by ipam
“Yes.”
Duchie frowns. “Do you really wanna know where Buffo is?”
I stomp my naked feet nodding and spitting saliva. “Yes, I wanna know, Duchie. Tell me what you know about Buffo before I get violent…”
Duchie twist her hands. “Well, I missed one question and I’m really smart from studying all the time since I was three years…”
I gasp then view the sand. I kick the sand. “No, it can’t be.”
Duchie nods. “It can be. I got three out of four questions correct. The last one, the word math problem was easy for a math person. But the fishes one was really hard I couldn’t answer it. I didn’t know the dang answer. The ten second time limit elapsed before I could say something about fishes…”
I toss my arms then twirl into a circle. “No, it can’t be. I saw Buffo struggle with the word math problem. So he might have missed one question.”
“But he could have missed two…”
I stomp my naked foot crossing my arms. I swing towards the shade trees since I’m burning up in both in physical hotness and mentally heat. Duchie follows me. I lean against the tree feeling the smooth bark of the palm tree. I view the tall tree with four big long green leaves barely shading the hot sands, saying. “Okay, help me puzzle this out. If you get three-fourths of the questions then you advance to the next color tone. Buffo was in the orange but he didn’t get three-fourths of the questions correct, because he isn’t here with me and you. Buffo got only two of the questions correct. I saw him struggling with the fourth question. He was having trouble with the word math solution then he and his me-chee disappeared from the Cubby Hole. So Buffo received two correct answers out of four which is fifty percent. So 50 percent is below 75 percent and above 25 percent, therefore he has remained inside the orange color. I solved the puzzle. Buffo’s stuck inside the orange color tone so I’m going to…”
“Naw, he ain’t,” Duchie frowns with worry, exhaling and shaking her ponytail. “If you get one-fourth of the answers correct you remain inside the current color tone which is 25 percent of the right answers. The last set of academic questions tallies four, so 25 percent times four questions is one…”
I exhale then stomp my foot. “You’re acting silly even a first grader can figure out that one-fourth of the total number four is the number one…”
Duchie winks. “I got some more analysis to perform so listen really carefully. One-fourth correct answer of the four posed questions is one correct answer, so you stay within the color of orange. If you answer two posed questions correctly you get 50 percent, so you stay within the color of orange also. If you answer three posed questions correctly you get 75 percent, so you advance into the color of red like us. If you got one answer wrong out of four questions then you descend into hell…sorry back into the color tone of yellow,” when I gasp and listen. She nods. “Because the me-chee states if you get one-fourth of the questions correct then you remain inside the current color tone. You must make an assumption that any answer totally wrong then you will not remain inside the present color tone. If you keep trying to answer the question hoping to get 50 percent or more then you get three answers wrong then you might descend back into the previous color tone. Our assumption assumes a larger tally of questions. However I will analysis the current posed questions for the red color tone. There are four questions. If you incorrectly answer two questions wrong then you receive 50 percent. The me-chee states if two-fourths of the questions are answered wrong then you will descend into the previous color tone. The me-chee clearly stated if you incorrectly answer two-fourths of the academic questions, then you will slip back into the color of yellow...”
I gasp then worry. Duchie nods then circles around the sand dropping a chin into her neck, viewing her naked feet. I follow behind her.
Duchie continues. “The first question was too easy and too frequent, name the color for the machine. Buffo got that one correct. He stands at 25 percent. The second question was too easy also. Everyone knows the human body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. So Buffo stands at 50 percent. This is good. He got two-fourths of the four questions correct. Now the third question was very tricky and slick,” stops and views me, nodding. “I didn’t get it right. I didn’t know the answer, so I didn’t say nothing.”
“Nothing,” I frown with confusion at her.
She nods and grins. “Nothingness! I based my quick decision on the possibility that the other remaining questions were within my academic tenure so I could jack up my percent from 50 percent to 75 percent guaranteeing advancement into the red color tone. However Buffo does not known the true answer is piscatology like me. And Buffo says something close but not correct unlike me. So Buffo has two questions right and one question wrong. This gets complicated. He has two questions out of four correct for 50 percent, but he has one question wrong out of four for 25 percent. So, the me-chee averages the two scores. When 50 percent plus 25 percent is added the product is 75 percent. Then 75 percent is divided by the two variables the product is 37.5 percent which is below the 75 percent value for advancement…”
I stomp my foot and shake my curls and hands. “Ah, naw! Not right, not that. Wait! Let’s do this analysis again. Buffo has two questions correct for 50 percent. He missed the third question. I agree with your analysis since Buffo isn’t here with me,” exhales. “Buffo has gotten one question wrong. However the questions are weighted exactly the same at a positive 25 percent value,” nods and smiles. “Therefore the two correct answers are a positive 25 percent each, which is a total of a positive 50 percent. The third question is 25 percent too. Buffo got the third question wrong making the value negative 25 percent,” nods and smiles. “Therefore a positive 50 percent plus a negative 25 percent equals a positive 25 percent,” when Duchie laughs and fingers me. I gasp, saying. “The result of 25 percent is below the 75 percent value making the teen descend back into the previous color tone. The previous color tone is yellow which is the outer city of Dandine, the Dookie town,” dropping my mouth.
Duchie nods and smiles. “Told ya! Someone would be living and working in Dookie Town but not me. I’m breathing fresh sea air in the red zone,” giggles and slaps her cat suit.
I frown with fury then calm my raw nerve endings. I grin and nod. “However there is a fourth answer left to address from a tally of four posed academic questions within the red color tone for the advancement,” when Duchie drops her mouth and I smile and nod. “Buffo has answered the word math question correctly. It was a very simple math equation even a monkey wearing a ponytail could’ve puzzled it out,” when Duchie sneers. I giggle. “Buffo has three answers correct out of four responses which is 75 percent, the required value to advance into the red color tone…”
Duchie laughs. “He ain’t here, sugar.”
I nod shaking my finger in her smug face. “I know that fact, doll. Therefore Buffo did not say or voice or shout out an answer for question number four. I saw him struggling with the answer since he was upset about Hatch and Jara. They’re our friends since forever. We live on the same city street and attend each other’s birthday parties and holiday events and summer time picnics. Buffo wasn’t thinking clearly so he ran out of time eating up the ten seconds of allotment for question four. Therefore he didn’t answer question number four. I saw his chair drop before mine. I don’t bother answering question number four either since I got the first three correct, babe. I accomplished the 75 percent without any more brain work. Intelligence is knowledge. My daddy always quotes that good advice to me. So Buffo stands at two questions correct and one question wrong. Now, the me-chee does not use averages or percentages or mathematical relationships. The me-chee has stated three rules. If you answer three-fourths or more of the academic questions correctly, you will advance to the next color of red. Buffo did not answer three correct questions. If you incorrectly answer two-fourths of the academic questions, then you will slip back into the color of yellow. Buffo did incorrectly answer one question. If you answer
one-fourth or less, you will remain stationary inside the color tone of orange…”
Duchie drops her mouth. “He’s remained inside the orange tone colored park place with the thunder storm, rain and lightning bolts. The ocean is east. The room is west. The south direction shows more of the ocean water and skyline since the cliff encircles the water. That means the boundary of the barrier wall is north.”
I wink and swing around running in the white sand swinging my boots and arms towards the north going faster than Duchie.
Orange barrier wall.
I slap into the wall even though I could clearly see the shimmery orange. I scan the landscape then gasp. “Where’s the rain, the thunder, the lighting bolts?” I back step then study the wall barrier. “It looks just like the yellow one. The seam is seamless. The touch is stingless. I don’t understand. There ain’t no rain or thunder or lightning.”
Duchie frowns at Ketona, saying. “There’s a dry desert out there inside the orange color tone instead of a wet forest of trees. How’s this possible? I don’t understand it.”
I touch then bang then slam my shoulder into the wall. The wall doesn’t move. I say. “The wall is an electromagnetic created barrier coming from lots of invisible beams and zillions of invisible ion particles, compliments of our planet. I can’t create one but someone can…”
“Establishment, they control us. They dictate our lives,” Duchie nods and scans inside the color tone.
I bang my shoulder into the wall then back step, panting for air. “I can’t break or bust or bruise it…”
Duchie touches her nose into the wall, saying and smiling. “I see him.”
“No, you don’t. I know my guy instantly. And I can’t see him. I see orange dust, running horses, and numerous teens…”
She bounces and fingers with happiness. “I see him. He’s over there on top of a horse. He said that his grandfather lived on a farm. He can ride a horse too. I love horses and farms. I love the smell of tulips too.”
I narrow my eyelashes scanning the objects. “I see running horses on the left side. I see standing teens on the right side. Where is he? I can’t see him…”
Duchie fingers the wall. “Buffo is sitting on top of the black horse near the rear of the white gate. The horse is tall since he’s tall too…”
I drop my mouth. “Wow! The horse’s running away from the gate towards a barrel. Ouch! The horse hit the barrel…”
“Naw, the horse and the rider are racing around the barrels for fun. Each barrel holds tons of sand so the barrel doesn’t tip over from the rider’s boot or the horse’s weight. Whoa! This is a mini-rodeo fro the teens. Each teen is riding a horse. The horses are competing with each other within a specific time limit,” giggles Duchie.
“Time is a common factor today,” I frown with annoyance of Citizenship Day.
She smiles and jumps. “I see Buffo. He is the rider on the horse. Watch him! He glides towards the first barrel then slides around the second barrel and then scoots elegant around the third barrel. He whips the rump of the horse with the riding crop making the steed go faster to beat the previous time winner. He flies out the gate. Cool! This is so much to watch. I wished I were riding too. What do you think, Ketona?”
I exhale. “I’m scooting around the sand on my knees looking for a weapon or tool to shatter the barrier wall into tiny cracks. If I can find a hard object like a diamond or a ruby or a sapphire gem stone? They’re some of the hardest mineral on the planet…”
Duchie eye rolls then turns watching Buffo. She smiles. “The park place is a beach not an underground mine of raw minerals.”
I gasp then reach the object. “I found a very large seashell.” I stand then run. I ram the shell into the barrier when it shatters and breaks into tiny glittering particles. I sob with sadness then swing to the sands. I drop onto the heated whiteness then dive my hands into the sand for another weapon to use on the wall barrier. “What weapons exist on the beach? Seashells are too soft. The trees are too tall with smooth bark, not good. I found a coconut. The outer shell is hard like a rock,” stands and runs. I toss the coconut into the wall. It breaks into two halves then falls onto the sand. The white milk of the coconut leaks from the cracked side. I exhale then swing sliding into the sand.
Duchie giggles then lifts the broken half of the coconut. She smells it then smiles. She slowly sips the tart coconut milk from the shell while spying on Buffo.
I exhale spreading the sand. “What else is a weapon of the sea? Starfish? No. The sand. Yes,” gathers two handful of sand. I stand and run then toss the white sand at the barrier wall. The wall doesn’t sizzle or burn. I toss my hands then slump into the sand.
Duchie giggles then back steps, dropping into the sand beside Ketona. “I don’t think the ocean produces a weapon that can be used on land. I think that’s why the ocean and the land have separate species and breathing methods like air versus water. So you should dump that mental thought possessing a high IQ. So you can’t shatter the barrier wall and communicate with Buffo with hand signals or smoke signals from within the red color tone. However you could talk to him face to face within the orange color tone,” nods and grins.
I view the pretty glittering sand feeling the heat on my face and hands. “I want too, so bad. I love Buffo. We’re getting married next week on Payne Mountain. My BPs…”
“Whoa! Ya’ll are getting married, next week? Wow, ya’ll are in love.”
I nod and hold the sobs and tears from my eyeballs. “Since the fourth grade, Buffo stole my lunch while I was eating it. He was tall and mean then. I tamed his wild habits. I was short and meek but determined. I stomped to his table then parked my hands on my wrist and shouted at him. ‘Give back my lunch.’ Buffo stood then vomited on my hair roots…”
“Ugh! Uoo! Yuck! I did not ever need to hear that tender love story, Ketona,” Duchie laughs.
I exhale. “I was impressed with his yuckiness. Buffo was impressed with my stubbornness. I didn’t cry. I laughed wiping the mouth vomit off my hair and dress. My mama was miffed. She’s a medical technician seeing sick people all the time. Nothing bothers her…”
“But her little girl not getting the golden job…”
I drop my mouth. “I will get the golden job. Me and Rincon are tied. I think…”
“I think some of the other teens are tied with ya, darling. Marsilla was first within the red color tone. You told us that you were first within the pink color tone. Rincon was first within the yellow color tone. That unnamed tall girl with the tats was first within the orange color tone also. I do believe that you are tied for the golden job with three other smart teens too.”
“I guess.”
“I guess you gotta figure out how to get Buffo out of the orange zone and into the red zone too.”
“I can.”
“I can too.”
I drop my mouth and view her nose profile. “How can you too?”
Duchie stands and spins to the wall. She touches the wall, grinning. “You cannot break an electromagnetic field until you cut the charged ions. You don’t have access to the me-chee control room for that evil purpose. You can’t signal Buffo. He really is too far. He’s down inside a valley. You’re up high on a cliff. Buffo would have to catch a beam of your face or your hand to see you way up here, if even possible, babe. But I suspect that the barrier wall works one way since an electromagnetic field keeps people in, not out. That’s why we can touch the wall without stinging pain or permanent dead. The beams surround the orange color tone not inside here. Therefore you could stand here all morning, noon, afternoon, evening and night he will not see you. But…”
I frown with puzzlement, “But, what?”
She nods and grins. “You go and see Buffo.”
I toss my hands. “I can’t. I’m in here. He’s in there. You’re making no good logical sense with your high IQ, Duchie.”
She giggles and winks. “Well, it’s a good thing that I’m a sweet girl who possesses a higher IQ ‘
cause you don’t. Go back now into the me-chee chair and then land inside the Cubby Hole. Then you answer the next round of posed questions except ya get two of the questions totally wrong with a minus 50 percent which is less than numeric zero, honey. Then you fail to advance forward into the green color tone, instead ya go backwards into the orange color tone.”
I gasp then race to the wall. I tenderly touch the wall seeing Buffo. He is slapping and laughing with some of the other teens.
Duchie stands next to Ketona touching the wall too. “You slide into the orange room then run into his loving arms…”
I nod, giggle then back step from the wall. I swing and run panting for air and working the sweat towards the red room.
Duchie follows Ketona lagging behind.
Chapter 10
Red room
I slam into the wall then back step, folding at my waist and panting for more air into my lungs. I wipe the sweat from my eyebrows then stand. I slowly walk into the cool room from the heated air. I scan the room. Empty of teens. Lots of me-chee chairs.
I giggle touching each chair then find mine by remembering where I parked it. Hatch learned that painful lesson swiftly for all who carefully observed when he sat inside another chair and got bit on the butt. I remembered where I parked the chair every color tone.
I giggle and dance with giddiness seeing Buffo. He will be so surprised with me. Actually, this was Duchie’s brilliant idea. That girl’s too smart. I’m watching her now. Duchie stands inside the wide archway out of the sun panting for air running after me. I flip my wet hair then slide into the soft fabric feeling a sting. “Ouch!” I scoot out feeling heat sucking on my butthole.
“It doesn’t work for some reason,” Marsilla stands inside the archway, frowning with disappointment. She walks inside standing at the mirror. “I don’t understand the reason either. I tried to slide into my me-chee chair and got stung like sizzling heat. I thought my cat suit absorbed too much heated air and hot sun from the beach sand on my fanny. So I tried it a second time sliding into the me-chee chair. I got stung with sizzling heat again. So I touched the fabric with my hand getting hotness on my skin,” cuddles her burnt hand. “I don’t understand. Its like the chair doesn’t want you to leave from here…”