Tag: stories

Isaac’s Adventures Underwater: Chapter Ten

Posted on by

Where had he been before? He remembered water. Nothing more.

“What are you doing here?”

Isaac turned and his heart jumped. There was someone right next to him. How did he miss that? “What?” he asked.

“Why are you here?” the boy asked again. He was just as tall as Isaac, but his legs were furry and he had two bumps on his head, just where his forehead met his hair. His feet didn’t look the same as Isaac’s either.

Isaac thought for a moment. “I don’t remember. I don’t even remember my name.”

“That’s normal here.”

It was a little scary, not being able to remember anything. Did he hit his head? He nervously patted his head, his arms, his legs. All was fine, until something made a crinkling noise. He found something folded and flat and covered in markings. What was it for?

“What’s that?” the boy asked. “Can I see it?” He held out a hand.

Isaac handed him the paper. “I don’t remember what it is.”

“I think I’ve seen something like this before, but I don’t remember when.” The boy gave it back to Isaac.

Isaac folded it up and put it away. “Why can’t I remember?”

The boy laughed. “No one can. Not here. We have to go that way.” He pointed towards a darkly shadowed path.

Isaac didn’t like the look of it. “Why that way?”

“To remember. It’s too bad you don’t remember why you’re here. Sometimes people remember.”

“What people?” Isaac asked, looking around.

“I don’t remember.” The boy started walking. Isaac followed him.

Isaac wasn’t sure why he felt nervous when he couldn’t see well. Would he know when he could remember? “What am I scared of?”

“I don’t know,” the boy said. “If I can’t remember me, I certainly won’t be able to remember you.”

“Will you remember me when we can remember?”

“Will I remember what?”

“Will you remember the things I’ve forgotten?” Isaac asked. He couldn’t remember if that was normal or not.

“Not here and not there, but maybe somewhere,” the boy said. “Who knows?”

“Are you scared?” Isaac asked.

“No.”

“Oh.”

“I remember… I remember that I like to laugh. Can you remember anything funny?” the boy asked.

“No.”

“Okay.”

They walked a little further through the patches of light and darkness, stumbling over small obstacles and skirting around larger ones. The patches of light grew larger and larger. Suddenly, Isaac remembered. “Orange you glad I didn’t say banana,” he said suddenly.

“What?” The boy looked confused.

“It’s a joke. My name is Isaac, and I’m looking for a party, and I remembered a joke.” He grinned and looked at the boy. “Are you a goat-boy?”

“I’m a faun, not a goat-boy. My name is Timmons. Your joke isn’t very funny, you know.”

“That’s because it wasn’t the whole joke. Just the ending. That’s what I remembered first,” Isaac said. “The joke really is funny. Well, it might not be as funny if you already know the ending.”

“You’re not very good at telling jokes. You should tell the beginning first and save the ending for last.”

Isaac felt his face heat up with embarrassment. “I know that. If you’re so good at telling jokes, you tell one.”

Timmons shrugged. “Fine. Why did the doe give the faun an umbrella?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“In case of reindeer.” Timmons laughed.

Isaac looked confused. “I don’t get it.”

“Well I won’t explain it to you. That ruins the joke. Maybe you’ll get it later.” The faun stopped walking and turned to face Isaac. “Unless you’re looking for a party of one, your party isn’t here.”

“How do you know?”

Timmons smiled. “I can remember things here, outside of the jungle, and I know you’re the only new person I’ve seen here in a while. I think I would have noticed a party.”

Isaac took the map out of his pocket. There were now three islands marked with an x. “Do you know how to get to another island?”

Timmons looked at the map. “When the tide is low, you can walk over to that island on a sandbar.” He pointed to an island at the center of the map with a picture of two houses.

“When will that be?” Isaac looked out at the water. It looked just as deep here as it did anywhere else.

“In the evening. Would you like to come to my house for lunch while you wait?”

Suddenly, Isaac was starving. “I’d love to. I can tell you some jokes while we wait.”

The faun smiled. “That sounds like fun. As long as you remember to start at the beginning first.”

“I told you that I know how to tell jokes!”

Timmons laughed. After a moment, Isaac laughed too.

The Riddle Game

Posted on by

It was Grak’s turn to travel to the surface to check the position of the stars. He grumbled low in his throat at the thought. But, there was no sense in putting it off. He grabbed the bag with all the notebooks and started up the path.

Hours later, he had finally finished his observations. His eyes were watering and his head ached. Why did the stars have to be so bright? It was unnatural. He shoved the last notebook into the bag and scratched behind his horns, claws catching for a moment in his fur. It was time to go home.

He hurried back into the cave and slipped through the door at the back. He leaned against it for a moment and then slid down to sit back against it with a sigh. He kept his eyes closed for a long moment, until the headache was mostly eased.

When he opened his eyes again in the familiar darkness, he was face to face with a tiny human carrying a light brighter than the stars. Ouch. He growled in pain.

The human dropped the light, and it went out. How considerate. Humans really were delightful. The last human he’d met, centuries ago, had known so many interesting riddles. Perhaps it was a human custom?

“Do you know any riddles?” he asked.

“I…I think so,” the human said hesitantly.

“Excellent. Have you heard this one? There are three gems on a table. You take two away. How many gems do you have now?”

There was a long pause. “Two?”

Grak smiled. “That’s right! Your turn.”

“How far can a deer run into a forest?”

Grak thought for a moment. “Only halfway. Then he’s running out again. Clever. Here’s a classic. Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it you’ll die. What is it?”

The human began muttering quietly to himself. “Nothing. It’s nothing,” he finally said. “I guess it’s my turn again. What can you hold in your right hand, but not your left?”

Hmmmmm. Good one. “Your left hand. My turn. Many have heard me, but no one has seen me. I will not speak back until spoken to. Who am I?”

The human shuffled, then paced. He suddenly stopped and turned. “An echo.” He smiled. “I have the perfect riddle. Never resting, never still. Moving silently from hill to hill. It does not walk, run or trot. All is cool where it is not. What is it?”

Grak thought for a while. He considered all the riddles he’d ever heard or told. He thought about the world above and the world below. “I don’t know. What is it?”

“It’s the sun,” the human said.

The sun. He’d heard of its horrors. It was bright enough to strike anyone blind who dared to look upon it. He shivered.

“So, I win then?” the human asked. “You couldn’t answer it.”

“It wasn’t really a contest, but you did tell me a riddle I couldn’t answer.” Ah, humans. Apparently they were as competitive as ever.

“Then I can leave and you won’t eat me, right?”

“What?” Grak looked around. Oh. He was sitting in front of the door, wasn’t he? How embarrassing. “Yes, of course. You can go now.” He stood up and shuffled out of the way.

The human darted forward and tugged on the door. Grak reached around him and pulled it open. The human looked up warily. “Thank you,” he said.

“You are welcome to come again,” Grak said hopefully. “I’d love to trade more riddles.”

The human shook his head and gripped the straps of his pack tightly. He stepped quickly around the door and started running. Grak squinted and watched him go for a moment, before closing the door.

It was sad that he’d probably not see the interesting human again. But Grak cheered up when he thought about the new riddles he had to tell. He picked up his bag and hurried down the path towards home.

Charlie’s Room: The Bad Day

Posted on by

“I had a bad day today,” Charlie said at bedtime.

Isaac closed the dinosaur book and put it in his lap. “Really? What happened?”

“Well, my lucky socks were in the wash…” Charlie sighed.

“That does explain the surprise thunderstorms.”

“Right? And that meant that we couldn’t go swimming. And my shoelace broke when I was tying my shoes, so we didn’t go to the bug museum because I don’t fit into my boots anymore. Mom said I couldn’t wear my slippers or my nice shoes either.”

Isaac nodded. “That does sound disappointing.”

“It was. And the only cereal left at breakfast was that one that tastes like cardboard.”

“The healthy one?” Isaac leaned forward. “Don’t tell your mom, but I don’t like that one either.”

Charlie huffed. “It’s gross. I don’t like it at all.”

“What else happened?”

“At lunch I dropped my macaroni and cheese in my lap. After I cleaned up, I had to have a peanut butter sandwich instead. And I tripped when I was putting my plate in the sink and my fork scratched me. And you came home late. It was just a bad day.”

“Did anything good happen today?” Isaac asked.

“Not really.”

Isaac waited for a moment.

Charlie sighed. “Well, I drew a dinosaur picture, and Mom said we could send it to Great-Aunt Bethyl.”

“I’d like to see it. What did you draw?”

Charlie sat up. “It was a tyrannosaurus rex. He was holding balloons. Do you think a dinosaur could fly if they were holding lots and lots and lots of balloons?”

Isaac smiled. “I think it’s possible. What did you have for dinner?”

“Spaghetti.”

“Pasta twice in a day?” Isaac raised an eyebrow.

“Mom let me pick because of the macaroni spilling on me.”

“You love spaghetti.”

Charlie grinned. “It’s my favorite.”

“Well, that’s good,” Isaac said.

Charlie’s grin immediately fell. “But you were still late coming home, Dad.”

Isaac tapped his fingers on the book in his lap once, then twice. “Yes I was. Sometimes that happens.”

“But I was having a bad day, and I wanted you to be home.” Charlie was scowling now.

Isaac sighed. “I would much rather be at home with you always, but part of growing up is learning to think long term.”

“What do you mean?”

Isaac thought for a moment. “Well, what would happen if you and mom never pulled weeds in the garden?”

Charlie looked at the window. The summer sunlight was painting everything golden as the sun began to set. “The weeds would get bigger and bigger. There wouldn’t be enough water and sunlight for the good plants.”

“Do you like weeding?” Isaac asked.

“Not really. But it doesn’t take too long if we do it everyday,” Charlie said. “And it’s nice to know I’m taking care of the plants.”

Isaac nodded. “Lots of things are like that. You brush your teeth so that you don’t get cavities. You wash your hands before you eat so you don’t get sick. When you’re a grown up, you can think about the possible outcomes for lots of different things, so you can make better decisions, even when that’s hard.”

“What would happen if you came home on time?”

Isaac smiled. “I wouldn’t have everything ready for tomorrow, and maybe I could lose my job.”

Charlie frowned. “Then you could work at home like Mom does.”

“That would be nice, but I don’t have a job like that right now,” Isaac said. “Maybe someday.”

Charlie sighed. “I don’t like it when you get home late.”

“I’ll try to be on time as much as I can. I don’t like getting home late either.”

“Okay.”

“Do you know what?” Isaac asked.

“What?”

“I think it’s a good thing you don’t wash your lucky socks often. We don’t need the bad luck.”

Charlie laughed. “Or the thunderstorms.” He settled back down on the bed. “Okay. I’m ready now. Let’s read the next chapter.”

“Great idea.” Isaac opened the book and started to read.