Chapter 10. Escape from Angroid and Graboid
“I have a question for you,” Relato said as he walked with Scott into another magnificent room.
The library was like a church, with high shelves of ancient volumes that held between their covers the wisdom of the ages.
Bright chandeliers hung in a row from the arched stone ceilings, and their footsteps echoed as they walked.
“Wow,” Scott gasped. “Look at all these books.”
“We make it mandatory that all Cortex children have way more books than toys,” Relato responded. Scott found that incredible. “Someday I will show you our music library. It is really quite extraordinary.” Scott was dumbfounded.
“What do you think about Graboid?” Relato asked as they strolled across the vast room of books.
“Huh?” Scott snapped out of his starstruck daze.
“Do you ever have a problem with your brother and your toys?”
“All the time,” Scott admitted, irritated at the memory. “I don’t like him playing with my things. He breaks them. Well mostly, he just grabs and runs off, and throws them under his bed.”
“Sounds like Graboid, doesn’t it?” Relato asked. Even though he knew the answer, he wanted to hear Scott’s opinion. “And does it seem to get worse around Christmas or birthdays when new toys come into the house?”
“It sure does,” Scott groaned, remembering their fights. “But what am I supposed to do? Let him have everything he wants?”
“No,” exclaimed Relato as he walked toward a huge oak desk. “That would give him another wrong idea. But because you’re older it’s up to you to figure out ahead of time how to handle him. It’s only natural for Joey to want to play with new toys. You can suggest something else to do. That’s what you did in ‘Future Flash,’ remember? Surely your mom has told you to share, to take turns, and to play nicely.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t always work.”
“I know it’s not easy,” said Relato as he squatted down to Scott’s level, placing his hands gently on Scott’s shoulders, and looking him right in the eyes. “But think about choices, think about the Path. It’s a challenge, but remember, it’s not Joey you want to control, but yourself and the situation.
“First you have to control yourself to keep out Angroid,” Relato reminded Scott. “Then you have to handle the situation.”
Relato stood up and continued walking to his desk. “The way you play together is called interaction. If you and Joey change your attitudes to cooperation instead of competition, you will have much more fun growing up.”
Turning back to Scott he said with deep conviction, “You need each other. Learning to get along with people is the most important job you have. When you’re successful at that, it’s called brotherhood, and you have the best opportunity to practice it with Joey.”
“Now I think I get it,” said Scott, beaming, as Sitara entered the room. “It’s like a chain reaction starting with your family and friends, then people at your school, then people at your work, and finally the whole world.”
“Precisely, Scott! Always remember that if your family is strained with multiple dysfunctions, you must choose other junctions. We know that congeniality will bind friends of like mind,” Relato responded. “Don’t forget, as Shakespeare wrote many years ago, ‘One touch of nature makes the world kin.’”
Relato walked over to greet Sitara and they all started to sing…
World Family Tree
Performed by Grandmaster Melle Mel
Featuring Lady Gaga
(Visit www.theportalinthepark.com for audio)
Family tree, love, love your roots.
Family tree.
If you love your mother please tell her that you love her.
And don’t forget to tell your brother and don’t miss your sis,
Amidst all this family bliss ‒
And give your mom a big hug and a kiss.
Kind words go a long way, write a song today,
And you might stop someone from going the wrong way.
Don’t delay, it’s my advice think twice and be nice.
You just might save a life.
Just one life, is just like saving the world.
It’s more than wealth, it’s just like saving yourself.
The family tree, love your roots. And if we all
Follow suit, then we can begin to bear fruit.
We’re gonna make a pact and
Stop at the roots and take it back,
We all need a family. Oh.
Family tree, love, love your roots.
Family tree.
It takes a village to raise a child.
It might take the whole world just to save a child.
And one of the children just might save the world.
So we need every boy and girl ‒
And we all need to walk in the same path stride for stride,
With hearts and arms open wide,
With the same kind of mind,
With a true love divine,
And never let the blind lead the blind.
And never have no fear be a voice for the deaf to hear.
Spread the word so the voiceless one’s can be heard.
Build a road where even the lame can roam free.
For you and me,
A new world family tree.
We’re gonna make a pact and
Stop at the roots and take it back,
We all need a family. Oh.
Family tree, love, love your roots. Family tree.
Sisters and brothers may attack you,
But stop to think, why do what they do,
Just think first, never burst,
Or you’ll find out, that you’re only making things worse.
A little louder now.
(Repeat 3 times)
We’re gonna make a pact and
Stop at the roots and take it back,
We all need a family. Oh.
Family tree love. love your roots. Family tree.
Brothers and sisters fill your life with happiness and harmony,
And just follow me and the whole world will be your family tree.
PEACE!