by Jamie Ott
Chapter 3
Hours later, Jacko woke to the sound of cars riding fast along the road. For a moment, he refused to open his eyes. He laid there thinking about the dream he’d had of the funny blue sky, and some green fish he’d made friends with, in a pond. All that happened was he nearly ran over a dog, and, instead, wound up hurting himself. Eyes still closed, he felt his ribs and then his face: there was no pain.
He opened his eyes, yawned deeply and looked around. There was no yellow dog anywhere to be seen. Turning over, he looked up and his jaw dropped; there was the black motorcycle with a sidecar.
Jacko got up to inspect the bike. Slowly, he walked around it, looking it up and down. Carefully, he reached out a hand and touched the bike with the tip of his fingers. It was a lovely, dangerous looking bike that gleamed under the sun. It had large red lights in back that looked like devil eyes.
Well, if this is a dream, it ain’t bad, he thought.
“But where’s the dog?” he said aloud.
He continued to think about the dog as he packed his items. He liked the idea of having a companion with him.
Then, just as he was about to turn the ignition of the bike, he heard a barking from behind. He turned and smiled happily at the sight of the dog that leapt into the sidecar.
He got off his bike, reached into his luggage compartment, pulled out jerky, and poured a stream of water for the dog.
After the dog finished, Jacko got on his bike and the dog leapt back into the side car. Jacko was about to turn on the bike and go when he realized the dog needed to be strapped in. “Well, alright. Go ahead, strap yourself in,” he said. Unlike last night, when the dog was so full of life, he, now, sat there breathing, dully.
Jacko slid off his seat and strapped in the dog. He looked into its eyes to see if there was any recognition of what happened between them the prior night. When he saw that he was not going to be satisfied, he decided to forget about it.
“Just a dog,” he told himself.
They stopped in Lovelock, Nevada, for breakfast at another little no-name diner. Outside, in the parking lot, he told the dog to wait. As Jacko spoke the simple words, he had a strong feeling that the dog was only pretending to be simple. Somehow, he knew the dog knew exactly what he was saying to him. “Why are you pretending?” Jacko asked. The dog said nothing.
Inside, he was seated at a table behind a family of four. Jacko watched the Mother and father try to get a hold of their two kids. The older girl was laughing, obnoxiously, as she did something, under the table, to the younger boy. “Stop kicking me,” the little boy cried. When she didn’t, he, then, threw a handful of scrambled eggs at her which made her cry.
Jacko laughed as he watched them because it reminded him of when he and Sissy used to tease each other, before his father ruined their lives. He thought about his conflicted feelings: jealousy and anger yet envy that she could leave while he stayed home. At the moment, he was glad she left because, if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t be able to help him, now.
After a plateful of pancakes, eggs, and sausages, he left the restaurant satisfied. Outside the diner, upon smelling the half dozen sausages Jacko ordered for him, the dog got extremely excited. He jumped up and down while squealing, barking, and running around him in circles. A few feet away, a couple and their children frightfully froze. Not only was the dog jumping around Jacko, but he was jumping five feet up in the air.
Jacko hurried to his bike, where he set down the foam container of sausages. To Jacko’s relief, the dog immediately stopped its leaping. A few yards away, the couple and their children continued to stare at them for a few seconds before going inside.
After the dog ate his sausages, they went next door to the small grocery store, but, this time, it was even worse.
“Okay, wait here, Dog,” that had become the dog’s unofficial name. Dog nodded at Jacko who was suspicious, once more, of Dog’s intelligence; nevertheless, he continued inside. He didn’t dwell because his main concern was getting back on the road.
Jacko strolled up and down the aisles, looking for the section of bottled water. When he found it, he grabbed two six packs, and then walked over to the animal foods section.
A moment later, he was in line behind two cute girls who looked like they might have been twins. Both were holding sodas and some candy. One was slightly shorter than the other but they both were skinny with long brown hair, all the way down to their waists. When they turned around, it was hard to ignore the way their green eyes glowed against their tan skin.
Both of the girls were trashy looking in their dirty jeans, sandals, and stained tee shirts. After observing them a moment, Jacko noticed the slightly taller one had a longer, feminine face while the shorter had a perfect jaw and full lips. They looked to be about his age. He couldn’t help noticing how cute they were, together – they must be sisters.
Meanwhile, at the electronic sliding doors exit, Dog stood, watching Jacko. He wagged his tail ferociously and sniffed at the air. Jacko saw Dog’s eyes shift to the girls in front of him, and wondered if he knew that Jacko was attracted to them.
Just as long as he doesn’t start showing off, again.
The two kept looking behind, at him, and giggling. Their behavior made him feel especially dumb. He figured it must have been his hair that made them act as they did. Sometimes, he got helmet head after a long ride, and he self-consciously moved his hand to run it through his hair, but he dropped the packs of water. The bottles slammed to the floor and went rolling in every direction. In response to the loud thudding noise, everyone, in line, snapped their heads in his direction. Jacko’s face turned deep red with embarrassment.
“Sorry,” Jacko mumbled.
A few moments later, he struggled through the doors of the store with his items; Dog must have wondered off; he was no longer near the exit. As he was about to head through the lot, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Jacko snapped his head to the right and saw a big 60lb ball of yellowish white hair doing continuous cartwheels.
Dog looked ridiculously absurd, the way he landed on his short legs, and his ears flopped about. Jacko panicked when he looked around and saw people stop and stare at Dog. His mind raced with ideas about how to leave unnoticed; he even contemplated leaving him behind. Quickly, he looked left and right at both entrances of the parking lot.
Jacko felt like he could die, right there on the spot. Fortunately, Dog stopped doing cartwheels, but only to start dancing on his hind legs in circles around the girls who laughed, hysterically. They tried to go but Dog continued to block their way by, next, walking on his back legs and shaking its top like a shimmy. Beyond the girls, at the other end of the parking lot, a police car stopped to watch the dog.
He was prompted to action when a man, behind him, said “Move it! You’re blocking the exit!”
The old man rammed him in the back with his shopping cart. Jacko stumbled in the direction of Dog and the girls. He looked at the dog and said, “Stop it!” The dog immediately sat on its rear. He looked around to see about a dozen eyes still staring at the dog and, now, him, too. Some children were running over to get a close look, which Jacko knew wasn’t good. He glanced back at the other end of the parking lot and, to his relief, saw that the cop had driven on.
“Cute dog,” said the slightly taller girl with the green eyes, and they both walked off. Jacko didn’t say anything. He watched them walk away, and then he saw two more kids running in his direction, “Hey! Is that your dog?” Not waiting for an answer, they, immediately, began petting and laughing. “Stay!” said Jacko, “and don’t do anymore tricks!”
He walked back over to his bike and stowed away his items. He mounted and rode over to where the kids were still playing with Dog. “Get in,” he said through gritted teeth. As he went to strap in Dog, at the far end of the little plaza, he saw the girls looking at him. He put on his helmet
and rode the bike, slowly, toward the end of the lot where the girls waved him down. He really wanted to stop and talk to the cute girls, but he rode on.
Many hours later, they reached the outskirts of Salt Lake City where Jacko managed to check into another Motel 6. Wearily, he stumbled into the room, fell on the bed, and didn’t move for twelve hours.
In his dream, he visited the place he saw when he was passed out on the road, the night before. He stood, once again, on the funky green moss that burned his hand. Only, this time, he wasn’t in the bald spot. This time, some things were very different; like the sky that was lined with a red horizon, and the way it stretched across the sky, and then turned into a crisp, blinding, blue horizon.
As his eyes traced the horizon a 100 feet to his right, he saw that the exact point, where the color changed from red to blue, served as a division between a land bathed in red, and the land, that he stood on, which was bathed in blue. Jacko could see into the red land as though looking through a stained glass window. The red tinted land reminded him of the pictures he’d seen of Mar’s atmosphere.
Curious, he walked toward the land bathed in red, and as he got closer, an ill feeling came over him. The trees, plants, and moss-grass were all black. A feeling that he should not continue to that side of the land overwhelmed him, but he could never fight his curiosity.
Instinct told him that he could be making a big mistake, but he stuck his hand into the red light of the land, anyway. When he felt nothing, except extreme cold, he decided to walk through the division.
Wow, he thought to himself. Jacko wished he could see more of the strange, red world. He wished he were bigger so he could run through this world and see it faster.
Jacko looked down and realized that he was bigger. No longer, was he looking at a barrage of black shrubs. Instead, he saw numerous mountain peaks. Despite an increased feeling of foreboding, as he saw nothing but blackness and red sky for miles, he walked toward the mountain direct in his path, and when he felt it was taking too long to get there, he ran.
The ground trembled, like an Earthquake, as he trampled shrubs into dust; trees snapped into halves, like toothpicks. When he approached the mountain, he leapt onto the peak of it which sent massive quakes through the ground for many miles.
Atop the peak, he was not too pleased at what he saw of the cold, dreary, red world. At the base of the mountain was a black-as-coal lake. When he jumped onto the peak, he landed just in time to see waves of black sludge move slowly across the still surface. He turned 45 degrees to his left where he saw a small forest below him. He looked up and, in the distance, he saw a huge black castle with lights on inside. At the sight of it, he got really scared as his brain realized that if he was in a dark world, there might be dark creatures there, too. What would they be like?
Jacko didn’t want to meet any dark creatures from that cold, cold world. He leapt off the mountain peak and ran back to the land that was bathed in blue. Immediately, he felt better, almost as if a wet blanket had been lifted off his shoulders.
The blue skied land was much warmer, and much more beautiful. At Jacko’s height, he noticed there was one thing missing from this sky. He did a slow 360 degree turn to confirm what he didn’t see: the sun. There was no sun. Jacko continued to search the sky, when it occurred to him that there were no clouds, either.
After a few moments of contemplation, he decided to forget about it and explore the lovely world. In the vast distance, he saw oceans that gleamed, in a strange way, under the light of the red horizon, and mountains with trees that held large round, red berries. He wanted to swim in the water and pick one of the fruits.
Jacko looked around, once more, and then he picked up, fast, and ran. This time, he ran for miles and miles, breathing in the funny molecule air that tickled his stomach while giving him energy. With every touchdown of his foot, the ground quaked and the trees quivered. He leapt over hills and skipped over small ponds; he didn’t stop until he fell into the cool ocean. Some of the water leaked into his mouth, and Jacko tasted that it was fresh water. He swallowed a gulp, and it coated his insides, making him feel quenched in a way he’d never felt before; almost as though he’d never be thirsty again.
Jacko used his humungous arms to swim back to land, and as he crawled back onto the shore, he saw that he was normal sized again.
“What is wrong with you?” asked an angry voice.
He looked to his left and suffered a shock. Apparently, the man, who stood there, was mad at him, and that was okay but his appearance scared him because he didn’t look like any man from Earth. What spoke to him was a face as white and glossed as carved marble. The man’s eyes were even more disturbing to look at, with their shiny, black onyx eyes to contrast. His marbled hair looked just as solid as the rest of his skin, and came down in perfect, shiny, brown waves around his body, which was adorned in a toga with a gold buckle.
Jacko stared at the man, but said nothing.
“You are not from here but you are not the first to come either. It’s best you behave, or you will not be allowed back!” and his marble cheeks fired a rosy red, like touching a mood ring, his flesh reacted artificially.
“Where am I? What have I done wrong?” Jacko asked defiantly. He sat up and noticed that his clothes were dry.
“You are in the heaven of the gods, and you’re running about like a fool, disturbing those who rest.”
“You’re God?”
“No, I see you don’t pay attention.”
“Why are you angry? I’m just having fun.”
“You will show respect, or you will be returned to Earth. Also, I recommend staying away from the red lands, for they are dangerous.”
“How do you know where I’ve been?”
“I know you’re from Earth because your flesh is rotting with age, and it reeks. I can smell your filth from over here. I know you’ve been in the red lands because others told me; you were seen.”
Jacko opened his mouth to reply, but thought better of it – the man scared him.
“Do not worry. I will not harm you. You can come home with me and wash up, and then you will return to your room.”
My room? How does he know?
He rose, as the man beckoned him.
“I am Althenio. Once I was a god of good fortune, and I would give good fortune to men who deserved it.”
Jacko hardly believed him, but he asked, anyway, “How long ago was that?”
“To me, it seems like yesterday. For you, it would be tens of thousands of years ago. Now there is no work for me, or beings like me, so we are retired, here. Man wants to do things on his own and in his own way. We have done what you wished and left Earth alone.”
“But what am I doing here?”
“You are not the first to come here, accidentally. You are a gifted boy, I presume.”
“What do you mean gifted? I still hardly believe this is real.”
Althenio seemed to tire of the conversation and merely said, “Just watch yourself as you come and go because there are demons out there that will get you,” he said. “Demons are hunters. Once a hunter gets your scent, it’s for life.”
“What would they do with me, hunters?”
“If you’re lucky, they will torture, kill, and maybe eat your flesh; if you are unlucky, they may swallow your soul or worse, such as enslavement or possession.”
“Haha. Yeah, right, haha. Ouch!” Althenio grabbed Jacko, with his marble grip, by the arm and yanked him back so that they saw each other eye-to-eye. He let go of his arm and continued to walk; Jacko followed.
“Demons really possess humans?”
“In your body, they walk amongst the living where they can hunt and wreak terror on a massive scale. Do you want to be responsible for that, arrogant boy?” Jacko said nothing, and he continued, “The last time a possession took place, it too
k 100 of us to bring the demon back. Then, there are other things they could do that would be equally as bad.”
“Like what?”
“Do you really want to hear this?”
“Yes.”
“They could keep you forever and enslave you, or use you like a pet, and they can keep you alive for centuries.”
“Oh boy, I hope I never meet a demon.”
“Yes, well, than stay out of the red lands.”
Jacko flashed back to the scene on the side of the road with the scaly dogs and he shivered.
“You are nearly correct, Jacko. The dogs that attacked you were, in fact, demon hounds.”
Althenio, apparently, could read minds. “They are equally as vicious,” he continued, “and I would run if I saw them, and if I were you.”
Jacko felt panic as he said, “But what did they want with me?”
They walked up a dirt road. Jacko looked down and noticed the gravel was moving, in convection like patterns under his feet.
“I am sorry, Jacko. I do not know why demon hounds were trying to carry you off. Have you ever dreamed of the red lands before?”
“Dreamed of the red lands? No, never, I don’t think,” and he was suddenly distracted by the gravel that formed a pattern of his and Althenio’s, footsteps, and then made impressions ahead of them; as if a ghost walked in front of them.
“Why is the gravel doing that?”
“Heaven knows where we want to go; heaven yields to those who are a part of it.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you should want, ask heaven and it will provide.”
“Yeah, but, how does it know where we want to go?”
“Heaven knows where I want us to go, and it is leading us there – not that I need directions. It is only doing these patterns so you know how to come back.”
“Are you saying the gravel is heaven? And that heaven is alive? ”
“Everything, here, is heaven and, yes, it lives: the living need something alive to live off of, in order to live. If heaven were to die, then so would we.”
Completely confused, Jacko decided not to ask any more questions. Instead he watched as the gravel continued to predict his steps. He thought how great it must be to never get lost, and to never need maps.
He reached down and ran his fingers through the gravel, but instead of a rough, hard grain, he felt a soft porridge-like consistency. Jacko grabbed a handful and it jiggled its way around his palm and fingers, back down to the ground. When the gravel pulled up from the ground in the shape of a large finger and started to poke his hand, he laughed.
“You see, innocent one, heaven lives,” and he smiled, greatly, revealing two rows of perfect white teeth, of which, Jacko couldn’t help but imagine that to be bitten by them would surely mean losing a hunk of flesh.
“Excuse me? Why do you call me innocent?”
“I always admire the young whose appeal is genuine; it is men that I cannot stand, for they are, mostly, arrogant beyond logic.”
“Does that mean you won’t like me in a couple years?”
Althenio laughed a powerful roar that echoed to the very heart of Jacko’s body. He did not answer Jacko, and he said no more; however he seemed to warm up to him from that moment on.
He put his arm around his shoulders and led him up the path to his house that looked like a few sticks of wood glued scrappily together. Once inside, however, it was a huge, cozy, wooden cabin with an enormous armchair, a tall fireplace, and a fluffy, white, hearth rug.
The fireplace stood five and a half feet tall, and when the fire suddenly shot up, Jacko jumped back. When the suddenness of the fire wore off, he became mesmerized by the color of the fluorescent orange flames. He leaned in a bit so that he could see each particle of the blaze bounce. Then, he noticed how the fireplace didn’t have a chimney, and leaned in closer to see how the flames licked at the walls without scorching them. Just as he reached a hand to test the flame, Althenio warned him that in heaven, he could burn eternally and never die.
Althenio sat in the large arm chair and Jacko on a large pouf. He put his hands together and appeared to pray. Right before his eyes, particles, in their convection like patterns, sped up so fast that they became hard to see. Then, they molded together and turned a steady shade of brown. A few seconds, and he realized the particles were being made into a table by Althenio, who was still in a prayer position. Jacko kept quiet and continued to watch, amazed.
As the table finished coming together, a pot of tea, a loaf of bread, and a block of cheese appeared, too. After it was all done, Althenio handed him a basket of meat, “Venison?”
Jacko used the humungous knife and three pronged fork that, also, magically appeared, to help some venison onto his plate with bread and cheese.
“How did you do that?”
“Here, mind rules matter. We simply will it and it comes.”
“I wish I could do that.”
“You can,” said Althenio.
“How?”
“How did you get big? How did you get small?”
“Oh, haha,” Jacko laughed slightly. “Can I stay here?”
“All in due time, Jacko, or when you’re ready.”
“Ready for what? You mean when I die?” but Althenio said no more and poured him, self, some tea.
The food was the best he had ever had; the tender venison meat and wholesome bread made him smile so big. He felt so good and so happy, heaven was such a wonderful place; he felt light like a feather; his head was floating. Althenio smiled as he watched him enjoy himself.
Jacko felt urgent, like he couldn’t enough food into his mouth. He was shoveling bread and venison in, jam packing his mouth as tightly as he could, but the food never ran out. It occurred to him that he was acting strange, but he couldn’t stop! He reached for a goblet that appeared by the side of his plate. Deeply, he drank and drank and drank – he couldn’t drink fast enough.
Suddenly, right in the middle of a gulp, Althenio grabbed his cup and said, “I am sorry, but you must go now.”
Jacko was chewing a huge bite of the venison and gulping tea straight from the pot, and it dribbled down his toga; he choked and sputtered “what?” as he wiped himself with a tea cozy.
“I’m so sorry, Jacko, but you were spotted. You may come and visit me again, but you must be more careful next time. I can’t have them coming here.”
Jacko didn’t know what Althenio was talking about but he didn’t want to leave. The food had made him extremely happy, and Althenio’s news made him very sad. Jacko started crying, although he didn’t know why he was crying; there was something strange about the food.
Trying to break through the irrational, he was experiencing, he was just able to mutter, “Who’s them?”
“Take this,” said Althenio and the food bundled itself. “Come later and visit,” he tossed the bundle at Jacko and with the snap of Althenio’s finger...
Jacko was running through the sky toward the bright red horizon. He didn’t know why, but he knew he needed to make it over that red line.
As he ran, he heard a loud, honking wail, like the sound of an elephant and looked behind him. He breathed in fast at the sight of the black, leathery skin, enormous horns poking out of its head, and red, leering, eyes. Looking down, at the lower half of its body made Jacko gag, for the demon had the legs and hoofed feet of a goat.
In its hand, it held a silver trident. Jacko flinched at the sight of the demon raising its black fleshy arm. He ran faster, and the demon sent red bolts at Jacko.
He was getting closer to the sky line. A few more feet, and he jumped, as high as he could, over the red horizon, and as he came down…
Jacko awoke and shot up in bed. His heart pounded and sweat leaked down his face and rolled off his chin. The sun was blazing through a crack in the curtains and he looked at the alarm clock; it was
almost four p.m. Right next to him was a white bundle that Dog was sniffing eagerly. He opened the bundle and saw food inside: bread, cheese, and meat. Only, the food was not irresistible, but it was small, puny, and barely appetizing to the eye. The meat was shriveled and dry while the bread smelled strongly of yeast. Dog, however, was sniffing hungrily at it, so he let him eat it.
Jacko paced up and down the room trying to figure out what had happened. What the heck was going on? Was he in danger? Even the dog was strange; how did he get here?
“Dog,” and the dog looked at him. “Hey! Dog! Talk to me!” but he just stared. Jacko decided to wash up and worry about it later. Whatever was going on, he was just going to go with it, as it seemed that he had no choice anyhow. He only needed to make it to Sissy’s and everything would be fine, he told himself.
Jacko made to pack his belongings, but he lagged. He was so tired; almost as though he didn’t get an ounce of sleep. He stood and waivered there, next to the bed, and fell back down. Before he did anything, Jacko needed to rest more because he couldn’t ride that way. What if he got into an accident? Strange, though. He’d been in that bed many hours.
Sluggishly, he pulled himself back under the covers. Concord was, still, thirty-four hours away, without stopping. Briefly, he considered sleeping and then driving straight to Sissy’s without stopping. Fortunately, he dozed off and slept undisturbed, until there was knock at the door. The motel manager told him he needed to pay another day, if he was going to stay.
Last Leg