The Adventures of Blue Boy, Volume One
The Adventures of Blue Boy
Kaveh L. Afrasiabi
1. Magic Balls from Out of Space
Blue Boy tossed and turned in bed, couldn't sleep with his arms and shoulder still sore from the softball match – that they had lost at the ninth inning because the ball had slipped through his glove and caused him much embarrassment with his teammates.
A shy half-moon was peeking above the clouds, shining through a gap in the curtains. Blue Boy stared at it for a moment before he closed his eyes again and dozed off. There was dead silence. No noise came to his room on the second floor from anywhere inside or outside. The farm was located on a back road and even in day light it was pretty quiet, except the routine noise of the milkman's truck dropping the fresh bottle of milk on the porch every morning
Suddenly Blue Boy heard a noise. He had never heard such a noise that sounded like a quick whip lash. It came from the outside. Perhaps, he said to himself, he was dreaming, but he wasn't. He reached for his glasses that lay on the night table beside the bed. They were new and he was still getting used to the thick lenses, which helped him see things better in the distance. He put them on as he slipped out of the bed and then tip-toed over to the window. But he quickly hid behind the curtain the moment he looked out and saw THREE BRIGHT ORANGE LIGHTS CIRCLING RIGHT ABOVE THE FRONT LAWN.
“Oh my God! What is that? Meteor?!” He mumbled, rubbed his eyes. The flashing lights were now holding still, but then one of them pulled away and sped toward the barn, followed by the other two; they got inside through a crack after circling around a couple of times.
Blue Boy's first instinct was to wake up Sami, his China Sea turtle sleeping under his bed. “Wake up Sami. Something is happening in the barn. We need to go check it out.”
But it was useless and Sami was in deep sleep; only a cannon ball could wake him that late night witching hour. So Blue Boy decided to brave it alone, put on his sneakers and a jacket and then stepped down the stairs so quietly as not to disturb his parents or his younger sister Rachel; once downstairs, he grinned as he could now hear his father's loud snore. When he stepped out on the porch, Blue Boy hesitated for a moment and debated in his head if he should alert his parents -- quickly decided that was premature. The barn was a full fifty feet away from the house and Blue Boy took hesitant steps until he reached its gate, now hearing the happy neigh of the horses, Silverpony and her daughter Silverita, as if they were engaged in some fun game. Opening the gate a jar, Blue Boy was SHOCKED to see the three extraterrestrial balls entertaining the horses by beaming laser lights in rapidly changing colors and playing hide and seek. WOW. MAGIC BALLS, he uttered spontaneously. The balls then went underneath Silverita and lifted her a few feet above the ground, scaring Silverpony at first, but then they gently put the pony back on the ground much to her mother's relief. “Neat mom,” Silverita neighed delightfully. At that point, Blue Boy decided to step in and join the party.
2. The Crystal Balls and the Science Teacher
A few days later, Blue Boy decided to ask Miss Becker, his favorite science teacher, about those strange crystal balls, hoping that she could shed some light on the questions ‘where did they come from? Did they have intelligence’? And, equally important, ‘what were they made of’? After all, Miss Becker was not only a science teacher but also a star gazer and had a big telescope at her home to study the Milky Way Galaxy and beyond. Blue Boy had no idea that there are so many billions of stars in our galaxy alone until the day Miss Becker invited the whole class to her place for a special peek of a passing comet through her rather formidable telescope in her balcony, treating them with cookies and juice.
"Miss Becker. May I say you make absolutely the best cookies in the world," one of the kids complemented her. Afterward, when everyone was leaving, Blue Boy decided to stay behind and reveal his big secret to Miss Becker; the balls were unusually quiet and emitted no light, looking every bit ordinary. "Let’s see," said Miss Becker, examining the balls under a magnifier one after another, each time writing her observations on a note pad.
"Hum, well." She stopped herself with a big frown, paused and then, like someone hit with a new discovery, examined the balls some more.
“That’s strange; I don’t get it,” Miss Becker mumbled as she adjusted her glasses with her eyes fixed on the balls on the desk.
"What is it?" Asked Blue Boy.
"It just seems like all of a sudden they changed their composition. But, no, that's impossible. I must be mistaken."
"I'm sorry teacher. I don't get it."
Miss Becker put down the magnifier and held one of the balls under the light for a closer inspection and then turned her face toward Blue Boy and said, "Well, this one for example. It’s very, how shall I say it, ductile.”
“Doctile?!” Blue Boy repeated her, not knowing its meaning.
“Yes; when something is capable of substantive deformity or change, we call it ductile. You see, a minute ago, I was one hundred percent sure this one is arsenic. You know, the kind they put in electronic devices. The French painter Van Gogh was crazy about it. Its crystal system is called rhombohedral and easily detectable with the dark grey color. But now, on second look, it appears to be more like Galena, you know, the kind you find in batteries, or pipes and even paints."
"I see. What about the other two?"
"Let's use the microscope; follow me." They went to the study room and Miss Becker carefully studied the balls under the microscope, adjusting the bottom platform to fit them. She then compared her notes and shook her head in total disbelief.
"Haha. Where did you say you got these, Blue Boy?"
"Oh, I found them in a ditch by the river."
"I see," said Miss Becker, pointing at her note pad. "You see, I wrote Slate for this one, smooth operator with crisp evenness, although they are known for their flat surfaces, which makes it very unusual. But, look here, it keeps changing its character and now it fits the molten maniacs known as Obsidian, the kind we use for surgical blades.” She paused and then continued, “Okay, let's look at the third one now, shall we?"
Again, Miss Becker was up for a major shocker. The third Martian ball too could change its composition faster than Miss Becker could write her finding.
"My God, this is unbelievable. This one is a Hermatite, the kind they've found in Mars and some of the oldest rocks on earth. It has a crystal system we call hexoganal, but the best way to test it is to crush it."
"Oh no Miss Becker. Please don't do that," Blue Boy pleaded.
"I won't Blue Boy. I'm just saying if we wanted to get to the bottom of it, that's the only way. Here, let me show you." She turned on her computer and searched for Hematite and then read loudly, "It comes dressed in metallic gray with a soft sheen or as gleaming six-sided crystals."
Blue Boy nodded his head and asked, "But was this your first or second observation?"
"Second," Miss Becker answered and, then threw her hands in the air. "I have never seen anything like this in my life. How can I be so mistaken? You see I wrote Flint after the first look, for a simple reason. People call it Flinty, a hard and pitiless rock, you know, the kind they used in flintlock muskets back during the Civil War. Nowadays you find it everywhere, in limestones, walls and houses."
"Maybe you should look again one last time Miss Berker, just to make sure?" Blue Boy insisted.
"Good idea, let's." But a couple of minutes later, Miss Becker was so perplexed by her new finding -- all three now had an entirely different composition, all looking like Mica, that she felt she was hallucinating. "I need a glass of water. Do you want some?"
"No thank you."
Miss Becker left the room and returned a minute later holding a glass of water, finished it, sat down and stared at the balls for a second shaking her head in amazement.
"Guess what Blue Boy? They are all the same now. Can you believe it?"
"I don't understand. What do you mean?"
"Mica. They are all Mica now, made of monoclinic crystals, the type that won't melt in a fire. Absolutely stunning."
At that point, Blue Boy saw through the window his mom’s car approaching, grabbed the balls and prepared to leave. "That’s my mom. Well, thank you for doing this Miss Beker. Bye." He then ran out, leaving Miss Becker with a head full of mystery!
“So, how was it? Did you get to see a lot of stars?” His mom asked the moment Blue Boy got inside the car.
“Yeah. It was fun. I love Miss Becker. She is so knowledgeable. She also knows all about rocks and minerals mom,” Blue Boy answered.
“I see,” his mom said and then jokingly added, “Maybe I should show her the diamond ring your dad gave me years ago, to see how much it’s worth nowadays?”
Suddenly Blue Boy felt some shakiness in his pocket, put his hand inside and immediately felt something new about those balls, peeked inside and immediately burst into a laughter when he saw THREE HUGE ROUND DIAMONDS, PERHAPS EACH WORTH A MILLION.
"Not funny. Quit playing around guys," he ordered them and the balls obeyed, morphing back into simple crystal.
"Who are you talking to Blue Boy?"
"No one, mom. Just talking to myself."
She shook her head with a tinge of surprise, then started singing, from her favorite Elvis Presley movie Jailhouse Rock, "Whatcha gonna do? Buy yourself a diamond ring?"
Blue Boy smiled and asked his mom what she was singing?
"Oh, you're too young to understand. When you grow up, you'll know."
“If you’re so smart mom, then tell me what the word ductile means?”
His mom laughed, “Haha, ductile? Like duck tape?”
“You’re silly mom; you see I gotchaya.”
3. At the Restaurant
"Hurry up Blue Boy. We're going to a Chinese restaurant for Rachel's birthday," his mother said when Blue Boy returned home from school. "Can I come, can I come?" Samy the turtle quickly sounded from top of the stairs and, of course, that was out of the question. An hour or so later, however, when everyone got in the car, Blue Boy noticed his coat's pocket was kind of heavy -- with the three Martian balls that he had just unloaded on his desk a few minutes ago.
"Oh my God," Blue Boy whispered to himself and was about to ask his dad to stop so he could run to the house and put those troublemakers back in his room, but the car was already on the road and it was too late. Rachel had never been to a Chinese restaurant and was all excited.
When they entered the Chinese restaurant, the hostess directed them to a round table that rotated slowly and had a small light under the big tray in the center.
"Fire," Rachel screemed and that was enough for the Martian balls to feel alarmed and fly out of Blue Boy's pocket to the rescue. One of them immediately picked up a pitcher and emptied it on the tray to put out the light and then the other two powered up the tray and threw it out of the window, into the street right in front of a passing automobile that came to a sudden screeching halt.
"Oh my God. What is happening?" The manager rushed in when he heard all the commotion; by then the balls were safely back in Blue Boy's pocket.
"I am so sorry. It was an accident," Blue Boy's mom tried to explain.
"Accident?! But how?!"
"Well, kids. We better get going," Blue Boy's dad ordered.
"But I'm hungry mom," Rachel complained.
"Here, take this fortune cookie for now," her mom said. A minute later, they were all back in the car and driving away.
"Blue Boy. What are those things? You should have left them at home."
"I’m sorry dad. It's just they get kind of nervous when Rachel said fire."
"Well, then they must learn to behave at restaurants."
"One hundred percent I agree with you dad."
At that point, Rachel had finished the fortune cookie and wondered what the little slip said.
Her mom read it aloud. "It says: Do not leave home with your pets or toys --ever."
Of course that was not what it said
4. At the Museum
At the museum of science for a class tour with the science teacher, Miss. Becker. Both Samy the China Sea turtle and mousy wanted to go too with Blue Boy but he knew that would spell trouble and firmly said no. "Not fair Blue Boy." For once the two of them agreed! But the three crystal balls quietly slipped in his backpack and Blue Boy had no clue until they got off the bus and entered the museum in a single file.
"Now listen very carefully. Don't wonder around. Stay together and don't touch anything either, okay?" Miss. Becker ordered and the whole class chanted, "yes maam" A few minutes later, however, the sight of an old airplane hooked to the high ceiling caught the attention of Blue Boy. "Neat. Look at that," he said to one of his classmates, pointing upward. "I wish I could see the cockpit though." Well, Blue Boy would have never expressed that wish if he knew who was listening -- the Martian balls that were now getting kind of antsy in his backpack.
"Alright. Let's move to the next hall," Miss. Becker ordered and then noticed some of the kids whispering among each other. She looked at the group to make sure they were all there and noticed Blue Boy missing, asked, "Where is Blue Boy? Has anyone seen Blue Boy?"
One of the kids stepped forward. "He's up there," he said, pointing at the ceiling. Miss. Becker looked up and at first didn't see anything. "Where? What are you talking about?" The kid had seen Blue Boy suddenly lifted quickly up to the ceiling a few minutes ago, kept pointing at the old airplane and said, "there." At that point, Miss. Becker put her driving glasses on to see better and, sure enough, saw Blue Boy waiving at his friends from inside the cockpit. "Oh my God. How did he get up there?!"
"Well, You know Blue Boy."
"Blue Boy come down here NOW," Miss. Becker screamed. "But no wait. Don't move. Just stay there, you hear me?" She then ordered the kids to stay put and ran to get some help. When she returned with a couple of museum staff completely agitated, Blue Boy was already down mingling with his friends. Miss. Becker didn't know what to say to the staff, who left after asking, "Is this the boy?"
"Blue Boy. This is totally unacceptable. What were you doing up there?"
"Where?"
"Up there. I saw you."
"But Miss. Becker. I just had to run to the restroom, don't know what you're talking about!"
"One of these days Blue Boy, one of these days you’ll get into real trouble.”
5. At the Department Store
After learning that Blue Boy had taken the crystal Martian balls to the museum with him, Samy the turtle was jealous and insisted that it was his turn and, so, when Blue Boy said that he was going to the neighborhood department store to buy his little sister a birthday gift, Samy quietly slipped in his backpack and put on the mask that he had won in a card game with the balls and were magical. As soon as he put it on, Samy became invisible. "Swell."
But, when Blue Boy was going to pick a pink blouse for Rachel at the store, Sami yelled from behind his neck, "Oh, not that one Blue Boy, don't like it."
"Sami?! You shouldn't be here. No animals allowed."
"Don't worry Blue Boy. I have my mask on."
"Okay then, keep quiet Samy, Someone has noticed us."
It was one of the clerks who was wondering who Blue Boy was talking to.
"What do you have in your backpack? May I see?"
"Sure," said Blue Boy and let the clerk unzip his backpack and look inside it.
"I told you nothing."
"Okay. You can go." But a minute later, Samy was directing Blue Boy's attention to a nice dress for Rachel when the same clerk was walking around and heard them.
"Alright. What is going on here? Let me see your backpack again," he ordered.
"As you wish," said Blue Boy and put his backpack on the counter, but this time the clerk went one step further and put his hand inside to search, not trusting his eyes. And that was a BIG MISTAKE, Samy got a good bite at his index finger.
"Ouch. What do you have here?" The clerk ran to get the manager and before he returned Blue Boy made sure that Samy was out of the backpack and hiding under a clothes rack nearby.
"Alright let me see. What kind of pet you have in there boy?" The mean-looking manager asked and Blue Boy answered, "Nothing sir. See for yourself."
Sure enough there was nothing in the backpack and the manager after searching it thoroughly looked at the clerk and asked, "Are you sure? There 's nothing here."
"But there must be. Look at my finger," said the clerk, still in pain.
"I'm sorry boy. You can go now."
"Thank you sir."
But on the way out, just as Blue Boy was going through the revolving door, Samy removed his mask and peeked out, saw the clerk in the distance and waved goodbye at him. The clerk was speechless and his jaw dropped, wanted to say something but chose not to and simply waved back, with his sore finger all wrapped up, smiling.
6. The Unexpected Guest
"Hi Blue Boy. Guess what? We have a special guest today?" Samy the turtle rushed to tell Blue Boy the moment he got off the school bus.
"Really? Who? My cousins?"
"Oh no."
"Who then?"
Samy paused before answering, "Well, it's a secret."
"I see." Blue Boy then entered the house and was greeted by his mom from the kitchen, was about to ask about the "guest" when Samy grabbed his pants and said, "No Blue Boy. I told you it's a secret -- in your room."
Blue Boy picked up Samy and stared into his little eyes. "In my room?! What are you up to Samy?" Then he ran upstairs but before he entered his room, Samy pleaded with him to be quiet -- "She's sleep."
Blue Boy put Samy down on the floor and then noticed something jittering under his blanket spread in the middle of the room, approached it cautiously and pulled the blanket to the side and saw A BABY CROCODILE sucking milk from Rachel's baby bottle. He stepped back in fear with his jaw dropped.
"My God Samy. What is this? You brought a crocodile here? How? Where did you find it?"
"We found her by the river Blue Boy. Poor kid is lost. A mean dog was barking at it, so we, I mean me and the balls, decided to airlift it here through the window."
"This is crazy. If my mom finds out or see it she's faint."
Samy hissed him to lower his voice. "Just for a couple of days Blue Boy, can't you see she's shivering?"
"You're such a troublemaker Samy. Sometimes I think you're even worse than those Martian balls." He then decided to let the baby croci to stay one night. "Just tonight, and tomorrow we take her back to the river, no question asked." Samy agreed.
But then, throughout the night, Blue Boy was too scared to got to sleep, knowing a fairly sizable crocodile was only a few feet away; he peeked under his bed and saw that Samy was sound sleep. Then suddenly Blue Boy noticed that the croci's tale had grown longer in the space of a few hours; he looked at his watch on the night table. It was past ten thirty, perfect time to return the uninvited guest back to nature.
A few minutes later, Blue Boy was heading toward the river, carrying the blanket that had the baby croci wrapped inside it, followed by Samy. Half way through, however, they ran into a couple of neighborhood rough kids.
"Hey. What you got in there?" One of them demanded to know, pointing at the blanket.
"Nothing," said Blue Boy.
"Really? Let me see."
Blue Boy wanted to resist but Samy whispered, "That's okay Blue Boy. Let him."
"Okay, as you wish. But I wouldn't if I were you."
The kid, who was bigger and taller than Blue Boy, ignored Blue Boy's warning and pulled the blanket only to see THE WIDE OPEN JAWS OF A CROCODILE. He screamed in fear and, shouting "it's a crocodile" repeatedly, ran away, followed by his friend. Blue Boy and Sami burst into a long laughter. A few minutes later, they dropped the baby croci by the river and promised to visit her often. As a show of her appreciation, the moment the baby croci got in the water, splashed some water on them.
On the way back home, Blue Boy laid down the new rule for Samy.
"From now on Samy. No more uninvited guests, you got that?"
"Yes Blue Boy."
7. A Run to the Dentist
But that was not the end with the baby croci and, a couple of weeks later, when Blue Boy returned home from school was greeted by Samy and his sister Rachel with the news that the baby croci is in trouble again; by then Rachel too had seen babi croci and was fond of her to the point that she kept treating her with baby milk from her bottle.
"What kind of trouble? Did she eat a neighbor?"
"No, no such thing Blue Boy," said Samy and was interrupted by Rachel. "She has a bad tooth, is crying all the time."
"I see. Well, what can we do? We're not dentists."
Samy jumped on the word dentist. "Yes Blue Boy, she needs a dentist."
But how? There was no animal clinic around and certainly no dentist for a crocodile. Suddenly, Blue Boy thought of something.
A few hours later, they were all on a mission -- to get the baby croci to their family dentist. They placed the baby croci inside Rachel's baby carriage, wrapping some rope around her jaws to keep her quiet, and pretended that it is a toy.
Once they entered the dentist's office, Blue Boy approached the secretary and told her that they need to see the Dr. Simon immediately for just a couple of minutes. "You see my sister is crying. She's got this special toy, a baby crocodile and thinks it has a bad tooth. So please, just for a minute."
The secretary then dialed the doctor and was told it is okay to let them in.
"My my. What do we have here Blue Boy," said Dr. Simon the moment they entered. The kids placed the baby croci on the table and removed the rope, with Blue Boy whispering to her, "be calm. He's here to help you."
"It looks so real," said Dr. Simon as he was about to inspect the bad tooth when, all of a sudden, BABI CROCI GRABBED HIS HEAD.
Blue Boy and Rachel jumped to action and shouted at babi croci to let go of the poor doctor, whose legs were now flailing in the air. Finally, babi croci let go and Dr. Simon sat on a chair, straightening his hair and looking like someone who was about to have a heart attack. Blue Boy grabbed some water for him to calm him down, at the same time admonishing babi croci. "Look what you did to the nice doctor, now apologize." Babi croci nodded her head shyly.
A few minutes later, Dr. Simon was done pulling the bad tooth and babi croci was all smiles. On their way out, however, Dr. Simon had the last word. "Please kids. Next time you need a dentist, go to a pet clinic."
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