19) The Hike 18) The Beach
Pine sap drips upon my head as I sit underneath a tree.
Sunlight filters through the branches as the needles dance within the breeze.
Feeling quite contented I close my eyes and drift off into a dream
and the pine sap keeps on dripping, soon it'll bury me.
I woke up a thousand years later. The amber had crystallized. I was
stuck in a lotus position, looking through crystal eyes.
Wondering how to break through this prison when, whoa, to my surprise,
the amber began to crack and my joy began to rise.
I wandered around the forest. I wondered which way to go.
The path I had followed was no longer barren. The trail had been overgrown.
Everything was lusher, denser and brighter. Everything took on a glow.
So I set out towards the sun, I decided to follow the flow.
The song I heard was so hypnotizing, there was nothing that I thought.
The feeling I felt was so mesmerizing, there was no thing that I sought.
The world is a very wonderful place, there’s no reason to stay caught.
So open your eyes to the amber dreams, mould the iron you have wrought.
Malcolm Mohil
"Amber Dreams"
Malcolm spent the next several weeks as happy as he could be. He and Becky continued to share their lives together, learning and growing with one another. He also continued to meet Jack outside of the regular mentor schedule, learning and growing with Jack as well.
He discovered Jack had a knack with animals. The seagull episode was his first glimpse at this, but there were other incidences that made this more apparent.
Jack always stopped to play with dogs or to pet cats that would strut up to him in greeting. This wasn't that unusual. It was the wild animals, though, that seemed to sense a rapport with Jack. He was able to feed some squirrels and birds out of his hands. Butterflies would land on his arm. One time even a lizard crawled up to Jack and stopped right at his feet, looking up as if saying, "Where have you been?"
Jack was just as surprised at these encounters as Malcolm was. He said this hadn't happened to him in a while. He used to feel more of a kinship with animals, but after his dad died, that connection seemed to stop. It wasn't until after he helped the seagull animals began to be less frightened of him.
It wasn't just animals that lost their fright of him, either. Right after he helped the seagull, he was significantly less mean to his classmates. Occasionally he would get upset, but for the most part, he actually was nice to them. Everyone was shocked but excited to see this change. As a result, his classmates were less frightened of him and began to open themselves up for friendship. This encouraged Jack to be even nicer until finally, after three weeks of this, Jack had totally forgotten his old behaviors and was now a popular boy amongst his peers.
The episode that broke him completely of his aggression and brought out his full compassion was the day he spent with Malcolm, Becky and Melody. It occurred three weeks after the seagull rescue. Jack experienced a life-changing trauma making him appreciate others like he never did before. From that day on, he would never start another fight.
Malcolm had finally convinced Becky to invite Melody to do something with Malcolm and Jack. Becky reluctantly agreed. They decided to go on a little hike in the local county park. The trail meandered through a native forest. They packed a lunch for a picnic and set off into the woods.
Melody was very knowledgeable about the plants they saw. She knew the medicinal properties of many of them. Her mother was a herbologist, which sparked Melody's interest in this subject. As they were hiking, she would point out the plants she knew and mention its uses for humans.
At first, Jack was shy towards Melody. He wasn't sure how to act in front of her since she was older and was missing her left hand. Melody tried to be friendly towards him, but he had his guard up and was unwilling to be very friendly back.
This didn't bother Melody because she was used to being the center of attention. She enjoyed making people laugh and impressing them with her wit and knowledge. She considered Jack a challenge and was determined to open him up.
Her first approach was to tease him, though she quickly learned he could be mean if he felt threatened, so she decided to try a different angle. She became inquisitive, asking him questions about his life and what he liked to do. Jack felt more comfortable talking about himself, so he was able to engage in a conversation with her.
Malcolm was keeping his distance this whole time. He wanted Melody to be the one leading the conversations and hoped Jack would find a friend in her. He figured if he needed to, he would help Jack if he thought Jack was feeling uncomfortable.
They reached a meadow near the top of the trail and decided to picnic there. They laid out a blanket to relax on and pulled out their lunches. The sun was high overhead, warming their bodies to contentment.
The food they were eating was attracting all kinds of critters. Chipmunks were seen peeking over fallen logs, hoping for a chance scrap to come their way. Flickers flittered by, chirping their orders for fallen crumbs. The picnickers enjoyed the company, though they decided not to feed them for fear of conditioning them to human food.
All was well until the yellow jackets began to buzz in. Malcolm and the girls were annoyed by the nuisance and scared of being stung by an angry wasp. They tried swatting the wasps between curses.
Jack was the only one who wasn't bothered by the yellow jackets. He actually seemed to enjoy them. He was upset, though, the rest of the group was so unaccepting of the wasps.
Every time a yellow jacket landed on Jack, he would let her crawl on him, inspecting the wasp as the wasp inspected his hand. He would place a piece of his food in front of the wasp and watch her tear it up and fly away with her bounty. It took a while for the others to catch on to what Jack was doing, but when they did, they were speechless. They just stared at him as he played with his pet bug, wondering what he was thinking. When Jack noticed the others staring at him, he asked, "What’re you looking at?"
Melody answered, "Jack, you're feeding the wasps?"
"Should I not be? I didn't think it was a big deal."
"But aren't you scared of them?" Becky asked.
"They're not going to hurt me. They just want food. I think they're pretty cool."
The other three looked at each other and then back at Jack. He was now touching the back of one of the wasps, which seemed oblivious to his touch.
"Do you want to feel her?" he asked them.
Becky hesitated at first and then said, "Yeah."
She reached out her finger to touch the wasp, which decided to fly away at that point, straight towards her. She screamed while ducking down. The others laughed.
Another yellow jacket landed on Jack. He fed her a drop of his soda, watching her lick the sweet liquid off his finger.
"Do you want to try, Melody?"
She reached out her hand and was able to stroke the back of the wasp with her finger as the wasp enjoyed her drink.
"Wow!" Melody said. "I've never touched a wasp before. I guess they really aren't that mean. Thanks, Jack, for letting me."
"Thank the wasp," Jack said.
So she did.
For the rest of the picnic, the others were more tolerant of the wasps. They realized it was a lot easier just to let them fly around and land on them then it was to swat them and make them mad. No one got stung.
After they finished eating, Malcolm was feeling very sleepy. He laid on his back and closed his eyes.
"Hey, you're not going to sleep, are you?" Jack asked.
"Maybe."
"Nooo! We gotta keep hiking around. There's so much to see."
"Do you want to take a nap, Malcolm?" Becky asked.
"Sort of, but if you guys want to keep moving, I'll get up."
"How about I take Jack and Melody for a little stroll while you rest and we'll come back in a half hour or so?"
"Is that OK with you?" Malcolm asked.
"Sure. What do you guys think?"
Jack and Melody said that was fine, so they got up and ventured off to the other end of the meadow.
They found another trail and decided to follow it. It wound around the south end of the forest and offered a spectacular view of the surroundings. They stopped every so often to enjoy the vista. Jack was having fun discovering new bugs while Melody pointed out more medicinal plants to Becky.
At one rest point there were some boulders that looked like fun to climb on so Jack began to do so, unnoticed by Becky or Melody. The boulders were piled on top of each other, forming neat caves and crevices. Jack found a few bird nests and the scattered remains of a deer. He was playing in his own little world and lost track of time.
Becky and Melody realized Jack wasn't with them any more, so they called his name. He was too far away so he didn't hear them calling him at first, until they started yelling for him.
He climbed back the way he came, this time a little carelessly. He got stuck on a ledge. He tried crawling back but lost his footing. He slipped down the boulder until he caught a hold of a root sticking out from a crack. He tried climbing back up, but it was no use. He didn't have a solid foothold and he wasn't strong enough to pull himself up.
Becky and Melody continued yelling his name so he answered back.
"Help, you guys!" he screamed. "I'm over here!"
They heard him and ran to where they heard his voice.
"Jack! Where are you?" Becky yelled.
"Down here! Help me, I'm stuck!"
They finally saw him dangling from the ledge. They looked below him and realized he would be seriously hurt if he fell.
"What are we going to do?" Melody asked.
"Maybe we should go get Malcolm."
"You guys, I can't hold on much longer! Help!"
"We need to help him now! Malcolm is too far away," Melody said.
They decided they’d climb down and try to grab him. This wasn't a problem for Becky, but Melody was hesitant since she only had one hand.
"I can't go down there, Becky."
Becky realized what she meant.
"Oh, man. I can't help him myself. I need you to help, too. I think if we can get down to the ledge where he is, I can hold onto you while you reach over the ledge and pull him up."
"I'm scared to climb down there, Becky."
"I know. I'll help you get down. It shouldn't be too hard once we start. What else are we going to do?"
"You guys! My arms are getting tired. Please hurry!"
"OK. Let's go," Melody said.
They carefully climbed down to the ledge above Jack. They found the best angle to grab Jack by. Melody laid on her belly while Becky held on to her legs. Melody slowly inched her way down the side of the boulder until she could reach Jack.
"Grab my hand!"
Jack reached out quickly and their hands clasped.
"OK! I got him. Pull me up!"
Becky pulled with all her might. Jack helped by climbing up as best he could. Melody just prayed Becky wouldn't let go.
Jack finally was high enough where he could climb on his own. He made it to the top, sat down and cried.
"Oh, my God! I was so scared. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he sobbed out.
Becky and Melody were shaken up, too. They all sat there, catching their breath, trying to forget the distance from the ledge to the ground.
When they calmed down, they climbed back up to the trail and headed back to Malcolm. He was sleeping when they arrived. When they sat down on the blanket, he woke up.
"You guys are back already? That was quick. Did you have fun?" Malcolm asked.
Nobody replied.