The Labor Day weekend came and went without further adventure or incident. Ricky and Lex made mention of their discovery and requisite theories to their mom at supper that Friday night, but Karen was used to passively listening to all of the legends of the Old One’s from her father and brother. She had heard the same stories her whole life and found nothing new in the retelling of them. Not that much this side of fantastic could distract her from preparing for life as the new English teacher at Caledonia Senior Secondary. So Karen spent most of the weekend in the large study behind the kitchen that she had converted to her office. Her father used to spend most of his time in that room reading everything he could get his hands on. The shelves were lined with everything from Robert Burns and Oscar Wilde to H.G. Wells and William Shakespeare. Apart from really enjoying the books he read, the old man seemed to take a particular pleasure in knowing more about English literature than most of the white people he had ever met. Perhaps on a deeper level it was his way of compensating for being assimilated without his consent.
On the other hand, the boys spent the entire weekend searching the Internet for everything they could find about the Old One’s. They had amassed and digested quite a pile of material on the subject. Some of their research included several accounts of the Ruby Creek incident as well as reviewing the Patterson video on YouTube. But to their absolute joy, the gem of their research was a page that detailed accounts of local reports of the Old One’s, complete with locations and the names of the people making the observations. They now felt they were experts on the matter and were determined to gather evidence on the existence of the Old One’s.
“C’mon boys, finish up or you will be late for your first day at school,” Karen tried to light a fire under them.
“Ah Mom, why can’t you just drive us? It’s on your way and we don’t mind getting to school a bit early,” pleaded Lex, dreading being the new kid.
“Maybe once we get settled and you meet people, I will give you a ride every once in awhile. But for now, I want you to dive in and meet everyone, get to know the bus route, the town and just meet people,” Karen insisted.
“Ricky! Where are you? Do you want to be late?” Karen yelled up the stairs.
“What? I don’t have to leave for another 25 minutes or so.” Ricky declared coming out of the living room, pleased that he is able to get a few minutes on the Playstation without being bullied by Lex.
“Oh, what time does the bus pick you up Lex?” Karen inquired.
“It says 08:09 at the corner of Woeste and Lodge Pole,” Lex answered.
“And you, Ricky?”
“The schedule says 08:35 at the same stop, number 357,” Ricky replied.
“Oh darn! I forgot about the bus route time difference between the Elementary and Junior High. Well, it’s 07:30 Lex you better get going soon. It’s at least one kilometer of walking to get to your stop,” Karen reasoned.
“No problem, Mom. I’ll leave in a couple of minutes,” Lex wasn’t too concerned since he figured that if he was late he could just take the Route Seven bus.
“You had better and if you think you can just hop on Ricky’s route then think again. That little trick only works once and if I were you I would wait until I really needed it,” Karen advised.
“OK, OK, I’m going,” Lex replied pulling on his boots, not realizing he had been so transparent.
“Since I am going the same way right now I’ll drop you at Woest Ave,” Karen said watching Lex struggle to pull on his only Aeropostale hoodie.
“Sweet!” Lex yelled and ran out the door to jump in the Jeep.
“Now make sure you leave no later than 08:00,” Karen leaned over to kiss Ricky on the forehead before heading out.
“Sure Mom, no worries,” Ricky said somewhat distracted as he was trying to beat this level in Little Big Planet that Lex had created.
It was only 07:45 when Karen dropped Lex off at the head of Woeste Avenue. Lex took his time since he had scouted out stop number 357 days ago with Ricky on their bikes and knew he had lots of time. There was only one house on the southern corner where Woeste Ave teed in at Old Lakelse Lake Drive. Other than that one house, beyond the ditch on each side of the road the spruce, hemlock and cedar trees loomed tall, thick and dark the whole five minute walk to Lodge Pole Street.
Lex was alone for five minutes or so and then he noticed a lone figure slowly closing in on his position from the direction he had come. It seemed certain that this person was making for the bus stop also since he had yet to see anyone walking just for the sake of it this far out of town. As the figure got closer Lex noticed it was a girl about his age with blue jeans and creamy yellow sweater with strawberry shoulder length hair tucked into a matching yellow tuque. She wore the biggest smile with the whitest teeth and the bluest eyes, Lex had ever seen.
“Hi, my name is Jane,” she said offering her hand with a slight sideways cock of her head and red flush coming to her cheeks.
“Hey, I’m Lex,” he responded slipping his knapsack to the opposite shoulder and accepting her hand. Looking back, whoa so many years later, this would be one of those rare moments in his life that Lex would be able to recall with crystal clarity.
The sun was a full hand span above the Hazelton Mountains in the east by the time Ricky left the house for the school bus right at 08:00 like Mom said. It was a crisp, chilly morning but the bright sun was quickly warming things up pulling a heavy fog from the cool bush. He had just rounded the crook in the road when he heard a sharp crack in the mist-shrouded bush, maybe twenty feet to his right. He stopped and listened. Nothing. He turned and took a couple more steps up the road and he heard another sharp crack coming from the same spot as before. The fog was thick as he left the crunch of the gravel road toward the sound for only a few paces when a large cedar stump maybe three feet high came into view. Though he could not see the entire stump, there was something beckoning him forward, until a pale green stone came into view. He felt that he was being watched but was not afraid. Ricky calmly lifted his knapsack onto the stump grabbed the stone that he was being offered and took out the three large McIntosh apples his mother had packed with his lunch; his favorites. He raised the stone high above his head, then smiled and pushed it in his pocket as he turned and walked back to the road and on to the bus stop. Ricky was happy that he had made his first friend in his new home.
Although Ricky had no other children to pass the time with at stop 357, there were lots of kids on the bus and he made friends easily. By the time he reached Thornhill Elementary, Ricky was chatting it up with a kid named Gary from Sockeye Crescent, the stop just before 357. Ricky knew that everyone liked to laugh and the best way to break down people’s defenses was with humor. So as they milled around the schoolyard waiting for the bell to ring, Ricky tried out some of his standard repertoire on Gary.
“What d’ya call a guy with no arms and no legs in the harbor?”
“I dunno,” said Gary.
“Buoy!” replied Ricky eagerly awaiting the response.
Gary laughed politely but this did not dissuade Ricky, as he knew it took a while to warm up an audience.
“What d’ya call a guy with no arms and no legs at the front door?”
“Dunno.”
“Matt!”
Gary laughed legitimately this time at Ricky exaggerating someone wiping his feet and Ricky knew he was closing the gap.
“What d’ya call a guy with no arms and no legs in the pool?”
“Dunno.”
“Bob! Get it?” Ricky asked bobbing up and down with his arms at his side.
“What d’ya call a guy with no arms and no legs in a pile of leaves?”
“Ah, dunno.”
“Russell!” Gary really liked that one and was laughing as much at the joke as this new kid who was trying so hard to be his friend.
“What d’ya call a guy with no arms and no legs hanging on the wall?”
“Ah, picture? Painting? …no, Art!” yelled Gary and they both laughed.
“What d’ya call a guy with no arms and no legs lying in a hole?”
“Ah, dunno.” Gary was still laughing, shaking his head, feeling as though he was really getting the hang of this ‘no arms and no legs’ humor.
“Phil!” shouted out Ricky, making the motion of filling a hole with a shovel.
“Awww, that’s awful!” groaned Gary. “Hey I got one! What do you call a girl with no arms and no legs at the front door when it’s warm out?”
“I don’t know?” said Ricky looking surprised that Gary was making up his own.
“Summer!” Gary laughed hysterically grabbing Ricky by the shoulders as the school bell rang saving him from forcing himself to laugh at his new friend’s warped sense of humor.
A Guest for Halloween: A Lex & Ricky Mystery Page 8
