by Bxerk
“I can come,” Max Kim said.
Benny hit him on the arm.
“No, maybe I’m busy,” he mumbled.
"You guys, come on,” Nova said. “We have to do something about these ghosts.”
“We can use our brains,” Benny said, “but what will you two do?”
Takeesha glared at him. “Shut up, Benny.”
Nova remembered the grunt she gave just before the ghost disappeared.
“We’ll use our magick powers,” she said in a spooky voice.
Takeesha nodded.
Benny handed Max Kim his books and papers to be put into his book bag on the back of the wheelchair. “There’s no such thing. I keep telling you.”
“Look, let’s just put our brains together,” Nova said picking up a paper he dropped and handed it to Max Kim. Benny grabbed it and threw it back into his locker, then slammed it closed, but not before Nova saw a sign inside that said, “No girls allowed.” She smiled.
“Can’t we do this over the phone?” Benny said.
“It’s better if we meet somewhere.”
“Fine. I’m doing this under protest. Are we meeting at noon? Benny asked.
“Yes, bring some food to share. I live at N5643 Hwy PW,” Nova said.
Chapter 8 Picnic
Saturday in Bardsville started out foggy, but by noon the clouds had retreated back into the sky. It became warm and humid late in the morning. Nova waited on the living room couch for her friends to arrive. Scott was still in bed, and Nova’s mom was at the vet's office until two.
Tucked under the tall oak and maple tree branches, the century-old farmhouse was still cool, especially when a nice breeze started to whistle through the window screens. Nova felt cool and cozy at the same time.
She moved to the recliner to read the comics and then her horoscope in the Saturday newspaper. Wilhelmina lay on the floor in front of her, eating oatmeal with raisins and watching her favorite show on Paranormal TV – the one about the animal communicator who talked to dogs.
Nova was a Leo. It read: You will be vanquished in your power to heal people on this day when Saturn's moons align. Take heed not to curse yourself, lest you commit yourself to not helping those you love.
Nova thought about that. One time she had to write a report about Saturn. She remembered the planet had...well, quite a few moons. How could they all possibly line up?
Nova put down the paper. "It says here that I have the power to heal, but that power will be shut off today. Shall I read yours?"
"Naw, I'll read it later."
Nova threw the newspaper aside.
“How’d you get the TV channels to stop flipping?"
"I don't know. They just did." Wilhelmina put her bowl in the kitchen and watched from the pass-through. At the end of the show, a commercial came on. A Magickal Wares store was having a special sale on fairy dust.
"I ought to buy that dust,” Wilhelmina said.
"Why do you need fairy dust?” Nova said. “It's not good for anything."
"I'll find some use for it. Besides I like the smell. See you later." Wilhelmina smiled in a dreamy way, grabbed her hip pack, and her bike from the porch, and headed up the driveway.
Wilhelmina was sure acting strange.
Nova chewed a fingernail and continued to watch the TV as she waited for her friends to arrive. The time seemed to crawl. Outside, someone honked their car horn over and over in quick succession. Nova ran to the window. It was Wilhelmina’s and Scott’s dad, waiting for them to go to a rock concert with him. She wished she could go, too, but their father never liked her, and she didn’t know why. It wasn’t Nova’s fault her mother had an affair.
Nova ran to the stairs and yelled: “Scott, your dad is here.”
“Okay, tell him I’ll be down in a minute.”
“He’s not coming in the house this time. Also, you’d better hurry, Wilhelmina ran to town to get some fairy dust.”
Something crashed upstairs. “Fine.” Scott stumbled down, grabbed a banana, and ran out the door. Nova watched through the window as he jumped into the car and slammed the door. The car’s wheels spun out in the gravel driveway, shooting rocks behind it. Nova watched them speed away.
When she sat down in front of the TV, the picture started flipping violently, so she turned it off. “Stupid T.V.” She grabbed her latch hook rug kit of three running horses to keep her hands busy as she waited.
A quick heavy knock on the door made her jump. Nova ran to the window and looked out. There was no one there. The wind danced in the tree branches casting weird shadows on the lawn.
Was that a ghost? Had they started following her home from school? Nova backed away from the door and reached for the stair railing.
A loud knock shook the kitchen door. Then it slammed open. Max Kim and Benny barreled in. Max Kim wore his magician’s cloak and hat. Taking his top hat off, he waved his cape and wand. Benny had his autogyro on his lap. They both giggled.
“Whoo, boy am I glad it’s you two. The knock on the front door really scared me when I noticed no one there.”
“Sorry, that was us. Did you like our magic trick? Can you figure out how we managed to knock on both doors almost at the same time? Was that your dad leaving the driveway?”
“Max Kim, take a breath,” Nova said. “Hmm… that was pretty amazing. Nope, I can’t say I can figure out how you did it.”
Max Kim took a few deep breaths. “So was that your Dad?”
"He's not my father, thank goodness. He is Wilha’s and Scott’s though. My last name is Nowak from my mom. It’s Polish and means “new one”. Scott and Wilha’s last name is Weckerly from their dad."
“I see,” Benny said. “Um, wow. I brought some soda. It’s in my pack.”
Nova took the two-liter bottle of Pepsi from the backpack draped on the back of Benny’s chair. She filled up sixteen ounce plastic Mason jars with handles in four colors: blue, red, yellow, and green, with soda and ice.
“Thanks, Benny,” she said. “Speaking of names what should we name our group?”
“I’m open to a cool group name.”
“Me too,” Max Kim said.
This time a small rap came on the front door. Nova strolled into the living room and opened the door. Takeesha was holding a skateboard and her dog Boomer’s leash.
“You skateboarded?” Nova asked.
“Boomer pulled me most of the way.” She bent down to pat her black lab and scratched behind his ears. “You’re a goooood dog. Aren’t you? Yeah, you are.”
“Here, I’ll take those chips from you.”
Takeesha pulled barbecue flavored chips out of a cloth bag she had on her shoulder. The bag was deflated, and the chips were all broken.
“What? I fell down.”
“Did you sit on them?” Benny asked. He snickered.
“Heck no,” Takeesha said.
“Did you feed some to that fat dog of yours?” Max Kim asked. Takeesha looked around surprised. Max Kim didn’t usually joke along with the gang.
“No, but I let him lick the salt off my fingers as I reached for more.”
“Ewwww,” Nova, Benny, and Max Kim said.
“You can eat those, Takeesha,” Benny said.
“Uh uh, by the way, we were discussing a name for our group,” Max Kim said, standing next to Nova at the door.
“Sounds like a plan,” Takeesha said, coming inside and munching on her potato chips, oblivious to her dog’s involvement in the process.
“Well,” Nova said, “anyone have any ideas?”
Takeesha, Max Kim, and Benny were quiet as they looked around the living room.
“I guess Ghost Busters is already taken,” Benny said.
“Okay, I have a suggestion,” Nova said. “I really like the name: The Shade Riders.”
The kids were quiet as they mulled it over.
“See, the word ‘Shade’ represents darkness or secrecy. The word ‘Riders’ says that we pursue that.”
“I
like it,” Max Kim said, grinning.
“Me too,” Takeesha sat on the couch and scratched her dog.
“Okay, let’s go with it. We can always change it later.” Benny wheeled into the kitchen. The rest followed.
"Anyway, who is your dad?" Max Kim grabbed a handful of big cookies from his pocket and put them into the picnic basket on the counter.
"I’ve never met him,” Nova said. “My father is supposed to be a Native American. I wish I knew something about him."
Benny opened the refrigerator and looked around inside. Then he took a small bucket of strawberries and added it to the picnic basket. Nova made sandwiches.
“I think we might need wipes to wash our hands,” Benny said.
Takeesha added a packet of wipes to the basket, then threw in her chips. Now they were set to go into the back pasture where the horses were.
“Hey, Nova,” Takeesha said, “let’s look at the filly.”
Nova looked at the two boys. Benny shrugged, and Max Kim grinned.
“Follow me,” she said. They left the house and moved quickly across the gravel driveway toward the barn. Blue Belle, the Australian Shepherd, jumped up, sniffed, and wagged her stub tail. “Hi, Belle,” Nova patted her on her head. The barn smelled much cleaner from all the work Nova and her family did, clean enough that she didn’t need to feel embarrassed. It smelled like hay and straw now. Chocolate grumbled aloud when the kids peeked into the stall. She pressed up against the door trying to squeeze her nose through the bars on the upper half. Max Kim and Takeesha jumped back.
Takeesha approached timidly, finally peaking inside again. "The filly’s dark. I read that horses that color are considered unlucky." Nova decided to ignore that comment.
"What are you going to name her?" Benny said.
"I'm naming her Shade.”
"That's not a good name, you know what I mean?” Takeesha said. “It’s not like we are going to use the horse to chase ghosts, are we? How about Shiner?"
“Naw, I like Shade,” Nova said.
Takeesha snapped her gum.“But Shade sounds evil.”
“But Shiner sounds like a black eye.”
"A name is just that,” Max Kim said, “Nothing more nor less." Nova wanted to hug him, so she punched him in the arm. They grinned.
Benny said, "I think it fits her nicely, even though I can't see her yet."
"Oh yeah, we could use some bales of hay and make a ramp for you. Okay? Let's do that." Nova jumped up. With four bales of hay lined up side by side for a runway and a piece of plywood for a ramp, Benny could wheel onto the top and see into the stall. "She's a beauty," Benny said.
Chocolate stamped her foot angrily and huffed out a massive breath. She tried to stick her nose through the bars again. Benny gulped and slowly backed down the ramp.
"Anyone else besides Chocolate hungry?" Nova said.
They strolled and wheeled through the catch pen down the tractor path, leaving a dust cloud behind them. Nova enjoyed the warm sun on her head and back and heard the warbling of the Orioles and the plaintive calls of the catbirds. Once outside the pen they traveled a ways to the woods on their right side. The grass was short from too many visits from horses though it was easier for Benny’s chair to handle. Among the tall trees in the woods was a picnic space that was big enough for all four of them. The slight breeze rustled the new leaves and sitting under the shade felt inviting. Fallen logs were plentiful. Benny just locked his chair in place on the path.
Takeesha looked at the various logs on the ground that
surrounded a fire pit. “This one’s mine.” She draped her cloth bag over it and sat down stretching her legs in front of her.
Nova didn’t know what she did with her gum, but it was now gone.
Max Kim examined the logs. “Ug, bugs.” He kicked one over, and chunks of half-rotten wood flew into the grass.
Blue Belle and Boomer ran into the distance to explore the woods.
“Hey, there’s deer poop,” Max Kim pointed near a young oak sapling.
“Do you see any tracks?” Benny asked.
“Yeah, do you want to follow them?”
“Guys, guys,” Nova said, “we need to figure out what we can do about these ghosts. Every time someone talks about science the ghosts always have something to say about it.”
Benny sighed and scratched his hair out of his eyes.
“I, for one, have no idea what we might do to stop them,” Takeesha said.
“If they are threatened by science,” Nova said, “then maybe that’s what we need to use to get rid of them.”
“But what are their weaknesses?” Max Kim asked.
“I don’t know,” Benny said. “Maybe we need to find some ghosts and hold up different things in their presence until we find their Kryptonite.”
Nova found a log, sat down, and opened the picnic basket. “You have all the science stuff, Benny. Can you bring some things to school?”
“You know, now that I think about it, that could take forever,” Benny said. “There has got to be a better way.”
Nova passed out the wipes, sandwiches and soda pops. Takeesha offered the chips around, but there were no takers. While they munched and swallowed, Nova watched the horses out in the pasture. They would graze for a while, and then with no apparent reason, all move to a new plot of land where they resumed eating.
Blue Belle and Boomer scared out a rabbit and chased it around until it dove into a burrow. The dogs dug the ground and whined. “Belle, Boomer, come over here,” Nova yelled.
As if forgetting the rabbit, the dogs trotted over, nipping at each other.
“Benny your idea is so far the only way we can do it. No one else has made any suggestions,” Nova said. Max Kim and Takeesha nodded. Benny sighed and picked out a strawberry from the picnic basket and ate it. “Max Kim has a surprise.”
“I’ve got to show you my new magic tricks with this mirror.” Max Kim reached into the big backpack behind Benny and pulled out a foot-long mirror in a brown wood frame. That in itself seemed like a magic trick. He handed the mirror to Benny, who held it up, so Nova and Takeesha were reflected in it. Then Max Kim proceeded to pull scarves, branches, and rocks out of it.
But, after a moment, Nova was distracted as another scene began to unfold inside the mirror. It was the man with white hair, Nova had seen in the library, whom she now recognized as another Neanderthal. He seemed to be standing over her, with a fishing rod, dangling it over her head, although she couldn’t see that it had a line on it. A strange rocky rim surrounded the scene. Then she realized she was looking up through the basin/mirror he had rotated his hands over when she saw him last time. Nova almost called out, but she didn’t want to disturb the…whatever was happening.
The white-haired man’s fishing rod bent over, and he pulled out what appeared to be a huge invisible fish. His rod and line jerked, even though there was apparently nothing on it, and he watched the hook with a look on his face so hungry he was practically drooling over it. He wore a shimmery white tunic. Nova couldn’t figure out what it was made of. Maybe silk?
Then the white-haired man turned with surprise toward something Nova couldn’t see. Suddenly he tipped the basin up on its side. And that’s where it stayed. A little water sloshed out, and Nova couldn’t see the floor, but for the most part she could see what was going on.
The first thing that happened was a soldier ghost marched into view and leaned up against the wall. A smaller and dirtier man with black hair in long spikes came into the scene. He also wore a tunic made out of spider web? Nova wasn’t sure. He used sign language for laser beam and pretended to pull his eye out in a straight line toward the white-haired man. Somehow, Nova knew this was the sign language symbol for a laser beam. The beam was red and filled with fractals changing inside.
The white-haired man managed to block the laser beam by making a two-dimensional box with his fingers in front of his own eyes- the mirror sign. The laser beam hit the mirror, also full of fractal
s and ricocheted off, almost hitting the small man, who rolled away just in time.
Nova couldn’t believe what she saw. What did it mean?
The short man made three wavy lines with his hands, and a giant “U” shaped magnet appeared in his hands. The mirror
the other man was holding was yanked out of his grasp, crashed into the magnet and shattered into a thousand pieces. Two large
spotted cats that must have belonged to the men were cut from the pieces. They huddled together and licked their wounds.
That seemed to really tick off the white-haired man, and he used a sign like liquid dripping from his hand. He threw it at the small man who yelped as it instantly burned the top of his head.
Go, white-haired man.
The small man ran behind a pipe organ stalagmite and did some sign language opposite to the last one-- creating a base to the acid spell. Meanwhile, the white-haired man pelted him with cylindrical gold weights. Then the short man created a catapult with a fisted hand and flinging arm sign. The catapult came with a handy set of rocks which the short man flung at the white--haired man’s head. One of them hit, Nova could see blood gushing out.
Nova had her hands over her face by then and was peeking out of her fingers. She glanced at her friends. They had stopped what they were doing and stared at her strangely.
In the mirror, the white-haired man created a springboard by jumping in place five times. He jumped and headed for the small man. The dark-haired man circled his hand creating a hurricane spell. Everything started to blow around the room. The small man grabbed onto a stalactite and held on. A chair hit the white--haired man’s head knocking him unconscious. His body swirled around the room. The small man called to the ghost something Nova couldn’t make out. The ghost flew after the white-haired man and pushed itself into his body, shoving all the man’s bones out through his hands and feet.
“Ewwww.” Nova squirmed and covered her eyes. Two seconds later, she looked into Max Kim’s mirror again. The small man had stopped the winds, grabbed the white-haired man’s body, tilted the basin back up, and both men peered inside. It startled her. Could they see her?
