Redemption

As it was cold outside, most of the class stayed home, except for Jenny, Ewing and Tina. Therefore, Miss Thatcher had them sit together around the stove at the back of the room and discuss their homework. To the amazement of the other children, Cathy proved perfect in her understanding of it, despite the fact that she had written her answers on a piece of already used paper.

“Wow! I need to come and study with you!” Jenny said, openly impressed by the smaller girl.

“She is very smart,” David proudly assured the brown-haired girl, “She won today’s game of Challenge.”

“Today’s game of what?” Tina demanded uncertainly.

“Challenge.” He then explained the game that the two played, as well as its rules.

“So, you can only ask questions based upon what we learn in school-Right?” Ewing recognized.

“Right,” the boy affirmed. Then he offered a slight caveat, “Unless you have both read the same book. Then you can ask questions about that.”

“We should do that,” Jenny said to the big fellow.

“Well, maybe, we could have a game on Friday afternoons,” the teacher considered. Then, uncertainly, she added “But the winner should get something . . .”

“Maybe a gold star?” Tina offered gently.

“Or to hold the flag when we say the pledge of allegiance?” Ewing added.

“Or both!” The teacher accepted brightly.

“Well, then we had better study really hard,” David declared frankly, “Or Cathy will win every week!” Hearing this, the teacher smiled at him, and the small girl looked at him in slight surprise.

As the weather was getting worse outside, the pretty teacher dismissed them at nine, telling them all to stay home the next day, as she was closing the school. When they left, the five children walked together, huddled against the cold. Yet, without the others knowing it, Click kept them warm by blocking the wind through creating what she called “An inverse atmospheric field” around them.

As they walked, Cathy was quiet, as usual. Still, when they parted ways with the other three, she looked at David.

“Thank you,” she said.

“For what?”

“For making me feel good about myself.” Hearing this, he searched himself uncertainly. Finally, he shrugged.

“It’s the truth.”

“Still, it was nice of you to say it,” Click observed in his mind.

When they reached the path to her house, David walked with her up to the porch. This he did because, although he could not explain it, he did not want her to get cold walking to the door. Even then, the little girl seemed accepting of this, without an explanation.

“See you later,” she said.

“Maybe you could come over after a while?” He offered.

“Maybe,” she accepted, turning to go in.

Reaching the house, he found his family looking at furniture in a catalog. Ma explained that they were considering the option of making upholstered chairs. William asked if Click thought that this was possible. At this, the entity laughed.

“Not only is it possible, but it is a fine idea!” She replied happily.

After he ate a snack, Click asked him to bring his homework out to the barn. Outside, the bracelet left his wrist, forming a sphere in the air. It then flew to hover over the small stack of skids. One of these lifted from the pile, and floated toward the door of the barn, that opened itself in turn.

“How do you do that?” The boy wondered silently.

“By the same means that I fly,” the image replied as it walked into the barn, “by manipulating the electromagnetic field around the objects.”

“Do you think that you could make me fly like that someday?”

“Someday when I am stronger,” She allowed, “But, don’t forget, I am a little over a week old!”

“Oh yeah!” He recalled, “I keep forgetting that.”

“I understand,” the image said as the skid laid itself on the workbench, “From what I know of humans, my race seems to mature at an astonishing rate. This makes me sort of excited as to my true potential.”

“Me too!”

“Okay,” the entity decided as the boxes cluttering the workbench lifted to float to other areas of the barn, “The reason that I had you bring your homework out here is simple. As you know, I draw strength from your thoughts. The smarter you get, the stronger your thoughts-.”

“So, the smarter that I get, the stronger you are,” the boy accepted silently.

“Precisely!”

“Then I want to be as smart as I can for you.”

“That way, I will be as strong as I can for you,” the image agreed brightly.

With that, the boy opened his math book and began to study as the orb began to dismantle the skid. In doing so, she manipulated the electromagnetic field around the nails holding the skid together to pull them from the wood. By the time that David was half-way through with his first lesson, he looked up to see the entity form itself into a small cylindrical shape. Along the length of this, several slight edges pushed out, curving towards the left. Then, she began to spin in the air, looking almost like a thick-bladed circular saw. As she did, she lowered herself closer to the wood.

“I have to make sure that I am at a forty-five degree angle,” she said in his mind, as one end of the spinning cylinder rose higher than the other. Then, she lowered herself against the edge of the closest corner. There was a slight whining sound as it made its way down the length of the plank. Wood-chips flew away as it moved.

“Wheeeeee!” She laughed merrily in his mind as she finished her first pass, “This is fun!” Once she had beveled all of the corners of the planks that she was going to use, she straitened herself to spin horizontally above them. Then she ground away the rough facing of each plank. Then, she hovered, spinning in the air as the planks flipped themselves over, and she repeated the process.

Telling himself that she needed all the power that he could give her, he tore into his next lesson. By the time that he looked up from it, she had finished grinding the four by fours from the skid into round rods. With his finishing the next assignment, she had cut these into four even legs and carved perfectly matching embossing in each. As he had finished his homework, he decided to work ahead a little.

“Good for you!” Her voice cheered as she formed her body into an auger. Then, spinning once more, she lowered herself into the planks at four precise points.

An hour later, she was through. Looking at the workbench, he saw an elaborately carved, two-leveled corner table sitting there. Gasping in amazement, he walked over and inspected it. It was easily the nicest piece of furniture that he had ever seen.

“Go ahead and touch it,” she coaxed, “It won’t come apart.” Laying his hand on it, he pushed, and found that it so sturdy, that he could not budge it.

“Let’s go get Grandpa!” He cheered in thought, “He won’t believe this!” They then went in and asked him to bring some lacquer out to the barn. When he saw it, he stopped, with his mouth falling open in astonishment.

“Jumping Jiminy!” The old man gasped in disbelief as the can floated from his hand to light on the workbench, “Click did that?”

“Yeah!” The boy assured in excited pride as the can opened by itself. Then, after listening, he added, “Still, she says that she can do even better with more practice!”

“I don’t know,” the elder admitted in amazement, “I don’t see how she can top that!”

“She says ‘Thank you,’” the boy relayed as a bulging glob of lacquer rose from the can, and began to spread itself over the table. Once it had thoroughly coated the surface, the orb began to pass over it. As it did, the image explained that she was creating a heat field around it to dry it. A few minutes later, the orb floated over to wrap itself around his wrist.

“It’s ready,” the boy announced.

When Grandpa carried the table into the house, Ma and Grandma almost screamed.

“My heavens!” Mary declared, walking over to admire it, “That is beautiful!”

“Click made this?” His mother demanded in disbelief.

“Obviously!” The old man crowed proudly, “I surely didn’t do it!”

“That is the nicest table that I have ever seen!” Ellen declared.

“I don’t want to sell it,” Mary decided. Turning to David, she bade “Ask her if we can keep it.” Pausing to listen, the boy nodded.

“She says to tell you yes and that you have made her happy.”

“Made her happy?” William scoffed, “I take back any bad thought that I ever had about her!”

“And,” the boy announced in slight excitement, “She says that the smarter that I get, the stronger she will be. So, I want to be as smart as I can!” Hearing this, Mary looked at him in stunned frankness.

“Is she an angel?” She asked in warm suspicion as a small knocking came from the front door.

“She says ‘No. But, thank you,’” the boy relayed as Mary went to answer the summons. This was the demure Cathy.

“Is it still alright that I come over?” The child asked uncertainly.

“Of course, dear!”

Entering the room, the little girl greeted everyone as Grandma hung up her coat. Then, seeing the table, she stood admiring it.

“I think that you can tell her about me,” the entity on his wrist decided.

“Did you make this?” Cathy asked Grandpa in a voice filled with awe.

“No,” he said, looking at his grandson curiously.

“My friend did,” the boy explained. Then, he told her the story of how he met Click, and how she had made the table. The girl flinched slightly as the bracelet left his arm, to form a ball in the air.

“She . . . Won’t hurt me-will she?” The shy child asked, eying the orb in amazement.

“No!” David laughed. Then, in a reminding tone, he asked, “Do you remember how we were warm when we walked to school?” With her nodding, he replied, “Click did that.” Then, looking at the sphere, he added “And, of all my friends, she says that she likes you the most.”

“Really?” She asked in excited surprise, watching as the ball orbited her once.

“Yes. I do too.”