December 15, 2010
It's always fun to write up chapters in this story. Well, actually the last chapter was more grueling than fun. But now the fun returns!

Thanks for reading this! The corresponding chapter of the public domain Don Quixote translation that I'm using is at {www. online-literature. com/ cervantes/ don_quixote/ 11/} (cut and paste inside the {funky brackets}, and remove the spaces to get the correct web address).

The Second Excursion Made By Dan
Chapter 7

Just when Graff, Altrelda and Brenda thought they were clear of getting caught destroying Dan's manga collection, a shout startled the wits out of them. You see, Dan had groggily rolled out of his tent and was now bumbling around the tent camp, shouting crazy stuff, like, "The Akatsuki [Naruto] are plotting to take over the world! Prepare to fight against the dawn of a new age of alien tyranny!"

Graff gladly put down the manga he was perusing. He had feared that maybe he'd been too hasty in condemning all that remained of Dan's collection, so he had rescued and condemned a few more pieces. But now the sorting was over and a new crisis had arisen. Its name was Daniel.

Brenda stuck her head out of a tent and watched, wide-eyed, as Dan pointed an invisible ray gun at the trees. Graff swatted the invisible ray gun aside and took hold of Dan's shoulders. He flat out lied, saying, "You've hardly slept a wink. Aren't you the least bit sleepy?"

Altrelda gently led Dan back to the front of his tent. With a mothering voice, she soothed, "Here's a little bit of noodle soup to tide you over. But then you really must sleep, young man."

Dan took the not-very-warm bowl of noodles and a pair of wooden chopsticks from Altrelda. He sat on a stool outside his tent. Between mouthfuls, he made his case. "We can't let the dawn of the aliens' world domination plan take effect. Terra Firma would succumb to the enemy and be lost forever."

Graff signaled Altrelda to let him talk to Daniel alone. He settled down next to the teenage boy. "You do realize that you're in the infirmary, don't you?"

"Oh?"

"Yes. If you wish to defeat the enemies of Earth, then you must take care to rest. And who knows? Tomorrow will be a new day, with a fresh start. Perhaps you'll recover from your grave injuries by then."

Dan drained the bowl and laid it on the ground. "You've always been my most faithful trainer, haven't you?"

Graff looked off, dazed momentarily, before remarking, "Whatever you say, kid."

Dan closed his eyes. "Sometimes you train me in my sleep, you know."

Graff chuckled. "Night is the best time for training." He watched Dan shuffle into the tent and made sure that Dan did indeed lie down and close his eyes. "Sweet dreams."

Graff quietly closed the tent flaps, not bothering with the broken zipper. Altrelda had stood off to the side, listening to the whole conversation. She sighed deeply, sagging her shoulders as she drew near to Graff. He led her to a space between two trees. It was hardly private, but it at least afforded him enough privacy to hold Altrelda close to him.

She didn't cry. She simply breathed out a long, drawn out sigh. Then she stood and fixed her hair into a pony tail as she said, "He's eating real food this time. It's much better than the last time that he insisted on eating only his imaginary food."

Graff reached out to hold the side of Altrelda's face. "You're helping him. Thanks to your care, he just might be set free from his madness this time around."

Altrelda looked into Graff eyes. "I do hope so. I'm nearly going insane myself, out of worry."

"Now, now," Graff said, "you mustn't say such things. Come, let's finish what we've started." He gently drew Altrelda along by her arm, back to the mess of manga littering their little area of the tent city.

Brenda had come out of the tent. She skipped around the huge metal barrel she'd rolled across the park. "Can we start the bonfire? Can we? Can we?"

Graff chuckled. "I suppose it will get dark soon enough."

"We get to be warm tonight!" Brenda shrieked with joy.

"But there's just one thing missing," Graff said. "Wait for me. I won't be long."

Brenda could barely manage to contain herself. She raced around the park, saying, "Hi," to even the homeless noobs, and carrying on about what a wonderful day this was. When she saw Graff returning, she rushed back to her tent site. He held a tattered cloth bag in his arms. The handles had broken off long ago.

"What is it? What is it? Oh, let me guess. No. Just tell me. I just gotta know!" She said, in one long, breathless utterance.

Altrelda came over and Graff winked. "Oh, just be patient, now. Let's get a little heat going," he teased.

When Brenda tried to peek into the bag, Graff put his arm out. "Uh, uh, uh!"

So Brenda gave up trying to figure out what was in the bag and instead helped to add a few books and magazines to the fire. The blaze was coming to life in the barrel.

Folks from other areas of the tent city wandered over. They were partly curious about what was being burned. But even more importantly, they wanted a bit of heat before the cold of the evening chilled their bones.

Graff finally brought the bag over and showed Brenda the contents. Graham crackers, chocolate bars and marshmallows.

"Which one are we allowed to have?" Brenda asked, confused.

Graff opened up the box of graham crackers. "All of them. They go together."

Brenda scratched her elbow. "We get all three things? At once?" Drool began to pool in her mouth.

Altrelda brought over a few sticks she had gathered. "You haven't even tasted how great they are when the marshmallows are toasted, Brenda, dear."

Brenda's eyes couldn't have been any wider as she watched Altrelda open up the bag of marshmallows and pop two on the end of stick. Then she tailed Altrelda to the burning barrel and observed the careful cook. When the marshmallows had a burnished bronze hue, like the last moments of the golden sunset, Graff handed her two Graham cracker squares and a chunk of a chocolate bar.

The white marshmallow insides oozed over the edges of the crackers. Inside the marshmallow sandwich the chocolate slightly shimmered from the heat that the fluffy clouds of confection still retained. And then Altrelda handed the delectable snack to Brenda.

"Careful. Don't burn your mouth," Graff cautioned.

Brenda inhaled. An infusion of sugary and chocolaty goodness entered her blood stream via her nostrils. Then she took a careful bite at the edge. "Hmmmmmmm!" she moaned, her mouth full of delish.

She took another bite. And another. "This is so good!" She ran around the fire, tripping over the manga lying haphazardly on the ground, and licking her fingers.

Altrelda and Graff tossed their heads back laughing. Then Altrelda added some more manga to the flames and started up another s'more. People in the tent city brought their own treats to heat over the fire. There were sweet potatoes, left over lunch box meals, and even dried meats enjoyed next to the flames.

The fire lasted quite long into the night, as more and more of Dan's collection was burned up. It got so dark that no one could really even see what was being offered to the fire gods. Surely there were some truly precious items that should never have been destroyed.

If the care that Dan had taken to preserve the historical items was any indication, there certainly would have been treasures, even fortunes, in that collection. But by morning the deed was done. Only smoking ashes remained.

After taking a short nap, Graff and Altrelda faced the new day, circles under their eyes, but relief on their faces. Brenda had slept early and woken up early, so she was eager to sort through Graff's tattered bag in search of any leftover chocolate and crackers that she could find.

"Brenda," Altrelda called, quietly.

Brenda skipped over to Altrelda and threw her arms around Altrelda's legs. The woman bent down to hug Brenda back. "Let's play a game, Brenda," she said. "Let's see if we can be so quiet today that Daniel doesn't wake up."

Brenda's eyes sparkled in delight. "Okay!" she whispered. She tip-toed back to the bag and searched for more breakfast.

It turned out that Dan could sleep a long time, when his stomach wasn't completely empty. As a matter of fact, he didn't wake up, other than to relieve himself in the morning. And he retreated straight back to his tent and stayed in there, snoring like an elephant.

Graff set about to concoct some sort of story to explain the disappearance of the manga. Meanwhile, Altrelda bartered for some tent nylon and expertly sewed a hidden compartment into the tent she slept in, to conceal the remaining manga that had been spared execution.

By nightfall it had been agreed all around that the story would be that an alien absconded with Dan's collection. And then the merry crew settled down for a long night of peaceful sleep.

By morning, Dan woke refreshed. He yearned to read a good manga, and crawled out from under the blanket, rubbing his eyes. Seeing nothing in his tent, he rubbed his eyes some more, until purple and yellow spots bounced around his unseeing eyes.

He crawled out of his tent, and saw that indeed, he was in the tent where his manga collection ought to have been. Altrelda was also waking up and setting about to find some breakfast for her foursome.

"Morning," Dan yawned.

"It is a fine morning!" Altrelda grinned.

"Hey, do you know where my manga collection might be?" Dan asked.

Altrelda stopped and stood up. "As I've been told, your manga, or rather your nothing, has been carried away by a gigantic, vile insect."

Brenda crawled out of the tent. "It wasn't an insect, silly!" she said, scratching her chest. At was an alien from outer space who came on a flying saucer last night. He went into your tent for a brief moment. And then there was the roar and heat of a fire, but your tent didn't burn at all."

Dan nodded his head, following Brenda's story intently.

Brenda continued, "We woke up due to the smell of smoke, and we saw the alien leave your tent. And of course we checked and you were safely asleep inside. But we heard this alien say that he has a grudge against the boy who owned such a manga collection. And then he said his name."

Both Dan and Altrelda leaned in closer to Brenda as she revealed: "He called himself, 'Sage Mantis.'"

Dan earnestly looked into Brenda's eyes. "You mean the Prayer, don't you?"

Altrelda busied herself with breakfast as she explained, "I don't know whether he said, 'Player' or 'Prayer,' but it definitely ended in, 'er.'"

"Yes. Yes, it does," Dan said. "He is my greatest foe. He knows that I am the alien hunter that will one day hunt him down and defeat him. So he causes me no end of trouble. But it is vanity on his part. Because in the end, I will prevail."

"Yeah, right," Brenda said, munching on a big rice ball that Altrelda gave her. "You know, if you just stayed out of his way, he wouldn't bother you. You do know that, don't you?"

"Oh, ho, ho, ho!" Dan laughed. "Oh, my Pork Chop! My dear Brenda!" he uttered between laughing gasps. "You have no need to fear for me. He can't touch this," he said, doing his MC Hammer dance.

To spare themselves from seeing Dan dance again, both Brenda and Altrelda shut up immediately. Graff had heard the whole encounter from inside his tent. So he played along.

Dan hung around the tent city for two full weeks. He enjoyed playing games with Brenda and ate a good bit more than usual, with Altrelda and Graff playing hunter and gatherer roles.

But he continued to insist that on Terra Firma the alien invasion had begun long, long ago. And he never stopped preaching that the time for an alien hunter to appear had come. Graff enjoyed these conversations, challenging Dan's beliefs and forcing him to defend them, all in a friendly manner, of course.

During the day, Dan roamed in the park freely. And at night he dutifully returned, appearing to be of sound mind. But he had a new-found friend who also frequented the park. Why, it was a veritable budding bromance!

One afternoon Dan went off to find his buddy, Kildare. "Yo, bro, I need a sidekick. You dig?" Dan said, slapping Kildare some skin.

Kildare responded with the secret handshake. "So?"

Dan wasn't easily deterred. "Dude, sidekicks get all kinds of kickbacks. So, come on and be a man. Belly up to the bar. Be mine. I mean, be my sidekick."

Kildare listened. "Okay. Sure."

Well, that was easier than anyone expected. Not the least of all, Dan.

Dan imagined up some cash for his upcoming journey – you see, he had listened to Round Man back at the maid café. And he told Kildare to get ready to run away from home, leaving his big jerk of a dad who did nothing but run a game consortium.

Dan was above imagining up anything for Kildare. So he told the poor sap to steal a backpack and whatever he needed for a life on the lam. And Kildare said he was bringing his three-wheeler along. Dan wasn't too happy about that. What if someone laughed at Dan riding around town, followed by some bloke on a tricycle? But Kildare was all he had, so that was that.

On the appointed night, after the entire city lay down to sleep, the two made their grand escape. Dan headed off toward Center Gai once more. Kildare lazily pedaled his three-wheeler, trailing Dan, and dreamed of being a sidekick.

After a long while of this, Kildare found his voice. "You ain't forgettin' about me bein' a sidekick, are you?"

Dan stopped on the road and let Kildare catch up. "No way would I forget something profound like that, man. Just you wait. The adventure will get going soon enough."

Kildare huffed and puffed, not accustomed to riding his trike across Tokyo. "If I'm a side kick, does that mean my old man, Joe Chairman, has to be your side kick, too?"

"Nah," Dan assured him. "Don't sweat the small stuff. Relax. Take a chill pill."

Kildare looked confused. "Are you channeling the eighties?"

"Am I?" Dan returned the question.

"Nah," Kildare lied. "But seriously, Mo Chairman would not a good sidekick make," he asserted.

"Forget him!" Dan said, losing his temper. Then he regained his composure and said, "This story is about you and me, buddy. You and me. And don't you forget that."

Kildare smiled the dreamy smile of one falling in platonic love. "I won't, Bro. I sure won't."