adieu.” She curtsied and turned away. “Tip your servers. I’ll be here all week.”

  He grinned at her and turned the grinder back on. “Beat it.”

  She departed to meet her ride at the entrance to the main road.

  The sun gave him another hour before the heat reached the quitting point, and then it was time to get back on the job hunt. Before he did that, however, he drank half a pot of coffee and ate two peanut butter sandwiches.

  And then the phone rang.

  He answered it, thinking it might be one of the many businesses at which he’d applied to work.

  A nasal voice came over the line, “Is this Mr. Riley?”

  “It is.”

  “This is Principal Snyder from Barnett Elementary. I’m sorry to inform you that your son Hunter just got in a fight at school. We need you to come and pick him up.”

  Chapter Seven

  As soon as Stewart got off the phone with the principal, he called the day care where Liz worked.

  “What’s up, hon?” she asked.

  “Hunter got in a fight at school. The principal just called.”

  “What?”

  “He might get suspended or expelled over this.”

  “What!”

  “I’m coming to get you.”

  “Right. Did they say what it was about?”

  “No.”

  “Then I’ll be waiting out front,” she said. “And don’t spare the horses.”

  They hung up and Stewart jumped in the truck, low-level alarm dinging in his chest. The seat and steering wheel were already fry-an-egg hot from sitting in the sun. Hunter had never been in a fight before. At worst, he could be willful with his teachers or classmates when he thought they were wrong or being unfair. In contrast, by the time Stewart was Hunter’s age, he had been in a few fights, mostly with kids who started them to try to prove themselves against the biggest kid in school. Hunter was truly a good-hearted kid, so Stewart was mystified at what could have happened. It had to be some sort of bullying.

  Could it have something to do with the weird looks Hunter and Cassie had been trading lately, when they thought no one was looking? The boy had also seemed worried about not getting to go to taekwondo class anymore.

  He pulled up in front of Sunshine Kidz eight minutes later, where Liz stood arms crossed against the split-rail fence surrounding the modest playground.

  As she climbed in, they gave each other worried looks. When they arrived at the school, they went straight to the principal’s office, where they found Hunter slumped in a chair near the secretary’s desk. His lip was swollen and pink. At the sight of his parents, he sank deeper into his chair and looked as if he was about to cry.

  Liz knelt before him and took his hands in hers. “Are you all right, kiddo?”

  Hunter’s posture straightened, and he nodded.

  She hugged him and then examined his swollen lip.

  The boy couldn’t look at his father, trying to hold it all inside, but anger and shame leaked from his eyes.

  The secretary, a plump lady with too much makeup, a bouffant hairdo, and a dress that made her look like a rounded clump of flowering prickly pear, gave them a wan smile. “I’ll tell him you’re here.” She picked up her telephone receiver, but the door to the principal’s office opened with slow gravitas.

  Principal Snyder somehow made five feet six look even smaller, as if he were denser, more compact than a normal person. Salt-and-pepper hair fringed a shiny pate, making his protuberant ears look even bigger, almost like clamshells, and beady eyes flicked back and forth between them from behind thick-rimmed, squarish glasses that made his facial structure appear even more marmot-like. He was new at school this year, hired from Tucson or Phoenix and moved all the way to Mesa Roja. He was unmarried and drove a Ford Pinto so sun-bleached and dust-scoured it was difficult to tell what the original color had been. Mesa Roja was not a big town; Stewart had seen him around.

  Today, Principal Snyder’s solemn expression suggested Hunter was about to be sentenced to the gallows. It felt so overblown to Stewart he found his muscles tightening, his teeth clenching. Surely someone should have been hospitalized to warrant this kind of severity in the air.

  Hunter slid out of his chair, appearing almost boneless. Liz put her arm around him, and the three of them entered Snyder’s office. The air smelled a little sour, like old sweat, or an onion going bad.

  Principal Snyder offered his hand to Stewart. “Dr. Ellis Snyder.”

  Stewart shook it. It felt like a damp sock. “Stewart Riley. This is Liz.”

  “How do you do?” Liz said, shaking the principal’s hand.

  “I wish this could have been under more pleasant circumstances,” Snyder said, gesturing them all to sit.

  They sat before Snyder’s desk with Hunter in the middle. He still would not meet his father’s eye.

  “So what is this about?” Stewart said.

  Snyder began, “As I told you, Hunter and two other boys—”

  “Two!” Liz said.

  “They jumped me,” Hunter said sullenly.

  “What was it about?” Stewart said. “They started it?”

  “That’s not the story they tell,” Snyder said. “They said Hunter came at them in some sort of karate posture and—”

  “It’s taekwondo,” Hunter said. “And they started it.”

  Liz said, “Where are the other boys?”

  Snyder said, “They have been sent back to their room.”

  Liz said, “So Hunter is the only one in trouble?”

  Snyder’s gaze flicked to Stewart. “Under the circumstances—”

  “Why are we still waiting for the whole story?” Liz said. She was about to get fiery. Stewart liked to watch her get all fiery on other people. It wasn’t much fun when it was directed at him. “Maybe we should start at the beginning.”

  Snyder’s face tightened. “Fine. Hunter, please proceed.” He sat down behind his desk and straightened his suit jacket.

  Hunter opened his mouth. “Well—”

  “It seems your son suffers from an excess of imagination,” Snyder said.

  Both Stewart and Liz stiffened at the interruption.

  Stewart leaned forward and put his elbow on Snyder’s desk. “I’d like to hear it from him.”

  Snyder edged back, presenting his palms.

  Hunter glared at him. “See, there were these two fifth-graders from Mrs. Donnelly’s class, real idiots—”

  “Now, Hunter,” Liz said.

  “They are, Mom! They were teasing Cassie on the playground at recess. They made her cry. I...got mad.” Hunter wrung his hands tight.

  “What were they teasing her about?” Liz said.

  “She was over by the fence by herself, in the shade by the piñon trees. She was singing, just minding her own business, and these two
idiots went over and started razzing her—”

  “Hunter,” Liz said.

  Hunter sighed. “Fine. These two mentally challenged gentlemen. They made her cry. So I went over and told them to stop. Charlie White says, ‘Your sister sounds like somebody dragging a cat through a keyhole.’ Joey Alton says, ‘Yeah, it hurts my ears.’ I said to leave her alone. They said, ‘Make us.’ So I got into my stance and I kihaped and—”

  “Your son is clearly the aggressor in this incident,” Snyder said.

  “What about the two boys harassing my daughter?” Liz said. “Look, Mr. Snyder—”

  “Doctor Snyder.”

  That was the point Stewart started fantasizing about popping the little man’s head like a balloon.

  “Look, Doctor Snyder, we raised our kids to protect each other,” Liz said. “If you’ve got a couple of hooligans terrorizing an eight-year-old girl, and you’re blaming her brother for protecting her, we have a serious problem.”

  “Unfortunately, the school district has a zero-tolerance policy against violence of any kind—”

  “Then why does my son have a fat lip?”

  Snyder peered through his glasses at Hunter as if noticing it for the first time. “Oh, well. I’ll have to have another talk with those boys. They assured me they had not touched him.”

  Liz’s eye-roll was practically audible. “Have you talked to Cassie? What does she say happened?”

  “Your little girl is even more fanciful than your son, I’m afraid. She says they were arguing about ‘magic.’” The man’s air quotes dripped with disdain. “What she claims happened can no more be trusted than stories of imaginary friends.”

  “Tell us what she said,” Liz said.

  “She says she saw some ‘little people’ near some kind of burrow at the edge of the schoolyard. We encourage imagination, but we all know there are limits, don’t we? Such fantasies can be tolerated in one Cassie’s age, but Hunter should have grown out of them by now and be looking toward his future as a productive adult.”

  Stewart didn’t have to open his mouth. With one glance, Liz knew his mind. Her voice became hard and sharp as flint. “Well, we disagree, Doctor Snyder. Let kids be kids. Later in life, there are plenty of people like you who will kick them around plenty and cripple their imaginations.”

  It was time for Stewart to play Good Cop. He could almost see the smoke boiling from her ears as he laid his hand on her arm. “What she means is, what’s going to happen to Hunter?”

  Snyder’s eyes narrowed. “He is suspended from school pending a full report to the school board.”

  Hunter’s face went milk-white, fists clenched in his lap.

  “And then what? Who makes the decision?” Liz asked.

  “I will make a recommendation to the board, and they will decide his final disposition.” The principal picked at one of his cuticles. “Hunter, would you mind waiting out by the secretary’s desk? I need to speak to your parents.”

  Liz squeezed Hunter’s hand. Stewart patted his back. His posture looked like that of a puppy that been kicked. Hunter shuffled out of the office and shut the door.

  Snyder cleared his throat. “May I suggest...some counseling for your son? These kinds of ideas are not healthy in a well-balanced, productive youth.”

  “You’re suggesting my son needs therapy because your school tolerates bullies?” Liz snorted. “May I suggest you come back with a reasonable decision,” Liz said, every word meticulously enunciated. “Do you really want to see your name in the Mesa Roja Messenger? It’ll feature prominently in a story about a boy kicked out of school for standing up to bullies, and the bullies get to stay in school. Better still, how would you personally like to be internet famous?”

  Snyder jumped to his feet. “Are you threatening to slander me or this school?”

  “It’s not slander if it’s true,” Liz said. “Today’s Friday, so I guess you have the weekend to think about it, Doctor Snyder. I’m taking my kids home. They’ll be back on Monday.”

  Stewart stood up and gave Snyder a long, quiet look, a gaze the principal could not meet. He let himself loom there for a long moment.

  Snyder said, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I see. Good day to you both.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Stewart said.

  “You have a...history, don’t you, sir?” Snyder brushed his hand toward the door. “Good day.”

  ***

  “I’m sure glad you did all the talking, babe,” Stewart said as they walked up to the truck, Cassie holding his hand and Hunter holding Liz’s. “If it were up to me, I’d have thrown him through the window,” Stewart said.

  “I wanted to throw that smug, self-righteous, pompous, pus-faced, shark-a-lop-tipus through the window, too.”

  Cassie giggled into her hand. “Mommy, you talk so funny sometimes.”

  They all four piled into the truck, with the kids sharing the middle seat belt. As Stewart fired up the engine and backed out of their parking space, Liz said, “Okay, kids, it’s time to spill it. After that meeting with the principal, we still don’t know what really happened.”

  Stewart cranked the truck’s decrepit air conditioner, which would blast air as hot as a hair dryer until they were almost home.

  Hunter and Cassie glanced at each other. She elbowed her brother, prompting him to begin. He said, “Those two have been picking on Cassie since school started this year. They go out of their way to be jerks.”

  Cassie nodded vigorously at this. “They’re mean. Cobweb always tells me to ignore them but—hey!” She elbowed Hunter back.

  “You two!” Liz snapped. “I’ve had about enough beating around the bush today. What is all this about?”

  Cassie glanced at her brother. “Hunter doesn’t want me to tell you.”

  “Tell us what?” Liz said.

  “About the little people,” Cassie said.

  Liz glanced at Stewart, who remained silent and pretended to focus on driving. “Is Cobweb one of these little people? You mean, like faeries?”

  “No, not faeries. Faeries are just from stories, like Tinker Bell. Cobweb is real.”

  “They won’t believe you, Cassie,” Hunter said with a sigh.

  “Yes-huh! They will, too!” Cassie said. “Won’t you, Mommy?”

  Liz nodded. “Just tell me all about it.”

  Cassie settled into her tale. “I was over by the fence because there was a little hole in the ground and Cobweb told me that her people lived in holes in the ground in Arizona because they don’t like hot, and they love it when I sing to them and I was a little lonely today so I started singing by the hole, thinking they might come out and say hi, and that’s when Charlie and Joey showed up and started calling me names. They said I was a terrible singer, and that really hurt my feelings.” Tears welled in her eyes, but she sniffed once and wiped them away. “That’s when Hunter came and told them to shut up. What happens if Hunter gets kicked out of school? Will I get kicked out of school, too?” Her voice cracked and her face crumbled toward a wail.

  “No, honey,” Liz said quickly. “Hunter is not going to get kicked out of school. Hunter? What happened next?”

  “Well, like I said,” Hunter said, “I told them to shut up and leave her alone. They laughed. I got in my stance and kihaped.”

  “He yelled to scare them,” Cassie said, “but it didn’t.”

  “They both grabbed me and tackled me. They punched me in the lip. We haven’t done what to do about tackles in class. I see the adults working on that kind of stuff sometimes, but...” His voice also cracked, and his face crumpled. “I didn’t know what to do, so I just tried to fight back, but they just held me down and...”

  He wiped his eyes and crossed his arms tightly.

  “What happened, baby?” Liz said kindly, cupping his cheek.

  But he just sighed.

  Cassie said matter-of-factly, “That’s when Joey held him down and Charlie farted on his head.”

 
Hunter wiped his eyes again and squeezed his arms tighter.

  Stewart hoped Hunter didn’t notice his mom’s barely restrained burst of surprised laughter. The humiliation was already almost more than the boy could withstand.

  “It was so stinky!” Cassie said. “But Hunter got a couple good kicks. It was enough to make them stop. Then they just laughed and went away. But then the playground teacher was coming.”

  A few blocks went by in strained silence. Finally, Stewart said, “Hunter, I’m proud of you. You did the right thing, protecting your sister. If it happens again, you have my permission to go full black belt on them.”

  Liz nodded. “Well, maybe not full black belt. But yes, what Dad said. You did the right thing. We’re proud of you both.”

  Cassie piped up, “So you believe me about the little people?”

  “Absolutely!” Liz said. “I’d love to see them, too.”

  Cassie elbowed Hunter again. “See! I told you they’d believe me! Peaseblossom says only kids can see them. Grown-ups can’t.”

  “Why is that?” Stewart said.

  Cassie shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe they’ll let you see them if I ask them nice on account of it’s my birthday.” Then her eyes gleamed. “Hey! Can I invite them to the party?”

  “Of course you can, honey,” Liz said. “How big are they? How many pieces of cake do you think they’ll need?”

  “We’re gonna have cake?” Cassie crowed, eyes wide.

  “Why wouldn’t we have cake, honey? It’s your birthday,” Liz said.

  “I figured because we were broke and stuff,” Cassie said.

  Stewart’s eyes misted. He laid his hand on his daughter’s knee. “Cassie honey, we will always have cake. No matter what.”

  Chapter Eight

  Cassie insisted on helping Liz make the birthday cake, a confetti angel food cake with strawberry frosting. Before it went into the oven, Cassie had as much of the batter on her face as went into the cake pan. As she bounced off to invite the little people to her party, Liz couldn’t help but laugh. Stewart had told her about Cassie’s “Geroj Sale.” It was just so adorable.