Relentless: Three Novels (22 page)

Before bed, he went into the bathroom to brush his teeth, and take a shower. He was all nice and clean for bed.

Too bad that his bed wasn’t nice and clean for him. Rory reached for his blankets from the floor and went to bed. A couple of times, he woke up wincing in pain because he had rolled over a toy soldier. When he rolled the other way, cheese puffs crunched all over the bare mattress. He even got gum in his hair! He cut it out when he woke up in the middle of the night, using a nail scissors that he borrowed from his mom’s bathroom. It didn’t look too bad. Now he had a spikey hairdo to match his skateboard life!

The next day was school, and Rory loved school. He wasn’t too crazy over the school work, but he loved hanging out with his friends. Kevin and Alan were coming over after school and spending the night. So, that would make the day better.

The boys walked home from school to Rory’s house, talking about skateboarding and baseball.

When they arrived at Rory’s house, they stopped by his room to drop off their backpacks. His two friends stared at his room in disgust.

“Man, your room is gross,” said Kevin.

“Eww,” agreed Alan. “What died in here?”

Kevin said, “We should put a hazardous waste sign on the bedroom door!”

“Yeah,” Alan agreed, shuddering. “It’s majorly toxic in here! Like that scene in Star Wars when they are inside the garbage compactor.”

“I think we should spend the night at Alan’s tonight,” added Kevin.

“Why, guys?”

“Because your room is really messy and I don’t want to sleep here,” said Kevin.

“You didn’t think it was so gross yesterday when you were helping me mess it up.”

“It was fun yesterday, Rory, but today, it’s just nasty. Are you really going to live in here? I think your parents should just sell the house and let you start over somewhere else.”

His friends laughed, and said, “We’re going to the park. Rory, maybe you should stay here and clean your room,” suggested Alan. “No kidding. It’s a health hazard. Like that show, Hoarders.”

Alan and Kevin left in disgust. Kevin washed his hands a bunch of times before they left. Rory couldn’t believe his friends thought his room was, of all words, nasty. That was going a little too far, he thought. Rory took Alan’s suggestion and started to clean his room. He got three Hefty bags to start and started to fill them with anything that was too gross to throw in the washing machine. Somehow, there was even a jar of open caramel sauce dripped on the carpet. And then it got on his socks and he tracked it everywhere.

Rory opened his bedroom door and could barely make his way into the room.

“It is like Hoarders! What is going on?” he said aloud. Toys and clothes were almost piled up to the ceiling. Everything was mixed with old food, trash, homework papers, and dirty Kleenex. Legos kept hurting his feet. Pizza was stuck to the wall. How had all of this happened? He tried picking up some clothes and putting them into his clothes hamper, but every time he put something away, it went back on the floor.

“That’s strange,” he thought. He tried putting his comic books back on his bookshelf. To his surprise, they fell back down on the floor.

“What is going on?”

Then he remembered his wish. “I guess I’m just meant to have a messy room for the rest of my life.” Then he remembered Mrs. Honey Pickle telling him to look to the sky and call her name three times if she was needed. He did just that and she and Buzzy arrived in his room.

“Oh, my goodness, look at this mess,” said Mrs. Honey Pickle.

“I tried to clean it but the things just fell back on the floor. It’s like the mess is alive and taking on a life of its own. It goes where it wants to go, and it’s getting bigger, like everything I bring into the room is its nourishment.”

“That’s because you wished to never have to clean your room.”

“I don’t want that wish anymore. It’s not as fun as I thought it was going to be. My friends don’t even want to spend the night. I don’t even want to spend the night but my mom won’t let me sleep on the couch in the living room.”

“So, you realize that having a clean room is important Rory.”

“Yes, Mrs. Honey Pickle.”

“Then I shall reverse your wish.”

Mrs. Honey Pickle pulled out her magic wand and reversed the wish.

“Now, get to cleaning your room, Rory,” she said.

That’s exactly what Rory did. He never once complained again about cleaning his room. And he found something he thought he had lost long ago: a 1958 Roger Maris Rookie baseball card from his grandpa, years before.

Wish Five:

“I wish I never had to go to bed.”

One Wednesday evening, Tawny Pine was up past her bedtime playing with her Barbie dolls. She knew that it was past her bedtime, but she was too caught up in her dolls to go to sleep. Plus she felt that an 8:00 p.m. bedtime was much too early for a girl of eight years old.

She heard a knock at her bedroom door, “Tawny, are you in bed yet?” called her father. She didn’t answer. She was too busy.

Her father opened her door to find Tawny on the floor playing with her Barbie dolls.

“Tawny, you know your bedtime is 8 o’clock. It is nearly nine.”

“I know, Daddy. I was just having a lot of fun playing.”

“You probably were, honey, but you are a growing girl who needs her rest.”

Tawny’s dad helped her put her Barbies away and then tucked her into bed.

“Goodnight, Tawny.”

“Goodnight, Daddy.”

Her dad kissed her goodnight, turned off the bedroom light, and shut the door.

Tawny tossed and turned in her bed, trying to get comfortable. She just wasn’t tired at all, she wanted to play. Why did her parents make her have to go to bed every night when she would much rather stay up later so that she could play?

She was perfectly able to have a later bedtime. She was hardly ever sleepy when they put her to bed.

“I wish I never had to go to bed,” she said.

Tawny tossed and turned a little more and then she heard a knock at her window.

She got out of her bed to see what the noise was.

“Who on Earth would be knocking at my window?”

She opened it up and Mrs. Honey Pickle and Buzzy came flying in to her bedroom.

“Hello, Tawny. I am Mrs. Honey Pickle and this is Buzzy. I am your fairy godmother.”

“Yay,” said Tawny. “I’ve been wanting one of those for a while. What took you so long?”

Mrs. Honey Pickle laughed. “Well, here I am. I have been so busy, but I heard you make a wish.”

“Oh yes! I wished that I would never have to go to bed.”

“That’s a pretty extreme wish, Tawny. Are you prepared to be tired a lot?”

“Oh, I don’t really care about that. I could play forever and never have to waste time sleeping.”

“Okay, if that’s what you want.”

“Yes, it is. Please?”

Mrs. Honey Pickle pulled out her magic wand and cast Tawny’s wish.

“There you go, Tawny. Your wish has been granted. You never have to go to bed anymore.”

“Yay, I’m so happy. Thank you, Mrs. Honey Pickle. Now I can play forever.”

Tawny jumped up and down on her bed and Buzzy joined in, barking with each jump.

“I’m glad to see you so happy, Tawny and you too, Buzzy,” said Mrs. Honey Pickle. Now come on, Buzzy. We have to leave now. Tawny, if you need me just look to the sky and repeat my name three times and I will return as fast as I can.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Honey Pickle. Thank you, Buzzy.”

Buzzy licked Tawny’s face and then he and Mrs. Honey Pickle were off. Tawny went into her closet and pulled out her Barbie dolls and began to play where she left off.

“This is going to be so fun,” she giggled. Tawny enjoyed herself playing Barbies. She sang to herself: Barbie and Ken, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g! And she dressed and redressed them in different outfits and put them in the pink Barbie car. After that, she went into the living room and played a dance game on her Xbox. After that, she went into the pantry and organized all of the spices in alphabetical order for her mom. After that, she heard someone throw a newspaper on their porch, birds chirping and trash trucks picking up down the street. She was surprised that it was no longer night.

Tawny had stayed up all night and watched the sun come up on a school day. By the time it was time to get ready for school, she was a little tired but nothing too bad. She gathered up her clothes, took a shower, and then went into the kitchen for breakfast.

“Good morning, Mommy and Daddy.”

“You’re in a good mood today,” said her mother, putting pancakes and orange juice down in front of her. “Are you the one who organized my spices?”

“Yes, and I’m having a lot of fun staying up late and not having a bedtime.”

“That’s why we did it, honey, so that you can be happy,” her father added.

“It was nice of you to do that for me,” her mom said.

“You’re welcome, Mommy!”

Tawny skipped off to school. Tra-la-la, she sang all the way to school. No more bedtime. Tra-la-la! A little before lunchtime she began to feel sleepy. She tried brushing it off, but the yawning kept coming back. Maybe she was just hungry?

Then the bell rang for third-grade lunch, Tawny realized that she must have dozed off, because the bell woke her.

Her teacher walked over to her desk and said, “Tawny, I couldn’t help but notice that you fell asleep during arithmetic. The lesson was fractions today and quite important.”

“Oh, it’s okay, Mrs. Dunne. I don’t have a bedtime now. So I might be falling asleep in places other than my bed.”

“You don’t have a bedtime?”

“No, I made a wish and it came true. No more bedtime for me.”

“Oh, I see. Well, you need sleep, Tawny, but not in my classroom.”

“It won’t happen again, Mrs. Dunne.”

“Go home and get some sleep. Don’t come to school this tired again. You’re a complete wreck. You doodled on your spelling test!” Mrs. Dunne handed her another one. “You need to take this home and do it again after you get some sleep. Bring it tomorrow. It’s a make-up test. You are allowed two a year. Go eat lunch now.”

“Thanks!” Tawny put it in her backpack and got up from her desk, heading towards the lunchroom.

She felt a little bit better after her little accidental nap in Mrs. Dunne’s class. She sat with her best friend, Beth, at lunch and the two girls giggled about the boys in their classroom. They both had a crush on Gene Atkins. They thought he was the cutest boy ever. The only thing bad about Gene was that he still thought that girls were gross. So, the two girls would chase him around the playground, threatening to kiss him. They loved how he ran from them. It was a game to them. It was a game to him, too.

That afternoon wasn’t any different than any other one. Tawny and Beth chased Gene around the playground, screaming that they were going to give him a kiss. Except that today, Tawny didn’t have much energy. Tawny was usually way ahead of Beth and sometimes ran so fast that she caught Gene. Of course, once she caught up to him, she wouldn’t kiss him, she was way too scared to do such a thing. But Gene didn’t seem to notice as he weaved back and forth, dodging her like they were playing tag.

Tawny dragged behind Beth as Beth ran as fast as she could to catch Gene.

“I think I’m going to have to sit this one out, Beth,” said Tawny.

“Why, what’s wrong?”

“I just feel really tired today.”

“Didn’t you sleep last night, Tawny?”

“Actually, I didn’t.”

“What? Your parents let you stay up?”

“I don’t have a bedtime anymore. I can stay up forever if I want to.”

“That’s awesome, I wish I could do that, too.”

“I made a wish with my fairy godmother, Mrs. Honey Pickle, and it came true.”

“A fairy godmother? Wow, you really are lucky, Tawny.”

Tawny smiled with pride and said, “Maybe you have a fairy godmother, too. I didn’t even know I had one until last night. Just think of a wish and maybe she’ll show up.”

“Maybe I do, I’ll have to look into that.”

They both giggled.

On the bus ride home from school, Tawny began to feel tired again. She was just starting to understand that maybe a little bit of sleep wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

“I’ll go to bed a little earlier tonight,” she told herself. “I can catch up.” Her dad sometimes caught up on sleep on the weekends when he had to work late. He pretended to watch weekend sports in the recliner chair in the den, but it was then that he caught up on his sleep that he had missed all week. Such a thing was possible. Dad did it every week.

By the time she was dropped off at her bus stop and she walked the two-minute walk home, Tawny was exhausted. She wanted her pillows, her blanket, her bed!

“Maybe, I’ll just take a short nap, just to rest. Before dinner. Like Dad does, sometimes.”

Tawny walked into her bedroom and climbed into her bed and fell asleep instantly. It felt better than she imagined to close her eyes and just let it happen, without fighting it.

She suddenly awoke to her mother telling her, “Tawny, get up right his instant, you know you never have to go to sleep.”

“But I’m tired, Mom. Really tired.”

“It’s a great privilege not to have to go to sleep when someone tells you it’s bedtime. It’s very grown up not to have a bedtime. I thought you wanted this so much so you could have more fun in life. Besides, we have plans!”

Tawny sat up in her bed and remembered her wish and how much she had wanted it.

“Okay, Mom, I’m up. What plans do we have?”

“I came in here to tell you that were leaving for the circus in ten minutes.”

“Wow! I forgot!” Tawny jumped out of bed, feeling excited. She loved the circus, she must have been so tired that she forgot today was Thursday, the day the circus was in town.

She felt a sudden burst of energy as she brushed her hair and got ready to leave for the circus. She made her hair style into two ponytails and used her elastic ponytail holders with the clowns on them. She also wore her silly clown nose. She loved clowns and wanted to go to clown camp someday.

The whole Pine family piled into her father’s Chevy and headed to the circus.