Date: Mon, 26 Dec 2005 11:08:54 +0100 From: Harry Anders Subject: Little-Harrys-Life-6 This is the sequel from my first book 'Little Harry', and I strongly commend you to read book one first! Thus you will enjoy book two even more. You may find book one on Nifty, or you may visit my new SITE: http://www.harryanders.com and read the elaborated book from there (recommended!). 'Little Harry's Life' >by Harry AnderS, the author of 'Little Harry'< Chapter 6. Growing up, my herbs, and Jack is gone. Time passed by; and Jack taught me to speak the language nearly perfectly, as he had promised. Every day we trained for a few hours, and he never was too tired to help me. The 'authorities' even started to pay him for it, because I needed 'tutoring' and Jack had some degree in it. "You are a teacher without a school. How come?" "Well, my parents wanted me to be one. And now I do have a school, a very small one, with only one pupil." "Yes, and you let me have detention every day. I'm never allowed to leave school." "You want to leave me? Just go, the door is open..." I laughed, and crawled onto his lap: "I like the detention too much. It's more fun here than anywhere else, maybe except for the mountains." He started to tickle me, and I squirmed and tried to tickle him back: "Aren't you supposed to tutor me, in stead of torture?" "I surrender; you're too witty for me." "...I WON!!!" Sometimes Jack had to visit some place elsewhere, or buy a couple of things, and then I always sneaked through the backyards to John's house. There I met John's father, Eric, for the first time. I didn't like him at all. Firstly he was nearly never at home, and secondly he was always picking on John. The only thing he ever did, except for picking on John, was sit in his chair and smoke himself to death. At least, I nearly hoped so... I couldn't grasp Eric was John's father. Mark and Marrie both resembled him, but John looked totally different. John resembled Jack! They both had the same deep brown eyes and dark brown hair with little curls around the ears. The rest of the family had hazel eyes and different hair. Mark and Marrie were now used to my devastated face, and accepted me in the family. Trudy, John's mother, seemed to be fond of me, and I liked her too. I even started to call her 'Mum'. Eric acted as if I didn't exist at all, he totally ignored me. And that was okay with me! Sometimes Thomas and Chrissy joined us, and together we had lots of fun. We played hide and seek in the backyards, and every time they told me I was the best, as it was nearly impossible to tag me. I was used to moving invisibly and silently to set traps in the mountains... They teasingly told me I could be an excellent spy after I had grown up a bit. One morning I woke up, and looked in horror at a small tooth with some blood on it. It had been loose for a couple of days, but all the time I had hoped it would fasten again. Now I was devastated! "JACK! Help me! My teeth are falling out! I don't want to wear false teeth; I'm way too young for that!" Jack opened his eyes, looked sleepily at my tooth, and grinned: "Don't panic, you're only growing up. You are losing your baby teeth, because your grown-up teeth are growing behind them and pushing them out of the way. Have a look in the mirror, and then you will see the new tooth appear." I jumped out of the bed and went to the mirror. There I could see Jack was right! A tiny tip of the new tooth was already visible. I felt relieved, and crawled onto Jack's stomach to resume my nap. The next day the other children teased me with the gap in my mouth, asking me when I would have my false teeth. With a proud face I told them that within a couple of weeks I would be a grown-up now, and have lots of beautiful new teeth in my mouth! I had to go back to the hospital, to undergo the next surgery. The doctors would try to loosen my skin a bit more, and remove the wild flesh that had grown back. They would try out a new procedure this time, which could give my skin a nicer colour with less scars and wild flesh afterwards. Of course I was a bit nervous, but Jack would be there to help me, and that was a reassuring feeling. "When I am back from the hospital, I want to have a small garden in a corner of the backyard, to grow a couple of herbs." "That's a good idea! Do you know what herbs you want to grow?" "I only know a few of them, but perhaps we could visit a farmer, or buy a book about herbs?" Together we went outside, to have a look at our backyard. "This is a nice place I think, with not too much sunlight, and it's sheltered from the wind." Together we painted a couple of cobblestones, using a thick white paint from the garage. When they were dried, I put them in a square around the sheltered and secluded place where I wanted to plant my herbs. "That's the first thing I'm going to do when I'm back from the hospital!" The surgery went well, and the colours in my face were slightly better. Only now my body started to itch when I was too sweaty, and that was very annoying. The doctors offered me some oil with a sedative in it, to smear my scars with, and that helped for a while. Jack visited me every day; and one day I told him I was bored to death and wanted to go home. The next day he had a present for me, carefully packed in a brown paper. Curiously I opened the paper, and stared in awe at a big herbal learning book full of coloured pictures! My throat choked up and I couldn't say a word for a long time. I threw my arms around his neck and nearly crushed him. The next days I was buried in the book, as the nurses teasingly told me. At first I had difficulties in reading all those strange words, but after a while I started to read better and faster. It was as if the book became my reading teacher. I spelled out all the descriptions of the many hundreds of herbs; and at last I knew exactly which herbs I wanted to grow in my garden, what they needed, and how I could use them. After a couple of weeks my body was sufficiently healed, and Jack brought me home. There my five friends waited for me, and we ordered pizzas with everything on it except those too salty anchovy fishes. Jack had rented a projector and a nice film, and that evening I saw a real film for the first time in my life. Of course Jack had to play the film a second and a third time, and we all bellowed with laughter when he let the film play backwards and suddenly all sorts of very strange things happened. At that time I was a very happy boy! Unfortunately my scars started to itch after a few hours, so I shucked all my clothes and threw them into a corner: "Sorry, but my body is starting to itch all over. I think my underwear is too tight. John, will you scratch my back?" John was used to my being naked, but the other children stared at me with bulging eyes: "Look at that, you are burnt all over your body! Even your pecker is shrivelled..." From that time on I nearly always walked around in the nude, except for when we had visitors. Jack bought me underwear that was two sizes too big, and that helped a bit. Every night he massaged my scars with the sedating oil, so that I could sleep without itching too much. Jack, John, and I went to a gardener, and he advised us where we could buy some herbs; while I tried to hide behind Jack as much as possible. We went to a big store that was selling all sorts of plants and trees, and I started to tremble all over with enthusiasm. At first I tried to hide behind Jack and John, but soon curiosity and enthusiasm took over and I forgot about my devastated face: "Look here, that's an herb that isn't in my learning book! And those few herbs over there I want to plant into my garden, all of them! Where do they have the oregano? Could I plant some garlic too? I like the smell of mustard, but that's not an herb I think?" I had no idea about the other customers. Maybe they looked at me and pointed, but I didn't even SEE them... We went home carrying wagon loads of all sorts of nicely smelling herbs. John helped me with the planting, while Jack tried to advise us. Soon my little garden turned out to be way too small, and we had to move all the cobblestones to create more room. I was elated! With painstaking precision I poured half a cup of water onto every single herb, talking to them and telling them I wanted them to grow and nicely spice our food. They listened to me! Within a few weeks I could use all of them, to experiment with all sorts of different tastes. One morning John appeared at the front door wearing a teddy bear mask. At first I didn't recognize him, and dove behind the door to hide my scars and my nakedness. John laughed and growled at me, trying to tickle me. Now I recognized him and started to tickle him back. We went upstairs, where Jack tried to get some more sleep. "Jack, look! I've brought a nasty bear with me from a circus." Jack laughed, but wanted to sleep a little bit longer, so I asked John: "Do you want to accompany me in the shower, and wash my hair?" John acted a bit shy at first, but hesitantly undressed and put his clothes onto a chair. Together we went to the shower, where we had lots of fun in using at least half of the shampoo and swimming around in enormous lather-clouds. After a while a sleepy looking head appeared around the corner, and started to laugh: "What are you two doing? Deprive me of all the shampoo?" Jack joined us, and now we had even more fun! We left the shower, looking like shrivelled prunes. We dried each other, and went downstairs without even thinking about dressing. John looked at us and at himself, and chuckled: "Now we are real naturists! And I like it. It's fun being in the nude." "That's what I was used to, in our mountains. We never wore any clothes, except for when it was too cold." "I think I want to live there too!" "I wish I knew where my country is..." We prepared breakfast, and decided to refill our food stock. Jack took a piece of paper, and we looked in all the cupboards for what we needed. John took his teddy bear mask, and looked at me with a questioning face: "You could put the mask onto your face, and join us in the supermarket..." I thought it over, but hesitated: "You think they will not tease me, and try to pull the mask off my face?" "I will defend you with my life! Don't they DARE to touch my little brother!" We started to laugh, and I decided to give it a chance and join them. The supermarket was FUN. I was wearing the mask all the time, even when my face started to itch after a while. I was driving the cart, and all the customers pointed to me and laughed. That felt much better than calling me names! I even started to do a bear dance, soon accompanied by a few children. A little girl took my hand, and together we danced everywhere around the market, until we reached Jack and John. The store owner waited for us at the entrance, and handed both of us a big tablet of chocolate: "Thank you for the show! I loved it, and I hope you will be back soon. It was a good publicity stunt." John and I bowed, and followed Jack to our car. We drove off, waved at by the owner and a couple of cheering children. The next day John didn't show up. I had no idea why. Maybe he had to do some chores first? We didn't see him for the whole day. The following morning a raging John stamped inside: "That son of a bitch! He threw your mask away, and I got detention for BEGGING!" I started to grow, and my mouth filled up with new teeth. Jack had to replace all my clothes, because I was much taller now. I went back to the hospital for another major surgery, and now my lips looked a little bit better and my little pecker was less shrivelled. But the itching remained. My seventh birthday went by while I was in the hospital, but John was allowed to visit me there. At first he looked a bit pale, seeing all those nasty beeping machines and the plastic tubes; but after a while he got used to it and we started to play little games to dispel the boredom. Jack brought a big cake with all sorts of tasty thingies on it, and together we devoured it in no time. Within a few weeks I was allowed to leave the hospital, and life resumed as if nothing had happened. The children had to attend school, and I attended Jack's small one-pupil class with all-day detention. Don't think I didn't love it! Summer arrived; and now I went outside nearly every day, to play hide and seek in the backyards or to sneak around through the surroundings. Every dog and cat knew me, and they all enthusiastically greeted me when they saw me. Dogs and cats don't care for how your face looks! Now and then John and I accompanied Jack downtown, but we always remained in the car while Jack did the shopping. I didn't want to let people spoil my mood by calling me names or staring at my crippled face. Jack and I had long talks about my fears: "Harry, it's not important how you look. It's important who you ARE, and what you think of yourself." "I know, but I forget it every time people look at me and call me a freak." "That will change once you are really PROUD of yourself. The looking can't hurt you, and the name-calling is only a vibration in the air. Those people can't hurt you, but you are hurting yourself by reacting upon what they are doing." "Yet I wish they would stop staring at me so much..." "There will be a time when you are staring at them and teaching them how to behave!" I couldn't really believe it... Summer went by, and the winter neared. I tried to stay outside as long as I could, but after a while my scars started to be very painful and I had to warm them up a bit. Unfortunately there was no snow, as I was used to in the mountains. A snow scooter would be of no use here! After a while the winter ended, and again a very important date neared: March the third, my birthday! My eighth birthday was a real festivity. Jack and John had decorated the house with loads of balloons and serpentines. All the grown-ups and children came by to congratulate me, and soon the table was covered in presents. I felt loved and lucky! The day ended too fast, and a very happy now eight-year-old boy went to bed and curled up in Jack's safe arms. The next day daily life resumed its own pace. Slowly the winter turned into spring, and spring turned into summer. And summer meant: play hide and seek in the backyards with my friends! Vacation neared, and now we could be together for the whole day. I loved it! One day Jack didn't feel too well, so we decided to go upstairs a bit early. We showered and went to bed, while Jack looked a bit pale and shivery. I curled up into his arms, and soon I was dreaming of many people who were listening to my wise words. I told them to be proud of themselves, and to accept all the others just as they were, without any prejudices or imposing their beliefs onto them. In the middle of the night I woke up, as Jack desperately shook me: "Please, my precious friend, dress in a hurry and go to John's parents for help. I don't feel too well..." I hurried out of the bed and quickly dressed, promising Jack to be back as soon as possible. I jumped down the stairs, and raced out of the house. The street looked desolate and scary, and I hurried to John's house, being five doors away. I rang the bell a couple of times, until some light appeared from above; and Eric's head showed up, looking from an opened window: "What do you want? Don't you know what time it is?" "But... Jack doesn't feel too well, and he asks you to help him!" "That's none of our business. Now go back to bed." At that moment Trudy's head appeared, and she seemed to forcefully push Eric away: "Don't you DARE to refuse that little boy our help! Just a moment, Harry, I'm on my way." Soon Trudy appeared from the front door, closely followed by John who was thirteen years old now. I told them what Jack had asked, and we rushed to our house. I opened the front door with the key I always had with me since my eighth birthday, and we hurried upstairs. Jack was lying on his back, with his eyes slightly opened and a faint smile around his lips. The room was surrealistically silent. My eight-year-old brain couldn't comprehend what had happened, but my soul knew: Jack was gone home, to the place where he really belonged. I slumped down onto the bed, and took Jack's body into my arms: "Jack, please wake up! We are here to help you..." He didn't react, and he felt strangely chilly. Trudy lifted me off the bed and tenderly took me into her arms: "I think Jack is very ill, and now we will go downstairs to call a doctor." I nodded, while deep in myself I knew there was no need to call a doctor. Jack was dead. We went downstairs, and Trudy called a doctor. He arrived within a few minutes, and confirmed what I already knew: Jack had passed away. "Look at the smile on his face. It's as if he's telling us he did the right thing by sending the little boy away..." Trudy and John took me with them to their house, where they prepared a bed for me in John's room. We tried to get a few more hours of sleep; but I felt lonely and crawled into John's bed. He threw his arms around me, and together we drifted off into a deep and peaceful sleep. The next couple of days passed by in a state of numbness. The children carried my belongings to John's house, where they were stowed away. My desk went to their garage, and my clothes went to an empty shelf in John's cabinet. Eric didn't want me to attend the funeral, but I made an enormous tantrum for the first time in my life, and they were severely shocked by the fire in my eyes that nearly burnt holes into the walls. I HAD to attend Jack's funeral, as he was my second father and my very best Big Friend! I saw the coffin disappear into the ground, but inside I knew this wasn't Jack. This was only his body, and I could feel the real Jack around me, comforting me and telling me to be brave. He would be there for me, and help me from where he was now. He even would send me a new Big Friend. Or did I make that up myself? I wasn't really sure... The next couple of weeks I sneaked through the backyards to my own herbs garden every day. There I sat down and cried my heart out. Now and then I could feel Jack around, trying to comfort me, but I terribly missed him. I didn't want him 'there', but I wanted him HERE... Sometimes the children accompanied me, trying to cheer me up, but they couldn't reach me. I tried to listen to them, but they just couldn't feel my pain and desperation. Only John seemed to understand me; and many times we sat together, just the two of us, in silence. He was a wonderful friend, and I felt more and more attached to him. He was the Big Brother I needed in those days. But of course John also had his own needs, and at other times he played with his friends on the streets, not ignoring me but just being a thirteen-year-old normal and energetic boy. After a couple of days a big truck appeared in the driveway, and a few men emptied the house. They took everything with them that was so precious to me, as there was the leather couch, the big bed, the stove, and the fridge. Cardboard box after box filled with all the clothes and other things left the house and were stowed away in the truck. At last the truck drove off, leaving the house completely emptied. The only thing that was left now from my life with Jack was my herbs garden. I sat there for a long time, until John took me with him to my new house to have dinner. At the table I told the family about the truck people that emptied the house, and they looked relieved as this was the first time I told them something without crying. Only Eric made a sneering remark about a single male having a house full of junk, causing John to react in an angry voice, causing Eric to send him upstairs for the remainder of the evening. Sometimes I HATED that man! Couldn't he smoke a bit more and end his life in a coffin under the ground, just like Jack? Jack... now I started to cry, causing a dead look from Eric. But he didn't say a word... After a number of weeks a car drove past Jack's house, turned around, and stopped at the gate. A tall man appeared, and looked around. He looked a bit like a nice grandpa, with a short cut beard and dark brown eyes. He opened the gate and entered the driveway, while I sneaked back into the bushes. He looked around everywhere, and even kicked one of my white cobblestones. I will GET him for that! After a while he disappeared, and I put the cobblestone upright and resumed my place, from where I could look at the street without being seen myself. I felt Jack around, but didn't pay him much attention. I even was a bit angry with him, for dying when I needed him so badly! The next day the man returned, now being in the company of a woman. She seemed to have a key, and they disappeared into the house. I could see them walk around from room to room, and look everywhere. After a long time they went away, leaving the gate open. I carefully closed it, hoping they wouldn't return, as they were without any respect for the late Jack's properties! Two days later a big van drove into the driveway; and three men appeared, dressed in white overalls. They carried lots of tools with them; and worked in the house for several days, renewing things, painting the walls, and whitewashing the ceilings. For a couple of days nothing happened. Then an enormous van appeared, and entered the driveway. Three heavy built men started to carry lots of furniture into the house. They carried several cardboard boxes into the house and into the garage. After half a day they left, neatly closing the gate behind. Well, at least they were a little bit more respectful! I waited, but nothing else happened. I sneaked nearer, and peeked through the windows. The living room looked strange now, holding another type of couch, a table, two easy chairs, and an enormous wooden desk. Who was going to live here, in MY and Jack's house? I peeked into the kitchen, holding another type of stove, a slightly bigger fridge, and a kitchen table with only one chair. Who would need only one chair? Was it a single person, or would a family buy the house, and bring more chairs with them? Were they going to use my herbs garden? Or would they allow me to keep it? Even when they saw my devastated face? Probably they would start to scream and chase me away! That night I crawled into John's arms and fell asleep. Soon I started to dream. Suddenly I saw Jack, smiling at me and opening his arms. I leapt into them, and immediately felt safe and secure. All my anger faded away. Ultimately he was my Big Friend! Jack looked at me for a long time, until at last he tilted my head: "Listen, my dear friend. Your solitude will come to an end. Soon a new owner will be living in our house. Don't be afraid and don't panic. I want you to know that I approve of him. Now go to sleep again, and in the morning you will remember this dream. Be blessed." ------------------------------------------ A few excerpts from all the nice emails you've sent me: * I have gone to your new web site which is AWESOME. The music is very kewl. It's all your fault I was up until 0200 reading! * You had me crying again as I read your last episode (4). I hate the assumption that any man who shows a caring attitude to a young boy is classed as a paedophile with evil intentions. And the evil minds of people who would set a caravan with a family inside alight is awful. Thanks harry for the ongoing story. * I write to thank you for your wonderful Story. I have followed the story from the very beginning with "Harry" then "Little Harry" and now "Harry's Life". It is beautiful to read it from Harry's perspective, but also, so sad that people have so much prejudice against others whom they don't understand. I think that this is the 3rd or 4th time that I have written to you. I don't often write to the authors except in special interest stories, as yours is. Thanks for reading my stories, and please send me your email... harry@harryanders.com Visit my NEW WEBSITE, with ALL my stories in it: http://www.harryanders.com And please write something in our FORUM... I wish to thank the Nifty archives for hosting my stories. When you have a few spare dimes, donate them to Nifty! They are doing a marvelous job. (Yes, I've donated them my euros too)