Worlds Within

CHAPTER 11 - RESSA

  He hurried down the deserted hallway intending to go out the side door. He had to get to the other world and let them know what he had discovered. Lunch at home seemed like a much better idea than the cafeteria.

  He reached for the door. Hearing his name called, he jerked his hand back. He spun around quickly and almost fell over Ressa.

  "Whoa," she said. Her books fell as she stumbled back.

  "Don't sneak up on me like that!" he said.

  "Who's a sneak?" she said indignantly. "And why are you so cantankerous?"

  "Who's cantankerous? And what kind of a word is that? No one says cantankerous."

  "Sure they do. Actually, I just did." She smirked. "I heard it in an old movie." She reached down and picked up one of the books she had dropped.

  He hurriedly picked up the other one. As they stood up, he glanced at the title."

  She tugged on the book, but he was still holding onto it. He read slowly, "1-2-3 Infinity?"

  "It's sort of about math and science puzzles," she said blushing and pulled harder on the book.

  "Sounds interesting," he said letting go. She quickly tucked the books into her backpack.

  "It's..well..kind of a classic I guess."

  "I like classics. Maybe I'll check it out at the library sometime. Sorry I snapped at you," he added.

  "Probably just hungry," she said. "You were headed for the cafeteria weren't you?"

  "Well, I was headed for lunch," he said slowly.

  "Good. We'll go together. They're having spaghetti again. This time you might actually get to eat some."

  "Thanks a lot," he said grimacing.

  As they walked down the hall together Toby was feeling like things were finally starting to look up. The meeting with Ressa had started out a little shaky, but they seemed to be getting along okay now. As they entered the cafeteria, even the line was short. But then his heart sank. BAM was in line ahead of them. Yet another humiliation waiting for him in front of Ressa.

  Arnie looked around, and his eyes got big as he saw Toby. He turned back quickly and nudged Buz. "That spaghetti doesn't look too good. Let's go out for something."

  "Knock it off Arnie," Buz said as he brushed him aside.

  Magnus glanced back to see what was going on, and spotted Toby. He stared for a moment before saying, "I'm with Arnie. Let's get outside for awhile."

  "What's wrong with you?" Buz started to say as he turned to see what they were staring at. He stopped. "Maybe you're right. A little fresh air sounds good."

  They all stepped out of line, and hurried through the side door.

  Ressa looked at Toby impressed. "What got into them? They looked like they saw a ghost."

  Toby shrugged. "I guess spaghetti wasn't challenging enough for them this time."

  She laughed, and they took their trays to a table. While they ate, he convinced her to let him look at her book. She filled him in on yesterday's math class. The teacher had brought up the classic problem of the minimum number of colors needed for a map. Ressa turned to that puzzle in the book, and showed him the problem. They spent the last part of the lunch period hunched over the book discussing it. The bell rang, and they scrambled to get their stuff together. They barely made it to class on time.

  Just as he was sliding into his seat, the teacher called his name. He jumped up and said, "Yes sir?"

  "You've been missing a lot of classes lately. Did you bring an excuse?"

  Toby's mind raced. As he hesitated, the teacher repeated slowly, "Did - you - bring - an - excuse, from Mr. Carson's office?"

  "I..um..I was just there before lunch. Mrs. Hightower sent me away, and told me to go to the cafeteria. I don't think she wants me to come back there today," he said.

  The teacher raised his eyebrows cynically. "Interesting."

  Toby shuffled his feet hoping he didn't look as nervous as he felt. Until the last few days he hadn't been noticed much by anyone. Now he was turning into a delinquent. Is this how Buz started out, he wondered.

  The teacher cleared his throat. "Okay Toby. Take your seat. We wouldn't want a great mind to go to waste. I'll talk to Mrs. Hightower."

  Toby dropped down in his seat, and tried to ignore the fact that everyone in the room was staring at him. Too bad he couldn't just fade out of sight. That made him remember the other world. All the urgency came flooding back to him. As soon as this class was over he had to get away and warn everyone.

  The teacher said, "Last class we discussed the classic map problem. Does anyone remember the problem?" He looked around the room, but no one volunteered an answer. "Not surprising," he said half to himself. "Okay here it is again." In a singsong voice he recited, "How many colors would you need to color the countries on a map, without two countries of the same color touching?"

  As the class worked through proving that neither two nor three were enough, Toby's thoughts shifted to the other world. How many countries did it have, and what would a map look like? In his mind he started drawing points on a map; the hut, the Valley of Rocks, the village, the field where he'd spent the afternoon with Marnie and Berren. He was just starting to color each section, when the teacher called on him.

  "How about you, Toby? Can you think of a way to prove that four colors would be enough?"

  His mind snapped back to the room. Anticipation was heavy in the air as the rest of the class waited for his answer.

  He glanced at Ressa. Her eyes danced mischievously. They'd already worked through this problem at lunch, and she obviously remembered the answer.

  He cleared his throat, "I don't think I can," he managed to croak out.

  "Well, you're not alone," the teacher said. "So far, no one has been able to write a mathematical proof of the four color theory. However, it is commonly accepted that four colors are the minimum amount needed.

  Toby felt relief as attention shifted back to the teacher. Only five more minutes left of class. They dragged by as he planned his escape route. Finally the bell rang. The class erupted in a swarm of moving bodies squeezing through the door.

  "Toby, don't forget to bring that pass tomorrow!" the teacher called. Ressa waved as she went through the door, and headed in the opposite direction for her next class. Toby was pulled along into the hall with the other kids. Breaking away from the group, he went out a side door with several others who were taking a shortcut across the yard. Hoping no one was watching, he slipped around a tree, headed for the street, and cut down an alley. Instinctively, he swerved away from the fence as the big dog hurled itself against the chain links barking ferociously. At least he wasn't in the yard with it this time.

  Hot and panting he arrived at home. He raced up the stairs two at a time. Racking his brain, he tried to think what he might have done with Carson's paper. He had the scanned copy, but the original would be much better evidence.

  He tossed his pack on the bed, and hurried over to the desk. One by one he opened each drawer and rummaged through it looking for the paper. Pulling out the last drawer, he dumped the contents. Ticket stubs, postage stamps, birthday cards, and pages he had saved from his daily science calendar spilled across the surface. As he pawed through the mess, his eyes focused on his printer. He stopped. Reaching out slowly, he opened the lid. There on the glass was the paper. Right where he had left it when he scanned it for Pete's e-mail. Laughing at himself, he carefully picked it up, and put it into his shirt pocket.

  Doing a quick search on the Internet he found an address for the school board. Then he typed a short note:

  This paper belongs to Mr. Carson. I thought it might be of interest to you. A Friend.

  Placing the note and the coded paper into an envelope, he sealed and stamped it. Before leaving he dashed off a quick e-mail to Pete.

  Looks like you were right about the crook part. I think he's been fudging the school financial books. I'm sending the paper to the school board. If you don't hear from me in 24 hours be sure to notify someone. You have the on
ly other copy of the code sheet. I'm heading off to warn Caedman, Marnie and Berren about Carson.

  Locking the door behind him, he hurried out and dropped the letter into a mailbox just outside the library. His plan was to use the picture to get to the other world, but he couldn't just vanish out here in broad daylight. Then he thought of the back room in the library. Perfect.

  He sauntered into the building, and smiled at the woman behind the Reference Desk. His luck was holding. It wasn't Nitika. She looked confused and glanced at her watch.

  "Independent research project," he said.

  He darted into the stacks of books as she called out, "Just a minute young man!"

  Quickly he made his way to the back room, and through the narrow passage. He pulled out his magnifying glass and the picture. Seconds later the reference librarian stepped into the little room, puzzled to find it empty. She checked the window, but it was still locked. Hands on her hips she looked around the room bewildered.