Enchanted (Sequel to Brian Selznick's Wonderstruck

       Enchanted (Sequel to Wonderstruck)

  The wolves were chasing Ben again. He yelled, tossed, and turned. Ben tried stepping aside to let the wolves pass, and sure enough, they did. He followed behind the eager wolves, till they stopped at the library where Ben's mother used to work. Ben slowly opened the heavy wooden door to the library, but unsurprisingly awoke.

  He gasped as he stretched his legs and yawned. Ben had had this dream every night after the accident when his mother died, except he never thought to step aside until he met Rose.

          Ben missed his mom immensely. He couldn't help to not burst out crying when the thought came to the back of his head. His life was a mess; being deaf in now both ears, not knowing sign language, writing everything on paper to communicate, hanging out with his best friend Jamie every day, and barely getting by without going to school. For all Ben knew, he was a sack of coal living in his grandmother’s apartment with two pairs of clothes. Ben needed to get a life. 

The open door to his minute ten by ten foot bedroom started to creek open.

"Ben, are you awake Sweetie?" Ben's grandmother, Rose, lipped as she shook him awake. She barely could move in the tight cluttered apartment. At least it seemed cozy, unlike where he used to live. "I thought of a spectacular place to go for Jamie's birthday! Both of you will love it!" Rose wrote down with neat handwriting.

"Oh Yeah! Jamie's birthday! Can we throw a party please?" Ben hoped while he forced his tired hand to write.

"Well, let’s not jump to conclusions here. We can't have Jamie all to ourselves. It's his decision, he and his parents need to spend time together, too, you know!" Rose laughed as she wrote.

"Oh, Right," Ben concluded.

"So get ready, you have a big day ahead of you." Rose exclaimed while she left the minuscule room.

As Ben prepared for his outing, he wondered what Rose had planned for the following day. He came down for breakfast, showered, dressed, and enthusiastic. As Ben scoffed up the appetizing potatoes, he glanced at Rose.

"When's Jamie gonna' be here?" Ben urged while Rose checked the clock.

"Well he said he would be here by nine-thirty, and it's already ten, honey, how about you run over to his house." Rose explained. Ben ran down the stairs, and crossed the busy street to Jamie’s apartment, luckily he lived right across from him, “small world” thought Ben. 

"Hello," Ben addressed, as someone opened the bulky door. He had a piece and paper in his hand, ready for a conversation with Jamie.

"Hi, Ben" said Jamie’s mother.

"Hi Mrs. Hopkins" Ben spoke with a sturdy tone.

"Yes. Well Ben, I’m sorry to say, but we have some troubling news” Mrs. Hopkins wrote down.

"Okay," Ben could still talk, not very well, but he would rather be able to talk poorly than not at all. He could say short phrases and names like “Hi” “Bye” “No” “Yes” “Rose” “Jamie” “Ben” and “Walter.”

Jamie cannot accompany you today," She wrote down in bad handwriting. Ben looked at Mrs. Hopkins face, and she was tearing up.

"Why!" Ben had a sour, depressed look on his face, but still determined to find out why Jamie could not attend.

"Well, Ben,” Jamie's mom confirmed, still sniffling. "He's lost and no one can find him." Ben did not see that coming.

Ben was speechless. Without even thinking, he ran home.

Attempting use sign language, Ben messily told Rose “Lost friend, Jamie, don’t know where?” Rose had a hard time understanding, for she was deaf too, but she finally got it and went speechless.

Ben got out a piece of paper, "Do you know anything, like, if he got kidnapped, or ran away, or anything!" Ben wrote with fury. Wouldn't you if your first best friend you've ever had was kidnapped, or hit by a car, abused by his parents?

"You know, my mother was a famous actress, my favorite actress too. When I ran from Hoboken to New York City to see her, she told me I could be kidnapped just because I'm deaf. I told her “Anybody could get kidnapped, even the healthiest little boy,” Rose inscribed.

"Oh. Shouldn’t we go out to find him? Contact the police? Send out flyers! Anything!" Ben was scared.

"Honey, it hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet. He'll come back, but before we really start worrying, I'm gonna show you what I planned for today.”

The two walked down Broadway Street to the subway. As they headed East, Ben asked, "Why didn't we wait for Jamie, even for a little longer?"

"Life has consequences. I decided to make a consequential decision to leave Jamie, because where we are going takes a while to sign in and get the equipment. Decisions and consequences are the biggest things in life; it's all about making decisions, and good or bad consequences come out of them. My fingers are cramping, but take this into consideration Ben.” 

“Okay, but, Grandma, do you think Jamie will return?”

“I don’t know, Ben, I don’t know.”

The subway train arrived at Rose’s destination. What Ben saw was a truly, dingy and un-welcoming underground space, that he’d only observed a few times. For Ben, the ride was an adventure already. He had rarely been on a subway train, and normally walked and rode taxis everywhere. As Rose and Ben climbed up the steps, Ben saw the complete opposite of the underground space.  What stood in front of him was the famous Rockefeller Square. He’d wanted to go here since the first day he came to New York.

“Guess what we’re doing today, Ben!” Rose mouthed.

In his head, Ben imagined gliding across the perfect ice in the Rockefeller Square ice rink. In my dreams, he thought. But instead of mouthing “Ice Skating,” he shrugged.

Rose struggled to make an example of an ice skating position, but Ben put on a smile. He wrote down on the notepad, “Ice Skating.”

Rose smiled. She too had a childhood dream of gliding across the ice, although, she dreamed of doing it with her mother.

Rose and Ben walked into the mall. They went up to the long line of people waiting to get their skates. After half an hour, Rose and Ben tromped awkwardly into the rink. At first they clenched onto the side barriers, not ever wanting to let go, fearing they would fall. But as they hour passed by, Rose merged into the center of the rink. She grinned with pride, happy to be alive. Soon after, Ben did the same thing. He never thought he would be there, coming from a lake in Minnesota, to the “Big Apple” city in New York.