My father groaned and grimaced and put me down. Then he put his hand on the small of his back and croaked, “I’m fine, fine. Don’t worry, I’m fine. Where we gonna pitch the tent?”
Finally he looked around and realized where we were. “Oh.”
By now the music of the spheres had quieted, and the color explosion had faded. The sweet smell had lifted, leaving behind the scent of mud after a spring rain. Everything seemed almost normal.
Pa shrugged and said, “Wake me up when we get there.” He climbed back in among the garbage bags.
“Is the disaster over?” Ma asked the goons. Obviously they knew everything there was to know through their technologically advanced ears.
“Close enough for horseshoes,” said Goon One. “You folks are authorized to go home. We’ve been assigned to escort you and assure the safety of the premises before you enter.”
Ma harrumphed.
“Claire, do you want to get me my special walking stick?” said Grum.
That would be pretty amusing, I thought, Grum pulling a gun on the goons. But Ma put her hand on Grum’s shoulder and said, “That’s all right, Mum, I think Stan is good for his word, if nothing else.” Then she turned back toward the goons. “Gentlemen, I appreciate it, but we won’t be requiring any escorts or assurances. You’re authorized to leave us alone. Kids, give these gentlemen back their glasses and say thanks.”
Dang. I was hoping! I dug the glasses out of their hiding place in my pocket and held them out to Goon One. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
“Just one more thing,” he said, turning to Jed. “I’m going to have to confiscate your Little Genius.” He held out his hand. Ma’s face crinkled. “His what?”
“He must mean me,” I said, even though I knew he didn’t. “Odum wants me bad.”
That joke got me a groan from Barbie. Jed was groaning, too, but not for the same reason. “No! Really? Stan gave me that system for Christmas! He can’t take it back!”
“Sorry, kid. Company policy. Security clearance required. Yours has been revoked.”
“Unless, of course, you wish to return with us to the stadium,” said Goon Two.
Muttering like Pa, Jed felt around in his pockets, then pulled out the green alien bug-eye goggles. He dangled them and shook his head sadly. “What a waste of resources. I’m the only one who can even use this unit.”
“Nevertheless,” said Goon One, stepping closer. I wondered if I ought to fetch Grum her special walking stick after all. But Jed gave in. He muttered some more and dropped the goggles into the big meaty outstretched hand. The men thanked him and got into the Hummer.
“Why didn’t they make you fork over the computer?” Barbie asked. I was wondering the same thing.
“Without the headware, that’s just a fairly intelligent cell phone. If Stan wants it back, he can call me.”
Smiling at that, we loaded into our vehicles to leave. “This time, I’ll follow you,” Ma said to Jed.
He had just turned the ignition when headlights cropped the ridge. A shiny black pickup truck was coming our way. “That’s Stan!” Jed smacked the steering wheel. “I can’t believe he’s coming for us after he made a deal!”
The truck cut us off, goons poured out of it like circus clowns, and we were swept away into the guts of Zone Q forever. In my imagination. Actually, there were only two people in the cab: Boots and Miss Beverly. She gave us a weak smile and a little wave as they sped by. Her son ignored us and careened the vehicle toward the newly installed gate at the Trace.
“They must be going to cure Miss Beverly!” Barbie said.
I smacked my head, realizing. “Zensylvania has adrium! That’s why Odum made the Dogstars an offer they couldn’t refuse.”
“Makes sense,” Jed said. “And whatever he paid them, it wasn’t enough.”
At that, Jed backed the truck out, and we headed for home.
I was pretty nervous about what we’d find at the bottom of the hill. Would all the leachate be gone? Would all our stuff still be there? At least the goons hadn’t reclaimed the broken borrowed glasses from Grum. She was wearing them on top of her asbestos curls now. We could use them to scan the property for adrium ourselves.
So much for all our fears and worries. The second I saw the house, I knew things had changed for the better. It actually seemed to stand a little straighter, like Miss Beverly’s neck. The front door opened right away as soon as Ma turned the key, no kicking necessary! There was hardly any water left in the basement, and the remaining puddles just looked like ordinary yuck water, no colors except rusty brown.
Same thing in the yard—most of the water had been sucked away, even that almost-pond the henhouse had been swimming in and Pa had soaked in. Plus, there were really cool looking swirls etched into the mud. All the drag marks and footprints had been erased from the night Pa got adrified. The walls in the castle had lost their colors, but there were grayish shadows of swirl shapes left behind there too. I put a cuckoo back on the wall, and it had nothing to say.
When we got done checking everything out, Ma put her hands on her hips, shook her head, and sighed towards the jam-packed SUV. “I’m pooped. Let’s hit the hay and leave all that junk to take care of tomorrow.”
Just then the car door opened and out stepped Pa, looking fresh as a daisy. “Hey, what are we doing back home? I thought we were going camping!”
“That was when we were running for our lives, Craig,” Ma said. “Our property’s fine, Stan Odum’s off our backs, and I’m going to bed.” She turned toward the front steps.
Pa grunted in a sort of disappointed way. He looked at me and then Barbie with a question in his eyes. It reminded me of the look he used to give when he was teaching us something and wanting to know if we’d gotten it—how to start a bonfire, how to worm a fishhook. Then he turned all around, looking for something, someone . . . Jed. Pa’s eyes lit up at the sight of him playing chase with Stupid. I mean Fluffy Kitty.
Then Pa stepped toward Ma, calling, “Claire, wait, don’t go.”
Ma paused at the kitchen door and turned her head toward Pa. Just her head. “What now?”
“We’re all packed and ready,” he said. “What do you say to a spontaneous camping trip, Mrs. Daniels?”
Cocking her head in amusement, Ma turned our way and looked from face to face. I made prayer hands and begged with my eyes. Say yes, Ma. Say yes!
“Tomorrow’s . . . a school day,” she said slowly.
“Oh, so what. Let the kids have some fun for a change,” said Pa. “We ain’t had a vacation in years.” He didn’t sound all blustery and bossy, though. He sounded a little nervous.
“No school for the rest of the week!” Grum called from inside the house. “They just announced it on the news. All the public water and sewer lines in town have been damaged. Electricity’s out all along Main Street too.”
“Yay! No school!” I said while Barbie said, “No school? Darn!”
“Well, I guess,” said Ma, getting my hopes up, “if you really want to go camping, you all can go ahead and have fun without me. I have to work. We can’t afford for me to take time off.”
Down went my hopes. What if this Pa wasn’t the jolly old camping Pa, just the couch warmer Pa in a rare good mood? I didn’t want to go anywhere with him and without Ma.
Pa was still working on her. “You can go to work from the campground, dear. In fact, you’ll be closer. It’s just a five minute drive from there to the factory.”
“That’s a fact, but everything’s easier at home, getting ready for work, cooking, all that.” Ma’s voice had a kind of wishful tone behind her excuses, though. We almost had her. I knew she wouldn’t appreciate any unsolicited comments from the peanut gallery, so I just begged her harder with my eyes, and jiggled a lot.
“Sebby, do you have to use the bathroom?” Ma asked.
“No, I just really want you to go camping with us.”
At that, Pa stepped between me and Barbie and
put an arm around each of us. “Myself and the twins’ll have the fish all fried up in the pan when you get out of work. Right-o, kids?”
Wow. I nodded my head off, because “Right-o” couldn’t get by the lump in my throat. This was beautiful.
“Sure, Pa,” said Barbie. She looked pretty pleased, too, in spite of her horrible disappointment at having to go a week without any tests or quizzes.
Ma gave up half a smile, saying, “Well, all right,” and then she frowned. “No, we can’t. Someone has to take care of the chickens!”
After all we’d gone through to save them, I had to agree, someone did. “How about we get Boots Odum to come clean up their doo-doo?”
Oh, the looks I got! “Just joking,” I said. “Just joking.” Sheesh. No way did I really want that guy poking around on our property. Especially not in the henhouse with the secret tunnel entrance.
Then Jed stepped into the discussion. Fluffy Kitty had just given up playing with him to chase after a noise in the woods. “Look, you guys can go camping without me. I’ll stay here and keep an eye on things. Who knows, there might still be repercussions from the explosion. Somebody ought to stick around, just in case.”
“What am I, chopped liver?” Grum called. She was leaning in the doorway now. “Jed, you’re going with them, and I’m going to hold down the fort, with the help of God and Smith & Wesson.” (That was Pa’s kind of rifle.) She had us all smiling when she added, “My mind’s made up. Now go.” And Grum being Grum, that was the end of that.
Since there hadn’t been a holocaust after all, we took out the garbage bags of supplies we didn’t need for camping. Then the Daniels family took off for Lake Exton in the SUV, Ma and Pa in the front and us three kids in the back, with Grum standing on the porch waving.
On the way to Lake Exton we listened to the news on the radio. It was all about the evacuation. A representative from ORC came on and said that there had been an earthquake right underneath ORC. This earthquake had led to a colorful explosion of industrial chemicals, but there had been enough advance warning for everyone to get out unharmed. The complex had been completely destroyed, with losses amounting in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but the operations of ORC would continue in other offices. All Kokadjo employees who wished to continue in their jobs would be offered transfers. Upon completion of cleanup, the site would be restored as parklands and donated to the county.
“Wow, that’s quite a story,” said Ma.
“That lying, cheating, paralyzing blankety-blanking blank,” cussed Pa. “He’ll be inflicting his shady shenanigans on another innocent town now. Well, good riddance from the perspective of this ol’ buddy ol’ pal.”
“C’mon, now, Pa,” said Jed. “Stan never meant to hurt you or anybody else. He’s a scientist, after all, and—”
Jed suddenly interrupted himself laughing. It was so strange and unexpected, I couldn’t help but laugh too. Then Barbie giggled, and Ma joined in, then Pa cracked up. Ma pulled the car over so we could laugh ourselves out without going off the road. My stomach was sore from it.
“What was so funny, anyway,” Barbie said when we were moving again.
Jed smiled sheepishly and said, “Never mind.”
But I could guess. I considered it pretty funny myself that the two of them, Pa and Jed, had completely switched sides on the goodness or badness of Boots Odum. But they were still arguing. Some things never change.
It rained most of the time we were camping. We had an okay vacation anyway. We spent long hours in the tent telling stories and playing games. Pa bet Ma he could keep a bonfire going the whole time, and to everyone’s surprise, he did. He wasn’t the blankety-blank Pa anymore. Well, I can’t lie—he still swore like a sailor’s parrot, but he wasn’t a blankety-blanking blank himself. He didn’t even drink one beer, not even in the fishing boat. But he wasn’t the Pa from when I was little, either. Back then he used to spend every minute doing something. Now he spent a lot of time just sitting and staring at the lake. I could live with this Pa, though. In fact, I spent some time sitting next to him, until I had a little accident of the imagination and fell in the water.
On the last day us kids gave up waiting for the rain to stop and went out fishing anyway while Pa watched us from the shoreline. It was pretty boring. Barbie had brought a book and umbrella to read under. Jed sat hunched in his rain gear texting on his fairly intelligent cell phone. He’d been spending quite a bit of time doing that and talking to his long lost friends. Even to Boots Odum a couple times.
The two of them had made us all appointments later in the week to go to Zone Q and be examined, but we all got to go home afterward. Jed described to Odum all about how the colors had left his body and Pa’s, and how the leachate had left the swirly patterns in our yard, and stuff like that to help ORC study the adrium. But he didn’t say a word about the spectacular mother lode on our property. We had a family conference and everyone agreed that was going to stay hidden behind the nailed plywood. We’d never let the land leave the family or allow it to be mined.
“Some things that are found in the ground should stay in the ground,” Pa said. For once Jed agreed with him.
So back to the boat. We hadn’t caught anything yet, and it was almost time for Ma to get out of work. I really wanted to catch her dinner today. The other days, Pa wound up going to the store for fish so he could keep his promise about frying it up in the pan.
“Here, fishy fishy fishy,” I said and cast out the line.
Jed looked up at me. “You guys wanna check your email? Sebby, what’s your screen name?”
I shrugged. I didn’t get much free time on the computers at school, and I had way better things to do on them than email.
“His would be [email protected],” Barbie said, turning her page.
Oh, yeah. I forgot we all had email addresses at school.
“What’s your password?” Jed asked.
I shrugged again.
“Try his birthday,” Barbie said.
“Eureka,” Jed said. “Sebby, you’ve never checked your email! You have pages of unopened messages from Adele Byron. Isn’t that your teacher?”
“Um . . . ,” I said. She may have said something about that a few times.
Just then the phone dinged. “New message coming in,” said Jed. “From dogstarcluster.”
“She lives!” I stuck the fishing pole between my knees and grabbed the phone away from Jed. The Shish jumped up and tried leaning over my shoulder to read the message too. The boat tipped wildly. Barbie teetered all over the place. Pa laughed from the shore.
“Sit down before you fall, Shish, I’ll read it to you,” I said.
Dear Sebastian,
I hope this message finds you feeling upright and unshaken by the recent earthquake in Kokadjo. As you have probably ascertained by now, my family has left the Love Shack and transferred ownership to the Odum Research Corporation. I regret that I could not inform you about our situation and say good-bye in person.
The good news is, Goldenrod and Marigold have finally discovered that computers are very groovy. Therefore, they have decided to start a new community called Breezy Acres Ecovillage, where we will operate a wind farm for electricity so we can enjoy technological advances without contributing to global warming through the exploitation of fossil fuels. Currently we are traveling around the country seeking an appropriate location.
Zensylvania would have been ideal, but alas, there is no water there anymore. Our spring ran dry. That is why we moved so suddenly. G & M will not tell me the details of their confidential discussion with Mr. O, but I have a theory. My theory is that the mining in Kokadjo Gore disturbed the aquifer and caused our spring to drain.
GtG! M wants me to help her look for her HS friends on facebook. SIT!
Clstr
It took like ten years to read through the message because Barbie and Jed kept making comments. Well, I did, too. It’s always something with Boots Odum. Anyway, at the end of the ten yea
rs I was pretty happy to know that Cluster was okay and finally able to have a computer like she wanted.
The next day, something else made me even happier. No, I didn’t catch a big fish. On the way home we stopped at the store to buy me red canvas high-tops. And as if that wasn’t happiness enough, the sun came out on our way home. So it was shining when we rounded the corner and got our first sight of the new Kokadjo Gore. What had once been beautiful rolling wooded land, and then an ugly hollowed-out strip mine, had now become something else entirely. A little sparkling lake! Reflecting the clear blue sky. Fresh spring water had bubbled up from the earth and filled the deep places. Little gray islands of rock poked up where the slag piles had been.
The Hole in the Wall Page 20