The Hubby Hold (IQ Testing Book 2) (7 page)

We walk slowly along the soil.

I gently rub the plant leaves over my stationary hand, holding the two cotton bolls, in the crook of my elbow as Lamis pulls more plant leaves then hands to me.

The rash starts to disappear with only the itchy feeling remaining. I gently rub my other hand, not moving my arm, which is very difficult.

We exit the cotton row, walking to the room of mirrors.

I stop and smile at my me-chee chair, flinging my arm out. The two cotton bolls drop then roll along the floor, catching the soft breeze. “My rash is gone and I’m gone, too. Bye, bye, red color tone.”

Lamis tosses her arms of cotton bolls into the air as they fly over her head.

We giggle and smile with relieve.

I hug her, saying. “Thank you, Lamis. You are very, very smart. I wouldn’t have figured out the cure for my rash, or the thing with the cotton bolls. I wish you the best of luck, in the rest of the color tones. I’ll see ya inside the gold circle. Okay? Well, I’m definitely ready for the next round of academic questions compared to this country hoe down dance,” I giggle, turning and skipping towards the rear of the wall.

Lamis yells.

I stop then spin to her.

Lamis rubs her fanny, shouting. “The cotton bolls are not ‘the thing.’ It’s the wrong thing.

I grunt the growl, marching to Lamis. “I don’t wanna go back into that field of balls and plants. So, what’s ‘the thing,’ then? I really wanna leave, here, now, this moment for the…”

Lamis frowns then bursts into tears, holding her face, standing beside her me-chee chair. “Don’t know! I really don’t know. I’m sorry. I don’t know, but I do not know that I’m going to be stuck, here, in the red color tone with you, forever. This is our destiny, if we can’t figure out ‘the thing,’ before Citizenship Day ends, like Rincon told...”

“Naw, ya want be stuck, here, and me, neither.” I exhale, viewing the floor. I hug Lamis, saying. “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out, together. Okay!” I scan the room, half-empty with the me-chee chairs. “Some of the teens have figured it out, and some have not. Look, let’s walk back down another cotton row, and see what we can find.”

Lamis nods then slowly spins towards the opening, staring at the floor.

Chapter 8

Cotton row

I exhale, slowly pacing, feeling, too much, defeat on Citizenship Day. I understand, why some of the teens want to stay put inside the current color tone, accepting their fate, without the fight.

However, I am not one of those teens, neither is Lamis, or Buffo.

I lead out the opening, walking towards the cotton rows, not waiting on Lamis. I slowly fling the annoying long stems of the cotton plants away from my body with determination of leaving the red room of mirrors.

Now, I understand. This is more a psychology game rather than a IQ test. You are required to overcome your deep desire, to give up and stay put, inside the current color tone by answering the easiest academic question, only. The name of the current color of the me-chee.

I shake my curls and the plant leaves from my face, whispering. “I am not giving up. I am reaching Buffo and beating up Duchie, a twofer.”

Lamis paces behind Ketona, down the parallel row.

I scream, halting then back stepping. “Spider, spider, spider…”

Lamis giggles and moves toward Ketona, leaning over the top of the plants, saying. “That’s a banana spider. Spiders are used as natural pesticides, eating the nasty boll weevils, which eat the precious cotton seeds. The spiders are one of Mother Nature’s best friends to us. They’re called banana spiders, because of the yellow bodies and slender frame. The female spider is the largest non-tarantula-like spider, here, in our township. She’s a good size, too, about three inches long with yellow spots of orange mixed into her yellow silk slender body,” she smiles and points at the spider, not scaring her. “Banana spiders are really wonderful creatures. Actually, they are shy and harmless to us. If bitten, it feels like a pinch and then some redness, kinda like a bee sting. I got plenty of them, too. See, the big spider web. That sucker is about three feet wide between the rows of plants, catching the flight paths of other insects…”

“And me,” I growl.”

She giggles. “Naw, Ketona. The web possesses a golden tint, like the bright sunlight, acting as camouflage from the poor flying insect. Then zap, it’s stuck and caught. The banana spider web is, specifically, woven at body chest level of a person, sometimes, higher for capturing mosquitoes, grasshoppers, stinkbugs, bees, butterflies, flies, moths, wasps, beetles, and dragonflies. However, banana spiders are afraid of cockroaches, since the cockroach is fast moving and large…”

I exhale, nodding. “Me, too! Look, all your datum is cool, Lamis.” I back step, panting from fright then halt a safe distance from the spider. I softly clap and nod. “Okay, you said it, first, being really smart, Lamis. The spider’s shy and won’t attack and bite us, like a snake. So, this is ‘the thing’ that we gotta do.”

Lamis frowns at the spider then Ketona. “ ‘The thing’ to do, what are we going to do, here?”

I finger the spider. “We…you…me are going to move the dang spider from its web, or present home base, not destroy the spider web...”

“How are we going to do that, Ketona!?”

I exhale, thinking of a solution, being anxious to leave the red color tone. I nod, breaking the stem from the plant. I wave the short branch around my face. “We, just, kinda scoot our new friend to the side, out of the way of our bodies…”

“We gotta run through the web. Naw, you’re crazy, Ketona.”

I exhale, nodding. “So, tell me, what’s ‘the thing’ to do here, inside a cotton field? Eat lunch?”

Lamis scans the cotton rows, saying. “I see some of the teens, huddling in certain spots. I guess, they have run upon another banana spider. This is their home. They would be living, everywhere, here, too.”

I exhale, staring at the web. “Look, we brush Ms. Spider to the side of her home, then we gently split the web, between the two parallel rows of cotton plants. Obviously, her web is an obstacle for us to continue the foot pathway. That’s it! We be done! Then, we run back, scooting back into our me-chee chairs, dropping down into the floor then emerge into the Cubby Hole. I really wanna leave, here, now.”

Lamis exhales, shaking her curls. “I have to agree with ya, Ketona. I don’t see what the other thing would be. But, there’s only one spider, and two of us. That’s means, only one of us, can return back into the Cubby Hole.”

“Naw, no, I disagree.” I snap my fingers. “Okay, I…you can brush Ms. Spider away from the center of her web, since she’s sleeping, or sun bathing in the heated air, in the middle of that big wide spun web. Then, I will gently tear the web down the middle.” I raise my hands, nodding and smiling. “How’s that action plan for getting us both back into the Cubby Hole?”

Lamis exhales, viewing the dirt and then Ketona. “It sounds good, coming from your words, Ketona.”

I hand her the broken branch then rip off another one, to tear the spider web, down the center.

“I am not going to harm, or kill Ms. Spider, only scoot her towards the center of the thick leaves. She can hide from us. Banana spiders are harmless and friendly.” Lamis parts the cotton plants then shuffles into the same cotton row with Ketona.

I stand behind her.

She slows advances to the spider then stops. She breaks a new stem with plant leaves then flings the leaves back and forth, brushing at the spider.

The spider shivers then rapidly crawls backwards, from the center of the web.

Lamis extends her arm, as far as she can, without coming into contact with the silky weave of the web. She gently swishes the plant leaves at the spider.

The spider shivers then rapidly occupies the center position, again.

Lamis giggles. “She thinks the plant leaves are some big flying mosquitoes.”

I exhale, biting my lips and rubbing my hands with fear and anticipation. “Okay, shift the leaves towards the edge of her web, let her think the big green fly is smarter,” giggling.

Lamis shuffles her arm towards the edge of the web.

The spider shivers then rapidly crawls towards the shaking leaves.

Lamis giggles and smiles. “It works. She’s moving towards the leaves.”

“Toss the leaves into the web for her delight and our safety…”

“Okay,” Lamis tosses the broken leaves and stem, near the edge of the spider web, then slowly back pedals from the spun web.

I exhale, rubbing my hands with sweat down my cat suit. I exhale, saying. “Okay!” I tear a thick stem from the cotton plant. I march, exhaling and inhaling with fear, trying to control my flight emotion. I rip the leaves from the thick stem, exposing only the naked branch. Then, I tear a pointy sharp at the end point, like an arrow tip.

I growl then grunt, raising both my arms with the man-made arrow tip. I drop both arms, connecting at the top of the pretty glittering yellow colored spun web.

My short branch with the man-made arrow tip hits the top weave then sticks, permanently. I grunt with annoyance then jerk the stem backwards from the web.

The short branch doesn’t move, but the spider web shakes, violently.

“Ugh! My homemade weapon is permanently stuck in the dang web,” I tug and jerk on the naked branch from the web. “The web is extremely sticky and wet…”

Lamis back steps from Ketona, pointing at the intact and gleaming yellow web. “Did ya know that the banana spider web has been tested and found to be stronger than steel, by a factor of six…”

“What!?” I swing my face to Lamis, since my body is hugging the sticky spider web, being short. I yank and pull from the spider web, releasing the stuck branch. “I’m can move. I’m stuck. Where’s the dang spider?”

Lamis laughs. “She’s long gone, honey! You’re like that overgrown cockroach, that they all fear and run from. I told ya, the banana spiders are shy…”

“I cannot break free from the spider web. Yuck! The silky fibers are surrounding my hands, feeling creepy and crawly. They’re all over my hands.” I fling my hands, but the yellow threads stick, like glue. I grunt then groan then growl.

Lamis giggles. “Don’t worry about it! The spider web doesn’t bite ya…”

“Stop spouting facts! Get it off of me! Get the web off my hands and face. It feels both creepy and silky, too…”

Lamis back pedals from Ketona, giggling and smiling. “The scientists tried to spin the silk into thread, but it failed. Along the seacoast, fishermen roll numerous banana spider webs into balls then toss into the water, catching bait for fishing. Some of the coastal natives eat the pregnant females…”

I gasp, scanning the spider web. “The spider’s pregnant. Are her eggs inside the web, too? I cannot get the webbing off of me.” I fling my hands with the golden threads, prettily wavering in the bright sunlight.

Lamis says. “Naw, Ms. Spider ain’t pregnant. At least, I don’t think so, but, on the other hand, I won’t know a pregnant spider from a daddy spider. Anyways, the coastal natives eat the pregnant females, as protein, either raw, or roasted. Sometimes, the guts are mixed with potatoes, too, but kinda sticky…”

“Hush it, Lamis! Help me! I can’t get free from the sticky web.” I scream, running backwards from the spider web in both panic and fear.

The web follows me backwards, too.

“Get off. Get this thing off of me!” I scream, running backwards. The spider web clings to me, stretching along with me in a backward motion, too. I run faster as the web clings to my hands and chin, screaming.

Lamis turns then runs towards the end of the row, yelling. “Keep running, Ketona. The web will stretch then snap the spider fibers from your hands. Ya’ll be freed.”

I scream, running backwards with blindness then slam into the object. Two hands curve around my waist, stopping me.

He whispers into her eardrum. “Calm, honey! You’re safe. I’m here…”

I pant then exhale then say with moisture in my eyelashes. “The spider web is stuck on me. I can’t get away from it...”

She lowers the burning cigar with the good smelling fumes, onto the outstretched yellow thread fibers of the spider web, clinging to both my hands and cheekbones.

The fire burns and cinders the spider web threads, immediately.

The taunt web falls from my body, when I slam into his chest from the jolt.

He giggles. “Captured ya, again, darling.”

Nephella laughs. “That’s a wicked thing for any particular park place. I don’t like spiders, or spider webs, either,” she winks at Lamis.

I swing around, smiling into his face. “Rincon, how…what are you doing, here. I mean, thank you! I…”

He smiles. “I’m here. You’re safe. Back up, sugar, let’s clean your pretty face of the dangling spider fibers.” He raises her arms over her skull, winking at her. Then he grabs and pulls a handful of leaves, saying. “The oil from the plant leaves will act, like a bar of soap, washing off the silky threads of the banana spider web fibers from your cute self.” He squats and chuckles then rubs the leaves, starting from her boots then her kneecaps, then her waist, then her rib cage, then her breasts, then her neck, then her face.

I giggle and wiggle side to side, surveying Rincon, playing with my body parts.

He stops at her face, winking and smiling. “See, the yellow fibers are falling away.” He pulls a fresh batch of plants, gently cleaning her chin then he kisses her chin. He gently cleans her lips then kisses her lips. He gently cleans her nose then kisses her nose, when she giggles. He gently cleans her right cheekbone then kisses that cheekbone, grinning. She giggles. He gently cleans her left cheekbone then kisses that cheekbone, winking. Rincon says. “Close your eyes.” He cleans her eyelashes and eyebrows and forehead then tenderly kisses her forehead. He smiles. “Okay, I’m almost done. You can open your pretty eyes.” She opens her eyelashes, smiling at him. He stands almost on top of her toes, sweet breathing into her face. “The cat suit doesn’t allow the web fibers, or anything to stick to the electrons. The web only attached to your nakedness…”

I exhale with relieve and love, bathing in the loose leaves, saying. “Thank you.”

Rincon tosses the used leaves to the dirt then pulls a fresh patch of new ones. He cleans her right arm, tickling her underarm. Ketona drops her arm, giggling. He touches her hand, cleaning between the fingers.

I smile and say. “You’re really smart, too, Rincon. Thanks for coming to my rescue. I feel the sticky web fibers dissolve away, leaving a sorta oily touch…”

Rincon rubs up her left arm, tickling her armpit, when she giggles, dropping her arm. He cleans her fingers, saying. “Banana spider webs have been used in regenerating the body’s immune system and have antibacterial properties. That means, ya want get sick, ever, and will remain perfectly pretty, for the rest of our days, together.” He kisses her lips then pulls back, grinning.

I giggle, turning pinky blush on my cheekbones then smile. “I’m so glad to see ya’ll. How come you’re, here, inside the red color tone? I thought you all would be celebrating your victory dance, inside the gold circle…”

Rincon tosses the plant leaves, wiping his hands from the oil. He cuddles Ketona, twisting towards the shade of trees. “I…”

“We…,” Nephella flicks the burning cigar, when Lamis two-steps from both the tall girl and the firing flame. Nephella says. “We, both, noticed ya’ll were missing, from the blue color tone. Is Duchie here, too? Have ya seen her, by chance, either?” She scans the cotton rows, surveys the playing teens, who run through the rows of cotton plants.