Jack James and the Tribe of the Teddy Bear

by J. Joseph Wright

  “Have you seen this place, Ayita?” he handed a bottle of water to Takota. “This is bad.”

  Ah, Takota thought. It has a name—Ayita.

  “Good job, Cheyton!” Ayita hissed. “Now he knows my name. I told you not to use my name!”

  “Ayita! Ayita! Ayita!” shouted Pud.

  “Pud, you hush!” she barked. “We don’t need to encourage him.”

  Takota had started to feel better, but Ayita’s rotten mood caused a relapse of his dizziness. The others—Cheyton, the Angel, even Pud the joker he could have learned to get along with. But Ayita, she wasn’t nice at all.

  “Don’t worry,” Takota guaranteed her. “I’m sure I won’t have any reason to use your name. Not now. Not ever.”

  “Good!” she stomped her foot.

  “Good!” he copied her.

  “Why you…” she would have lunged headlong into Takota if it weren’t for Cheyton. In one decisive sweep with his tiny yet powerful arm, he caught her midsection and hugged her into submission.

  “Okay, sis,” he told her. “Take it easy.”

  “Take it easy? Take it easy?” she tore away. “You want me to take it easy? Look around, dear brother. This entire store’s in shambles. There’s so much to do, so much to clean up. And on top of that there’s less than an hour left to do it. Does that sound easy to you? Because I don’t think we can afford to take it easy. We’re gonna get caught this time for sure!”

  Cheyton refused to panic. Takota sensed from his calm demeanor he was the natural leader of the group. Slightly larger than Takota, he had a rugged handsomeness and a steady, alert posture which oozed confidence. Bright blue eyes and robust cheekmarks set against the black and silver bands in his fur completed the package, the striking color contrast of a powerful Tanakee family. He and Ayita appeared much alike, though they acted much differently.

  “Don’t lose your cool here, okay?” he tried to console her. “We’ve been in worse shape, remember? I’m sure if we all work together we can have this place good as new in no time.”

  “What’s this we stuff?” she demanded. “We aren’t cleaning, he’s cleaning!”

  “No time for that, you know it. We’re each gonna have to take a section of the store.”

  Ayita’s shoulders drooped. She released a long, demoralized sigh, glaring at Takota.

  “I’m not cleaning the puke,” Pud sang.

  “I’ll take the produce section. That seems to be the worst hit,” Cheyton continued.

  “I mean it. I won’t do that spew,” Pud again used a comedic little tune.

  “Enola,” Cheyton gestured toward the Angel. So her name’s Enola. Kind, thoughtful Enola. “You get the meat and seafood department, and make sure to find all the bones. He went kind of wild over there.”

  “Seriously, dude,” Pud’s melodic message began to crescendo. “Don’t ask me to clean up that nasty barf.”

  “Ayita, you inspect each and every aisle, okay? Make sure all the stuff he knocked over is picked up.”

  “I’m not kidding, me no wanna cleana da puka,” Pud made his final plea. Cheyton, ignoring his every word, ruined his hopes.

  “Pud, since you’ve had so much experience with your own vomit, you can stay here and help him clean this up.”

  “Noooooo!” his face plunged into his hands.

  “All right,” Cheyton cleared his throat. “We have our assignments, let’s…”

  He stopped in mid-sentence and skewed his head. He’d heard something. Takota sensed it too, a slight metallic clanging.

  “Oh, no!” Ayita yelped, then covered her own mouth.

  “Too late!” Cheyton’s voice went into a hoarse whisper. “Code Red! Code Red!”

  They all scattered in a blur, all except Takota. He stood frozen, dumbfounded by the commotion.

  “You!” in a blinding display of speed, Cheyton returned, sliding to a stop and clutching Takota’s arm. “Whatsyourface, come with me!”

  “My name’s Takota.”

  “Dakota?”

  “TA-kota!”

  “Oh, who cares!” Cheyton tightened his grip and directed his attention toward the front. Takota heard it. The faint, yet unmistakable sound of someone coming.

  “Let’s GO!”

  Cheyton started with such an immense burst of velocity, it stunned Takota. And dragging him along made it even more impressive. After the initial shock from the sudden exercise, Takota’s muscular, agile physique responded. He’d always been proud of how fast he could run, one of his claims to fame back in Wind Whisper Woods. Some of his friends were stronger, some had more developed Eteea, but he was simply faster than anyone he’d ever raced against. Except Cheyton.

  Takota promptly snapped into shape at the challenge, forgetting all about his stomach woes. It came easy for him, blinding strides, an aerodynamic posture, slicing through the very molecules of the air. And right there, step for lightning-fast step, was Cheyton, wearing a self-assured grin.

  Takota hadn’t noticed how quickly they were running out of real estate. The store was big, not endless. The far wall wasn’t that far anymore, and it closed in fast. Luckily Takota turned left in time to avoid a messy crash into a shelf full of stuff called, ‘motor oil.’

  After the confusion, Takota noticed Cheyton had abandoned him. He stopped and cautiously scanned his new surroundings—colorful packages with images of smiling, playing human children.

  Overhead, dozens of artificial lights fizzled and popped to life, glowing red, then orange, then white, filling the store with illumination and him with panic. He was about to hide when a familiar voice stopped him.

  “Here, you moron!”

  It was Ayita, whispering and yelling at the same time. But from where? He searched behind some boxes and found nobody. Then he threw himself to the floor and inspected underneath the shelves. Nobody.

  “Up here!”

  “Where?” he called. “You guys are playing with me, aren’t you?”

  Cheyton whipped down on a column that extended from floor to ceiling. He clutched Takota’s arm and lifted him several feet to a large collection of items covered in fake fur, stuffed with artificial fabric, and made to resemble real animals.

  “This place is amazing!” Takota blurted.

  “Quiet, fool,” Ayita fixated on the human activity below, as did the rest of the pack.

  “I have a name, you know.”

  She shushed him without turning away.

  Still annoyed, he lowered his voice and continued.

  “It’s Takota.”

  “Potato?” Pud giggled.

  “No, Takota.”

  “All right, all right,” Cheyton looked at him. “Nice to meet you, Takota. Now be quiet. No telling what’s gonna happen when those people get a load of that mess of yours. It’s just a good thing we got the…wait! Pud! Tell me you took care of the surveillance video!”

  Pud’s proud smile dropped, replaced by an elongated expression of horror.

  “Oh, crap! Gotta go!” he dove headfirst off the makeshift nest.

  Cheyton forced a space between a donkey and a unicorn and peered down. Takota pushed aside a rainbow trout and a stuffed lion to get a peek.

  “What’s he doing?” he asked.

  “He’s got to delete and replace the footage from the security cameras,” Cheyton said.

  “The what?”

  “Don’t you know anything?” Ayita looked through a gap in the toy animals, avoiding eye contact with him.

  “Easy, now,” Enola patted her shoulder.

  “Up there,” Cheyton pointed to a black sphere stuck into the ceiling. Takota hadn’t noticed them before. Now that he did, they seemed to be everywhere.

  “Hey, there are a bunch of those suckers. What are they?”

  “Cameras,” Cheyton kept watching while Pud, far below, sneaked past the front checkout counters one by one. “They record everything around here, all day long, all night long.”

  “What do you mean, ‘record
?’”

  “Oh Eteea! What a simpleton!” Ayita slapped her own forehead. “He’s gonna get us caught for sure.”

  Enola cleared her throat. “If I remember correctly, you had no clue about those cameras. None of us did at first. It was blind luck Pud was tinkering with the computer in the office and saw the recordings when he did. Otherwise, we would have been discovered after our first night here. All I can say is thank Eteea for Pud’s mischievous curiosity.”

  “Yeah,” Ayita huffed. “Probably the one and only time we could say that.”

  Takota scratched his ear. “So this…footage with the recordings of us, of me—it’s in the office?”

  “Yeah,” answered Cheyton. “And he’s almost there. He’s got to replace the old footage with a dummy recording, one without you running around like a wild animal.”

  Takota wasn’t sure he understood, but he knew it was serious. Monitoring Pud’s progress, he felt his heart jump when he saw a human. He knew she was a store employee by her green apron.

  “Whew! He made it,” he watched Pud dash up some stairs and behind the office door, safely ahead of the employee.

  Each Tanakee reacted with a start when the woman shrieked. She must have noticed the mess they never got the chance to clean.

  “Al! Come quick!”

  “What? What’s wrong?” a man yelled from out of sight.

  “We’ve been robbed. Or ransacked. Or, oh, just GET OUT HERE!”

  A short, thin fellow with a large bald patch emerged through two swinging doors near the meat and seafood department, briskly walking to catch up with his clerk.

  “What the…” he stopped and did a stationary circle, his jaw dropping more and more at each new sighting of ripped-up wrappers, half-eaten ho-hos, and wasted weenies. “Oh no! Oh NO!”

  Al dropped the coat and paper bag he’d been carrying and went straight for the front of the building, digging into his pocket.

  “Come on, Pud,” Cheyton ground his sharp teeth.

  “What’s taking so long?” Takota had to ask.

  “He can’t just hit delete and run,” Cheyton explained. “He has to alter metadata, swap files, it’s complicated,” he paused to watch Al pass the checkouts, closing in on the stairway leading to the office. “And he’s running out of time.”

  They each fidgeted with pent-up jitters. Tanakee, though small in stature, were never ones to stand idle in times of danger, especially when one of their own was at risk. A trait of their species. No matter how insurmountable the problem, no matter how large the foe, Tanakee were always ready for a fight, so it was difficult to watch Pud risk life and limb. However, they weren’t stupid.

  Takota was glued to the semi-bald man hurrying up the steps.

  “What happened here, Al?” a different woman called out. Al stopped at the top of the staircase, inches before he reached the office door. An upsurge of relief swept over Takota. Maybe Pud could sneak out now.

  “Don’t know yet,” Al answered, reaching for the handle. “I’m gonna see if the cameras turn anything up.”

  “Wow!” Takota heard a human voice he recognized. A boy. “This place is trashed!”

  “Hey, Jack,” Al twisted the knob halfway. “Don’t touch anything, ‘kay? This is all evidence. We’re gonna get these creeps!”

  Jack! Takota thought. Something about that boy. Somehow he sensed the child wouldn’t do anything to harm him. The feeling was strong, unlike anything he’d experienced. It had to be Eteea. He didn’t know. He’d never paid much consideration to the old myths and superstitions. He simply had the undeniable feeling that Jack, contrary to most humans he’d encountered, was trustworthy.

  He also got the idea maybe Jack might have been able to help Pud. But how? He had no time. All eyes were on Al. It seemed the man moved in slow-motion, opening the door, stepping inside. Still no sign of Pud. Takota held his breath.

  “I have to get him,” Cheyton said.

  “No!” the girls commanded in unison. Ayita took his hands.

  “Don’t do it, please. You’re my only family. I can’t lose you,” she pleaded. “It’s too risky.”

  “I can’t lose you, either,” Enola added. Encircled by a faint green glow, she locked her stare on Cheyton.

  Chest heaving, he nodded in hesitant agreement.

  “Look!” Takota alerted.

  “It’s Pud!” Ayita made the unneeded announcement. They saw him for themselves. First he peeked from behind the office door. Then he stepped to the landing, waving at them and grinning madly while flashing the thumbs-up.

  “Now what?” Takota whispered.

  “Now he has to get his butt back up here,” Cheyton answered. “He can’t go the normal routes, though.”

  “Yeah, this place is crawling with humans,” Takota called it as he saw it. More and more green apron-clad employees descended on the store, each of them examining the mess.

  “Cheyton!” Enola sounded urgent. Ayita motioned anxiously.

  Takota realized why they were so concerned. Jack stood at the top of the stairs, and it appeared he’d spotted Pud, who, thankfully, was playing the dead game. He made a pretty convincing toy, yet as the boy headed straight for him, Takota noticed a smile growing on Pud’s lips.

  “That’s it!” Cheyton announced. “I’m going. Everybody, stay here!”

  “No!” Ayita seized his arm.

  “Cheyton, you can’t!” Enola protested.

  He didn’t yield this time, pushing a leg out of the metal mesh, ready to make a swift exit. “I have to. Pud’s in trouble. He doesn’t take things so seriously sometimes. I’m afraid he might screw this one up even more.”

  “Wait,” Takota attempted to change his mind. “That human. I know him. There’s something about him. He wouldn’t harm us, I can feel it.”

  Cheyton disagreed. “Sorry. Can’t go off just a feeling. We’ve gotta get Pud back,” he scanned the faces. “Stay here,” he dropped out of sight.

  Takota found it easy to follow Cheyton’s order. He wanted no part in going down there with all those people milling about. Let Cheyton risk his own hide. Besides, he was confident Jack wouldn’t do a thing to harm any of them.

  The boy picked up Pud and held him at eye level, scrutinizing him top to bottom. Even from such a distance, Takota heard Jack speak to the supposedly inanimate object.

  “Hey, I know you,” he spun Pud side-to-side, upside-down and around. “You look like that weird teddy bear I found yesterday…except you’re not the same one, are you?”

  Cheyton darted behind several people, scaling a Kool-Aid display so fast it created nary a disturbance. From there, it took all of Takota’s concentration to track his path.

  Then, stricken by an abrupt vision, Takota clutched his own head. All of the sudden he seemed to be watching events before they occurred. Somehow he knew Cheyton was going to plow into Jack’s knees and throw the boy off balance so he’d let go of Pud. If that happened, Jack would fall down the stairs and get hurt seriously. Pud might be saved, but at too great a cost. Takota wouldn’t accept that. He felt a duty to protect Pud, yet he had an even greater need to protect Jack.

  He began his descent to the floor and in that instant had the strangest sensation. His mind seemed to expand beyond the limits of his physical body. Never before had Takota experienced the ability to step outside of himself, yet that’s how it appeared. He saw endless sets of situations, countless individual paths, all the different decisions he could make, a life-sized map going on and on.

  How and why he possessed the ability to read the mystical blueprints expanding before him, he had no clue. All he did was focus on Jack. Then a blinding streak guided him along the innumerable possible choices, enabling him to navigate the store full of wandering employees in less than a blink of an eye. He slipped behind people just when they looked away, scurried past others an instant before they glanced his direction. He saw their moves several steps in advance and was able to dodge and weave by them all, never to be seen.
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br />   “Yo!” a tall, bone thin redheaded guy in his early twenties hollered after Takota brushed past his denim pant legs. The only one to even sense his presence. “Who the..? All right! Somebody’s jerkin’ my chain!”

  Takota reached the bottom of the stairs in time to lock eyes with Cheyton at the top. It was for an instant, though long enough to see into his thoughts. Cheyton didn’t want to hurt Jack. Desperation led him to believe he had no other choice.

  Takota made it up the first two steps when the collision took place. He was running so hard, he didn’t see it. He didn’t need to. Eteea had already shown it to him. It must have been Eteea. If he’d only listened to Orzabal. Maybe then he would have been able to control his sudden abilities.

  Then, a flash of awareness. He couldn’t stop Cheyton from tripping Jack, but he was able to put himself in the position to do the next best thing—make a diving catch.

  The boy cried out and let Pud fall from his hands in an unsuccessful effort at grasping the rail, the wall, anything to counteract what gravity had already deemed inevitable. He plummeted down the stairs just as Takota had envisioned, backward and headfirst.

  The boy’s full weight hammered him with a blow that would have crushed a normal animal of his size. Tanakee weren’t normal.

  Riding Takota down the steps like a bobsled, Jack vocalized his shock with a continuous stream of incoherent wailing. On the floor the two settled in a heap, Jack using Takota for a pillow.

  “Takota!” Cheyton whispered from the top of the stairs.

  Jack sat up and rubbed his neck. His eyes darted from Takota to the steps. Cheyton vanished before the boy peered up toward the office. Pud had long since gone.

  “What was that? What happened? Who said that?” finally Jack produced real words. He examined Takota. “Hey, it’s you. Takota? Is that your name?”

  Takota didn’t know what to do, so he smiled.

  “Uh, hi,” he waved. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

  Jack’s jaw fell open. He patted his own chest, cheeks, neck. “No, I-I guess not. But how…”

  AT THAT MOMENT, it seemed every human in the store descended upon the two of them. They must have heard Jack screaming bloody murder on the way down the steps. Takota wished there didn’t have to be so many people. They made him nervous. He decided to play the dead game and fell onto his back.