In Brightest Day, In Darkest Night

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 3:

Ernest looked curiously at Jimmy. "Are you all right?"

Jimmy shook himself out of his state of shock. "Oh…sure. Fine." He looked around to see if anyone else had seen what had happened, but the others were still loading their personal effects into the hovercraft. Did I really see what I thought I just saw? he wondered. Ernest must be almost as strong as Coach Gruber. All I can say is that he hides it pretty well. I never would have guessed.

Ernest was still looking curiously at him. "You look kind of funny. Are you sure you're all right?"
Jimmy dismissed the incident from his mind. After all, just because he couldn't lift the telemonitor alone didn't mean that other kids his age couldn't. "Yeah, I'm okay. I guess I might still be a little woozy from that explosion…or whatever it was." That was certainly a possibility, and definitely a good reason not to say anything to the others. The ribbing that he would get from Cindy and Libby would make his life unbearable for the next few days. Cindy's annoyed voice seemed to underscore that possibility.

"Hey, Neutron! Are we heading back or not?"

"Okay, okay, we're coming!" he called. Together he and Ernest pulled the hovercart over to the hovercraft and after securing it to the towing hitch worked out seating arrangements. Because there was room to comfortably seat only five in the hovercraft Sheen sat in the hovercart with the telemonitor, although Cindy and Libby had giggled (idiotically, Jimmy thought to himself) at Libby's suggestion that one of them sit on Ernest's lap. Ernest had blushed deeply at this and was saved from more of the girls' teasing only by Sheen's offer.

"Hey, no problem!" he said, climbing in. "Carl rode in on the way up, and if I can't ride shotgun then tail gunner is the next best thing." He sat down, straddling the telemonitor, and began making machine gun and explosion noises with his mouth.

To Ernest's obvious chagrin and Jimmy's thinly concealed annoyance the respite was short-lived. Because Carl had earned the right to sit in the front with Jimmy because he had ridden in the hovercart on the way up both of the girls sat in the back with Ernest. They immediately flanked the hapless boy and seemed determined to find out if they could make him die of embarrassment.

"You know, Libs," Cindy remarked, toying with Ernest's arm with her finger, "I think that there's a word that best describes the quiet ones."

"Honestly?" Libby straight-lined as she held on to Ernest's other arm.

"No. Ernest-ly!" And both girls laughed.

Hyenas, Jimmy seethed and pushed the hovercraft to just over 200 miles an hour. Fortunately the ride was a reasonably short one and they arrived in their neighborhood before Ernest could turn more than a deep crimson or the hovercraft was involved in a serious accident.

"Care to walk me home, Ernie?" Libby asked as Jimmy slowed to a more reasonably speed.

"Of course not," replied Cindy. "He lives closer to my house."

"All the more reason I need an escort," argued Libby.

"Well, maybe I could use an escort too," Cindy argued back.

Or a muzzle, Jimmy thought. He turned the hovercraft down a street and came to a stop in front of a dimly lit two-story house.

"Whose house is this, Jimmy?" asked Libby.

"Ernest's," Jimmy replied brightly. "I figured it would be nice to deliver everyone right to their door, it being so late and all."

"It's 8:45 PM," said Carl helpfully, holding up his watch for Jimmy to see. "See, Fernando Llama's foreleg is on the 8 and…"

"Oh, my, where has the time gone?" Jimmy answered quickly. "I hope you had a good time, Ernest."

"Yeah, I sure did," Ernest replied, standing up to exit. "Thanks for asking me. It was really…cool…"

Cindy couldn't resist one more parting shot. "Well, let's do it again some time," she purred, squeezing Ernest's hand. "Next time maybe it can be a little…hotter."

At that Ernest vaulted over the side of the hovercraft, grabbing the edge of the vehicle to swing down to the sidewalk. "Well, thanks again, Jimmy. See you in school…I guess…" he called behind him as he ran down his front walk. "Really nice time…really…"

"Yeah, see you," Jimmy called back as Ernest disappeared through the front door of the house. He engaged the accelerator and the hovercraft moved further down the street. "Now what," he demanded icily, "was that all about?"

"What?" Libby asked in surprise.

"That fuss you were making over poor Ernest! You had him practically crawling under the seat!"

"We were just trying to be nice," Cindy defended.

"Nice? If you were any nicer you'd have invited him to pick out china and silver patterns!"

Cindy and Libby were speechless for a moment. Then they dissolved into helpless laughter. Finally Libby wiped the tears from her eyes and struggled for breath. "Oh, come on, Jimmy," she gasped. "Ernest is nice and all, but…"

"…but we were just trying to bring him out of his shell a bit," Cindy concluded, also breathless from laughter. "Libby and I talked about it and thought that maybe a little flirting would give him a little confidence and encourage him to meet some of the other kids at school."

Jimmy was dumbfounded. "So…none of that was serious?" he asked.

"Well…maybe a little," Cindy needled. "He's a little cute, in a nerdy sort of way. But out motives were purely honorable." She paused. "You weren't jealous, were you?"

"Jealous? Me? Oh, no, of course not. I just wanted to make sure you weren't coming on too strong for him. I mean, him being so new in the area and all. I knew what you were up to all the time." He laughed weakly. "Jealous? Not for a minute."

Although it was dark Cindy and Libby gave each other a knowing look and half-smile. "Still got it, Libs," Cindy whispered.

"Never any doubt, girl," Libby whispered back.

Jimmy delivered Carl, Sheen, Libby and Cindy back to their homes and finally parked the hovercraft and hovercart in his garage. Good thing I didn't mention what I thought I saw, he thought as he unhitched the hovercart. Cindy would really think I was jealous of Ernest. He started to turn off the garage light and go inside the house when something caught the corner of his eye and stopped him in mid-motion. Uncertain at first at what he was seeing he walked slowly to the hovercraft and stared in disbelief. In addition to his photographic memory he knew every nut, bolt, screw, and wire of the craft and knew for a fact that what he was seeing had not been there when they had left Lookout Point. When Ernest had leapt from the hovercraft he had grabbed a strut to swing to the ground. The strut was a titanium steel alloy, very light, extremely tough, and designed to provide maximum strength with a minimum of weight.

The strut Ernest had grabbed was bent and very nearly torn free of the weld. And the strut itself, where Ernest had gripped it, was crumpled like a half-empty tube of toothpaste.

Once again, Jimmy was speechless.

End of Part 3.