Destiny calls, p.2
Destiny Calls, page 2
With her back to me, I grabbed two ice-cold glasses of water and a pot of hot chocolate, put them on a tray, and quickly headed back to the nerean table.
Marie called out. “We’d like some juice!” She acted like royalty around me. So annoying.
Pa chewed the fat with the Randalls, blabbing about the new cabinet he'd just finished in the basement.
“Pa, could you please help out?” I tilted my head toward Marie.
“Okay. The boss is telling me to get to work.”
He chuckled as he went to the kitchen.
I gently set the hot chocolate and waters on the nerean table, keeping my eyes averted as I listened to their conversation. I translated their words inside my head; they spoke about bringing the air back to Thanos before the cosmic separation. I wondered what all that meant.
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Jud scooted the hot chocolate over to his side of the table. “We’re going to have lunch. We’ll have four baked squares with syrup and the soup.”
“Of course. Will you have anything sweet for dessert? We have a delicious moss pudding made just this morning.”
“Baro, gato,” he said to the two others.
The other two kept talking while looking at the document in front of them. It had odd shapes, lines connecting zigzags, and script around the edges.
Jud interrupted loudly. “Baro, gato. Elat.” His eyebrows dropped into a stern vee shape as he snapped his top fin.
They looked up at him.
“Gato? Elat?” he repeated. “Do you want dessert?”
One of the nereans quickly covered the paper when he caught me eyeing it over.
“Nan,” said the one with the black streak on his forehead.
Jud glanced up. “No. We will just have soup and squares.”
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I kept my eyes down as I wiped the next table.
I just had to hear what that paper was all about and why they were so focused on it. We need to find the daughter of wind. I tried to translate in my head, but it made no sense.
Pa passed by carrying a bucket of dirty dishes.
“Pa, can you bring this table a pot of soup and three small squares? I will set them up with silverware.” I did anything to avoid going back to the kitchen, where I knew that Ma lay waiting to tackle me and keep me hostage to finish the dishes.
All the while, I got them their bowls and silverware from the back of the room, acting as if I minded my own business. I struggled a bit with nerean, for it had been a while since I heard it.
Ms. Willowberry slid her hat back on top of her head, pulled down her bunched-up dress, and grabbed her large handbag. “I'm going to Mikula now. I have an important meeting with my good friend, the mayor.”
“Good to have you, Ms. Willowberry. See you tomorrow,” I said in a singsong voice.
My attention turned back to the nereans.
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“Naphtal, the one we seek is somewhere around here,” the nerean with the black streak said. “We must find her before it is too late. Our incantations must be done close to the location for the ghost to find her. Do you see? That is what the document says.”
“This has to be the location, Issachar,” said Jud. “There isn’t any other structure with these coordinates. The ghost had better act fast because the ship leaves soon.”
“I have double-checked. The document says that she has to be at the restaurant,” said the one with the black streak, who had to be Issachar.
“Maybe you should search the rooms,” said Jud.
“I can’t just go around the house searching.
We’ll just have to rely on the smoke to locate her,” Issachar replied.
“The one sitting down does not seem right.”
Naphtal glanced at Marie.
“This one who waits on our table is a bit off.
See how she cleans what’s already clean?”
“She’s gorgeous, though,” Jud replied.
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My heart pounded at the sound of the compliment, even though I didn’t like being called a bit off.
Pa walked up to the table as I wiped an old picture of a winged ape swinging from a tree.
“Here’s your lunch.” He set the tray on the nerean’s table. “Elise, you’d better get in the kitchen before your Ma blows her top.”
I scrambled back to the kitchen.
“And where have you been? I have been washing dishes that you were supposed to wash. Not to mention trying to keep an eye on all this food!”
“All I ever do is work and then work more. I’m getting tired of it,” I snapped back.
Ma stared at me. “When I was your age, I could cook all day, wash dishes, and bring in the grazing animals in the evening.”
I washed a cup. “I am not like you, am I?” I replied in a quiet voice.
“I heard that! You should be more like me; you would get into less trouble.”
I washed and stacked the clean dishes as Ma cleaned the stoves and wrapped up the leftover food. While the dishes dried, I wiped down the 21
counters. By the time I could grab a peek in the dining room, the nereans had left. As I went back to wiping off the counter, I thought about the ghost and if the girl they were looking for could be me.
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CHAPTER 2
In the middle of each month, Ma bought fresh vegetables, eggs, spices, and other things from farmers who would stop by our restaurant on their way to town. Sometimes they would try to swindle her, and she'd bust a gasket yelling at them. Those same cheaters didn't come by the restaurant for a long time after that happened, probably for fear she might put too much pepper in their soup. She never did, of course. Many of our customers walked, rode a horse, or rode in a carriage drawn by a flossbug. Those stuck in the old ways showed up on a hoverboard that rattled and clanked as it wobbled over the dirt road. We prided ourselves on serving the best breakfast in the region. Personally, I thought Ma’s soups were the best.
Our family’s living quarters sat next to the restaurant dining area. The living room had a cozy fireplace, a couch, three easy chairs, and a radiogram. I loved to sink into a thick and fluffy 23
chair after a long morning, waiting tables and cleaning dishes. The radiogram stood next to the fireplace so that we could hear our favorite tunes, dramas, and news. A long hallway led to each of our rooms and the four guest rooms. Pa chose the wood paneling for the walls, and his handmade furniture made from old gnarly logs and petrified wood added a rustic character to the room. The wood table in front of the couch looked like a sleeping animal lying on its side in the tall grass in the right light. Ma embroidered in the evening, read weird magazines, or listened to the radiogram with Pa. Her favorite magazines were Torrid Love Tales and Gosh Darn That’s Good! Go figure.
I kept thinking about the nereans as I took out a small chest of paints and brushes. Pa carved several small wooden horses for me—
they were my favorite animal. I always wanted a longhaired horse of my own. I loved Toqi, mind you, but I also enjoyed riding Millie’s horse, Morito. We’d ride Morito around the hills near our homes. I lay the drop cloth on my lap and picked out a small wooden horse to paint.
“You did an excellent job cleaning up the kitchen this afternoon, Elise,” Ma said. “It was just as clean as it can be.”
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“Yeah,
thanks.”
I
appreciated
her
compliments. I always tried to do my best. “You know, we had some weird customers.” I took out some brown paint.
Pa sat down across from me in the other easy chair and whittled on a pale wooden block.
“Oh? Who were they?” Ma turned a page of her magazine, paying only half attention.
“Didn't you hear? nerean sailors.”
Ma continued reading. “This far inland? How odd.”
“That's what I was saying.” I glared at her for not listening, but she didn't notice. “They talked about a young woman in our restaurant who needed to be on a boat. One said a ghost would find her. Another one of them even wanted to go check each room, because they didn’t think it was me.”
“Hmmm,” Ma said. “I wonder if they had the right place. Were there any other girls in the dining room or outside?”
“Only Marie. She came in with her dad. They said that this person they sought would have to be on the boat or something serious was going to happen.”
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Pa looked up from carving his block as Ma put her magazine down.
“A boat?” Pa asked.
“I swear, you both don’t listen,” I said.
“Sorry, dear,” said Ma. “Are you sure they said a boat?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Where to?” Pa gave a worried look to Ma.
“They mentioned Thanos.” I stared at both for a response, but I was getting increasingly nervous.
“Oh dear, that brings back memories.” Ma started wringing her hands.
“What memories?” Ma didn't say 'oh dear'
unless something was wrong. “What? Why are you saying that?”
“I think it might be time.” Pa's voice faltered.
“For the talk.”
“You mean that talk about Elise's you know what? ” Ma replied with her eyebrows high, giving the distinct impression that it would not be a pleasant conversation.
“Exactly,” said Pa.
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“Why are you guys speaking code suddenly?”
I blurted.
Pa stood up. “Just a minute, Elise. We’ve been waiting for this.”
Ma looked up at Pa, who had started pacing in front of us. “Do you want to get the book, or do you want me to?” she asked.
“If you think you’re going to tell me about how the teen body changes, forget about it. I learned all about that at school.”
“That’s good, Elise,” said Pa. “That’s not what we’re talking about. Doris, I just remembered that I have a cabinet door that I want you to see.” Pa winked at Ma.
“What? I don’t want to see—.”
Pa gave a gigantic wink at Ma.
“Oh. Okay.” Ma got up. “Elise, darling, you had better stay up here.”
Obviously, they had something to talk about.
I mean, nothing could be clearer with those winks. He didn't call my mother Doris unless he was serious about something.
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”
They started to head for the basement.
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“When we come back, we’ll tell you more,” Pa said.
The two of them went downstairs, where Pa did all his woodwork.
Frustrated, I got up and went through the kitchen to the back of the house. I hadn’t fed Toqi yet, and this seemed to be as good a time as any. Getting outside might help soothe my nerves. Rather than think of terrible things, I imagined something pleasant about my upcoming birthday.
I found my small brown and white goat drinking water from his trough. When he saw me, he trotted over. “There you are. How’s my boy?” I wanted to tell him that parents could be so weird and secretive. Instead, I climbed over the fence to hug him. It felt good to embrace his small, furry body. Toqi rubbed the side of his white furry face on my cheek.
Toqi had a black tuft of hair between his ears and a long black beard. His eyebrows were especially furry with thick curly fur. He had black eyes with golden pupils in the middle that widened when I came close. I reached down to scratch his round belly. His nose twitched whenever I hit an itchy spot. Right then, his entire belly seemed very itchy because his nose 28
twitched in all directions. I rubbed his face and between his ears and then headed back inside.
By the time I returned to our living room, my parents were there.
Pa pointed to my chair. “Elise, sit down. We need to talk to you.”
Ma went over to the bookcase, opened the glass, and took out a large, tattered book. “We bought this book when you were around two-years-old. It gives all the instructions to help a teen through, um, through—how shall I say it…
this time.”
I let out a sigh. “I wish you wouldn’t be so cryptic. I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said.
“It’s time to talk about your prophecy, Elise,”
Ma said as she held out a book entitled Teens and Prophecies: The Manual.
“Oh, that. ” I dropped back in my seat. I had dreaded this talk ever since I first heard about prophecies in 5th grade. I remember Mr. Butkus telling us that every young person will be presented with their future at some point in their teens. This is their unique prophecy. I had heard stories of prophecies that some teens did not like. Other prophecies worked out well, but 29
I wasn’t sure I was ready for my own. I hoped I would have to wait until I was 18 until I got mine.
Pa took off his hat, wiped his brow, and put it back on. His liquid brown eyes had a faraway dullness to them.
Ma sat down and opened the book. “Let’s begin with the list of things to talk about.” Her finger ran halfway down the page. “It says to tell the teen of the birth circumstances before going into the rest.”
I put away my paints, the wooden horses, and closed the chest. “Do we have to have this talk now?”
“We have to make sure. We think the nereans were talking about you,” Pa said.
Ma stroked her chin. She did that when she thought hard. “You should tell Elise of the birth circumstances, Bob.”
“I know about my birth. It was normal. From a seed,” I said casually.
My birth was typical for Ourania. Ma and Pa planted my seed deep in the loamy soil in our backyard. I came from a fat, ovate seed. Pa put hoople-root and dung around it to keep the 30
traveling mudstones from crowding me out.
After two months, a tiny pod emerged from the soil. The pod stood one foot tall. Ma and Pa fed me cucumber grass and poured water down the top spout. Seven months later, my pod let out a loud whistle. Ma said she stuffed cotton in her ears to keep her brain from rattling. Four ear-shattering hours later, the pod fell over, and an orange baby fell out. I don’t know much about my birth other than that.
“You don’t know what happened before your birth. That’s what your pa is going to tell you.”
I looked at them both. “You mean there’s more?”
“Yes, honey,” Pa began. “Right after your ma and I married, we decided to have a baby. We saw an ad for cheap birthing seeds on the back page of the Mikula Record. So, we called up the seller of those seeds, and it turned out to be an old chap named Buzzletrap, an elf who lived above the Stinking Forest.”
Ma flipped through some pages of the book.
“Last time I heard from him; he’d moved to an apartment in south Stanton. We used to get letters from him—.”
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“I’m glad you weren’t going to spend too much money on me,” I said sarcastically.
Ma glanced over at me. “We were very poor back then, honey. Just starting out.”
Pa tilted his cap back and took a breath. “We had to walk all the way up to this chap’s home to get your seed. That meant going through the Stinking Forest.”
“I had to stuff cloth in both nostrils. It was so bad. The smell of dead carcasses is not pleasant at all,” Ma said. “At the entrance to the forest, there were signs posted everywhere. Do not Enter on Pain of Death!”
“Yes, I know. It smells because of the animals that cross the forest get their feet caught in the soil. The forest then absorbs the meat after they die,” I said. “We studied it in science class.”
“If you two wouldn’t interrupt, this would be a lot easier!” Pa slapped his knee. “Save your commentary for later. We walked and walked.
We followed the map to his place, but your ma and I couldn’t find the sign to his house.
Buzzletrap said in his letter to us that there would be a clear signposted, but we searched all over. Finally, when we had just started to walk home, we came upon a small house down at the 32
end of a road. A broken sign said Buzzletrap Lives Here. You can imagine how relieved we were to find his home at last. We knocked on his door a few times before a short fellow with a big round head opened the door.”
“He was a cranky-looking elf,” Ma said.
Pa chuckled. “We introduced ourselves. Your ma complained that his place was so hard to find. He told us that his customers should work to see him. If they can’t find him, then maybe they shouldn’t be parents. Can you imagine that? After we walked for so long, he’s sniped at us like that,” Pa continued.
“That’s pretty rude, all right,” I said.
“I told him we weren’t in any mood for an elf’s tricks,” Pa said. “Then you should have heard him. He gave us a ‘harrumph’ and swiftly turned toward his hut with his nose in the air. That elf told us to come back the next day. Buzzletrap said, ‘ Maybe, and I mean maybe, you can have your seed.’” Pa sat back in his seat. “Imagine walking all the way up to his house and then being told that!”
Ma put down the book. “That's when I got ruffled. I asked him why we had to come back the next day. That old crank Buzzletrap told us 33
that it was time for his nap. He yelled at us.
Goodness gracious, I fumed inside.”
Pa took off his hat. “Green vapor spewed from your ma’s cheeks as she tromped over to that foul elf. She stopped right in front of him with her feet planted firmly on the ground and clenched her fists. I don’t think I’d ever seen her so angry.”
Ma stood up. “That's right. I screamed at the top of my lungs, ‘I don't think so, Mr.
Buzzletrap! We walked all the way here from Mikula! We're not going home only to come right back. I don't think you want my husband snoring outside your window all night!’ Then his manner changed. Buzzletrap's mouth turned up on one side, and his eyebrows raised high on his forehead. He snorted and said to us, ‘That's exactly what I look for. I look for a willingness to fight for a child.’” Ma sat down and picked up the book.
