The Heroes

Professor Ilbird

When they had crossed the bridge, the boys found themselves in a busy street. Redwater seemed more crowded than the other city they had been in; the people walked more rapidly, the voices were louder and there was an air of bustling liveliness about the place. They stood on a corner under the overhanging second story of a large inn. They had to keep dodging out of the way of people going in and out of its courtyard. They strolled along a tree lined avenue looking curiously at the shops and booths. Some of the shops were open to the street, and in them shoemakers tapped, metalsmiths hammered , or potters worked at their humming wheels. They turned into another street where there was a market under a long roof set on stone pillars.Booths were crowded close together, full of fruits and vegetables, shining fish, or sides of meat hanging from hooks , and the place was noisy and good – natured.

They went go down the lane that took them to Fimble Square. At the end of the row, on a red door, they found a plate that read Professor Armand Ilbird. They stood hesitating and at last Jesse stepped boldly forward and rapped at the door. The door was flung open. A smell of burning and drift of blue smoke came out and after them appeared a large red-faced man with a bulbous nose . He wore a patched bathrobe and carried a frying pan in which were two shriveled sausages. And that’s when Jesse thought of applying as a cook. “We’re looking for work.” Jesse said, “and we’re both expert cooks. “Cooks?” he said “not just water- boilers? Not just toast- burners? Real honest-to-goodness cooks?”

“Yes sir”

Professor let them in and led them along a dark passage into a brick-floored kitchen. They did what Professor asked to eat.

After serving the food they never wasted time to look for the next strand because Professor will be back about an hour. They took out their jade stones and looked everywhere, touched everything in case the stone will shine. But the house is so big for them to search in an hour.  The Professor came back and so the boys were hard at work in the kitchen –they scrub angle by angle .  Professor asked for some warm milk for his vocal cords  that needs coddling. Jesse carried the glass into the study. He stood waiting for the Professor to return the glass.

“What do you teach , sir?” asked Jesse.  Singing ?”

Singing?” Professor Ilbird turned purple and began to pant with fury.

I teach screaming. Screaming, my young dullard, is beneficial to the health. It keeps the body in tone and releases all harmful residues in the blood through proper expansion and exhalation. Screaming may be used for signaling at long distances, for the expression of emotion, and for defense.

“I see” said Jesse politely, although he didn’t.

They gave Professor Ilbird his dinner and then had their  own at the square kitchen table. They washed the dishes, swept the floor-and went up to their  attic room. Their window faced north. Jesse leaned his elbows on the sill and looked out. To his left, the sky was faintly flushed with the last of the sunset. Suddenly, far to the north, the sky blazed for a moment with a light that sprang up and died away.

“Hey, look at this,” he called to Rich, who was washing his face in a basin, with water from an earthenware pitcher. They could see a dazzling streak like lightning , but upside-down lightning , which sprang from the ground , shot toward the sky, and vanished. An  arc of violet fringed with pure white rose up.Then all was dark again.

“Northern lights?” Jesse said, at last. “Or maybe a storm?”

Rich shook his head slowly. His eyes glinted in the twilight.

“It had something to do with the wolf,” he said

“How do you  know?”

“I just know. I could feel it. Couldn’t you?”