Boomtown (4 page)
A
s it turned out, I completely miscalculated the reaction of the people of Boomtown. We weren't outcasts; we were
celebrities!
Word of the explosion spread quickly, so by the time we finally pulled up in front of our rental house, we were surrounded by people wanting to know the gritty details.
One of those people was a man who showed up with his wife and several children. He slapped me on my sore back and spoke in a very loud voice, “My name is Matthieu LaPierre, and this is my wife, Pauline. We're your neighbors, five doors down on the right. I just had to come on over and shake your hand!”
“You did?”
“Sure, sure! You really know how to make a splash! Burned down the research lab at the fireworks factory on your very first day! How about
that!
”
“It was an accident. Really, we didn't do it on purpose.”
“'Course you didn't, I know that. But
that
doesn't change anything. You done it! Wow! What a story! I wish I'da been there to do it myself!”
“You do?”
“Absolutely. I've never been lucky enough to burn anything down. My only real claim to fame is our twelve children.”
“Twelve?”
“Yep, with lucky thirteen on the way. That'll make a baker's dozen!”
I tried to be polite. “That's . . . um . . . a lot of mouths to feed.”
“We manage. I got my farmâand with all the extra hands, we get quite a lot of work done.”
“You have a farm? Just down the street?”
“Nah. That's just the house. The farm is out on Hopontop Highway, south of here.”
“Oh, I see. So what do you grow out there on your farm?”
“All sorts of things. Radishes, potatoes, apples, corn, beets, the usual stuff. And I got a petting zoo. That helps.”
“Petting zoo?”
“Sure, people stop by and pay a little to pet the animals. Got me a cobra, a yak, a coupla' skunks and a porcupine (I wouldn't pet those if I were you), two buffalo, a gorilla, three ostriches, and an alligator. Just got me that one. Shipped it in from Florida.”
“An alligator? In a petting zoo?”
“Well, he's not really for
petting
. I got him because of the rats. I got a huge rat problem in my barns.”
“Why didn't you get a cat?”
“A cat! The alligator would
eat
a cat if it ever had the chance!”
“I meant why didn't you get a cat
instead
of an alligator.”
“Oh, that would be boring.
Everybody's
got a cat. Cats is everywhere. But I'm the only one who's got an
alligator
.”
Matthieu LaPierre wasn't the only one who surprised me that afternoon. Han-wu and Fie-tann stopped by at the house after the fire was under control to make sure I was okay.
“I don't know what to say,” I told them. “I am
so
sorry. Jonny and Sarah should not have gone near that control panel. I don't know what they were thinking. And now your lab is burned to the ground. I'll try to pay for it somehowâif you'll give me a chance.”
“
Pay
for it?” chuckled Fie-tann. “Why would we make you
pay
for it? It wasn't your fault. The ropes broke. The rocket was too powerful. It would have happened with or without you. All in a day's work, that's what I say. Don't worry about it.”
“But what about the damage? I feel responsible.”
“Nonsense,” replied Han-wu. “If
I
had been the one to flip the switch, then
I
would have been the one responsible. That's really the only thing I'm upset about. Now I won't get to brag about it to my friends.”
“You're
glad
this happened?”
“Well, no, because now we have to rebuild the research lab. But we sure do love a good show here in Boomtown! This was one of the best ever! We'll be talking about it for years, thanks to you.”
It wasn't any use. No matter how hard I tried to apologize, they just wouldn't accept it. They were too excited about the spectacular fireworks showâand they were especially pleased about how powerfully the rocket had performedânever mind that it destroyed part of their factory. Fie-tann said, “We'll just have to cut back on some of the rocket propellant and get some thicker rope. Then we'll fire it up again!”
After greeting several more neighbors, we finally were able to get to the front porch. I wasn't looking forward to the daunting task of moving all our furniture into the rooms and up the stairsâand my back was killing me after being tackled by Lars. There were all those boxes and chairs and tables and books to lug across the lawnâa lot of work for Lars and me. After the disaster at the fireworks factory, I wasn't looking forward to all the stressâbut I needn't have worried. We were surrounded by an army of volunteers, all of them insisting on helping the new minister and his family of firebugs move in.
It was
perfect
by the wayâthe rental house, I mean. With the help of the church secretary, we'd found a cozy three-bedroom house that was walking distance from the church. It had a large backyard with a picket fence, a small garage, and a front porch bordered by flowers. There was a large bay window in the family room, a small kitchen, a pantry, one bathroom, and three bedrooms upstairs. There was an extra room downstairs where I could put a desk and my books for a study.
I talked to Lars about a plan for unloading. Fortunately, he had clean overalls in his cab to replace the muddy ones he was still wearing. And I found a fresh pair of jeans and shirt in one of our suitcases. In the meantime, the kids were excitedly jumping up and down on the porch and chanting, “Let us in! Let us in!” Janice saved Sarah from having a heart attack by unlocking the front door. The kids ran from room to room, out the back, around the side, back inside, up the stairs, and began to fight for bedroom territory.
“Sarah and I will take this room at the end of the hall-way,” Ruth announced.
Jonny answered, “You can
have
it! This one's mine!”
He wanted the bedroom with the window that opened into the branches of the backyard tree. He wasted no time climbing out the windowâto the absolute terror of my wife and the delight of Sarah, who insisted on trying it immediately. (That particular tree was the same tree Jonny later used to sneak out of the house for his nocturnal raidsâsomething that turned out for the best in the long runâbut I didn't know about it until much later. We'll get to that soon enough.)
After the brief exploration, Ruth released our cat, Effeneff, from his carrier. This was the cat Sarah had “greased” a few years before. It stretched its long gray body, shook out its fur, licked each of its paws carefully, then scampered across the lawn and began to patrol the perimeter of the front steps and porch, looking for mice and shrews. Sarah had given the cat its name; she insisted he was descended from the great lions of Egypt.
“He's Fierce
and
Friendly,” Sarah had said.
We soon shortened that to “F and F,” and the name stuck. After only a minute or two, Effeneff pounced and captured a shrew and went to find a shady spot where he could play with it in private.
Janice said, “That's a good sign. If a cat likes a house, then it's probably a good place for people too.”
With help from all of our neighbors, the job of unloading was finished quickly, leaving the more time-consuming job of unpacking and putting everything in its place. As the sun crawled higher in the sky, Edna Kreuger, the widow who lived next door, brought us a huge lunch of ham and cheese on wheat bread, homemade potato salad, bright red apples, and a delicious blackberry pie with vanilla ice cream. The lettuce, potatoes, apples, and berries had been grown in her very own garden, she proudly declared.
“There's lots more where
that
came from!” she said. “You'll never go hungry with Gramma Edna next door!”
She turned out to be a faithful member of Boomtown Church, where I'd be preaching that Sunday. Sarah fell in love with her immediately and adopted her as her own grand-mother. We've called her “Gramma” ever since.
Matthieu LaPierre volunteered to fix the front screen door while others went from room to room unpacking boxes, hanging pictures, setting up beds, and organizing the kitchen. The ladies from Gramma Edna's sewing circle showed up with ironing boards and irons; they smoothed out the wrinkles from our clothes and linens while they got to know Janice better and helped her fill up the dressers and closets.
Ed Gamelli, the mailman, stopped by at around three o'clock and added our names to his route list. Then at four o'clock we met Leona Peasley, hostess of the Boomtown Welcome Wagon and lead soprano at St. Bernard's Lutheran Church. She presented us with a straw basket decorated with green and yellow ribbons and filled to the brim with apples, pears, peaches, and several jars of homemade marionberry jam. She handed us an envelope filled with all sorts of things: a welcome letter from the Wagoneers, a note of greeting from the mayor, and coupons from local businesses.
Leona said, “There's a coupon in there for a free Family Gutbuster Sundae from Top's Soda Shop. A free hairdo for Janice when she visits Gertrude's Beauty Parlor for the first time. There are special offers from the Boomtown Bookstore, the Hobby Center, Bun's Bakery, Martin's Mercantile, the Red Bird, and of course, Big Bang Explosives. And speaking of that . . .”
Behind her she had a large gold-colored box, trimmed in red and green, with the Chang's Fireworks logo emblazoned on the side. It was about the size of a small steamer trunk with wheels at the four corners and a handle for pulling it along. On the lid and on each of the four panels, in bright red letters, were printed the words
Big Bang Boom Box.
Leona presented it to us with a wink. “Every family who moves to Boomtown receives the deluxe one-hundred-and-fifty- pound box of Chang's Famous Fireworks as a welcome gift from the factory. You've got sparklers, firecrackers, smoke bombs, Roman candles, fountains, spinners, flaming whistles, aerial repeaters, rockets, and mortars. There's enough firepower in there to relocate your house if you're not careful!”