by Orca Various
When I get back I will rite up this hoss stage and skating story. I wonder how it will end? I hope Mr Wing likes it.
All this time the driver stares down at me. You wanna lift there pal? he says. Lemme help you out.
I need help so I hop over to his sled and climb on and soon enuff we are swooshing down the road with the horse Rudolf clopping ahead. I am trying to fix my skate lace—taking it out and tying a not and putting it back in. It isnt working.
While we drive the guy tells me all about himself. His name is Steve. I ask if he has a brother named Nickolas and he says no. He has no brothers or sisters or mom and dad. He is 24 years old and lives in a house in the next town witch is where he is going now.
Are you close to the river? I ask.
The saint low rents?
Thats it!
I dont know the way it is spelled but thats what Bet said when I asked about it. Low rents. I told myself to remember that name and then I forgot.
Its not far from my house says Steve.
Great I say and go back to fixing my skate. Witch is not going great. The lace keeps breaking. I have 3 nots now and my lace is getting shorter and shorter.
You look like you mite need a new lace pal says Steve.
He calls me pal. That is okay.
We can get you some in town he says. The store shuld be open. I have to stop there anyway. Its not far he says.
Thanks I say.
I check my pockets for money. I had 5 dollars when I went skating. Spencer was going to buy me a hot dog but I was kid napped befor he got back so I never payed him.
The money is in my back pocket. Good.
My hand is warm now. It was getting cold after all the time I spent trying to make nots in the lace. I keep it in my pocket and lean over.
You ok pal? asks Steve.
Sure I say.
We are sledding over a field of snow. The road is beside us on the left side. There are woods on the rite. We are coming to a traffic lite—the first in a while. Steve pulls on the rains and tells the horse to slow down. He pulls harder. He yells. We bump off the field and onto the road and past the traffic lite.
Dammit Rudolf! yells Steve. Why dont you do what I want? You mite as well be my kid!
I laff. Mom yells at me all the time for not doing what she wants.
Steves town is called Perivale. We pass the sine. Theres houses and stores and street lites and a big Christmas tree in front of the town hall. And a school and an other one and a donut shop and a Burger King and 2 stop lites. And some pick up trucks driving slowly. Steve tells me that Perivale is the biggest town in the county. He says there are even more people there on Saturdays when the farmers come in for the market.
The store is called Food Land. It is down the main street from the town hall. We stop. Steve fastens Rudolf to one of the lite posts. We are the only sled in the parking lot.
Gess what? They sell skate laces. And other things that you dont normally see at a food store—fire wood and nails and socks and glasses and folding chairs and beer. Huh. There are people putting all these things in shopping carts.
The laces cost $3.95 but befor I can pay Steve takes out his wallet. He is standing behind me in the line holding a big bag of food for Rudolf. Oats I gess.
All together he says to the checkout lady.
Are you sure? I ask him.
I like to help people he says.
He hands me the laces—and also a mitt.
I saw you are missing a glove he says. Take it. Its a mitt—it can be left or rite he says.
Where did you get it? I say.
I lost the other 1 says Steve. So you shuld have it.
It is brown with wooly stuff sticking out. It is pretty heavy.
Well thanks I say. Thanks Steve.
I hop over to the Food Land door and sit down so I can do up my other skate. Only I cant do it. The laces are in a plastic pack and I cant get it open no matter how hard I try.
Dont you hate that? Who decides to make a pack so tite nobody can get in it? Who ever he is I wish he was here so I could make him break his fingers and teeth trying to get the laces. Id still be there going crazy xept that Steve hands me a sort of nife. You push the blade in and out with your thum. I nife open the pack and in 5 minits I am ready to go. The other lace is in my pocket.
Thanks Steve I say. Thanks a lot.
He tells me to keep the nife for now. You mite need it agane he says.
We go out of the store together. It is dark now—winter dark witch means afternoon snack time. Summer dark is bed time. Steve asks do I want anything else?
Like what? I say.
I dunno he says. Anything.
I dont have to think very hard.
Do you have a phone? I ask.
He smiles. You can call from my place he says. Lets go there now.
Rudolf makes a horse noise. He smells the oats.
STEVES PLACE IS TALL AND POINTY
and takes up a lot of the block. It looks like a fort or a castle xept for the front porch. Not many castles have a porch. An old lady lets us in. This is Onny says Steve. She looks after the house for me. Maybe he means Annie but he says it like Onny and that is what I call her when I say hi. She doesnt call me anything just ducks her head and smiles. Steve asks Onny if her son has come yet. She shakes her head. Steve tells me that Onnys son and his wife live close by and come over every week for dinner. Youll meet them later Steve says to me.
I didnt know I was staying for dinner. But I am hungry. Sure I say.
We are in a white and black and red hall with a closet big enough for all the close I ever wore and a ceiling tall enough to be the ceiling on the second floor. Near the closet is a guy in armor. A nite. I say hi because he looks like a person and then I blush. I know hes not real. Im not surprised when he doesnt say anything back.
Steve asks Onny to take me to a spare bedroom. She ducks her head again and shows me up a lot of stares and down a few halls to a room with everything in it—bed and desk and lamp and bookcase and computer and bath tub and sink and TV and meer. And phone. All rite maybe not everything but a lot. There is a picture of a girl and an other picture of a tiger in a forest. The girl is wearing faraway close and has a jug sitting on her head. The tiger is hidden in the grass. All I can see are the stripes and the eyes.
There is a cooky jar. Onny opens it for me. Oatmeal—nice. Everybody likes them. I ask if she wants a cooky but she is gone. Her footsteps get softer as she walks away.
I think about lying down on the bed but I mite sleep forever. I dont want to do that. I want to talk to Spencer. The phone is an old time one with places to put your finger and turn. I check my arm for Spencers number and dial it. He doesnt answer. His message comes on. To leave a message I have to press 9 but there is no way to press a number on this phone.
I have to go to the bathroom. It is real comfortable in there. The seat is warm as soon as I sit down—like it is heated. One of the books on the shelf beside me is called A Local Hero and it is about Steve. His picture is on the cover. I have never seen a book about anyone I know and here I am in his house. On his toilet. I open the book and read about stuff Steve does to help people. I dont know how long I keep reading but it is after I am finished on the toilet.
I go down some stares and wander around. It takes me a while to find people. I smell smoke from a fireplace and hear voices befor I get to the room with the talking. Steve says the roads are real bad tonite. If they are still bad next week call me or Onny he says. I can come out with Rudolf and give you a lift.
I gess the son and his wife are here. I am all set to go in and meet them—and then Steve says a name that freezes me.
Who is Dusan? he says.
I stop walking. They are in the room at the end of the hall. The door is open and I can see the flicker on the wall that comes from the fire lite.
I thot you said Susan at first but Dusan is a guys name. Who is he? says Steve.
He is the head of our sell says a new
voice. A guy. Dusan is our boss says this guy.
He is disappointed in us rite now says another new voice—a woman. Somebody is missing and Dusan blames us she says.
The voices make my hands clench up into fists and my hart starts to zoom around like a race car. I know the woman and the man.
Thats 2 bad says Steve. Can I help?
Dusan is the name Spencer told me about—the guy who called him about Grampa. I wuld of walked into the room if I had not talked to Spencer. But the name Dusan made me stop and now Ive herd Lubor and Vi and I know that the room is dangerous.
I am the missing person they are talking about. They want me.
I sneek back the way I came. There is soft carpeting and my feet sink into it. I run into Onny. She is holding a tray with things on it. Drinks and things. She nods at me and makes a move with her tray like she is shooing me along the hall to the living room.
I dont want to speak because Lubor and Vi mite hear. I hold up my hands to Onny to say wait. I point upstares. Then I spread my fingers to say 10. I shake them at Onny so she knows I will be back down in 10 minits. I hear Steves voice again.
I wonder where Bunny is? he says.
Bunny? says Lubor. Who is Bunny?
Lubor all rite—he says Bunnee.
Bunny is a new frend of mine says Steve. I ran into him this afternoon on the road. He is an interesting young man.
He? says Vi. A guy named Bunny?
Oh crap I think.
Lubors voice is louder.
Mama!
I turn. He shouts from the door way down the hall. At least I gess it is him. Ive never seen him without his red mask. Hes as big as I remember. His face is dark—not like Bets or Jades but dark for a white guy. Like Onnys I gess. His hair grows in a point on his for head.
Mama! he shouts. Stop that boy!
Onny moves to block me and her tray tips. The drinks slide. She doesnt want mess in Steves house. She saves the tray and I get past her to the stares. Voices bubble up behind me. Lubors and Steves and Vis. She points at me. Her face is moving around.
You she says. Just—you. But the way she says it is like an arrow aiming rite at me. Why did I think she was nice? Why did I trust her?
I have to get out of here. I head down stares.
THE NEXT BIT IS CRAZY.
I run around the house and they all run after me. Its scary like a dream is scary and it stretches out like a dream 2. Sometimes it seems like time is stopping. I get lost rite away. There is a hall in front of me and I take the first turn to the left and then there is an other hall and I take an other turn and there is still more hall in front of me. The house is like a what do you call it—a maze. The halls all have white walls and doors and pictures and shelfs and lites so they look the same. A few times I think I am in a hall I have been in befor xept the shelfs have different things on them. Books and candles and pots and like that. Steve has a lot of things and I gess he has to put them somewhere. Sometimes there are a few stares going down to a little door. Or they go up and there is an other hall. Or they go down and then up again for no reason at all. I keep running. If there was a camera showing the hole house it mite look like Scooby Doo. Me running here and them running there. Now and then I hear a bang or a voice but mostly it is quiet. We all keep on missing each other.
Even tho I think about Scooby I dont laff.
I come to some stares but do not take them because this time I see an other way to go—a rite turn. I take it and come to a hall with a picture of trees and a wooden box and a left turn and now all at once the floor is different. I stop. This is the red and white and black room with the closet and the nite in armor and the tall ceiling. This is where I came in.
My coat is on the back of a chair. I put it on. My skates are side by side on the floor. The 13 from the city hall rental place is on the back. I sit to lace them on.
Steve steps out from behind the closet and hands me a bag.
I am sorry you are going to miss dinner he says. Here are sandwiches for your journey.
I put them in my coat pocket. Steve holds the front door open for me.
I dont know what to say to him.
Im not—
I dont finish.
Vi and Lubor are—
I dont finish that ether.
Who are you? I say finally.
He doesnt answer my question. Main street is that way he says. Down the road and across the vacant lot. Turn rite and keep going. In a few miles you will see sines for the bridge.
No who are you really? You got my stuff ready for me I say. You gave me sandwiches. Your helping me. Does that mean you are on my side?
I try to give every body what they want he says.
Every body?
As many as I can.
But—every body? I say. Even bad guys?
He blinks. Who are they? he says.
Forget it I say.
He is still holding the door open. Go fast he says.
I hop out the door and down the steps. Steve shuts the door. My skates cut into the ice on the front walk. Theres a long drive way on my rite with a black car parked behind the sled. I give a little shudder—I know that car. I was in the trunk.
I get an idea.
In my pocket I find the nife that Steve gave me to open the plastic pack. You mite need that sometime he said. I skate over to the car.
Lite shines out at me. The door is open agane and I hear Steves voice.
There he is! he says. There in the drive way!
He means me. He is telling Lubor and Vi where I am. He is helping them.
Wow! He really is on every bodys side.
I stab the back tire of the car—the nearest tire. It has a chain on it so it can go on icy roads. My nife bounces off the chain. Lubor and Vi run down the walk waving there arms and shouting. I stab again and this time the nife goes into rubber and I hear the whoosh of air coming out. The car sinks slow and steddy like gramma sitting down in the living room. Lubor falls but not like gramma—this is like going off the diving board and landing on your back. Wump. His legs wave in the air like a bug. Like a bugs legs. He says something in his axent voice.
Here comes Vi. I dont think of her kissing me or telling me she was on my side. I am not done with the car yet. I skate round to the other back tire.
Bunny! Stop!
Vi is at the end of the drive in her sweater. If I think of her lying to me I will get mad. I stick my nife into the other back tire and the air whooshes and I do not think of Vi. Now the car cant go. There is a spare tire in the trunk—I remember. But there arent 2 spare tires.
I kick it—Vi’s car. Full of her stuff. I do not think of her kissing me. Why did I trust her? The air is clear and cold and still. Vi moves toward me with slidey steps but she will not catch me tonite. I turn and dash away. My skates feel good and tite on my feet. The road is covered in ice. No one will be able to catch me for a while.
I dont know how you can give every body what they want. What if 2 people want to win the same race? Some body has to lose. Just now I wanted to get away and Lubor and Vi wanted to catch me and Steve wanted to help us both. Thats weird—isnt it?
The street lites bounce and sparkle. The road goes strait and ends at a vacant lot the way Steve says it will. A guy is standing in the middle of the vacant lot with a hose in his hand. There is a rink there and he is flooding it to make it smooth. He sees me and turns off the hose.
Cmon kiddo he yells. The ice is fine.
I dash across. The ice is already hard and really smooth. Theres a big road on the other side of the vacant lot. I remember what Steve said.
Does this road go to the bridge? I ask.
Thats the 37 he says.
Does it go to the bridge to Canada?
Course he says.
He makes it seem like I am stupid for not knowing this. Everybody knows the 37 goes to Canada. I thank him and start away.
Why dyou want to go to Canada kiddo? he calls after me. Its full of Canadians.
/> I cant tell if he is laffing. It mite be a joke and it mite not. I mean he is rite—Canada is full of Canadians. I keep skating and dont say anything.
I was in the USA for a long time without knowing it. I really did think I was in Canada until I saw the map at the jail. I can see why. The big things are not different. The trees and snow and clouds are the same. And the roads and cars and stores and people are the same. Little things are different—licence plates and speed limits and the way they say roof. That is funny. Roof. It sounds like ruff. And about sounds like abat. They all talk like that—Steve and the old lady and Orvil and the kids skating with there grampa. But really the places are more the same than they are different. The same moon is in the sky. So is the little star pointing me north—but I cant find it now but Im sure its there.
I am alone on the road. After a few alone minits I see a sine—Bridge to Canada 2 miles. I eat a sandwich from my pocket. I have to take off my mitt and my hand gets cold but it is worth it because the sandwich is really good. Meat and cheese and hot green things. Thank you Steve.
Skate skate skate.
I dont understand Steve asking who are the bad guys? You have to decide who the good guys are and help them. I remember thinking about him as Santas little brother but kids mostly want there own stuff—not other peoples. I would rather be Santa than Steve.
Maybe there is a way to make every body happy but I can not see it. If you can—well you are smarter than me. You and a lot of people.
IT IS NOT EASY TO GO HOME.
Youd think it would be but it is not. It is hard. I skate down 37. Bridge to Canada 1 mile says the first sine. Then Bridge to Canada ½ Mile. Then Bridge To Canada 500 yards. Then 200 yards. They really want you to know about it. There is no body on the road but me. The road is up hi and I can look down on a flat sheet of ice gleaming white in the nite with dark spots on it. The saint low rents. The dark spots are islands. Trees and rocks. Canada is on the other side of the river. The bridge goes across. There are US lites on this side and Canadian lites on the other side.