Chapter 7
They had more difficulty finding the hut than they thought. There were a few broken twigs and crushed grass here and there. And, they felt a bit like Hansel and Gretel as they followed that path until they saw the outside walls of the hut with the opening in the middle of it. Why hadn’t they seen the outside walls of the dome-shaped hut before? But, as they had approached the hut the first time, they’d focused on the panel of colored lights through the opening with the Professor standing in front of it. Since, the color of the hut was somewhere between tan and gray, it blended in very well with its surroundings. Perhaps that’s why they hadn’t seen it.
They weren’t about to get trapped in this thing again, so after they set the boy down gently on the floor, they dragged in a small log and rammed it in the opening. That accomplished, they set about locating food and water. The boy looked thin and pasty, so they needed to find something for him to eat first. After that, they would clean the wound and look for antiseptic cream. Then, they’d have to decide what to do with him.
As the children opened drawers, they found rather mysterious, oddly shaped objects, but none of them resembled food, so they shut them and moved on. As they rummaged through bins for supplies, the boy opened his eyes halfway and watched. He turned his head and looked around. His mind was already in a heightened state of fear, hunger, and worry, and this place added curiosity to the other emotions. He swiveled his head towards the door, but knew he didn’t have the strength to outrun anyone, so he lay still and waited.
Surprisingly, the children found a rather large quantity of food and dumped it onto the table. Most of the food looked like granola bars or packaged dried fruit and nuts. Even though there weren’t many water bottles they grabbed two for the boy.
They noticed a large plastic container with a word they couldn’t pronounce. Reece drew the plastic container closer to her eyes and read the words at the bottom. “Hm,” she said then read the words again. “I think these pills are for purifying water.”
“Purifying water?” Sean frowned as he thought. “I remember somebody going on a long family camping trip. They took something like that so nobody would get sick from drinking water from the lake.”
“There’s no water faucet here,” said Reece giving the hut a quick look around. “But, why would the Professor need these pills? There’s a gazillion places to get water around here.”
But, while the children continued to ponder the need for water purification pills, the boy raised himself to a sitting position. He stumbled to his feet, grabbed one of the granola bars off the table then crumpled to the floor again. Reece and Sean wheeled around and watched the boy turn the granola bar in his hand for a few seconds then tear off the wrapper. He drew it to his nose and sniffed, then bit off a corner. He didn’t wait to swallow the first bite to shove another large bite into his mouth. Before he swallowed that bite, he rammed the rest of the granola bar into his mouth. Large crumbs spouted from his mouth and drifted to the floor, but he quickly scooped them up and deposited them back into his mouth. While he chewed, he eyed the other granola bars lying on the table. He glanced at the other two kids then reached out grabbed two more and began to eat them as well. Sean offered him a water bottle, and he took it. But, he looked oddly at it. So, Sean gently took the bottle from him and twisted off the cap then gave it back.
The boy took a sip and swallowed, then gulped down half of it before shoving more of the granola bar into his mouth. While he drank and chewed, he kept his eyes riveted in Reece and Sean’s direction. He didn’t actually look at them, but he rapidly shifted his eyes back and forth at the floor in front of their feet.
The children watched him in awed fascination. Part of their conscious minds were horrified that he was so hungry. But, the other part was a bit grossed out that he was so hungry he could eat food off the floor. Yet, their unconscious minds didn’t register the fact that he tested common ordinary things before eating or drinking them like he’d never seen them before.
“He doesn’t seem to be chewing much,” Sean said, watching the boy shove more food into his mouth.
“What’s your name?” asked Reece.
“James,” he mumbled through the food. But, that caused more bits of food to crumble to the floor and he quickly scooped them up shoving them back into his mouth.
“James what?” she pressed.
James stopped chewing and frowned. “Just James.”
Now Sean frowned. “You don’t know your last name?”
“Maybe Walker. Yeah, I guess I’ll keep Walker.”
“You guess you’ll keep Walker?” said Sean. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody not know his name before. You live here in the woods, right?”
James shoved more food into his mouth. “Yeah, what’s wrong with that? “
Reece tilted her head to the side as she stared at this strange boy. “But most people live in a house or an apartment or something.”
James looked at them steadily for the first time. He had startlingly blue eyes which contrasted with his dark matted hair and pale skin. “Well, I live in the ‘something’. And, I never said I didn’t know my last name, I just said I was going to keep it.”
“Why?” both children said at once then Reece added. “But, why would you want to change it?”
James stopped chewing for a few seconds and dropped his head. “I don’t want to, but I might have to.”
Surprised at this answer, the children fell silent for a moment both thinking the same thing. Was he considering changing his last name, because he was running from the police?
“But, why do you live in the woods rather than in a house?” asked Reece.
“It’s safer in the woods.”
Sean started to laugh until he realized that James was being serious. “How could it be safer in the woods than in your own home with your family?”
James’ reaction was exactly the same as before. He stopped chewing and dropped his head. “No family.”
Both children stared at the boy who had no family, no home, thought of changing his last name, and lived in the woods. They were speechless, but then Reece attempted another line of questioning. “Where do you go to school?”
“School?”
Reece sighed. Why were all their questions answered with another question rather than an answer? “Yes, as in where you have teachers and learn how to read.”
“I don’t go to school.”
“You don’t go to school?” asked Reece.
“No, it’s too far to walk.”
“Too far to walk?!” Sean nearly shouted. “All you have to do is get on the bus. It probably goes right past your house.” Except, James had no house.
James looked puzzled. No, he actually looked dumbfounded. “Get on the bus?” he murmured.” For a full minute, he stopped eating and stared at the floor, while the other children stared at him. Both sides were utterly mystified but for different reasons.
Sean tried to make sense out of what was happening. Perhaps this boy was very tall for his age but too young to go to school. “How old are you?”
A deep line furrowed the boy’s brow.
“This is not a hard question,” said Reece trying to keep her voice gentle, but really, what was the deal with this kid. “We just want to know how old you are. Like when’s your birthday?”
They could see James swallow as he thought. “Uh, sometime in the spring. And I’m about,” he thought a little longer. “Ten. . .no, eleven, I think.”
It was another eyebrow-raising moment for the children. First, they were shocked that he didn’t go to school. How did he get away with that? Their second shock was that he wasn’t sure about his birthday or age. Even a toddler had that nailed down. The final shock was that, although he was older than Reece by a year or two, he was significantly smaller in every way. Yet, he had obviously developed survival skills that were far beyond either of the children. But, then, they didn’t live in the woods and have to eat berries or
steal food to stay alive.
James became aware of the children’s curious stare and his chewing slowed down. He’d answered their questions absently not really thinking about what he was saying, because he was so preoccupied with the food. Now, he studied them under lowered lids evaluating his next move. He stretched his muscles feeling stronger and more secure. He glanced at the remaining food, then scooped it up and raced for the door. He was weaker than he thought, so it wasn’t much of a challenge for the children to catch hold of him and drag him back inside. In the scuffle, they managed to shift positions so that they were nearer the door and James was on the inside.
“What is it with you?” Reece demanded.
Sean, being equally disgusted, added. “Look, it’s just food. You can have more. We just want to help you. Why do you want to run away?”
“Just food,” James muttered with a loud, nearly hysterical laugh. “’It’s just food’.” He pressed the food to his chest and stared over the children’s shoulders at the door. He thought about clawing his way between them, but they were stronger. He was trapped.