Jack James and the Tribe of the Teddy Bear Read Free Page A

Blip! he’d be gone, transported in an instant to some other place. Better yet, he’d make the class disappear. Or maybe he’d reach into another dimension and conjure one of those monsters the kids liked so much. He pictured it so vividly…
     
    He presses the O/A and it shoots a pinpoint of energy, causing a rippling distortion in the air which cracks and grows, bursting with brilliance and forcing everyone to cower.
    Something emerges from the brightness. It’s an absurdly large paw with absurdly large claws. Wendy lets loose a skin crawling shriek. Dillon babbles on and on, begging someone to save him, but it’s way too late for rescues.
    “It’s a werewolf!” Dillon wails when it maneuvers out of the ripple completely.
    “Let’s get outta here!” Mike attempts to make a run for it when another hand reaches from behind the curtain of warped space. The new figure breaks from the unknown dimension, a sizzling hunger in its bloodshot scowl, a frothy sheen dripping from its protruding fangs.
    “A vampire! We’re all gonna die!”
    The immense wolfman snatches Dillon and the vampire does the same with Mike, holding them in place, fussing and squirming. With no effort at all, they lift the two boys off the ground, legs dangling, feverish pleas for help going unheeded. Then something even more amazing happens—the werewolf turns and speaks to Jack in perfect English.
    “Okay, Jack. Time’s up,” it seems confused, then irritated. “Oh, not again. Wake up!”
    The school bell rings. Jack shakes from his fantasy. He blinks and realizes there is no O/A, no fissure in space-time, and worst of all, no monsters terrorizing Dillon and Mike.
     
    “Okay, people,” Mrs. Adams managed to speak past the giggles. “Class is dismissed.”
    Jack glanced at the clock. “Wait! Hold on! There’s more! Much, much more!”
    “We know, we know,” Dillon gave him an indifferent wave. “We’ve heard it all before.”
    But they hadn’t. Nobody had heard what he’d planned to tell them, nobody except Jack and his father, whom he hadn’t seen in quite some time.
    “But…”
    “Just face it, Jack,” Dillon cut him off. “Nobody cares.”
    Mike lobbed the final insult. “Yeah. Nobody.”
     
    AS THE CLASSROOM EMPTIED, Jack pouted at the old wooden floor and sank his fists into the pockets of his jeans. He’d been convinced this was going to be the turning point. Finally, he would be able to explain his father’s research and the incredible possibilities it held for the future of mankind. Instead, he ran into a force far greater—apathy.
    “Nobody’s interested?” he repeated to himself. “How can nobody be interested?”
    “I’m interested, Jack.”
    His stomach churned with a flock of butterflies. Amelia. Talking to him.
    “I, uh,” he swallowed.
    “Do you want to walk me to the bus stop?” she seemed unaware of his stammering.
    “Uh…um.”
    “He’d be delighted,” Mrs. Adams had to help him put on his goose down jacket. Then she handed him his backpack. “Bye, you two,” she waved. He couldn’t respond. He was on autopilot, watching Amelia wrap herself in a grey sweater. She hitched her oversized, white fabric handbag on one shoulder, and he followed her out the classroom door a drooling zombie.
    Amelia just smiled, revealing a subtle overbite.
    “I’m glad that’s over, aren’t you?” she rolled her eyes.
    “You’re glad that’s over?” he repeated, following her to the exits.
    “You know, those presentations, silly,” she giggled, her bright orange sandals flipping and flopping. “Don’t tell me you actually enjoyed it. It’s a form of torture, I swear. Child abuse, really.”
    “Child abuse?” Jack parroted her words. It was his only coping mechanism.
    “Yeah. Making us stand up there in front of the class. It’s traumatizing,” she touched his hand. “Did you know they did a study and found that people would rather confront death than make a speech in front of a