by Kipjo Ewers
She stayed in that position for about a minute.
“Nothing’s happening,” she snapped.
Akram gave a suggestion to Kyle in Arabic.
“He says you need to tighten up, like a coil, and bare down into the ground,” Kyle relayed his message.
With an irritated sigh, she stood loosening up, and then got back into position this time coiling up and baring down as advised. She growled as she tried to squeeze every muscle in her body. Her actions caused the ground underneath her to tremble.
“Okay,” she uttered nervously. “Something’s happening.”
“Something’s definitely happening.” Kyle waved his hand motioning to the rest of the kids watching in amazement. “Everyone back up!”
Sir Georgequickly scurried away, climbing up a palm tree to watch at a safe distance.
“Should I go now?” she asked.
“Try baring down some more,” he yelled. “Remember you’re gonna need a lot of power to get airborne!”
“Okay!” she yelled back.
As she pushed down harder, the ground shook more violently as she created a mini earthquake with the force she generated.
“Everyone get way back,” he screamed again backing up himself, “whenever you’re ready!”
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Back at the construction site for the new huts, Kimberly’s mother, carrying several tons of construction wood on her shoulder, paused as her ears and feet caught a sound and vibration that made her uneasy. She was not the only one to hear and feel it as everyone on the site halted what they were doing, wondering what exactly it was, and where it was coming from.
“Earl,” Sophia said nervously.
“Sounds like it’s coming from the other side of the beach.” He rubbed his chin.
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With a leap, Kimberly exploded leaving a crater in the ground where she stood while sending a shockwave of sand spraying everywhere. Both Kyle and Akram shielded two of the smaller kids with their backs while others able to run scurried away screaming. Sir George screeched insanely from his palm tree lookout as he watched his owner, now airborne, rocket away.
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Her mother, now looking up, dropped her extremely heavy load shaking the Earth. She stood dumbfounded with everyone else watching her daughter rattle the sky with a sonic boom while achieving near hypersonic speeds as she soared to the heavens; it was barely a full two days.
“Oh, dear God,” was all Sophia could utter.
Earl now stood next to her. Looking up, he wasn’t too sure what to say at that point. It was not every day one watched someone’s kid physically propel him or herself into the sky with the velocity of a space shuttle.
“Wow,” he slowly swallowed. “She’s really high up.”
She slowly turned to him, narrowing her eyes. He didn’t even bother to look at her, feeling her gaze upon him as he kept his eyes averted to the flyaway girl slowly disappearing from sight. With three big steps, Sophia exploded into the air taking flight to chase after her daughter.
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“Oh god! Oh god! Too high! Too high!” Kimberly screamed.
Her voice disappeared as the sheer force of the winds turned her tears into ice, blinding her. In her mind, she contemplated how she planned to kill both Kyle and Akram if she survived this.
She tried to remember the video hoping it would help her maneuver, but her body would not mimic what she saw. The sky became colder and darker all around her as stars began to appear. Her breathing became difficult as she looked down to see the landmasses shrinking, while something came barreling after her.
Sophia chased after her daughter with thrusters blazing, or so she thought. In actuality, she was cruising at supersonic speed, drunk with amazement that her daughter got this far, this fast, with just her leg power. She realized that fascination was making her move at only half speed while her only offspring was probably terrified beyond belief.
She picked up speed to catch up with her. She matched her speed to witness the child trembling like a leaf.
As she grabbed her daughter, holding her tight. She realized they successfully escaped Earth’s atmosphere. For her it was the umpteenth time visiting outer space.
After a moment, Kimberly no longer shook. Sophia looked her over realizing that she was adjusting quickly to the harsh atmosphere of space. Her color was returning, while her skin became warm signaling that her core temperature was returning to normal. She looked into her eyes and saw a flicker of something she did not want to be there. Holding her close, she quickly changed trajectory, taking her back home.
The descent back to Earth, and the flight home, was a quiet one. A mile off from the island she felt her daughter tighten her grip as she nuzzled close to her for comfort.
It took a couple of minutes in space, she thought, to break down the uncomfortable barrier between the two of them. She treasured the moment which lasted until they landed back in the middle of the village where they were flocked by a mob of concerned residents.
Instantly Kimberly released her hold on her and made distance between the two of them. She looked down at the sand trying to hide the emotions building up within her.
Sophia, catching it all, tried to calm the crowd and disperse them so that she could get her daughter home.
“Everyone please,” she motioned, “thank you, but she’s fine! No need to worry! I just want to take her home now!”
Akram and Kyle ran up to her with looks of concern for their new friend.
“Kimberly are you all right?” asked Kyle.
“We were very worried,” threw in Akram.
“I’m fine,” she snapped while glaring at them. “Now get away from me.”
Both boys looked at each other with sad looks, not understanding the meaning behind her sudden hurtful words, or her obvious dislike for them.
“Kyle McArthur!” His mother stepped out of the crowd of villagers. “What did you do?”
“We were just trying to teach her how to fly, Mom,” Kyle nervously answered.
“Akram!” His mother also furiously stepped out. “Did you have something to do with this too?”
“Everyone please calm down.” Sophia put her hands up. “No one was hurt.”
“No, I didn’t get hurt,” Kimberly snapped. “I can’t get hurt, and it’s good to know that I got to shoot myself into space for you to notice me.”
Dead, unnerving, silence took hold of the crowd from Kimberly’s remark. Sophia was now on auto control as she reached out grabbing her daughter’s arm to try to calm her down.
“Honey,” she stuttered trying to find words, “that’s not true.”
“What’s not true?” Kimberly’s voice rose as she snatched her arm away from her. “I had to grow like some freak for you to come running to see me! All this time you’ve been alive! I knew you were alive! Who’d you think you were fooling? Collecting pictures of me so you feel like you don’t suck as a mother! While this whole time you’ve been here on this stupid island, taking care of these stupid people! When I was the one who needed you! Well guess what ‘Mom’… I don’t need you anymore!”
Her words made Sophia weak and small, she felt naked in front of onlookers who all wished they were not there to hear what was being said.
“I want to go home,” Kimberly demanded, “take me back to Michelle. She’s my real mom! Mark was my real dad! He was dying, and he was still there for me! Both of them was doing your job! You didn’t even have the guts to show up at his funeral!”
Her words eviscerated her in front of everyone. All Sophia could do was stand there.
“Kimberly…” She tried to find her voice. “I…”
“Honey… please.” Sophia reached out again to draw her in and calm her down.
“Don’t touch me!” Kimberly hysterically slapped her hand away. “I hate you! I hate you, and I want to go home! I want to go home!”
She violently stomped, creating a huge crater, sending sand spraying everywhere! Everyone in the vicinity yelled and screamed, covering their eyes, except for Sophia, who stood there like a statue. A distraught Kimberly bawled as she backed away from her.
“I’m a big girl now! I’m a big girl!” she sobbed. “I can take care of myself! I don’t need you! I want to go home! I don’t want to be here! Send me back home!”
Kimberly turned on her heels and exploded with a powerful leap toward the jungle. Sophia stood watching her leaving. She slowly turned realizing everyone was watching her. Heads quickly went down, or turned away, which made how she felt a billions times worse. It was clear everyone was embarrassed for her.
She turned and timidly crept away in the opposite direction with her head down, her dreads covering her face as she wrapped her upper body with her arms. Those who stood in her away quickly moved out of it. Earl, with a hand motion, dispersed the crowd as he watched her head back to her home.
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An hour after the incident, Sophia sat quietly in Robert’s Camaro. 95.9 FM “The Ranch” played soft country music on the radio as she zoned out. On some Sunday afternoons or Saturday nights this was her alone time away from the world. Everyone around knew that when the music started playing, unless it was a dire emergency, not to bother her. It was actually Earl who put that rule into effect.
Earl, being the first to break his own rule, strolled up to the car running his hand casually across the vehicle’s passenger side. Without her permission, he opened up the passenger door, hopping in. This was not the first time he had been inside of it, being a car enthusiast himself, he could not help but admire its beauty every time he got around it. Earl turned to view what Sophia was spacing out to, from their vantage point they had a beautiful view of part of the village, the beach, and the clear blue ocean that went on forever.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Earl broke the ice, “you are not sending that child back to where she came from.”
“I have no right to keep her here.” Sophia cleared her throat. “If she does not want to be here.”
“She’s a child,” Earl fired back. “She doesn’t know what she wants.”
“Earl…” Sophia sighed.
“Before you tell me this is none of my business,” he continued to speak, “you remember the first time we met? There I was at Port Authority in the blazing summer heat sucking on a bottle of Old Turkey. I reeked of booze and urine soaking through the pants of my old fatigues, which didn’t matter to me, and here you come walking up with those creepy glowing blue eyes of yours, asking me if I’d like to come home with you to your island and get cleaned up.”
“You said screw me and my island,” Sophia smirked a bit, “that you were fine right where you were.”
“Thank you for using the PG version of my comment.” Earl bowed his head. “Your smile never broke on that day. You then asked me my name, and told me to take care of myself. This went on for about six months. Every four days or week would go by, and you’d show up, always with clean clothes and something for me to eat. We’d talk for awhile and, just before you left, you’d always ask me if I wanted to come home with you.”
“And you’d say, ‘thank you kindly, but I’m good right where I am,’” she responded.
“You knew that was booze and stubbornness talking.” Earl glanced at her. “You know what did it for me? Grandpa Chip.”
The mention of his name created mist around her eyes as she stared off into space.
“Back then we called him Crazy Chip,” he continued. “He’d walk around PA in all four seasons with just a torn white ratty shirt, and a pair of jeans two sizes bigger than him. He stunk to high heaven from soiling himself all the time; feet were as black as tar because he wore no shoes. He went into fits where he beat his chest cursing and yelling, usually saying ‘I ain’t gonna take this f’n shit no more.’ Used to be a good ole joke for us hanging around there. We’d chime in sometimes.”
Earl’s face changed as he zoned out going back to that time.
“I remember that hot ass day in August. Chip went into one of his fits, but it was worse than usual. He was screaming and banging his chest, saying the same thing over and over again, ‘I ain’t gonna take this f’n shit no more.’ It became so annoying, we started to move away from him. He kept going till he was frothing at the mouth, and then… you showed up.”
Earl lowered his head losing his composure. She held his hand rubbing it to comfort him.
“You just walked up to him, and without a word just threw your arms around him and held him.” His lips trembled as tears fell from his eyes. “And I watched that screaming fit… turn into crying sobs. And he held onto you… Lord, he held onto you. And I realized, all that time, he was trying to say ‘I can’t take it anymore… help me… someone please help me.’”
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
She remembered that day and the rest of the story. It was the one and only time she ever took a plane ride to her island. Chip held her hand during the entire flight as he rocked back and forth in a daze. Once there, she personally cut his hair and beard, stripped him out of his soiled rags, and washed him from head to toe. Treated his scalp for lice, groomed and cut his overgrown yellow nails, and then went to work slowly removing the black callous from his feet.
He was the only other person to live in her home. She worked on him for two days nursing him with soft foods like porridge and liquids. His fits would come now and then, minus the profanity. During those times, she held and sung to him, songs her mother sang to her, until they subsided.
She did not know his story, and she did not care.
Sophia began addressing him as Grandpa Chip, and eventually he began to respond to it. In time, he answered her with three words. The only three she would hear him speak, “God bless you.”
When she was on trips or missions, he would sit on the edge of the beach watching the waves roll up to the shore as the sun shined on him. She took him on routine strolls around the island and watched the life that was lost for decades return to him. He liked strawberry ice cream and his head to be rubbed. The first time he laughed, her heart filled and her eyes burst.
She enjoyed his company for eight long months.
One Friday night when she put him to bed.
He smiled at her and said, “God bless you, my child.”
The Saturday morning, she went to get him for breakfast, she found him peacefully sleeping in his warm bed.
She placed him on the beach where he could always look out and watch the ocean run up and feel the sun on him.
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“That day you didn’t have to come over to me and ask if I wanted to come home with you,” Earl continued. “Needless to say my first three weeks here weren’t heaven when you’re trying to get clean for the umpteenth time. And my disposition wasn’t the best stuck on an island where I couldn’t run to a liquor store or cop some heroin or crack.”
“There was a tribal vote to kick you off after the second week,” Sophia interjected.
Her remark caused Earl to crack up laughing. His laughter was contagious as she cracked a smile.
“I’m going to die on this island.” He turned to her with glassy eyes. “Me and everyone else with my disease have come to terms with th
at but, because of you, we’re alive. And I would like to think that one of my purposes in this life is to be sitting in this car talking to you right now and helping you out for a change.”
Sophia’s smile trembled as her eyes became glassy.
“I know when people have really given up on you.” Earl smiled. “When they’ve thrown in the towel and written you off as dead. My wife and kids did it, and I deserved it. That’s not what’s going on here today. Right now as we speak, your little girl is sitting in the animal preserve waiting for you. Zeek and Oz took the ATVs to look for her and radioed in her position. She’s out there angry and hurt waiting for you to weather that storm she’s got built up in her, to be there for her. You know it, and I know it.”
“I’ve failed her Earl,” Sophia whimpered. “I wasn’t there for her… I don’t know how to be a mother…”
“BS,” Earl fired back sternly. “You damn well know how to be a mother, even to a big baby like me! You didn’t hesitate the second you saw her shoot up into that sky today. You went after her, and God help anyone or anything that got in your way. That is the building block of a good mother… a great parent! You just got rattled because she cracked the chink in your armor. You’re human. It happens to the best of us.”
The human part is what made her break down; he placed a fatherly hand on her shoulder.
“If she really wanted to leave,” Earl pointed out, “I doubt there’s anything that could stop her. She would have swum, leapt, or whatever her way back to the states. She is out there waiting for you. All you’ve got to do is go get her.”
She gave him a daughterly hug, which took him a back a bit. He embraced her back as he would his own.
“Now, the price for my advice is…” he started to slip in.
“You’re not getting my car, Earl,” she said flatly.
He chuckled, which made her laugh again. Breaking up their hug, they sat there for a while longer enjoying the view and listening to the radio.
CHAPTER 18
Twenty minutes later, Sophia flew over her wildlife preserve searching for her daughter. She had sectioned off a good portion of the island creating habitats for endangered species to thrive and multiply in. One section was for apes and monkeys; another was for bigger animals such as elephants and rhinos, while another was for big cats. She taught herself how to care for each species taking into consideration their environment, health, and dietary needs. From time to time, she would fly in a specialist to assist in giving them regular checkups to ensure they remained healthy. Her hope was to replenish the population under her protection and reintroduce them someday back to the real world where they belonged.