Jack James and the Tribe of the Teddy Bear (9 page)

EIGHT

THAT MORNING, JACK was more lost in his thoughts than usual, and Mrs. Adams noticed.

“Jack,” her voice was an octave higher and about a hundred decibels louder than needed. “What’s the capital of North Dakota?”

“Jack, what are mitochondria?”

“Jack, what’s a troubadour?”

For hours, she kept making attempts at drawing him into the lessons. He would oblige, give the correct answer, then return to his dreamy imagination.

He’d just had one of the most bizarre mornings ever, thanks to a teddy bear. Or was it a teddy bear? Before long, it became too much to tolerate. He pulled his pack from under his desk and opened it just a crack to sneak a peek at the furry little thing. Then he peered at his classmates and reclosed the bag.

As he scanned the other students, butterflies, big as bats, fluttered in his stomach. The kids knew what he had. It felt like he’d stashed a fortune in gold bullion under his desk and they were all waiting for their chance to get at it. At least Amelia smiled at him. That made him feel better.

AT LUNCH, HE wandered to the last table in the cafeteria where the banished few ate their meals. He took a seat next to a kid eating from a
Star Trek
lunch pail, wearing a
Stargate
T-shirt and reading a
Star Wars
comic book. Jack twirled his fork in some runny mashed potatoes, trying to think of what to do. How do you inform someone you have a living teddy bear in your backpack? Impossible. He had to tell someone, though.

“Hey, Jack,” Amelia bounced toward him in a blue, flower print skirt, balancing her tray in one hand. “What are you doing sitting way over here?”

“Shhh,” he whispered. “Sit down. I’ve got something to tell you.”

Her sudden seriousness gave away her thoughts. Jack could tell she sensed his tension and appeared to feel it herself. She seemed ready to sit with him when they were both startled by a sharp, scolding voice.

“Amelia,” Wendy barked. “You coming?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she answered breathlessly. “Just a sec’.”

“Hurry up,” Wendy tossed a condescending glance at Jack. Behind her, Jamie, Heather and Betsy glared down their noses. Wendy led her loyal followers to the table where Dillon and Mike had already taken their normal places.

“I…I gotta go,” Amelia backed away. “Why don’t you sit over here? There’s room at this table.”

He glanced at Dillon, who scowled back at him. “No. I don’t think so.”

DURING THE LAST recess of the day, Jack thought he would have another chance to spill his guts. He waited near the exits while Amelia chatted and strolled with her so-called friends. She noticed him and flashed a big smile.

“Hi, Jack!”

He waved expectantly but didn’t say anything. Amelia’s friends wouldn’t let him.

“Eeeewwww, Amelia!” Wendy hissed. “Gross!”

The other girls chuckled in agreement.

“What?” Jack heard Amelia stand up for him while they ambled to the jungle gym. “There’s nothing wrong with Jack.”

“I guess,” he heard Wendy say. “He’s kinda cute, but he’s really weird.”

He had no idea what Amelia said next. She said something, though, then separated from the group and jogged toward him.

“After school,” she squinted at the bag he had clutched against his chest. “I’ll meet you right here. Then we can talk about what you have in that backpack of yours.”

She didn’t give him time to show his astonishment, though the grin on her lips said it all. She knew he was hiding something. But how? Then he figured it out. He wasn’t so good at acting nonchalant. The way he hugged his bag, people must have thought it was his last possession on earth. He peeked to make sure nobody had noticed, sliding the straps over his shoulders.

WHEN THREE-NINETEEN finally arrived and the bell rang, Jack waited at his desk for the room to clear. In the hallway he took his time, stopping to untie and retie his shoes (which must have looked strange, since his checkered Vans were slip-ons), then pausing to drink from a faucet. Then he decided he needed to stall longer and dodged into the restroom despite not actually having to go. Though nobody was in there, he acted casual just the same. Soon his nerves got the best of him and he forgot where he was, focusing yet again on the creature in his backpack.

“Okay, little guy,” he slipped the bag off his shoulders and opened it to see the mottled fur, the spellbindingly reddish-brown eyes with jade-colored spots just below them. “I’m going to show you to Amelia, and I don’t want you to disappoint me again, you understand? If you just lay there like a dead fish I’m gonna…”

A toilet flushed. Jack shut his mouth. He grew hot with embarrassment. The door on the last stall creaked open and out stepped Lenny Nakashima. Nice kid. Jack’s age. Quiet. Kept to himself.

“Oh, hi. I was just…” Jack tried to cover his tracks. Lenny stood frozen as if he’d seen an alien. His stare darted to the door, to Jack, and again to the door. Then he did his best Tom Cruise imitation, hugging the wall, sliding toward the exit in a room full of lasers.

“Really, I was just talking tooooo…” Jack clung to a shred of a chance he might have redeemed himself. Hopeless. Keeping his distance, Lenny slipped out. “To myself. I was talking to myself! People do that, you know! Oh, heck with it!”

He studied the room more carefully, making sure no other spies were lurking. No harm done. He shrugged.

After a few more minutes, he figured plenty of time had passed for the regular, afterschool stragglers to clear. Dillon and Mike had probably gone, along with Wendy and her entourage. The buses usually filled up quickly and the drivers didn’t waste much time. Nobody wanted to stick around long after that last bell rang. That’s why Jack was concerned whether Amelia had kept her word. He knew she rode the bus normally, and missing it meant a long walk home to Tangled Trail Townhouses.

He approached the school’s main entrance, convinced she’d be there. She was a trustworthy person, he reminded himself while passing through the doorway, emerging into the damp spring day. He scanned the schoolyard. Empty. She’d caught the bus. His mood sank and his feet went into autopilot, taking him on a direct course to Winmart.

“Boo!” wearing a radiant smile, Amelia sprang from behind the thick shrubbery. “Did I scare you?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled, fidgeting with the strap on his pack. “You did.”

Something strange happened in his bag. He felt the thing shift its weight, and though he’d already seen the creature move and even talk, it made him unsettled.

He ripped the pack from his shoulders and dropped it on the sidewalk. “I can’t handle this anymore!”

“What, Jack? Handle what?” she continued to smile, though nervously.

He felt the butterflies again. “It’s in my pack.”

“What is?” her grin shrank.

“Oh, man. I thought it was just my imagination at first. I mean, how can this little thing be alive, you know? It just sits there. I mean, it doesn’t move at all. But it does move. I mean, it has moved. It’s done things. It saved my life, really. And there are more of them, at least two, probably even more. I think they live in the store disguised as toys. Why, I can only speculate. It’s perfect camouflage, though. Little cryptids, hiding in plain sight, living right under our noses. They’re like a lost species from the…”

“Jack!” Amelia shook his shoulders. “Slow down, okay? Breathe with me. Relax.”

He copied her, taking a couple deliberate breaths.

She used a serene tone. “There. Doesn’t that feel better?”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “It does. A little.”

“Good. Now let me see what’s got you so freaked out,” she reached for the backpack with surprising speed. She almost had the drawstrings untied, and was close to peeking inside when he reacted, grabbing and choking the bag shut.

“Seriously,” he backed away. “I’ve got to explain something to you first.”

Amelia put her hands on her hips and raised her left brow.

“Do you remember last night when you told me I was going to have a lot of big things happen in my life, and I’ll have historic…what was it?”

“Historic events,” she shifted to the other heel. “I said your life will be distinguished by historic events.”

“That’s right. Do you still believe that?”

“Yes, of course. But what does that have to do with anything?”

“Amelia, I think it’s happening. I think what you predicted is coming true?”

“Already? Listen, Jack. I meant someday…in the future.”

“Well, today does qualify, technically.”

“Jack, I intentionally missed the bus, waited outside, in the rain and wind I might add, and now I get the feeling you’re not being very truthful with me. What’s going on?”

“No, no, no. Please. I’m not trying to prank you or anything like that, believe me. What I have to show you is real. I just want to make sure you’re ready for it, that I’m ready for it.”

“Are you ever going to tell me what the heck you’re talking about?”

He swallowed hard, his gulp plainly audible above the chattering children at the crosswalks, and the last two buses rumbling from the curb.

“You’ve got to promise me. No matter what you see, don’t tell another soul, okay? I mean it. Not another soul.”

“Jack, you’re scaring me.”

“Just promise.”

“Okay, okay. I promise.”

“All right. Do you believe in, well, for the lack of a better term, monsters? Not like werewolves or vampires, but real monsters, animals we have all kinds of anecdotal evidence of, but no proof. Like the Loch Ness Monster, or around here it’s Queenie the River Dragon and Bigfoot.”

“Cryptozoology, yeah,” she answered in a matter-of-fact tone. “I love that stuff. Bigfoot is cool.”

“What if I told you I had one in my backpack right now?”

“A bigfoot?” she frowned. “In there?”

“No, not a bigfoot,” he giggled uneasily. “That would be silly.”

“Oh
that
would be silly?” she snatched the pack and flipped it open. “But not this…”

She reached in the bag, hastily at first. Then she paused and went blank. Obviously she felt something odd. All of her skepticism vanished, the doubting leers replaced by quiet, careful deliberation, as if she was handling a precious artifact.

“This
is
strange, isn’t it? What is this?” cautiously she removed it. “A teddy bear? Uh, no. Look at its hands and feet. See how realistic they are? And what’s with these strange, green markings under its eyes? They’re ridged and colorful, kind of like a mandrill. This is uncanny. Definitely not a normal stuffed animal.”

She examined it further, studying, searching deep into its unresponsive gaze for some kind of clue, a shred of evidence that might have shined light on its origins. Jack was impressed at her thoroughness, how methodically she combed over every inch, something even he didn’t take the time to do.

“It’s so realistic,” she let out a big sigh. “It’s, it’s…” she turned it over and inspected underneath. “Whoa!”

With a quick flinch, she handed the creature to Jack, her skin drained of color.

“That’s
very
realistic!” she professed, then lowered her voice. “Jack, where did you get it?”

“At Winmart. I found it yesterday. Actually, Dillon saw it first. But I’m the one who cleaned it up. It was pretty messy, like someone dragged it through the garbage.”

“Yeah, it does smell kinda funny,” she grinned. “But that’s not what bothers me about it.”

He waited for her to explain what she meant. Instead, in a trance, she continued investigating the creature up and down.

“Amelia,” he said sharply. “What is it?”

“Jack,” she blinked at him. “I think you might be right. I think that thing may be real, that it may be alive.”

“Oh, man,” he felt dizzy. “I was afraid you were going to say that. You really think so?”

“Yeah, yeah I do,” she nodded. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s got, like, skin, and real fingers and toes and…” she lowered her voice to a whisper. “And it can go to the bathroom.”

“What!”

“I know. Weird, huh?” she continued. “But the weirdest part is the feeling I’m getting from him. I’m telling you, when I hold him, and it’s a
him
by the way, I get this really odd sense. It’s like, I don’t know, like he’s trying to communicate with me, with us.”

Jack should have been skeptical. He had every right. Yet he wasn’t. Not even a little.

“I think most people would be saying you’re crazy,” he held up the mysterious little beast. “But they’d be saying the same thing about me. We’re not, though, are we Amelia? We’re not…”

The roar of a powerful motor drowned out his last words.

“Hey, New Girl! You missed your bus. You wanna ride?” Dillon shouted from the backseat of Mike’s older brother’s candy apple red muscle car. Next to him, Mike tried to hold back one of the biggest dogs Jack had ever seen. A Rottweiler. Jack knew by its enormous jaws. And, for some reason, its snarling and barking seemed aimed directly at him.

“No, thanks. I’ll be fine,” Amelia declined politely.

Mike scoffed. “I see. You’re gonna walk home with Jack and his—whatcha got there, Jack? A teddy bear?”

The Rottweiler barked louder, spewing a slimy mixture of foam and snot while Mike feebly clutched its collar.

“That’s none of your business,” Amelia answered for Jack.

“Hey!” Dillon pointed. “That teddy bear was supposed to stay at the store! My mom said!”

“No, Harley!” Mike strained to control his canine. Dillon joined him. The two were no match for its strength. “Down, boy. DOWN!”

Harley shook off his handlers and squeezed his brawny frame through the car window. In two quick, deceptively long strides, it reached Jack, chomped Takota out of his hands and ran, growling and frothing, toward the alleyway behind Winmart.

“NO!” Jack and Amelia shouted in unison. They gave chase, though the dog had an insurmountable lead.

“Harley! Come back! Harley!” Mike jumped out of the Monte Carlo. Dillon followed, moving fast.

Snarling, Harley carried the tiny animal out of sight behind the building. The group of children raced and called for him to come back in unison. He didn’t obey. He was on a rampage for the taste of delicious, exotic meat. Jack heard the angry, ravenous dog back there, rumbling and thrashing. Just before they got into position to see for themselves, the dog let out a short, agonized
YIP!
Then another, louder one. Finally, Harley released one last cry of agony, so tortured it made the kids go from a full sprint to an immediate, dead stop.

“Wha…what was that?” Mike faltered.

“That was your dog, man,” Dillon was trembling. “And he’s in trouble.”

Then the loudest, meanest, most terrifying roar ever uttered made the ground shake. Harley, the formerly voracious Rottweiler, returned, whimpering and running with his tail between his legs. He catapulted past his owner’s welcoming arms, past the rest of the amazed kids, and dove into the Monte Carlo where Wade, Mike’s older brother, waited unaware, bouncing to the
Thump! Thump!
of his car stereo.

The two boys made a beeline for the vehicle, screaming and tripping over each other twice while struggling to get inside. Jack might have thought it funny if he weren’t so scared. Then he found himself running, too.

“Something big’s back there!” he led Amelia to Winmart’s front entrance. “Let’s get my mom, come on!”