The Cubby Hole (IQ Testing Book 1) (12 page)

I slap the sands. “No, not right. Naw, Teen 0 gets a new set of questions, much easier. Nephella said that each teen gets a chance to advance into the gold color tone for their dream job. In order to do that Teen 0 must be to given a fair chance…”

Duchie frowns. “A fair or fairy chance, Ketona. Teen 0 and Teen 1 were asked the same questions at the same time, inside the same space of the Cubby Hole, in the same color tone. Teen 1 passed. Teen 0 failed. Now, you want Teen 0, who failed the first time, to be given a set of easy questions to attain the next color, when Teen 1 studied her butthole in bright irritating red from sitting for hours and for decades to reach the gold color tone. Naw, the Cubby Hole is both fair and justice. This is an IQ test. You pass or you fail. Period. The end. Good bye…”

Rincon exhales. “Let me finish my illustration. I might be able to address your issue, Ketona. Teen 0 is inside the third box of yellow. Teen 1 has passed into the fifth box of red. Teen 0 is asked the same eight questions so Teen 0 passes then zooms into the fourth box of orange. Teen 1 gets tired of playing inside the fifth box of red so Teen 1 lands inside the Cubby Hole. Teen 1 is asked the same four questions which are harder than the questions from the pink, yellow, orange and red colors. Teen 1 passes and zooms into the sixth box of green. Teen 0 gets tried of playing inside the fourth box of orange so Teen 0 lands inside the Cubby Hole. Teen 0 is asked the same four very difficult questions like Teen 1. Ya know this is the only way to test your strengths and weaknesses while administrating a fair and just test for intelligence. In my illustration, Teen 0 passes and lands inside the fifth box of the red. Teen 1 of the sixth box of green drops inside the Cubby Hole and is asked four questions, so Teen 1 passes and zooms into the seventh box of blue. Teen 0 of the fifth box of red drops inside the Cubby Hole and is asked the same set of questions as offered to Teen 1, so Teen 0 passes and zooms into the sixth box of green. Teen 1 of the seventh box of blue drops inside the Cubby Hole and then nothing happens. Don’t interrupt my illustration. Teen 0 of the sixth box of green drops inside the Cubby Hole then nothing happens. Teen 1 has reached the gold tone color before Teen 0. Within the gold tone color Teen 1 and Teen 0 are both inside the Cubby Hole, wearing their respective shimmering colors. The me-chee will ask one single academic question to both Teen 1 and Teen 0 regardless of their currently shining color shielding. The single academic question is very, very difficult with only one correct answer. If Teen 1 answers the single academic question correctly then Teen 1 gets to pick out his dream job in Colfax and then work it the rest of his life. If Teen 0 answers correctly the single posed question from the same me-chee in the same room then Teen 0 also gets to pick out his dream job in Colfax and then work it the rest of his life. So, the Cubby Hole is both fair and just. Each teen can attain the golden job which is an appropriate nickname,” laughs. “However the single question is very, very difficult within the golden zone. In my illustration all the smart teens dashing through the color chart do reach the gold color tone. If a blue-tinted me-chee chair holding a teen answers incorrectly the single question then the teen gets to pick a job from the below color tone of blue. If Teen 0 of the sixth box of green answers incorrectly the single question then the teen is stuck in the green zone, living and working as a gardener there for life. So the teens having some killing fun right now inside the pink zone can vie for their golden job by answering the dang single academic question with the Cubby Hole…”

Duchie tosses her hands, exhaling. “Then why am I working my brain cells and worrying my nerves about passing into the next color tone?”

Nephella nods and says. “I concur with Rincon’s explanation. Very good, presentation! You’re working your neurons and worrying your nerves, because the percentage of getting the one single golden question absolutely right and correct for that one single golden job is 13.01 percent which represents all the teens since my great-great-great grandfather’s time.”

Marsilla frowns with worry. “The number thirteen is an unlucky like me too,” sobs into her hands.

Rincon chuckles and nods. “Okay the 13.01 percent is correct too. I agree. But that’s because the majority of the teens stay, play and surrender into one of the favored park places or give up trying to compete with the me-chee’s tough academic IQ questions. Then they live out their calculated pitiful destiny like their mamas, daddies, grandparents, cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles,” he stands and claps. “Okay, we have two more color tones to compete and complete, ya’ll. At one minute and 24 seconds each, we can wrap up this thing up in less than three minutes right now, if we all return into the Cubby Hole…”

“Except, I can’t leave until I jump from the cliff. I can’t do it. I just can’t,” sobs Marsilla with tears. She holds her red face.

Nephella fingers Marsilla nods. “See, Rincon has proven my theorem that the Cubby Hole runs on both IQs and fear. The fear paralyzes the teen from advancing into the gold color tone then the fearful teen is stuck living and working in one of the outer cities like before. Colfax can’t employ every single teen or adult so the Citizenship Day is created along with the mechanism of the Cubby Hole. Each teen has plenty chances for both failures and successes within the Cubby Hole. It’s up to the teen to advance based on IQ and personality and drive and ambition and other personal or emotional factors like mama and daddy. This is about fear controlling the teens. The me-chees are making the decisions for the teens without their knowledge.”

“Intelligence is knowledge. My daddy told me.” Rincon nods and assists Ketona to stand. He cuddles her laughing and smiling with happiness.

I frown with worry and fear with sadness. Buffo is trapped within the orange color tone. He can still compete and complete the remaining academic questions then move up the color chart into the next outer town’s pathway not reaching the gold zone with me. However he can also compete in the gold color tone and answer correctly the single most difficult academic question where only 13.01 percent of all teens pass. I count the teens. They are smart consisting of Duchie, Marsilla, Nephella, and Rincon. I believe in my mind that my friends and I will reach the gold zone then answer correctly the single most difficult question then select our dream job.

I believe in my heart something different.

Duchie stands and shakes her ponytail. “I disagree with Nephella. Fear is not the only factor totally controlling the teens. Fun is another emotion influencing the teens. I can prove it.” She turns walking towards the north direction away from the cliff edge.

The teens follow her into the hot sunlight.

Chapter 11

Orange barrier wall

The teens stand and face the orange barrier wall, touching and grunting at the smooth surface.

Rincon touches the wall scanning the height and width of the structure, smiles. “Wow! This is some awesome piece of advanced technology. Is it from our planet?”

Duchie giggles rubbing the wall. “Yeah, we ain’t aliens here. We’re teens.”

Nephella nods and touches the wall too. “This is an electromagnetic wall with charged ions keeping the other teens from climbing up and over into the next color tone. We can’t climb up and over into their park place either. And it doesn’t smash me with deadly electricity either…”

I frown and see Buffo hanging with the other teens inside the corral. The horses are gone but the teens have formed a camp fire. If my acute excellent vision isn’t wrong the teens are roasting food too. I exhale with angry, fear and sadness. I should be there with Buffo. I need to jump from the cliff then load into the me-chee. I will land into the Cubby Hole and fail the next set of questions at 50 percent then I can hug Buffo.

I see Marsilla sitting on the sand playing with the grains. She is too scared to jump from the cliff then will be trapped into the red color tone for the rest of Citizenship Day. I exhale with shared pain. I can’t help her. I can’t jump off the cliff for her either. I scan the sand and trees. The park place is both pretty and pleasant except for the cliff jumping. Actually I’m excited about cliff diving. Rincon did it. If he can do then I can do.

Duchie fingers the wall. “See, the teens aren’t terrorized with ants or spiders or thunder bolts. They’re having fun, tons of fun. Before, they were riding horses around the corral with more fun…”

“How’da ya find the barrier, Duchie?” Rincon asks touching the wall.

I say. “Duchie and I were walking around looking for some of the pretty tan and creamed colored seashells then found it. We bumped into it. We couldn’t miss it. It’s so long and tall and wide…”

Duchie says. “We bumped into it looking for seashells then we forgot all about the seashells. Right, Ketona?”

I nod and glance at her. “Right, Duchie?”

Duchie says. “I like the theory of IQ plus fear to paralyze the silly teens into submission or whatever. But those teens are having a blast with no care in the world inside the orange color tone. And those particular teens have either failed the questions or chosen to remain behind inside the rain storm for some reason. Now we have learned that they didn’t miss the me-chee chair calling either. Every teen has the opportunity to advance through the color chart based on your IQ. However you must overcome you and your buddy’s personal fear element to advance through the color chart or stay entrapped…”

Nephella smiles and nods. “I modify my theory with the IQ plus all the emotions. Everyone knows that logical is not emotional. Emotions are complex and complicated making teens do crazy stuff. So I’m still right. Citizenship Day is based on the IQ and the emotion which is a deadly combination for destiny or disaster.”

Rincon frowns with puzzlement. “There’s no rain storm. I just noted that dramatic absence. Is this truly the original orange color tone?”

Duchie nods. “Yes, it’s truly the orange color tone.”

Rincon frowns with confusion. “Why’s it not raining? Why’s there dry soil and no rain inside the orange color tone?”

“I didn’t know,” I exhale feeling both confused and sadness. I see Buffo laughing and eating. Then he laughs then drinks. Then he laughs and slaps the leg of the boy next to him.

Rincon frowns with confusion then studies Ketona and then views the orange dirt. “Is that…”

I pull him close into my breasts, not wanting the other teens to know that Buffo has failed the questions for the red color tone. He nods in silence.

Duchie touches the wall then her cat suit and then the wall. She slams her body into the wall then back steps. “This is an electromagnetic field.”

“I said that,” Nephella rubs the wall.

Duchie shakes her ponytail. “Naw, my cat suit is also an electromagnetic field, a tiny one. That’s why the material can morph into the matching color of the current park place or lots of dumb teens would get confused. So we can do it,” swings and smiles at Marsilla. She walks to her. “Marsilla, we can adjust your cat suit.”

Nephella frowns with confusion. “No, you cannot,” swings and walks to Duchie and Marsilla.

Duchie kneels in front of Marsilla, smiling and slapping her cat suit. “Yeah, we can. The me-chee is a machine and blind without the computer signals. The cat suit tracks each of the teens. That’s how the me-chee knows which teen has completed all the questions the swiftest. The invisible or in this case colorful charged ions are sent into the me-chee machine via the cat suit. So we can adjust, alter or modify your cat suit, not you…”

Nephella frowns with annoyance. “No, you can’t. We all wear our cat suits because we’re naked underneath.”

Duchie giggles. “Forget her! I like being naked underneath my cat suit but I guess some people don’t like to…like the tattoo girl. She’s got a much lower IQ then me and you too. My idea, you can drop your fearless cat suit off the cliff instead of your frightened body. The charged ions record that schooler teen Marsilla has leaped from the cliff rock then your me-chee chair will activate then you can leave the red color tone…”

Marsilla smiles and sobs. “Really!? Can that really work, Rincon?”

Rincon swings to Marsilla then nods. “Yes, I do believe Duchie has developed a brilliant plan. If not, you will find out when you slide your butthole into the me-chee chair then burn it good,” chuckles with the others.

Duchie assists Marsilla to stand, nodding and smiling. “Let’s go back to the cliff and try out my theory. What have ya got to lose but your cat suit?” She laughs with Marsilla and Nephella. The three girls turn dashing towards the flat cliff.

Nephella says. “I like the idea but the cat suit is also heated with our body temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. If ya stripe off the cat suit then the body temperature will hover probably around 90 or 89 degrees Fahrenheit. The me-chee will get suspicious of the unhealthy gadgets from the cat suit then send another me-chee to investigate…”

Duchie says. “Good problem, new solution. We leave the cat suit on top of the rock cliff and warm it back up to 98.6 Fahrenheit degrees.”

Nephella nods. “Good plan, new problem. The cat suit records some type of heart rate too like a beating heart. I know the sun is hot and heated, not beated,” giggles.”

Duchie giggles. “I know. We use the sea mice.”

Marsilla frowns with confusion. “What sea mice?”

Duchie kicks the tall sea weed near her foot when a little white mouse runs and then hides from her. She giggles. “Sea mice eat the seedlings of the sea grass on top of the cliff. They got a beating heart. We capture about six or so then wrap them into the cat suit then toss the suit from the cliff. The cat suit will record a heated body temperature and a heart rate for the machine,” tosses her hands. “Ta-da!”

Marsilla gasps. “I can’t murder little innocent mice…”

Duchie laughs. “Then you can stay and pray for another supernatural miracle all alone here in the red zone. I think all the smarter teens have gone and are working the questions from the me-chee host…”

Marsilla frowns with disgust. “I don’t wanna touch the mice.”

Nephella says. “I’ll get the mice then help Duchie with the overall sick plan, a true cat and mouse ploy,” giggles with Duchie.

Marsilla frowns with sadness.

I giggle when Rincon grabs my arm.

He cuddles Ketona whispering. “I’m so sorry. I saw Buffo behind the orange barrier wall. I didn’t remember seeing him jump off the cliff either. I landed second right after Marsilla then started instructing the teens how to jump off the cliff…”

Marsilla, Duchie, and Nephella dash away from us towards the cliff.

I slowly walk with Rincon, exhaling. “I wished you had landed first then her fear would have never materialized. But I believe that Duchie’s plan will work to return Marsilla into the Cubby Hole.”

“Duchie’s smart coming from Dookie Town.”

“You shouldn’t use that term. It’s mean.”

Rincon exhales. “You’re mean, Ketona. You found the wayward wall barrier looking for Buffolo. He failed the questions. He failed you. Can’t you see that?”

“No, I can’t.”

“How’s he going to leap out of the orange zone?”

I nod and say. “Nephella told us that everyone gets the chance to test for all the chart colors. Citizenship Day runs through midnight as the me-chee waits on the teens. Buffo can recover beautifully then answer the rest of the academic questions and pass into each color tone. We will share the gold color tone together then we pick our dream job and live here in Colfax. All this has been planned by me and Buffo.”

Rincon smiles. “We have lived beside each other since birth. My mama and your mama are best friends. Hey, we drank from the same cup with our shared saliva until five years old…”

I giggle. “Ugh, don’t remind me.”

“We bathed together until three years old. I remember you naked.”

I giggle. “Ugh, don’t remind me, twice…”

“Me and you belong together, Ketona.”

“I’m marrying Buffo next week.”

“Okay! Will you live in Burrville too? Buffolo cannot resident in Colfax being a farm boy and all. Will you commute home from work then back to work then back to home too? Does the tram run that far out into the outer limits of Colfax?”

I say. “No, Buffo and I have plans and a plan. He’s just a little behind by one color tone. He can catch up with me…and you for the golden job too.”

He exhales. “He answered two questions correct and one question wrong then didn’t answer the last question completely. The fishies question stumped me too. It was clever trick question. Duchie’s correct. The questions are swifter and harder. There are two more color tones before the gold color tone. You answer three questions correctly to advance or answer one correctly to stay or answer two questions wrong to drop down into your destiny. We both saw the consequences of dropping out of sight. Our neighbor friends Hatch and Jara, they didn’t make it into the orange color tone with us. I didn’t see them there with Buffo either. Therefore they will be destined to live and work in Dookie Town too simply because they were lazy with their academic studies. I find the Cubby Hole a fair tool of justice. If you study hard you are rewarded quicker. If you don’t study then you are not…”

“Buffo can pass the next academic questions.”

Rincon nods. “Upon our return into the Cubby Hole vying for the green color tone then we all will be asked the same set of four academic questions including Hatch, Jara and Buffo, of course not in the same space or time. You finally realized why we didn’t see the yellow-colored me-chee chairs of Jara and Hatch.”

I slap his arm, saying. “You could’ve reminded me. I was upset, not thinking clearly. Then Duchie reminded me that Jara and Hatch were inside the yellow color tone, inside a pair of yellow me-chee chairs. Like colors stick together like buddies. This is so simply. We all are reaching for the same color chart of gold. So me and you will go on to the green color tone. Buffo will advance into the red color tone. Me and you will go onto the blue color tone. Buffo will advance into the green color tone. Me and you will reach the gold color tone. Buffo will advance into the blue color tone. Then I wait for Buffo, he and I will answer the single most difficult question and we both advance into the gold color tone like we have planned. Easy!”

Rincon grins. “Easy for you and me! Buffolo might not find it so easy. Buffolo must like riding the horses around the corral like living on a farm. Buffolo looked happy eating food around the camp like a farm setting with the other teens who would be working on the farm too…”

I gasp, stopping. “Ah, naw! We have plans. We’re getting married next week. We’re stepping into the golden color together…”

Rincon cuddles her whispering. “Ketona sweetheart, after all the discussion and the new information exchange. What have you learned?”

I swallow the thick salvia then nod. “I learned that 50 percent failure gets you stuck inside the current color tone. I learned that you must do something physical to get out of the current color tone. And I learned that every teen can advance into the gold color tone if they answer with 75 percent score.”

He nods and says. “Excellent. I have learned those things too. Why is Buffo lingering inside the orange color tone? I assumed you saw him performing a physical activity besides eating more food around the campfire, currently,” when I gasp. Rincon nods. “Tell me! If he is the man of your dreams and you are the woman of his dreams, why hasn’t he landed back into the Cubby Hole and answered the newest set of academic questions and advanced into the red color tone. We are some of the last teens hanging around here waiting for you to jump off that cliff. It’s really fun…”

I nod and smirk. “Buffo might already have done that…” I spin then run back to the wall smashing into the non-burning barrier. I sob and see Buffo dancing with another girl. He smiles and stomps then laughs and claps around the campfire having a good time, without me. I hiccup holding back the flood of tears from my aching heart and worried mind.