The Hubby Hold (IQ Testing Book 2) (4 page)

Rincon chuckles. “I am quite excited with nervousness, being so close to the gold color and my dream of the perfect job. Did you, correctly, answer the last question?”
We both say, at the same time. “7.4.” Then, we giggle, being smart and wrapped into each other arms, being romantic, sorta.

He nods, kissing her forehead then says. “The alkalinity of our blood is slightly basic. What is the mathematical numeric value? The value of 10.6 is a very basic. The value of 7 is neutral. The value of 6.4 is slightly acid and 4.6 is the most acid. A studied and trained medical technician would have only correctly addressed that particular question,” he smiles.

I nod and giggle. “We’re going to be a great pair of medical technicians…”

He stops then frowns at Ketona. “Naw, there can be only one medical technician internship, within the Establishment. Remember, honey! We discussed this sensitive topic, before sliding into our me-chee chairs, inside the Cubby Hole. I’m going to be the new medical technician. You’re going to be a me-chee designer, fulfilling one of the five spots,” he chuckles.

I exhale then slightly nod, without speaking, vividly remembering the conversation.

He stops, looking at the walking stones then the new section of plants. “The stones have disappeared, maybe, there’re hidden within the plants,” he looks behind his collar bone. “I assume that we have done ‘the thing’ for our return into the Cubby Hole…”

I back step from his embrace, swinging and studying the new section of plants, giggling. “I don’t think so. The newest section of plants is ragweed. They’re green, tall, thin weedy stems, and fugly ugly with yellow pods. There are rows and rows of ragweed plants, not pretty and not popular with the other teens. I think we find our gold,” giggling.

Rincon nods, studying the rows of ragweed. “Ragweed flower can pollinate 400 miles out to sea and two miles up into the sky. A single ragweed plant generates a million grains of pollen-per-day,” when Ketona sneezes then laughs. He stops and frowns with concern at her. “Are you sick?”

I giggle, tapping my nostrils. “I pretended to possess pollinates inside my sinuses. I’m very healthy.”

He frowns at her. “Pollinates? There is no such word as pollinates?”

I slap his chest, cuddling inside his arms, giggling. “I made it up for fun to be funnier and funny, honey. Look at that! The yellow pollen drifts from the plants, creating a swirling blanket of pretty yellow mist high in the sky. The yellow mist floats all the way towards the sky…”

“O!” He frowns at the ragweed plants. “We have finished our trek. Let’s go back…”

I giggle, pulling from his hug. I extend my arms, smiling. I run through the long row of tall ragweed plants. I yell, collecting yellow pollen dust over my green cat suit, face, hair, and hands, giggling with amusement. I stop in the middle of the row, facing Rincon, smiling and nodding. I say. “See, I’m not allergic to pollen,” then I turn, running down the row. I swing around the end row then run down the next row, yelling. “Join me! You said, within each park place, the teen must do something, in order to reactivate the me-chee chair. Well, we can’t touch the flowers, so we gather the floating yellow pollen dust on our cat suit. We learned that the cat suit records our heated body signs and activity.” I giggle, swinging around to the next row. I pant then stop to breathe. I face Rincon, nodding and smiling. “See, I’m…another color. What does yellow and green mix, too? Red, I’m red tinted with the yellow pollen, covering the green glowing cat suit. I guess my face is yellow colored. Huh?” Rincon nods, without speaking. I giggle then turn, running down the row with my arms extended for fun. I gather more yellow pollen over me, laughing.

Rincon calls, motioning. “Come on back, Ketona! Let’s go back into the Cubby Hole. We’re almost finished with our goal of Citizenship Day…”

I run down the last row, turn the corner and then plow into the tall green ragweed plant. I hit an object then bounce backwards, holding my nose bridge with pain. “Dang, the plant hit me…”

He drops his mouth then runs to Ketona. He cuddles her and her bleeding nose. “What happened? You’re bleeding red blood. Did ya break your nose bridge? Does it hurt? Are you dizzy? Are ya going to vomit?”

I hold my nose, feeling the warm blood then toss my head backwards. The back toss will stop the forward flow of blood then clog my sinuses. I say in a funny voice. “A small irritation,” I feel the blood, draining back down my throat then lift my face, staring at the yellow dancing dust. I touch my nose bridge, feeling a small bruise, but I’m a tough teen. I frown with confusion at the yellow dancing dust then extend my hands, slowly poking around the yellow dust. My hand hits a solid object, when I gasp with shock. “There’s something here, Rincon.”

He blinks his eyelids then studies the yellow dancing dust, the ragweed, and then Ketona. “Naw, you must’ve hit your face into blossomed yellow pod of the ragweed plant. The pod has some prickly thorns around the…”

“Naw,” I stomp closer to the hidden object, slowly outlining it with my hands. I gasp, shifting my body up and down. “This is a barrier wall. I can stretch my hands over my head and towards the sky, without feeling an edge. If I shift my hands down towards the soil, then I touch the soil, still feeling a solid object.” I remove my hands covered in yellow pollen, nodding and smiling at Rincon.

He drops his mouth then rubs the yellow dancing dust with both hands. “Yes, I can feel a solid smooth object,” he removes his hands, back stepping from the yellow dancing dust. He stands on top of the last stone inlay, narrowing his eyelids. “Amazing, I can’t see the wall barrier. It’s like it is covered…disguised from eyeball view. I wonder, why.”

I giggle, back stepping and standing next to him. I touch the ragweed. “It is not covered, on purpose. There are at least six rows of tall ragweed plants. Each plant produces yellow pollen. The yellow pollen is covering the yellow barrier wall.” I gasp with the new knowledge. This is the yellow barrier wall, glowing from the yellow color tone. Java and Hatch are both still playing inside the yellow color tone.

Rincon nods and studies the black flowers, then the brown flowers. “Ya know, in the far horizon over there, I see red dancing dust. Like you, I thought it was an angry sky of bad weather. But, I do believe that is the red color tone, where we just exited.”

I gasp then swing to the red dancing dust. I narrow my eyelashes, studying the red powder. “Why do think that, Rincon? All I see is a high batch of red dust from something…”

He squats then gathers the dried dead brown flowers and leaves from the trees. He crunches them into small pieces then tosses the pieces into the yellow pollen. He says. “See this. The brown particles mix with the yellow pollen, turning into a red dancing dust, the red color tone.”

I gasp. “A brilliant deduction, sir,” smiling and nodding.

He dashes to the corner of the yellow and red dust, studying the red whirling dust. He views the sky then the ground, wiping away the red colored particles. “This is a corner connection between the barriers with the electromagnetic wall. I bet we can see the red color tone, here, too.”

I frown with confusion, marching to his side. “So!? No one’s in there. Everyone passed into the green color tone.”

He nods. “I think not. There were sixty teens that advanced with us into the red color tone. Well, some teen stayed within the red color tone, since they failed the more difficult academic questions, while electing to answer the silly first question. Ya gotta admit the last two questions were extremely difficult.” He leans into the red barrier wall, cupping his hands over his eyelids for a better view. “Yes, there’re teens still trapped inside the red color tone, from only answering one or two of the academic questions. Remember, if you answer one question, correctly, then you stay in the same color tone. If you answer three questions, correctly, then you advance into the new color tone. And, if you answer two questions, incorrectly, then you drop back into the previous color tone.”

I exhale, wiping the red dust, gasping. “I see volcanoes, not teens. What happened to the white limestone cliff tabletop, the pretty white sands, the yellow sunshine, and the blue ocean? This cannot be the red barrier wall. I see big and ugly nasty volcanoes. They’re erupting and spewing orange sizzling lava down the mountain, onto the land. One, two, three…six of those ugly monsters. There’re six volcanoes, spewing hot lava. I see four smoking volcanoes with white steam, probably cooling. The sky’s gray with ash. There’re no trees, or grass, or plants, or animals, or teens. The landscape’s boiling with orange lava, or black colored with cooling lava. How can any teen survive down there? Where are the teens, who have failed the academic questions? They’d be hurt, or killed, or steamed, or fried, or…”

He whispers. “I don’t know, either. But, this is the red barrier wall, and I’ll prove it.” He two-steps over then wipes the yellow dust, making it dance from the barrier wall. “This is the yellow barrier wall.”

I two-step then wipe the yellow dust, cupping my hands over my eyelashes, gasping. I say. “I see a desert of yellow sand. Where’s the white snow and high mountains? When I last saw the yellow color tone, it was white snowy park place of skiing and fun. How is that all possible inside the yellow color tone, within the park place, changing from snow to hell?”

He cups his hands over his eyelids, studying inside the yellow barrier wall. “I see herded camels, tents for shelter, lots of palm trees, even an oasis of water. Wow! This is really cool!”

I say. “I see the teens. Some are eating. Some are patting the camels. Some are sitting under the palm trees.”

He says, chuckling. “I see her. She’s tall, blond hair, pink skin, wearing her high heels, too.”

I gasp. “Java, this is really the yellow color tone, within the yellow barrier wall. Where’re the snow flakes and snowy mountains?”

He says. “I do not know. But, I see him, too. Hatch’s tall, muscular, cropped blonde hair, cat whiskers, peachy skin, athletic body build.” He nods, back stepping from the barrier wall. “I am convinced, this is definitely the desert locked within the yellow barrier wall,” he wipes a larger area along the wall with both his hands. “See, the glowing yellow color of the electromagnetic wall.” He hits it with both hands, nodding. “It’s solid and doesn’t sting, or bite, or break. I don’t understand why the landscape has changed…”

I back step from yellow barrier wall, shaking my curls with confusion. I two-step, wiping clean the red dust, cupping my hands into the corner barrier wall. “Okay. This is the red barrier wall for the red color tone, where we just exited. Rincon, look here! There’s, now, water inside the red park place, an ocean of blue water from the sheer volume and smooth waves. This ain’t the red barrier wall, or the red park place, or the red color tone. We just both eye witnessed a valley of volcanoes, inside the red barrier wall, a few second ago…”

He advances to the barrier wall, brushing aside the red dust, then cups his hands to the wall, saying. “There’s a whale, blowing water from its hole. There’s a pod of leaping pink nosed dolphins, running alongside the pod of whales. This is definitely the ocean water. But, this is also the red barrier wall.”

I study the ocean, smiling with excitement. “I see boats, small sailing boats, and I see, some of the teens on top deck of the boats. Their cat suits look like colored glitter in the bright sunlight. Some are fishing. Some are jumping off and swimming in the ocean. Some are eating and drinking. Some are lying on the deck, watching the sun…”

He back steps from the red barrier wall, smiling and nodding. “Sailing boats for fun,” he views behind his collar bone at the smelly flowers then views inside the barrier wall. “They always seem to get the fun park places,” he gasps then back steps from barrier wall and the rows of ragweed, studying the two walls with two different colors, glittering below the sun. Rincon cups his chin, whispering. “How can we see both the red and yellow barrier walls, in the same geographical point, within the planet, at the same time?”

I spy on the sail boats for fun. “I don’t know…”

He snaps his fingers, studying the sky, the ground, and two barrier walls. He uses his hands to draw a series of invisible lines in the air. “This is a trapezoid, the cousin of the parallelogram.”

I gasp, whispering for my eardrums only. “Buffo!? I see Buffo, tall, muscular, brown cropped hair, brown cat whiskers, pale skin, goofy smile. He’s on the one, two…third sailing boat. I recognize his tallness, anywhere.” I gasp, again. “He wears his cat suit, too.” I exhale with angry, whispering for my eardrums only. “He’s having fun, there. I’m stuck, here…”

Rincon says and studies the sky and the sun. “Inside a trapezoid, only two opposing sides are parallel to each other. Yes. This would explain the mysterious park place.”

“I guess,” I say and spy on Buffo inside the sail boat. He’s laughing and back slapping with some other teens that I do not recognize, since the teens are from the farmlands. I live in the posh city of Colfax.

Rincon nods and smiles, walking from the barrier wall and whipping his hands side to side in the air. “A trapezoid is a four side shape. The red barrier wall is sloping from the southeast corner towards the north. That would conform to the new trapezoid formation. Yes, that makes a perfect mathematical geometric shape…”

“I guess.” I say and spy. All the sailing boats are anchored in the water. All the teens are swimming in the water, or lounging around the decks.

Rincon swings around in a circle, smiling and nodding. He studies the barrier walls, whipping his hands into the air. He says. “The yellow barrier wall is parallel to the green color tone. That’s why we can see the yellow barrier wall, but they can’t see us, for some logic reason. So, the slope from the southwestern corner towards the north is…is..,” he snaps his finger then gasps.