The Heroes

Principal's office

It began in science class . The teacher was discussing heat and energy and called on Jesse to explain the First Law of Thermodynamics . Jesse, who had been sidetracked away from his homework the night before by an exciting new book called Merlin's Mistake, began a stumbling definition.

"UM...the first law ..well , that heat is the same as energy . Or , no , I don't mean that. That if you do a certain amount of work you use up energy -- uh --heat--and you--"

From Rich came a snort. " You sweat," he said, out loud. The class snickered. The science teacher said, "Perhaps you can help him out, Rich."

"Sure. Easy. When you perform a certain amount of work, the energy used is converted into a certain amount of heat . "

"All right ." said the teacher ."You'd better jot that down, Jesse."

Jesse sat down with his face burning. Smart guy , he thought . Always has to know the answers. Later in the day, a group of them were in the gym making decorations for the PTA Halloween party. A boy named Noel was cutting out orange paper jack o' lanterns for the windows. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and said , " All this kid stuff--too bad we can't have some real big pumpkins."

Jesse was on a ladder , pinning up crepe-paper streamers. "We don't need pumpkins.' he said. "We can use Rich. He's got a natural jack o'lantern head."

There was some laughter , and Jesse went on, "Hey. Rich, how about it? All you have to do is hold a flashlight in your mouth. Gug! All that hollow space inside would light up -- the eyes would shine--man! Halloween fun!"

"Oh, shut up," said Rich. "You didn't shine so much in science, did you ?

Jesse climbed down, twisting the paper streamer. "Very sharp," he said . "Oh, that was funny . No, listen , I've got a better idea. We could use you for trick or treat . People would give us almost anything to keep from having to look at you ."

Rich's mouth tightened .He couldn't think of insults as fast as Jesse could.Jesse glanced at him . He could see that Rich was getting angry , but he couldn't stop . There was a kind of dangerous pleasure in teasing him this way, like taking a dare to stand on railroad tracks when the train was coming . As he pinned the end of his paper streamer to the wall , rhymes came popping into his head . When that kind of thing happened Jesse could no more keep quiet than he could help bleeding when cut. He struck a pose and began reciting:

There was a goblin name of Rich,

Got married to a big fat witch.

His father was a ghastly ghost,

Who said I'll tie you to a p--------

At that point, Rich slammed into him and they both went down . They rolled around once or twice and Rich got in a punch before the gym teacher, Mr. Onez , jumped down from the stage and came running over to pull them apart . "All right , what's going on ?" he demanded. Nobody said anything . Mr. Onez tried again . "Who started it?" Jesse rubbed his shoulder , where the punch had landed. He decided he wouldn't say anything if Rich didn't. Rich was silent. The other boys looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes but nobody wanted to be a snitcher . Mr. Onez said in annoyance , "Okay. You can both march up to Mr. Surnido's office , and do your fighting in there . Get going." They went. They walked side by side along the corridor , their footsteps thumping glumly in the silence for everyone else was busy somewhere . Jesse gighed , tapping his knuckles against the tiled walls as he went, feeling sorry for himself. After all, he'd had the worst of it . All he'd done was spout a silly poem and then he'd been knocked down and had hurt his back and been punched on the shoulder . And rich had really started the whole thing. He shouldn't have been so nasty in the science class . Then, as if to double the injury , Rich said out of the corner of his mouth , "You wait'll we're through with old Surnido .I'll get you later ." A shiver of worry went through Jesse , but he said as boldly as he could . "Yeah ? I'd like to see you . " It was too late for more talk , They were at the principal's door . They hung there for a long moment, hesitating.

At last, Jesse said, "Well, go ahead . What's the matter , you scared?" With a scowl , Rich opened the door . Jesse, determined not to be outdone, crowded in on his hells . They stood open-mouthed in astonishment. The room was large and flooded with light from four tall windows. Its was lined with shelves on which were crowded glass flasks , dark blue bottles , and instruments of curious shapes nestling beside huge leather-bound books. Bundles of herbs and what looked like dead birds and mummified animals were hung along one wall . Neither of the boys had been in the principal's office , but this certainly didn't look like what they had imagined. They did, however , know Mr. Surnido when they saw him . And if they were sure of anything it was at that neither of the two men who stood at the far end of the room was the principal of Brixton Junior High School . One of them had a gray leathery skin, seamed and wrinkled as an old snapping turtle. He had a short messy beard that looked like the sweepings of a Shredded Wheat factory , and on his long thin nose he wore two pairs of glasses . The other man was fat. Not just stocky , or pudgy , or lump , but balloon - shaped , with short round arms and no neck . His little mouth was pursed into an O , and his hands looked almost too fat for the fingers to bend . He said in a clear , high voice, "Splendid . It worked . " Behind the boys the door shut with an ominous click.

The notion began to form in Jesse's mind that something was wrong . But he said, "Sorry. We were supposed to see Mr. Surnido."

"Come in, gentlemen, come in," said the fat man. "Don't be alarmed. It may seem confusing at first, but you'll grow used to it." The bearded man. Pushing one of his pairs of glasses up on his forehead and peering through the pair , grumbled, "Perhaps it was a mistake after all , Crump. Two of them! And they seem very young." The fat man waved his short arms like a penguin. "No, no Don't worry. Come in, young sirs, do. Take a seat - two seats. We will explain everything. Open the circle, Magnus." Jesse now saw that on the polished floor there was a circle drawn in white chalk . He and Rich, when they had entered the room , had stepped into it. Other strange marks, triangles, six- pointed stars and words that made no sense, were drawn in and around it . The bearded man held a white staff in one hand , and with it he rubbed away part of the circle. Rich muttered, " I don't like this . Let's get out of here." Until that moment, Jesse had been thinking the same thing . But now sheer perversity made him say, "Go on if you want to. I'd like to find out what it's all about." He knew already that there was something very peculiar indeed about all this . Inside him , there was a fluttering of fear but, stronger than that , of anticipation and excitement. The fat man had seated himself , with a long sigh , in a wide armchair near one of the windows. He motioned to two other chairs . Jesse took one and Rich, after a moment's hesitation sat in the other