Redemption
The Muffler and Tests

The next morning, William said that he would take the books back to the library, as well as start to look around for scrap wood. Then, to the surprise of Click and David, he asked if she needed any books.

“Anything that has to do with industry, or manufacturing processes,” the boy relayed.

“While he is doing that,” Ma offered, “I thought that I would look around for shops that might be potential customers.”

“And see about lacquer,” David added.

Thus, despite the setback of the adults’ lost employment, the three set out toward town at the usual time. As winter was in full swing, the air was frigidly cold that day. It was thus that Ma was horrified to find that Cathy wore old socks over her hands to keep them warm.

“Maybe Mom can make you a muffler as well as your dress,” she told the child gently. This brought an astonished look to the girl’s small face.

This time, they all waited outside of the graveyard while she visited her father. When she was through, they continued on to the school together. There, they waited until Miss Thatcher arrived. Then, once the kids were inside of the school, the adults stood outside, talking.

“What are they talking about?” The boy wondered silently.

“Ma and Grandpa are asking questions about Cathy,” Click replied. When they were through talking, they came in. After Ma and her dad told the kids goodbye, they turned and left. When they were gone, the young teacher gave him a smile.

“You have a very nice family, David,” she said.

To everyone’s surprise, Ricky showed up at class that morning. Nevertheless, upon seeing him, the blond teacher told him to leave, as she was still barring him from class. His ensuing weeping pleas made no impression upon her.

“I told you that you are suspended until I see your father,” she reminded. Still, he refused to leave, until the teacher once more broke out “Mr. Oakly,” her paddle. At this, the boy left, promising to “Get the sheriff” on her.

“Go ahead,” the teacher scoffed, “And, while you are at it, tell him that his niece says ’Hello.’” Finally, the boy left. In the wake of his leaving, the morning passed quickly. After lunch, Miss Thatcher read one of Ewing’s stories to the class, as it was too cold to go outside for recess. This was a new tale that he had wrote over the weekend, about an elf that went around helping people out of trouble. At the end, everyone agreed with the teacher that the boy was extremely talented.

At the end of the day, Ma appeared once more at the door, to David and Cathy’s delight. During the walk home, she was interested in all of her son’s friends, but she was openly partial to the small girl. When the three started down Bloody Run Road, she pulled something out of her purse.

“I bought this for you,” the woman told the child, presenting her with the muffler, “So you can keep your little hands warm.” Seeing the fur-lined tube, the little girl’s eyes widened. Handing David her books, she pulled the socks from her hands, and slipped it on.

“Thank you,” she said humbly, eying the wrapping with a touched awe.

“You are quite welcome,” Ma assured her warmly, “I just hated to think of you walking around to using socks as gloves.”

When they came to the path that led to her house, Cathy hugged Ma in open gratitude. Then, she took her books from David and told him that she would see him later. They stood there until she disappeared into the front door of the ramshackle house at the end of the trail. As they started home, he looked around at his mom.

“Click said that you are sweet,” he relayed.

“Well, tell her that I said thanks.”

“She heard you.”

Reaching the house, they found Grandpa and Grandma sitting in the front room. The old man was reading one of the books from the boy’s room, they noticed. Pointing to a large stack of books on the other side of the room, he explained that they were all that the library had. As well, he revealed that he had brought home a few small skids from the warehouse.

“Click says thank you,” David said, noticing that William had also taken several of the books from his room. The elder then revealed that he was going to read them.

“If we are going to make it a family business, I figure that I had better learn all that I can about the matter.” Hearing this, the boy relayed the major points to concentrate upon in each book. As she could remember them verbatim, Click could tell him exactly where in the books to start.

“She said that this will make it easier on you,” the ten year old explained. He then sat down; as Click was insisting that he do his homework.

“I am discovering that the more that you learn, the stronger that your thoughts become,” she told him, “And the stronger that your thoughts, the more my strength grows.” Hearing this, he studied extra hard.

Later, when it was time for dinner, Ma and Grandpa told of the results of their efforts that day. First, the old man revealed that he had found that there was a veritable mound of broken skids outside of the warehouse. Then, David’s mother told of three potential outlets that she had found. These included Lemmings Furniture, Robin’s Department store, as well as several pawnshops.

“Still,” William winced, “I would kind of like to stay away from Pawn brokers. After all, they are not the most reputable of places.”

“Well, if nothing else,” Grandma countered gently, “They will serve to get our feet wet.”

After Dinner, the family gathered in the sitting room. There, David laid the books out and they watched the eerie sight of the small orb perform its “Dance” (as the old man called it,) over them. Where they had grown more accepting of her, they still found it difficult to believe that she had read it all as fast as she had seemed to. Finally, the old fellow picked up one of the books from her finished pile. Displaying this to the entity, he turned it around and opened it.

“What does it say on page ninety-seven?” He challenged. David responded by listening, then he smiled.

“It continues a sentence began on page ninety-six. So, it reads ’Agree that the process involved in industry is best perpetuated through a series of stations, set in order, that perform assigned functions, in the same exact sequence. Thus, rather than individual craftsmen, the laborers form a line of assembly, which act as a process for the fabrication of the desired product. This-.”

“Okay-okay-okay!” William accepted with a slight laugh.

“Was she right?” The old woman demanded with a smile.

“Word per word,” the old man admitted through a begrudging grin, turning the pages. Then, looking at Click, he said “One more. What is the third sentence on page one hundred and seven?” Looking at the floating ball, the boy broke into a slight scoffing, laugh.

“There are no sentences on page one hundred and seven, Grandpa! It is chart of potential production time-tables.” Slumping in slight defeat, the elder held the book around to reveal the correctness of this. “If you want, she says that she can tell you what it says in the chart,” his grandson offered brightly.

“No!” The old man accepted with a laugh as he replaced the book in the pile, “You have made a believer of me!” Joining into the chuckle, David silently agreed with the entity that it was nice that they tested her. At least then, they were accepting her and not afraid of her.

That night, click waited patiently while he said his prayers. Then she began to lay the last of the library books out in the order that she wanted to study them. As she did, an odd thought came to the boy.

“Do you pray?” He wondered silently.

“Yes, while you are praying,” she replied, “Only I pray silently, in my natural language.”

“Why do you pray silently,” he asked in thought.

“Because I am afraid that I will disturb you, otherwise,” she explained.

“Why? What does it sound like?”

“Do you really want to hear it?”

“Yes.” He had no more than thought this, when his mind filled with a cacophonous series of clicks, whistles and creaking sounds. At the end of it, the image at the foot of his bed laughed.

“That was what you just prayed, but in my language.”

“Wow!” He astounded, joining her in her laugh. Then, oddly, another question came to mind. “Do you miss your own kind?”

“Oddly enough, no,” she replied thoughtfully, “After all, I know nothing about them. I mean, I miss Cathy when she is not around. On the other hand, I miss Jenny, Ewing, or Miss Thatcher. I even miss your dad. But I have learned to miss them through you.”

“That’s odd,” he decided silently.

“Not really,” she dismissed gently, “After all, I only know what I have learned from you. That which you hold dear, I hold dear.” Shrugging, the illusion added, “I guess that that is perfectly natural for my race.”

Graveyard Introduction

When David woke up, the bracelet was gone from his wrist, with the image nowhere in sight. Panicked, the boy looked around the bed.

“Click?” He called out in thought.

“I will be right there,” her voice replied in his mind. A few seconds later, the image entered the room, followed by the floating sphere. Seeing this, the boy heaved a sigh of relief.

“I thought that they had taken you from me,” he explained.

“Oh no,” the image laughed as the orb formed a bracelet on his wrist, “In fact, I was just helping Grandpa.”

“You were?” The boy astounded groggily.

“Yes. You see, it got rather cold last night, so I went around to make sure all of the fires were burning sufficiently. Well, I met up with Grandpa, who was likewise fueling the fires. At first, I think that I startled him. However, after a couple of seconds, he said ‘I will tell you what. You get the upstairs fires, and I will get the downstairs.’ So, I did. Then, when I went back, he said, ‘If you really want to help, you can look for the cracks where these drafts are coming from.’ I did, and when I found a bunch of them, I plugged them up using old newspapers. Still, you must explain to him that that is a temporary solution at best.”

“But, he was nice to you?” The boy wondered hopefully.

“Oh yes,” the image assured, “In fact, he said ‘Well now! It might not be so bad having you around after all!’”

After a few minutes, the image vanished respectfully while the boy got dressed. Once he was properly clothed, she reappeared, and they went downstairs. As they did, the illusion wondered how she might bring the others to see her, while he astounded at how warm the house was. Reaching the kitchen, he found that the others were likewise amazed.

“I’ll tell you what!” The old man smiled to Grandma, “It was the darnedest thing that I ever saw! I did not have to do anything; all I had to do was watch. Click would fly up to a corner, then she would flatten out and disappear into a crack-I don’t care how small it was! Then, she would come out, and hover over the newspaper, and a piece would rip itself off. Then, she and it would vanish into the crack, and, before you could say ’Jumping Jiminy,” the drafts were gone!”

“It sounds to me like it would be sort of unnerving,” Mary replied.

“Well, in a way, it sort of was at first,” William allowed, “But, as I say, if Davie trusts her, then I do as well. So, in a way it was spooky, but it was a good sort of spooky.” Pausing, he searched himself, and then he explained, “It was like having a friendly ghost helping out.” Looking at David, Ma nodded.

“Thank you very much, Click.”

“She says to tell you that you are quite welcome,” he relayed. Then, he added “But she says that the paper bits are only a temporary solution. Come the spring, we should try to fix the cracks more permanently.” Pausing, he looked towards the sink. Then he nodded “She says if we can get putty, or something, she could fill them with that.”

“Why do you look over there, Son?” Ma noticed curiously.

“Because Click appears as a woman to me, and she is standing there.”

“A woman?” Grandma gasped, looking over at the sink.

“But, as she explains, it is only an image that she projects of herself. She is not really there. She is on my wrist.”

“Is the woman pretty?” Grandpa asked in a teasing voice.

“And how! She is prettier than Miss Thatcher!”

“Well! Tell her to appear to me sometimes!” The elder laughed, drawing a scolding look from his wife.

“She is trying to figure out how she can,” the boy explained. Then listening, he nodded, “That way, she won’t startle you, like she did last night.”

As they ate, William wondered if the entity needed any books. She replied that she did, but they could wait.

“It is too cold outside for him to be traipsing about without a good cause,” the image told David, “Besides; I am going to start experimenting tonight.” However, his relaying this brought a look of concern to Ma’s face.

“Then, I wonder if you should go to school,” she said uncertainly, “As it does look cold out there.”

“She says don’t worry, she will keep me warm.”

“But, what about little Cathy?” Mary reminded, “I hope that that poor little thing stays home.”

“Click says that she can keep her warm as well,” David shrugged.

Before he left, Ma made certain that he was well bundled, and hugged him. Nevertheless, true to the entity’s word, he did not feel the slightest bit cold as he made his way down Bloody Run Road. Coming to the end of the path leading to the Planchet’s house, he looked to see the little girl running towards him. As she grew close, he could see that she shivered bitterly. Yet, with her drawing up to him, she looked around uncertainly.

“It’s not so cold here,” she muttered in slight amazement.

As they walked, they played their favorite game of Challenge. Only this time, they included any subject. As they were both smart, they usually got the answers right. The only time otherwise was when he got confused.

“No,” Click assured him with a laugh, “She is right: The office of the president is called the ‘Executive branch’ of the government.”

As they drew near the cemetery, the little girl grew silent, as if in deep consideration. At first, David wondered if something was wrong. Finally, she looked at him uncertainly.

“Would you like to come in with me?” She offered.

“Sure,” he allowed, feeling honored that she would share such a thing with him. Therefore, he followed her through the gate, back to a small headstone in the far corner.

“Hi Daddy,” the little girl said, “I brought a friend with me, today. His name is David. He is the boy that saved me from that mean dog.” Holding out the muffler, she added, “His mother-the nice lady who fixed my coat-gave this to me. It is very warm.”

“Hello Mr. Planchet, Sir,” the boy said softly.

“Grandma says to tell you hi, and that she misses you. Grandpa is still upset. But, I know that he will get better soon. I miss you, and I am being a good girl, as you asked. Mom has not come back yet. Grandma says that she will not be back until next spring. She told me that she is always gone seven years at a time.” Pausing, the child reached up and wiped her eyes. “I wish that she was here!” She said, slightly crying, “I wish that you were here!” Finally, openly crying, she declared, “I love you, Daddy!”

Stricken, it was all that he could to keep from crying himself. Likewise, Click was quiet during most of the visit. Finally, as they were leaving, the image shook its head in pity.

“The poor little girl,” she declared heavily.

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