The Adventures of Smoke Bailey

by James Morrow

  “The B-Liner!” I exclaimed.

  “Right. The Galactic Store had all the stuff I would need to build it. Only they wouldn’t sell me anything unless I had green chips. And I couldn’t get any green chips unless I did a lot of trading at the Metallican Auction.”

  “So I began using the A-Liner for day trips into the mire. I’d sing a song or play a tune, and the cultures would hand over whatever junk they had lying around. The Logretches, for example, gave me some feathers from a cockatoo. The Beribeys gave me some fur from a swamp lynx. The Watersis gave me a jar of pickled Popberry rinds.

  “The Metallicans went wild over these relics—they love anything that’s natural, anything that isn’t a machine. Soon they sold me more than enough stuff to assemble the B-Liner. But the project took years and years. When I was finished, I was no longer a young man. I simply didn’t have the energy to go into the far reaches of Darksome Mire.

  “Then one night I had a dream. In this dream I saw my brother’s only child setting out to find The Most Amazing Thing. So I sent the B-Liner to fetch you.”

  “What a fantastic story!” I gasped. “I’ve never heard anything like it!”

  “Do you think I’ve been exaggerating?” Smoke asked.

  “Well…some of it is a little hard to believe.”

  “Such as?”

  “Such as the part about The Most Amazing Being turning into a tree.”

  Instantly Smoke reached into his shirt and pulled out a yellow Popberry. “Here!” he exclaimed. “This should prove I’ve been telling the truth. It’s the one I plucked from The Most Amazing Being!”

  Even in the dim light of the dying fire, the Popberry looked shiny. Smoke set it gently on the rug. “So, Terry,” he said, “you’ve got an important decision to make. You can tell me to forget the whole thing, and I’ll have the B-Liner take you back to the farm. Or you can reach into my trunk here, gather up some Darksome Mire relics, visit the auction, get some green chips, go to the store, buy the things that will aid your journey, and then, at last, set off in search of The Most Amazing Thing, whatever form it has taken!”

  Smoke snatched the snoozing cat off the trunk and lifted the lid. The hinges sounded like frightened mice. Inside, I saw a wild jumble of artifacts, including a basket woven from Popberry bark, a hat made from a Mire Crab shell, and a petrified snake.

  I closed my eyes, I watched the darkness.

  Pictures flashed into my brain. I saw myself getting zapped by a Mire Crab. I saw myself shaking with hunger because I couldn’t find any Popberry trees. I even saw myself sinking into Darksome Mire and disappearing forever.

  “Sorry, Uncle,” I said. “I don’t feel ready for something like this. The whole idea scares me. After all, I’m just a kid.”

  “You’re a lot more than just a kid, kiddo,” my uncle replied. “You’re a Bailey. But if your mind’s made up…well, then I guess it’s made up.”

  “I’m not going,” I said firmly.

  “Do me one favor,” said Smoke, hauling a blanket out of the wooden trunk. “Curl up by the fire and go to sleep. Tomorrow morning we’ll have breakfast together. It gets pretty lonely around here, and nothing would please me quite so much as sharing some eggs with my brother’s only child.”

  “That’s fine with me.”

  Smoke went to the fireplace, fed it some sticks. Once they were blazing, he added a fat log.

  A yawn broke through my uncle’s beard. He shuffled toward his room. “See you in the morning, kiddo.”

  I picked up the blanket and stretched out near the fireplace. Finding my uncle, touring Metallica, hearing the legend of The Most Amazing Thing—no doubt about it, this had been a big day, probably the biggest of my life so far. I was exhausted. Sleep, however, did not come to me. I stared at the dancing flames, my eyes locked open.

  A tinkling sound filled the room. It was like hearing a bell being rung underwater. As I rolled over, my stare fell upon the Popberry my uncle had supposedly taken from The Most Amazing Being’s tree.

  And suddenly I remembered Smoke’s description of the creature’s voice. He had said it was like a bell. Yes, I was sure now. The curious noise was coming from the Popberry.

  Someone spoke my name. “Terry Bailey?” said the bell-voice. “Can you hear me, Terry Bailey?”

  All I could say was. “Here!”

  “Don’t be afraid.”

  A thick, silvery mist rose from the Popberry. Gradually the mist took on a human-like shape, and I knew I was seeing The Most Amazing Being. Its red eyes hovered like candle flames in a dark window.

  “Why did you refuse your uncle’s invitation?” the creature asked.

  “I’m not smart enough to get around on Darksome Mire. Or strong enough. Or brave enough.”

  “Who says you’re not smart?” asked The Most Amazing Being. “Remember that time, back on the farm, when your mother was trying to figure out how to keep the caterpillars from eating all the leaves off the pear trees? Who decided to put peanut butter on the tree trunks so the caterpillars wouldn’t climb up?”

  “I did,” said.

  “And who says you’re not strong? Remember when Fletcher Twilt’s kitten fell into the well? Who climbed down to the bottom, grabbed the poor soaking animal, and then got all the way to the top again?”

  “I did,” I said.

  “And as for being brave, I’d say it was pretty brave of you to take a long balloon trip to the unknown side of Porquatz.”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  “I’m always right.” said The Most Amazing Being. “Good-bye, my friend. Remember what I have told you.”

  Then all traces of the creature disappeared: its bell-voice, its misty form, its ember eyes. Only the Popberry remained.

  For a long time I lay staring at that berry, thinking about everything The Most Amazing Being had said.

  I had a sudden urge to run into my uncle’s room and wake him up. But I wasn’t so sure he would like that.

  No, I said to myself. I’ll let Uncle Smoke get a full night’s sleep. Tomorrow will be soon enough to tell him that I’m going to find The Most Amazing Thing in the Whole Wide Galaxy.