Bubble Gum and Monsters

by Mark Francis

  Chapter 11

  Daea sat in her desk unable to sit still. It was Friday, and class was almost done for the long weekend. Daea and Eli were going home to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving. Canada and the United States celebrate the holiday at different times because the Canadian harvest happens sooner, so the rookies were relieved to learn that they could go home for the American one.

  The girl was excited for the traditional activities like food, parades, and fireworks, but couldn't wait to see her parents and hear about normal life in the movie business. She hoped her parents would cook a Turkey dinner with apple pie for dessert.

  She wondered if the Rex Jones movie had wrapped. She hoped not and that she would be able to go to the set and see everyone.

  There was an hour of daylight left when class finished. The days in Ottawa were shorter than when they had arrived.

  The airport was busy. The Childaar found their airline and got in line. The man working at the counter had to peer over the edge to see them. They checked their bags then went to security. Daea put a bunch of loonies and toonies in the plastic tray. She walked through the scanner where a woman waved a metal detector around her body. Daea found a shop and spent the coins on all her favorite Canadian candies. Eli browsed the magazines. They found their gate and waited for the boarding call.

  Daea said, “The flight here was way better.”

  “Yeah, that private jet was pretty nice.”

  “Why can’t we have it today?”

  “I heard the A-team is using it.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We’re flying. I love it. I always feel important when I’m in an airport. I’m the person going somewhere.”

  “This will only be the second time I have flown.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, my family takes road trips, but even then not too far. We saw the Grand Canyon once.”

  “I’ve been there too. It’s huge.”

  “Yeah. Did you take the donkey ride?”

  “No. We didn’t have a lot of time that day. Did you?”

  “Yeah, it was fun.”

  “I’d like to do that someday.”

  “You might have to wait until your Sleepining, though. I don’t think you can do it at night.”

  Daea thought for a moment. “I don’t suppose we even need the donkeys. I bet we could climb down there ourselves.”

  “For sure,” Eli agreed.

  “Let’s do it if we ever get a chance.”

  The Smart gave Daea a high five and said, “Deal.”

  Eli read a magazine and Daea watched movies on the inflight entertainment system. It was a joyful reunion at the airport. Daea and Eli hugged their parents. They introduced their families then went their separate ways.

  Daea stuffed her red wool coat on the seat beside her as they drove home. It was a beautiful L.A. evening. The palm trees swayed in a gentle breeze and a half moon shone in the clear night sky. The near perfect scene was tarnished only by the ever present Suffering rolling along the ground.

  Her parents asked about her new school. Daea told them it was alright. She said she didn’t like class but everything afterward was great. Her parents laughed.

  They asked what she wanted to do for the weekend and Daea said that she just wanted to stay home and visit.

  Her parents had her favorite chocolate cream pie prepared for when they got home. After the snack, her mom and dad said they were tired and went to bed. Daea walked around the house looking for something to do. Not finding anything interesting, she snuck outside to inspect the neighborhood.

  She had never seen it at night like this, especially alone. She noticed that the Suffering didn’t encroach on her family’s house. The girl wandered the streets hunting monsters. She found some small, round creatures with large mouths and sharp teeth in an alley and quickly dispatched them. The stores were closed and house lights off for the night.

  Daea returned home and watched the movie on the television. She had a nap and waited for her parents to wake up.

  She remained in the basement Saturday morning. When her parents came down, she said she just wanted spend the day downstairs watching movies. She also asked her mom to read her fairy tales like when she was little.

  They watched the first two episodes of Star Wars even though her dad protested that the old ones were better.

  After the movies, Daea’s mom read her stories while her father prepared dinner. As evening approached, Daea danced around the house to the delicious smell of cooked turkey. She helped her parents set the table. There was turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, peas and carrots, nachos, butternut squash, Caesar salad, biscuits, cranberries, pumpkin pie, apple pie, pecan pie, and ice cream. Daea ate so much that her father remarked that perhaps they should take her to the doctor because there was no way that a nine-year-old girl could eat that much food. Daea helped herself to another piece of pie.

  After dinner they cleaned the dining room and kitchen and then watched the third Star Wars episode. After the movie, they ate a late snack before Daea’s parents retired for the evening.

  The girl found a phone book and looked up Eli’s address. She snuck out of the house and got a taxi. His family lived in Lynwood, which is quite far from her family’s Encino home. The taxi driver thought it strange that such a young girl would be out alone so late. Daea told him not to worry about it. They took the 405 through Culver City. Daea noticed the Getty museum as they drove by. It felt like longer than two months had passed since she’d been there learning about her Awakening. There was little traffic, and the trip took only forty-five minutes.

  The taxi pulled up to Eli’s house. It was small and well maintained. Daea crept up to the house and looked in the windows. She heard a rustle behind her. Turning quickly, she saw Eli standing with a big smile.

  “Hey, Eli.”

  “Hey. I was just thinking about going to your place. How has your visit been?”

  “Good. We spent the day eating and watching movies. We watched episodes one, two, and three today. We’ll watch the rest later.”

  “I love those movies.”

  “What did you do?”

  Eli shrugged. “Not a lot. My parents had to work, so they asked if I would babysit my brother and sisters. We’re going to belatedly celebrate my birthday tonight.”

  “I didn’t know you had siblings.”

  “There are four of us. I’m the oldest. So I watched them all day, but it was hard because I couldn’t go outside even though that’s what they most wanted to do. We played a lot of games.”

  “What did you play?”

  “They’re young and can’t play anything too heavy, so we mostly played Crokinole and Chutes and Ladders. It wasn’t bad. I was just glad to be with them.”

  Daea kicked a small rock as they walked down the street. Sometimes it went near Eli, who would then kick it back to her side. Then he kicked the rock and it went too far away. Daea let it be. They encountered a few Crawlies, which Eli shot with little fireballs.

  “You are sure getting good with those,” Daea said.

  “The more I practice, the more control I have. It would be nice, though, to maybe do something else. Get some Seeingness, Mindness, or more Wizardness.”

  Daea was quiet.

  “Are you alright?”

  “At least you have a useful power and know what you are. All I can do is get hit.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll manifest other Gifts. Give it some time. And just think how good your kung fu is getting. Also, think about how cool it is developing your Tuffness early. By the time you’re eighteen, you’ll be near indestructible.”

  Daea smiled and assumed a kung fu tiger pose, while Eli moved into his Jeet Kune Do stance. They sparred under the streetlights. Daea beat Eli by getting behind him and dropping him to the ground with a leg sweep.

  She helped him up and asked, “So is this where you grew up?”

  “Born and raised. Come on, I’ll give you the tour.”


  Eli showed Daea his old school. The yard was mostly paved and had only a small patch of grass near the entrance. A large, elaborate jungle gym was the centerpiece of the playground.

  “That’s new,” Eli said. “It was built just this year.”

  They played on the apparatus. They stopped when they heard shouts and hollers from down the road. The voices belonged to a gang of loud, obnoxious youth. Their faces darkened when they saw the Childaar.

  The Suffering swirled angrily around the school’s perimeter.

  The biggest boy stepped forward and said, “You’re on our turf. That means you have to pay.”

  Daea gave Eli a wink. “Watch this.”

  She jumped off the top of the gym, landing in front of the gang. “You want a piece of this?” she said, tapping her shoulders.

  The gang leader was momentarily stunned by the child’s boldness. He recovered and said, “Get a load of this punk.”

  The boys laughed. One of them piped up, “Ethan, show her who’s the boss.”

  Ethan gave Daea a hard stare. He lifted his shirt, exposing a handgun tucked into his pants.

  Daea looked at Eli. “I think they’re Contaminated.”

  “I’m not sure,” the Smart said before he jumped to the ground. “They don’t look older than eighteen. Kinedaar children can’t be Contaminated.” He stepped up and said, “What my friend meant is that we don’t want any trouble. How about we just leave and you can have the park to yourselves.”

  Daea looked at Eli. “That’s not going to fix the problem.”

  Ethan stepped forward. “You had better have some money or you’re getting a beating.”

  Eli reached into his pocket, but Daea stopped him. “No way.” She turned to the boys. “You guys are Contaminated. And guess what? I’m the doctor.”

  Ethan pulled out his gun and aimed it at the girl. He stepped forward. “Give us your money.”

  Daea was about to front kick Ethan, but Eli moved in front of her and knocked the gun out of Ethan’s hand. “Daea! No! Beating up these kids won’t do any good.”

  “What do we do then?”

  The gang stood stunned.

  “We have to reason with them.”

  Daea scrunched her nose and turned to Ethan. “How old are you?”

  He looked at his gun on the ground then back to the girl. “Seventeen.”

  “You’re the oldest here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Don’t you think you should be setting a better example? It’s late and you should be in bed resting for school tomorrow.”

  “We don’t go to school,” a small boy said from the back.

  Daea frowned. “Why not?”

  “Ethan says we don’t need to. He says that we’ll get our training on the street.”

  Daea poked Ethan on the chest. “Do you think that’s good advice? Where will you all be in the future without any education?”

  Ethan replied, “Uhh, I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

  Daea poked him again. “Maybe you should.”

  Ethan hung his head and said. “You’re right. I’ve been a bad leader. I thought being tough and scary was more important than anything, but we need to think about our futures.”

  “What are you going to do about it,” the girl pressed.

  Ethan looked at the group of kids and said, “Everything I’ve told you up until now has been wrong. We shouldn’t get our training on the streets. We need to get back in school. Let’s go home. We have class in the morning.” He gave Daea a nod and led the group away.

  Eli smiled and said, “That’s funny.”

  “What?”

  “You telling that group that they need to be in school.”

  “So? They should be.”

  “What about you? Shouldn’t you also take school more seriously?”

  “Nah, I’m good.”

  The boy laughed. “Of course you are.”

  Eli picked up the gun, unloaded it, and disassembled it. He dropped pieces of the weapon in random garbage cans as they walked back to his place.

  Before they arrived at Eli’s house, an empty taxi drove by. Daea flagged it. She gave Eli a high five and returned to her home.

  She snuck into the house and spent another couple of days enjoying Thanksgiving activities with her mom and dad; Monday came quick. Her parents took her to L.A.X., where she met with Eli, and they returned to Ottawa.