The Christmas Adventure
There was a very naughty kid. On Christmas Eve he snuck down the stairs. The creaky ones with the horrible dent in the 6th step. He sat and watched out of the window waiting for Santa or Jesus or whoever was supposed to come on Christmas Eve. He waited and waited and waited for a very long time. He was an impatient young boy and when it was late into the night he fell asleep on the big comfy couch. He slept for I don't know how long. But I know he woke up in another world. Well not another world completely, but far away from Nevada, his homeland.
He was in a nice warm sunny place that he had never read about or seen pictures of, this warm, lovely, jolly place. It had Palm trees sprouting up every which way and oh how beautiful the calm, sparkling, blue river looked. He dipped his feet in the water (after he took off his socks and shoes). He jumped out quite suddenly. He looked startled. He shook his head vigorously. It's only a dream, wake up; it's only a silly old dream, wake up now. But he was up. It was no dream at all that's for sure. Where am I? He wondered. Oh, how I wanted to see Santa or Jesus or whoever I don't really care anymore. For Pete's sake. All I want to know is WHERE AM I? I want to go back home. I miss my bed and house and mom and dad. I want to go home now. Oh what did I do to get this to happen to me? And at that very moment Benjamin started to weep. He sat down on a nearby rock, dug his feet into the warm sand and cried. He had his face down looking at his knees. He was holding his head up with his arms. Benjamin cried and wept and cried some more, until he could cry no more. He was all out of tears and the plumber wasn't in town that day for all Benjamin knew. Maybe the plumber was there somewhere but Benjamin didn't feel like looking for him right now, he wasn't important, what was important was how to get home for Christmas. That was his favorite holiday and he couldn't miss it after waiting that whole year, he just couldn't. Maybe it is some word or poem I have to say, like I wish I wish with all my might to go back home this very night. Well I tried my best I guess to get home and I can't I just can't so help me please, I beg of you please, please help me get home for Christmas on time. Well I guess that didn't work. I knew it wouldn't. And now Benjamin had more tears to get rid of so he cried and cried some more again. I wonder what time it is, or if Christmas already past and I missed it. Oh please oh, please. Benjamin couldn't bear to think that he would miss Christmas. I have to do something I can't just sit here and do nothing, thought Benjamin. So he gathered himself together and went wondering off to look for a way home.
Benjamin walked and walked and walked until he could walk no farther. By now he had red rosy cheeks. I must rest. So he found a rock (big enough to seat himself comfortably). It was a big rock that was very smooth. He then hugged his knees to his chest. If I want to find a way home I guess I must keep going. So he heaved himself off the rock and started to walk in the direction that he had started to walk in. He saw a light but it seemed never to get closer, in fact it seemed to get farther away from Benjamin every time he took a step. Then he saw a shadow. It almost looked like a purple shadow. Aren't shadows always black? Then he saw a flash of pink where the shadow had last been. He decided to walk toward it. It seemed to be a man. A very short, plump, stubby man. Finally he reached the man. He had a plunger in his hand. He looked almost as if he was trying to use it to protect himself or to use it as a weapon. He was wearing a purple suit and it had pink polka dots on it. Then he waved hello."I know what you are thinking, what is a plumber doing in this warm sunny, jolly, old place," said the plumber. "Well that is just fine. I know why I'm here and you don't need to know why. So get on to where you were going to. Are you going to tell Santa what you want for Christmas? Or… are you spying on me? No, no, no, don't say anything; I don't want to hear where you are going. I just want to let you know that spying or eavesdropping isn't a good thing to do or to get into the habit of doing. Now you listen here, go to where you are going and leave me alone to do my duties. Off with you, shoo, bye, so long, nice meeting you, goodbye." So Benjamin didn't even try to talk to the plumber, or whoever he was. He was on his way to find Santa. Benjamin knew what he wanted for Christmas. He wanted to go home and be with his family. So he was off. But first he needed to get directions.
So he was off to get directions from well he didn't know who. Even though it was getting dark, he still saw the light he had seen before so he decided to go explore it. I haven't had dinner yet and oh how good it would feel to have warm tomato soup running down my throat. I wish I had something to eat. Benjamin had so many things on his mind. Who was that plumber guy? Where am I? How am I going to get home? Did Santa live there like the plumber said? Sooner than he thought Benjamin reached the light. It was like a lamppost but much shorter. The light was very dim. Then the light flickered and blinked. What? What was that? Benjamin reached out his hand to touch the lamppost and when he was about 1 inch away from touching the black lamppost someone from far off from behind Benjamin yelled, "Wait you fool, don't touch that. You must not even know what it is. Well lucky for you I was here to warn you. We are going to put a warning sign on it but we haven't yet. Now you there don't go touching things if you don't know what they are or what they do. You should know better at your age. Now look here, if I had not been here you well I don't even want to explain the whole story again, but something bad would have happened. I think you need a guide. Go home, it is late. Off with you, shoo, bye, so long, nice meeting you, goodbye."
I've heard that same sentence before, but where? I know I have. Oh yeah, the plumber. It was so dark that Benjamin couldn't see the figure that had said those words. "Go, what are you waiting for? Hurry your parents will be worried." Should I ask him for dinner, or directions to Nevada, or maybe to stay with him in his house for the night? Then I would have somewhere to sleep. Or I could ask him where Santa lives. "Hello, did you hear me? Anybody home?" Or I could just go and sleep on a rock, but I don't want to do that. Oh how I wish I was home in my cozy warm bed. Just then Benjamin realized how tired he was. "I think you are in another world. You are freaking me out. Do you want me to call the hospital? Or do you want to come home with me and call your parents. Maybe you can eat dinner with me. I have way too much food. I will even get to know you. More friends is good don't you say. Hello? I must be out of my mind don't you think. Come, I will take you to an old friend of mine and he will know what the matter is. Benjamin didn't know what he was doing but he took hold of the man's hand. "Step lively now, chop, chop tally ho." Occasionally the plumber would say things like, "watch your step", and "almost there."
Finally the plumber said, "ah, here we are, be careful, it is very swampy here." By now Benjamin was barely awake, but he managed to stay out of the swampy puddles. The house had ivy almost covering the front of the house. It looked like the house was made of brick. There were little puffs or smoke coming out of the chimney. There was only one light on and it was very dim. It looked like an old house, but very comfortable. "Come," said the plumber grumpily because he had accidentally stepped into a swampy puddle. They walked up the front path. The plumber knocked gently on the door. When nobody answered he knocked harder. The door creaked opened and there stood a very old man with hazel eyes. He looked in his 70's. But he hadn't done any shrinking. He was very tall. In fact he almost reached the ceiling. Benjamin was sure he could reach the ceiling if he was on his tiptoes.
"Come in, watch your step though," said the man.
"How are things?" asked the plumber.
"Good thanks. Take off your coats and make yourself at home. Who are you?" asked the man; apparently he had just noticed Benjamin.
"He is my new friend, I don't know much about him though." said the plumber answering for Benjamin.
"Ah, I see, well I am going to fix up the fire so take off your shoes and come into the living room. Is anyone hungry?"
"No," said the plumber. Benjamin shook his head. He was hungry but he didn't know this man at all.
"Ok then, now let us get to business," said the man as they all sat down. "Why are you two here, and what is the matter, it must be very important if it is this late at night."
"It doesn't have anything to do with me, I just came to show him the way here." said the plumber. He laid back in his chair and watched the fire flicker. Benjamin thought it was warm enough outside but apparently the man didn't think so. The man took out some paper from his desk on the side of the room.
"I am Mr. Greenway, and your name is sir?" asked Mr. Greenway. "Oh yeah, and do you happen to know Mr. H and Mrs. T?" Benjamin shook his head. Who were Mr. H and Mrs. T and why were they important? "Your name?" repeated Mr. Greenway. Can I trust this man and tell him my name. I mean why does it matter to him what my name is. So since Benjamin didn't trust the man he didn't answer. "Call in my wife," commanded Mr. Greenway. The plumber stood up. "She is in the library practicing and studying," said Mr. Greenway. The plumber walked out of the room. Mr. Greenway stared oddly at Benjamin, it gave Benjamin the creeps. The plumber returned to his seat and in walked a lady with glasses. Her hair was tied in a tight bun and her hair was gray. She had a stern looking face and when she looked at Benjamin he felt that she was looking inside of him. Her glasses had a lot of jewels on them, probably fake. She held a cup in her hand that looked like it held something good in it. It smelled good and steam rose slowly from it.
"He is 11 years old and his name is Benjamin Wallace. His favorite color is Blue and his favorite sport is baseball," said the woman reading Benjamin's mind. All of the things she said were correct.
"Anything else you want to know dear?" questioned the woman. She smiled at Benjamin sweetly. The woman took a sip of the liquid that was in her cup.
"No that is all, thank you darling," answered Mr. Greenway. Just then the phone rang. The woman walked quickly out of the room. "So, your name is Benjamin Wallice and you are 11 years old?" asked Mr. Greenway. Benjamin nodded his head. "Got it," Mr. Greenway said as he jotted down some things on the piece of paper. "Oh phooey," said Mr. Greenway speaking to himself. "I should have asked her to tell me one more thing about this fellow but I guess I can live with it." There was a sudden laugh in the room next door. "Well, I will give you some results in the morning, I will call you, but I suggest keeping this young man in your sight," Mr. Greenway advised the plumber. "You should go to Mrs. T and Mr. H's house as soon as possible. I suggest as soon as you leave." Everyone rose out of their seats and Mr. Greenway opened the door. The plumber and Benjamin stepped out the door and were off to wherever. They walked for a bit. It was dark and Benjamin was so tired he couldn't believe he was even up.
"You are probably wondering where we are going in such a rush," said the plumber. "Well, we are going to the house of Mr. H and Mrs. T. You should know something about them; I will start with Mrs. T. She always wears makeup and jewelry. She is very proper and she can be annoying. Mr. H is a very stressed out man and he is very dull. Here we are, this is their house" finished the plumber. I wonder what Mrs. T is wearing today, and how dull Mr. H will be, and their house. It looks like an odd house, but a little nice. I mean Mr. Greenway's house was nicer.
As they walked up the narrow pathway the curtains closed. It was colder now, much cooler then it had been before. The plumber rang the doorbell. A beautiful woman opened the door. "Oh hello, how are you Harold, and you, little boy? Come in." She walked them into a room with big doors. "Honey, Harold and a little boy are here." I'm not little, I'm 11 years old. Little would be a 5 year old. That was rude. The woman wore silver hoops in her ears and she wore a chunky necklace with sea glass dangling off of it. She wore a long flowing black gown with green and pink dots on it. There was a wooden table in front of Benjamin and on it there was a letter. On the letter it read in red ink, TOP SECRET. What is inside? Any young boy would have wanted to reach out and grab the letter. "Sit down Harold, and you," said the woman motioning to Benjamin with her hand. Benjamin and the plumber sat down. "What are you doing here so late? Your house is far off. It will be nearly 2:00 in the morning when you reach your house."
"Well Mr. Greenway said we should come here right away, and here we are. I was wondering if we could sleep here for the night since this boy looks exhausted."
"Well I suppose so," Mrs. T said. "Have you had dinner yet?"
"No, and as for me I am starving. What do you have in the kitchen for me?" The plumber's stomach rumbled.
"Well we have fish, is that ok?" Benjamin nodded, and the plumber gave Mrs. T two thumbs up. She smiled sweetly and left the room.
For the first time Benjamin saw Mr. H. "Hello Harold. How are you?" asked Mr. H.
"Good thank you." The man sat in a chair. He was smoking a cigar and looked so tired. He wore a rundown shirt that had red stains on it that looked like ketchup. His pants were baggy and too short for the man. Benjamin closed his eyes, but soon smelled fish. He opened his eyes and as soon as he got his plate, he quickly began gobbling it down.
"Would you like a squirt of lemon juice on your fish boy?" asked Mrs. T.
Benjamin nodded with his cheeks stuffed with fish. Mrs. T squirted some lemon juice onto his plate. Benjamin started eating his fish again. "How about you Harold, lemon juice?" The plumber shook his head.
When everyone was finished eating their fish, Mr. H got some paper out of his desk and sat down on a table. Mr. H cleared his throat and asked, "Your name and age please."
"Benjamin Wallace, 11," answered the plumber instead of Benjamin.
"Next time let the young man answer please," Mr. H said in a calm voice as he wrote a few things down on the paper. "Walk around the room once please," instructed Mr. H. He says please in every sentence. He doesn't need to do that. I guess he is the polite type of person. Benjamin walked around the room and sat back down. Mr. H wrote some more things down. "You are a male right?" asked Mr. H.
"Yeah, he's a boy."
"The boy please."
There he goes again, another please. I should count each time he says please. Mrs. T walked out of the room and in less than 5 minutes she came back into the room carrying a plate of chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm. They look yummy. Benjamin licked his lips. The smell of warm chocolate chip cookies was in the room. "Cookies! Who wants one?" Mrs. T said happily. "Benjamin would you like one?" Benjamin nodded. He took one off the plate and took a little nibble out of it. "Harold how about you, would you like one?"
"No thanks, they look delicious but I'm on a diet for sweets.
"Ok then, sweetie?
Mr. H took one and took a big bite out of it. "On the other hand, who cares about my diet, I'll have one." the plumber said as he snatched one from the plate. Mrs. T took one for herself and then set the plate down on a table. As everyone ate their cookie Mrs. T had called in a maid and told her to make a nice warm cozy fire. When the fire was bright and the maid had left and everyone was done with their cookie, Mr. H took the letter that read top secret on it and handed it to Benjamin. Benjamin took it, but didn't open it.
"What are you waiting for? Open it." Mr. H commanded. Benjamin ripped the top off so he could reach inside and pull whatever was inside the envelope out. He reached in the envelope and pulled a small square piece of paper. "Do not read it out loud," Mr. H said. So Benjamin did what he was told to do. The letter said:
Top Secret Only Benjamin Wallace May Read
Dear Benjamin,
Please trust me. I am real. I am not pretend. I must speak to you as soon as possible. But not just anywhere. We shall meet at 2:00 p.m. and you shall leave me at 4:00 p.m. I will see you at the Stone River. If you do not know where that is then ask someone. If they don't know where it is then I will meet you at Lava Jungle. If you don't know where that is, then ask a person. I will see you tomorrow. Come alone unless you don't know where Stone River or Lava Jungle is. You may bring one person with you up to the border of Stone River or Lava Jungle. If for any such reason you can't find anyone of those places then I will see you at Weesami Cave. Do not be late. If you or I do not show up then the next day we will meet at Rainbow Waters at the same time we were supposed to meet the day before. I hope to see you tomorrow, but if not I shall definitely see you the next day. Looking forward to seeing you.
Your friend,
That was the letter. No one had signed it so Benjamin had no clue who it was from, but it was interesting. Benjamin looked up at Mr. H. "I know," Mr. H said smiling. Benjamin folded the letter and put it in his jeans pocket.
"Harold would you like some tea?" asked Mrs. T. The plumber shook his head. "Benjamin, are you tired?" asked Mrs. T, Benjamin nodded. "Come with me and I will show you your room for the night." Mrs. T told Benjamin as she got up. Benjamin stood up and followed Mrs. T up some stairs that led to a round room. Mrs. T took him up another flight of steps. There you could either go to the right, to the left, or up another flight of stairs. Mrs. T took Benjamin to the left. There were lots of doors. She stopped and opened a door. It creaked opened. Benjamin walked in and was instantly happy with the room he would be sleeping in. There was a big window with the curtains closed. There was a big bed, and plenty of space for him to explore the room and make himself at home. Wow, some room. These people must be rich. This is a really nice room. I am glad we are sleeping over. I am going to have a great sleep. I can't believe I can sleep here tonight! "Are you going to be alright?" Benjamin nodded his head. "Do you need anything thing?" Benjamin shook his head again. "Well if you do go up five more flights of stairs. There will be big doors to the right. Make sure you count the flights of steps. That is where I am sleeping. Oh and the bathroom is to the right out side and there is a pink door. With yellow flowers on it. Have a good night sleep." The next thing Benjamin knew was that he was alone. He could do whatever he wanted. I want to go to sleep. So Benjamin climbed into bed and fell asleep in less then 5 minutes.
Tap; tap patter, patter, drip, drop. Benjamin was awake and it was raining. He looked at a clock near him. 3:00 a.m. Then he heard shouting and screaming that was very faint. In a minute or two Benjamin was back asleep.
When he next woke up it was morning the rain had stopped. There were birds chattering away. Birds always have so much to say. Benjamin got up and went down the stairs.
When he was finished with breakfast the plumber thanked Mr. H and Mrs. T for letting them sleepover. Just as they were about to leave the phone rang. It was for the plumber. It was Mr. Greenway. Benjamin edged closer to the plumber to try to hear what Mr. Greenway was saying. This is what he heard.
"Hello Mr. Greenway.
"Hello, how are you Harold?"
"Good thanks, why are you calling."
"First thing first, did Benjamin get the letter?"
"Yes. Why is that important?"
"First tell me are you alone?"
"No."
"Who are you with?"
"Benjamin, Mr. H, and Mrs. T."
"Then I can't tell you why I called. I will call back at 2:00 p.m. today. Be alone and at home please. Well that is all, but be ready at 2:00 p.m. and be alone."
"I can tell you this, it would help a lot. Can you talk Benjamin to Stone River; you know where that is right?"
"Yes I know where that is."
"Take him there at 2:00 p.m. and don't be late."
"Alright, good bye."
"Good bye"
The plumber gave the phone back to Mr. H. Then Benjamin and the plumber left the house.
It was a nice morning and there were quite a few birds outside. There was a robin redbreast sitting proudly on a maple tree. The maple tree swayed in the calm wind that hardly made a sound. It was a lovely day everyone would like. Benjamin felt that he could grab a chair and sit outside for the rest of the day. The plumber didn't seem to know where he was going. It was such a lovely day that Benjamin didn't mind walking around going nowhere. They walked down nice streams with flowers along the water. They walked through parks with nice trails. When it was near lunch time Benjamin started to get hungry. The plumber asked "are you hungry for lunch Benjamin?" Benjamin nodded. So they headed towards a restaurant. When they arrived the plumber waved to some man with a grey beard. He smiled and waved back. He had blue twinkling eyes and when you looked into them you feel as though they were made of glass and you can go right though them.