the adventures of yeti - 19. across the lake

by bofa xesjum

part nineteen of ?

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trixie listened without any expression as daniel told his tale. when he finished, he half expected her to laugh in his face or make some kind of smartypants remark, but she just said - if you have lost all hope, you have come to the right place. you mean here at the lake? daniel asked, slightly bewildered. no, on the the other side of the lake. but first, are you sure you have lost all hope? that you never want to go back to where you came from? i never want to go back, and i want to go as far away as i can. good. then the doctor will fix you right up. the doctor? what doctor? just follow me, and everything will be explained. trixie moved past daniel and began walking walking along the shore of the lake. it occurred to daniel that the way trixie was speaking was a little odd, more like a recorded message than a real live high school girl, but he followed her. about thirty yards down the shore they came to a little canoe. it was painted black, and not very visible in the darkness. trixie got in, and daniel followed her without being told. there was a single oar in the canoe, and trixie pushed them off with it, and then had them skimming swiftly across the lake. it seemed to get cloudier and darker overhead as they reached the center of the lake, and the temperature fell a few degrees and daniel wished he had brought the sweater trixie had mockingly referred to, but he did not say anything. have you been to the other side of the lake? trixie asked. yes, when i was a little kid, daniel answered. “the lake” had been a source of wonder and mystery to generations of children, of which daniel and his friends had been the last, and they had swum and fished in it and wandered around and “explored” it in the last years before the new age of snowflakism had descended on civilization’s children. now of course it was considered unsafe. the police and the sheriff’s department had patrolled it for a few years, but now they hardly bothered, as the newest cohort of children were so unaccustomed to going anywhere by themselves, that they would no more go near it than they would enter a burning nuclear waste, or try to walk and swim to antarctica. the lake was in fact pretty deep in its center, and a few children and other unfortunates had drowned in it over the course of hundreds of years. do you remember the old dawkins place? trixie asked. oh yes, sure, daniel replied. the old dawkins place … the old henderson place… what were the others? the far shore of the lake, on the other side from the highway, had held a number of old “mansions” that had been abandoned for decades, for reasons not precisely known, and which had provided fun for children and fodder for tall tales and legends. what is there now? daniel wondered. how many are still standing? does anybody live in them? bears? bums? junkies? aloud he asked trixie, the dawkins house? is that where this doctor lives? sort of, she replied. you will see when we get there. daniel did not want to pester her with questions, and he said no more. they continued to glide silently across the lake. the tall dark trees on the other side came into view. 20. the old dawkins place

the adventures of yeti - 18. trixie

by bofa xesjum

part eighteen of ?

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… to the lake… daniel found himself down at the lake. dark night had fallen. he did not know how late it was. would mom be worried about him, be wondering where he was? would anybody be worried about him, be wondering where he was? marcy daniels would not be worried about him, that was for damn sure… daniel realized he really did not care if anybody was worrying about him or wondering where he was. the moon and the stars looked down on him and laughed. a breeze came up, and the ripples on the lake surface looked at him and laughed. what a fool he had been! the full force of realizing that life had no meaning and was a complete hoax and con game was just beginning to sink in on him, as it had on so many before him, though daniel had been steamrolled by the truth at a later age than many… as he looked at the ripples in the lake and the moon’s reflection in them, he became aware that he was not alone. he turned and saw a small person standing about ten feet behind him. a child? no, a girl about his own age. she looked familiar… daniel had never liked to be at a loss for words, and do i know you? was the only thing he could think to say. i’m trixie nixon, the girl replied, but maybe you don’t remember me. oh, yes, daniel remembered her now. “trixie the pixie” nixon, one of the leaders of arty clique at school, the ones who “went their own way” and never joined any of the official school clubs, not even the poetry or drama clubs. but what he really remembered, now that he saw her, was that she had disappeared about a year ago. some said “mysteriously”, others that she had just moved away. the school had never said she had “disappeared mysteriously”, nor was there anything in the media. so the busy kids with active lives, like daniel, had moved on and forgotten about her, but she continued to spoken of “in whispers”, by the “outcasts”. so, here she was at the lake, not as far away as all that. in the middle of the night. in the middle of the night? daniel was not sure what time it was. despite his traumatic experience realizing that everything he believed in was a lie, daniel was still the well bred young man he had always been, so when trixie said maybe you don’t remember me, after only a slight hesitation he answered, oh yes, of course i remember you now. it’s just that the light is not so great here. right. and i remember you, big guy. one of the big jocks and fast trackers. you graduated from yale the day you were born. daniel was well accustomed to such jibes, and he answered easily, yes and i was tapped for skull and bones too. be that as it may, champ, what are you doing out here at the lake at three in the morning ? and without your letter sweater on? three in the morning? daniel did not know what to say. suddenly he was overcome, and he poured out his heart, telling his whole sad story to trixie the pixie. 19. across the lake

the adventures of yeti - 17. old school

by bofa xesjum

part seventeen of ?

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as yeti and mister lazybones moved down the dark road, a pickup truck suddenly appeared in front of them from behind a curve, and they had to scramble to get out of its way. the pickup truck contained the notorious doctor delta and was driven by his creature, grigsby, and they were on their way to pick up any human flotsam that might have been left for them by zombi and the driver, whose schedule they were acquainted with. doctor delta was one of the last of the old school mad scientists, who were persisting in their attempts to make “monsters” or to “create life”, even though it seemed obvious to the rest of the world that there was no market for the results of such endeavors. doctor delta had started out in life as a fine young man, before a series of unfortunate occurrences resulted in his banishment from civilized society. he was daniel delmont in those faraway days, the handsome and charismatic senior class president at woodbury high school. his father was a renowned authority on counterterrorism and his mother was a successful and respected architect. in addition to being class president, young daniel was the captain of the the lacrosse team and the debating team, the point guard on the basketball team, the goalie on the “soccer” (world football) team, and was also on the baseball team and the bobsled team and the ballroom dancing team and a member of the math club and the screenwriting club. . but there was one thing he was not. he was not the quarterback on the football (american football) team. he had been beaten out for the position by chuck billson, a surly young man from the wrong side of town, who had a rifle arm and a chip on the shoulder of his rifle arm the size of a moon rocket launching pad. daniel had to content himself with playing wide receiver, in which capacity he felt that chuck did not throw him the ball as often as he might. daniel, however, was too much of a gentleman to complain to tcoach slade about it. daniel had a girl - marcy daniels, the most beautiful girl in town and the richest, though with a bit of an attitude. daniel worshipped the ground marcy walked on and the air she walked through, and would have done anything for her, and to make her his forever. one day marcy met daniel under the old apple tree in front of the courthouse snd informed him that she was dropping him and taking up with chuck billson. daniel was stunned. but why, he asked. why? because he is the quarterback on the football team, why did you think? is that all? daniel asked bewilderedly. isn’t that enough? what part of “quarterback on the football team’” don’t you understand? isn’t there more to life than that? must people be judged by their position in society, rather than by what is in their souls? daniel stammered confusedly, realizing even as he did so that he was not expressing himself as lucidly as he might? what would coach fisher of the debating team say? tell me, daniel, marcy countered, with her blue eyes glittering, what do you intend to do with your life, after high school, i mean? well um, i had not thought about it much. my dad might get me into the counterterrorism department… the counterterrorism department! marcy laughed scornfully. so you just want to be a faceless drone of the deep state, sitting at a desk in virginia or london reading reports from people in islamabad or tokyo who probably don’t even exist? well, what is chuck billson going to do? what is chuck billson going to do? he is going to start by winning the state championship for good old woodbury high. then he is going to be recruited by all the major football schools in the u s, he is going to win the heisman trophy wherever he goes, and then his going to be drafted number one in the nfl draft, and then he id going to win six or seven super bowls. because chuck is a go-getter, a man with a plan, not a dweeb like you content to flub along in the shallow water of the world. daniel tried to laugh. and then what? he retorted feebly. at that moment chuck billson appeared out of the shadows cast by the trees on the lawn of the courthouse. and then what? chuck drawled. i am not sure. i thought i might be president of the united states, or maybe become a navy seal astronaut and lead the first mission to the andromeda galaxy. what is it to you? meanwhile i don’t appreciate your wasting my girl’s time, not to mention that i see enough of your foolish puppy dog face, moping around the football field because i choose to throw the ball to my men who an actually watch the ball. am i making my self clear enough for you, loser? daniel’s brain was in a whirl, he found himself walking past the courthouse, past the high school, past the football field, past mr jenkins’s drugstore, past the mall, past the church, and down to the lake… 18. trixie

the adventures of yeti - 16. the skinny man

by bofa xesjum

part sixteen of ?

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as yeti was trying to remember the details of the story of arthur and victoria, and ho it had ended. the truck stopped. yeti heard voices from the cab, and after about a minute, he heard a squeaking as the back door of the truck was opened. then he heard some creaking and clattering as boxes were opened and their lids dropped on the floor of the truck. yeti’s box was the last to be opened. he looked up an saw zombi, or his twin brother, looking down at him. “get up if you want to get out,” zombi said, and turned away. yeti pushed himself up and out of the box and scrambled out of the truck past the lids and empty boxes. where are we, he wondered ? paris? san francisco? hong kong? tokyo? outside it was starting to get dark, but it was not so dark that yeti could not see where they were - in the middle of nowhere. an empty plain. there was a long unpainted wooden building off to the right, but it was unlit and had a couple of broken windows and looked deserted. in jumping down from the truck, yeti misjudged the height and stumbled when he landed and sprawled on his face in the dirt. the other freed prisoners laughed, as did zombi, and a big stout fellow with his thumbs in his belt - the belt also held a pistol - whom yeti took to be the driver . “saved the best for last,” zombi said as yeti picked himself up, and the prisoners and the driver laughed again. “definitely one for the doctor,” the driver said. he looked away from yeti at the other prisoners, about eighteen of them, who were huddled together off to his right. “you,” he said to a tall skinny man with a big nose. “get over here.” the skinny man obeyed and the driver looked the remaining prisoners over. he pointed to a short fellow. “what about him?” he asked zombi. zombi shrugged. “lateef might take him. he hasn’t been that fussy lately.” “all right.’ the driver agreed. he pointed to wooden building and told the seventeen prisoners, “go over to the barracks over there and wait up. we will get you something to eat.” the seventeen prisoners departed, and moved away, stating close together in a mumbling herd. “what about us?” yeti asked. “do we get something to eat?” “doctor delta will feed you,” zombi said. “when he gets here.” “what if he doesn’t get here?” the skinny man asked. “he will be here,” zombi said. “don’t worry .” he nodded to the driver and the two of them headed in the direction of the building called they had called the “barracks”. leaving yeti and the skinny man with the big nose alone, in the gathering dusk. “what is your name?” yeti asked the skinny man, wishing to be friendly, as he always did. “i have many names,” the skinny man replied. “i have had many names, many names through the ages.” haven’t we all? yeti thought, but aloud he said, “but what name would you like me to address you as?” “how about ‘hate to get up in the morning’?” “that is kind of a mouthful. shall i call you ‘hate’ for short?” “i am afraid “that would give a misleading impression of my true nature, which is actually quite amiable and conciliatory. you may call me ‘lazybones’ , or if you wish to observe civilized proprieties even under these distressing circumstances, ‘mister lazybones’.” “very well, then, mister lazybones, as you may have noticed, our captors seem to have left us here with little interest as to whether we stay or go. as there is no guarantee that they - or the mysterious doctor delta - will see fit to feed us if we stay, or that they will not feed us to some other hungry creatures if we do, and as we have no reason to stay here except to be fed, i suggest we attempt to go, and see what happens.” “that is very well said, my young friend,” mister lazybones replied with a sigh, “and impeccably logical. despite my inherently vacillating nature, i see no choice but to agree wth you. let us then depart.” yeti and mister lazybones moved away from the truck, in the opposite direction from the barracks, hoping to find the road the truck must have traveled on. 17. old school

the adventures of yeti - 15. dusk

by bofa xesjum

part fifteen of ?

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let us leave yeti, as he prepares to lead the rebellion against the imperial forces, and consider some of the other paths fate could have led him down after being kidnaped by the landlord and zombi . 19. yeti sold to mad scientist, combined with other entities to make monster… the truck rolled on and on. yeti started to get hungry. surely, he thought, they will have to stop and feed us. they must have some use for us, if they go to the trouble of kidnaping us and transporting us in this manner. what good would our starved to death dead bodies be to anybody? but even as he thought this. he recalled reading a story in a book from the library, many years ago, when he had first learned to read. the book had been called tales of the sinister and the macabre, edited by richard carstairs magruder. and the story had been called “there is no such thing as useless” by edmund stephenson penson. * victoria nightingale and arthur villon were best friends. they were friends because they were the only two children left in the village. most of the other inhabitants of the village had taken the high road to the great city, where they hoped to become stars of stage or screen, or the hangers on of stars of stage and screen, or to start their own religious or political or artistic movements, or be the faithful followers of new religious or political or artistic movements, or to become hard-hitting journalists who would expose the new religious or political or artistic movements, or become famous chefs and open their own fabulously successful restaurants or cafes, or become mimes or street singers or sidewalk artists, or failing all that, to just become bums and panhandlers and parasites. to get to the great city required a certain amount of luck. bandits infested the great highway, lying in wait to rob and sometimes murder unwary travelers.. but the bandits were not the biggest problem or obstacle. the biggest danger to the travelers came from the press gangs - the official press gangs of the empire, which staffed the work gangs of the planet, and the even more numerous press gangs and slave catchers of the colonial planets and solar systems. the day came when there were no more cans or boxes of food left in the abandoned general store in the village where victoria and arthur were now not just the only two children but the only two humans left . “what is for dinner?” victoria plaintively asked arthur. this was a sort of standing joke or catchphrase that they shared. arthur scratched his head. this action was also a standing source of humor between them, and both scratched their heads at every opportunity to do so. “each other, i guess,” arthur finally replied. “that is a pretty poor joke, arthur,” victoria replied, “even for you.” “yes,” arthur agreed sadly. “humor has never been my strong suit.” “neither has anything else.” “i agree you could say that.” “you are, in fact, quite useless.” arthur had been hearing such comments all his life, not just from his best friend victoria. but from the other children and adults who had now abandoned the village. “there is nothing to be gained by being negative,” arthur replied, “i suggest we conserve our energy by ceasing to argue in this manner and take to the high road and take our chances on reaching the great city, as we probably should have done much sooner.” victoria sighed, and the pair set out forthwith into the gathering dusk. 16. the skinny man

the adventures of yeti - 14. rewind

by bofa xesjum

part fourteen of ?

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gonzalvo looked down on yeti and laughed. “so this is your hero, eh, clorinda?” “yes, gonzalvo, this is indeed my hero, “ clorinda replied. yeti sat up. “how about it, fellow?” gonzalvo asked yeti. “are you a hero?” although he was not sure where he was or who he was, yeti answered carefully, as was his nature. “i would not describe myself that way, according to any definitions of hero that i know. you, however, might have some different definition, which i could conceivably answer to.” gonzalvo laughed. “a politician! even worse, a philosopher.” “let us dispense with generalities,” clorinda replied sharply. “and cut to the chase, and get down to business.” she turned her attention to yeti. “tell me, my friend,” she asked, “why did you take the trouble to save me from the box in the truck? by taking the few seconds to do so you risked your own freedom” “um - i do not know,” yeti told her. “it was just instinct, i guess.” “why did you take the trouble to save her?” gonzalvo asked. “and none of the other unfortunate wretches trying to get out of their boxes?” yeti thought for a few seconds. “i don’t know,” he repeated. “just instinct, i guess.” gonzalvo smiled. “just instinct that you saved a good looking young girl and not some hairy legged slob of a man or an old woman with no teeth?” yeti had no answer,. “i guess.” “we are wasting time,” clorinda said. “do you have a name, my friend?” she asked yeti. “yeti.” “you hesitated. why, don’t you like your name?” “it’s all right. i am used to it.” “it is no name for a hero,” said gonzalvo. “if we are going to make a hero of you, you need a hero’s name. you do want to be a hero, do you not?” “i am not sure.” “of course you want to be a hero,” clorinda said. “it is your fate. no one can resist fate. let us be off - you can decide on a new name , if you like, on our way to the rally.” “the rally?” yeti asked. “yes, we are going to start a rally on the corner of universal street and forever way.” gonzalvo produced a battered black hat and handed it to yeti. “put this on. it is a hat worthy of a hero.” “should i pull it down over my eyes?” yeti asked. “ha, ha! thinking like a conspirator already. no, that would be suspicious,” gonzalvo said, “just put it on top of your head like a citizen.” and with that, gonzalvo blew out the oil lamp and clorinda took yeti by the hand and they left the little room and walked down a dark corridor went out into the street. yeti was a little surprised to find the street deserted. there was no sign of the truck from which he and clorinda had escaped , and there were no people. “where is the rally?” he asked. “wherever we decide to start it,” clorinda told him. “i think we should move a little closer downtown, “ she said to gonzalvo. “there might be more soldiers and police there,” gonzalvo answered. “there might be less,” said clorinda. “they might be at the perimeter of the city, to keep the peasants out.” gonzalvo shrugged. “maybe. but if we have to, we have a better chance of escaping from the outskirts. what do you think, big guy?” he asked yeti. “i don’t know anything about it. it is all the same to me.” “i like that attitude. but you are still up for leading the revolution, right?” “still?” yeti thought. he did not remember agreeing to lead any revolution. but yeti was always easy to get along with, so he said, “sure. why not?” 15. dusk

the adventures of yeti - 13. arrested!

by bofa xesjum

part thirteen of ?

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goz began reading the report, which summarized al shrader’s observations on the association of clorinda and gonzalvo, but dr remigio stopped him. “just leave it on the desk, goz, i will review it myself.” “yes, sir. it is getting late, sir. will there be anything else you wanted?” “no, goz. you can go, you and anyone else who is out there. i will close up myself.” “yes, sir, good night, sir.” goz turned and left and closed the door softly behind him. the doctor had suddenly decided to leave as soon as possible, as disguised as possible. * goz paused outside the doctor’s office door. much as he might have liked to, he knew there was probably nothing to be gained, and it was not worth the risk, to wait to try to see or hear what the doctor was up to. there was no else left in the outer office. goz retrieved his coat and hat and made his way to the elevator, which was open and waiting for him. outside in the street, goz turned the collar of his overcoat up and walked at an even pace to the corner, where al shrader was waiting for him. * quickly and efficiently, the doctor disguised himself as a uniformed policeman of the lowest class. he had a pass signed by the emperor, and by himself, dr remigio, authorizing patrolman j d smith, whose carefully constructed persona he was about to assume, to enter the third class train to the gondwanan border. this pass was a precaution - he did not think he would really need it. he completed his preparations and adjusted patrolman smith’s uniform and cap. he walked to the door. he pressed the button beside the door to turn off the office lights. just as he did, his phone rang. he took it out of his pocket. it had no caller display. this was a precaution against it being stolen, as it would hopefully make difficulties for an impostor attempting to impersonate him, if the impostor could not recognize the caller by his voice. after a second’s hesitation he answered. “remigio here,” he announced in a this-had-better-be-important voice . “this is sergeant mason of the 13th department,” the voice on the phone, unfamiliar to the doctor, announced. “i am sorry to bother you, doctor - “ “just get on with it ,” the doctor snapped. “yes, sir. i have a warrant, apparently signed by yourself, for the arrest of a couple of members of the royal family, and i wanted to check with you-“ what? the doctor had not signed any such thing. what was going on? whatever it was, his course was set. “well, then, arrest them,” the doctor said. “arrest the whole damned royal family while you are at it.” “yes, sir , but - “ the doctor shut the phone off and started to put it in his pocket. on second thought, it was better to leave it behind. and not worry about anything “incriminating” on it. he would either be caught or he would not. he would purchase a phone on the street, just so that patrolman j d smith would not not have one. patrolman smith made his way down to the street and walked purposefully , but without unseemly haste, toward the south sector train station . from two different doorways, goz and al shrader watched him go. goz crossed the street to meet al. after a brief conference, they agreed that al would follow the doctor, as the doctor was less likely to recognize him, while goz would set the wheels in motion for the arrest of the whole damned royal family. and so it was that princess clorinda found herself in a box, in the back of a truck, when the truck crashed and she and yeti escaped from it. 14. rewind