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  Chapter 6

  The bean bag man hadn’t needed food for a long time and only kept a little handy for visitors. It was safe to say that there hadn’t been visitors in a while because all the food had been taken away by insects and rodents. There wasn’t a scrap left. The scientist gave Thaddeus a little money to go back to town to find something. Thaddeus told him that he couldn’t tell the difference between the restaurants and the houses in town. Eventually it was decided that Thaddeus would go back to the road where he found the man selling vegetables and see if anyone was there.

  The scientist had Thaddeus take the boat and gave him a bucket to get the water out of it. By the time all the water was out and only dead leaves and debris were matted to the bottom of the boat he could have walked the bank to get back to the other side. Thaddeus had only ever been on a boat once and it was a ferry he took with his parents to a little island somewhere. This was nothing like that. An oar was in the boat and he rowed it slowly to the other side where he tied it to a wood stump that was placed there for that reason.

  The road to The Town had less traffic now. It was getting to be evening. Luckily there was a vendor on the side of the road selling bread. Thaddeus bought several pretzel rolls and went back.

  When he got back to the lab the scientist was only a few feet from where Thaddeus left him.

  “Do you need me to help you?” Thaddeus asked.

  “Yes, can you help me get to that table over there, the one with the map?”

  The scientist was light enough for Thaddeus to drag him across the floor and help him into a chair at the table with the map. Thaddeus started on his first pretzel roll as the scientist laid out a plan.

  “Alright, here’s the map. This dot here, that’s us. What you need to do is follow this road here, do you see it?”

  The map was full of dots and arrows and words describing what each dot and arrow meant. “Yes.” He said.

  “Good, now you need to get to this green part, do you see it?”

  “I do.”

  “That’s the Bell Forest.”

  “More trees?” Thaddeus complained.

  “Yes, what’s wrong with trees?”

  “I’m tired of trees.”

  “The Bell Forest is a tiny kingdom.” The scientist continued. “There is a castle there that was once considered sacred by pilgrims. It’s a great place to start looking for an amulet. Last time I was there, and that was a long time ago, they sold amulets that they dug up. If they still do that then that is good news for you.”

  “How long is it to there?” Thaddeus asked. The map made it look very far.

  “I would say about a two days journey.”

  “Two days?”

  “That’s by cart. There’s a lady who lives in The Town that can take you. She runs a service where she takes people in a large cart all over the place. It’s a bit far but she might be willing at the right price.”

  “Does she run with the cart?”

  “No she actually uses a horse.”

  “Should I wait for Galen to get out of jail?”

  “Galen’s in jail? What did he do this time?”

  Thaddeus explained everything he knew about how Galen ended up in jail and what his punishment was.

  “Banned, eh?” The scientist mused. “It was bound to catch up to him eventually. I wish he just stayed here and helped with the research like he used to. But anyway, yeah I think you should wait for him. He’s got a good eye for finding things, especially trouble. Who knows, maybe with you he might change all that.”

  Thaddeus finished all but one of his pretzel rolls as the scientist finished the plan. Thaddeus was going to go back to town in the morning to the jail and when Galen got out they were going to get a cart ride to the Bell Forest. The boy was going to spend the night with the scientist. There weren’t any beds but there was an old blanket that he could curl up in.

  Thaddeus went around the lab picking up all the books and papers in return for spending the night. When it got dark out Thaddeus helped the scientist into a little room where he entertained guests. This room had a soft rug and two large chairs and even a fire place. Thaddeus lit the fire with a match and they sat in the chairs for a long time while the scientist asked as many questions as he could about the side of the world Thaddeus was from.

  “Now what do you do at the malls?”

  “You just shop.” Thaddeus said casually.

  “Shop for what?”

  “Anything. They have clothes and food and all sorts of other things. I usually look at the books.”

  “That’s the thing I don’t get.” The scientist said, moving his bean bag head until it flopped down. It took a great deal of effort to get it back up. “Why do people go around and buy so many things? I haven’t bought anything in years.”

  “Because they can.”

  “Well I guess that’s a good enough answer to any question.”

  “People want things.” Thaddeus explained patiently. “I’m sure people here would love a mall. They might not at first but they would grow into liking it. I think that’s what it’s all about. Everything you could want in one place. That gives you more time to do other things when you are not worried about food and essentials.”

  “You know a lot about this for someone so young.”

  “My parents make me learn all sorts of things. My mom teaches anthropology and always makes me learn about how social gathering helped early humans.”

  The scientist smiled. “You’re set to become a scientist one day.”

  Thaddeus went on to explain about architecture and cars, though he didn’t know much about either to be any help.

  The fire crackled pleasantly and Thaddeus found himself growing very tired while staring into it. His home didn’t have a fireplace. He always wished it had but his parents once told him that the cleanup wasn’t worth it. That’s how they felt about a lot of things. Thaddeus never had a pet or was even allowed to have friends over for the same reason. The only people he ever talked to were at school.

  “That place sounds so nice.” The scientist said serenely a while later.

  Thaddeus pulled his eyes away from the fire and smiled. “It is.”

  “Was it the same time of day when you arrived here?” The scientist asked.

  Thaddeus sat up. “No, that was weird. It was day and then suddenly turned to night. I guess that’s when I went through the boundary.”

  “That’s fantastic. I mean that’s fantastic for my research.”

  “I didn’t see anything. I didn’t go through a door or a portal or anything. I was just walking through the woods.”

  “It’s a different kind of boundary. Unfortunately it’s not one that we can see or even hear.”

  “How do you know so much about it?” Thaddeus asked. “I don’t think anybody in my world knows a thing.”

  “You’re not the first person to get through. I once talked to a child shortly after they came through. They told me all sorts of things, but they were so young I couldn’t get too much out of them.”

  “So when they get over here they can’t get back?”

  “Not yet, but I’m hoping you might be the first, at least the first I know of. I really think that since you are older than most that come over you might be able to get back using the amulet. I just hope that all of them have a wish.”

  Thaddeus looked back into the fire gravely. “So only kids come through?”

  “That seems to be what I’ve noticed from people who claim to have met someone who came through. No one knows why. Just remember that this is still a very secretive thing. Most people don’t know anything about it. It’s lucky you ran into Galen, probably the one person in The Town that knows anything about it.”

  “What are the odds?” Thaddeus said, staring deep into the fire for some type of comfort.

  “What are the odds you would get over here in the first place? Sometimes we feel li
ke things shouldn’t happen because they are so rare. But think about it, it has to happen to someone, why not you?”

  Thaddeus was getting more tired every second. He fell asleep sometime in the night while watching the fire slowly go out. The scientist fell to the floor and pushed himself out of the room.

  Thaddeus woke up to find himself on the floor curled up in the blanket the scientist gave him. It smelled old and was very dusty but it was better than not having a blanket at all.

  He made his way into the lab where the scientist was looking over the map.

  “It should be almost time for Galen to get out. You should go over there to the same building with the courts. That’s where he’ll be.” The scientist said.

  “Shouldn’t he come here? I think he said he would come here.”

  The scientist sighed. “If given the chance I don’t think he would come at all. He’s one of those people where if he is not looking directly at you he will forget how important your problem is and wander off.”

  Thaddeus ate his last pretzel roll and started out for the boat.