Charlie Boone

by Geron Kees

Life Is Like A New Suit of Clothes, Charlie Boone! - Chapter 9

The bluish star around which the Ardvoon world revolved was gone now, once again immersed within the sea of stars around them. It had been a quick transition, just about a light year, but far enough to remove them from easy observation even by the senses that a planet-bound fifth-order life form could bring to bear. The Ardvoon's defense surely cut off their own ability to scan beyond their world, but Charlie didn't want to chance that the aliens had some unheard-of way of observing them, even so.

"I have scanned out to the limit of my sensory array," the big voice told them then. "We are alone here, and unobserved."

Charlie nodded. There could be no more lonely a place than the darkness between the stars. "Then we can get started."

"We've practiced the method that Amtapora taught us," Kippy explained. He shook his head in wonder. "I really had no idea where the energy we supplied to skwish procedures came from. It's all around us, apparently. Amtapora taught us to learn to recognize it, and to extract it in far greater quantities than we could before now."

"It's pretty awesome," Adrian agreed, smiling. "We've also learned to direct this energy. Put it where we want it and make it stay there. We're going to need a lot of it, to do whatever it is we're going to do."

"Amtapora has a lot of experience to draw upon," Kip added. "His people were evidently very able power-users."

Charlie nodded. "Matter and energy are thought to be two manifestations of the same underlying process. Both are conserved, meaning they can't be created or destroyed. Energy can only be transformed from one form to another. Matter can only be rearranged or transformed to energy. Terrestrial science knows that matter can be converted to energy through processes like nuclear reactions. Empire science also knows that energy can be converted into matter. But I'm still not sure how the energy you guys bring in is going to be used."

Kippy grinned at him. "Ever heard of pseudo-matter?"

Charlie grinned right back. "Not this week, anyway."

His boyfriend laughed. "It was just one of the things that Amptapora discussed with us. Real matter is tough to come by, actually. When you convert matter into energy, a very small amount of matter results in a very large amount of energy. The argument works the other way, too. You need a very great deal of energy to make a very small amount of matter."

"And we need to balance out an entire planet," Rick reminded. "Even Amtapora says we can't just make a duplicate world at the point needed to counter the Ardvoon planet's gravitation. Even a brief exposure to a new gravitational source could have unpredictable effects on the system over time, and affect the Ardvoon world in particular. And, not in a nice way."

"And we can't do that," Amy said. She smiled. "It wouldn't be neighborly."

Chi Baradee, focused on the conversation, suddenly smiled. "You people tend to allow humor into your conversations in the strangest of places!"

Everyone laughed at that. "We consider it a brief and needed pause when considering serious issues," Robin told her, his eyes bright with humor. "And this is a pretty serious issue." He held up a hand, and showed them a small card with handwriting on it. "I took the liberty of calculating the energy requirements of creating matter from energy."

Horace's eyes widened. "This should be interesting!"

Robin nodded, and looked down at the card he held. "I calculated" -- his eyes came up briefly and he grinned at them then --"with Grim's help, I may add, the kind of energy we'd need to create real matter." His eyes dropped to the card again. "To create a single pound of rock would require energy in the amount of 4.082×10¹⁵joules."

Browbeat tittered at that. "There's a guy named Jules in the accounting firm down the hall from our office! But there's only one of him!"

Even Robin smiled at that. "I mean joules, as in a unit of energy."

"How does that convert into something we'd recognize a little better?" Horace asked.

Robin nodded. "I'm prepared for that. 4.082×10¹⁵ joules is roughly equivalent to 1.13×10⁹ kilowatt hours. That equates to a little bit over ten percent of the average energy use of the USA back home in a single day."

Even Charlie was stunned by that. Ten percent of the whole country's usage in a day, just to create a pound of rock!

Robin nodded at their stunned expressions. "Another equivalent, maybe a little scarier, is that it is also equivalent to the energy produced by the explosion of 974,000 tons of TNT...almost a megaton!"

Rorna's eyes went back and forth between the members of Charlie's group. "I'm not familiar with some of these terms. The energy terms translated clearly enough, but what is TNT?"

Kippy let out a hoot. "It's an old-style chemical explosive used as an energy standard in our early nuclear era back home. Some people find it quaint to still use it."

Robin laughed at that. "And I feel rather quaint today!"

"And this USA?"

Adrian's smile grew. "Oh, just a little town back home."

Charlie let the numbers percolate through his head, and found them too large to really grasp. He knew that the energy production on Earth was nothing compared to galactic civilizations, but the numbers were still large enough to preclude the production of real mass, as in an entire planet."Okay. So we know we would need a lot of power to create a pound of stone. We also have learned that we can't just create a duplicate planet to balance the gravity of the Ardvoon world. Where does that leave us?"

"I don't know," Kip responded. "Ampatpora seemed to be considering several options, and just wanted to make sure we could supply power should we need to do so."

"What was that pseudo matter-thing you mentioned?"

Grim spoke, before Kippy could. "It was just one consideration among many on how to produce a countering gravitational acceleration. But that option has also been discounted now."

Charlie looked around at his friends. "So we seem to be back where we started." He turned to Robin. "You didn't get any notion of a plan?"

Robin shrugged. "You're asking the wrong guy. Amtapora is the one you ought to be asking."

"Grim?" Charlie said, looking around the command chamber. "What's the story?"

"My apologies, Charlie. I have to admit that I did not know Amtapora's line of reasoning when he first announced this project. But it seems evident now that he was looking at a list of options, and discarding those he found untenable as we moved along."

"I hope it was a long list, then," Kippy mumbled.

"It was, actually. The problem is to briefly counterbalance the gravitational attraction of the Ardvoon world long enough for the ship to transition through darkspace and bypass the defensive sphere. The obvious solution is to produce something as massive as the planet in the right spot, so that the two fields balance at the defensive sphere."

Robin sighed. "I left my build-your-own-planet kit at home."

"It has now proven to be an unworkable solution, for many obvious reasons," Grim agreed. "The power requirements to produce that much matter would strain the technical means of even many of today's Level 2 civilizations. That is not even considering the deleterious effects of producing a mirror world so close to the Ardvoon planet, which would be prohibited on moral grounds to begin with."

"So, why did we learn to harness all this power?" Adrian asked.

"That power would be needed for whatever we eventually did was clear. Honing your abilities was simply a logical next step."

Charlie scratched his head. "Will you let us know if Amtapora settles on any certain plan?"

"I can do that now. We are contemplating an idea that actually stems from Amtapora listening to you talk about your own knowledge. Hernacki."

No one said anything for a moment. But then Rick grinned. "Oh, is that all."

"Such beings have been theorized by Amtapora's people, but your own conversations have showed that you are actually aware of these entities."

"We know of them," Charlie corrected. "And we know people that can interface with them. None of those people happen to be here with us now, however."

"It is Amptapora's suggestion that you make your own contacts, here and now."

"We need Max, or Keerby," Kippy protested. "We can't do this ourselves!"

"Why not?" Grim returned.

Kip opened his mouth, looked suddenly surprised, and then closed it again. He turned to Adrian. "Why can't we?"

Adrian blinked, and then looked put on the spot. "Well, we don't know how, for one."

Kippy nodded quickly. "How did Keerby and Max find their hernackis?"

"They went and looked." Adrian seemed almost surprised by his own answer. His eyes widened. "They went and looked!"

"They also have an affinity for hernacki and other fifth-order lifeforms," Rick said, a little sourly. "Something none of us have."

Kippy turned and flashed a glowing smile at Horace. "None of us?"

The ghost hunter simply stared a moment, and then shook his head. "I wouldn't even know where to begin!"

Amy sighed, and clasped her husband's arm in support. "You're a sweetheart, sweetheart. The hernacki will love you!"

Kippy seemed to consider what Horace had said, and then nodded. "Keerby told me he started by looking in the impervious zone."

Chi Baradee looked from one to the other. "And just what is this impervious zone?"

Kippy shrugged. "According to our friend, who can get there, it's like the basement of all the universes, a place where the structure of the megaverse has zero random elements."

The Loturi women frowned, and then gave a very passable shrug. "I have no idea what that means."

Adrian smiled. "Don't feel badly. You have a lot of company."

"Is this Amtapora actually in command of this vessel?" Rorna asked then, watching Charlie speculatively. "Even you, Commander Boone, seem to be waiting for this unseen being to form a plan."

Charlie smiled. "Amtapora is the chief scientific mind on this vessel. Of course I require his input and planning. But I will still make the final decision on what we will do next."

That was something the Loturi officer seemed to understand. "Ah. We have such specialists aboard our own vessels." He smiled. "Can't live with them, can't live without them."

Charlie nodded. "Amtapora is one of the best." He sat back in his seat. "Grim? Care to continue with this?"

"Amtapora's people, in speculating about the abilities of such entities as Hernacki, considered they would be masters of the forces of the universe. Proto-beings, possibly attendant at the formation of the early megaverse. He speculates that if that is actually true, it may be possible to get one of them to squeeze space near the Ardvoon world in our space and produce the momentary required gravitational balance."

Charlie blinked at that. "Squeeze space?"

"For want of a better term." A note of humor seemed to attend Grim's statement.

"We've actually been there, if you remember," Kip said. "The impervious zone, I mean. With Keerby and Blinken. And later, with Max and Esmeralda."

"But those were mental visits," Rick reminded.

Adrian laughed. "That's the best kind!"

Charlie nodded, remembering those two events. "That's right. They were very strange visits that felt exactly like being there in person. But the idea of actually going there physically isn't believable."

"The elves do a lot of visiting mentally," Kip pointed out, winking at Charlie.

Charlie was surprised by the way his boyfriend acted. He mulled that a moment, before a light came on. He leaned closer to Kip. "You don't remember the way, do you?"

"I think I do," Kippy returned, his eyes twinkling.

"I might, too," Adrian admitted. "It all went by very fast, though."

Charlie drew back, thinking. "Then maybe we start by seeing if we can even get there?"

"I'm game." Kip nodded at Adrian. "Let's give it a go."

Horace blew out a frustrated breath. "I hope we know what we're doing!"

"Do we ever?" Amy answered, squeezing her husband's arm. "But I sense this might work. So, relax, will you?"

"Yeah!" Browbeat added, tittering. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Horace closed his eyes and grimaced. "I don't even want to think about it."

Robin grinned at that. "Sounds like we're all for the idea, then. Let's do it!"

It felt surprisingly like a teleport, and was virtually instantaneous. One moment they were in the command chamber of Investigator; the next they seemed to be standing on a plain vast beyond comprehension. It rolled away in every direction, looking amazingly unworldlike to the eye, as instead of them being upon a convex surface with a disappearing horizon, this placed seem to be concave, with the plain gently curving upwards in every direction at apparently enormous distances, as if their group stood at the center of an incredibly large bowl. The upper reaches of the bowl simply faded into the sky, and were gone. The plain was a reddish brown, and looked like a desert, though no sand lay beneath their feet. The sky above them was a strange mix of stars and galaxies, weirdly compressed together, almost cluttered, even, but simply splendorous to view.

In the distance, mountains moved. Their numbers seemed astonishingly large, and for their size they darted about very quickly, often tearing across the horizon in front of them and then launching into the sky, to disappear among the compressed heavenly swirls and pinpoints of light above them. Charlie realized with a start then the what he thought were stars must actually be galaxies, too, reduced to mere pinpoints of light by sheer distance. Their numbers were uncountable, their true positions in doubt.

It was like he remembered the visits with Keerby and Max, yet unlike either of those visits, too. Perhaps because Kip and Adrian had brought them here, a visit unique to their abilities, different from either of the elves?

"This is the impervious zone you spoke of?" Chi Baradee asked, her thoughts hushed, for there were no true voices here in this place.

"It looks like it," Kip responded, but there was a note of doubt in his thoughts.

"It does, and it doesn't," Adrian agreed. "But it looks way more like the right place, than the wrong one."

"I think we're right where we're supposed to be," Rick said then. "I think any visitor to this place makes their own hole to get here, so to speak."

Rorna was staring about, obviously amazed at the sights. "It looks like a dream after a night out in port." Charlie turned to look at the Loturi, and a note of embarrassment crept into the man's eyes. "Or, so I have heard."

"This place is simply alive with fifth-order beings," Horace said, sounding subdued. "I feel...I just feel like they are everywhere around us, above us, and...maybe, even below us." He turned to Kippy and Adrian. "Not only that, but I had a sharp sense of the route we took to get here. I am surprised to think I could follow it again." He smiled. "I think I can come back on my own,.anytime I want.to."

"It wasn't a teleport," Adrian said. "It was a road, of sorts. And like any road, when you travel it, you remember it."

"I remember nothing of the trip here," Chi Baradee contradicted. "It was simply a blur to my senses."

Kippy and Adrian frowned at each other, before turning to Rick. "What do you think?" Adrian asked.

Rick gazed contemplatively at Rorna. "Do you remember the way here?"

"No. I am as amazed as Baradee. I had no sense of a path or road. One moment we were aboard your ship, and the next we were here."

Kippy looked over at Charlie. "Max and Keerby are both human. Perhaps the way they made for themselves here requires a human perspective? We were able to follow it, because we are the same race. " He held out a hand to the Loturi. "Some day, if they come back here, it will be through a...a doorway made with their own unique perspective?"

"I'm not sure I want to come back here," Baradee said. "There is something about this place I find unsettling. Somehow, I feel I have lost something on the voyage."

"I feel no sense of anything lost here," Amy said, eying the two Loturi. "Everything here seems to just radiate the fact that it belongs here and is in the right place. It's incredible to feel such perfect order."

"This place is zinging!" Browbeat offered from Charlie's shoulder, following with a titter of delight. "I sense even more adventure here than in the lower level! And that's a lot!"

"It does have an energetic feel to it," Robin agreed, looking around. He turned his gaze to Amy. "You're right. It feels so...so organized to me. The minds here seem to have a finger on everything happening, everywhere. It's just an impression I have, but it's a very strong one."

Charlie nodded. "I feel that, too."

"Those moving mountains in the distance, those are these hernacki?" Baradee asked, changing the subject. Her confusion about where they were was obviously troubling her.

"Yes." Charlie turned to stare at the amazing flow of towering peaks in the distance. "I do remember that they struck me that way the last time I was here. But Keerby suggested to me that what we see here Is simply the best fit our minds can come up with to interpret this place. And the hernacki, themselves."

Robin laughed. "Question: how to you get a busy mountain to notice you?"

"Yell avalanche!," Browbeat quipped, his face alight with wonder.

That brought some laughs, but it moved them no closer to an answer to the question of how to be noticed.

Kip scratched his chin in thought. "I remember when we came here with Max, Esmerelda was already here, waiting. I see no one rushing to have a look at us now."

"Max shares a link with Esmerelda, just as Keerby does with Blinken," Rick offered. "Those hernacki must have known that the elves were coming. We don't have a link with anyone, so there's no one to meet us."

"Maybe if we just yell and wave our hands?" Kip asked.

Horace frowned at that." Actually, waving our hands won't help. But a mental shout might do the trick."

"Seriously?" Robin asked. "That almost seems too simple."

"Sometimes, simple is best," Browbeat pointed out. "Can't hurt to try, right?"

Kippy turned to Horace. "You're the one best suited to bond with one of these guys. You should do the shouting."

Horace looked briefly startled by that. "I'm not the yelling sort, Kip."

"You need to be noticed," Adrian insisted. "Just give it a try."

The ghost hunter nodded, and opened his mouth wide. Kippy immediately looked surprised, and snaked out a hand to touch Horace's Shoulder. "Not with your mouth! You need to yell with your mind!"

Horace took a quick breath, and then grinned. "Oh, that's much better!"

He seemed to gather his resolve, and leaned forward..."Hey, you!"

Charlie was surprised he heard the yell, and then remembered they were here in thought, and laughed. "That was fair, but I don't think it traveled very far." He looked into the distance, where the mountains still whizzed here and there, and none seemed to have noticed them.

Adrian patted Kippy's arm. "Maybe if we boost him a little?"

Kippy's eyes widened. "There's a thought. You take one arm, I'll take the other."

They each wrapped their fingers around one of Horace's wrists, and then Kippy nodded. "Try again."

Horace took a deep breath, and his face screwed up in concentration. He leaned forward again... "Hey, you!"

Charlie cringed along with the others, the effect being much like a surprise crack of thunder directly overhead in a particularly violent storm. All eyes turned to the distant hernacki, still racing back and forth, just in time to see one of them pause and look in their direction. In an instant they perceived something racing their way, something that grew with incredible rapidity, until it reached a towering size as it stopped before them.

It was an eye. Jet black, and filled with the lights of stars or galaxies, it arrived attached to a filament of glistening material that stretched all the way back to the distant hernacki. The eye inspected them critically a moment, gave Horace what seemed a particularly curious once-over, looked at each of the others in turn, and then simply raced back in the direction from which it had come, and disappeared. The far off hernacki darted forward, launched into the sky, and was gone.

"Gave us a quick look, but wasn't interested," Browbeat said, a slight note of indignation in his voice. "Just what we needed -- a snobby hernacki!"

Kippy smiled at him. "That one may have been off somewhere on a mission, or whatever hernacki do, and just found what he was already doing more important then us."

The little flyer gave out a hiss. "You have to think that people like us showing up here would be a rare enough event that they'd be interested!"

Charlie reached up to rub the flyer's brisket. "Calm down, my friend. It just means we try again."

"We'll notch up the voltage a little more," Kip said, smiling. "Guys, better cover your mental ears!"

Again Horace took a breath, and belted out a, 'Hey, you!'

Charlie could only imagine what it might be like standing close enough to a detonating nuclear device not to be instantly incinerated as it went off, as even the plain beneath their feet seemed to tremble. He had his hands over his ears, but even so, the power of the yell felt incredible. The reverberation of the call lasted a full five seconds, and then slowly faded away.

Charlie raised his eyes along with the others. Among the far-off hernacki, one had paused, and seemed to be gazing their way. But this time, instead of a single eye coming to inspect them, the whole mountain seemed to lean forward and race towards them. It grew so swiftly that several of the others cried out in alarm, and Charlie was just beginning to think they might be crushed by the behemoth when its motion was arrested with a suddenness that was startling, and there it was, right before them.

Charlie leaned his head back to look up, and found two of the huge black eyes staring down at them. For a moment they simply traded eye contact; and then the mountain leaned forward, bringing the eyes down even closer. The mountain slowly flattened then, and spread out to either side, until the eyes gazed at them from just above their heads.

Kippy gave Horace a nudge. "Say something!"

Horace looked momentarily horrified. "It's power is incredible!"

Adrian spoke quietly out of the side of his mouth. "We have a hold of you. We've notched the power down to a frantic scream we can all tolerate, but this fellow should receive you."

Horace swallowed hard, and nodded. He raised a hand. "Hello. How are you?"

Charlie winced a little, finding the ghost hunter's words hardly momentous, this being the first contact between non-elf humans and a hernacki...but then he smiled. "Keep talking!'

Horace nodded. "You're quite an amazing fellow, much larger and more powerful than my friend Gretchen at home."

Amazingly, a clear mental representation of how they had come to view Gretchen came with this words, and Charlie felt as if the genius loci was right on the plain with them!

A note of interest seemed to fill the hernacki's starry eyes. The two giant orbs focused on Horace for a moment, and then moved to examine each one of them in turn.

"Are you one, or a collection of individual minds?" a voice said inside their heads.

Horace looked stunned, but immediately regrouped. "We are a collection of individual minds."

"How did you come to be here?"

Horace nodded. "We have friends that have come to know two of your kind. We also wished to come to know one of you."

"I know of them," the hernacki returned. "It has been a positive learning experience for us."

Horace nodded. "In all fairness, we hoped to become friends with one of you in case you could assist us with a problem. I do not wish to arrive here under false pretenses."

"That is the only reason you seek contact?"

Horace smiled. "No. As you can see from my thoughts, I have a friend that is of your type, though much smaller in size and power. She is very special to me, very dear, and I would just love to get to know any others of her kind."

The dark eyes canted slightly to the left as they appraised Horace. "You speak the truth."

Horace nodded. "Do you have a name?"

"Not as you know it. You may give me one for future reference, if you like."

Charlie felt a mild thrill run through him. It sounded as if this hernacki intended to stay in contact!

"This seems so odd," Kippy whispered to Charlie then. "When we were here with Keerby and Max, we couldn't hear their hernacki speak to them."

Horace turned to smile at him. "Because each of them met their hernacki alone. We're here in a group. We are all part of this meeting."

He turned back to look into the great, patient dark eyes. "Isn't that right?"

"It is. Is this the way you would like it to remain?"

Horace nodded. "Oh, yes. We'll all learn so much more about each other that way."

The expression in the large eyes seemed to soften. "You wish to give me a name?"

Horace blinked in surprise at that. "Oh, my." He turned to his wife. "What shall we call our new friend?"

Amy hugged his arm. "I think you need to do that." She brightened. "How did you come up with Gretchen's name?"

The ghost hunter smiled. "I had a favorite aunt named Gretchen." He rolled his eyes humorously. "She was incredibly sweet, but just a little batty, in a fun kind of way."

Adrian laughed. "You named your genius loci after a batty old aunt?"

"Batty in a fun kind of way," Horace reiterated. "She was unpredictable and charming. Just like my own Gretchen."

Amy smiled at him. "Know any other old ladies that were, well, a little different?"

Horace's face pinched in thought; and then he suddenly smiled and snapped his fingers. "Of course! My aunt's best friend. They went on most of their best escapades together."

Kippy sighed. "Don't keep us in suspense!'

Horace turned back to the waiting eyes. "How does 'Minerva' strike you?"

The large eyes watched Horace a moment. "I sense the root of this name in your mind, and find it favorable. Accepted."

The ghost hunter gave the hernacki a small bow. :"I am very pleased to meet you, Minerva. My name is Horace. This is Amy, Charlie, Kippy, Adrian, Rick, Robin, Browbeat, Chi Baradee, and Rorna."

"Your kind has been discussed here," Minerva told them. "Though you now seem to bring guests we have never met."

Baradee and Rorna turned to look at each other, surprise written on their faces.

"I hope that is okay," Horace said quickly, smiling at the two Loturi. "They're our very good friends."

"It is quite acceptable," Minerva agreed. "Your kind are the first such lifeforms to visit here. It has been a topic of interest for many. Your friends can only add to our interest.""

"And for you?" Horace asked, with interest.

"I find the subject matter of corporeal lifeforms fascinating, myself. The rules of this place don't quite permit your existence here."

"We came in mind," Browbeat offered. "We couldn't come here physically. We don't know how."

The dark eyes fixed upon the flyer. "You are a highly engineered construct that is a container for a living mind. Another very fascinating experience."

If Browbeat could have blushed, he would have done it then. Charlie grinned at the look that came over the little flyer's face, anyway. "Well, I sure try to be fun!" Browbeat answered, followed by a titter of delight.

"You could not exist physically here at all," Minerva corrected. "That your minds have become strong enough to make the journey is what intrigues us. It is an event worthy of study."

Horace frowned at that. "We'd like to be friends, too."

A note of humor crept into the star-filled eyes. "That will come, I am certain."

"This is fun!" Browbeat whispered. "These are cool guys. Not at all like the inscrutable alien giants I imagined them to be. I can see why Keerby and Max like them so much!"

Charlie smiled at that. "I have to admit I didn't think it would be like this, either."

Horace looked delighted. "When I first sensed Gretchen around my house as a child, the hardest part was getting her to stop and notice me long enough to get acquainted. She was just so surprised that I could sense her at all. She doesn't talk to me like this big fellow can -- it's more imagery and senses and emotions than anything else -- but once we got to communicating, I knew I had a friend for life!"

"You have a unique affinity for my kind," Minerva said. "You will be my chief contact, though all present will be welcome to come again, and will be able to participate in our joint endeavors together."

Chi Baradee raised a hand then. "I know now what feels wrong to me with this place. I did not see how we got here, nor can I figure out how to return to my own world."

"You arrived with your companions, but it was they that set the course. In order for you to return or come back, you will need to be with them."

Rorna sighed. "That is very satisfactory to me!"

Baradee seemed to think a moment, and then nodded. "With me, as well." She smiled at Kip. "Doorways are engineered to service the race that builds them. Your doorways are not our doorways. I see that now."

Browbeat briefly fluttered his wings in consternation. "What about me?"

Kippy laughed, and reached over to scratch the flyer between his antennae. "Oh, you're one of us, sweetheart."

"That actually seems to be the case," Minerva agreed. "This one has in many ways adopted your ways of thought as his own, sufficiently to allow him to come here using your own methods."

"I'm a chameleon," Browbeat said happily. "I've been on tons of mental adventures with my friends. I like the way they think, and I want to be like them!"

Charlie leaned his head to the side and nuzzled the flyer with his cheek. "We love you, too."

The large black eyes, just filled with distant galaxies, came even closer. "So, tell me about this problem you need help with. I see no reason we cannot pursue this matter, now that we have become friends."

Charlie felt the same thrill he could see in his friend's faces. Friends with a hernacki!

Horace leaned closer to the great eyes, his face alight with wonder. "Well, it started like this..."

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Charlie Boone

by Geron Kees

Life Is Like A New Suit of Clothes, Charlie Boone! - Chapter 9