CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The boys awoke in complete darkness.
“Brother, what happened?” Oliver shouted, “Where are you?”
The boys’ arms met and they pulled closed together.
“I don’t know, Oliver,” Elliott returned, “I think we’re still in the cave. Maybe the sauce from the island went dry or something.”
Elliott helped his brother up as he, himself rose in the dark. “Ok, let’s just walk a bit and see
if we reach something or see something.” Elliott noticed that he was more calm than he expected for such a scary situation. He had a feeling of pride in his courage in the dark cave.
The boys slowly moved, both close together as they did. After a few minutes of slow movement, Oliver gasped, “Oh look! Look brother!” As he spoke, Elliott also noticed the faint light ahead. It seemed to come from around a corner in the cave.
“Oh, good,” Elliott reassured his brother, “let’s go around that corner and see.”
They moved to the corner and found a short, narrow tunnel that ended in a strange pedestal with symbolic markings all over it. There was light shining down on it from above, causing it’s rough, stone-like surface to appear to glow. Once the boys reached the pedestal, they could see that the markings were the letters of the island. They couldn’t read the message.
The boys looked up above the pedestal to see a tall opening where sunlight was pouring in from.
“Well, how do we get up there?” asked Elliott.
Oliver suddenly felt nervous and jittery. He wanted to be out of the cave. He jumped up on the stone pedestal and called back to Elliott, “Maybe this thing does something.” As he spoke, there was a harsh sound of stone grinding and the pedestal began to rise slowly.
Elliott ran and joined his brother and they inched up the narrow, upper opening toward the light. Once the pedestal finally reached the top, the brightness of the sun made it difficult for them to see. As their eyes adjusted from the darkness of the cave, they began to see dark hills around them.
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“Where are we?” asked Oliver.
“I don’t know, maybe we should start walking... um...” Elliott looked around him, “that way.” He pointed toward a gap in the hills.
Oliver wasted no time and hoped off the pedestal, which had settled motionless. He began walking toward the gap. Elliott joined him and the boys felt a new determination. As they approached, Oliver abruptly stopped walking and looked down at his feet.
“Oliver, what’s the matter?” Elliott asked.
“I just remembered home. When are we going to go home?”
Elliott was taken aback - he realized that he was beginning to stop thinking of how they
would get home and didn’t know why. He closed his eyes for a moment and remembered his bedroom back on the Earth. Remembering their quest to get home, he grabbed Oliver’s hand.
“Come on, Oliver, we’re going to figure out how to get home, I promise.”
Oliver liked his brother’s confidence and the two walked faster over the hills. As they crossed over the top of one, the boys hearts’ sunk. There was a steep decline on the side of the mountain that lead to a grassy plain with tents all around it. They were back on the Teaching Island.
“Oh, man,” Elliott groaned.
“No,” Oliver snapped, pulling his hand from Elliott’s, “I’m not going back to that mean Teacher.”
Elliott thought for a minute. “Ok, I got an idea. We’ll sneak down and get our tent and when another delivery comes in, we’ll sneak on that sky taxi and get out.”
Oliver was only half-satisfied with the plan but began walking toward the grassy plain, his head down as he did. Elliott met him and pulled him down to a crouch.
“Wait, Oliver,” he whispered, “we don’t want anyone to see us sneak in. We should wait until the sun goes down a little more and it’s darker.”
Oliver looked up, covering the sun with his hand. “But, it’s still daytime. It’s bright outside.” “Well, then we’ll have to just wait here.”
Elliott pointed to a large boulder nearby, “We can get behind that.”
The boys sat down on the hidden side of the boulder. Neither spoke as they waited, but the
waiting made them dreary once again. As Elliott’s breath slowed, he realized that they were not having near as much trouble breathing in the thin air. He wondered why that was and the thoughts carried him into sleep.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Eh-hem,” the shrill voice of the Teacher jolted the brothers awake. Oliver shook awake so hard that he bumped his head on the boulder they had fallen asleep behind.
The Teacher stood in straight posture over them - posture so straight, it was like she was a wooden plank. She held her arms folded tightly, the dreaded stick ruler jutting out of one hand. “I see you two are done with your educational excursion,” she acted as if she would give the boys an opportunity to respond, but as soon as Elliott opened his mouth, she continued, louder, “Well, good - you may return to your most-important studies and indoctrination here. Come, we are ready for class.”
With that, her arms unfolded and she pointed the end of her ruler in the direction of the schoolhouse atop the grassy hill. Her movement was so quick that it was as if she practiced pointing in the most angry way possible.
The boys’ heads sunk. Elliott slowly stood from the rock they were leaning on. Oliver began to be triggered and punched the boulder behind him with the backside of his fist. He was angry and upset. His emotions sparked all at once feeling trapped on the terrible Teaching Island. The feeling of the hard rock on his fist hurt and that made him concentrate on that rather than the mean Teacher. He didn’t even realize that he began repeatedly hitting the boulder.
The Teacher did not move. She did nothing to soothe him or even try to calm him. Elliott was nervous at the stern Teacher peering down at them. He didn’t know what repercussions would come of it, but he had to help his brother. He moved over to Oliver and hugged him facing his back toward the Teacher. Oliver continued punching - now making grunting sounds as he did. Elliott squeezed his brother tightly, keeping himself between the Teacher and Oliver.
The Teacher scowled, “I will not tolerate this behavior. You will spend the day in confinement if you do not STOP! Those who act ill need punishment!”
Elliott knew this would only cause Oliver to become more aggressive. He knew that Oliver would need to be redirected, not punished. He whispered in Oliver’s ear, “Remember the plan, Oliver. We will get out of here as soon as we can catch the next delivery taxi.”
With this, Oliver stopped hitting the rock and let his head rest on Elliott’s shoulder. Elliott rubbed his brother on the back and whispered further, “We just have to get through this class time and then we will-”
Oliver interupted, just loud enough where the Teacher could hear, “I don’t want to!”
The Teacher let out an audible sound of dissapproval.
Elliott reached down and grabbed his brother’s hand. This made Oliver stand up, ready to
walk. He took a deep breath and calmed himself the best that he could. He knew that keeping from being triggered in the class would be difficult, but he decided that he would try. With his brother next to him, he felt more confident.
The brothers began walking down the hills toward the school. The Teacher made no sound following but the boys knew she was there. They hiked on until they were at the door to the school.
Walking into the schoolhouse, they could see all the other children already settled into their desks. Elliott was sure that none of them actually wanted to be there, but they all feared the Teacher’s punishments. There was only the motivation of fear and it overshadowed any desire to learn.
The brothers sat in their chairs at their desk and the Teacher glided past them, beginning her lecture. She spoke monotonously for what seemed to Oliver like forever. He shook his legs and concentrated on the movement to keep him from appearing to lose his calm. Every few minutes, Elliott would look over at his brother and give him an encouraging look. This helped Oliver keep from becoming triggered.
Once the Teacher announced that the lecture was complete, Oliver let out a sigh of relief. He felt proud of himself for maintaining his composure through the lecture. The Teacher heard the sigh and glanced at Oliver, but she did not address it.
“Alright, we now have reached the designated time for questions,” the Teacher said sternly. It was as if she were more telling the class that it was time to be silent, rather than ask a question. Without waiting for a response, she moved on, “Alright, if there are no questions, then-”
She stopped short seeing a single hand raise. Elliott hesitated, but once his hand was up, he stuck it up higher in confidence. The Teacher stared at his hand for a moment and scowled, “It appears we have a question.”
Elliott waited a moment in silence, not certain that he were really being allowed to ask a question. He asked for clarification, “So, we can ask anything in this time?”
“No,” she answered forcefully, “You may only ask questions that pertain to the lecture or to something learned that may enrich the rest of the class.”
Elliott thought for a moment. He wanted to ask so many questions about the Islands, the clouds, the propellors, the sauce - but he feared that he would be punished for asking too curious of a question. It was difficult for him not to be curious.
“Ok,” he said cautiously, “you’ve said in a lecture that the Islands have a rich history - who put the propellors on the Islands?”
The Teacher’s unwavering stare made it apparent that she did not like Elliott’s question. “This is not an enriching question.”
“I think that it is,” Elliott answered in reaction to the challenge by the Teacher. He was nervous, but continued, “If there’s nothing below the clouds, don’t we need to know how-”
“IF!?” the Teacher interupted, almost screaming. “There is nothing below the clouds. That we know.”
“But how do we know that?” Elliott was becoming more bold. “And, what makes the propellors go? And-”
“The propellors are. Because they are there and they turn and we observe them, they are.” The Teacher spoke as if the answer were obvious, “These things are because we can observe that they are. There is nothing below the clouds and that has always been known. It is something that is.”
Elliott was not satisfied with the answer, “But, how do we know?” Kids heads turned to look at him asking such questions in the class.
The Teacher finally had enough and slammed her ruler onto a nearby desk. “The question time is not for these waistfull compulsions. If you do not have a question about the writing of the sky- Oviao, how to better learn in the lecture, or about concrete things that we know are, then we will move on with the day.”
Elliott knew that he would not be allowed to ask anything further and he stared ahead, silent. The Teacher looked down at Elliott with a slight smirk on her face. It was apparent that she had won. She dismissed the class with a wave of her hand and all the children filed out of the classroom in silence.
Oliver was so relieved. He jumped up from his chair and was pushing his brother to get past him and out of the classroom. The brothers were almost out of the door when the Teacher stopped them.
“Not you two!” There was a hint of satisfaction in her scowl, “You two have been summoned and are needed.”
Elliott made a curious face at the Teacher. He wondered how she suddenly knew they were being summoned. He wondered if she knew something was going to happen all through the lecture and didn’t tell them. Noticing that he was becoming curious, the Teacher snapped her fingers hard to catch his attention and directed, “You two will wait at your desk for your summoner.”
Oliver’s head went down quickly. Elliott put his arm around his brother, helping to calm him. He whispered in his ear, “This could be good, Oliver, maybe someone’s already coming to get us out of here.”
Tears were already forming in Oliver’s eyes, but he reluctantly answered, “Ok, brother,” and the two returned to their chairs.
There was a long period of silence with the boys waiting at their desk and the Teacher standing over them, staring ahead. The brothers were very uncomfortable and relieved to hear the door open in the back of the classroom. They turned their heads and were glad to see Gurd tromp into the classroom. However, as Gurd moved closer to the boys, they could see that he seemed angry.
The Teacher waved the boys away, “You may go now.”
Gurd turned without a word and the boys followed him out of the classroom, down the grassy hill, and into the back of his sky taxi, which was brown and more plain than the other taxis they had rode in. He was forceful about his movements and started the taxi propellor abruptly, causing the sky taxi to jump and then bounce off the ground. The boys fell onto the bed of the taxi and yelled back at Gurd, letting him know they had fallen. But, Gurd made no acknowledgement of them and sat silently as he flew the vehicle higher into the sky.
He flew quickly away from the Teaching Island but made no indication of where they were headed to. Oliver pulled himself up to look over the hood of the taxi. “Hey, Gurd, where are we going?” he asked.
Gurd didn’t turn around to answer. Instead, he reached into a pouch hanging from his pants and threw a handful of sparkling dust back at the brothers. “Ah, just go to sleep now,” he said as the dust flew into Oliver’s face.
Oliver fell backward and onto his brother. The strange powder stung the boys nostrils and very quickly made their heads feel woozy. Oliver closed his eyes and rolled limp off of his brother. Elliott was frightened, but the fatigue that came over him was too great to fight and soon he fell into sleep as well.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The boys were awakened abruptly from Gerd’s sky taxi slamming suddenly into the ground. The propellor squeeled as it slowed and stopped turning above them. The boys were dreary sitting up in the back of the vehicle and it took them a moment before realizing that they were back on Gerd’s Island.
“Naw, naw,” Gerd shook his head and waved back at them, “you two are not getting out. We’re just here for fuel and then we have some, eh, important business to take care of.”
He stepped heavy, waddling away from them toward the well of sauce they had gone to when they first arrived in the Sky Islands. The woods were dark ahead with what seemed to be the morning sunlight just beginning to peak in the distance. The opposite side of the sky shown dark with stars twinkling.
Oliver pointed at Gerd’s castle, where its old, vine-riddled roof showed over the treetops. “Look brother,” he said, but Elliott motioned to his brother to keep quiet. Elliott felt that something was wrong.
Gerd retrieved a bucket of the glowing liquid they called “sauce” and unhooked it from the well’s rope. He walked carefully, bringing the strange fuel back to the sky taxi and pouring it into a funnel that was already loosely set in the vehicle’s side.
There was a rustle in the woods behind him and the boys looked up. It was a tromping sound of something approaching with confidence in its step. Gerd turned slowly and peered into the dark of the trees for only a moment before muttering, “Awe, dang.”
Then a pair of bushes were flung to the side, allowing a path, and a stout woman in a tightly strung dress stepped into the open. She wore a cloth around her head and a kind smile lingered behind her large nose.
Elliott remembered seeing her in the window of the castle previously and whispered to Oliver, “It’s the lady from the castle. I think she made our clothes.”
“Oh, hi honey,” Gerd addressed her with a half-disappointed, half-guilty tone.
“So, what’s this, then?” Her voice was boisterous but friendly. She asked the question in a manner that seemed like she knew the answer before asking. “You’ve brought our friends back, I see.”
“Friends?” Gerd huffed, “I brought these nuisances, you mean.”
“Hogwash,” she continued smiling at the boys and walked toward them. She motioned for them to get out of the sky taxi and Gerd protested with grunts and huffs. “Come now, let’s get some food in ya bellies,” she said, taking the boys hands and walking them toward the wood.
The trip through the woods and up to the castle was short. The boys studied the castle with every step they took toward it. It was such a strange place to them and they were amazed that the couple lived in their own castle. They had not noticed that Gerd was no longer with them.
When they arrived at the large, wooden door, the stout woman grabbed a handle of a large, wooden gear that appeared to open the door. She waited a moment and looked at the brothers, “You boys gonna help an old lady or what?” Though the question was aggressive, the woman’s tone made it seem like she was just picking on the boys.
“Oh, sorry,” Elliott jumped toward the gear, though he was unsure what to do. “I didn’t know you needed help, Miss... uh.”
Suddenly, the woman let go of the large gear and put her hands on her hips, “You mean, that old fart didn’t tell you my name?” She shook her head, “Well, I’m Gerdie, but you can call me ‘Mamma Gerdie’ cuz I like to be called that. Now, before you get any ideas about me from my name, let me set the record straight.” She shook her finger as she talked, “I’m not named after that man, it’s only a coincidence our names are so close. I am an independent woman and I take care of myself. In fact, I take care of myself and that old turd, Gerd.” She smiled and looked off in the distance, muttering to herself, “heh, ‘Old Turd Gerd,’ that’s a good one- Imma keep that one.” She redirected her focus on the boys. “I take care of a lot and I take pride in it. You need something,you ask me. I’m strong, capable, and I can sew a whole garb in just ten short minutes.” She smiled and glanced back and forth at the brothers, who were both unsure how to respond. “Eh? Awe well, some people are impressed by my skills. You two just don’t know about sewing, do ya?”
Elliott looked at Oliver, an uncertain look on his face. Oliver just stared smiling at Gerdie - he liked her.
“Alright, here we go,” she almost shouted, kicking the big gear with her sandaled foot. The doors of the castle creaked loudly and then slid down into the ground. It was apparent to the boys that she didn’t actually need their help with the gear.
As the doors moved down, the boys could see into the castle. It had a large chandelier of candles that hung in it’s main room, with cobwebs woven into into its brass arms. The whole room was stone and there were old, woven tapestries hanging on the walls. Pieces of fabrics of various colors and textures littered the main room, some folded, some strewn on the ground.
Gerdie made no mention of the mess. She simply waved to the boys to follow her and they walked into the large room and toward a doorway in its side. Once through the doorway, they found themselves in a long room with a dining table that stretched most of its length. There were only two chairs at the table, one at each end, separated by the whole length of the table.
“Hold on, I’ll get ya something to sit on,” Gerdie said as she pointed to the boys to stay there. She walked the length of the room and disappeared in a dark doorway.
“What do we do now?” Oliver asked his brother.
Elliott looked up above the long table. The ceiling was high and had vines that snuck into the wood of the roof from outside. There was a steady drip of water from the roof onto one end of the table.
“I don’t know,” Elliott responded, “but I think we’re safe staying with Mama Gerdie.”
“Yeah, she’s nice. I like her,” Oliver became excited. He was glad to be away from the Teaching Island.
Elliott was not as excited. He was nervous about where Gerd was planning to take them and how they would get away without Gerd knowing.
Oliver’s stomach rumbled and he clutched it with his hands. “Oh, boy. I’m hungry. Did she say something about food?”
As if hearing the question, Gerdie re-appeared from the door balancing two short stumps in one arm and a metal platter in the other. The boys were amazed that she was able to carry all of it at once. Once she reached them, she dropped the stumps on the ground- the hard thud of them hitting the stone let the boys know just how heavy they were. She set the platter down on the table and lifted its lid off revealing a full plate of the strange fruit of the islands.
“I would’ve cooked had I known you two were coming,” she said. She wasn’t at all winded from carrying the stumps. “Anyways, I have this now, so sit- eat!” She kicked the stumps up to the table and the boys wasted no time starting on the meal.
Gerdie sat in the chair closest to them and watched the boys eat in silence. A pleased smile stayed on her face the entire time they ate. Once they were done, she addressed them, “Now, let’s hear it. What do you have to tell me?”
Elliott was confused and stared, but Oliver began speaking regardless, “We went to jail, and we met an armor guy, and we saw the Queen and she’s kinda scary, and we went to school and saw the Teacher and she’s even more scary than the Queen, and we picked fruit, and we went to the desert, and we went to the lake, and we went to the crazy people and they wanted to know who should be the mayor.” Elliott was tempted to stop his brother, but Gerdie seemed to be enjoying the story, so he let him continue. “I don’t know why they wanted us to tell them who should be mayor, but we found out that they are in prison! Oh, and there was a girl on the beach who I don’t think was supposed to be there.”
Elliott had forgotten about the girl on the rock that they had met before returning to the castle. He looked away, wondering why she was there and why she was afraid of being found there. Gerdie noticed Elliott appearing to be wondering and she got his attention in a low voice, “Ah, someone’s being curious, I see.”
Elliott sat up and turned his attention on Gerdie, suddenly uncomfortable. “Um, no, I didn’t mean to be.”
Gerdie laughed a hearty laugh that seemed to come from way down in her belly. “Oh, you don’t have to be scared, child. Mama Gerdie’s not gonna send you to prison or nothin.” She leaned in closer to the boys, resting her elbows on the table, “See, after a while, you find that you don’t want to be curious anymore, and it’s great!”
Elliott crinkled his nose, “Wait, why would we not want to be curious?”
“Because accepting that you don’t need to know some things is a good thing. It makes you more happy- more satisfied with all the wonderful things we have.”
Oliver looked around the large dining room the candles along the table flickered lightly. He felt like he understood why Gerdie felt that they may not want to be curious, but he couldn’t imagine actually not being curious.
“You see,” Gerdie continued, the smile still settled on her face, “everything is working fine and well. The truth is, curiosity digs up unhappiness and makes you unsatisfied.”
Elliott felt unsatisfied with the answer she was giving. Though she sounded caring and seemed to mean well, he understood curiosity as a way to learn and grow. He looked down at the table.
Gerdie reached over and rubbed Elliott on the back. This made Elliott feel more comfortable and welcome there. She stood and moved behind him, her hands resting on his shoulders lightly. She spoke in a kind tone, “I been here a long time. After so long, you learn things- good things. You learn to just be and let be. After a while, you two will be settled and not think about anything else. I’m sure you’ll find your place here and will have no need for curiosity or distracting memories or anything like that.”
At the mention of memories, Elliott became uncomfortable. Gerdie noticed his shoulders becoming tense and she leaned down and put an arm around Elliott and one around Oliver. She looked back and forth at the boys as she continued, “You know what? I got a friend you can meet tomorrow that’s better at explaining things than I am. I think you’ll like her- she old and big.”
Oliver glanced up at Gerdie and his glasses slid down his face. She took her arm from Elliott and pushed the glasses back into place. Oliver asked, “Mama Gerdie, can we stay here?”
She laughed- she was happy at the question, “Of course you can! My friend is right here on the island. We’ll go see her tomorrow.”
Then, Gerdie stood suddenly and patted the boys on their heads, “Speaking of which, let’s get you two to bed.” She started walking toward the main room of the castle, expecting the boys to follow.
They did follow, as if Gerdie’s command was inviting. As they crossed the fabric-strewn main room, Elliott looked to the long windows, which were letting in bright light from the sun. “Wait, it’s daytime,” he asked.
Gerdie waved her arms as she walked, not turning toward him to respond, “Ah, day, night, it’s all just time. We’ll call this night and sleep.”
They way that Gerdie responded, being so certain of everything, made the boys just accept what she said. They followed her to a small room with a large bed in its center. There were no windows and the bed was the only item in the room.
“Here, sleep- we’ll have a good day tomorrow,” Gerdie said as she led the boys into the room and shut the door behind them.
Having the door shut made Elliott a bit nervous. Still, he and Oliver crawled into the bed next to each other. Neither were very tired at that moment, but they felt as if they needed to stay in the bed as Mama Gerdie requested.
Oliver whispered to his brother, “Brother, I like being curious. Why does Mama Gerdie think like the Queen? She’s too nice to be like the Queen.”
“I don’t know, Oliver.” Elliott didn’t have an answer. He was having a hard time deciding what he thought about Mama Gerdie.
“Who do you think is ‘big and old,’” Oliver asked.
“I don’t know,” Elliott realized he was wondering about everything. He was curious about everything on the islands and couldn’t imagine not being curious. It made him feel strange and uncomfortable, the thought of not being curious, ever.
The brothers laid in silence for a long time, still awake. They both realized that their lungs had grown more accustomed to the air in the sky. They felt as if they were beginning to belong there. After some time, they both drifted off to sleep.
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