Sincerely,
Alexa Bartlett
Rey raised his eyebrows. “A million dollars.”
“You can spend it on therapy,” Isabel said, as she put the letter back.
Rey inspected the Star Sapphire. “Have a lot left over.”
Isabel stared at him, deep in thought. “You know, when you were two and three years old I had back pain from pregnancy. I thought it was going to be chronic. Your father knew it would happen. When I was in my twelfth week he wanted me to have an abortion. But I spent the early part of your life with feelings of anger towards you. And as you grew up, the back pain went away, and I realized that my irritation was unwarranted. And I wanted to give you the best life I could. So I did real work. Because I care.” She popped the toaster lever up. “It goes against every principle I’ve ever owned to go along with Alexa’s proposition.”
Rey nodded. He handed the Star Sapphire back to Isabel. “Okay.” He paused, unsure of what to say. “I have a lot of homework.”
He walked towards the basement door.
“Rey,” she said.
He turned.
“I’m glad we talked.”
“Me too,” Rey said.
Homework awaited. He opened his backpack and withdrew Of Mice and Men which he had to finish reading for English. It had been a simple story. He read quickly. Before long, he was done with the book. It told the story of George and Lennie – two friends, the latter of which was mentally handicapped. Rey found himself thinking if it weren’t for Lennie, George’s life might be easier. But George and Lennie cared for one another. Lennie’s little intelligence wasn’t a big problem. The characters who use Lennie for their own cruel purposes were. Rey had to write a short response on the book. The words flowed out of him easily as he had so much to say. Then he set to work on his math assignment.
During the next few days, a mood seemed to have descended upon the students at Pemota High that Rey thought reminiscent of the beginning of the school year. It was as if summer had ended yet again. At lunch, no one screamed “penis”, and people seemed to be listening to the surrounding tables. On the bus, Ryan O’toole and Mike Elsetta seemed to have become moderate to the point where Ryan no longer had wide eyes, and Mike could no longer be called “Megaphone” Elsetta. Rey spent some time thinking about Annette, wondering what her life was like on the mental health ward and, of course, he wondered if it could all be blamed on the Avocadonine.
On Tuesday, Holly North brought caviar to lunch and shared all three tins of it with her laughing friends. Benson Tools was closing down, and the David Benson whom everyone knew lived on a farm came to school wearing flashy clothing, telling people his father was getting into stocks. Fordel, who always wore a shirt and tie, by his parent’s request, began to wear an expensive Adirondack jacket. Rey thought if he had been offered a million dollars, he could only guess what other students had been offered.
On Thursday, Mike Elsetta was at an all-day Hockey tournament. Fordel was on the bus though because he’d quit the team. Rey boarded the bus, realized he’d not be sitting with Mike, and Ryan looked up at him.
“Hey Rey,” Ryan said. “You want to sit with me?”
“Sure,” Rey said.
Ryan was drawing figures and he put his backpack by his feet.
“What are you drawing?” Rey asked.
“Comic book characters,” Ryan said. He opened his Trapper Keeper and pulled out a stack of drawings. The first one showed a woman with red hair and wearing a black suit. “This is Bat Woman,” Ryan said.
“Bat Woman?” Rey asked.
“Yeah. Most people haven’t heard of her.” Ryan slid the drawing aside. The second one showed a man with a big gun in both hands. “This is Lucas Bishop,” Ryan said. “He’s a mutant cop from the future.”
The next drawing was of a woman dressed in purple with patches of skin showing. Something on her head was glowing. “This is Star Sapphire.”
Rey tried to conceal his surprise. “What’s she like?”
“She’s one of the super villains in DC comics. She shows up in a lot of comic books. Her weapon has a charge that lasts one day.”
Rey had a guess that Alexa was aware of the comic book character; one of the super villains in DC comics. Rey turned back to Ryan, wondering if he’d been offered money as well. “How much do you know, Ryan?”
Ryan began putting his Trapper Keeper back in his backpack as the school was approaching. “Viola says that people are accepting money from a woman. They don’t know what her name is. She says she’s going to do something today and if they follow her they’ll no longer be Avocadites.”
“Did you get any money?”
“She didn’t talk to me yet. But I’ve figured out some things. I’ve been to the library afterschool every day.”
“What kind of stuff have you been figuring out?”
“I think that the electronics respond because the Avocadonine has an electromagnetic charge. The brain creates one, and the Avocadonine is something totally new. Totally different than any neurotransmitters before.”
The school was approaching. A look crossed Ryan’s face, a look of fear and curiosity. There, surrounding the school, right up against it, was a chain-link fence. Only it was dark metal and the gaps in between the metal were smaller than a normal chain-link fence. Then it jutted forward towards the school like a backstop on a baseball field.
Ryan turned to Rey, and then back to the school. He spoke transfixed. “The electromagnetic waves that compose electromagnetic radiation create an electric and magnetic field,” he said, turning back to Rey. “The reason the electromagnetic radiation of the Avocadonine is so high is that it’s an evolutionary adaptation. A chemical unique in all the Universe. And they’re changing it. So it’s like one big melting pot.”
“A melting-pot?” Rey asked.
“It’s when a group of people, the students in the ninth grade, melt together into a harmonious whole.” Ryan looked back out the window. “She sure means business.” The bus came to a stop. Ryan grabbed his backpack and stood up.
“How is the administration letting her get away with this?” Rey said.
“Do you know who she is?”
Rey nodded. “Her name is Alexa Bartlett. If you want you can find me at lunch and I’ll tell you about it.”
Ryan nodded, wide-eyed. “Okay.”
They got off the bus and Rey looked around. The other students stared ahead as they walked into school. Rey turned behind him and saw Fordel who was wearing his Adirondack jacket say to Rey, as he walked past him, “At lunch you should come sit with me. For fun and money and stuff.” Fordel picked up his pace to a slow run and left Rey there.
Rey walked into school feeling nervous. He needed to go to his locker and get Of Mice and Men for English class. He opened his locker and saw a folded up piece of paper on top of his books. He picked it up and unfolded it. It was the Nadine’s Puppies Newsletter. At the top of the page were the words Nadine’s Puppies and there were graphics of puppies on either side. The first thing that caught his attention was the photograph. It was the picture Rey had taken of Viola bent over with Huxley’s tattoo gun having just given her the dog’s paw tattoo on her butt. But the picture had been cropped, so Huxley was not included in it. Rey had some time before homeroom so he stood there and read the article.