The Boy Who Understood
by Biff Spork
Chapter 28
All Roads Lead to Jana Mountain
As soon as Melissa reached her home, she transferred the video from both cameras onto her computer, encrypted it, uploaded it to the cloud, and sent a link to Hector. When that was complete, she began to edit the raw video to portray the essence of Zhiv's life in the forest and the words he spoke.
As she constructed the video, she realized that what Zhiv said was important, but what was more important was Zhiv, himself. The expressions on his face, his voice, his unselfconscious nakedness, the way he related to the animals, and the loving way they related him — all these sent powerful non-verbal messages. He didn't only describe a different way of being in the world, he embodied it.
While she worked, her mother came in to call her to supper. She stayed to watch the amazing scenes her daughter had captured. When Zhiv jumped up and said, "Let's play!" she got up and went out. A few minutes later, she returned with a tray of food and sat down to watch the rest of the video.
Melissa added the final scene of joyful trout leaping above the lake waters. Her mother sat back in her chair and said, "I don't agree with everything you say, Sweetheart, but if that video doesn't change the world, I don't know what will. I've never seen anything like that boy."
Melissa began the upload process. It would take several hours. When she saw that the upload was underway, she sighed with relief and fell into bed. As soon as it was online, her hundred thousand subscribers would receive notification.
Hector and Celia sat at the supper table long after they finished eating.
"So, Homeland is gonna search the park tomorrow?" Celia asked.
"That's what they said. I know I shouldn't, but I have to get up there and warn Zhiv, if I can. I'd go now, except it's too late. I don't know how to find him, anyway. And in the dark, it would be impossible."
"You know, as his caseworker, I've got some legal clout," Celia said. "If Homeland apprehends him, I can claim him as a ward of the state. I might be able to protect him a little."
"Thanks. That could be important," Hector said. "If I go up early in the morning, I may be able to connect with one of the boys who could take me to him or take a message to him. River and David must know where he sleeps. Pete will probably warn David about the search, but I want to go up the mountain in case he doesn't."
Hector's laptop emitted an audible signal. He jumped up. "That might be a message from Melissa. I asked her to send me a link to the raw video." A few minutes later he was downloading the encrypted archive onto his laptop. Hector and Celia watched the unedited footage when it had downloaded.
After it finished, they sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Celia said, "He's changed. When I last saw him, he was a very sad little boy, but he seemed like a normal kid in most other ways. Now it's like he's something else. He still looks like a young boy, but he's not like any young boy I've ever known."
Hector pulled her to him. "You see why I have to try to warn him. It's hard to explain, but being with him feels like a privilege. Being with him made us all feel good. I don't know how he does it, but when you're close to him, it's all just happiness. Both Melissa and I cried when we first met him, but it wasn't sadness. It was joy, an immense joy from being with him."
"I'll come with you in the morning. I really want to see him in person. I don't want to take custody or anything like that. I only want to see him again."
After David got home, he helped Doreen prepare supper. He described shooting the video with Hector and Melissa. "It started out a little weird. I mean, when Melissa met Zhiv, she just started crying, for no reason. He hugged her, and it was like she couldn't stop crying. Then Hector started, so both of them were crying, but they weren't sad. It was because they were so happy. I always feel happy when I'm with Zhiv, but he has the same effect on other people too."
"And they were naked?"
"Yeah. Nobody can get close to Zhiv if they're wearing clothes. The animals won't allow it."
Doreen smiled. "So, you were up there in the forest all day, with a naked girl. Is that right?"
"Yeah, but Mom, there were other people there too, and we were all naked. We didn't have a sex orgy or anything."
A laugh erupted from Doreen. "I hope not!"
"You know, when everybody is naked, after a while you kinda get used to it, and you forget about it. Me and River didn't worry about she was a girl, and we were boys. We were just people together."
"I'd like to meet Melissa."
"Yeah. She's great. She's funny. She's older than us boys, about sixteen, but she's not much bigger than us. She works part-time in the health food store. You might have even seen her there. She's got long, brown hair and dresses kinda like a hippie. At the health food store is how River met her. He said she was good to him when he told her he had changed to being a vegan. She even bought him lunch."
"She's vegan, too?"
"Yeah, and Mom, I wanted to talk to you about River. He's having a hard time. You know his mom is dead, and now one of his brothers is dead, and the other one is like a vegetable. Aaron, the brother who's closest to him — he's moved out and is gonna live by himself in Dryden. River said his dad is drunk all the time, and the bank is gonna take their house and the business."
"Wow, that is tough."
"So, Mom, I said he could come here and stay with us. I hope that's okay?"
"It would have been better if you had asked us first," she said.
"Yeah, but there was no time. I mean, he was crying and everything, and I just had to say he should come here and live with us. Anyway, I'd like it. I like him, Mom. He could share my room. No problem. We could be like brothers. I always wanted a brother."
"Yeah, it's fine with me. I like him too, but we've got to get your dad's go-ahead on this before we do anything. Okay?"
"Okay."
"And River's father, too. Maybe he won't like losing his last son."
"River says his dad doesn't even know who he is half the time. He said he looks at him like he's a fence post. Mom, it's so sad. He loves his dad a lot, but he's changed from what he used to be."
"Oh! Poor River."
"Yeah, when he was telling me about it this morning, I was just about crying myself. Everybody should have parents like I do. You guys are the best." Doreen leaned over the stove-top, stirring a pot of stew. David walked over and hugged her from behind.
Pete came into the kitchen from the garage. "Hi family," he said.
David ran over to him and put his arms around him. "Hi Dad. I was just telling Mom, you guys are the best. Thank you for being the best mom and dad in the world." He squeezed Pete around the waist.
Pete kissed the top of his son's head and hugged him back.
David released Pete and ran upstairs.
"Supper in fifteen," shouted Doreen. "Get cleaned up."
Pete enveloped her in an embrace.
"He's invited River to come and live with us," she said.
Pete's eyes widened. "Wow! That was fast. What about Sol? When does he move in? Anybody else? Do we need to build an extra room or two?"
"No, only River, so far."
River shook his father's shoulder. "Daddy, wake up."
"Huh?"
"I made some food. You need to eat. Come and eat with me."
Art Jameson reached out for the vodka bottle on the coffee table. "I'll just have a little snort and be right with you, Nicky."
"It's me, River, Daddy. Nicky's not here anymore."
Art's eyes focused on River's face. "Oh, right! You're the little one." He drank deeply from the bottle.
River took the bottle from his hand. "You need to eat something, Daddy." He pulled his father up off the couch and led him into the kitchen. Art slumped over the table. River put a plate of rice and canned lentil stew in front of him and shook him awake.
"Oh, we're eating chink food now, are we?"
"No, it's Indian food, Daddy, but it's good. Just try a little."
"Where's the boys? Why don't you call the boys? They're always hungry. Boys are like that."
"The boys aren't here, Daddy. Nobody except me."
"And you are?"
"River, Daddy." He put a fork into Art's hand. "I'm River."
"The queer one!"
River put a fork-full of rice into his mouth. He felt like he was chewing sawdust. "Yeah, Daddy. I'm the queer one."
"Still, I did pretty good…" Art emitted a loud burp. "Three outta four turned out okay. You're okay too, kid, but it's too bad you're a fairy. That's not gonna work out, but I bet we can get you fixed. One of them conversion camps should do the trick. You wait till I get back on my feet."
Art lifted a forkful of rice and lentils to his mouth. "Makes ya wonder, don't it? I mean, those chinks eat this crap all the time, and yet there's like a billion of them. Is there anything to drink around here?"
"Eat some more food, please, Daddy." River went to the sink and ran a glass of cold water for his father. He handed the glass to Art.
"Water!" sputtered Art, after a sip. "You trying to poison me?" He laughed. "It's not my fault you're a fruit."
River pushed his plate toward him. "C'mon Daddy, eat a little more. You should eat."
Art stood up and wobbled toward the front room where his bottle waited on the coffee table. "Don't you tell me what to do, pussy-boy! Just tell the others to be up early tomorrow. We need to get this place back in shape."
River forced himself to eat, though tears ran down his cheeks. Some fell onto his rice, and he could taste their saltiness. He smiled then, remembering how David had joked about that. It seemed a long time ago. It was hard to believe it had been the morning of that same day.
After he had eaten, River washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. He went up to his room and sat on his bed. He and Aaron had grown up in that room. Aaron's bed was empty. He'd taken the mattress, sheets and pillow with him when he left. River looked around the room. There wasn't much stuff there, not many things, but a notch on the windowsill and stack of board games in the closet called up memories of happier times with his brothers. He smiled at the rag-rug his mother had made so he didn't have to step onto a cold floor when he got out of bed in the morning. He gathered a few souvenirs and put them into his pack. Then he lay down to sleep a little before it was time to leave.
"So, everybody was naked?" asked Pete as he spooned more stew onto his plate.
"Yeah, but it wasn't a big deal, Dad. I mean, nobody got weird or anything."
Most of the table chat after that was David describing how they had made the video.
"You know a video with naked people is going to attract some of the wrong kind of attention, especially when there's kids involved?" said Pete.
"I think Melissa knows how to do that, how to focus on people from above the waist, like in her first video where Zhiv is naked but you never see anything."
Then Pete told them about the Task Force meeting that afternoon.
After David went up to his room to shower and change for bed, Pete and Doreen finished cleaning up the kitchen. Pete rinsed the last of the cutlery at the sink. "There was one final thing at the meeting I didn't talk about."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. The last thing the Homeland Security rep said was that they're going to search the park — tomorrow morning. I know those men are just doing their jobs, but they really come on heavy — you know, dark glasses and dark suits, black SUVs with windows tinted so you can't see inside. I don't like it. I don't want David up there tomorrow."
"You think it could be dangerous?"
"I don't think they'd hurt a kid, but it's a touchy situation. They think that everything they deal with is a national security threat. While we might see some naked kids running around in the bush with the squirrels, they'll be seeing domestic terrorists."
"Oh, God! I don't like this."
"Me neither. Now I've got to tell David he's grounded until this blows over."
A worried expression crossed Doreen's face. "That won't make him happy."
"No. I know. I hate to do it, but what else can we do?"
"It's going to be hard, but you're right. If there's any chance of danger, I don't want David up there."
Pete and Doreen went into their living room. David joined them a few minutes later and wedged himself between them on the couch. He reached out and grasped one hand of each parent.
"There's something I didn't tell you, Dad. I mean, ask you. When I was talking to River this morning, he was really feeling bad. There's only him and his dad in the house now, and he says his dad is drunk all the time. The bank is gonna kick them out of their house. Dad, I asked him to come over here and stay with us. Mom says it's okay, so it's up to you."
"Yeah. Your mom mentioned it to me. It's okay with me. He can come and stay as long as he needs to, but I've got to talk to his father first. It's up to him, not me, but if he says it's okay, then it's okay with me too — until Art gets his act together anyway, like over the summer or something."
"Thanks, Dad. He'll be really happy when I tell him. He was feeling real bad this morning, but he started to cheer up when I said he could come and live with us. I knew you'd be okay with it. You're the best!"
"David, I didn't tell you everything about my meeting today, the Task Force meeting. At the end of the meeting, one of the Homeland Security reps told us they're going to search the park tomorrow. I don't like the way they act, like they expect to find a bunch of Russian or Chinese spies up there in the park. So, I want you to stay home tomorrow and the next few days."
"You want me to stay home? Like here?"
"Yeah. I want you to stay down here. I don't want you mixed up with Homeland Security, and the park is going to be crawling with them tomorrow morning. Why don't you just take a break from Jana Mountain? Give River a phone call and invite him over. The two of you can fool around down here for a change; maybe go to the mall or something. On Saturday, we can take you to the water-park."
"Dad, I've got to go up the mountain and warn Zhiv. I can't sit down here while those guys chase him around."
"David, you're not going up the mountain tomorrow. And that's that."
Doreen clasped David's hand in both of hers. "Sweetie, it's only because it could be dangerous for you. And only for a couple of days. We don't want you to get involved with those Homeland Security people."
When David spoke, his voice was higher than usual. "But that's why I've got to go. It's even more dangerous for Zhiv than for me. I have to warn him so he can get away. It's really important! I have to go." There was a shrill note of distress in his voice.
"Look David, it's not negotiable," said Pete. "You're not going anywhere tomorrow. They're not looking for Zhiv. They don't even know for sure he's up there. If they happen to catch him, well, they're not monsters. Your mom and I have talked about maybe he can come and live with us, too. We can apply to be his foster parents. Celia Duffy could probably help with that, but we have to let things take their course now."
"He can't live down here. He's not like River or me."
"Well, I'm sorry about that, but maybe he doesn't have a choice."
"Dad, please?"
"No. I'm sorry, David, but you're staying home for the next couple of days. End of discussion."
Nobody said anything for a minute. Then David turned to Doreen and hugged her. "Good night, Mom."
She kissed his cheek.
David turned and hugged Pete around the neck. "Good night, Dad."
"Good night, son."
David walked out of the room and went upstairs.
Pete sighed. "That's the first time in a long time that he's just walked up the stairs like a normal person. Usually, it's two at a time."
"And three at a time coming down," said Doreen with a catch in her throat.
They watched the evening news together. The weather forecast said the current hot spell was soon to end. Thunderstorms and high winds were anticipated in the next forty-eight hours.
"It'll be nice to get a break from this heat," said Doreen.
"Yeah, maybe if it rains hard enough, David won't feel so bad about being at home tomorrow."
Pete went into the garage for a few minutes before joining Doreen in their bedroom.
"How are you doing?" asked Doreen.
Pete slumped onto the bed. "Earlier tonight, he said I was the world's best dad. I wish I still felt like that."
David sat at his desk. If he couldn't go up the mountain to warn Zhiv, maybe River could. He called the Jameson Pork Producers number on his mobile phone. A mechanical voice replied, "This number is no longer in service."
David waited two hours after he heard the TV turned off. The house was quiet and dark. He took his pajama bottoms off and dressed. Then he sat down at his desk and wrote a brief note. When he had finished, he folded it once and left it on the desk. With his pack on his back, he crept downstairs, through the kitchen, and into the garage. He flicked on the light and walked over to where his bike was charging. A shiny length of heavy-duty chain fastened the wheels of the e-bike to the solid frame of the workbench. A large brass padlock held the ends of the chain together.
"Oh, Dad," he murmured.
He tiptoed up to his room, sat in front of the open window, and stared out into the night. He let his yearning to see Zhiv fill his mind and strained to share it with a beloved friend in the alpine meadow. A full moon rose over Jana Mountain. There was a welcome coolness in the night air. It smelled like rain.
He drowsed, but jerked awake when the silken rustle of Kek's wings folding alerted him to the crow's arrival. He tied a rope to the foot of his bed and threw the rest over the windowsill. He removed his clothes and stood barefoot by the window. He cast a last look around his room and wiped tears from his cheeks. A minute later, he heard the muted clop clop of the black horse's hooves on the earth below. He rappelled barefoot down the side of the house directly onto the stallion's back.
Sensing the need for stealth, Whem walked softly away from the house. He cleared his throat in greeting when they reached the roadside. David hugged him. The stallion cantered for a hundred yards before accelerating into a steady gallop along the grassy highway shoulder.
The moon gave enough light so they could travel swiftly. As Whem's regular hoof-beats ate the miles, David saw flashes of light behind the mountains on the far side of the valley. Yellowish-green lightning flickered inside dark, purple-tinged clouds. There were faint rumbles of thunder. David closed his eyes and lost himself in the warmth of Whem's broad back and the rhythmic thump of his hooves.
Most people in the Americas were asleep when the Zhiv video went online, but Melissa's subscribers in other parts of the globe were awake. They watched in awe, called their loved ones to watch it, and marveled over Zhiv's messages and his companions. Many shared the video with everyone they knew. Within hours, links to it were on every social media site. Many people posted copies on other websites — YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. A dozen snippets were live on TikTok. Its rapid and unprecedented spread gave new meaning to the concept of 'viral.'
The response was overwhelmingly positive. The naked boy's words on the mountain were direct and uncompromising, but when Zhiv talked, he radiated love and light. Most who watched the video felt he was speaking directly to them, and that he loved them. He was one of them, but he spoke to them from the heart of the animal kingdom. Their hearts stirred in response.
Though it was the middle of the night, all the lights in the house were still on when River came down from his bedroom. His father had passed out on the couch. River gazed around the living room and said, "G'bye, house. G'bye, Jameson Pork Producers. G'bye Daddy." His words seemed to die as they left his mouth. Minutes later, he rode his bike out of the yard.
Hector and Celia gulped their steaming coffee. Hector looked at his wristwatch. It said 3:00 am.
"David told me they usually meet in the forest at sunrise or shortly after. We need to get up there before that if we want to see David or River and warn them about Homeland Security."
Minutes later they stood in the darkness beside Hector's camper. Hector held up his hand. "Listen!"
They both stood with their mouths open.
"I don't hear anything," said Celia.
"That's just it," said Hector. "It's dead silent. Usually by this time on a summer morning, there are a lot of birds starting to sing — the dawn chorus." He paused, and they both listened. The absolute silence was broken by the grumble of distant thunder.
"This is weird," said Celia.
"It feels like a storm is coming," said Hector. "I don't like it. Something's wrong, but let's go."
Soon they were on the highway leading to Jana Mountain. Hector said, "Check the Animal Rights group's website. See if Melissa's new video is online."
A few minutes later, Celia looked up from her phone. "Yeah, it's up. She's called it 'Zhiv.' Hector, it's already got over a million hits."
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