by J. Naomi Ay
“Tell us when Todd’s secured the bridge, Gran,” Gwen yelled up the ladder, as she raced upward with the belts, and my necktie.
The ruckus kept on going for longer than it should, so I left Tim and went upstairs myself. I had trouble finding my way as the ship was completely dark. Several times I bumped into the walls and furniture. I stubbed my toe at least twice, and may have tripped over Shelly, who punched me in the gut thinking I was Tim.
Eventually, I found Todd who was holding two of Napu’s arms, while Gwen was trying to buckle the other to a chair.
“Please Master Jimmy,” Napu begged. “I am only doing what I’ve been commanded. If I don’t do as Master Rosso orders, I will probably die.”
“You’ve done enough already, buddy,” Todd growled, giving the Lumineran’s arms a sharp tug. “I might just kill you myself.”
“Ow! So sorry, Mr. Todd.”
“That’s enough!” I ordered. “Todd, you get on the bridge. Shelly, yell to Tim to turn back on the power. Gwen, let me help you tie him up.”
Grabbing Napu’s arms from Todd, I shoved the Luminerian down on the floor so I could sit on him, and use my weight to keep him flat. Gwen gave up on the chair, but instead belted two of Napu’s legs together. The third one in the back, she wasn't quite sure what to do with.
Of course, in the dark, this was all the more difficult. I felt around for the guy's arms after punching a few times in what I thought was his face. Then, using my necktie, Tim’s bathrobe belt and Gwen’s patent leather rope belt I tried to tie him up. I would have used the roll of paper towels for something but I couldn't think of what.
"Okay," I breathed. "You gonna stay put, Napu?"
"Yes, Master Jimmy, although I will probably die."
"Listen dude," I said as I climbed off the Luminerian. "You're a good guy and we all like you. You stick with us, and we'll protect you from your evil Lord Rosso. As far as I'm concerned, the dude, and his book are a shit load of crap."
"Yes, Master Jimmy," he whimpered. "But, probably, I'm going to die."
"Jim, bro?" Todd called from the bridge. "We need to get the engines turned on again. Otherwise, we're going to drift out here for a few hours, and then, probably, we're all going to die."
"Tim? Admiral?" I yelled, trying to feel my way back to the ladder.
"Tim?" Shelly called. "Tim, you old fart, turn on the lights!"
"Grandpa?"
Gwen followed, bumping into me in the passage.
"Quit your yakking, crew," the Admiral replied gruffly, obviously no longer down below. "Sound the red alert, Spaceman. We've got to inform Spaceforce we're in distress."
"Uh, I can't, sir," I replied. "Can we go back down and turn on that box?"
"What box?" I could hear Tim's feet shuffling down the hall toward his cabin. "I need some shut-eye before my meeting on the spacebase in the morning. Alert my second in command that I'll be indisposed until oh-six-hundred. Is this my room? I don't want to walk in on that old bat again."
"Who is calling who an old bat, you old fart?" Shelly screeched.
"Come on, Jimmy," Gwen urged, lighting the ladder with her phone. "We've got to go down and find the box. It was on the forward end, second shelf, somewhere near the middle."
"Are you sure you'll know which one?"
"No, but I'm hoping I'll recognize it when we get down there."
Suffice it to say, she didn't. We flipped every breaker on every box in the middle, and pressed the buttons on a bunch lining the side. It started to get cold, and that burning smell got a little intense.
"Probably, we're all going to die," I muttered.
"No, we're not," Gwen cried, now frantically attacking every box. "Why you couldn't have bought a better plane, or at least had this one inspected, I'll never know. It's because you're cheap, and you've always been, that’s why we're in this predicament now!"
"What are you, my wife?" I demanded. "You have plenty of money. You could have bought your own plane."
"I paid for resurfacing the pool, and enlarging the spa, in case you've forgotten."
"Yeah? Well, I paid for the golf course."
"Which I don't use!"
"Kids!" Shelly snapped, slowly climbing down the ladder. "Everyone can hear your shouting all the way back to Rehnor."
"What are we going to do, Gran?" Gwen cried.
"Hell if I know," Shelly said. "Go back upstairs and pray."
Chapter 14
Zak
I stayed out in the woods, alone in the cave for three days. By the time, my Gramps found me, I was so sick, my throat felt like it had swollen closed. I would have been starving too, if I wasn’t so weak that I couldn’t eat anyway.
“How’d you find me, Gramps?” I asked, although I don’t think I spoke all that loud.
“I know these woods like the back of my hand,” he replied. “Actually better. With all these wrinkles, I don’t recognize my hand anymore.”
He was feeding me some broth, and some soda pop through a straw while Mom and Dad were with Etan at the hospital.
“Any news?” I had been afraid to ask about my brother. I guess, it was good that he still wasn’t dead.
“Yes,” Gramps said, getting up to go look out the window. “They’re taking him to a special hospital in New Jersey.”
“New Jersey,” I repeated, more to myself than him. New Jersey was like going to a foreign planet except not as cool. "How come?"
“They have better doctors there, I suppose. They think they’ll be able to help him in some way the doctors here can't. His brain’s damaged, but he’s young so they can retrain it to work again.”
This time, I didn’t respond because I didn’t know what to say, and I was tired anyway. I pretended to go back to sleep. Of course, in the middle of the night, I was wide awake staring at the stars when Arsan showed up in my room again.
“You didn’t listen to me, Zak!” He snapped angrily, even though I had no clue what I had done. “You messed it up! I told you not to leave, but you did.”
“I couldn't stay in the cave, Arsan. I got sick and could have died!”
I started to cry, which was really lame considering I was fourteen. Somehow, around Arsan, I turned into a baby. Fortunately, none of my other friends or Etan was there to witness it.
“Some things are more important than just you."
With that, Arsan vanished in the air. He did that so quickly, and so silently, I wondered if maybe, I had never even seen him to begin with.
The next week, when I was better, Gramps and I flew to New Jersey to be with everyone else. We lived in a hotel room across from the hospital. It was boring most of the time. All I had to do was sit in Etan’s room, and watch him sleep, or watch the long parade of doctors, who came in, tapped Etan’s reflexes, and then went out after telling us nothing.
One day, I was really bored, and hungry even though it was too early for lunch. Mom and Dad were meeting with some doctors, and Gramps was in a chair sound asleep. Having nothing better to do than continue to sit, I got up and walked around the Neurological Wing. I said hi to all the nurses because by then, everybody knew my name. Then, I went downstairs to the gift shop where I bought some candy.
Instead of returning to Etan’s room, I sat in the hospital lobby, sucking on my Gummy Bears, one by one. The gift shop had the absolute best Gummy Bears around. They were big too, like mega Gummy Bears. As soon as Etan woke up, I was going to make sure that he tried them.
The lobby was really crowded that day. The only seat open was next to this old lady with a cast on her leg. She was sitting there knitting something red, and the yarn was scattered all over the floor. Her hands were moving really quickly as she slapped the needles together.
“Hey, kid,” the lady said. “What are ya doing in this part of town?”
“Nothing?” I mumbled, my mouth full of gummy, my eyes practically hypnotized by the movement of her needles.
“You’re asking me if you’re doing nothing, or you’re te
lling me? How abouts you share one of those with an old lady?”
“Sorry.” I held up the empty bag. I had eaten all of them while listening to the needles click.
“S’alright, kid,” she said. “They're probably too sweet for me anyway. We'll just say that next time you owe me."
We sat there for a while not speaking while people came and went around us. Eventually, her knitting grew so long, it hung on the floor.
“I’m making a scarf for all of my nurses. I make one a day. This one is for Charles, who works the weekends. You want a scarf, junior?”
“No thanks.” What I didn’t say was I’d rather die than wear one of those things.
“I’ve been here four weeks,” she continued. “First, I spent a week, and then I checked out too early. I had to come back and have my surgery all over again. They’re keeping me for a long time this time around, just to make sure I don’t mess up again. How long you been here, kid? Who’s sick?”
“Two weeks,” I replied, but didn’t tell her any more. As nice as she was, she was still a stranger and it was none of her business.
“What, this a vacation for you? If it were me, I’d take you on holiday to someplace else. When I was little, my parents took me on a trip to Mars. After that, I decided I wanted to live on another planet.”
“That’s cool.”
Living on another planet sounded totally awesome. I imagined myself getting on a spaceplane and flying far away, maybe never coming back. I'd call home. I'd send emails and stuff too, but maybe, I never ever set foot on Earth again.
“Your parent’s never take you to vacation on the Moon or Mars?”
“Nope.”
The only vacation I remembered was few years ago at Disneyworld. We were there for five days and Etan was sick the entire time. He must have eaten something bad, or maybe, came down with the flu, because he spent the whole time in the hotel room either barfing or sleeping. Mom and Dad took turns sitting with him while the other one took me on the rides. Etan was insanely jealous, so Mom and Dad promised we’d go again.
I guess we wouldn’t now. How could Etan enjoy all that stuff? He’d be like one of those other kids having their “Make-A-Wish” wish, rolling around in his wheelchair, and smiling like this was so great.
In the meantime, everybody would stand back, and try not to stare while the Disney people let us cut in line. They’d whisper things like, ‘Poor kid. He’s practically a vegetable,’ as if the wheelchair had turned Etan into a squash.
I decided that if the doctors here in New Jersey couldn't fix Etan, I'd have to learn how to do it myself. I'd have to go to Medical School even though I hated studying. I do it for him, and when he was better, I’d take him Disneyworld. I’d go on all of the rides with him, everyone last one, even if it took ten days. We could even do doubles on the ones he especially liked. We would eat lots of French fries, and chocolate covered frozen bananas. After that, if he wanted to go visit Mars or the Moon, like this lady said, I’d take him. I’d be that kind of brother.
“Well, that’s too bad,” the lady said, sitting back in her seat. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a package of gum. “Juicy Fruit? I bought this pack because it was my husband’s favorite kind.”
“Thanks.”
“He’s dead now,” she continued while I took a stick. “I still chew it because it reminds me of him.”
I nodded. "My gramps likes Juicy Fruit too."
“So, kid,” she started again.
“Zak,” I interrupted.
“So, Zak,” she repeated and putting down her knitting, she held out her hand. “Janet. I’m from Tinton Falls, but before that I lived on Darius II. Even before that, I lived on Rozari. You ever heard of that place, maybe in school?”
I shook my head. I wasn’t very good in social studies. I wasn’t good in English, or history either. The only subject I really liked was math.
“And, you’re from?” Janet prompted, picking up her knitting again. She changed the color ball so now she was knitting blue.
“I’m from Loveland,” I said. “Loveland, Ohio, although our house is really on the outskirts of town.”
“Nice,” she replied. “Loveland is lovely, I’m sure. You want to tell me how it is you ended up here?”
Again, I didn’t respond. It really was none of her business, but on the other hand, I felt like I needed to tell someone badly.
“Your parents know you’re here?”
I shook my head. “They’re too busy with my little brother. They don’t care about me. I need to stay out of their way.”
“Mhm. Your brother’s the sick one?”
This time I looked away. “Yeah. He was my best friend.”
“Was,” Janet nodded. “If he’s upstairs, he still is. Let’s not bury him while he still has a chance.”
I didn’t want to talk anymore after that, but I really didn’t have anywhere else to go. Leaning back in my chair, I pulled out my iDevice and tried to listen to my favorite tunes. It was hard because Etan had liked them also. In fact, as I sat there feeling hungry, the songs playing in my ears, I realized, I was homesick for my house, and my family. Probably, although I tried not to, I think I began to cry.
“Hey-hey-hey,” Janet said, wrapping her arm around my neck. “It’s okay, junior. I’m right here with you.”
“I don’t know you,” I mumbled, my nose filling up with snot. “What good are you? You’re just an old lady stuck in a hospital.”
“Maybe, I’m here because of you. Maybe our destinies were meant to collide, or something like that?"
“What?”
“How do you know what I’m good for if you don’t know me? Maybe, I’m really someone important. Maybe, I’m the Empress of Rehnor, and I’m here to make sure your wish comes true.”
“That’s bogus,” I scoffed. “You don’t look like any kind of Empress. You just look like some washed-up old lady from New Jersey.”
“Yeah, well, thanks a lot, kid. For your information, you look like some messed-up middle schooler from the Midwest. Let me tell you, I know the real Empress, and she don’t look so hot these days either.”
“I bet you’re lying.” I leaned over and tried to study her pupils really closely. My friend Tom always said you can tell it’s a lie if someone’s pupil grows.
“I’m telling you the God’s Honest Truth,” Janet replied, her hands and sticks clicking again. Her pupils were already too large for me to tell.
At that point, I decided I needed to walk around. I had to go use the bathroom.
“See ya later,” I told her.
“I’ll be right here when you get back,” she called, now switching her yarn ball for a yellow one.
I walked around. I used the can. I bought more Gummy Bears, and soda pop. I rode the elevator up and down, and side to side. I checked in Etan’s room but no one was there. He was out having his brain measured or dissected. Mom and Dad were sleeping in the lounge, and Gramps was at the hotel, so with nowhere better to go, I went back to the lobby.
“You still here, kid?” Janet asked, snorting awake in that same chair.
“Where else would I be?” I replied. “Hey, you dropped your yarn ball.”
I picked it up. It was now a purple one, and Nurse Charlie's scarf was getting pretty long. It was also really colorful, although to me it looked really ugly. I hoped for his sake that Charlie was color blind.
“So, I was thinking,” Janet said as if we deep in a conversation. “I decided, I’m going to grant you a wish. Maybe I’m not the Empress. Maybe, I’m really your fairy godmother. What do you think of that?”
“Yeah, right,” I scoffed until she punched me in the ribs. Actually, she just nudged until I laughed, sort of.
“So what do you want, Zak? Go ahead and wish, just one wish for anything. You don’t know it, but I’ve got magic powers to make it come true.”
“I want dinner,” I said because I really did. There’s only so many Gummy Bears a kid can eat.
> Janet looked surprised, and then, she glanced around the lobby. “Yeah, I want something for dinner too. The service in this restaurant is really awful. I haven’t seen a waiter the whole time we’ve been here. But, I’m not going to let you waste your one wish on that. Come on, pal. Think of another one. Think really hard. What is it you really want?”
I didn’t answer right away, even though I knew what I wanted. Instead, I looked out the lobby doors into the street. I bit my lip to stop from crying because I was crying way too much these days, and it was about time I sucked it up and acted like a man.
“I want my family back,” I sniffed, refusing to look at Janet, “I want my mom and dad to notice me again. I want my brother to be annoying, and wreck all of my best stuff, and steal the French fries from my plate when I’m not looking. I want my Gramps to be happy again so he'll bring me presents and take me fishing. I just want to be a normal family, not one where someone is sick. I want us to laugh and yell at each other, not be afraid to speak or even breathe, because if we do, Etan might die when we’re not looking.”
Janet didn’t say anything while I cried. She just kept knitting, her needles clicking in time with my sniffs.
“Do you think you can grant that wish?” I demanded, getting angry at her, and myself for saying these things, for believing these things, and wishing they weren’t true. “That’s what I wish. So much for your stupid magic.”
Janet nodded, and then, handed me hankie from her purse.
“Blow your nose, kid. I hate to see snot running out. Ya think because I worked in a hospital for forty years, I’d have gotten used to gross stuff like that. Dirty nose brats still make me gag.”
I took her handkerchief and blew my nose. Then, I tried to hand it back because it was hers.
“It’s yours now until you wash it. The last thing I want is a cloth full of mucous and germs. Now about that wish of yours. You know what? I think, I can help you.”
Chapter 15
Tuman
“Lehot has a speeder,” I said, while opening a bottle of the sacramental wine.
