Rainbow Rangers Rescue

A Rick Beck Story

quillswritersrealm@yahoo.com

It's anywhere and Jack Frost is nipping at every nose. The days have grown short and shorter. People are going about their business, shopping, coming home from work, stopping by the local pizza palace for food and fun, or the hamburger joint for hamburgers and those greasy fries, and maybe some apple pie, but not like Mama use to make.

Richie Vickers can only watch through the windows. His coat has holes in it. He lost his gloves. His shoes have holes in their soles. He stomps his feet to keep them warm.

Richie is hungry. Richie is cold. Richie has nowhere to go. He needs a shower. What he wouldn't give for a nice hot bath. He remembered taking baths once. He remembered being warm. He remembered not being hungry.

Those memories made him smile real large. Those memories were all that warmed him now. He wasn't going to get a bath. There wasn't going to be any food, and he would only get colder as night set in and the swiftly moving people went home.

Richie imagined one of them would stop and look at him and see past the dirt and the smelly clothes. They'd see a nice boy who needs a meal, who needs a home.

He knew he could go back to the home, but he wouldn't. The bigger boys took his food, his blanket, and anything else they wanted off him. Richie was small for his age. Richie was small. Richie was defenseless against boys who were years older and many times larger than he was.

No he couldn't go back to the home. He'd rather be cold and hungry than be afraid. The hunger did go away in time, for a few minutes anyway. The cold never did.

Why hadn't he slipped away in the summer? Why wasn't he born in Los Angeles or Hawaii? That would have been the ticket. All those girls in hula skirts and boys on surfboards, and pineapples. Richie was sure he'd like pineapple.

He'd like Hawaii.

It was getting later. He got up from in between the two food shops. He loved the smell of pizza and those French fries. What he wouldn't give for one French fry.

Shoving his hands in his pockets he began to walk. He was warmer when he kept moving. He'd walked all day yesterday. He was still cold, and hungry, always the hunger biting his stomach.

What town was this? Didn't matter. There would be another town tomorrow and then the day after that. He didn't know the names.

The car slowed and the window came down as he walked. The car stayed beside him. He didn't look at it. He knew what the offer would be and he'd done it, when he was too hungry to say no any longer, but he wasn't that hungry tonight. He wouldn't get into a car with a strange man.

No, he could go a while longer. The hunger wasn't that big yet.

“Hey, kid,” the gruff voice said after two minutes of pacing him.

Richie looked so he didn't need to hear that sour voice.

“Want to make a few bucks, kid?”

The man leaned on his arm to look over at the merchandise.

Richie shoved his hands deeper in his pockets and looked away. He didn't want to make any money that way. Men who stopped to offer you money weren't looking to help you. They wanted to help themselves to the only thing of value a kid on the street possessed. When you did that, you sold yourself. You were selling your soul. He knew that. He'd only do it when he couldn't stand the hunger any longer.

Richie knew this before he left for parts unknown. He knew it wasn't going to be easy. He wished it wasn't so cold was all. He wished he had a little food is all. He wished...

“Who are you?” Richie asked as the bright light shone upon him.

It was a warm light. He stopped moving. He hadn't been warm since... he couldn't remember when.

“Where you going?” a colorful boy his size said, suddenly appearing in his way.

“Don't know! Just going is all,” Richie said. “Why is that light so warm? I like it.”

“Aren't you cold? We can make it colder if you want. I thought you looked cold, you see.”

“No, I like that. Oh, it's warm,” Richie said, holding his hands like he was warming them over a fire.

“Thought so. Warm is the best, don't you think?”

“What are you dressed for? You look... You look like...”

“Me? I'm dressed for you. I like bright colors, don't you?”

“You a fairy? You look like a fairy,” Richie said.

“We prefer pixies, but yes, we're from the land of enchantment.”

“Where you from?”

“Fairy kingdom. You know, where the flowers are candy, the clouds are marshmallow, and no one is ever cold or hungry.”

“Right!” Richie said. “You're also crazy. Who dresses like that?”

“You hungry, Richie.”

“How do you know who I am?”

“It's what fairies do. We know who everyone is, Richie. We know when someone needs us.”

“Who are you?” Richie asked, shaking his head and thinking he must be dreaming or freezing like the little match girl in that story.

“Thought you'd never ask,” the colorful boy said. “Let's hit it.”

He was quickly joined by three other boys who were all dressed in colorful costumes like the first.

They took time to form a line, putting their arms over each other's shoulders. Kicking their legs above their heads, one leg at a time of course, they began to sing.

“We are the Rainbow Rescue Rangers. We're here to rescue you.”

“We are the Rainbow Rescue Rangers, here to see you get your do.”

“We sing, we dance, we prance for you, because we're the Rainbow Rescue Rangers. We've come to warm your heart. We've come to feed you too, because we're the Rainbow Rescue Rangers, and we've come for you,” and they all pointed at Richie.

“We are the Rainbow Rescue Rangers. We've come to take you where no one is too cold or too hot, days never end, and the fun never stops.”

“Oh, we're the Rainbow Rescue Rangers and we've come to take you home. We are the Rainbow Rescue Rangers of the enchantment zone, and we want to take you home with us. We want to take you home. We don't have a Cadillac car, so we brought the Rainbow bus,” they sang, point at the wildly painted bus.

“Who are you really?” asked a giggling Richie.

They each pointed at another, speaking all at once, “He's, she's, we're the Rainbow Rescue Rangers and we're here because you wished it was true. We're the Rainbow Rescue Rangers and we've come to rescue you,” and the colorfully clad fairies pointed at Richie.