The Hidden Worlds

by Sandra Ingerman

  His mother had purchased brown furry material to make the bear suit. He had glued some fur onto one of his baseball caps to form ears and a head and then found a bear nose to wear. He felt very close to Grizzly dressed like this.

  “Wow, Griz!” an octopus said to him in a voice that sounded like a muffled George. “You look great!”

  “So do you!” George had a full octopus outfit that came down over his whole body. Only his legs from the knees down showed. “Where did you find that costume?”

  “It was online at a marine biology site,” he said. “It’s cool, but I’m really hot in here.” There was a muffled laugh. “Is Magda a black panther?”

  Isaiah looked around the room and found her. “Yes, she looks great too. She’s over there.” He had to help George turn because his rubbery legs kept catching on the desks.

  “Where’s Rose?” he asked.

  “I don’t see any giraffes,” Isaiah said, and then his breath caught. Across the room there was a barrel with a skull and crossbones painted on it. Sticking out of the top of the barrel was lime green hair. Rose! What was she doing? “Oh no,” he said to George, turning him toward the barrel of toxins.

  “Oh boy… I hope this doesn’t come back to hurt us later.”

  Rose saw the boys looking at her. She signaled with her index finger for them to wait. She turned around. There was a large white sign hanging off of the back of her barrel. In big letters she had painted: Do Something NOW!

  She worked her way over to the boys. “It’s my statement,” she said. Isaiah understood her impatience and how Rose needed to be in-your-face. “Hey! My mom said I can keep the boy puppy. Can we come get him tonight at 5:30?”

  “So China’s mine?” The barrel of toxins tried to hug the bear. “Yes. Oh yes!”

  Before they could explain to George, their math teacher (dressed as Merlin the Magician) called the class together. “Your costumes are wonderful.” Everyone clapped. But we’re still having classes. The Halloween dance isn’t until seventh and eighth periods.” Everyone groaned.

  Seventh period, Isaiah-Grizzly was bobbing for apples when some rubber octopus legs hit across the back of his knees. Lifting his head, he saw that someone had pushed George. It was one of the mean kids, and it had been on purpose. Isaiah rose, a deep growl rising in his chest. He moved to defend his friend.

  “Since when do they make costumes for fat people?” The mean kid was sneering. “And who invited a retard to this party anyway?” He pushed George again, moving him very close to the tank full of water and bouncing apples. “No one wants you here. Go away!” He gave a shove that would have definitely put George into the water except for Rose, who pushed Isaiah out of the way, and caught him. Isaiah didn’t see where she had come from.

  “Hey!” she said stepping between them. “Look at the toxic waste that slithered out of my barrel.” She was right in the mean kid’s face, her hands going for his neck.

  George stepped between Rose and the mean kid. In a muffled voice he said, “Rose, thank you. Let’s plant some kindness seeds in his garden.” He stepped closer to the mean kid and said, “I know you really are a good person inside.”

  The mean kid stared at George-Octopus. He looked at Rose. He looked at Isaiah. He looked back at George who added, “I know you really can do better.”

  The mean kid shook his head like the words were mosquitoes surrounding him, biting into his flesh. He scratched his ears. The crowd was growing around them. “Whatever,” he finally said as he gave George one final push. Isaiah thought it was more for effect than anything because George’s rubber legs didn’t even jiggle.

  George whispered, “Thank you!” to both of them as he went in the opposite direction of the mean kid.

  Before Rose moved, she said, “Wow. He had that all by himself.”

  Later Isaiah congratulated George on how he handled things with the mean kid.

  George said, “I’m still shaking, but I learned I’m brave enough to stand up for myself. That’s very cool.”

  After the games were done and cupcakes and cider had been served, they were moved into the cafeteria. Orange and black lights flashed in time with the loud music. Isaiah stood against the wall watching the dancers. He thought, if there ever existed a more perfect dance partner for a barrel of toxic wastes, it’s an octopus with rubber legs. Rose’s signs were swaying and George’s many legs were bouncing up and down. The look on Rose’s face was so tender. He wondered if George could see it through his mask.

  “Would Griz do Panther the honor?” he heard Magda say beside him.

  Magda the Popular wanted to dance with him he thought as Griz gave her his arm and led her onto the floor with a flourish. A flourish only a very confident bear could have. At once he was grateful to his mother for making him dance with her at weddings. He knew what to do and as Griz, he was quite graceful.

  The song ended, and Magda made no moves to leave. “Let’s keep dancing,” she said.

  He bowed.

  The next song was slow. He looked at her to see if she still wanted to dance with him. She came toward him, and he embraced her in a bear hug. As the panther and the bear moved to the music in the flashing Halloween light, Isaiah realized that he never wanted this song to end.

  When the party ended, Magda said, “We’re both leaders so it just makes sense. See you tomorrow.” And she was gone, her soccer bag flying behind her with her tail.

  This left Isaiah with a lot to think about beginning with the fact that she saw him as a leader and ending with the dread that she might start calling him, unleashing his mother’s Klick. Klack. Accurate. Medical. Talk. About. Sex. The dog had distracted her from Rose’s phone call, but if Magda started calling… oh boy… But tonight Bear the Pup was his. He filled up with happiness about that instead.

  “Okay, time for you two to go to bed,” his mother said that night at 9:30. She didn’t believe in trick or treating past elementary school, so he and Bear had kept busy all night handing out Halloween candy. Bear hadn’t minded the ghosts and witches and robots and Grim Reaper’s who had wanted to pet him. He loved his new house and had sniffed everywhere at least twice. He was really smart too and knew just what to do when Isaiah put him outside in the snow. They laid newspapers in the kitchen though, just in case.

  “Bed,” he said to Bear, patting his mattress, but the pup was still too small to jump up.

  His mom scooped him up and tucked him in under Isaiah’s arm. “My two sweet boys,” she said. She kissed each of them good night and turned off the lamp.

  “Mom,” Isaiah said, “thanks again. I will take good care of Bear.”

  “I know you will,” she said as she closed his door.

  “I promised your mom the same thing,” he said to Bear, his voice catching as he remembered her frozen body on top of her pups. Bear gave a little whimper as he snuggled closer to Isaiah.

  Chapter 26

  Volcano

  Magda hadn’t called on Halloween night, but she did hand him a note at his locker first thing the next morning. “Since you don’t text,” she said before disappearing panther-like.

  The note read: Rose is such a hypocrite. She makes this huge deal about not getting busted for you-know-what, and then she shows up in that costume. I can’t believe her!

  November first. Already. Isaiah wondered if time was going fast because he had friends this year or if this was the part about growing up where adults always said, “It will be over before you know it.” He pondered what he would write back to Magda, not really sure what to say.

  After first period, she asked, “Did you write me?”

  “Not yet,” he said.

  And so it went after second period. He had no note to hand her because he still didn’t know what to say.

  In language arts, they got their grades for the PowerPoint—an A. The teacher had written, “Excellent demonstration of cause and effect.”

  “We’re masters of that for sure,” Rose commented which gave Isaiah
what he needed. At the end of class, he handed Magda a note, “It’s all about cause and effect. Wait and see what happens next.”

  “You’re very deep,” she said. And then she was gone. And he had more to ponder.

  Coming out of the library after lunch, Isaiah saw a crowd gathered in front of the girls’ bathroom. Magda and Rose were in the middle. Magda’s face was red, and she had a hold on Rose’s arm.

  Rose, whose hair was lemon yellow today, looked at Magda and said, “Remember Volcano. Either destroy or change. I’m choosing change.”

  Magda let out a loud “Urg!” and then she stomped off.

  “Volcano?” Isaiah heard one kid say. “They were fighting over a volcano? Weird.”

  Isaiah was amazed by the change in Rose. She was so calm. He tried to catch her eye, but she just pushed past everyone on her way to class. Her face was closed like it had been after she talked about the Chinese orphanage.

  He tried to find Magda, but she had disappeared. He wrote his second note to her, “What happened? Are you okay?” He dropped it through the slits in her locker.

  Chapter 27

  The Leak

  That night George called Isaiah. This time his mother nodded and left the room saying, “I’m glad you have a little friend.”

  Seriously? he thought. “Hey, what’s up?” he asked George. “Have you talked to Rose?”

  “Yeah, I went over to see her and China after school because (drum roll) I’m officially off grounding. Anyway, she’s okay. Just hurt that Magda called her a hypocrite. And proud of herself for not punching Magda. Personally I’m more proud of her for not strangling the mean kid at the party.” They laughed.

  In a hushed voice, George continued. “I think we’re all tired of waiting for the state to respond. I get why Rose wore the barrel for Halloween. I get her frustration. It’s taking forever. So I kind of leaked the story to my sister.”

  “What?” Isaiah shouted. His mother came around the corner with a look of concern on her face. So she hadn’t gone far.

  “I told her that I heard a rumor about toxic waste at the warehouse. She has to keep where she heard the rumor a secret. Protect her sources is what she called it. So she’ll tell her friends who work at the radio station, and they’ll follow up on it.”

  Isaiah let his breath out. He hadn’t realized he was holding it in. He gave his mother a ‘go away’ look. She let out a sigh and returned to the living room. He picked up Bear who was playing tug with the bottom of Isaiah’s jeans.

  “So anyway, she’s going to have her friends do some journalistic research. Make some calls to be sure the agency is on it.”

  “Can they trace it back to you?” Isaiah asked, stepping into the kitchen and covering the mouthpiece with his hand. “After all, the whole science class knows you’re the one who found the pond water.”

  “No, her friends will be calling as representatives of the radio station. She’s going to suggest they do a follow-up piece on the new business and how it’s going. It’ll be okay,” George assured him.

  “Have you told Rose?” Isaiah asked.

  “No, I will tomorrow, but I don’t think I’ll be the one to tell Magda. I thought it was Rose who was so worried about being linked to this whole thing. Now it seems like it’s Magda.”

  “I’ll tell her,” Isaiah said, dreading that discussion already.

  “Okay,” George said and then he added, “Isaiah, you aren’t mad at me for doing this are you?”

  “No, it was on our list of possibilities. It’s going at it from several different angles kind of forcing them to act.” George sighed. Isaiah added, “It’s a stroke of genius really.”

  George sounded like he was smiling when he said thanks.

  “What was he thinking?” Magda stormed at Isaiah the next morning. “Things are getting out of control. This could hurt my chances at a soccer scholarship!”

  “That’s a few years off, Magda,” Isaiah said trying to calm her down, wondering why she couldn’t see that she was the one getting out of control. Now he understood more about why she was upset. Her successful soccer future. She had something big to lose. “No one remembers that Rose was toxic waste, and it’s George’s sisters’ friends. You haven’t been tied to any of it. And now maybe we’ll know something soon.”

  “Well, I’m not happy with any of you right now.” She stomped away.

  No calls. No notes. No secret glances. It was just like old times, and Isaiah didn’t like it one bit. And he didn’t know why she was mad at him. What had he done?

  Then on Friday, when they got to social sciences, the pen was lit. Magda seemed to be shaking as she took notes with it; the light bouncing with each dotted ‘i’ and crossed ‘t’.

  Isaiah’s heart raced, wondering what had happened. What had she seen?

  They gathered by Isaiah’s locker after class. Magda had just enough time to report, “There’s yellow caution tape all the way around the pond and big toxic contaminate signs everywhere along the warehouse fence. They have the whole area closed off. Something’s doin’.”

  Saturday morning, Isaiah was gaming while Bear ran at the sounds coming out of the TV. It was so funny to watch the pup trying to catch something he couldn’t see.

  The phone rang, and it was Magda. He caught it before his mother could. When she picked up the extension, he said, “I have it, mom.” He waited for the click before he continued. “Okay,” he said. “Hi.”

  “I apologize for the way I’ve been acting,” Magda started the conversation. “I’ve never had friends like all of you before. Usually I’m in charge of everything that happens in my group so there are no surprises. I’m definitely not big on surprises. You’re all so different from what I’m used to, and it was kind of freaking me out. Especially Rose. She scares me in a way. But I’ve been thinking about it, and I was miserable on Thursday. I was so happy I had something to report yesterday so you’d all speak to me again. I was a brat. Sorry.”

  “That’s okay,” Isaiah said, searching for words. “I understand.”

  “Good. I don’t want you to think I’m weird. I’m glad we don’t have to keep watch at lunch anymore. Maybe we can eat together sometimes.” She hung up.

  This puberty-girls stuff was more confusing than anything. He really didn’t understand.

  The warehouse follow-up story ran on the college radio station the following Tuesday, four weeks to the day the kids had reported it to the agency.

  Isaiah listened to the program before his mom got home from work that evening. He and Bear were sitting on the couch, and Isaiah was stroking the silky-smooth inside of the pup’s ears. His training book said to regularly touch the dog’s ears and paws to build trust.

  The radio station had been unable to get any comments from the agency other than they had received some tips and were following up on them, but the reporter noted that the warehouse appeared to have been abandoned and that there were barrels full of toxic waste in the back of it. She had alerted the local authorities.

  As he pulled one long ear through his fingers, he said, “You know, Bear, I feel really happy that the steps we’ve taken are getting some results. That’s called cause-effect, you know.” The pup sniffed at his fingers. “But I’m also kind of sad. It’s like we’ve all worked together on this secret project and now that it’s done, I feel sad.” Bear looked at him and then jumped up and licked his face.

  Chapter 28

  Invitation

  “We’re going to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Duncan family this year,” his mother said Thursday night at dinner. “Apparently you and Magda are friends, and she asked her mother to invite us.” His mother’s voice ended more like she was asking a question.

  Usually his mother made all of his favorite dishes for Thanksgiving: broccoli cheese casserole, her special angel salad with whipped cream, pumpkin pie, and of course, turkey and mashed potatoes. “Will you be bringing your angel salad and the broccoli casserole?” he asked, trying to hide his surp
rise and avoid any discussion about Magda.

  “Yes. Now tell me why I didn’t know about you and Magda.”

  “It’s no big deal, mom. We did a project together in language arts, and we became friends, I guess.”

  She stared at him a long time. Her teeth were quiet. No Klick. Klack. “Okay,” she said. “Bear is also invited to come along.”

  “Tell me one of your sorority stories,” he said. His mother and Marci, Magda’s mom, had been in the same sorority at the university. He knew they were old college friends, but he didn’t know they talked to each other anymore. Great.

  His mother launched a story he’d heard before about exchanging furniture in their sorority house, carrying heavy couches up and down stairs, to see if anyone noticed the change. Isaiah thought it was interesting she had picked a story about change. More cause and effect. The theme of seventh grade so far. Thanksgiving was two weeks from today. He’d better ask Grizzly for some advice.

  On Friday, all Magda had to say was, “I’m glad you’re coming over for Thanksgiving. It just makes sense.” Again, Isaiah wasn’t sure how.

  Every day he and Rose compared notes on China and Bear whenever they thought of something cute to share with each other. She always had pictures on her phone to show him too. He wished he had a camera so he could document Bear.

  Friday night he asked his mother if they had a camera around the house. She said, “An old Pentax that takes real film. I don’t know where you’d buy film. Sorry.”

  So he began doing sketches of Bear. Maybe it was the subject, but he loved to draw. He spent Saturday morning drawing Bear instead of gaming, and he made one big drawing of Griz. He pinned that next to his bed. Maybe this will help me remember my dreams again, he thought.