Chapter 2

      The first day of middle school was exhausting, to say the least. After such a harassing day of love and war I knew there was only one person who could help me relax. Also, today being the first day of middle school marked a special event. My mom and dad were finally letting me stay home after school instead of at the neighbor’s. Mrs. Fannybottom was a nice enough lady… on the outside, but what people didn’t see was that she was really a witch. It’s true. I know this because she would always try to get me to help clean up the basement. But it wasn’t a basement, it was a dungeon. I knew her games though. I knew the dungeon wasn’t safe. It was dark and scary and it smelled of death. I never once went down and that usually annoyed her. But alas, today I wouldn’t have to go down into any witch’s dungeon. Today I could relax and have fun with the one person who could cheer me up after such an arduous day. Rufus.

I ran to the kitchen. There was a procedure that came with visiting Rufus. To enter his domain under my bed I had to first prepare him an offering. It was a very specific offering. Two peanut butter and fluff sandwiches on pumpernickel bread with no crust and a giant chocolate milk… and some chips. I never understood why Rufus wanted me to prepare this for him. He always let me eat it, but this was how I did it and it was how I always did it.

        I ran up to my room and placed the plate and glass under my bed. I heard a rumbling as I threw my backpack on the ground, grabbed a flashlight and picked out a few Taco Tim comics. There wasn’t going to be a new one for another month so Rufus and I were rereading some classics. Issue #27 in which Taco Tim discovers that the source of his amazing powers is none other than the Chupacabra whom he had an encounter with in Issue #1. Issue #134 in which Taco Tim travels to Canada and battles the evil Mountie Mimes of Quebec, and of course, Issue #3 in which Taco Tim saves the fair maiden, Nellie from a horrible monster attack at her Quinceañera and instantly falls in love with her. I’m still not sure what exactly a Quinceañera is but Rufus says it’s a big deal.

    I looked at my bed. I knew that Rufus had accepted my offer because had he not I would not be here to tell my tale. I crawled under my bed and entered the fortress in which my monster lived. I could hear him breath as I turned on my flashlight. The next step was very important. Failure to do this step often meant instant death. As the light flashed on I immediately stared into the eyes of the beast before me. It was important to make eye contact because not doing so would break the trust established between monster and boy that was the glue in our relationship. He spoke.

    “Hello, Young Cornelius,” His voice was suave and his accent was thick. His voice was Spanish and was what adults might call “sexy”. He was covered in wild red fur. His face was a long hairless snout with two blank eyes and a long red fur Manchu style mustache coming out from under the tip.

            “Hello Rufus,” I answered. “I grabbed a few comics for us to read. Issue numbers 27, 134 and… 3.”

            “Issue #3?” Rufus repeated. “We rarely read that one. You hate the lovey ones.”

            “I don’t know. It’s nothing,” I lost my eye contact with Rufus. “I just felt like it.”

            “Tell me, Cornelius,” Rufus forced the eye contact back. “Did something happen today?”

            “Well… my English teacher is kind of…  enchanting.”

            “Aha” I wasn’t sure if he understood. “C’est L’amour.”

    “Is that Spanish?” I knew better than to challenge Rufus, but I did anyway. “I think I heard a French person on TV say that once.”

            “So? I know that. You think because I have a sexy Spanish voice I can’t know a little French?” 

    “Sorry, sorry.” I wasn’t sure if I had offended Rufus. He was always difficult to read, but I guess that’s why he was the monster and I wasn’t.

We read our comics in our usual fashion. We would go from box to box. I would stare at each picture for a few minutes and then ask Rufus what they said. Remember, these comics only came in Spanish.

“Ok, that one says ‘I am Taco Tim and I will save you, fair Nellie!’” Rufus didn’t even have to look at the page.

“Ok, what about this one?” I pointed to a picture of Taco Tim battling a monster.

“It says ‘I am Taco Tim and I am battling this monster.’”

“And this one?” It was a picture of Taco Tim after defeating the monster but his arm was hurt.

“That one is ‘I am Taco Tim and I defeated the monster and my arm is hurt.’”

As we finished our last comic Rufus seemed a little distracted.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

“I can’t help but wonder what that book in your bag is about?” Sometimes Rufus scared me. How could he possibly know there was a book in my bag? “Don’t you have to read a chapter tonight?”

“Yeah, but I want to read Taco Tim.”

“We’ve already finished most of the ones you picked today and your mom and dad are still not home yet.” He was right. He looked me in the eye. “Go get it.”

I did as my monster told and then crawled under again.

“Animal Farm,” I read the cover out loud. “by George Orwell.”

I opened the book as Rufus peered over my shoulder. Softly, he began to read. “Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but
 was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light
 from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard,
 kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer
 from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where
 Mrs. Jones was already snoring.”

It was an hour later when Rufus and I had to stop. It wasn’t because it took us an hour to finish one chapter, in fact, we were already more than halfway through. The book was amazing. Unlike anything I had read before. The reason we stopped was because the door opened. I ran downstairs to see my dad placing his keys on the kitchen counter. I ran and gave him a hug. He smelled like an office. His shirt was wrinkled and he had lines under his eyes.

Dad started to boil some macaroni and cheese just in time for Mom to arrive.

“Oh hey” my dad didn’t even look away from his stirring. “I’m throwing in some spirals. You hungry?”

“No.”

She didn’t say much. She just gave me a hug and then went to bed. My dad watched as she walked up the stairs. He also didn’t say much.

Dad placed two bowls on the table.

“How was School?” He asked.

“’Twas ok.”

            “Just ok?” He turned on the TV as he spoke.

    “Well, there are good things and bad things.” I didn’t say anything for a moment. Dad’s attention was going back and forth between me and the TV. “I had to read a chapter from a book tonight.”

            “Oh yeah? What book?”

            “Animal Farm”

            “Animal Farm?” Dad looked at me. “They read that in college classes.”

    “That’s what Miss Eve said but it’s a kid’s book. Why would they read it in college?” I was really getting confused about this.

            “Isn’t it about Soviet Russia or something?” Dad chuckled “I don’t know, I’ve never read it.”

            “What what Russia?” What was he talking about? “It’s about animals that take over a farm!”

   

After I finished my dinner I sat on the couch with my Dad. He was already slouched into the couch with the blue glow of the TV illuminating his face. I didn’t think the show was very interesting. My Dad watched the weirdest things when he was tired. This one was about, like a priest and his family and every week they had another kid living in their house and it was very confusing. I think that Dad was so tired he just wanted anything to help turn his brain off for a little while.

    As Dad watched his show I thought about the day I had. I thought about Amanda and how annoying she was. I wondered how I would get her to leave me alone. I thought about Dana the bully with a girl’s name who for some reason had a crush on Amanda. I thought about Miss Eve and her radiant beauty that could only exist on a Goddess and Mr. Inc with ugliness that could only exist on a troll. I thought about Bugsy.

            I noticed that Dad was asleep. So, I turned off the TV and headed upstairs. Rufus was waiting for me as I crawled back under my bed.

            “And how is your father?” Rufus asked.

            “He’s good.”

            “And your mother?”

            I thought to myself. “I don’t know.”

    We picked up where we had left off in Animal Farm. It wasn’t long before I heard my mom’s voice out in the hall. Then I heard my Dad’s voice. They sounded angry. I just kept reading my book. Rufus was distracted though.

            “They are fighting, you know” The monster said.

            “Why?” I asked.

            “I don’t know.” Rufus looked concerned. “I think I heard someone say your name.”

    I brushed it off and read my book. Finally, I reached the last page. I couldn’t believe it. Not only had I finished a chapter book. I did it in one night. I was only supposed to read a chapter. This would annoy Amanda so much. It was an incredible stor-

    The door opened. I quickly crawled out from under my bed. My mom stood in the door with fire in her eyes. She wore a red bathrobe and her hair was messy, probably from sleeping.

            “What are you still doing up?” She looked at my father who was standing behind her. “When is his bed time?”

            “Well, It’s supposed to be 8:30 but-“

            “It’s 9:15.”

            “Sorry, Mom,” I looked up at her. “I was reading.”

            “No you weren’t,” She said “you were talking to your imaginary friend again. You are too old for this, Jeffrey. I swear if I find dirty dishes under your bed again.”

            “Mary, please…” My dad attempted to speak.

            “It’s time you started thinking about growing up,” She pushed past my Dad and sharply turned her head back. “Now go to bed.”

            It was silent for a moment. Dad stood in the doorway. His face was unlike anything I had ever seen.

            “Uh, time for bed, Buddy.”

 

    I brushed my teeth. The regular routine. “Right and left and right and left and up-down-up-down-up-down-up-down aaand repeat.” I got into my Taco Tim pajamas and crawled under my Taco Tim comforter and I laid my head on my not Taco Tim pillow. I started to close my eyes but I felt a weird feeling in my chest that I couldn’t fight off. It was sharp. The palms of my hands burned and my cheeks were wet.

    As if to comfort me, I felt two arms moving around me. They were tucking me in. I opened my eyes. My Mom and Dad weren’t there, but I did see two red, fuzzy arms slinking under my bed. Then a voice.

            “Buenos Noches, Young Cornelius.”