The Hubby Hold (IQ Testing Book 2) Read online

  He wiggles side to side, counting with his fingers.

  I gasp. “No. No. You did not need to use your fingers, or toes, or rules, or pencils.” I exhale, watching with sadness. My heart sinks down into my boot toes. My hands sweat with fright.

  The fifteen seconds swiftly counts away for the second question.

  I say slowly. “My answer is…infinitely many.” I study Buffo.

  He wiggles side to side, not counting with his fingers, then moves his lips.

  I exhale with relieve.

  The me-chee says. “Which of the following is true of the magnetic field produced by a current in a long straight wire?”

  I shake my curls with the proposed academic answer. The questions are getting more difficult and tricky. The solution is not a one-worded response, either. I study Buffo with my intense eyeballs and neurons.

  He shifts side to side with nervousness, bobbing his skull.

  I exhale with anxiousness, whispering. “Ya know about electromagnetic fields, Buffo. We studied them, together, during homework periods and at school, during class time. There’s one around each park place, too. Geez, we been touching and patting it, almost inside every color tone, at least, I have. Come on, Buffo! The correct answer is that the field lines form circles around the wire. This is a fundamental characteristic of magnetic fields produced by currents.” I watch with sadness. My heart races with worry. My hands shake from nervousness.

  The fifteen seconds are wasting away for the third question.

  I say slowly. “My answer is...the field lines form circles around the wire.”

  Buffo nods then moves his lips.

  I exhale with more worry.

  The me-chee says inside my me-chee chair. “A screw is 2 ½ inches long and has a lead of 1/8 inch. When the screw is twisted one complete turn, how many complete turns does it take, until the screw is secured into the piece of wood?”

  I gasp with shock. I study Buffo.

  He wiggles side to side, again. He nods his skull, again.

  I exhale, tapping my foot. “You know this, Buffo. You like to build those cute little go kart from pine wood with your daddy, with a steering wheel, four wheels, and an engine. You use a screwdriver to turn the bolts and screw over and over, again, into the wood. The screw goes 1/8 inch for every completed turn into the wood. After eight complete turns, one inch of the screw has advanced deeper into the wood. The unknown number of turns is labeled by the letter of z. So, z times (1/8) = 2 ½. Multiple by 8, z = 8 (2 and 1/2) = 8 (5/2) = 20.” I shake my curls. “I can’t go backwards. I just can’t.” I hold my face inside my hands, shaking my sweaty and dirty hair.

  The fifteen seconds tick away with a steady pace for the fourth question.

  I must go forward. I’ve been cut by a knife, scared by ants, wet from rain, and tossed from a cliff. Then, I’ve been chased by bees, sting by harmless cotton bolls, wetted for a second time, scared off by a cougar, and ran down by elk. I have studied the academic classes, sessions, textbooks, and questions my entire life to become a medical technician and you are not stopping me, Buffo.

  Rincon is not stopping me, either.

  Rincon thinks he’ll arrive inside the golden circle, first. Yeah, he’s correct, sorta.

  However, I believe, Buffo will meet me inside the golden circle, at least in my mind. My heart is feeling, something different.

  Rincon is stuck in limbo with Marsilla, Lamis, and Nephella, until all the teens, either fail within their current color tone, or pass inside the golden circle, sitting him, Marsilla, and Nephella.

  Well, I’m passing. I’m moving forward. I exhale, studying Buffo.

  He wiggles side to side, counting the math problem on his fingers. He nods his skull up and down, like a pony.

  I firmly say. “My answer is…20.”

  My me-chee shield turns bright red then the fabric wraps around me.

  I whisper. “Bye Buffo!”

  The me-chee chair drops into the darkness.

  I don’t even scream from surprise.

  Chapter 12

  Red park place

  My me-chee chair floats beside the mirrored wall, like some of my other posed positions, within the park places. I don’t see my red face of sadness, since I feel my red face of angry stream with hate.

  I scoot from the chair, viewing her.

  Duchie stands from her me-chee chair, raising her arms. She back pedals towards the wall of mirrors, nodding and saying. “Black my eye. Bleed my nose. But, please, don’t knock out a tooth. I heard that the dentists are really nasty me-chees in disguise,” she exhales with fright.

  I stomp to her, huffing and puffing with my sour bad breathe. My neurons are so mad, that I can’t think to say anything smart, or stupid. I halt two feet from her distorted and frightened face, being the same height and weight, slowing raising my folded fists.

  I pause in stillness.

  Silence invades the room.

  The rear and forward walls glow in bright red color, like blood. The mirrors reflect two females facing each other.

  No more me-chee chairs rise from the white steam.

  I hold my breath then exhale, standing in stillness, not moving, not advancing, and not doing nothing.

  Duchie frowns with confusion, exhaling then inhaling. She studies Ketona, saying. “Ya never hit a person, have ya?”

  I stand in silence, holding my folded fists.

  Duchie nods and says. “I bet ya never even hit a ball at school, ever.”

  I stand in silence, holding my folded fists.

  Duchie grins and says. “I bet ya never whacked a housefly on the glass window, dead, either.”

  I drop my folded fists then shake my curls, frowning with defeat. I drop to the floor, cross-legged then dump my face into both palms.

  Duchie comes over then hugs Ketona, saying. “It’s okay to be cute and girly, Ketona. I can see that Rincon likes that about you,” she slides onto the floor without touching the forward wall. The wall is closed and glowing in bright red colors. She frowns with sadness. “I sorry…”

  “Doesn’t matter, anymore!” I exhale, viewing Duchie. “It’s over for all of us. Rincon stands and salutes the ceiling with his eyeballs closed, inside the gold color tone, right now, announcing his dream job, a medical technician, like his biological parents. I am so sorry, Duchie. You and I are stuck, here, inside the red color tone, foreverly…”

  Duchie bumps Ketona on the arm, giggling. “Naw girlfriend, we ain’t stuck in nothing, but heading for the gold, too.”

  I view my hands covered in yellow dirt from the ride with Buffo, inside the kart. I had fun with Buffo, being a loving couple, again. I softly say. “Rincon told us that the first teen to reach the gold color tone then ends Citizenship Day. He’s there with Marsilla and Nephella. Lamis was trapped with me, inside the red color tone, last time. So, she ain’t, here now, then she must’ve made it, too.”

  Duchie giggles and nods. “And, the wiser teens, inside the orange park place, told me more…”

  “What, more?” I dust my cat suit with no dust. The cat suit never gets dirty, or torn, or soiled from my rough and tough adventures, inside the various park places.

  She giggles and nods. “The more of the story, Citizenship Day doesn’t end, until no more teens advance out of the previous color tone and into the new one…”

  I gasp, frowning at Duchie. “Wait, yeah! Buffo said something about that, except I don’t really remember, or believe, or understand.” I exhale. “I don’t understand anything, anymore.”

  She giggles and nods. “As long as one teen, or two teens, like us, advance from one color into a second color, then Citizenship Day is well and alive…”

  I scan the room, frowning with puzzlement. “The room’s the correct color tone of red, glowing and blinding my eyeballs with light. And, we haven’t touched the forward wall, either, exposing our new park place. Geez, what could it be? And, I see my me-chee chair against the mirrored wall and your me-chee chair in
the middle. So, ya answered the four questions correctly, too.” Duchie grins and nods.

  I giggle. “So, why are we, the only two chairs, inside the red room?”

  Duchie stands, scanning the room. She was more interested in Ketona’s psychology well-being, missing the emptiness of the big room. She frowns with puzzlement then snaps her fingers. “I know. I know. I learned from the teens with Buffo, that the kids only answered the first academic question. Ya know the easy one about the current color of the me-chee. One-fourth, or less, of the total questions with the correct answers, you stay put in the current color tone…”

  I walk to her, frowning with confusion. “Why would the teens do that? The purpose of Citizenship Day is to become a citizen of Colfax. In order, to become a citizen of Colfax, I must address 75 percent of the questions, with the correct answers, then I stand inside the gold color tone, like my parents.”

  Duchie giggles then swings from Ketona. She walks to the mirror, leaning against it, crossing her arms. She smiles. “You’re absolutely right, Ketona. However, some kids wanna stay inside the current color tone, without advancing and working in the snobby Colfax. Some kids don’t wanna stay, inside the current color tone, with advancing and working in snobby Colfax, or a higher color tone different from their birthplace. Rincon spilled the secret, the solo single difficult question. Nephella shared the other secret, too. Every teen gets the opportunity to advance into the golden circle, if they answer the solo single difficult academic question. So, we, both, advance from orange into red, if we keep advancing, then we will reach the golden color tone, also…”

  “What about Rincon and Marsilla? They’re presently there and waiting for nothing, but their dream job...”

  “I can’t explain it, but I do believe it from the other teens. That’s why the room is empty with us, alone. The other teens, either stayed inside the green color tone, without falling down into the red with us, or the teens stayed inside the orange color tone for more fun, thus we be all alone, babe. So, let’s test that working theory. Slap the wall for our next adventure,” Duchie giggles.

  I giggle, standing and advancing to the wall. I pop with my hand.

  The wall disappears, when the hissing sounds echo into the red room.

  I gasp, back stepping from the archway, scanning the new park place. “Dang, a forest of ugly black and red and brown and other colored creepy snakes, I think we woke the serpents from their naptime. They’re either hungry, or mad. What do we do now, Duchie?”

  Silence invades the room.

  I narrow my eyelashes, scanning the trees, the ground, and the sky. “I see thousands and thousands…okay, I see hundreds and hundreds of hissing snakes, in every color and type from my school reference book. The snakes lounge over the tree branches, slither over the grounds, hide underneath the bushes, and don’t fly with wings. I guess, a snake with wings, is called a dragon. Good thing, we live in the present, not the fairy land. That’s one solution we fly over the snakes to do ‘the thing.’ What could ‘the thing’ be, Duchie?” I swing around.

  Duchie stands against the rear wall, ashen gray on her complexion.

  I gasp, dashing to her. “What’s wrong? O! The snakes, well, I don’t like snakes, either. So, we just kinda ignore the thousands of slithering bodies and the thousands of forked tongues, hissing at our boot toes. Ya know, snakes use their tongue to smell, since they don’t possess nose holes, like us. Duchie, what’s wrong? You’re really pale and sweaty.”

  “I…scared…snakes…,” Duchie fingers the opening.

  I nod, thumbing the opening, say. “Me, too! I don’t wanna stomp over some snakes either, but I will to get outta here. You’re a good motivation speaker. I’m impressed and I wanna leave, as soon as we do ‘the thing, thing’…”

  Duchie slides to the floor, staring at the hissing snakes, inside the top branches of the tree from her viewing angle. “I…scared…snakes…”

  I slide to the floor, bad breathing into her eardrum. “I know. I feel the same way, but I can do this. You can do this, too.”

  She sobs with rolling tears, saying. “I can’t do this. I was chased by a snake, when I was four years old, from the food storage building. I fell onto the grass then it raced to me. My daddy chopped the snake in half, before it got me. But, I can’t do this. I’m too afraid. They hiss and bite at me…”

  I exhale, rubbing my neck with her pain and my new pain in the fanny, say. “Duchie, yeah, they hiss and bite at me, too. And, I’m really scared, too, but I wanna get out of here and grab our gold, our golden job…”

  “Go!”

  I shake my curls, yanking on her arm. “Ah naw! I’m not leaving the room, without you.”

  “I can’t do ‘the thing,’ if I’ve to trot through the snakes. I can’t. I give up, surrender,” she pants, hugging her body. She nods. “I stay here. I made it out of Dookie Town, at least. I won’t be a dookie girl, anymore. I’m inside the green color tone. Right! Yeah, right! I will be a smart gardener, working for some nice people, living inside Colfax…”

  I exhale then stand. “Naw, you are leaving with me, somehow. Let me figure out a solution, other than a math one.” I walk to the opening, surveying the dangerous situation. I jab my finger at the object, yelling. “Look, there’s a truck, an old model pickup truck covered in sleeping snakes, too. That’s ‘our thing,’ I think. So, we walk over and smash the brains of the dang snakes, since there’re too many to scoot around, then we drive the old truck to somewhere,” I narrow my eyelashes. “Ah, I see. There’s a worn dirt driving path for the old truck. Okay, so, we walk over and smash the brain cells of the dang snakes, and then load into the truck, and then drive around the dirt road. I bet it’s a circle, and then we run that dang truck, right here, into the room. We get out then scoot into the me-chee chairs. We’re home free, Duchie.” I swing around, nodding and smiling at my brilliant idea.

  Duchie sits on the floor in a ball with wrapped limbs around her body, sobbing with tears.

  I shake my curls then squat. I slap her arm. “Listen to me, Duchie. We work as a team, together. Look, I wanna leave, and I need your help, too.”

  Duchie stares at the snakes. “I can’t do this.”

  I stand, breathing on her hair roots with frustration.

  Buffo can’t answer the complex mathematical questions, passing into the next color tone.

  Duchie can’t see pass the snakes, lounging in the sun.

  Rincon is mad at me for abandoning him, a second time.

  Marsilla is Marsilla, being vain and arrogant with her smart neurons.

  Nephella is really cool with her body piercings, smelly cigar, and daughter of the mayor of Colfax.

  I scan the mirrors then the walls, wishing Nephella would pop inside here, performing another rescue of me and Duchie, again.

  I park hands on my hips, spinning around, walking off my frustration. I zig-zag side to side, stopping and admiring my sweaty red face, my messy long hair, and my shiny glittering cat suit of blood red.

  I gently touch the cat suit, looking prime and fresh, since this morning at eight am, the start of Citizenship Day.

  The electrons are working, exceptionally well.

  I exhale, tossing my arms. I swing to Duchie.

  She stares at the snakes.

  I exhale, spinning to the opening, marching along the floor. I stand behind Duchie’s me-chee chair, not daring to touch her property.

  The me-chee will sting me back, badly.

  I giggle with the humor. “Ugh! There really are thousands of snakes. This is the new fear. Yeah, be afraid, be very afraid of me.” I snap my fingers. “If I could break off one of the low hanging branches, then I’ll beat the freaking snakes to death inside my foot path. Yeah, good plan! Then, we can dance over the dead bodies and enter the truck. The truck is the thing to do, here.” I nod, studying the inside of the me-chee chair for any loose equipment or materials.

  The me-chee chair is made of soft fabric the color of red buried into t
he sides of the metal. Even if, I could rip the fabric from my me-chee chair, I can’t use the fabric for whipping the snakes, maybe, providing some soft pillows for naptime.

  The base of the me-chee chair is solid metal of red. The chair is one solid piece of really good workmanship.

  I exhale, tapping my boot toe and my temple, activating my smart neurons. Then, I scoot around the floor, moving around always gets my mind thinking. I stop then squat, seeing the white cotton boll from the previous red color tone with Lamis and the cotton fields of banana spiders.

  I giggle, gently touching it with my finger, in case of shock, or disintegration, or dead.

  The cotton boll has been drowned from the heavy rain storm, created by Nephella.

  I giggle and spin. I trot to the opening then toss the wet cotton boll in both fun and frustration.

  The wet boll slams into the head of a snake.

  The snake hisses with revenge.

  I giggle with the fun act then exhale with defeat. I glance at Duchie.

  She stares at the snakes through the opening.

  I exhale with worry, spinning around, strolling trapped inside the room of mirrors. My eye dart side to side, getting me dizzy. I see the floor, ahead of me, and then beside me, too, when I look sideways into the mirror.

  I stop, studying the object. I frown, stomping towards the corner, seeing the wet cigar bud.

  I exhale, whispering and shaking my curls. “Nephella and her nasty cigars…”

  I march away from the nasty bud then stop. I spin around, dropping my mouth. “Yes. No. Yes.” I squat and grab the wet cigar bud then slowly stand. I carefully march to Duchie.

  She stares into the opening at the snakes.

  I slowly squat, blocking the view of snakes then drop the cigar into her eyeballs. “We got a weapon.” I nod.

  Duchie blinks her eyelashes, focusing on the wet cigar.

  I smile. “We ignite the cigar. The smoke will bother the sinuses or feelers of the snakes then we race to the truck…”

  Duchie smiles, standing and nodding. “We start a fire, lighting the cigar.”

  I stand, holding the used and wet small cigar. “We don’t have a magnifying glass to start a fire…”