The Wally Hole (IQ Testing Book 3) Read online

  Duchie flips through the pages of the book, scooting away from Rincon.

  Marsilla plops into a solo arm chair, lifting the book, spying on Duchie and Rincon.

  Duchie says. “I think that I am the only reason for the mayor coming with the interns to Burrville. The mayor does not approve of me. I’m from the outer township, an outcast among the elite in Colfax. I, shockingly, penetrated the golden circle, not being a Colfaxian.”

  Rincon exhales, pretending to read the book. “I agree, most correctly. And, Marsilla is the spy among us. She can’t stop watching me…you…us. I talked with my parents, last night, too. They were completed shocked that Ketona abandoned her dream job for love.”

  Duchie gasps. “That’s so sad and glad, at the same time!”

  “Yes, it is both very sad and glad. I would give up everything for love, too.”

  Duchie nods and smiles. “Me, too! Love is the most important thing in the world for happiness.”

  Rincon grins, bumping her arm. “Me, three!”

  Duchie giggles.

  Chapter 3

  Burrville.

  6:01 pm. farm home of Buffo’s grandparents

  Dining room. supper time

  I sit with my ladylike manners at the supper table, listening to the other farmers. The farmers are Buffo’s family members, including his aunts, uncles, and cousins and their respective spouses. The eating table holds thirty eight place mats with his grandfather sitting at the head of the long squared table.

  Buffo’s grandfather: tall, gray hair, gray beard, dark skin, wrinkles, slender. He chews and says in his loud deep tenor. “Farmer Brown has almost finished his dirt tilling. He plants his wheat seedlings, tomorrow. We need to wrap our tilling and plant our seeds, before the rain storms, next week. The summertime weather’s filled with T-storms of mean lighting and loud thunder. Are ya scared of thunder, Ketona?”

  I chew then swallow, sitting in the middle next to Buffo. “No sir! I like to see it rain. And, I like to play in the puddles,” I slap Buffo on the kneecap for fun, giggling.

  He chuckles then chews.

  Buffo’s grandmother: tall, gray hair, black lip mustache, dark skin, wrinkles, plump. She chews then frowns at Ketona, sitting on the opposite end of the long squared table. “Play in the mud puddles at your age, girly. You’re almost twenty years old, too old, to play in the mud puddles with the chickens. Little tiny children play in the mud puddles, girly. This is a farm. There are lots of mud puddles. If I catch you bringing mud into my house…”

  Buffo exhales, nodding. “Ketona is being funny, grandmother. It’s a joke to reference the farm and the rain, here, in Burrville.”

  Buffo’s grandmother chews then frowns at Ketona. “Being funny, then tell a funny joke, not stating a game for a child.”

  “Yes ma’am!” I view my plate, eating my food.

  Girl: pre-teen, blond hair, freckles, crooked teeth, dark skin, sitting between her parents, slightly left of her grandfather. She giggles and smiles. “Mama, when are ya finishing my dress? My birthday party is on Saturday. Remember?”

  Her mama views the plate, mashing up the potatoes. “Well, I’m about to start…”

  Girl: pre-teen, black hair, dark skin, dimples, sitting between her parents, slightly right of her grandmother. She smiles. “My dress is going to be blue, like the sky for my birthday party. Mama, when do I try on my dress for the party?”

  Girl: pre-teen, red hair, pink skin, freckles, sitting between her parents, slightly left of her grandmother. She smiles. “Mama, what time is the party, this Saturday night? Don’t we need to be fixing up the barn, too?”

  I giggle and smile, scanning the table. “There’s a party, a birthday party. Who’s having a birthday party?”

  The three young girls raise their hands, giggling and laughing.

  I smile and nod. “I love birthday parties, too. When is the party, on Saturday? What time? I’ll help do something.”

  Buffo’s grandmother frowns at Ketona. “The time has not been set, yet. Finish your vegetables, children, before bath time, or ya got no dessert, either.

  The children view their plates, eating the vegetables.

  Buffo’s grandfather clears his throat then stands. He lifts his dirty plate into the air. “Ya know, the weather’s going to be bad on Saturday, lots of rain and thunder and lightning bolts. I don’t know, if we can get everyone over to the barn through the rain puddles. Folks don’t like getting out, when the weather is bad.”

  The girl frowns. “O! When will we know, for shore, tonight’s Monday? My birthday is in five more days.”

  Buffo’s grandfather frowns. “We will know, tomorrow, maybe. So, we just see about the party, later. Okay, girls?”

  The second young girl frowns with sadness, holding her dirty plate. “Okay, grandfather.”

  I exhale, viewing the sad faces of the girls and then stand. I collect my plate, walking into the kitchen, helping with the clean up, after supper.

  7:10 pm. my farm house. front porch

  Buffo cuddles with Ketona inside the swing on her house.

  I smile, studying the sky. “Do we see the colored sky decorations, every night? Since, the orange dust has settled in the air waves and been rubbed off my body, I feel clean and can see the hundreds of the tiny pretty pink circles, hovering in the air over Tonkey. I see yellow tiny bubbles hundreds of them float up from Dandine. The colors are pretty in the night sky. I know what the colors represent, but the colors are pretty.”

  He views the wooden planks. “Yeah.”

  I pat his arm, frowning with sadness. “What’s wrong, Buffo? You seem sad.”

  He kicks the wood planks, making the chair swing. “I didn’t know.”

  “You didn’t know…what exactly.”

  “I didn’t know about the supply shortage.”

  “What supply shortage?”

  “The young girls are my nieces. They turn thirteen years old, on Saturday. Their mamas promised them a new dress for their party, but I didn’t know…”

  I shake my curls, exhaling. “You didn’t know what?”

  “Their cells were taken away by the Establishment.”

  “Why?”

  “I need to restate. There is one single cell inside the fire house for requesting supplies, but it is used for acquiring equipment parts, gasoline, and other necessaries for the farm. The luxury items are not necessary per the Establishment.”

  I exhale. “Well, sometimes, luxury items are not really needed, like a cell or a…”

  “A dress is for a very important day, like the birth of your life. Yeah, I guess a luxury item, like that is not needed, too.”

  I clear my throat. “I thought her mama couldn’t finish the party dress in time, on Saturday.”

  “Her mama couldn’t get the fabric to make the dress. It was ordered, six months ago. She watched and waited for every supply shipment and then the unloading, but it didn’t come.”

  “Six months ago, does anyone know the reason for the misplacement?”

  “Mistake. Establishment is running their lives…our lives out here, in Burrville, and the surrounding outer townships. They take everything from the outer townships for themselves the food, the meats, the fabric, the clothing, the furniture. My grandfather placed an order for new furniture inside this house, six months ago, too. It never showed it,” he fingers the door of the house.

  I gasp. “Why?”

  Buffo stands, grabbing Ketona by the hand, walks towards the garage. He enters the garage then releases her hand. He pulls and drags out the two-seater flier for him. He says. “Let’s take an air ride. I wanna show ya something.”

  “Okay.” I strap into my one-seater flier, standing and waiting on Buffo, frowning with worry. I view the sky. “How can we fly away from the farm and around the clouds, without getting into trouble, by your grandparents?”

  “Naw, the flier is fanned by air waves. Suck in invisible wind and then orange dust comes out. So, the higher ya go up in
to the clouds, the more orange dust ya create around you, kinda like a baby tornado. My grandparents won’t really approve, either, since they run a strict homestead. But, we’re not really monitored by them, during the evening hours. They’re in bed, now, since they rise with the horizon, every morning.” Buffo smiles, lifts and then hovers over the dirt, waiting on Ketona.

  I whisper for my eardrums, only. The air fan prevents any type of conversation between the flying machines. “I rise with horizon, too, for the rest of my life.” I lift then fly beside him. I smile, enjoying the air. The wind hits my face, cooling the heated day from my cheekbones. The air pressure pops within my ears, lifting higher than the flying birds. I giggle. “Watch out, birdie! I don’t have wings. I got jets of heated air. Burn ya up!” I giggle, since Buffo can’t hear me over his roaring engine, too.

  I see for miles and miles and miles orange dirt. I see a few houses. The homesteads are about 3000 acres, apart, for the benefit of the growing crops for food.

  Buffo flies in a southern direction.

  I lag behind, enjoying the freedom of flying, like a bird. I guess, I did enjoy the challenge of the Cubby Hole. Now, I understand, how a teen could get caught up into the fantasy world of cougars, and snakes.

  The Cubby Hole is a once in a life time adventure, never to be repeated. However, it awaits for the next generation of seventeen years old, next year.

  I giggle and putt-putt in the sky about ten feet from the soil, slowly flying in the darkness.

  The moon is lighted with yellowish-white, almost full. I wonder, if one day, a teen would ever travel to the moon and live there.

  On my right, I see the glowing yellow barrier wall. If I narrow my eyelashes, I think I see some small fires, behind the wall, probably camping out, like savages on the ground.

  On my left, I see the glittering blue barrier wall of Montag, where the shops are located with new and developing merchandise. If I narrow my eyelashes, I think I see hills of twinkling glass. I guess, the homes of the shop owners.

  We travel about five miles through the air.

  I see ahead of me, a golden barrier wall. I gasp. This is the barrier between Burrville and Colfax.

  I feel suddenly sad and homesick. I lived in Colfax, since my birth, too. My parents still reside in Colfax.

  The barrier wall is golden tinted with light color, but I can see the outline of the skyline building of businesses, the medium sized slender buildings of residents, and the tallest building is the shopping mall. I gasp at the beauty of posh Colfax in dull colors of gray and tan. “Yuck! Colfax is not beauty or posh, it is dull and grey. The sky is prettier than the city.”

  The buildings bleed in dirty white, where the white has melted into a more dark gray.

  Buffo hovers about ten feet from the wall, studying Colfax.

  I slam into the barrier wall, gasping with shock. The handle bars of the flier ricochets from the solid wall, without harming me. I giggle, backing up from the wall.

  Buffo lowers the flier to the ground.

  I slowly wobble side to side, not getting used to landing then roughly kick the soil into the air from my lousy descend.

  Buffo stands, removing the flier from his body. He places it on the soil.

  I remove the flier from my body then walk and stand beside him. I gasp. “The city looks like a power plant in the dark clouds. The skyline buildings are outlined in tiny colored light bulbs, making the white colored building, look like a different shade. I never noticed the color light bulbs around the buildings. Did you?”

  “I saw them years ago, when I first visited my grandfather. I thought the sight was pretty, too. Then, I started growing wiser in both my mind and my heart. I don’t think Colfax is pretty, anymore.”

  “You sound bitter about your Cubby Hole experience.”

  “You shouldn’t have to pass a test, figuring out, what ya want to be. You should be allowed to grow and make mistakes and then grow some more into what ya wanna be, not forced into something, that you don’t wanna be.”

  “I guess not. But, if a farmer is the best you can be then you have selected the appropriate job position, within our society.”

  Buffo mouth spits on the soil, sneering. “What shame is there, being a farmer, Ketona? My grandfather grows food that feeds his family, his friends, his neighbors, like the folks, inside Dandine, and Montag, and, Colfax, and everywhere.”

  I cross my arms, feeling the chilling air. “Why are you so angry? You wanted to be a farmer. Ya snapped your fingers and here you are.”

  He exhales. “I’m mad,” he hugs Ketona. “I bitter about other things, for other folks, like Jara and Hatch, and my young nieces, who can’t have a pretty dress on their birthdays.”

  I nod, studying Colfax. “I know, birthday parties are very special, especially, for the birthday recipient. But, if your aunt can’t pay for the fabric for the dress…”

  Buffo releases Ketona, dropping his mouth. “She can pay for the fabric. She did pay for the fabric of the dress. Actually, I think my grandfather did, six months ago.”

  I drop my mouth. “Then, I didn’t understand. I guess I don’t understand a lot of things.”

  Buffo nods. “Yes, there are lots of things that I do not understand, either. But, I am beginning to formula some theories. My aunt paid for the dress fabric, in advance, picking out the color and texture. However, inside each supply shipment, there was a note attached, saying the color wasn’t available. So, my aunt ordered a different shade of color. Inside the next supply shipment, the attached note said the texture wasn’t available. So, my aunt ordered a different type of fabric. Inside the next supply shipment, the color wasn’t available.”

  I nod. “Well, I can understand, being upset. But, if the color or fabric is not available, then it is not available. So, I don’t understand the fuss.”

  Buffo exhales. “The fuss is the three girls are having a birthday party. They didn’t want any other particular present, only a fancy dancing dress for their once in a life-time thirteen year old birthday party, which will never be repeated, ever.”

  I nod and smile. “Then, they could just order it from the shop inside Montag, instead of getting the fabric delivered inside Burrville.”

  Buffo frowns with annoyance. “Yeah, my aunt could order from Montag any particular manufactured item from any store, but it never seems to arrive inside Burrville.”

  I shake my curls. “Now, that doesn’t make any sense to me, Buffo. My mama ordered all types of merchandise, all the time, at the mall, and then it was delivered at our house, on time, all the time.”

  Buffo says. “Therefore, all clothing and furnishing is home-made, here, in Burrville. I mean, all the female farmers and some of the talented male farmers do a good job, anyways, of making clothes and furnishing pieces. But, my nieces wanted something very special for their thirteen year old birthday party.”

  I shake my curls. “I can understand the lost fabric, the misplaced orders of merchandise. However, I do not understand all the fuss over three party dresses that would have been outrageously expensive for the little girls. A party dress is very costly.” I view the soil then Buffo. “Probably, as costly as, a pound of corn seedlings for this here, crop field. And, I would know, first hand. When my parents purchased my thirteen year old party dress, it was grand and fancy and a month of their payroll salaries. They special ordered it from the shop keeper at the mall and then it was made, especially, for me then delivered to our house for my party,” I smile and nod.

  He sneers at her. “So’s!?”

  “So’s!? Buffo, I believe your grandfather is being very wise in cancelling a party, where a girl’s true dream can’t be achieved.”

  “What are you talking about, girl?”

  I exhale, tossing my hands then extend outwards and towards the plowed crop field. “Your family doesn’t have the money to pay for one fancy dress for one pre-teen, Buffo?”

  He drops his mouth then frowns with annoyance at her. He exhales, shaki
ng his skull. “Ketona, my grandfather is extremely rich. He can pay for the delivery of sixty of these little fancy dresses for his granddaughters…”

  I gasp, dropping my mouth. “What? How?”

  Buffo grins and nods. “Farms grow food and raise livestock. Food and meat are eaten by everyone. Everyone pays money for food to eat. Therefore, the money is paid to the farmers. All the farmers are all very wealthy, here, in Burrville.”

  I narrow my eyelashes, scanning the distance homesteads under the bright moonlight. I can’t see all the homesteads, since the great distance of field crops. But, I remember from my tour, that the inside of Buffo’s grandparents’ house is grand, not draped in silks or satins.

  I smelled the fresh pine from the new additional room, new paint on the walls, and new carpet over the floors. The interior layout is massive compared to my parents’ tall two story townhouse, in the posh city of Colfax. I swing my face, studying the guts of glittering Colfax, wearing the fake colored light bulbs around the dull white painted skyline buildings.

  I exhale, shaking my curls. “I can’t believe this. Why do they live, here, in Burrville? They could move and live in the city. I admit the city could use some new paint and more creative citizens, enhancing the quality of life in Colfax…”

  “What for, Ketona?” Buffo frowns with sadness. “Why would they move from the soil, that they love and the life that they love? They love it, here, in Burrville. I love it, here, in Burrville, better than the city life.” He slams his hands on the barrier wall, growling. “Now, I understand. I didn’t understand, before, but I do, now. The Colfaxians take everything from the outer townships for themselves, first and last, never leaving anything for the outer townships.”

  I gasp, studying the lights of Colfax. “That’s impossible, Buffo. The population of Colfax is much smaller then the outlying townships, so small, that it could fit inside a small auditorium with room for numerous rows of empty chairs. No, that’s impossible. The Colfaxians must purchase everything, including their food, their clothing, their furniture, their electricity, and their goods and services at the mall…”