The Wayward Gifted - Broken Point (18 page)

“I don’t know.”

Sam folded her arms, “Keep talking.”

“Yes, keep talking,” Steuart nodded.

“It’s not an exact science.”

“What?” Sam asked.

“If you don’t remember anything else
that I tell you, remember that this is not an exact science. It’s one of the
rules.”

“What rules?” Steuart asked.

“The rules of comedy.”

“Now I’m really confused.”

“The rules of comedy. They apply to everything
we do. One, know your audience; two, timing is everything; three, it’s not an
exact science.”

“Are you serious?” Sam asked.

“Very serious,” Ed nodded. “Always
remember the rules.”

“Why are you here?” Sam asked. “Are you
looking for something? Are you here to take something back to your planet?”

“Right,” Ed smirked. He looked at
Trista, “She’s cute.” He looked back at Sam and shook his head, “No. We’re not
here to deplete your resources.”

“Then why are you here?”

“If you had the means, would you travel
to other places?”

“Yeah,” Steuart nodded. “Definitely.”

“There’s your answer,” Ed reached for
more chocolate. “I never tire of this stuff.” He tried to give a piece to
Trista.

“I don’t really like sweets.”

“Scary,” Ed said.

“How does it work?” Steuart asked. “Tell
me how you travel.”

“It’s complicated. I’ll give you the
simple part for now.”

Sam and Steuart nodded and listened.

“I’m here at this moment, but I have a
doll back home. My doll acts as a place holder when I’m here.”

“What?”

“Just listen for a bit. When I go home,
my doll and I switch places.”

“How do you do that?”

“It’s sort of like going to an airport
or a bus station. We travel from portal to portal.”

“How does that happen?”

“The doll acts as my placeholder.”

“I don’t understand,” Sam said.

“Don’t worry. It takes a while to put
it all together. It’s a straightforward travel situation—most of the
time.”

“Most of the time?”

“Yeah,” Ed took a deep breath. He
scratched his head. “Portal to portal. That’s the way it generally goes. Easy,
simple, and you’re there.”

“That’s it?” Steuart asked.

Ed took a deep breath, “Most of the
time. However, there are occasionally odd situations. For instance, my doll and
I can end up in the same place and sometimes if that happens, the only way that
I can travel is to make certain that the doll is with me, in my possession, at
the time of transport. When we do that, only one of us will actually travel. The
tricky part about that is not knowing which one of us is going to transport and
which will stay behind. It’s not a big deal in most situations, but if you can
avoid it, it’s best to make sure that you and your doll are at opposite
sites.
 
It can be messy if I’m in a
hurry.”

“Huh?”

“He’s right,” Trista said.

Ed looked at Trista, “Things usually go
smoothly. I’m here now, but my doll is somewhere else. When I decide to travel
I go to a transport station and we switch.”

“Is it dangerous?” Sam asked.

“I wouldn’t say it’s dangerous, but it’s
not without risks.”

“Such as?” Steuart asked.

“Such as what happens if a doll becomes
lost or damaged.”

Trista grimaced.

“Yikes,” Sam took a deep breath.

“It’s okay,” Ed reached for more
chocolate. “I’m giving you worst case scenarios first. We’re talking about
things that almost never happen. I’ve only known of a few people who’ve had a
bad experience and every one of them eventually made it home.”

Sam and Steuart stared at Ed.

“I’ve never lost a traveler.”

“This sounds silly to me. Can you prove
any of this?” Sam asked. “Can everyone travel?”

“Sometimes I can prove it, but not
always.” Ed shook his head. “No, everyone does not have a doll. Only a
percentage of the populations travel.”

“I want to do it!” Steuart said.

“No,” Sam snapped.

“Why not?”

Sam looked at Ed, “What do you mean by
populations?”

“You’re getting ahead of me. Let’s take
one thing at a time.”

Sam thought for a moment, “I might try
it, but I’d have to know a lot more before I did anything.”

“Okay. We can tell you a little more.”
Ed took a deep breath and became serious. “But, before we can go any further we
need to talk business. Let’s talk about our needs. You’re going to have to do
something for us.”

“Needs?” Trista questioned Ed.

“Shh!”

Steuart looked at Sam, “Needs?”

“My brother and I are just kids. I
don’t know how we can help you.”

“We have needs,” Ed insisted.

“Ed, did you hear Sam? We’re kids. Older
people call us children. We’re
future
adults.”

“So?”

“That means our resources are limited.”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard. I heard you. You
don’t need a lot of money. You need a brain.” Ed nodded, “We need cigar boxes.”

“What?” Steuart asked.

“Cigar boxes.”

“Our mother doesn’t smoke. What do you
need cigar boxes for?”

“That doesn’t matter. You need to find
them. We need two—one for Trista and one for
moi
.”

“Trista gave Ed a puzzled glance.
“Cigar boxes?”

“Shh,” Ed looked at Trista before
turning to Sam and Steuart. “Some things are personal. We need older boxes. I
can’t deal with the smell of cigars. The brand doesn’t matter.” Ed scratched
his head and frowned. “Is this going to be a problem for you?” He looked from
Steuart to Sam and then again at Steuart, “We can always talk with someone
else.”

“It’s going to be a challenge,” Sam
said.

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Steuart
repeated. “I don’t know if we can find cigar boxes. I don’t think I’ve ever
even seen one.”

Ed let out a sigh and stood to leave.
“I see. The two of you want me to teach you about the magnificent wonders of
travel from one universe to another, but you’re going to whine like little
babies about the difficulties of locating something as small and insignificant
as a cigar box?” Ed paced the floor. He shrugged his shoulders, “If you can’t
find a cigar box, I’m going to have to question whether or not you have the
right personality for this kind of adventure. Maybe this is a—mistake.”

“No,” Sam insisted.

“I think it’s time for you to take us
back to Dr. Klesel.” Ed looked at Trista, “It’s time to stop wasting their
time—and ours. Obviously the good doctor made a mistake. We weren’t
intended to visit with these two. Let’s go now. I’ll call a cat.” Ed snapped
his fingers and began calling, “Here kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty.”

Steuart turned to his sister, “Do you
think we can locate the boxes?”

“We can try.”

Steuart turned to Ed, “Okay, we’ll get
your boxes.”

“Are you sure? Because it’s okay if you
can’t do this—we can all shake hands and say good-bye now—no hard
feelings.”

“We’ll find them,” Sam said,
“sure-as-Matt.”

“Is that code for something?”

Steuart smiled and nodded, “It’s a
family thing. Don’t worry, we’ll get your boxes.”

“Good—tomorrow?”

Steuart nodded, “Tomorrow.”

Ed clapped his hands together, “That’s
great. Well then, that’s it for today.”

“It?” Sam asked.

“There’s no reason for us to continue
until you have the boxes.”

Trista stood and walked towards Ed. “Aren’t
you are being a little tough on the kids?”

“Who’s in charge here?” Ed snapped.

Trista bit her lip and threw her hands
into the air. “Sorry kids. This is new to me too.” She shook her head and sat
down.

“Don’t worry Trista. It’s okay,” Sam insisted.
“We like a challenge. We’ll get them tomorrow.”

“So,” Steuart looked at Ed, “Where are
you from?”

Ed shook his head, and put his hands in
his pockets, “Sorry pal, boxes first, answers second. I think it’s time for us
to call it a day.”

ELEVEN

The
following morning, with Trista in Sam’s backpack and Ed inside of Steuart’s,
the children set out on their bikes for an appointment with Dr. Klesel.
Once at the doctor’s office, Sam and
Steuart sat on the floor and leaned back against the sofa. They removed the
dolls from their backpacks and placed them on the couch as they watched for the
doctor’s reaction.

“Well, what do you think of the dolls?”
Dr. Klesel asked.

“Magic,” Sam said.

“Yes, authentic magic.” Steuart agreed.

“What does that mean?”

“It means they’re a lot of fun,” Steuart
said.

Sam nodded, “We like them.”

“A great deal,” Steuart said.

“Yes, we do,” Sam smiled. “A great
deal.”

Dr. Klesel sat quietly and wrote on his
clipboard before looking up. “What do you like about them?”

“We like everything,” Sam said.

“Exactly,” Steuart agreed. “Everything.”

The three sat quietly for a few
minutes. Sam reached over and held Trista in her hands. “Trista’s a good
friend.” Sam looked at Dr. Klesel and asked, “Is there anything you’d like to
tell us about the dolls?”

“What would you like to know?”

“Maybe you should tell us,” Sam said.

Sam and Steuart watched the doctor
closely. He gave no indication of understanding the question.

* * *

Leaving Dr. Klesel’s office, Sam and
Steuart were two children on a mission. With everyone in place, the team hopped
on their bikes and started peddling as they began the trek towards downtown.

Heavily bundled, wearing down winter
coats, matching wool hats and bicycle helmets, Sam and Steuart stayed warm in
the below freezing temperature. Their boots were bright, shiny and new. Sam’s
were fire engine red while Steuart’s were a dark glossy black. Their hats,
gloves and scarves were colorful and thick, all perfectly hand-made by their
mother.

A cloudless sky allowed the sun to
reflect harshly against the day’s fresh accumulation of snow. With Steuart
leading the way, he and Sam biked onto the bridge and noticed the river, now mostly
covered by winter. Across the river, three huge snowmen stood happily, each one
wearing a black top hat and scarf. This was a day most children wished for,
especially two little southerners experiencing their first winter in cold
temperatures. Neither Sam nor Steuart realized how bitter cold the winter day
actually was.

They continued biking along the path
and through the Preserve before turning to move onwards towards the hospital.
They followed the western circle onto the hospital grounds, peddled up the hill
and around the sharp curve by The Women’s and Children’s Center where
construction continued night and day on a new building.

Not far from the Emergency Room
entrance, but far enough to be officially off hospital property, a group of
smokers huddled together under a bus stop shelter. One member of the group
stood as if at a cocktail party, holding an IV pole in one hand and a cigarette
in the other. The patient’s hospital gown hung inches below a bright plaid car
coat. Large white bandages covered most of her head. An emergency helicopter,
just yards away, hovered low as it prepared to land.

The children rode alongside the dental school,
next to the student art gallery, through the dormitory quadrangle, and beside
the engineering school before crossing in front of the North Union building and
finding themselves in downtown Maybell on day two of the annual ice festival. A
large banner hanging across Main Street proclaimed:
Maybell Winter Ice Festival—35 Years—Coolest in Town.

The children raced to see who would
make it to their destination first, stopping only once for a small group of
protesters. Signs carried by the group implied they were upset because of a
recent campus policy regarding red meat and a drum group. Once the protesters
crossed Main Street, Steuart noticed Sam’s attention still focused on the crowd.
He surprised his sister by taking off quickly and increasing his lead. Sam
tried to catch up, and at one point, was close enough to see Ed climbing out
from Steuart’s backpack. Ed stood on Steuart’s shoulder and began waving to Sam
and Trista. His long red and black scarf trailed in the air.