In article <Grant-me-that-1509101@Grant.Grant>, +Grant.
<+Grant@grant.grant> wrote:
> The Adventures of Stevie #42
>
> These stories were told to me by friends and other people. Some of them
> are true. Some of them are only partly true. Some of them should have
> been true. LOL
>
> My first post about Stevie ("Call me Stephen!") was when he was 12 and
> in summer camp and was told by another camper. This was from a time
> before computers would fit on a desk and when people communicated with
> friends in other countries by actual letters sent through the postal
> service. When children did this those friends were called "penpals".
> Carlos is Stevie's penpal in Argentina and knows English. This is a
> fictional contrivance to enable Stevie to tell us his stories because
> he isn't here in person. I think.
> All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
> that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
> Stevie's school is for gifted children who don't fit in regular schools.
> The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
> Stevie is 12 in this story. It is Spring of year 2 of his special
> school.
>
>
> The Adventures of Stevie #42 "Gifts Beyond Measure, Part 2"
>
>
> Dear Carlos,
>
>
> After the Temple, we went shopping together. It was more like window
> shopping, but we weren't looking to buy any windows. We just looked
> into them. I felt better when we visited the sports store Mr. Johnson
> owns. The pictures were still on the wall. I looked younger in them
> than I remembered. He was happy to see me. I hugged him hello. I
> introduced my friends to him. I made Jeremy hug him. When it was over,
> Mr. Johnson looked like he had trouble waking up from a good dream. He
> said softly, "Wow." I absolutely positively love it when Jeremy does
> that to people. I love to bring love to people. I hugged pink-faced
> Jeremy's arm to me and whispered to Mr. Johnson, "Keep that gift memory
> in a special place, so you can bring it back whenever you need it, like
> I do." He said "I will. Thank you." The he went into his office and
> brought out a little girl to see us. She was very pretty, and about 5
> years old. "Meet my granddaughter, Margie." I got down on one knee and
> shook her hand, and said to her, "Hello Margie, I'm Stephen. I'm happy
> to know you. Can we hug?" She wrapped her arms around me, and said
> "Hello Stevie." I was thinking "Oh no, not that name again!" Then she
> whispered in my ear, "I like you." That made it alright. Jeremy is the
> best ever, but I'm not too bad at hugging, myself. I have a good
> teacher, and lots of practice.
>
> Margie dragged me back into the office to show me her dolls she had
> with her. To be honest, I was more interested in the big safe I saw,
> which wasn't there the last time I was in the office. It was about 4
> feet tall and on wheels. It had fancy old fashioned paint on it, and it
> was wide open. It had a dial combination lock, with a lever handle
> opener. I recognized the model. Mr. Johnson saw me looking at it and
> told me he just got it from an old jewelry store, and was going to have
> a locksmith look at it, because it was so old nobody knew the
> combination to open it if it closed. Margie was using it for a place to
> keep her dolls in.
>
> Mr. Johnson invited us, me, Jeremy, Zack, and Glena, to dinner with
> him at the Japanese restaurant next door. He asked his clerk to mind
> Margie for him. We went to eat. The girls wouldn't be home till much
> later, and might sleep over at their friends house, so it was okay. I
> like Japanese food very much. I wondered if they served live octopus. I
> would love to see Jeremy's reaction to that. It's just as well they
> didn't have it. You have to have an adult sized throat to eat them
> live, or you choke to death, so I couldn't have it anyway. I helped
> Jeremy learn to use chopsticks. We agreed for him it was a good way to
> go on a diet he didn't need, so he used a fork. That way his food went
> where it was supposed to.
>
> I think you might guess what happened next. I should have known the
> minute I went into the office to see her dolls. I'm supposed to be a
> genius. I was STUPID. REALLY stupid. It was just as much a surprise to
> me as it was to everybody else, when the clerk ran into the restaurant
> to tell us Margie had accidentally locked herself in the safe. We all
> rushed back to the store. The police came. They couldn't get a
> qualified locksmith to come in time to save her. If the lock on the
> safe was working, I could open it. I could get her out. I could save
> her life. They wouldn't let me.
>
> I told the police chief when he came, I could crack the safe. He
> didn't believe me, and yelled at me to get out of his way. He wasn't
> doing anything but walking back and forth, but it looked like that was
> more important to him than saving a little girl. I told Mr. Johnson. He
> was so upset and confused he didn't know what to think. Zack and Glena
> didn't believe I could, either. Only Jeremy believed me. That's what
> love is. Jeremy tried to make the police chief believe me, and tried to
> give him a special card I kept in my wallet which had a phone number he
> should call so he could know the truth about me, and he HIT Jeremy
> across the mouth with the back of his hand and knocked him down! I went
> icy cold and stiff. I pointed at Zack and Glena, and then at Jeremy on
> the floor, to tell them to help him. They did.
>
> I noticed a police who officer didn't like what the chief did. He had
> very big callused knuckles on his hands, which told me he was an expert
> in some fighting art, and he moved his body like a black belt holder
> would. His nameplate on his shirt said "Chang." I was going to use him.
> I didn't really know what I was doing. I was in what fighting experts
> call no-mind. I was reacting from training and something else which was
> deep inside me which knew what I could do, and should do. I made my
> voice extra powerful and sharp and said to him, "Officer Chang! What is
> your first name!" He answered "David," like he couldn't help himself. I
> grabbed his vision with my hand and pointed it at the calendar on the
> door across the room, and said in the same kind of voice I used before,
> "Pick a date!" He said "13th." Everybody was looking at us now. I said
> like an order to David, "Observe and report!" I still had the
> chopsticks in my hands. I put one of them in my right hand, and spun
> around two times, and used my arm like a whip, with some ki to help
> make the chopstick fly away from my hand so fast and hard, it went
> across the room and into the calendar on the not so lucky date he
> announced, and halfway into the wooden door behind it. David's eyes
> almost popped out of his head. He should work on his control.
>
> David went to the police chief and said "Sir, you know what I can do.
> He is better. I vouch for him. I believe he can do what he says. You
> should listen to him. If you get in his way, he can kill you before you
> can blink, and he might just do that anyway, for what you did to his
> friend." While the Chief was getting ready to do something really mean,
> David bent down and picked up my card. He looked it, and his eyes went
> even bigger." He told the Chief, "You REALLY should look at this card,
> or you won't have a job tomorrow." The Chief looked very angry, but
> looked at the card. Then he want all white, and looked at me like I had
> just grown tentacles and lobster claws, and ran to the phone and dialed
> the number on it. I yelled to his back, "Tell whoever answers, 'Code
> 2', and explain the situation, and do what they tell you to do." He
> did. Then he took Mr. Johnson aside and told him privately, "His father
> can open the safe. He can't get here in time. His best student can do
> it. Him." Then he pointed at me like I disgusted him. "We need to do
> exactly as he says, to save your granddaughter. Do you understand?" Mr
> Johnson was confused, but he nodded.
>
> I took command. I went to David and told him, "What I might have to
> do might stress my body beyond what it can normally do. I might need
> more energy fast, or I could die when I'm finished. I need to have some
> sugar ready. Send somebody to bring back for me some soft candy bars
> and some orange juice, in case my blood sugar drops too low. Bring that
> to me in the office, after I give you the rest of my instructions. I
> need absolute quiet to hear the lock mechanism. If that quiet is
> disturbed, I will have to start all over. That will take time we don't
> need to waste. There will be nobody in the office with me but Jeremy,
> and you when you return. Everybody else will move as far away from the
> office door as possible, or go outside the store. Tell somebody you
> trust, to control that situation. Anybody who won't follow your orders
> about this, isn't worth the life of this child. One more thing. Nobody
> is to know anything about my involvement, or there will be SERIOUS
> trouble. Got it?" He said "Yes sir!"
>
> I took Jeremy inside the office with me, and closed the door. I told
> him, "I want you to guard the door. Do not let anybody inside except
> David in a few minutes. Then tell him quietly he will guard the door on
> the inside. Then you will be next to me, so I can be calm and do this.
> I need you. Do you understand? Will you do this?" He looked at me with
> all his love, and said "Yes." I cleared the area around the safe, and
> studied it. I spun the dial. It moved freely. Good. I put my ear next
> to it, and moved the dial again. I could hear what I needed to hear. I
> heard David come in, and Jeremy tell him what I said. Then Jeremy came
> to my side. I could feel his love, and it calmed me. I knew what to do,
> and turned the dial this way and that, listening to it, and learned the
> correct combination. I opened the safe.
>
> Jeremy lifted Margie out and placed her on the floor. She wasn't
> breathing. I breathed into her mouth and nose. I pushed on her chest.
> She still didn't breathe on her own. I listened to hear heart. Nothing.
> I told Jeremy and David "I'm going to do something I never did before,
> or she will die. It might kill me, but not doing it and knowing I
> could, would kill me for sure. Be ready to feed me the sweets if I need
> it. I might be too tired to do it myself. If it works, Jeremy take her
> out her out first, then help me." I didn't look, but I knew Jeremy was
> dripping tears, and David was tense and ready. I put my right hand on
> her forehead, and my left hand on her chest over her heart. I opened my
> third eye real wide, and saw her aura was about to go dark. I took a
> deep breath and reached inside me and took all my energy and pushed it
> into her. I could feel the focus stone helping me.
>
> Margie breathed and woke up. She said "Hi, Stevie." Everything went
> black.
>
> I woke up when David tried to get me to drink the orange juice. It
> went all over my shirt. I wanted to laugh at that, but couldn't make a
> sound. I was so tired. All I wanted to do was sleep, but knew if I did,
> I would die. I drank. I started to feel better. Jeremy came back from
> the door he was guarding after he took Margie out, and switched places
> with David. I couldn't lift my hands to eat the candy bars, so Jeremy
> fed me little pieces at a time, still dripping tears. It was hard to
> chew, but I was getting stronger. Soon I could hold the candy myself. I
> could hear some people wanting to come in the office, but David
> wouldn't let them. I knew I could trust him.
>
> I hugged Jeremy real close, when I was strong enough to. Then I asked
> him to bring David to me, and guard the door. He did. I told David to
> bring in the Chief and Mr. Johnson, and my foster parents, Zack and
> Glena. He did. I told them all, while I was still on the floor resting.
> "What I did here has to be a secret. Even me being here when this
> happened, needs to be a secret. If it isn't, some very bad things will
> happen to good people. David, you might guess why. Chief, you should
> know why now. Mr. Johnson, you can thank me best by keeping me out of
> this. NO publicity. I don't need it or want it, and it would hurt me
> and my family if it happened. Okay? Right now, I'm feeling really
> tired. I need some rest now. Mr. Johnson, you should be with Margie."
> He left to go to her.
>
> I said "Chief, there is something you need to do," and I looked from
> him to Jeremy. The Chief of Police looked like he didn't want to do it
> in front of the other people. I nodded to make him. He shook Jeremy's
> hand, and apologized for doubting him and hitting him. That wasn't
> enough. I said to Jeremy, "Jeremy?" He knew what to do. He hugged the
> Chief. The Chief opened up his eyes real wide, and said "Oh my God! I
> didn't know. I'm terribly sorry! I should be shot!" I said "Not really.
> Anyway, I don't like loud noises." By then I was already standing. I
> smiled at them, and Jeremy smiled too. It was over, and we were not
> enemies.
>
> Before we all left the store, I asked David if he knew Sensei Ninja
> and Tommy. He was surprised, and said he did. I said I would tell them
> how good he was in helping save Margie. I'm glad David is a new friend.
> I think he might like it a little, too, after Jeremy hugged him. Then I
> announced loudly, holding up the single chopstick I had left, "I'm
> hungry! We didn't finish supper. Anybody have another chopstick? I
> think I ruined the other one." We all laughed.
>
>
> Your friend,
>
> Stephen
Action/Adventure!
Well done. You had said previously, you would use something from a
James Bond movie. He used a knife, and deliberately skipped the 13th.
It's good to see Stevie isn't that superstitious. He's cute, too,
unlike Bond.
Your descriptions are sparse when they should be, and detailed when it
would help to add to the realism. The juice on the shirt, is a example
of such realistic detail.
Keep up the good work.
Mover, hungry for live octopus
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