Symby (20 page)

Missy and Jody met each other at the school steps after the last school bell rang. The time had come to accomplish their second mission of the day.

"Are you sure you can walk that far?" asked Jody.

"I'm all better now, remember?" said Missy. "I wish I could go surfing again, but that's going to be a problem without a beach around."

"Yeah, we're kind of landlocked here, aren't we?" said Jody. "It would be cool if you could teach me someday, though."

"I will if we ever manage to get to the ocean," said Missy.

"Someday we will," said Jody as he took her hand in his. "Someday."

"What if we get there and Jimmy's asleep?" asked Jody.

"Then we wait until he wakes up," replied Missy. "I brought my e-book. We can read it together in the lobby."

Holding hands most of the way, the two of them walked determinedly for a half-hour. The day was hot and neither of them could resist stopping at The Ice Cream Maiden on the way. Jody licked his chocolate cone and Missy sipped her strawberry milk shake for most of the remainder of the trip.

"If Jimmy's asleep or not taking visitors, at least we had ice cream," said Jody. Missy nodded in agreement between sips. They talked about Symby, Telly, school, their parents and Mr. Belden as they walked. They also worried about Jimmy's condition and what they might find when they walked into his room.

"Whatever happens," counseled Missy, "the important thing is to show concern for Jimmy. Don't say stuff like 'you'll get over it' or 'keep your chin up' because that just makes things worse. People who are sick don't need lectures and pep talks, just people who tell them they care."

"Of all people, you don't have to tell me that," said Jody. "I already know. It might be hard, though, because Jimmy never showed me any empathy."

"Well, keep your chin up and get over it!" cracked Missy. "Jimmy's changed for the better, you'll see."

They signed in at the security desk and asked the guard what room Jimmy was in.

"Room 409," answered the guard, staring at the array of monitors in front of him.

"I hope he's got a nice view," said Missy as they rode the elevator.

"I hope I can restrain myself from messing him up even worse," said Jody.

Missy looked at him with alarm. Jody reassured her that he was just kidding.

"You'd better be!" warned Missy.

Jimmy was watching television when they finally entered his room. Turning his attention away from the set, he spoke to Jody before even acknowledging Missy.

"Jody? What are you doing here?" he said, his voice edged with fear.

Jody attempted to diffuse their former rivalry immediately with an attempt at humor. "I came to pull the plug on you! Now where is that darned plug?" he said pretending to look under the bed.

Jimmy got the humor and winced as he laughed, his ribs rebelling at the effort. Jody continued.

"I hope you're feeling better than you look," he said. "How messed up are you?"

Jimmy thanked Missy for coming before responding and then answered the question with his own attempt at humor.

"I've got two broken ribs, a concussion, a dislocated jaw and a broken arm. Besides all that, I'm doing just fine, how about you?"

Jody kept the humor going one last time. "You know, for a guy whose arm is in a sling and who has bandages on his head and chest, you do look fine. I guess we can go now, right Missy?" He smiled at Jimmy and moved towards the bed, offering a handshake. Jimmy winced again at the simple effort of shaking hands.

"Jody, I already apologized to Missy for what I did to her," he said. "But I want you to know I'm sorry for all the things I've done to you over the years. I'd feel a whole lot better lying here in this hospital if I thought you might eventually find it in your heart to forgive me."

"I don't know about forgetting," answered Jody, "but forgiving's already done. How about if we try to spend as much time in the future being friends as we did in the past being enemies?"

Jimmy's face lit up. "Thanks, Jody. You've got a deal. If your disease comes back and somebody messes with you, they'll have to mess with me too when I'm better. If you don't mind, let's not shake hands again on it, though."

Missy moved to Jimmy's bedside, leaned over and hugged him.

"Ouch, that hurts," Jimmy exclaimed. "I love it, do it again!" Missy obliged.

"Do you two still have Symby?" asked Jimmy.

Missy and Jody exchanged knowing glances. Missy answered.

"Yep. Have you been keeping the secret?" she asked.

"Yep. Not a peep to anyone," replied Jimmy.

"Cool," said Jody. "We still want to keep the secret. As a matter of fact, I brought you a present." Unstrapping his backpack, he pulled Telly out and handed him to Jimmy, whose face lit even more brightly.

"Cool!" he exclaimed. "I've really been missing this little guy."

"See if you can get some of Symby's medicine while we're here," said Jody. "We can't leave him here in the hospital for obvious reasons, but we can come back every day and give you a dose. It might help you recover."

Jimmy was ecstatic. The hospital's morphine and Percoset worked pretty well as pain relievers, but they couldn't compare to Symby's medicine. He began stroking Symby's back as he continued talking.

"Might isn't the word," he said. "I know he'll help me recover, because he helped me recuperate from my father's beatings when I had him before. You don't know how hard it was for me to give him up, but I kept watching Missy going downhill and I knew I had to save her."

Jody was surprised at Jimmy's statements. "So Symby helps even with physical injuries?"

Jimmy smiled. "Sure he does. First he makes you feel better and then he starts healing you, just like your diseases."

This was astounding news to Jody and Missy. Was there anything that Symby and Telly couldn't do?

Missy had to ask. "Have they told you when you can go home yet?"

Jimmy looked stricken. "I can't ever go home," he answered. "I don't even have a home anymore. My father got arrested and now the state owns me. The Department of Children's Welfare has already visited me twice. They haven't told me where I'm going yet, but it won't be home. "

Jody and Missy exchanged shocked glances. Missy conveyed their sympathy.

"We're so sorry, Jimmy," she said sorrowfully. Jimmy suddenly brightened.

"Hey, Symby is giving me his medicine," he announced gleefully. "How much do you want to bet that I won't be hurting in a little while?"

"I'm never going to bet against Symby," said Jody. "It seems like he can do almost anything!"

Jimmy began wiping Telly's liquid on his chest and his jaw. "Almost anything is right," he said. "Thanks for bringing him!"

The three of them talked for almost an hour before the nurse shooed Missy and Jody out, saying that she needed to examine Jimmy. In the hallway on the way out, with Telly safely tucked away in Jody's backpack, Jody turned to Missy.

"I don't know about you, but I had a hard time keeping myself from revealing that what Jimmy thought was Symby was actually Telly. I kept catching myself wanting to say 'Telly' instead of 'Symby.' How about you?"

Missy laughed. "Only every other sentence. I think we pulled it off, though. Don't you feel sorry for him now?"

"Until now, I thought a leopard couldn't change his spots, but Jimmy seems to have done it," said Jody.

Missy smiled, pleased that Jody had forgiven Jimmy and recognized his transformation. "You're right," she said. "He still has freckles, but the spots are gone." She propelled herself upwards, stood on her toes and planted a kiss on Jody's cheek.

"By the way, have I told you lately how awesome you are?"

As always, Frank Belden was tired when he arrived home after school. He often regretted his impulsive decision to leave the university after his research grant was denied. His romantic notions of teaching high school students had long since disappeared, dissolving into a monotonous grind of four identical classes per day. He now found himself teaching rudimentary science to students who were even more disinterested than his students at the university had been. He missed the prestige and the perks of the university environment and longed for a comeback.

As tired as he was, the anticipation of analyzing Symby began pumping adrenalin through his system. He was eager to get started. He still felt that he was most likely to conclude that Symby's alleged curative liquid was just modern snake oil, but if he reached a different conclusion, then a Nobel prize and a tenured position at the university would be the least of his rewards.

Belden stopped in the kitchen before descending into the basement. He was hungry, but he carried only two small bowls into the basement. Placing Missy's knapsack on his work bench, he pulled the furry little creature out of its constricted environment. He poured some of the cat food that Missy had given him into one of the bowls and placed Symby next to the bowl. He watched in fascination as Symby arched his back and flattened repeatedly, inching towards the bowl.

"Life might have been easier for you if you'd evolved some legs," he teased Symby.

By the time he walked to the basement sink and returned with a bowl of water, Symby was inside the food bowl busily ingesting the cat food. He placed the bowl of water next to the food bowl and turned his attention to preparing for his experiments. When he had gathered the items he needed, he returned and watched Symby sip water through the round orifice that seemed to serve as his only connection to the outside world.

"All right, so far I know that you have to eat and drink just like the rest of us," said Belden. "I hope the cuisine is to your liking."

Symby curled into a ball on the table and began vibrating. Belden laughed.

"Well, I guess I have my answer about the cuisine!" he chuckled. He picked up Symby, placed a small beaker beneath him and began stroking him. "May I have some medicine, please?" he asked. It wasn't long before Symby began pulsating and emitting liquid. Belden put aside thoughts about using the liquid to soothe his aching feet again, instead allowing Symby's serum to drip into the beaker.

"Much obliged, Mr. Symby," said Belden. "Now don't panic about my next move, I promise it won't hurt." Belden wondered why he was so concerned about the welfare of a lab specimen. He hoped that his strange affection for Symby wouldn't inhibit his experiments or color the results. He turned Symby over and pushed a cotton swab into Symby's orifice. Symby immediately assumed his spherical shape, apparently attempting to push the swab away.

"I suppose I can't blame you for being upset," said Belden. "You're not alone. I don't know of any species that doesn't object to an anal probe. All done, you can relax now." Belden wondered again why he felt compelled to comfort his specimen as he worked. He couldn't recall conversing with the rabbits and mice he had worked with previously.

Belden began working feverishly through the night, stopping only once to make a pot of coffee. He employed virtually every piece of equipment he owned and conducted every scientific testing procedure he could think of that might yield answers to Symby's riddles. By three o'clock in the morning, Symby's liquid, his fur, his saliva, his blood and Symby himself had been examined by a high-resolution standard microscope, an electron microscope, various centrifuges, chemical compound testing kits and an x-ray machine. At times Belden felt like the classic mad scientist, half-expecting that he might end up shouting "It's alive, it's alive!" as they carted him off in a strait jacket.

Belden realized that he was rapidly wearing down. His frustration grew. One night in a small basement lab was totally inadequate to the task he was attempting to accomplish. His findings were astonishing, but they raised more questions than they answered. It would be incredibly difficult and perhaps even unwise to keep his promise of secrecy to Missy and Jody and deprive the world of what he had learned. Yet he was now convinced that depriving Missy of Symby might very well cause her to die, as she and Jody had predicted. He pondered this dilemma to the point where his need for sleep finally overwhelmed his intense desire for more answers. He leaned back in his chair with Symby on the desk in front of him and closed his eyes, promising himself a short catnap.

Sun streamed in through the small windows near the top of each basement wall when Frank awoke. He rubbed his eyes, stunned and saddened that he had slept so long. His regrets at sleeping so long were forever compounded when his eyes came into focus. He rubbed his eyes once again, disbelieving what he was seeing. Symby was still on the desk near his food bowl, but so were two other tiny creatures, each no more than an inch long. Had these tiny creatures been just two inches larger in diameter, there would now be three Symbys on his desk. Belden was as furious as he was incredulous.

"Damn it!" he cried. "I just missed a miracle!"

Frank Belden spent most of his morning as a zombie. The adrenalin generated by the excitement of analyzing Symby had pulsed through his system so many times that he now felt as though his brain had partially decomposed. Even the thrill of finding Symby's progeny on his desk now failed to rouse him.

His gait was uneven and unsteady. He lurched back and forth in front of the class. He hadn't prepared any notes for his classes, forcing him to make the lessons up as he went along. He compensated by calling on students and asking them to speak at length about the subject matter. Between classes, he simply laid his head on his desk and rested. He knew many teachers who faked their way through many of their lessons, but until today he had never stooped so low. He wasn't overly concerned about his unprofessionalism, feeling certain that there was not likely to be a recurrence. At the end of the day, or in this case the beginning of the day, he had a legitimate reason for his poor performance. He had, after all, spent the night trying to save the world.

Belden spent the first few minutes of his lunch break with his head on his desk in his empty classroom, waiting for Jody and Missy to arrive, as they had previously arranged. As tired as he was, he worried that he might say something that might tip them off. He would have to choose his words carefully.

Jody and Missy walked in, hand in hand as always, just a few minutes after noon. Belden raised his head off the desk as Jody greeted him.

"You spent all night checking out Symby, didn't you Mr. Belden?" he teased.

Belden attempted to smile through reddened eyes. "That was my original plan, Jody, but apparently I'm too old to pull an all-nighter. I believe I expired a bit after four o'clock."

Missy cut right to the chase. "So what did you learn about Symby?" she asked.

Belden gulped several swigs of coffee from the mug on his desk before answering.

"I suppose I should begin by saying that what I learned is dwarfed by what I still don't know. Every time I felt as though I had an answer, the answer resulted in more questions. I'm left with a few facts and several theories."

Missy pressed him. "So what are the facts?"

Belden could feel his head clearing a bit as the caffeine kicked in. He chugged the remainder of his coffee before answering.

"Symby's DNA is unlike anything ever discovered. Do you remember when we covered the structure of DNA in class?"

Jody answered. "Yes, it's a double helix."

"Not in Symby's case. Symby's DNA is a triple helix. The backbone of the helix appears to be made of sugar and phosphate groups joined by ester bonds, as we see in all life forms. Four of the six nucleobases are structured with cytosine, guanine, adenine and thymine in the same configuration as yours and mine. But that is where the similarities end. Two of Symby's nucleobases are made of substances I haven't yet been able to identify."

Jody and Missy looked perplexed. Belden realized he was speaking over their heads. He continued anyway, anxious to tell someone, even children, about his discoveries.

"My second significant finding is that there is an organic compound in Symby's serum that I haven't seen anywhere before. Its chemical structure is unique, as far as I can tell. I believe that compound is the source of Symby's healing powers. In order to determine if Symby's medicine, as you call it, can be synthesized, I'd have to break that compound down into its elements. There are two significant obstacles here. First, one night isn't nearly enough for such a task. I probably don't even have the necessary equipment to accomplish the task. Second, and more concerning, is that I found something in Symby's liquid that I have no familiarity with. I think it might be a completely new element not presently contained on the periodic chart."

Jody asked the next question. "What about Symby himself? You know, his heart and lungs and that kind of stuff."

"Ah, I was getting to that," replied Belden. "Here again, Symby is unlike any other species I've seen or even heard of. He has many, many hearts for one thing."

Missy was amazed. "Multiple hearts?" she asked. "How can that be?"

"His circulatory system seems to be distributed evenly throughout his body. There are hundreds of microscopic 'pump stations' within Symby which serve to transfer both his blood and his nutrients to all parts of his body. If I had to compare it to something, it would be the difference between alternating current and direct current. Alternating current is generated in large, distant power plants and transferred long distances to people's homes and businesses. That makes it similar to our circulatory system, with our large hearts and extensive system of veins and arteries. Symby's system is more like direct current, small generators moving power over short distances, but lots of them. I think the reason that he never 'poops or pees,' as you say, is because his veins serve double duty, both pumping his blood and consuming his nutrients to provide energy to his body. Everything he consumes is turned into energy. It's a highly efficient system. By the way, Symby's blood is green, not red. That tells me more about what his blood doesn't have than what it does contain."

Missy spoke up. "No hemoglobin, right?"

Belden was impressed. His decision to give her an "A" was looking wiser all the time. "Right," he answered. He put his hand to his face, stroking his stubbled chin and frowning. "Now that I've answered your questions to the best of my abilities, may I ask you a question?"

"You can always ask," replied Missy.

"Where did you find Symby? You've never told me. I suspect there's a reason for that."

Jody skirted the question, still afraid of alienating Mr. Belden with his belief that Symby was from another planet.

"We didn't," he answered. "My dog Snuffles found him. Snuffles seemed to know that Symby could heal, so he dropped Symby on me after I collapsed."

Belden was disappointed with Jody's answer. He had hoped for more evidence pointing to what he believed was the origin of Symby. He decided to state his belief directly at some risk to his reputation.

"The reason I ask is that when I look at the totality of evidence I've accumulated regarding Symby, I can only conclude that Symby is not of this earth." He stared intently at his two pupils, wondering how they would respond to such an eccentric claim. His worst fears were confirmed when Jody and Missy began giggling. Throughout his entire life, he had been ridiculed as a nerd by whoever the resident cool people happened to be at the time. Now he was being laughed at by two of his own eighth grade students. He had just about decided to replace the A's he had promised them with C's when Jody and Missy stopped laughing, high-fived each other and spoke in unison.

"Welcome to the club, Mr. Belden!" they shouted. Belden restored their A's instantly.

"I take it that you believe Symby is extraterrestrial as well?" he asked.

"We didn't want to tell you this, but we might actually have some evidence that Symby came from somewhere else," admitted Jody.

"Really?" said Belden. "How so?"

"I went out to feed Snuffles one day and I noticed that his water pot was severely dented. Some rock fragments were lying in his bowl and glowing with a weird greenish tint. I didn't think much of it at the time, so I just dumped the rocks out of his bowl and went off to school. From then on, I noticed that Snuffle's arthritis got a whole lot better. He was running around like he was a puppy again. Then when I collapsed, he dropped Symby on me and I started getting better right away. It took a while, but I finally figured out the connection between the glowing rocks and Snuffle's and my health improvements. I might still be wrong, though." Jody thought about mentioning his father's nearly identical experience with Telly's first appearance, but decided against it.

"Are the rocks still there?" asked Belden, his interest piqued.

"Probably," replied Jody. "Nobody's been back there but Snuffles and me. They'd be behind the doghouse."

Belden managed to stifle his desire to cut his last two classes, get into his car and drive to Jody's house straightaway.

"Would you be kind enough to bring them to me tomorrow?" said Belden. "Examining those rocks might yield some critical clues."

"No problem," answered Jody. "Bringing in rocks is easier than transporting Symby."

Belden thanked Jody. The caffeine had improved his mood and the revelation that Symby's extraterrestrial origins might be proven by scrutinizing the rocks was enticing. A glance at the clock on the wall told him that other students would begin arriving shortly. He pulled Missy's backpack out from under his desk and retrieved Symby.

"Would you mind if I claimed one more dose for myself?" he asked.

"Help yourself," answered Missy. "I'm fine so far."

As Belden massaged Symby's liquid into his skin, he realized that as miserable as he had felt on this day, his feet had been feeling just fine.