Redemption

Dinner that night was an odd affair for David. On the one hand, his grandparents were still leery of the being riding his wrist. On the other, they were worried about money. It was just after he had finished eating that the entity elated in his mind.

“That’s it!” She announced, “I have an idea!”

“What’s that?” David wondered silently.

“Woodworking!”

“What?” In response, the image took on an urgent excitement.

“Do you recall when you moved in? Grandpa found a box of books up in the attic. Do you remember? You looked at them, and saw that several were about woodworking!”

“Oh yeah,” the boy recalled in thought.

“Let’s go get them!”

“Why?”

“So I can read them, Silly!” Then, she explained, “I have a plan of how I can help Cathy’s family, as well as show your folks that they can trust me!” Hearing this, the boy was off like a shot.

Reaching the dark attic, he remembered that he needed a lantern, as there was no light up there. To his surprise, Click laughed at this. “Close your eyes and I will see for us,” she instructed. Hesitantly, the boy complied. Suddenly, in his mind, he saw the image of the attic stairs as plain as day. Climbing these, he navigated the cramped, musky loft with no difficulty at all.

“There!” She said, “Pick it up.”

Recalling that the crate was heavy, Fall prepared himself for a strain. Yet, when he lifted the box, he found that it weighed next to nothing.

“Of course,” She explained as they started down the steps, “I am helping. You don’t think that I would let you hurt yourself trying to carry it alone-Do you?”

Once down the steps, he carried the crate into his room. There he sat sorting the books as his friend instructed.

“Keep that one, but not that one. Yes, that one will do. Um . . . Keep that one as well.” Once he was finished, David looked up to find the adults peering into the room at him uncertainly.

“Click has an idea,” he explained.

That night, she read twenty books on carpentry and woodworking. While she did, the boy had a dream in which the class were on a safari to capture right angles, and perpendicular lines. During this, Miss Thatcher warned them to be on the lookout for the wild crosscut, or the ever-dreadful wood knot. When she woke him up the next day, the image apologized to him.

“I’m sorry, David,” She giggled, “But I was studying so hard that I wound up mixing what I was learning into your dream.”

At breakfast, she asked him to make a strange request. More she asked him to make it of his grandfather.

“Grandpa,” he informed the elder, “Click asks that you take me to the library.”

“What on earth for?” The old man asked.

“She needs books on higher math, Geometry and machines.”

“Oh. And, is this part of her grand plan that you mentioned?” William asked in a slight scoff, earning him a glare from his daughter.

“She said to tell you that it is. That she has already read twenty books on woodworking and carpentry. And, if she is allowed, she can have a business started for our family in a week’s time.”

“A week?” The old man gasped in disbelief, “I would very well like to see that!” At this, the boy looked to his right, and laughed. Then looking back at his grandfather, he said, “She says then put your money where your mouth is and take me to the library!”

Although hardly comfortable with the idea, Grandpa escorted the boy to the library. Once there, he watched in slight amazement as the boy signed up for a library card and began to gather books. When he had signed them out, he turned to the old man.

“All done,” he announced. As they walked back to the house, William looked the books over.

“How are you going to read these?” He demanded incredulously, “I don’t think that I would understand half of them!”

“I’m not going to read them,” the boy assured him, “Click is.”

“Well, I don’t want to-.”

“Grandpa,” David insisted, “Click says to tell you that she understands that you are afraid of her. But, she is going to help our family anyways.” Pausing, the boy listened, then he added “And she is going to help Cathy’s family as well.” The boy then recalled the bully’s cruel taunt the day before and how the little girl had cried over it. When he was through, the old man took on an angry look.

“Someone ought to bust that fellow in the chops,” he muttered. The boy lapsed into silence, and then he looked back at him.

“She says that that won’t help Cathy’s family out of their poverty. However, our forming a business will. Because if we form a business, we can hire her grandfather and give him a job.”

“But we don’t know the first thing about forming a business!”

“She says to leave that to her.”