The Loblolly Boy and the Sorcerer (13 page)

‘The switch is at the bottom,’ said the Gadget Man turning the device upside down so that they could see the controls. There were not many: just a small dial in the middle of which was a red button. The Gadget Man turned the device the right way up once more. He held it upright so that the cylinder was vertical but the propeller was about head height. Then he carefully turned away from his visitors.

He pressed the red button.

Even looking from the rear it was plain that the propeller did not spin especially quickly and it seemed to be throwing out little specks of coloured light.

‘You hold this up to the victim, press the button, and within seconds he’ll be absolutely convinced he’s a dog.’

‘Wow!’ said Mel.

The loblolly boy asked, ‘Why a dog?’

‘Wasn’t that what you wanted? A dog, I mean. When you mentioned the incident in the restaurant it was about the waiter becoming a dog, wasn’t it?’ asked the Gadget Man a little flustered by the question.

‘Yes,’ admitted the loblolly boy, ‘but that was just an example. There’s no real need to make Benjy into a
dog
.’

‘Of course there is,’ said the Gadget Man.

There was just a hint of exasperation in his voice and the loblolly boy realised that his question was being perceived as a vote of no confidence in all of the Gadget Man’s hard work. ‘What else could it be?’ continued the Gadget Man. ‘A dog is obedient. It responds to commands, you know, like your waiter. I suppose we could turn him into a cat, but a cat doesn’t do as it’s told. A cat would probably just turn its tail and run; likewise a rabbit. We could turn him into a sheep, but a sheep would only …’

‘Baa?’ suggested Mel.

‘Yes, baa,’ said the Gadget Man flashing the girl a little grateful smile. ‘And also simply run away.’

‘No, you’re missing the point,’ the loblolly boy said. ‘All I’m saying is, why does it have to be an animal at all?’

The others stared at him.

‘Why can’t we simply turn Benjy into a different sort of human? An obedient human, a person who does what he’s told and responds to commands? I reckon that might be simpler.’

‘Humph,’ said the Gadget Man, turning around so that the machine was pointing at the loblolly boy who jumped quickly aside.

‘Careful!’ he cried.

‘The simplest way is not always the best,’ said the Gadget Man with a sniff. Switching it off, he placed the machine back on the coffee table. ‘Besides I’ve worked many, many hours to perfect this little beast. However, if you consider that …’

Mel, sensing the growing friction, frowned at the loblolly boy. He didn’t seem to be showing the right sort of gratitude. This was after all a brilliant way to solve his problem.

‘Look,’ she said. ‘I suppose it might have been simpler just to turn Benjy into a nice agreeable guy for a few moments, but aren’t you forgetting something?’

‘What?’ asked the loblolly boy.

Mel gave him a wicked little smile. ‘Turning him into a dog will be so much more fun!’

Mel’s diplomacy worked. The loblolly boy relaxed
considerably
and the Gadget Man felt somewhat more appreciated.

Now that they had the device set up and ready to go, however, there was the problem of where and how to use it.

‘It can’t be at his house,’ said Mel. ‘He’d smell a rat as soon as he saw you.’

The loblolly boy nodded. ‘I know. I’d much prefer he thought I was still locked up in that shed.’

Mel considered this.

‘I guess that sort of means that you can’t be the one to set the propeller going on his face?’

The loblolly boy nodded. ‘I don’t think so. He’d smell an even bigger rat if he saw me coming towards him with a funny-looking machine in my hand.’

There was a short silence as the implications sank in.

‘It’ll have to be me,’ said Mel.

The loblolly boy nodded again. ‘Looks like it.’

‘That’s okay,’ said Mel lightly. ‘He’s seen me around. He thinks I’m harmless. If he sees me with that gadget he’ll just think it’s some sort of kid’s toy and take no notice.’

‘Until it’s too late of course,’ said the Gadget Man smiling. ‘You will take care with it, though, won’t you.’

‘It sounds pretty simple,’ said Mel. ‘Just point, press the red button and then Woof! Woof! Woof! Sit, Benjy!’

‘Good,’ said the Gadget Man.

‘Not quite,’ said the loblolly boy. ‘We haven’t sorted out when and where.’

‘Oh, I think tomorrow,’ suggested Mel. ‘Strike while the iron’s hot!’

‘Excellent,’ said the Gadget Man.

‘And where?’ asked the loblolly boy.

‘Well,’ said Mel, ‘as you said his house is no good. It has to be a place where you can be close by without his seeing you.’

The loblolly boy said, ‘The park?’

‘I reckon,’ said Mel. ‘You can hide up in that tree and see everything that’s going on. Benjy won’t see you, especially as he thinks you’re still in the shed. You can come whizzing down as soon as you hear the Woof! Woof! Woof! and then you can do the swap thing.’

‘Exchange,’ said the loblolly boy.

‘Whatever,’ said Mel.

‘That sounds all very well organised,’ said the Gadget
Man, rubbing his hands with satisfaction. ‘I can’t see the smallest problem.’

‘I can,’ said the loblolly boy, after a pause, ‘but it’s not a small problem …’

‘What is it?’ asked Mel.

‘How do we get Benjy to the park tomorrow?’ asked the loblolly boy. ‘Send him an invitation?’

‘Whoops,’ said Mel.

‘Oh dear,’ said the Gadget Man,

‘Beats me,’ said the loblolly boy.

They tried to think it through, but it seemed an
insurmountable
problem.

‘We can’t just rely on his turning up,’ said the loblolly boy.

Mel shook her head. ‘There must be a way,’ she said. She gazed about the room seeking inspiration, then found it in the telephone sitting on a small table near the door.

‘I know,’ she said. ‘We can ring him up and arrange to meet him by the ramp.’

‘We?’ asked the loblolly boy.

Mel screwed her nose in thought as she chased the idea. ‘No,’ she said. ‘You ring him up. He won’t have heard your voice on the phone — unless he’s ever rung himself up,’ she giggled. ‘No, you can ring him up and pretend to be Jason or Gavin.’

‘But I may not sound like Jason or Gavin.’

‘Pretend you’ve got a cold. You can talk through a
handkerchief
.’

‘Okay, but what if those guys are with him when I ring up. That’d just be my luck.’

‘They won’t be,’ said Mel confidently. ‘Try it. It’s brilliant.’

‘I can’t,’ said the loblolly boy.

‘Why not?’ asked Mel. ‘Cold feet?’

The loblolly boy shook his head indignantly. ‘No. I don’t know the number.’

‘Well, look it up in the book, dipstick!’ said Mel
cheerfully
.

‘No, I mean it’s not in the book. I checked to find out where they were when I first arrived. They must have an unlisted number or they may not even have a landline.’

Mel stared at him.

‘Bummer,’ she said.

Once again they lapsed into thought, and once again it was Mel who lifted her head smiling.

‘I’ve got it,’ she said.

‘What?’ asked the loblolly boy.

‘You said it right at the start,’ she said.

‘I did?’ he said.

‘Yep, remember? You asked whether we should send him an invitation.’

‘Yes, but I was being sarcastic.’

‘My mum says you should never be sarcastic,’ said Mel primly. And then she turned to the Gadget Man. ‘Would you have some note paper and an envelope. The frillier the better.’

The last request seemed to puzzle the little man, but he thought for a moment. ‘Actually,’ he cried, ‘I have. I have some really frilling paper!’ And he hurried off.

‘Oh, and a pen,’ Mel cried after him.

When she had this material, she knelt down before the coffee table. First of all she took the envelope and wrote in careful letters:
For Benjy
. Under this she drew a small heart. Then taking a sheet of paper, she wrote:
If you can meet me at the ramp in the park at one o’clock tomorrow I can tell you a secret
. Underneath this she wrote:
Your Secret Admirer
, and then she drew another heart, a little bigger this time.

She folded the note in three and put it in the envelope, which she sealed. Then she handed the envelope to the loblolly boy.

‘You can be the mailman,’ she grinned.

The loblolly boy was grinning too. ‘Brilliant,’ he said. ‘Be pleased to.’

‘Make sure you’re not seen,’ said Mel. ‘Oh. And don’t put it in the letter box.’

‘I’ll push it under the door,’ said the loblolly boy. He grinned again. ‘He’ll probably lie awake all night wondering.’ 

CHAPTER TEN

W
OOF! WOOF!

T
hey had arranged that Mel should pick up the device from the Gadget Man some time before the appointment by the ramp. When she called at the shop, the Gadget Man was, if anything, more excited than she.

‘You have no objection, young lady,’ he said, ‘if I come along as well. I will, of course keep a discreet distance but …’

‘No problem,’ said Mel.

‘You see, I have a real interest of sorts, having invested so much time and ingenuity in this little project. I really would like to see the device in action, so to speak.’

‘Of course, you must,’ said Mel. ‘I’m pretty keen to see it work as well. Be great to see that little dropkick get dropkicked!’

Meanwhile, the loblolly boy was safely hidden in the uppermost branches of the tree. He’d chosen his usual vantage point where he merged into the foliage but still had sufficient clearance to get a wide view of the park,
the skateboard ramps and the main gates. He had taken particular care to stay hidden from late morning on, just in case Benjy’s curiosity drove him to the park well in advance of the appointment.

That had not happened, however. The first sign of their unfolding plan was Mel, wandering innocently through the gates. She looked around unobtrusively but clearly could see no sign of Benjy so glanced up at the tree. She gave a little wave in the loblolly boy’s direction although this was more in hope than certainty, for she probably wouldn’t have been able to make him out up so high in his camouflage of leaves.

Next, the loblolly boy saw the little figure of the Gadget Man, in his checked sports jacket. For some reason he was wearing bicycle clips. He hurried through the main gate looking left and right as if this were the first time he’d ever been through them. The loblolly boy could see that he was obviously trying to keep Mel in view, while at the same time just as obviously trying to make it appear that he wasn’t trying to keep Mel in view.

The loblolly boy had no way of telling the time, but he imagined from the arrival of Mel and the Gadget Man that it was close to one o’clock.

Benjy should arrive soon. In fact, if the plan were to work, Benjy would have to arrive soon. The previous afternoon the loblolly boy had flown to his father and Janice’s house. There was one car in the drive. Janice’s little red sporty number. Nobody was outside and he could not tell if Benjy was home. He flew down into the front porch,
and pushed the envelope under the front door where it should easily be seen.

However, to ensure that the envelope was found, he flew across the road to the opposite house and sat there obscured by a chimney pot. He waited there a considerable time until he saw his father’s car pull into the drive. He saw his father climb out of the car and slowly walk up the drive and then round the path to the front door.

Even from a distance, he could see that his father looked hunched, drawn and diminished. Janice and Benjy between them must have been grinding him down. It made the loblolly boy feel angry, depressed and very determined that somehow he must find a way to make the Exchange.

Now as he waited impatiently in the tree, that
determination
was even stronger. This plan, so carefully hatched, must work. It had to.

But it could only work if Benjy turned up.

So where was he?

The loblolly boy scanned the scene once more.

Mel was standing looking about her, with her hands behind her back. The loblolly boy guessed she was holding the propeller device there. Not far away, now seated on a bench, was the Gadget Man. He was looking about, too, although his gaze would frequently return to Mel as if he were worried she might suddenly disappear and he would lose her.

The loblolly boy was about to give in to his deepest pessimism when, with a small gasp of gratitude, he saw Benjy wandering in through the front gates.

Benjy, too, was looking curiously about him. The loblolly boy could not suppress a tight little smile for he knew that Benjy, pretending to be oh so cool, must really be on a knife-edge of anticipation as he desperately tried to identify his secret admirer.

If Benjy recognised any likely candidates, he showed no sign. As far as the loblolly boy could tell, few if any of his usual gang were there. Certainly there was no Jason or Gavin. Benjy’s eyes flickered over Mel, who by now must know their quarry had arrived, but Benjy made no sign of having recognised her.

He wasn’t concerned with Mel. He was only interested in his secret admirer and the secret she (it had to be a she) had for him.

Still, the secret admirer was being maddeningly coy. Benjy, looked left and right again, and then sauntered casually over to the largest skateboard ramp and leant against it.

Now that he was in position, Mel made her move.

She wandered towards Benjy casually and not looking especially in his direction. When she was about two or so metres away, she looked up as if noticing him for the first time.

‘Oh, hi, Benjy,’ she said. ‘I didn’t see you there.’

‘What’s it to you?’ asked Benjy.

Clearly, he wanted her out of it.

‘Manners!’ laughed Mel. She couldn’t resist goading him. ‘Waiting for somebody?’

‘Not for you, anyway, Mole,’ said Benjy. ‘Get out of it, will you?’

‘You seen any more of that weird flying kid in the green?’ asked Mel innocently. ‘He hasn’t been around lately.’

‘I heard he died,’ said Benjy brutally.

‘No!’

‘Yeah, he asked too many stupid questions and somebody shot him.’

That was enough for Mel.

‘What do you think about my new toy, Benjy?’ she asked.

‘What new toy?’

‘This one,’ said Mel.

Then she brought the little propeller out from behind her back, held it up before Benjy’s face, and pressed the red button.

The Gadget Man had been keeping Mel under close surveillance. As she approached and then began to talk to the boy in the dark blue hoody, he rose from his park bench and began to walk slowly in their direction.

The loblolly boy, too, had risen to a half-crouch, pushing
aside the foliage secure in the knowledge that Benjy would hardly be looking about the treetops.

Benjy found himself staring at a slowly spinning set of blades, almost like a tiny chocolate wheel except that this chocolate wheel spangled and sparkled with multi-coloured lights. The sensation was rather stroboscopic and at the same time a little unpleasant and he wanted to pull his gaze away, but to his confusion he found this was impossible. Instead, he found himself, locked, riveted and as he continued to be held in its grip, the propeller faded away and he slowly sank to all fours before a figure standing before him, a figure he did not know, except with a bone-deep knowledge that this person was a threat, an enemy he had to deal with.

Mel held the propeller at arm’s length so that the spinning blades were directly in Benjy’s line of sight. To her great relief, the device seemed to be working, for Benjy was utterly transfixed before her. Then, as she continued to hold the propeller, Benjy fell to his knees and was suddenly crouching on the ground on all fours.

Somewhat belatedly, Mel cried, ‘Sit!’

Her shout was so loud and Benjy’s behaviour so bizarre, it drew the attention of some of the other kids in the immediate vicinity and a small curious crowd began to gather. The Gadget Man, who had started his approach early, was now almost at Mel’s side.

The loblolly boy, seeing that Benjy was in dog mode, pushed the leaves aside and leapt into the air.

‘Good boy,’ cried Mel to Benjy sitting on all fours before her, and some of the kids in the crowd tittered.

It was at this point that Benjy bristling with pent up rage at the dangerous figure before him, began to snarl in a slow gravelly growl. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck rise and he narrowed his eyes into thin slits of hate.

‘Certainly a dog,’ said the Gadget Man, rubbing his hands in self-congratulation.

‘Yeah,’ muttered Mel, ‘but what kind of a dog?’

She did not see the crouching figure before her radiating obedience and submission. Quite the contrary, Benjy was displaying so much unbridled aggression she was too frightened to take her eyes off him.

And then Benjy’s guttural growling became what it had been threatening to become: a furious volley of angry barking. Woofwoofwoofwoofwoof! barked Benjy. His upper lip lifted so that more of his teeth could be revealed.

‘Sit!’ cried Mel, knowing as she uttered the word how absolutely futile it was.

For Benjy had no intention of sitting.

Benjy lunged forward, snapping and barking furiously.

Mel, white-faced and suddenly terrified, jumped backwards narrowly evading the lunging creature before her. She then turned on her heels and ran, pausing only to throw the propeller to its astonished creator as she did so. Benjy, snapping and snarling, bounded after her.

By this time, the loblolly boy had landed.

He was in time to see the transformation, but not in time to do anything about it.

Mel raced past him, with Benjy woofing at her heels with murder in his heart. If he’d had the sense to stand
up and run on two legs he could easily have overtaken the terrified Mel. However, he was relentlessly in dog mode and was trapped on all fours like some homicidal one-year-old not yet able to walk.

The loblolly boy stood with the Gadget Man watching the drama unfold.

‘What was that you were saying about dogs?’ he muttered sarcastically. ‘Something about obedience, man’s best friend and all?’

The swelling crowd chased after Mel and Benjy, and the loblolly boy ran after the crowd. He saw Mel reach the relative safety of the linden tree and shimmy up it. As a boy, Benjy could easily have scaled the tree himself, but as a dog he was utterly frustrated, reduced to running round and around the bole of the tree barking savagely, pausing only from time to time to raise himself up on to his hind legs and paw at the trunk, if anything, barking even more savagely as he did so.

Mel hadn’t stopped at the lower branches; she scrambled up the tree almost as high as she could. Only when she could safely climb no further did she stop and try to take stock.

‘I’d better see how she is,’ muttered the loblolly boy to the Gadget Man who had hurried after him.

With that he flew up into the tree and found a foothold not far from the terrified girl. They were so high in the tree every movement started the branches swaying dangerously.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

‘He’s mad,’ whispered Mel. ‘He’s completely bonkers. Off his tree.’

‘As long as you hold tight,’ muttered the loblolly boy, ‘we won’t be.’

‘Won’t be what?’

‘Off our tree,’ said the loblolly boy.

‘Ha ha,’ said Mel. ‘Look at him!’ She released one hand to point down.

Benjy was still circling the tree snarling and barking.

They sat there for some time as all the while below Benjy continued to let loose volleys of enraged barks and growls and the crowd continued to grow. From time to time a braver person would reach for Benjy in an attempt to hold him or perhaps calm him down. Whenever this happened, Benjy would turn viciously towards the person snapping with fury and they would back off quickly.

‘I wonder how long it will last?’ asked Mel. ‘I sure don’t want to sit up here all day.’

The loblolly boy shrugged. ‘No idea,’ he said. ‘I guess it will wear off. We forgot to talk about that with the Gadget Man.’

‘We should have,’ shivered Mel.

‘Where is that bloody device, anyway?’ asked the loblolly boy. ‘Perhaps it has a reverse switch or something.’

‘I threw it back to the Gadget Man,’ said Mel. ‘I suddenly needed to get out of there and thought it might hold me up.’

‘Good,’ said the loblolly boy, ‘then if the thing has a reverse switch he’ll be able to use it.’

‘I don’t think there was a reverse switch. It just had that red button.’

‘Well, he might be able to do something. Where is he, anyway?’

Mel looked around. The Gadget Man did not seem to be immediately visible among the crowd below. She scanned the area further afield. Then she said, ‘Somehow I don’t think he’s going to be much help.’

‘Why?’

‘Look!’ Mel pointed. The Gadget Man was walking quite quickly, almost scurrying, away from the scene. Before long, he was at the main gates and was obviously leaving the park.

‘Perhaps he has some other device at home that turns mad dogs into people,’ suggested the loblolly boy.

Mel picked up his sarcasm. ‘I wish,’ she said.

The effect on Benjy did not seem to be wearing off. It even appeared to be getting more severe as his frustrations grew.

‘I think he’s frothing,’ whispered Mel.

The crowd grew.

‘Why doesn’t someone do something?’ asked Mel.

The loblolly boy looked about. ‘Perhaps they are,’ he said. ‘Look, here comes the cavalry.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Look.’

Mel followed his pointing finger. A couple of park staff, probably gardeners, were running towards the scene drawn by the commotion and the ever-growing crowd gathered around Benjy.