The Boy Who Understood
by Biff Spork
Chapter 24
Pig-Boy and The Insectorator
David saw the truck camper ahead as he rounded a curve on the logging road. Although the sun had yet to rise, it was already so hot that drops of perspiration were running down his forehead. Hector was sitting on the fold-down steps that led into his camper.
"Hi David."
"Hi Hector."
"I was very happy to meet you last night. Thank you for what you did with the wasps."
"You're welcome."
"I thought we might have a little talk."
David looked at him but didn't say anything.
"David, I want to help you. I don't know what you're doing, but I just want to offer help, any kind of help you need."
"I don't need any help, thanks." David began to move away.
"Please let me tell you what I think. You and your friend have discovered something so beautiful it could change the world. It has some connection with animals and with the way animals are acting these days."
David stopped and looked back. "Me and my friend, River?"
"No, your other friend, the blond boy who rescued the pigs." Hector gambled. "The blond boy I saw you with yesterday, on the plateau — that boy who's more than a brother to you." Hector held his breath and waited for David's reply.
River's father answered the door.
Jude smelled alcohol on his breath. "Hi Mr. Jameson, is River here?"
"No, he ain't here." Bleary eyes focused on Jude. "Ah, Jude, isn't it?"
"Yessir, that's me."
"How'd ya like to do me a favor?"
"Sure, Mr. Jameson. What can I do you for?"
"I'm outta supplies, and I need some food and stuff, but Nicky's home now, and somebody should be around in case the house catches on fire or something. You don't need to do nothing. He's like a vegetable."
They stood at the foot of the bed where Nicky was lying, comatose. A tube connected his arm to a clear plastic bag hanging from a stand.
"Just stay with him while I run into town. I won't be more than an hour or two."
"Okay," said Jude. "What do I do if he wakes up?"
"The doctors say he ain't never gonna wake up," said Art. His voice cracked. "I won't be long."
"Yeah, sure, Mr. Jameson. No problem." Jude gestured toward the bed. "I'm real sorry about that."
"Yeah. What the fuck! It doesn't matter what you do, how hard you try. It all just turns into shit."
A few minutes later, Jude heard Art's van drive out of the yard.
Jude stood beside the bed and said, "Nicky?"
There was no response.
He put his mouth to Nicky's ear and shouted, "Shithead!"
Nothing.
Jude poked Nicky in the chest. Nothing happened. He stabbed a finger into Nicky's cheek. He pushed hard. There was no reaction. He punched him in the belly, a good solid punch. Nicky lay inert. Jude pondered. He threw the sheet back and walked around the bed. Nicky was naked except for a disposable diaper. Jude tickled the soles of Nicky's feet. They were warm but immobile.
The diaper had Velcro fastenings, so it was easy to undo. He pulled it to one side, dropped his shorts and got on top of Nicky. It only took a minute.
"Thanks, Nicky. That was real nice."
Jude wiped away the evidence with some tissues and re-fastened the diaper. Then he sat and studied the body. When he heard Art's van pull into the yard, he quickly stood near Nicky's feet. He selected the long thin toe next to his big toe and bent it backwards until he heard it crack. He twisted it to make sure he had broken it. Nicky lay like corpse. The toe lay off to one side of the big toe in an impossible position. Jude pushed it back into place so it looked normal. He covered Nicky with the sheet and went down to greet Art.
"Thanks, Jude. It's not everybody who could stand to watch Nicky. I mean, seeing him like a vegetable just makes some people feel weird."
"It's no problem for me, Mr. Jameson. Any time."
Art carried a case of vodka into the living room. Several empty bottles lay on their sides on the coffee table.
Jude helped unpack the box of groceries onto the kitchen counter. It was mostly bacon and eggs, sausages, cans of beans, boxes of macaroni and cheese, bread, butter, and bags of potato chips.
"You wanna stay for lunch? I was just gonna whip up some mac and cheese."
"Thank you, sir. I'd like that."
Art opened a bottle of vodka and took a long drink. He set it down on the kitchen table and slumped onto a chair.
"Do you know where River is, sir?"
"I do believe he said he was going into town. He wanted to buy himself a new bike, one of them electric ones, and I said it was okay." Art took another swig from the bottle. "I remember when I got Nicky his first bike. Him and Ricky. New bikes! They were so happy — spent the whole day doin' wheelies in the yard. Back and forth, until it was too dark to see. They musta drove twenty miles, without ever leavin' the yard." He wept, gasping and sobbing.
"Should I put some water in a pot to cook the noodles?"
"Yeah, go ahead. Sorry for blubbering. You're right handy to have around. Yeah, River's gone to get a new bike. Jude, let me tell you: you should always treat your kids right, 'cause you never know when you're gonna lose them."
"Yessir."
"Which reminds me," said Art as he pulled out his wallet. "Here's twenty bucks for looking after Nicky while I was gone. That was real kind of you."
"Thank you, sir. It was no trouble. I'm always happy to help."
Zhiv and David embraced.
"Do you wanna tell me about the guy in the camper truck?"
"I'll tell you everything, but let's go up to the cave first. I'm tired of talking. It seems like all I do lately is talk, talk, talk."
The peace of the forest descended on David as he followed Zhiv's lithe, tanned form. By the time they reached the cave, he felt loose and happy once again. They sat in the sunshine and ate the breakfast David had brought.
David said, "Last night I had a little time in the mara with River, that boy I told you about. You were there, too."
"Yeah. I saw him, a boy sitting under a big pine. He's good. I had a feeling from him that's he's young, almost a baby, but he's a good baby. I feel we can trust him. I'll ask Kek and Lilili to look him over."
"Yeah, I'll be seeing him again this afternoon."
"You had a meeting with some wasps."
"Yeah, the wasps. There was a woman at our house having supper with us. She killed a wasp. Then hundreds of them came, really angry. I talked to them in the mara, until they agreed to fly away."
"She was lucky you were there. They were ready to kill her."
"Then River and me went for a ride. You'd like him. He's funny. He likes to joke around. He's given me a superhero name, The Insectorator, because of how I talked to the wasps."
Zhiv laughed. "I wonder if he'll give me a name."
"Oh, you've already got a name. The whole world knows you as 'Pig-Boy' because of that video."
"Pig-Boy! I like it. Pig-Boy and The Insectorator!"
"He says he's my superhero sidekick and wanted me to give him his nickname. I said I was going to call him 'dumb-ass.'"
Zhiv laughed. "Yeah. I think he's gonna be okay."
"Then, just before I went to bed, my dad came up to my room and did a good thing."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. You know I told you how he took me fishing when I was little and made me watch that fish die?"
"Mmmh."
"He said he was sorry he did that. He was sorry he killed the fish, and he was sorry he made me watch it die. I could tell he really meant it. He's a great dad. That made me want to tell him about the mara, and us and everything."
"Everything?"
"Well, not the wiggling — that's for you and me — but all about the animals, and how you got to be here. My dad gave me a message for you."
"A message for me?"
"Yeah. You had some foster parents, Evan…?"
"…and Marie, Evan and Marie O'Brian. Yeah, they were nice people."
"My dad said he was talking to Evan. Evan was real sorry he took you to the pig barn. Evan wanted you to know he wished he never did that. He wished he didn't make you go to the pig barn with him. He didn't know it would hurt you. If you ever want to go back, he and Marie want you live with them. They miss you. They want to adopt you."
"Nobody ever wanted to adopt me before, except the animals."
"I want to adopt you. You can come and be my brother any time you want."
"Hey, thanks, but you're already more than a brother. You're my whole family."
"I told my mom and dad about the mara's decision to make war on humans. They didn't say anything, but I could tell it worried them."
"It worries me, too." Zhiv shook his head.
"Okay, now, about the guy in the camper — his name's Hector. He came to supper at our house last night so he knows what I did with the wasps. He's working with my dad now on the animal attacks on humans. They're happening all over the place. The police and the government have started to notice. Hector's a university professor who knows all about that kind of thing. What's more important, though, is that he knows about us. He saw us, yesterday, him and a woman. She's looking for you, too. Her name's Celia Duffy. They were up on the mountain overlooking the meadow."
"Wow! I remember Celia. She's a social worker, nice woman."
"So, when Hector met me this morning and told me about seeing us in the meadow, I decided to tell him everything. I think he's okay. He says he's on our side. He thinks we're wonderful."
"We're wonderful?"
"Yeah, that's exactly what he said. 'You boys are wonderful.'"
"Well, I've always known you're wonderful."
"Anyway, I think he's okay, and he's got some good ideas. He's also talked to Melissa, that video girl, and he thinks you should make a video with her sometime soon."
"What do you think about that?"
"He says people are getting attacked by animals all over the place, and nobody knows why it's happening. He says people trust you, and if you explain what the animals are thinking, it will help people to understand why it's happening, and what they need to do to make it stop."
"If you think it's okay, it's okay with me."
"Yeah, I know we figured not to say anything until the animals decided, but I think Hector's right."
Hector parked outside the library and sat in the camper with his laptop. Notifications from his news-feeds jammed his mailbox. There were an increasing number of antagonistic animal incidents across the USA and many more in Mexico and Canada as well. In the arctic, black flies and blowflies had become much more aggressive. A walrus had swamped an Inuit hunter's kayak and sunk it. Orca in the Gulf of Mexico had attacked and sunk a yacht. An elderly woman paddle-boarder on the Mississippi was bitten and nearly drowned by river otters. Similar reports were coming from Central and South America. It was becoming increasingly dangerous for humans to be outdoors. Hunters, loggers, fishermen, and farmers were the most common targets of inter-species violence
While most reports were of animal attacks on humans, the withdrawal of helpful animals was also becoming more evident. Organic farmers using praying mantises for pest control were finding that the insects disappeared from the fields as soon as they hatched. Tomato farmers lamented the absence of the wild bees they normally depended on for pollination.
Failures of some vegetable crops were anticipated, echoing expert opinions that the local fruit harvest was doomed. Birds, many of which had been feeding off insect pests of food crops, were also disappearing. The 'Silent Spring' had come to locales where birds and insects had fled to wilderness areas. As food shortages loomed, supermarket chains were quick to raise prices.
Domestic animals were also affected. Pets were turning against their owners in ever-larger numbers, or simply disappearing. Power poles in residential areas were papered with notices advertising missing dogs and cats. Veterinarians across the country had been injured while performing routine surgical procedures. Dogs, rabbits, and chimpanzees had revolted fiercely against workers in vivisection labs. White mice had become vicious.
At eleven o'clock, Hector got a call from Pete.
"Hector, we need to meet. The governor's office been on the phone with the sheriff again this morning. They want to see this task force happening — yesterday, if possible. I don't know what kind of information you've got today, but I'm hip-deep in reports over here."
"Same here, Pete. I've got a couple hundred news items at least, but I don't want to share what I'm thinking yet, not officially. Part of the reason is that it involves your boy, but there are other good reasons for some discretion right now. We're sitting on a bomb. You know that, don't you?"
"Feels like it's already exploding."
"Yeah. I'm at the library in town. There's a fast-food joint across the street with outdoor seating. We can talk there. How about around noon?"
When River left the e-bike dealers, he was happy. They promised they would charge his new e-bike battery by two o'clock. That would give him just enough time to get to his meeting with David that afternoon. He decided to go to the health food store and have a vegan lunch in their deli. The hippy girl who had helped him before was there. She recognized him, and they introduced themselves to each other.
Her name was Melissa. She said she was on her lunch break, and if he liked, they could eat lunch together. She offered to give him more tips on how to be vegan.
"I'm not doing too bad," said River. "I've got some good friends who are vegan. I've been eating with them a lot and helping my friend's mother when she's cooking. She's a great vegan cook and teaches me how to make stuff. We made baba ghanoush together last night."
"Hey, that's great." Melissa smiled. "You've got an interesting name, even a famous name. Do you know why your parents decided to call you 'River?'"
"My dad told me it was because my mom had a crush on an actor. He's dead now, but she really liked him, so she said they should give me his name."
"Do you know anything else about him?"
"Nope."
"He was pretty famous. He always spoke out for animals, and he was vegan too, at least for part of his life. River Phoenix was his name. I've seen pictures of him. You even look a little like him."
River blushed.
"His brother's pretty famous too. Another actor. Joaquin Phoenix — he's "The Joker," but he's in lots of other movies, too. He's a vegan, animal-rights activist. When he won an Academy Award, he gave a great speech about animal rights."
"Wow, I didn't know that."
"Yeah, maybe your mom knew something when she named you River."
"Yeah, maybe she hoped I was gonna be a vegan."
"What I'm worried about, Pete, is that this is gonna get away from us before we're ready. What you say about the governor talking to the governors of neighboring states is scary. So is the rumor that the White House has noticed what's happening. That could mean Homeland Security and the National Guard get involved. Those guys are not noted for their gentle or sensitive handling of issues."
Hector paused and picked at his plate of french fries. Then he continued in a lower voice. "They don't know yet that there are two young boys at the center of this. The boys are not at fault in any way, but they're at the heart of what's shaping up to be an international disaster. They're probably the only people on the planet who actually know what's happening, but as soon as the political-military establishment get hold of it, it's gonna get warped out of shape. And those boys, those good, innocent, boys, might get crushed in the process. We've got to find a way to explain what's going on that doesn't draw attention to them."
Pete drummed his fingers on the table and sipped his coke. "You said, 'two boys'?"
"Yeah, the pig-boy, Sol Mundy, and your boy, David. I saw them together, up on Jana Mountain. They didn't know I was watching them. Pete, it was wonderful. They were sitting there in a grassy meadow. It was peaceful. Dozens of animals of all different kinds came and sat nearby. There was a cloud of butterflies fluttering around them. Animals came up and greeted them — pigs, horses, deer and even a wolverine and a bear."
Hector cleared his throat. "It was like a dream. We have to protect those boys. They're the key to a whole new way of being, a new way of relating to all life on the planet."
"Do they know you saw them?"
"David does now. I met with him early this morning, on the Jana Mountain road. Don't get angry Pete. I'm on your side. I'm on David's side, but we have to share everything we know with each other. If I'm to help, I need to know. David told me a lot this morning."
Pete sat in silence. Then he traded a long look with Hector, and his clenched fists relaxed. "Yeah, you're right. We have to work on this together."
River grinned. "Insectorator!"
David wheeled into the driveway and passed him. "C'mon, dumb-ass," he said and rode into the garage.
River followed him and put his new e-bike up on its stand. They stood looking at it. "I thought I'd get a blue one so we don't get mixed up, seeing as it's otherwise the same as yours," said River.
"Good idea."
David began shucking his clothes as soon as they had run upstairs to his bedroom. "I'm gonna take a shower to get cooled off. Get those duds off and let's go."
"We're gonna shower together?"
"Stop worrying about stuff like that. Just do what I tell you, please. We've got a lot of ground to cover and not much time. Mom'll be home in about an hour and a half."
They stood together in the shower while tepid water cooled them. "I'm gonna turn the cold water on a bit more, to get cool. Then we're gonna go lie down in the mind-meld for a little while. Okay?"
"Okay." River was happy.
They lay on David's bed on their sides, face to face. David said, "Now we're gonna hug each other real tight and do like we did last night. Don't worry if you feel like somebody else is with us. I invited some friends to join us. They want to meet you." He pressed his forehead against River's. "Riv, don't try to make anything happen. Just let it happen, and watch. If you see a clear picture of someone or something, keep looking at it. Okay?"
Melissa and Hector sat opposite each other over coffee in the mall food court. She was happy to see Hector again. She was in an accelerated program at her high school and planned to graduate the following year. Her consuming passion was animal rights. She wanted to devote her life to improving the lives of animals.
When she discovered that Hector was an expert in Animal Rights studies and shared her ideals, she was eager to spend more time with him. He complimented her on the pig rescue video. He was one of the few who recognized its importance and the work she had put in to make it a powerful document. He told her he wanted to work with her to make another video with Zhiv.
Hector said, "We can learn a lot from your first video about what interests people, what questions they want answered. It's important to go through the comments and e-mails and find out people's main concerns. When I talk to the pig-boy, Zhiv, I can ask him about those things. That will help me structure the interview. I talked to David — he's Zhiv's friend — about this. I asked that he and Zhiv think about what they can say to the world about what is happening with the animals."
Melissa had resisted the temptation to talk to Hector about her meetings with David. She was happy now that he had revealed he was also aware of David's relationship with Zhiv.
"So, you know about David and Zhiv?"
"Yes, I met with David this morning, and we talked about Zhiv. I've seen Zhiv from a distance, but I haven't met him yet." Hector looked down. "To tell the truth, I'm almost afraid of meeting him in person. He seems like someone out of a fantasy or a dream, like an angel or a god."
"Yeah. I feel the same way. When we were watching him rescue those pigs in the river, we all felt better about being human. It was like he cast a spell over us. It was an amazing experience."
They sat silently for a minute, lost in their memories of Zhiv.
Hector looked up and smiled at her. "Something David warned me about is nudity. Do you know we have to be naked with Zhiv and the animals? Will you be okay with that?"
"Really? Like completely naked?" Melissa blushed.
"Yes. David said the animals decided that nobody wearing clothes can get close to Zhiv." Hector laughed. "David said, 'You have to be naked, like the animals. They're naked all the time, so it's not like they're asking anything special.'"
"And Zhiv's always naked, so I guess it's only fair. It'll take a bit of getting used to, but I think I can handle it."
"David said Zhiv actually doesn't have any clothes, doesn't want them, doesn't need them. That's almost impossible for us to imagine — a person who has no clothes. I figured he would have a pair of shorts or a loincloth tucked away somewhere in case he needed them, but David said the animals took Zhiv's clothes away a long time ago and he has not worn anything ever since.
"David also told me about meeting with you at the library. You and I need to think about what kind of video we can shoot. I don't have much technical knowledge, but I think your last video was very good. It looked good, but the next one has to be even better. I'm thinking 4k or even 8k — can your camera do that?"
"No, it's pretty good but not that good. Same with my lenses."
"Okay, I'm imagining a video that has a lot of visual impact. We'll have to upgrade your equipment. We need to get Zhiv together with a bunch of different animals. If we can show him interacting with them while he's talking to us, it will be a powerful message. Do you have a gimbal, so you can move around with him and give a feeling of his life in the forest?"
"No, I have a tripod, but that's all."
"I've seen him interacting with wild animals, and it's incredible. It brought tears to my eyes. If we can record him like that, we don't need to worry so much about the script." Hector described what he and Celia had seen when they were watching the boys in the meadow.
They continued to plan the video and the camera supplies and accessories they needed.
"I've got an equipment and supplies budget for my sabbatical, and I've hardly touched it. Let's go buy what we need in the way of camera gear. That'll give you some time to play with it and figure out what works and what doesn't."
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