Singular

by Larry Buenafe

  I turned to dad, and he winked at me and said, “We hoped that you would be coming with us. Lukey tells me that you single-handedly saved him and Mr. Harutyunyan, so we owe you. Any disagreements, anyone?”

  There was a general roar of approval from the group, with only Tarni looking a little unsure; I think she may have been wary of someone else getting dad’s attention. Of course, I could be totally wrong, I’m not good at getting those kinds of things.

  Chi Kim turned to Ms. Perez, who was sharing eye contact and a smile with dad, and she pulled Chi Kim in for a hug before pushing her toward the old van. She jumped in the sliding door to a flurry of high fives and back pats, and dad reached out to shake Ms. Perez’ hand. She took it, and then did something weird: she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Dad blushed a little and said, “Thanks, Zoey. We’ll be seeing you soon.”

  She turned, hopped in the huge Bright Hand SUV, and was gone.

  Benji, from the driver’s seat, said, “Look, ya buncha bloody hoons, we’re right here, and Macca’s is right there, and I’m pretty sure everyone could use a little tucker, eh?”

  We drove through the outback, bags of greasy burgers and fries in hand, and eventually pulled around the side of the nation’s hill, down through the sliding entrance, and back into the immense cavern home. Our two ‘oldie’ friends, Monti and Warrin, were at the door, just as they were the first time we entered, and they welcomed us enthusiastically. “Monti, the bloody conquerin’ heroes return!” Warrin said, laughter falling from the old men.

  Still in the driver’s seat, Benji hollered, “Hey, old fellas, fancy a little Macca’s? We got a bit left, I reckon.”

  They descended on the van, we exited, and it felt… it felt like coming home. There was a lot of hugging and other forms of affection, and I let some people hug me as well, even though… well, you know it makes me uncomfortable. It was late, so the rest of the nation were asleep in their apartments, and, except for me, we were tired as well, so Tarni headed back to her apartment, and the rest of us strolled through the colorful drapes of the guest apartment just to the left of the entry ramp, and dad went in one bedroom, Chi Kim another, Mr. Harutyunyan and Ms. Houng the third, which left Benji and me in the living area, where a single couch resided. Benji looked at me, and I said, “Go ahead, I won’t sleep much anyway.”

  “Ahh, thanks, mate. That was quite an adventure, but I don’t reckon we need to do it again anytime soon, eh?”

  “I don’t know… I think there’s a lot more like that ahead of us, to tell the truth.”

  Benji looked down and chuckled softly. “I can’t argue with that, mate. Just not tonight, ok? Us normal humans need some sleep. We did good with you, boyo. You’re gonna change the world one day, I reckon. Hey, another thing: the Dreamtime is coming soon, and the nation will want you ta take part. Whatcha think?”

  “Sure, sounds interesting. Hey, would it be ok if I go outside, up on the hill? I just wanted to look around a little bit, I mean, since I’m not tired or anything.”

  “Aww, I don’t reckon it could hurt. Just keep your eyes peeled for critters. ‘Night, Lukey.”

  “’Night, Benji.”

  Within a minute he was snoring like a jet engine cycling on and off every few seconds.

  I walked up to Warrin and Monti, sitting at their small table next to the entry ramp. “Well, look who’s here, Monti! It’s Lucas Taylor, in the flesh. Hey, I heard you have magical powers, the whole nation was gabbin’ on about it. Is it true, then? Are ya really magic?”

  “No, not exactly. I… I do have some unusual abilities, though. I was wondering… would it be ok if I went outside and walked around a little bit? I’m not tired, and I thought the fresh air and a little exercise might help.”

  “I dunno… whatcha think, Warrin?”

  “You’ll need to be careful of the fauna… there are snakes, scorpions, those kinds of things.”

  “Oh, I’ll be careful.”

  “Does your daddy know?”

  “No, but he wouldn’t mind. He’s asleep, and I don’t really want to wake him. We’ve had an exhausting couple of days.”

  “Exhausting for everyone but you, eh? Oh, to be young again. Alright, son, but be careful and don’t be gone long.”

  “I will, thank you.”

  Monti showed me to a small, hidden door to the right of the ramp. “When you’re done, just walk up to this door; it’ll look like a rock from the outside, but we’ll know you’re there and let you in. Be careful, now.”

  I walked around the side of the hill for about a hundred meters, then started climbing. It was roughly four hundred meters to the top, and it was steep, but I didn’t feel much effort as I climbed. It was easy to see by the light of a quarter moon, and I scurried around the rocks and bushes as I ascended. There was a bit of a plateau at the top, maybe fifty meters wide of fairly flat surface, and to the west I could just make out a bit of Lake Rebecca, or ‘Ol’ Beccy’, as Benji called it. I activated my heads-up display and found that it was a little over twenty-five kilometers away. I wonder how long it would take me to run there and back… hey, wait a minute… “Ava, do you think we could try flying from up here?”

  “Oh, feeling froggy, are we? Concentrate on your arms first. Just think of them flattening out, widening and lengthening. Once you get the hang of it, the process will only take a second or so. You’ll probably want to take your shirt and pants off for this, by the way. Otherwise you’ll rip them to shreds.”

  “Well, what about my… my underwear?”

  “Oh, please. We are not nudists. You can leave them on. Well, come on, we haven’t got all night, you know.”

  I took my shirt and pants off as she directed and stood in my ‘tightie whities’. “Ok, here goes. Let me know if I’m doing it wrong. Will you help me steer, you know, keep me from crashing?”

  “If you crash, I crash, and that is not on my agenda. Of course, I will make things work, as always.”

  Let’s see… concentrate on flattening my arms… whoa, that feels weird… I looked to my left, and my arm was flat as a piece of cardboard, and about two meters wide and ten meters long. I looked to my right and saw the same thing. My hands were at the end of the ten-meter lengths, and I wiggled my fingers and giggled. Now that’s funny…

  “Ava, what about my hands?”

  “You just move your fingers and rotate your hands to control the pitch of your arms. Careful, though, you don’t want to make any inappropriate gestures.”

  “What? I… oh, I get it. We don’t want to give anyone the bird while we’re up in the air like a bird.”

  “You see? Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Now run and jump as you get to the edge and flatten your legs as you fall. You’ll catch the air and we’ll be off into the wild blue yonder.”

  “Well, I don’t know where the wild blue yonder is, but I thought we could glide around down near Lake Rebecca.”

  “Really? You don’t know wild blue yonder? Oh, will this struggle ever end? Please, great computer, help me.”

  “Sarcasm?”

  “Sort of. Get going, condor boy.”

  I sprinted toward the edge of the plateau, and I felt the air under my arms making me lighter as I ran; I leaped as I got to the end, and took an almost immediate plunge downward; I flattened out my legs and felt additional air propping me up; I twisted my hands back, my arms rotated, and… I glided gently, feeling the wind flowing around me, holding me aloft as I circled.

  “Hey, Ava, this is cool!” I cried.

  “Yeah, now we’re cooking with gas. Go ahead, have some fun. I’ll keep you up if there are any problems.”

  I didn’t know what she meant by cooking with gas, but I decided to let it go. I’ll have enough time to worry about how to keep from getting kidnapped and turned into some kind of monster weapon tomorrow… the world has waited this long, it can wait one more night…

  I headed down toward the lake, and spent hours circling and soaring, all the wa
y until the sun came up.

  Epilogue

  T wo days later, it was the Dreamtime, and I had never seen anything like it. Faces painted in ancient ceremonial patterns, dancing, chanting, smacking sticks together, playing the didgeridoo, everyone in the whole nation taking part in one way or another. And it went on for hours and hours. I watched in fascination, and asked Ava to describe the significance of all the activities as they occurred. I even participated in a few; I danced, although I was not good at it, and I tried to play the didgeridoo, but I squeezed too tight and broke it. Many of the nation seemed to literally be in a trance as they danced and chanted, and afterwards talked about seeing their ancestors, in some cases through their spirit animals, and hearing about how the earth and everything in it was created by the first ancestors. I thought it was all amazing and found myself envying their togetherness. Eventually, people ran out of energy, and flopped on the ground everywhere, exhausted.

  A group of them gathered around me, sitting cross-legged on the ground, and asked what I knew of the Dreamtime. I described it all just as Ava had explained it to me; as they listened, a strange look took over their faces, and I think it was probably surprise. I took my time, and when I was done one of the older men turned to an equally old lady and said, “How could he know all that? There’s only one way: the ancestors had to be speaking to him. He’s a bloody prophet, he is. Have you seen the things he can do? He’s one of the ancestors reincarnated, and that’s a bloody oath.”

  Whispers went around the crowd, and one young lady toward the front stood up. “We’d like to know, if you don’t mind, how do you know about the Dreamtime, and our ancestors, all our customs and beliefs? If you don’t mind, that is.”

  I thought for a moment. What can I tell them that won’t sound crazy? “I… I have a woman’s voice in my head, and she tells me about you, your ways. All I have to do is ask her.”

  The old man leaned in to the old lady again and hissed, “I told you! He’s an ancestor, reincarnated! Wait ‘til the elders hear about this!”

  Another rush of whispers went around, and at that moment Tarni walked up, grabbed me by the arm, and said to the crowd, “Alright, you lot, the party’s over. Lukey needs to get some rest, and so do all of you, so off with you. Go on, now.”

  The crowd slowly dispersed, with lots of glancing back over their shoulders and waving at me. “You better watch yourself,” Tarni giggled, “soon they’ll be worshipping you if you aren’t careful.”

  “What? That… that’s crazy,” I protested as she pulled me toward the guest apartment near the entry ramp. As we entered through the colorful drapes, dad, Benji, Mr. Harutyunyan, Ms. Houng, and even Chi Kim stood and applauded. “Oi, the prophet has returned,” Benji cried, so tickled that he jumped up and down as he clapped.

  “I tried to tell them, but I guess I said the wrong thing. How will we get them to understand?”

  “I dunno, mate, I think the genie is out of the bottle, and he’ll be right difficult to put back in. Hey, Mard, ya fancy another coldie?”

  “If you want, I want,” Mr. Harutyunyan managed to choke out between guffaws.

  “Hey, toss me one of those, too,” said Chi Kim, giggling.

  Dad put his arm around my shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, Lukey, we’ll figure out how to clear this up. Tarni and I are going to drive in to Kalgoorlie, because a few in our group have an obsession with McDonalds fries. Would you like to come along?”

  I was feeling kind of irritated and not in the mood to go anywhere. “No, thanks, I think I’ll stay here. And no, I don’t want anything, thanks.”

  “Ok, we’ll be back in a couple of hours. Seems like an awful long trip just to go to McDonalds; sorry, Benji, that’s what I call it because that’s its real name. Anyway, see you soon.”

  After they left, the rest of the group sat around the living room of the little apartment chatting. As they did, I thought about how glad I was that Chi Kim had joined with us. She’s smart and good at lots of things, and easy to talk to. I guess what I mean is that she doesn’t talk to me like I’m a kid, or some kind of superhuman computer, either. She just treats me like anyone else, and I like that.

  I wanted to talk to Benji alone because he’s a member of the nation, to see what I could do to get them to understand that I’m not what they seem to think I am. He’s always the life of the party, laughing and telling jokes I don’t understand, his huge bush of hair shaking and hands flailing wildly. He watches out for me, though, and when I motioned to him, he went with me immediately into dad’s room.

  “Benji, what am I going to do? I’m not some reincarnated elder. Don’t they know about my… my situation? My nano-bot body and stuff?”

  Benji sat down on the bed and motioned for me to sit as well. “Here’s how my people think about things. They… well, not all of them, of course, but most of them are educated; they know about physics and understand what you’re made of. But, here’s the rub: when you break things down to their smallest components, like quarks, electrons, those kinds of things, and the forces that move them and hold them together, the strong, weak, electromagnetic and gravitational force, well, we mostly know how they work and what we can do with ‘em, but we don’t really know why they work, or ultimately how they got here. I mean, we know about the big bang and all, but what about before that? My people say somewhere in there, way down, there’s a little magic, and who’s to say they’re wrong, eh? And so, they figure, somewhere way down small, even though they know a lotta science went in ta makin’ you work, there’s also a little magic. Look at it this way: these folks like ya, and once they do, they’ll do almost anythin’ for ya, and that’s not bad, I reckon.”

  I thought about that for a moment, and said, “Ok, that’s logical, I understand. Thanks, Benji, that makes me feel a lot better.”

  He smiled, his eyes shining even more than usual. “Hey, I’m your daddy too, in a way. I care about ya, same goes for Mard and Minh. You got a whole team of parents, lucky you. Oh, I’ve been meanin’ ta go by and say hallo to Wally and Harry, and I got someone else I want ya ta meet. Whatta ya say, boyo?”

  “Sure, are they here?”

  “I reckon they made their way back by now. Come on.”

  We strolled around the perimeter of the great cavern, and most of the people we passed stopped whatever they were doing to stare and whisper to one another. “Benji…”

  “Ahh, don’t worry about those hoons, mate. The shine’ll wear off after a while.”

  I didn’t understand what that meant, but I didn’t ask.

  We eventually made it to the opposite side of the space and stopped at an apartment with orange and gold fabrics hanging down in the doorway. Benji poked his head in and called, “Hey, Wally, ya mongrel, come on out!”

  From inside, I heard, “Who ya callin’ a mongrel, ya mongrel?”

  Wally came running out, tackled Benji, and they rolled around on the ground in mock battle. Harry stuck his head out through the orange and gold drapes and said, “Alright, settle down, yer both mongrels. How ya been, Lukey?”

  The brothers gathered ‘round for a group hug, and Benji said, “Hey, Wally, go get Jedda, I wanted her ta meet our boyo.”

  He scrambled back into the apartment and returned quickly with a girl who I immediately knew was either sister or daughter to one of the three brothers. She was the same height, about as tall as me, had the same shining black eyes, almost glowing, the same brilliant smile, the same bush of hair, although she had tamed it for the most part, the same almost everything, and yet… she was… well, she was a girl, and she was cute. I don’t know… maybe now that I’m fourteen I’m, like, girl-crazy or something, but I like her, and I don’t even know her… yes, that is crazy…

  I was a little bit tongue-tied, maybe because I hadn’t really met a girl since becoming fourteen, or at least not one around my age, and definitely not one as cute as her. I must have been staring, because Benji snapped his fingers in front of my eyes and said, “Luk
ey, Jedda, Jedda, Lukey.”

  “So, this is the magic boy, eh? Come on, then, do us a trick.”

  I looked at Benji, and he said, “Ahh, don’t worry, she’s just havin’ a go at ya. Jedda, be nice. Jedda’s fifteen, just about your age. She’s the smartest of all of us, I reckon.”

  She socked Benji in the arm and said, “Oh, I dunno. I never made a magic boy before like you.”

  “Come on, now, you’ll make Lukey feel uncomfortable.”

  “Oh, sorry, Lukey, I didn’t mean anything, I was just havin’ a laugh with these fellas. It’s nice to meet ya.”

  I didn’t really mind that she called me Lukey too much. “Meeting you is nice, too.”

  Meeting you is nice too? Come on, get it together…

  There was an awkward moment of silence, and Jedda said, “These three probably have some catchin’ up to do, and some coldies to down, I reckon. Come on, I’ll walk ya back to your apartment.”

  I gulped. “Oh… ok.”

  The brothers skipped into their living room arm-in-arm and Jedda and I turned back toward the entrance ramp and our guest apartment. “Sorry about that magic boy crack, I was just tryin’ to amuse my brothers. Benji’s the smart one, by the way.”

  “Yeah, I know. He’s… we’re really close, I guess you would say.”

  We ambled along, chatting as if we had known one another our whole lives. I’m not good at just talking to people; I always need an agenda or a plan, but with her I didn’t feel as uncomfortable as usual. When she used a metaphor or idiom I didn’t understand, I asked her, and she just explained it without any complaint or judging, and I liked that, it felt nice.

  We ended up walking around the whole perimeter of the massive cavern several times, and just as I realized it was probably time for dad and Tarni to return, the camouflaged door slid open and the old nation van came sliding down the ramp. It immediately seemed to me that something was wrong, and we were almost exactly opposite the entry ramp, so I apologized to Jedda and ran for the entrance. The great fountain in the middle of the open space was between me and the ramp, and as I approached it, I jumped, sailed over and past it, then sprinted on until coming to a skidding stop next to the van. Tarni slumped next to the van and was being consoled by Warrin and Monti; she was crying almost beyond control.