“Quincy And That Unusual Friend Of His”
By Brian Roberson
Chapter 13
Quincy was herded into the
school's small "auditorium" (which was also the cafeteria) for orientation. He
looked around and saw Timothy sitting a few spaces away from him, but Timothy
either didn't notice Quincy or was trying to ignore him. After a few boring
speeches by the Principal, Assistant Principal, and a couple of the teachers,
the kids were all herded right back out to find their respective classrooms.
Classes were limited to twenty students per class, and with one class per
academic year, Quincy's class would turn out to just have fifteen students in
it.
He soon found the classroom and entered along with several other kids. The
teacher was yelling for everyone to find a desk, and that the desk they chose
would be their desk for the entire year. Quincy saw Timothy sitting in the third
desk from the front, in the row furthest to the left and next to the windows.
The closest desk to Timothy that wasn't taken yet was the desk in the very back
of the row, so Quincy took that one. He said hi to Timothy as he passed him, but
Timothy didn't respond and only stared straight ahead. Apparently he had lost
Timothy's confidence even worse than he thought he had.
Class started with math. Quincy's teacher was Mrs. Robbins. She was a young,
blond, freckled woman with a creamy skin tone and freckles on her nose. She kept
her hair in a pair of long braids, and Quincy actually found her to be quite
beautiful. As a matter of fact, he couldn't keep his eyes of of her.
Halfway through the math lesson, Quincy was in the middle of an exercise in
which everyone had to do five problems involving the multiplication of
fractions. As Quincy worked on the problems, he heard a familiar giggling behind
him and to the right. He quickly turned around, and to his surprise, he saw Erik
sitting naked and indian style on top of a large cabinet in the rear corner of
the room. Erik grinned, gave a quick wave, and immediately vanished. Quincy
stared in shocked dread at the spot where Erik had been, and nervously returned
to his math problems. Just then, the American flag hanging in the room by the
chalkboard began waving around as though a strong wind were blowing through the
room.
"Mrs. Robbins?" A little girl in the front row said.
"Yes?"
The girl then pointed at the flag, but as soon as the teacher turned, it had
stopped moving.
"What?" Mrs. Robbins said.
"The flag was moving." The girl said.
"It was, Mrs. Robbins. I saw it." A red headed boy in the middle of the second
row said.
"I saw it too." A third boy said.
"I think that you're supposed to be paying attention to your math problems, and
not to the flag." The teacher said.
"But Mrs. Robbins, it was moving..." The girl said.
"You need to focus on your work, instead of on the flag, all of you." Mrs.
Robbins said firmly. Quincy returned to his problems with a mortified look on
his face. He had seen what Erik was capable of doing, and he was dreading what
might happen.
After a couple of minutes, one of the open windows loudly shut, startling
everyone in the room. Quincy felt a tap on his shoulder, wheeled around, and saw
Erik standing by his desk. Erik gave him a nasty smile, waved, and disappeared
again. Mrs. Robbins went over to the window. "What on Earth?" She muttered as
she opened the window back up. Quincy went back to his math, his eyes wide open
in fear. It was then that the lights in the room started flickering on and off.
It started off slowly, but then crescendoed into a strobe like effect. Kids all
over the room were throwing down their pencils and wondering aloud what was
going on.
"Class! Class! Keep on working on your math problems. It's just an electrical
issue." The teacher said.
Erik then materialized behind Timothy. He grabbed the pen off of Timothy's desk
and threw it right at the teacher just before he vanished. It landed right next
to her.
"Timothy! Timothy O'Neil! Did you just throw a pen at me?"
"No! I..." Timothy said in horror as he then reached down for the pen, which to
his shock, wasn't there. He looked back up with his eyes wide as saucers.
"I want to see you at my desk right after class!" She said angrily.
Just then a pen from another kids desk flew at her, and then another from
another desk.
"Hey! My pen!" The girl who's desk the third pen flew from exclaimed.
"Class! This behavior is totally unacceptable, and I won't have it!" Mrs.
Robbins exclaimed. Erik then materialized in back of her, and started making
faces and noises while she spoke. "If we are to have a productive academic
environment, then I must have your respect!" Erik threw his hands up over his
head in what looked like a referee signal for a football safety, and started
rocking his head from side to side. Quincy was desperately trying not to laugh.
"I am the teacher! You are the students! We must recognize these boundaries! Am
I making myself understood?" Erik then put his hands over his mouth and made a
loud flatulent noise with his cheeks puffed out right before he vanished. Quincy
couldn't hold it in anymore. He burst into laughter while silently cursing Erik.
The lights in the room continued to shut on and off.
"Quincy Lenhardt! You come right up here this instant!" The teacher exclaimed.
Quincy pointed to himself with a "who me?" expression. He then slowly got up. As
he did, a textbook from a chubby kid's desk who was sitting near him suddenly
flew off of the desk and was hurled right at the teacher, who had to duck out of
the way. Erik then materialized behind the kids desk.
"Charles Harris! You too! Come right up here this instant!"
"But Mrs. Robbins! I didn't do anything!" Charles protested. Erik burst into
laughter and vanished.
"I suppose that your math textbook just flew off of your desk by itself!?" Mrs.
Robbins yelled.
"Yes, actually it did!" Charles yelled back. Quincy heard Erik laughing again
and saw him back on top of the cabinet, this time with his legs dangling over
the side.
"Don't you talk back to me!" Mrs. Robbins said.
Just then the school fire alarm went off. The light began flickering off and on
madly as the class all got up as one to exit the building.
"I knew it was an electrical problem! There's probably a fire! Class! Line up
and follow me outside!" Mrs. Robbins said as the class lined up at the door.
Quincy got up to join the class. Just then Erik materialized behind him and
slapped him hard on his back.
"How ya doin', old pal?" Erik said with a bitter smile.
"Erik, you are SO dead..." Quincy whispered angrily.
Erik laughed as he vanished into thin air.
Quincy and the rest of his class filed out of the building and onto the lawn in
front of the school, along with the rest of the student body. Quincy was
absolutely red faced with rage. As soon as he gets home today, Erik is gone from
the house, period. It didn't matter if it was a priest, a medium, or a bug
exterminator who did it. Erik had to go. While he stood there, Timothy came up
next to him.
"Hey Quincy." Timothy said shyly.
"Hey Timothy. Interesting first day of school, isn't it?"
Erik then materialized next to Quincy. "Oh, HIM again..." Erik said. Quincy then
gave Erik a big swat on the arm.
"OW! Hey!" A girl next to Quincy cried out. It turned out Erik had materialized
around her and Quincy wound up swatting her arm instead.
"Sorry." Quincy said with his eyes squeezed tight in frustration. Erik burst
into laughter and disappeared. Just then, Timothy's pants fell down to his
knees, exposing a light blue pair of boxers to anyone who happened to be nearby.
Several kids started laughing as Timothy pulled his pants back up and retreated
away in humiliation. Erik materialized next to Quincy again, doubled over in
laughter. Quincy turned his back to everyone as much as possible. He then put
his hand over his mouth like he was scratching an itch.
"Erik! Stop! I'm serious!" Quincy mumbled almost inaudibly.
Just then, the sirens of the fire trucks could be heard in the distance. They
soon began pulling into the front entrance.
"Erik, I'm serious! Please stop! I'm sorry I got mad at you! Just stop this!"
Quincy said again, this time a little bit louder due to all the kids around him
being enthralled by the fire engines. He turned to Erik, who then stuck his
tongue out at him and disappeared.
Erik did not show up for the rest of the day. Quincy, the other students, and
the faculty all stood outside in the 90 degree heat for over an hour while the
fire fighters checked out the building. After they found nothing wrong and let
everyone back into class, Quincy spent the rest of the day thinking of a way
that he could drive Erik out of the house forever, but he could come up with
nothing. All Quincy figured that he could do is hope that Erik didn't pull any
similar stunts at home with his parents in the house and wait until after the
end of August for Erik to stop showing up, like Mr. Williams said he would.
Quincy suddenly felt a pain in his chest. He had not really given it that much
thought. Erik was going to go away soon and not come back for a year. He
realized that despite all the issues he had with him, despite how angry he still
was about all the shenanigans Erik had unleashed, Erik really was his friend,
and that he liked him a lot. He did a complete turn around and started trying to
think of ways to get Erik to stay around for the whole year, but he still didn't
even know why Erik was still around at all. He decided to apologize to Erik for
real when he got home and then ask him some very direct questions.
Carol came and picked him up at the end of the school day. On the short drive
home, she peppered him with questions about how the first day went. Quincy told
her there had been a fire drill and a bunch of lessons and that was about all.
Quincy also told her that he wanted to ride his bike to school tomorrow and she
said that was fine.
Quincy went up to his room, threw his backpack onto the bed, and closed the
door.
"Erik! Erik! Come on! I know you're here! Erik!" There was no response. Quincy
then changed out of his school clothes into a t-shirt and pair of shorts.
Just then, Erik materialized on top of the dresser and burst out into laughter.
Quincy gave him a dirty look, crinkled up his face, and then burst into laughter
himself. He sat on the bed and leaned backwards onto his back pack as he laughed
at the days events, which now seemed much more amusing than they had been while
they were actually occurring. The two of them laughed for a couple of minutes,
with tears pouring out of their eyes as they gasped for breath.
"Erik! Don't ever do that again!" Quincy laughed as he sat back up while wiping
tears away. He looked over at Erik who was still laughing, and he realized how
much he had missed his buddy over the last day or so. "I'm sorry I got so mad at
you. Please don't make me mad at you again."
Erik got his composure back. "I missed you too, Quince. I felt all empty inside
while we were mad at each other."
"So where were you all day yesterday?"
"I was either in the crawl space over the garage or in the pipes under the
house."
"I didn't even know that there's a crawl space in the garage."
"I followed your mom into the car and rode to school in the trunk so that you
wouldn't sense me. I attached myself to the mailman and got home that way
today."
"Yeah, I was kind of wondering about that."
"It was kind of boring having to be there while he did all his deliveries. I was
really glad once he finally got to the house."
"Well...I think it's probably best that you don't follow me to school anymore."
"Don't worry, I won't. Besides, I start school myself in a few days. What is
today's date anyway?"
"It's August 29."
"Yep, it's coming right up."
"So, is that when you... go away?"
"Go away? Of course not! Why would I go away when I have school to go to?"
"Hey Erik? I'm kind of wondering..."
That was all Quincy was able to get out. Erik let out a happy battle cry, jumped
off the dresser and tackled Quincy on the bed. The two of them began giggling
and wrestling in a pile of headlocks, moves, countermoves, laughter, and
flailing bodies. Quincy finally had Erik pinned down by straddling his
midsection. Erik was giggling as Quincy slapped the bed next to him.
"One...Two...Three...The Winner! We have a new world champion! The crowd goes
wild!" Quincy proclaimed. He then made a crowd noise, but stopped cold when he
looked up and saw his mother standing in the doorway.
"Quincy, what are you doing?" She asked with a perplexed look on her face.
Quincy could feel Erik's body vibrating beneath him as he burst into a paroxysm
of laughter. "Uhhh...nothing Mom. Just playing."
"Playing...ok. Quincy, Timothy is on the phone for you." She said. Erik then
grabbed Quincy's dick through his pants, which made Quincy squeal and jerk
backwards.
"Ok, Mom...thanks." Quincy giggled.
She gave him another strange look as she walked out into the hall. Quincy
climbed off of Erik, who was in hysterics on the bed.
"Dude! I can't believe you goosed me with my mom right there!" Quincy whispered
with a grin. He then reached down and grabbed Erik's semi-erect dick, which made
him laugh even harder. He then got up and walked out of the room, disheveled and
sweaty, and took Timothy's call in his parents bedroom.
"Hey Timothy." Quincy said.
"Hey Quincy." Timothy said on the other end of the line. "Hey I was thinking, my
parents and me are going to this Renaissance Fair thing in Maryland on Saturday.
Do you, like maybe, want to go with us? They said they'll pay for everything."
"Let me ask my mom." Quincy said. Quincy then went out of the bedroom and to the
top of the stairs. "Mom? Timothy's inviting me to go with him to a Renaissance
Fair on Saturday! Can I go?"
"It's OK with me!" She replied from downstairs. "Do you have Father's new cell
phone number?" Quincy's dad had to deactivate his old cell phone and get a new
one due to Dr.
Singh running off with his old one the other night.
"Yeah I do!"
"OK! Make sure you have that with you when you go, as well as the house number!
I'll make sure it's OK with him when I go pick him up from his office in a bit!"
"OK! Thanks!" Quincy returned to the phone. "Yeah, it's cool, Timothy."
"Cool. I was also wondering if you wanted to come by my house after school
tomorrow? My mom will drive us."
"Sure. I'll make sure it's OK with my folks. I'm sure it will be."
"Cool. I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow!"
"OK, Bye!"
Quincy hung up the phone and returned to the bedroom. He didn't see Erik in
there, and he sat back down on the bed. Erik then materialized behind him and
put Quincy into an arm lock with a yell. Quincy didn't resist, though. Instead
he put his hands on top of Erik's. Erik then leaned his head down onto Quincy's
shoulder, and the wrestling move became an affectionate embrace. Quincy sat
there and wondered how he was going to cope for a year without the best friend
he had ever had by his side. His mom eventually hollered up the stairs to say
that she would be leaving to pick Steve up, and that Quincy had better have his
homework at least halfway finished up by the time she got back. Quincy and Erik
then reluctantly pried themselves apart and Quincy sat at his desk to do his
homework.
That night, as Quincy finished putting on his pajamas, he looked over at Erik,
who was sitting on the desk and smiling at him. Quincy smiled back at him and
climbed into bed.
"Hey Erik?" Quincy asked.
"Yeah?"
"I was going to ask you this earlier, but we started wrestling. Mr. Williams
said that you go away every year at the beginning of September, and that you're
only around in August.
Why is that?"
"That's not true, I'm always here."
"So do you just become invisible or something?"
"No silly!" Erik laughed. "I'm right here all the time!"
"So are you going to be here after next week?"
Erik all of a sudden looked puzzled and troubled. "I don't know." Erik said. "I
might not be, actually. I hope I am." He said.
"How can you not know that?"
"There's a lot of things I don't understand, and there's nobody who can explain
them to me." Erik said.
"So what about every other year? What happened then?"
"Every other year? What every other year?"
"Erik, it's not 1978 now, it's 2011. I told you that before."
"That's your date, not mine." Erik said flatly. It was then that Quincy realized
that Erik either didn't know that he had died, or couldn't accept it.
The conversation was interrupted by a single knock on the door, and Steve came
into the bedroom.“Hey Kiddo, just coming to say goodnight." Steve then sat on
the bed and began rubbing Quincy's forehead.” Son, I was thinking...ever since
last year, when I started running for office, we've not really spent too much
time together."
"I know we haven't." Quincy said.
"Well, I want to apologize for that. I've been so busy...and I haven't made any
time for the most important thing in my life, which is you. I was thinking that
maybe this Sunday, we could go to Harper's Ferry. Just you and me. The
Appalachian Trail goes through there. We'll make a whole day of it. Just the two
of us. Just like we used to. OK?"
Quincy grinned. "Sure Dad! That would be awesome!" Quincy and his dad used to
hike the Appalachian Trail quite frequently back in Pennsylvania, back before
politics took over all their lives.
Steve leaned down and kissed Quincy on his forehead. "I love you so much, Son."
He said quietly. Steve then knelt on the floor and took Quincy's hands into his
for a prayer.
As Steve was praying, Quincy glanced over at Erik on the desk. Erik had his eyes
closed and his hands folded in front of him. Steve concluded the prayer, kissed
Quincy on the head, and left the room. Quincy looked over at Erik on the desk.
"So do you believe in God?" Quincy asked.
"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I believe in God?" Erik smiled.
"I don't know. Some people say He doesn't exist."
"That's because they don't know how to look for Him. Sometimes people can't see
something that's right there in front of them."
"Erik..." Quincy said after a deep breath. "You know that you were killed when
the car hit you, right?"
Erik silently got up, walked over to Quincy, and put his hand on his head.
Quincy immediately fell asleep. Erik turned the light off and got back onto the
desk.
"No Quincy, I DON'T know that!" Erik said angrily as he sat back down.