IA: Initiate (18 page)

But here, it wasn’t that way. There was calmness all about—still waters. It was an open area with spacious scenery, breathtaking houses, and well-manicured lawns. Naz felt calm in this setting, a calm he never knew at home. After a few blocks they approached what appeared to be a strip of stores and other businesses. Because it was still very early, most of these were closed, and there weren’t many people out and about.

Even though most of the stores and businesses were closed, you could still see in through the huge walls of windows and glass doors, and just like the houses and buildings, they were all different. In one store, there were racks and racks of fancy clothes, some sported by aerodynamic-looking mannequins. In another store there were endless shoes in every aisle. In still another, there were rows and columns of glass bottles in different colors, shapes, and sizes,
some like the kind “he” always brought home,
Naz thought. And there were restaurants—a myriad of restaurants.

In the Exclave, it was either the Market Merchants for most things or the Mega Chains for everything else. And when they were closed, they were closed, locked down with no way to see inside. A flexible bulletproof metal door covered the only glass window of the markets when they were closed, and the Mega Chains had no windows to cover up.

When they reached the corner, Meri said in surprise, “Look,” then took off in the direction she was pointing.

Naz, being used to her impulsiveness, didn’t cry out, but instead he shook his head and followed her. He looked around only to discover this wasn’t a strip at all, but a maze of stores, shops, restaurants, theatres, and other businesses.

By the time he caught up to her, she had found a hobby shop. In front of the shop was a life-sized chess set. In the shop window could be seen chess sets with pieces made of glass, stone, wood, metal, and other materials. There were computerized and electronic chess sets, and even chess sets where the pieces were moving by themselves. There were also toys, model cars, boats, and planes, and a variety of train sets in motion, but Meri only had eyes for the chess sets.

“Well?” she asked.

“Well what?” He was as impressed as Meri but was determined to arrive at International Academy on time.

“Let’s play,” she said deviously, as she tried to move one of the giant pawns of the chess set. It was as tall as she was, and she couldn’t budge it.

“Good,” he laughed. “Serves you right. Now who’s stalling? Didn’t you get enough of losing this morning?”

“Look!” She ran over and jumped on the back of one of the giant knights. “I’m Ron,” she said in a passable English accent.

“No, that would be me. Now let’s go. You’re not gonna be late for this test, Meri.”

She shrugged, as he grabbed her hand, and they went back in the direction from which they had come. But, as he feared, they were now turned around. He wasn’t even sure if the map would help at this point. He tried to retrace their steps but nothing looked the same.

He noticed that some of the restaurants were open and one in particular with outside seating was serving breakfast. As Naz and Meri walked by, they were greeted with friendly nods, something unseen in the Exclave. Eye contact with strangers was a no-no in the Exclave, signaling disrespect, fear, or a show of intimidation, depending on the parties involved.

Naz thought,
if I don’t find the way soon, the opportunity will be lost, and like Dr. Gwen said, there will be no second chance. I will have failed Meri.
He cast the thought out his mind, and at that very moment a couple walking their dog stopped them, asked if they were brother and sister, and if they were lost.
Was it that obvious even without the map in my hand
, Naz thought?  Naz nodded and told them where he and Meri were headed. The couple smiled and pointed them in the right direction. They thanked the couple and were off.

With no time to lose, once they were out of the maze, Naz told Meri to get on his back, and he ran. He wouldn’t chance her being even one minute late. All the while he quizzed her on the words Dr. Gwen had given him that would help her with the test. With each word she grew more and more irritated and impatient. But he didn’t care. Then, he had a flash—a memory. Someone, somewhere had treated him this same way before, the way he was now treating Meri.

“What does categorize mean?” he quizzed her.

“To place in a particular group or class,” she rattled off, robotically.

“Use it in a sentence.”

“I categorize these questions as useless because I already know this stuff.”

Naz tutted. “State the meaning of the word, hypothesize.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes!”

“To put forth a hypothesis.”

“Define hypothesis.”

“An educated guess.”

“Use summarize in a sentence.”

“Really?” She was just about at the end of her rope.

“Really!”

She thought for a moment and then in her best Southern belle accent said, “Summarize … Dis summer I’s goin’ to da festival wit ma big brutha.”

Naz stopped dead in his tracks and put her down. “What?”

“Summarize … Dis summer I’s goin’ to da festival wit ma big brutha,” she repeated playfully.

He thought about it and started laughing. “You foolish. You shoulda just said so if you didn’t wanna study.”

“Do I have to spell it out?”

“Yup,” he said, laughing as they approached International Academy.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY

When
they arrived at International Academy, it wasn’t at all what he expected. There were no modern buildings made of glass, granite, or marble, but a historic little village of sorts. It seemed to be completely surrounded by a tall wrought iron fence. At the gates, there were cars pulling into a drive, and on each gate were the giant Old English style letters I and A, just like on the letter Dr. Gwen had given him, and it made Naz think of the raised crest on the envelope. As the cars were going through, he noticed the people in the cars showing someone at a booth a letter similar to the one Dr. Gwen had given him. He and Meri got behind the last car and followed the line of cars up to the booth. Naz showed the letter to the attendant and was given a map directing him to the building where the test would be given.

They got to the building with a little time to spare. There were many children, big and small, some with their parents waiting in line to enter. Naz knew from the instructions in the letter that he would not be allowed to enter the building with her, so he bent down where he stood and began taking out one of his shoestrings.

“What are you doing?” Meri asked.

“I wanna give you something.”

“A dirty shoelace?”

“It’s not dirty … well, not that dirty.”

The night before, he planned to give her something. He pulled the key Dr. Gwen had given him out of his pocket, threaded it with his shoelace, and then made a knot with both ends of the shoelace so the key would not come off. He didn’t believe in luck, so he called it an unlock and put it around her neck.

“What is it?” she asked.

“A key,” he said, waiting for some kind of sarcastic comeback. He couldn’t wait to give her the same answer Dr. Gwen had given him, but it just didn’t have the same effect on Meri. She just gave him a cold stare.

“To what?”

“Well, actually I don’t know, but I call it an unlock because it’s not good luck. It’s a symbol to remind you that you can do anything you put your mind to.”

She looked at the key closely. “What do the markings mean?”

“They mean you’re gonna ace this test. Now get it done.”

They were now at the entrance and he could go no further. They shook hands and gave each other reassuring nods. She then turned and disappeared into the building.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

THE BLIND PATH

The
test would take two hours. While the parents of the other children drove off or waited in their cars, Naz figured he would investigate the grounds of International Academy more closely until Meri was done. At first he thought that someone might stop him and make him leave or call security or the police to arrest him for trespassing. But just like in the neighboring town, everyone that saw him just gave him a friendly nod, wave, or some other pleasant greeting.

After twenty minutes or so he started to get bored. His shoe with no lace also began to annoy him as it flopped around on his foot loosely when he walked. There was a long, straight, narrow path with grass and trees on both sides before him. It was tranquil. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so at peace with himself and the world around him. There were no human sounds, no voices, no cars, or other machinery, only the sound of the wind through the trees, the birds, and insects—the sounds of nature. He knelt down to touch the ground with his hands and take it all in.

He looked around to make sure no one was watching him. He decided to take off his socks and shoes, close his eyes, and see how far he could walk, staying in the middle of the path and not straying to either side. He put his socks and shoes behind a big oak tree, and then walked slowly with his arms out imitating a mummy he had seen in an old movie. On his first attempt, his bare feet found the prickly grass on the right side of the path after about twenty steps. He smiled. He had discovered a way to entertain himself for the next hour or so. He tried again. This time he got a bit further, but he ended up jamming two of his fingers on a birch tree to the left. He cursed.

Then he sat with his back against the offending tree for a while and twisted a tendril of his hair. He studied the path, and something slowly came to him, something that he knew without knowing. From where he sat he could now see that the path veered to the right, and what was beyond that point could not be seen. He stood up in the middle of the path again, and this time he estimated the distance to where the path turned and the angle of the turn. He then closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and listened to every sound more closely than he had the first time. He listened more closely than he ever remembered listening to anything before. He imagined at the end of the turn that point that could not be seen was a place he had only ever read about: Nirvana. Then, with his eyes still closed, he walked straight down the center of the path at his normal pace with his arms slightly extended from his sides and his palms facing the sky. This time he stayed in the middle of the path. As the path turned, so did he. He used the sounds he heard and their reflections off his surroundings to guide him until something stopped him, and he opened his eyes.

There was the scent of wood chips. He looked up and saw lollipops and licorice, a playscape.
This has to be it
, he thought, all the colors, the different slides and swings.

“But she never mentioned a school, it was at a park.” His heart sank for a moment, but over the last three years disappointment was something he had gotten used to, so he shrugged it off. “And no monkey bars either, only chin-up bars.”

As Naz walked around the playscape he thought about what Meri said again earlier that morning, about the amazing kid that could fly on the monkey bars.
Could that have been me
? he wondered.
Well if it was, then I should be able to do this,
he thought, as he walked over to the highest chin-up bar. He jumped up, grabbed it with both hands, and began to swing his body forward until he went completely around the bar in circles. The third time around, his body slowed as he swung around the top of the bar. The fourth time, his body slowed even more until he stopped. He was completely still in a perfect handstand on top of the bar. After five seconds, he began to spin forward again, slowly at first, then faster and faster until on the fourth time around he let go of the bar catapulting his body into a double back somersault and landed on two feet. He stumbled backwards on one foot, then turned around to look back up at the chin-up bar in amazement.

Without much thought or effort, he reached for the ground with both hands and immediately kicked one leg back and up, and then the other, propelling himself into a perfect handstand. It was easy. He didn’t wobble or strain to balance himself. It felt natural, almost as if he was standing on his feet.
Meri was right
, he thought.
But what else was she right about?
He wasn’t willing to go any further than that. After a short while, although things in his field of vision were upside down, he didn’t feel upside down anymore.