The Boy Who Understood
by Biff Spork
Chapter 12
Birds, Wasps, and Rattlesnakes
While David cycled down the logging road on his way home, he thought about Zhiv's words. He knew he had to understand better how humans were acting, and how that affected the natural world. He knew phrases like industrial agriculture, global warming, fossil fuels, and greenhouse gases, but he realized he didn't understand how they all fitted together, how they had combined to tip the world out of balance. He felt ignorant and saw he had a lot of work to do before he could help Zhiv explain the mara's decision.
David was so engrossed in these thoughts, he failed to notice River and Jude blocking the road until it was too late to evade them. They stopped him and forced him onto an overgrown side-track, one on each side of him.
"You guys are crazy!" David protested. "Let me go!"
"Don't be so unfriendly," said Jude. "We just want to have a little talk with you."
"Yeah, but maybe I don't want to have a talk with you."
"See, there you go being unfriendly again. That's a bad habit. This won't take long. We want to get to know you a little better. Let's just sit down together in the gravel pit and have a nice little chat," said Jude.
A few minutes brought them to the gravel pit that had been excavated in the slope of a hill. There, Jude and River laid their bikes down and pulled David away from his.
"Why don't you help him take his pack off?" said Jude to River.
"Just let me go. If you want something, you can have it, but I'm not staying here with you." David moved back towards his bike.
"Grab him, River, just till he calms down."
River went behind him, pulled his pack off, and bent his arms behind his back. Jude pulled a small roll of duct tape from his pocket, tore a piece off, and gagged David.
"You talk too much," said Jude. "We're here because we like you, and we think you need some help. Just relax, and nobody's gonna get hurt." He knelt in front of David, grasped one foot, and pulled the sandal off.
"But before we start," said Jude, as he ripped off the other sandal, "we need to find out if you're really a boy. You're so girly, it's hard to tell." He reached up and undid the button and zipper on David's shorts. David struggled, but couldn't free himself from River's grip. Jude pulled David's shorts and underwear down to his ankles.
"Well," said Jude. "He's got a pecker so he must be a boy." He lifted David's penis with his index finger. "It's not a very big pecker. In fact, it's a small pecker. What do you think, River? Is that a pecker or a girly clitorius?"
River looked over David's shoulder. "Jude, this is too much. I don't like it. I thought we were just gonna talk to him?"
"Don't chicken out on me. We ain't gonna hurt him, just have a little fun."
"Yeah, but, I dunno…"
Jude pointed further along the wall of the pit and ordered, "Take him over there." River forced David to walk away from the bikes, leaving his shorts behind. Now he was naked from the waist down. Jude tossed his shorts and underpants into the boulders scattered at the edges of the gravel pit.
Jude came over and stood in front of David. "You see, we know you're gay, and we know all gay boys like to suck other boys and take it up the bum. So, we're gonna give you what you want."
Jude reached down and gripped David's scrotum in his fist. "Now, I could hurt you real bad, if I wanted," he said. "I've got really strong fingers, but I don't wanna hurt you. River's gonna let go of your arms, and you're gonna take your T-shirt off. You're not gonna try anything stupid because I've got a good hold on your boy parts down here, and I'm not gonna let go." He curled his fist tighter around David's genitals and nodded to River. David took off his T-shirt, so he was naked.
"Get his arms again, River!"
"We should let him go. This isn't any fun. You said we were just gonna talk to him."
With his arms free, David tried to push Jude's hand away from his genitals, but Jude's grasp was too strong. He kicked out at Jude and tried to twist away, but Jude just squeezed his scrotum harder.
"Grab him, River! Don't be chickenshit!" Then Jude shouted in pain and shock, as a bird stabbed his cheek. He released David to swat at the attacking bird. David bent to pick up his T-shirt and to escape.
Starlings filled the air and dived at Jude and River, darting and pecking at them with their sharp beaks. Wasps buzzed in from all directions. The yellow jackets stung David's captors on any bare skin. Jude and River frantically ducked attacks from the starlings and swatted at the wasps.
David saw rattlesnakes slithering from crevices at the edge of the gravel pit. He tore the duct tape from his mouth and shouted, "Look out!" Then he ran toward where his shorts had been thrown. He pulled them on and slipped his feet into his sandals.
Jude and River flailed their arms against the starlings and yellow jackets. They failed to see the serpents. Two of the rattlesnakes sank their fangs into the fleshy parts of River's legs below his knees. He screamed in agony. Jude saw a rattler sidling toward him and raced to the bikes. He jumped onto his and fled. Angry wasps and starlings chased him down the road.
River was half-sitting, half-lying on the ground, shouting and crying. Wasps and starlings hovered over him. One of the snakes was still fastened to his leg. River shook that leg, trying to get rid of the viper. Another rattlesnake was coiled on a scatter of boulders at the pit's edge. He rattled, ready to strike again.
David leaned over his bike, picked it up, and mounted. He flicked the power switch and began to pedal away. A cry made him turn his head toward River. The boy's screams of pain and terror echoed off the walls of the gravel pit. He struggled with the rattlesnake and tried to pull it away from his leg. David hesitated for a second, then dismounted. He laid his bicycle down and walked toward the sobbing boy. He mentally thanked the starlings, wasps and snakes, and asked them to stop attacking River. By the time he reached River, the rattler had released the boy and was sidling away. The wasps and starlings stopped diving at River but circled in the air above him.
River tried to get to his feet.
David put a hand on his chest and held him down. "River, listen to me: You just got bitten by rattlesnakes. The worst thing you can do is get up and run around. The best thing you can do is lie still, so the venom doesn't spread so fast. Try to be calm. I'm gonna get my phone out of my pack now and call 911. They'll send an ambulance here right away. They know what to do about snakebites, and you'll be okay. The snakes won't bite you again. Just lie quiet. Okay?"
Mastering his sobs for a moment, River nodded.
David slipped his pack off and extracted his phone. While squatting beside River, he tapped 911 and gave them all the information they needed. Five minutes later, an ambulance was speeding toward the gravel pit.
David concentrated on the remaining snake. The rattler uncoiled and wriggled back into hiding. David smoothed River's hair off his forehead and stroked his cheeks. Then he used a napkin left over from lunch to wipe River's tears and clean up the mucus that had bubbled from of his nose.
River cried and moaned in pain. "It hurts. My legs hurt so bad." He shook in a convulsion and started to throw up. David gently turned him onto his side.
When River's stomach had emptied, David wiped the vomit from around his mouth. He stroked the other boy's forehead. "Try not to think about the pain," he said. "Think about my hand on your forehead. Relax and be peaceful. You're gonna be okay. Help is on the way, and everything is gonna be okay."
River's breath slowed. David continued to stroke his face and hold his hand while they waited. His skin felt cold and clammy.
When they heard the ambulance siren, David said, "River, listen! If anybody asks you who was here with you, say you don't know my name. I don't want to have to explain to my mom and dad why I was here with you. I can't lie to them if they ask me. It'll be better for both of us if you don't tell anyone my name. Then nobody will ask me what happened here, and if you don't tell them, nobody will know. You understand?"
River nodded. "Okay," he said.
Jude's mother tipped calamine lotion onto her fingers. Then she dabbed it onto the swollen wasp stings that stippled her son's arms, neck, and face. "You boys should know better than to play with a wasp nest," she said.
"We wasn't playing with nothing," protested Jude. "They just came outta nowhere and started stinging us for no reason."
"How about your friend; did the wasps sting him too?"
"Yeah, he was getting stung, same as me, but he ran off and left me, so I came home alone."
"That's too bad. It's nice you had a friend sleep overnight, but I'm sorry it didn't turn out better. Next time he comes, you boys should find a safer place to play." She looked him over and said, "There, I think I got them all. They won't hurt so much in a little while."
"Thanks, Mom."
Jude went up to his room and lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was worried. If anybody knew what really happened, they would think he was a bad guy. People would say he should have stayed to help River, but Jude didn't feel like a bad person. He hoped River was all right, even if he was chickenshit. He wouldn't care about River one way or the other if he was a bad guy. So, he wasn't bad. The bad guys were those birds, wasps and snakes. He considered phoning River but decided that was a stupid idea. He'd rather just forget the whole thing.
Jude thought it was weird that the wasps and the birds hadn't attacked the McAdam kid. As soon as the wasps started buzzing around, Davy-boy just ducked out and ran over to his clothes. In Jude's memory, David didn't have a single wasp on him — all that sting-able skin and not one wasp. He was a sneaky kid, the way he shouted 'look out' so Jude and River would be distracted, and he could get away. That was probably why River got bit.
Jude had seen the snakes coming. He knew right away that it was time to get out of there. Then River got himself bit. He should have run away. Jude couldn't stand snakes. It was natural, when you saw a snake, to just get away from there fast. Anyone would. River was a big kid. He should have known to take off before he got bit.
Everything had been going so good. They'd got the kid, and they'd got his clothes off with no problems. He'd looked sexy — smooth and soft, a pretty package, not a hair to be seen. Jude cursed his bad luck — getting attacked by birds, and wasps, and snakes when he was about to have some real fun.
And where was his old bike, the one he'd loaned to River? River should have brought it back. It wasn't a gift. Jude just let him borrow it for the day. It was a good bike, worth a few bucks at least.
When David had followed the ambulance out of the gravel pit, his thoughts were in turmoil. While River needed his attention, he had concentrated on him, on keeping him calm. Once he was free to think about himself, the full impact of the day's events stunned him.
First, there had been the glorious welcome he and Zhiv had received from the mara. Then he recalled what Zhiv had said about the conclusions of the mara, and how things were going to change. Zhiv's words echoed in his mind. "If someone beats a horse or shoots a squirrel, scorpions will sting him. and dogs will bite him. If anybody attacks one animal, he attacks every animal, and they'll all fight back."
Jude and River had attacked David. Starlings, wasps, and rattlesnakes came to his aid in confirmation of Zhiv's words. David felt proud that the animals considered he was one of them, but he wasn't happy about what had happened to River. He could have died, might still die.
There was also the powerful effect of what Jude and River had done to him. They had stripped him and handled him like an animal they owned. That terrible experience had given him a profound understanding of how farmed animals must feel. Jude and River had degraded him like he was just a thing. He struggled not to surrender to the dark emotions that arose from the attempted rape.
When he arrived home, he shouted greetings to Pete and Doreen as he raced upstairs to his room. A minute later, he was standing in his shower. Five minutes later, he felt calmer and cleaner. Another five minutes under the shower's blast, and he knew the day's happenings had been at least partly reconciled. He needed to stop thinking and relax in the umbrella of safety his mother and father provided.
"It seems the speech center in his brain got damaged," the young intern said. He was speaking to a newspaper reporter who had requested an interview with Charlie Baxter, the victim of a crow attack. "You can talk to him if you want, but all he does now is rave nonsense, not even words."
"How about the snake-bite kid? Can I talk to him," asked the reporter. His editor had assigned him to pull together a piece on the animal-attack victims.
They walked a few doors down from Charlie's room and looked in on River. He was lying unconscious, unaware of the monitoring devices attached to him.
"This is the boy who was bitten by snakes," said the intern. "He's pumped so full of pain killers, he's asleep. He's probably gonna be okay, but he's got a hard two or three days ahead of him. He got two deep bites, one on each leg. That's a lot of venom for a teenager like him."
They turned away from the door. "Check on him tomorrow," said the intern. "He should be able to talk to you then."
"Okay, I'll come back in the morning."
"Hey, here's something you can ask him about."
"Yeah?"
"When I first saw him, there were lumps all over his face, his neck, and his arms too. I figured it was some kind of allergic reaction to the snake venom. We got the resident allergist in for a consultation, and he said nope, not an allergy. It was insect stings — wasp stings, to be precise. He found a stinger and looked at it under a microscope. He said there was no doubt. As well as two rattlesnake bites the kid had been stung about twenty times by wasps."
The reporter nodded. "You're right, that is strange! Poor kid, a double whammy!"
"That's not all," said the doctor. "I know you guys are always looking for the human-interest angle. There was another kid in the gravel pit with the snakebite boy. He phoned 911 and got the whole rescue process underway. Then he stayed with the kid who got bitten and kept him calm and quiet until the paramedics could get there. The helper kid was even cool enough to snap a photo of the rattler with his phone. He messaged it to us, so we were able to send the correct antivenom out with the ambulance. There's no doubt he saved the boy's life, but nobody knows who he is or where he went. If I were a reporter, I'd be trying to find him — that's where the story is."
"The ambulance guys never got his name?"
"No, they said they asked the bitten boy on the way to the hospital. He said it was just some kid he met in the gravel pit. He didn't know his name."
After eating supper with his parents, David helped clean up the kitchen. Then he went upstairs and changed into his pajamas. Downstairs again, he squeezed between Pete and Doreen on the sofa. They were watching the evening news. He grabbed an arm from each parent and held them. "You guys are the best!" he said.
Doreen bent over and kissed his forehead and Pete said, "Well, we like you too, you know. You seem to be turning out okay."
"So are you, Dad."
The newsreader on TV caught their attention. He said, "Near Jana Mountain Park this afternoon, fifteen-year-old River Jameson was bitten by rattlesnakes, twice.
"River was playing in a gravel pit near the park when rattlesnakes attacked him and bit him on both legs. Rattlesnake bites are not usually fatal, but to receive a double dose of venom could have been deadly. Without quick and correct treatment, River might well have died, but he didn't, and that's thanks to the cool actions of another boy at the scene.
"He kept River from panicking and called 911. Then he photographed the guilty rattlesnakes and sent the photo to the hospital. With a clear identification of the snakes, the medics were able to administer the correct snakebite medicine immediately. That boy certainly saved River's life."
The news reader shuffled some papers. Then he looked at the weatherman sitting next to him. He said, "That shows real bravery, to calmly remain in a place where there are angry rattlesnakes. I'm deathly afraid of snakes myself. We interviewed one of the ambulance crew who were at the scene. We asked him about the mystery boy."
A video clip filled the screen. An interviewer asked the ambulance attendant if he knew the other boy's name.
"No, I didn't get his name. But he did everything right. Left to himself, the boy who was bitten would probably have tried to run away — the worst thing you can do. Instead, this other boy calmed him and kept him lying down quietly, so the venom wouldn't spread so fast. He called for help immediately and gave us the information we needed. All those actions saved the other boy's life. A real hero! We should have got his name, but our priority, of course, was to get the injured boy to the hospital as fast as possible."
"The hospital lists River's condition as critical, but they expect him to recover," said the newsreader.
"You were up the mountain again today, weren't you," said Pete.
"Yeah," said David. "I heard the siren as I was riding home."
"If you ever see any rattlesnakes up there, keep your distance," said Doreen. "They don't want to bite you, but they will, if you fool around with them,"
"Okay, Mom. I'll remember that. Don't fool around with rattlesnakes. Thanks for the great advice. What about bears? Or cougars? Can I fool around with cougars?"
"Grab him, Pete!" said Doreen, as she clamped one hand around David's arm and dug her fingers into his ribs.
David squealed and wriggled, but Pete held his arm tightly and raked the ribs on the other side. David dissolved into a churning mass of flailing limbs, screams and giggles.
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