“It's okay. We are safe.” She put her hand over her heart and repeated this over and over. After a few moments, she sat up calmly. “She can't find us here.”
Alfred felt bad about slamming the door on his mother and for saying horrible things to her. He didn’t know why he said all that. He loved her and was sorry for his outburst. He didn't know how to tell her how bad he felt for his behavior.
She worked as a seamstress at a local dry cleaning store. Once in awhile he'd go by to see her work. She did some cleaning, but there always seemed a line of old ladies wanting her to sew odd buttons or fix vintage clothes for them. She seemed somewhat popular there for her rare sewing skills.
He went to his door to go out and apologize. He hesitated, feeling frustrated at the loss of his computer and game. They could never afford to replace it.
He could hear his mother crying. She cried once in awhile. He stepped back from the door and returned to his desk. He turned on his old TV with an antennae, which he used to get local shows. He turned to a wrestling show. He loved watching big crazy guys wrestle. He knew it was all fake, but he liked all their crazy moves. He found their yelling and screaming annoyingly awesome. They seemed more like entertainers and talkers than fighters. They were loud. And right now, he needed a way to escape, to drown out the sound of her crying.
A few days later after their unspoken vows of silence, his mother announced that he could get a new computer. He couldn't believe it. He wanted to jump up and hug her. He felt ashamed at how angry he had been and for not talking to her. He had not hugged her in days. An eleven year old boy who hasn't had a hug from his mom in days can get very depressed.
As she walked into the room, she sensed his guilt and need for a hug, so she sat down beside him. She caressed his hair. He immediately melted, leaning into her. She hugged him.
“We don’t have to get it, mom. It's too expensive.” Alfred sobbed a bit in her arms. “I know you work hard and do the best you can for us. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. You are such a good boy, Alfred. You make good grades and will grow up smart. You will live a peaceful life here in America. So I want you to know all there is to know about computers as long as it helps you in school.”
“But how can you afford it? Computers are expensive.”
“I talked to some of the ladies at work. They told me of places that need special seamstresses like me. I can pick up some extra work.”
“What? Extra work?”
“Well, I have already been fixing some people’s clothes at work, just little things here and there. They have been telling everyone how good I am. I've been getting more work. They say my sewing is old fashioned and rare. I guess that makes me special.”
Alfred was excited at first, but the feeling quickly faded as he realized she would have to work longer hours. He looked up at her face. She looked tired and worn. Alfred was worried.
She blushed and looked away. “I want this extra work. I want it because if I don’t, we won’t be able to be part of this world.”
“Part of this world?”
“You make good grades and are a good student. You are a good boy and deserve the best.”
Alfred felt really bad. He didn't want his mom to have to do more work. She worked so hard. He heard from some boys at school that he might be able to get his computer fixed instead of buying a new one.
The boys told him to get his dad to do it or some adult to show him how to fix it. It was complicated. Alfred didn’t have a dad or couldn’t think of any adults he could ask, but he nodded in agreement.
Alfred walked home excited, focused on getting his computer fixed. He thought about the kids talking about dads. He didn't know his dad. As long as he could remember, he never met him or knew anything about him. A lot of the kids didn't have dads at home, so it seemed normal that he didn't either. However, most knew their dads. He never knew who his dad was. Nor had he ever seen a picture of him. He had to have had a dad somewhere, he figured. He hadn't really thought too much about it. If he had a dad, he wondered who he was and what he was like -- and why didn't he know him.
He walked by Wooly's shack. He saw Wooly inside fixing things. Alfred wondered if Wooly could help him fix his computer.
Wooly was a handyman that everybody hired because he was good and cheap. And since he didn’t talk much, no one ever felt swindled by him. He would go to their house to fix something, or they would drop off items needing fixing at his garage. Alfred could only hope ‘Scarface’ would fix his computer.
“Hi, Mister... Wooly?”
Wooly was fixing a lamp in the back. He turned to see Alfred.
Alfred cringed and then faked a cough. “Hi... Mister Wooly right?”
Wooly nodded.
“I was wondering if you could help me with my computer?”
“Computer?”
“Yeah... to fix it. My mom said she'd buy me a new one, but they're expensive, and I thought maybe I could just get it fixed. My mom... she... well... I dropped milk on it, and it burned out.”
“I don't fix computers.”
“Oh. Okay...” Alfred turned to leave quickly.
“Wait.”
Alfred froze, gritting his teeth.
“Let me take a look.”
Alfred turned slowly. Wooly stood closer than he wanted. “Oh okay. I can bring it down. I just live...”
“I know where you live.”
Alfred stared at Wooly's scarred face a bit too long.
“Bring it down.” Wooly's eyes seemed warm. His smile showed more teeth than a natural man and looked a bit gruesome. Alfred always thought Wooly was old. Being so close, he realized Wooly wasn't that old. He might even be his mom's age.
Alfred returned something of a smile, mixed with a cringe. “Okay, I'll go get it.”
Alfred had no intention whatsoever of going back. He sat in front of his computer and was like, no way -- that Scarface was too creepy. But the urge to get it fixed and play Grim Wars was maddening!
He quickly grabbed the power cord and box and lugged them down to the shop.
“Here it is! I brought the power…” Alfred said.
“Set it there.”
Alfred put it on a table filled with broken lamps, vases, and picture frames. He saw broken furniture and kitchen appliances but no other computers. “Have you ever, I mean, do you ever fix computers?”
“No, this is the first one.”
“Maybe I should...” Alfred mumbled.
Wooly put down the wire cutters he was using on a strange lamp and approached Alfred. “It smells cheesy.”
“Oh, that's the spilled milk.”
“No use crying for spilled milk, hey?”
“For spilled milk? No, its uh... crying over... I think.”
“What?” Wooly asked, looking at the computer.
“No use crying over spilled milk,” Alfred said.
“That's what I said.”
“Uh yeah, okay, never mind.”
“I will fix it for you, Alfred.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“I don't know yet, maybe twenty.”
“Twenty? Twenty big ones?” Alfred gulped.
“What's a 'big one'?”
“I don't know, but it's a lot I think.”
“Twenty dollars.”
“Twenty dollars!? That's it? Twenty dollars!?”
“Yes, for you, Alfred.”
Alfred smiled and hopped and could not care less if any of this made any sense whatsoever. “Okay!” He shook Wooly's oily hand and hopped right on out of there.
Wooly watched him go. “Yes, for you, Alfred.”
Chapter Two: Wooly & the Computer
Alfred was beginning to think he'd been had. Maybe Wooly was just a thief. Alfred never got a receipt or anything. The kids at school told him Wooly stole the computer for sure and was gone.
Every day Alfred walked back from school and looked into Wooly's cru
sty garage, but it was closed.
Day after day he would go by and knock on the door, but there were no lights on. He couldn't see any movement inside. It was closed. Where did Wooly go? And where was his computer! Alfred did not have his computer to play Grim Wars.
“Mom... Wooly stole my computer!”
His mother looked up from her sewing. “What? Who?”
“Wooly, that creepy guy in the garage, he stole my computer.”
“What, how, where is your computer?”
“I gave it to him to fix because I didn't want you to have to buy a whole new one, and he said he would, but he's gone with my computer. He stole it.” Alfred, sobbing, began to quiver.
His mom looked at him for awhile. She too was about to cry.
“What? Oh mom, don't get upset! It's just a stupid broken computer.”
“Oh Alfred, it’s so nice that you'd do that for me. That you would try to get it fixed so I wouldn't have to pay for a new one.”
“Well ya know... I'm trying...” Alfred sniffed.
“Does he know how to fix computers?”
“I don't know. I don't think so, but he said he would.”
“I'll check for you, okay Alfred? Let me go down and see.” She began sewing again.
“Can you go now?” Alfred nudged her.
“Oh, now? Alright, I'll go.”
“Thanks, mom... please... thanks...” Alfred continued to nudge her.
“Alright, Alfred, I'll go.”
She went down and saw that the shop was closed. She knocked, but there was no answer. It was odd. She turned to see a shadow of a man down the block. It looked like Wooly watching her. She wasn't sure. A car drove by, and its lights shined on him and his horrible scarred face. She froze. His look didn't seem evil, though, it seemed almost...
Suddenly, a young mom with a little boy walked by, and the boy dropped a bunch of books. He was carrying a stack almost as big as him. She was jolted by the sound and realized they needed help. She bent down to pick some up. She noticed that the books were used. She glanced back toward Wooly, but he was gone.
She asked the young mom, “Excuse me, where did you get those books?”
“Oh, at the library,” the young mom said as she put the books into her bag.
“Library? For children?”
“For everyone. Just sign up. It’s free.”
“It's free?”
“Of course, all public libraries are free. You just sign up and check out a book. Just remember to return them.”
“Oh... of course, return them.”
“You can keep each for four weeks!”
“Four weeks!? Wow.”
“That's a whole month!” her little boy said raising his books.
“Oh yes it is! What a cute boy.”
“Thank you. It's down the street across from the school. Most parents don't even know it's there. Their kids just use the Internet or play video games, I guess. Hah... well now you know!”
“Yes, thank you.”
“I'm sorry, Alfred, Wooly was not there.”
“Oh no... my life is ruined!”
“It's just a computer.”
“Aaaaggghhh!!!”
His mom could always understand her son’s disappointments. “Why don’t we go to the librarium?”
“The what!?” Alfred suddenly stopped sobbing. “Do you mean library?”
“Oh, yes, that’s what you call it. Let’s go to the library!?”
“I am not going to the library! No way! Never ever!”
Alfred’s mother pushed him in to the library carefully, avoiding everything from the taped carpet bumps to little kids skipping around with their small stacks of children's books. Alfred rolled his eyes as little kids passed. He stood there and mulled his predicament.
He was so annoyed he strutted down the aisles of books as if he was in a mysterious maze. He made squishy sounds in his mouth to relieve his annoyance. Then he saw it. He froze. He shook. He did both! His eyes widened as he read the label on a shelf, “Medieval History.” In the next ten minutes he had ten books he wanted to check out. His mom was happy, and best of all, it was free.
He had books on castles and knights, on what life was like in medieval times, on battlefields and myths and legends. As he looked through all of these, he realized that the people that made ‘Grim Wars’ must have read the same books. There was all kinds of information about knights, peasants, villages, and castles.
“Mom! Dang... so many cool books. Our school only has a few… Why didn't they tell me about this place!?”
As he pulled out some more books, he saw Wooly through the opening in the next aisle.
Alfred hustled around to the next aisle. Wooly cleared his throat, quickly putting a yellow book back on a shelf.
“You stole my computer.” Alfred's face was red, and his eyes teared. “You stole my computer! I want it back!”
Wooly looked at him through his scars. But Alfred was not afraid of the scars now.
A series of “Shhhhss!” echoed throughout the library.
“Alfred?” his mother called under her breath.
Alfred waved at his mom through the wall of books. “Mom, I’m here! The repair guy is here too.”
His mother came to the aisle and hurried down. “Alfred, shhh, not so loud. Whose here?”
Alfred looked back, but Wooly was gone. He must have walked down to the other side and left. That was fast! Alfred was mad, seething mad.
“What’s wrong?”
Alfred was about to explode. He was so enraged, but then something caught his eye. He stared wide-eyed at the shelf. He grabbed the yellow book Wooly was looking at.
“Upgrading & Fixing Your... what’s that say?” His mom still had trouble with some words.
“Computer.”
His mom went by to check Wooly’s workshop, but it was still closed. It was a few days since Alfred saw Wooly at the library, and there was no word from him.
Wooly seemed gone. Some of the other neighbors were concerned, saying he hadn’t returned this or that, although most agreed that he always took awhile getting things done. Everybody, it seemed, had something in his garage. Most of his work was shining silverware, taking out dents, welding stuff, or fixing furniture and lamps. He was very handy with wood and especially metal.
Then one day the computer was at Alfred's door. First he was excited, but then he was enraged. It took this long, and then he left it outside on the doorstep? Granted, it was in a hallway of an apartment building, but still! Any one of the locals could have taken it and hid it in their apartment. Whatever! Alfred couldn’t wait.
He had to make room on his table. He had cluttered the table with all kinds of library books and drawings he had made of pretend villages, castles and battles. He had drawn what he could remember from scenes from 'Grim Wars' and of medieval life. He pushed it all to the floor.
He was so excited. 'Grim Wars' wasn’t on the computer anymore, so he had to re-install it. Then he got mad when he realized none of his saved games were on the fixed computer. He got angrier as he realized the computer looked different -- the interface on the screen, that is. Once the game was installed, he calmed down and started a game.
It was as if he was home again, just playing his game. He then noticed something. Everything played smoother, if that was the right word. He remembered that during the big hectic battles with a lot of units on the screen, the computer couldn't, well, compute fast enough. This would cause the units to flicker on screen and their animations to become choppy. Now, no matter how big the battles were, the game ran smoothly. He used to hesitate to start big battles. Hmph! Wooly had fixed his computer all right!
It took a few days before he realized something else was amiss. He never paid Wooly. Oh my gosh! Alfred suddenly panicked. Now he felt as if he was the thief, taking from Wooly. The computer ran much better than before. The colors seemed more vibrant all around. Alfred was quite thrilled.
He rushed down to find Wooly. A
nd lo and behold, the garage door was open. Wooly was back in business. Alfred looked in. Wooly was tinkering with some other computers. It was like he suddenly had a computer shop.
“Hey? Hello?” Alfred rushed in and came to a stop.
Wooly looked up.
“Thanks for fixing my computer!”
Wooly nodded.
“How much do I owe you?”
Wooly thought for a second, “How about that twenty? I had to replace a thing or two.”
“Oh, yeah, right. Uh, I have to ask my mom,” Alfred gulped again.
“Oh yes, well, since it took awhile, why don’t we say it’s free of charge. I had some learning to do.”
Alfred nodded happily, “So are you fixing computers now?”
Wooly thought for a moment. There were a few computers in his garage now. “Yes.”
“Was mine the first?” Alfred glanced at the other computers.
Wooly smiled. At first it seemed to Alfred a horrible evil smile. Then he realized it was just the scars. He could see that Wooly’s eyes were smiling warmly.
“Yes. I’m sorry it took so long. I had many things to learn. I gave you a better graphics card and updated your operating system.”
“Uh, okay,” Alfred sighed relief. Wooly’s disfigured face could look so evil and yet his voice sounded so... actually it sounded gutteral and evil too! But he didn't say evil things, it just sounded that way. Alfred walked backwards, waved bye, turned and dashed off.
Well mom was a bit upset. She wanted to pay for the repair. She would not have it free of charge. Nothing is free. She thought perhaps he was up to something. She was going to pay the price Wooly first quoted. Alfred was dismayed. He shouldn’t have told her how excited he was to get it fixed for free. She wouldn’t have it.
Though they had little money, this was suddenly a matter of pride or possibly stubbornness. Both were qualities that Alfred had not seen in his mother. He was a bit baffled. She wanted to thank the man and pay for the repair herself. Both of them went down to his shop.
Alfred couldn’t help wonder if she was merely going down to size Wooly up, to see if it was even safe for Alfred to be dealing with this stranger.
Alfred: The Boy Who Would Be King (Alfred the Boy King Book 1) Page 2
