Ronny Faber Versus The Tooth Faerie

by bkMarcus

Excerpt from Chapter 2: Dark Faerie

"Fireworks"

 

Ronny asked Zack to hold his hand while they crossed Riverside Drive. Zack said "Yeah, OK" but he let go before they were all the way across.

     Zack had a green Bic lighter and a brown paper bag full of small firecrackers wrapped in red-checked paper.

     Zack had Ronny stand behind a tree, holding the paper bag while Zack buried a single firecracker in the sand, lit the fuse with the Bic and ran over to Ronny's tree while the firecracker sent the sand pile flying in all directions. Zack kept missing the actual explosions because he wouldn't reach the tree in time. He'd hear the  BANG and turn around to see the cloud of dust blow into Riverside Drive.

     Zack wanted Ronny to light one, but Ronny's fingers weren't strong enough to make the Bic work. He'd press his thumb down on the rough metal wheel of the lighter and try to turn it, but it was too hard. He could see little sparks by the flint when he pressed the wheel hard enough, but he couldn't get a flame out of it. His hands were too small.

     "OK," said Zack. "I have something for you. Wait here." And he ran back across Riverside drive.

     Ronny was alone in the park.

     There were kids in the sandbox about a block away, and some mothers on the benches nearby, but he didn't recognize anyone. Some black kids were ambling down the walk, hitting a broken tree branch against the empty benches as they passed. There were three of them, about T's age. Ronny moved around his tree to keep out of their sight.

     He stayed between the tree and the curb at the edge of the park, watching the cars head south on Riverside Drive. He saw one car that had fins on the back like The Batmobile on TV. He wondered if there was a Batmobile in Zack's comic book. The page that Zack showed him had Batman walking around the streets of Gotham City. On TV he drove everywhere.

     The comics that Ronny's mom sometimes bought for him were for little kids -- Casper The Friendly Ghost and Richey Rich and sometimes Archie. Ronny couldn't read them yet, but he liked to make up stories to go with the pictures. The colors in Zack's comic books were darker and the drawings were very different.

 

[...]

     The page Zack showed him from the Dark Faerie book -- the picture of the goblin -- had almost no color, just red in the creature's eyes, and some pale yellow on his pointy teeth.

[...]

     Zack said goblins were a kind of faerie. And Ronny's tooth was almost out that night -- did come out an hour or two later ...

     "What's in the bag, kid?"

     Ronny looked up from his thoughts. A blue and white police car had pulled up a few feet away from him. Ronny put the bag behind his back.

     One of the policemen got out of the car. "You got illegal fireworks in that bag?" Ronny shook his head.

     The cop took the bag away from Ronny and looked inside. He looked back at the driver and said "Hey Frank, you want some more firecrackers for your boy?"

     "Hey, those aren't yours!" cried Ronny.

     The policeman turned around and stared him in the face. "You trying to make trouble?"

     "They're not yours!"

     Both cops laughed. "Feisty kid," said the driver. The cop with Zack's bag of firecrackers got back into the car and closed the door. He grinned and waved to Ronny as the police car drove away.

     Ronny jumped up and down, screaming "Those aren't yours! That's not fair!"

     He didn't see Zack coming until he was halfway across Riverside Drive. "Zack, they took your bag!"

     "I know," said Zack. "I saw them." He took Ronny by the shoulders and shook him. "Hey, you can't yell at the police. They have guns."

     "They took all your firecrackers. They're going to give it to Frank's son!"

     "Who's Frank?"

     "The one driving the police car."

     Zack said, "Look, it's OK. I have more upstairs. It's not a big deal."

     Ronny didn't know what to say. He was angry and he felt like crying, but not in front of Zack.