The Secret - Chapter Two

A continuation of the FABULOUS story of Tex and Bla-Lok and all his friends.

 The Secret

_____________________________________________________

Chapter Two

It was a beautiful summer night in Austin, just a little warmer than usual for early June. A honeysuckle breeze made it almost perfect. A gazillion stars filled the sky and my way to my magnificent live oak tree was kindly lit by a huge full moon so bright you could spot the spots on an albino giraffe at 100 yards. I hummed a little bit of CSNY’s excellent song, “Our House” while I walked. It was mine and Lorr….padorps favorite.

“I like that piece of music,” Blae-Lok said as I arrived. “We sing it sometimes at our gatherings. It is not much to dance to, but it is pleasant to hear.” I looked around for him and he fluttered his wings to get my attention. Ah, there he was, sitting in the crook of my beautiful oak’s lowest branch; ten inches thick, it squirmed three feet above the grass for another ten before it twisted its rough bark skyward.

“Lorr… acoochi and I like to sit in that crook, holding hands, and stare at that fat Texas moon.” I absently caressed the rough branch with my left hand and lightly hummed a bit more of our song.

Blae-Lok followed my gaze upward. After a few moments, he asked quietly, “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Yes,” I agreed. “You should have seen her when she was young.“

‘I did”

“Mmm? You did what?”

“See her when she was young.”

That took me by surprise. I furrowed my brow and cocked my head at him. “How could you have done that?”

“This is where I was born, Tex. When I was just a grub, my brothers and I would play in her young tendrils, so soft and yielding ...’’

“Whoa!” I yelled, leaping from the oak. I turned to him. “How dare you say that like that!”

Blae-Lok seemed surprised. His wings quivered and buzzed a little. “Well, I was just a grub then, and couldn’t see quite yet, but I could tell she was meant for greatness.”

“What kind of greatness, exactly?!” I shouted belligerently.

Everything stopped for a beat, then two. I stared at Blae-Lok like he was Martian -- which he practically was, in an “alien” sense. Certainly, there had never been anything like him on Earth in the history of, history -- as far as I knew,

I felt lightheaded. A low, light whooshing appeared in my head, at the back, close to my neck. I felt a push on my brain for two seconds, then it stopped and I heard laughing -- inside my head!

“What the hell!” I yelled, then grabbed my skull with both hands and fell to my knees. What was that!?

Blae-Lok sighed. “That was me, Tex.” And I was calm. So very calm. Then I laughed. I understood now, completely.

“You were in my head.”

“Yes. You were misunderstanding me, and I you. The only way to fix it was to insert my mind into yours to find the problem and …”

“Fix it.” I said quietly. “You were talking about the oak, and I was talking about Lor … Lor …”

“Your wife. Yes. And now you know how we talk. We do it all in your head.”

“But I hear you so clearly! I can tell it comes from you, where you sit. I hear it directionally!

“Of course,” said my tiny, exceptional friend.

“But why?” I began.”

“Because we do not have another … oh, of course. We do it because we need your help -- and you need ours.”

“Explain.” I was calm now. I accepted what my little friend had to say -- almost completely. I could see the answer I wanted, it was there, hiding just behind his last answer, but it would not come out. Blae-Lok was stopping it.

“Why do you not wish me to view the complete answer to my question?” I said with no emotional attachment to my query.

I wanted to know, but didn’t care if he answered it or not. In my head I saw the contradiction in that. But in my heart it really didn’t matter. This method of talking was too hard for me. I shook my head and dropped to the ground in front of my oak. There had been a slight constant buzzing in my head that I hadn’t realized was there until now -- because it faded away to nothing. I gasped and felt like my brain had been pulled out of my ears -- one half to each ear, -- then both halves had been thoroughly washed in some super brain detergent, hand-dried with rough burlap towels, then stuffed back through my ears and recombined by berserk squirrels with dull knitting needles. “Ow,” I said.

“I must apologize, Tex” said Blae-Lok, and our method of conversation was back to what had appeared as “normal.” I took a deep, satisfying breath. The warm Austin night air had never smelled so sweet, so clean.

“Wow,” I said as I raised my head to look at the sky. The moon was where it sat earlier, but it was brighter and glowed with a beautiful yellow blaze it never had before. “Wow.” At least my store of brilliant conversation was still intact.

“Wow,” indeed,” agreed Blae-Lok with an inferred smile.

“I can still feel you in there, Blae-Lok,” I said, “but it’s not the same.”

“No,” said Blae-Lok, “it is not. The beginning phase of Juning is over, the ‘churning,’ as we call it,.” He didn’t need to explain that. My hippocampic squirrels knew all about ‘churning.’

“Of course not. What’s the next phase called? ‘Screaming Madness?’” I was only half joking.

“You are such a funny guy.” said Blae-Lok. “No, it is called, ‘Joining.’ Does that ease your mind?”

“Do I have a choice? No, don’t answer. I can see -- or feel -- that It does not. But that’s okay. I’m actually looking forward to it now.” I was sure that Blae-Lok had flicked some brain switch that calmed me down, and perhaps did other things while he was in there. It sure felt that way, because I knew that the thought of his doing so should have made me run screaming to my house looking for an axe with a very sharp, bug-sized blade. Instead, I calmly said, “So, when do we begin this lovely adventure?”

“First,” my buggy puppet master said, “you must agree to our terms.”

“Terms?” There were terms? To meet a bunch of bugs? My understanding of the world was undergoing a bizarre change. I felt a little lightheaded and squatted on my beautiful Bermuda, cross-legged.

“Oh, yes,” said Blae-Lok. “Most certainly. You will be the first human to ever meet with us. You will learn our secrets and ways. So there are conditions that must be met.”

The entire world tilted on its axis for a moment and I felt myself falling. Luckily, I was already sitting, so I just fell backwards and stuck out my legs. My bunny slippers turned to each other and said something rude.

“Um,” I said quietly and thought, Am I ready for this? This sounds like a very somber affair. Then another thought popped into my head. I had a question for Blae-Lok I should have asked him much earlier but didn’t -- and I wondered why. I gulped and loud whispered, “Uh, Blae-Lok, before we go any further....”

Blae-Lok sighed. He was expecting this, certainly. “What is it, Tex?”

I squirmed a little then suddenly leaped to my feet. I grabbed my butt with both hands and twisted my head around, trying to see my backside. “Oh, noooo!” I yelled. “I’m getting grass stains all over Rick and Morty!” I cried.

I heard laughing, buggy laughing, and I glanced at Blae-Lok with slitted eyes. “You don’t understand!”

Blae-Lok stiffled his glee. “No, I surely do not. But I can enjoy it. Hee hee.”

“Hey!” I said. You don’t understand! Why not? You know everything else, down to the hair color on my testicles and the place where my first girlfriend kissed me -- and I don’t mean Saskatchewon! So why don’t you know that I don’t want grass stains on my PJs?”

“Oh, I do know that you don’t like it. What I don’t know is why.”

I slow strutted around, smirking a little smirk. “Sooo, the mighty, super intelligent mind reading bug has a problem with human humor, does he? Ha, ha, HA!”

“Do you? He asked, seriously.

“Of course! Of course, I do!” I huffed a little and blinked my eyes at him a few times. “But it’s … complicated. Uh, these are my favorite jammies, and uh, Rick, you see, is um … uh.” I paused. Hmm. “This is going to take some time, Blae-Lok, Why don’t we save this for later. I’ve got my own question. For you.”

Blae-Lok acquiesced by saying nothing.

I moved to sit on the wooden “swing” on the oak branch. “You mind?” I asked. “Rick wants to have a seat, Morty doesn’t mind. He’s still young and strong.” I waited to see what he thought of that, but he didn’t react at all except to say, “I don’t mind. It’s your tree.” But in my head I heard him more quietly say, “No, it isn’t.”

I knew what he meant (“Trees belong to everyone!”). I glared at him anyway. But enough of this. I moved to sit on MY BRANCH, and Blae-Lok rose and buzzed around me til he found a comfortable position on my knee. “Um, I know you talk in my head, not out loud. I’ve accepted that. But how did that start? Have you always been able to do that? And you’re not ‘plucking words from my head’ to use because you’ve said some words I’ve never heard before.”

“Not true, Tex. All those words and many many more are in your head. You just don’t recall ever hearing them, so of course you never use them. It’s simple really, Tex. I am not speaking to you. I am speaking with you.”

“Oh, of course. I knew that. You’re not talking to my head, you’re talking with it. And talking isn’t speaking, even when I hear you, because you’ve pulled up an easy chair somewhere behind my eyes and made yourself at home.” I paused a moment then turned to him.

“You didn’t talk to my wife, and it seems to me now that you can’t. Why is that?” My head was spinning, but I was on a roll now. I didn’t give him time to answer. I was pacing in the grass. “And have you always been able to do this? And when you …” I paused. I felt myself going pale, my eyes grew large and I slowly turned to him, then backed off several feet and looked up at my beautiful oak tree. It was in its glory, a mighty live oak that clearly towered eighty feet high, with gently gnarled branches that could easily hold a full dozen child-bearing forts.

“Blae-Lok,” I whispered, “you said that you knew this tree when it was young!” I felt him mentally nod. “But this tree is old, much older than me!. He brain-nodded again. I squatted before him, wanting to see him up close. “Blae-Lok, my friend, just how old are you?

“It is difficult to explain, Tex. “We ‘June Bugs,’ are the most highly evolved spe…”

“Yes, yes,” I said impatiently, “You said that before. Now how the f...udgesickle OLD” are you!?”

“I don’t know how old we are, Tex. None of us do. Time was not important to us until well after the change. And many of us did not survive it.”

“How old are YOU. Blae-Lok?” I may have spoken to him mentally, but I could feel myself yelling, too!

Blae-Lok sighed. “I am not sure, Tex. At least seventy years.”

“Seven …!” the rest of whatever I was going to say disappeared into the night air. “Oh, my God! I’m talking to a June Bug older than me!” My knees gave way and I irreverently sat down hard in my very young Bermuda. I heard Morty go “Ooof!”

”Did any of you ..”

“No, Tex,” We did not know George Washington. None of us did. We didn’t know anyone in the Revolutionary War, We didn’t know Lincoln, We didn’t really know any humans until fairly recently.”

“Why not?” I was a little disappointed. What a shame; there were a lot of things I would have liked to ask old Georgie. Like how he liked using wooden teeth and did the girls dig them when they french kissed.

“Tex,” said Blae-Lok before I could go off on another useless tangent, “why don’t I tell you the important things. Afterwards, you can ask all the stupid questions you like.”

I felt a little foolish, but moved back to my oak and sat once again in my favorite spot. It made Rick sigh. And his breath was a little stinky.

“A very long time ago,” started Blae-Lok, “My grandfather and a few friends went out hunting for food. It had been a very bad year for Texas -- or, the land that is Texas now. The land where we lived had suffered a terrible drought and there was little to eat. Those early forebears of mine finally ventured into a system of caves southwest of here close to where Hamilton Pool is now.”

“Oh, I know Hamilton Pool! Lorr...dybee and I used to go there years ago!” I smiled, remembering. Such a beautiful place! “There are species there found nowhere else in Texas!”

“Yes, I know.” said Blae-Lok sardonically. “May I continue?”

“Oh, sure, sure.” I still wore a goofy smile, thinking of my young wife and me picking our way down the long, rocky path between lush growth and the smell of a hundred different flowers, Lorr...labia leading the way with my eyes fixed on her ..

“Uh, Tex?” Said Blae-Lok, “”It won’t help, thinking about your wife’s a …”

“Okay, okay, okay, I’m here, it’s okay!” I said. “Heh, just a uh, ...momentary blip in the matrix, that’s all!” I grinned at my little pal, “So, whatta we do now, huh?

“I tell you how it all started, Tex.”

“Really?” That brightened me right up. “Well, okay! Where do we begin?”

“Right here.”

_____________________________________________________

“Our fathers were on a hunt; children were dying in the dirt, undernourished mothers no longer could care for most of our tribe’s young. We were dying, pitifully.”

My eyes welled. I was always a sucker for stories like this. I clutched my elbows and sniffed. They always made me think of Bambi. Blae-Lok stopped for a moment and I felt a quick smile. I waved the back of my hand at him. “Please, continue,” I whispered tearfully.

“They smelled water and it drove them on. The hardiest of them turned back to fetch all who remained of us. On their return, clutching fragile grubs to their bellies, too exhausted to sing soothing lullabies to their own children, they struggled onward…”

I gurgled a little bit and pulled my knees closer.

Blae-Lok nodded. He understood. “It’s okay, ‘Tex.’” And I felt a grin from him. “So, the balance of our people, young, old, grubs and juveniles, struggled through near unbearable heat until they saw a dark cloud approach. They stopped, so weary, and let it envelope them. It was their brethren, Tex, flush and fat from pure, clean water -- and something else, something new and wonderful.”

“What was it? I whispered, one hand clutching the other, knuckles white, my eyes like shiny quarters.

“It was fooch, Tex. Wonderful, magnificent fooch!”

I rolled the word around my tongue, trying to taste it for myself. “FOOOOCH. But what is ‘fooch,’ Blae-Lok? You said this word before, when Porky lay on my table!”

I felt, for the first time, something uncomfortable in the air, a bit dark and … purple?

Blae-Lok shifted slightly and his wings vibrated a low, bass sound I hadn’t heard him make before. I had a question in my head -- and then I didn’t... I turned, ashen, and looked at this alien friend of mine and tried to smile. I couldn’t.

“I’m sorry, Tex, said Blae-Lok. I felt him make a heavy, deep mental sigh. You cannot fathom that without feeling it yourself. It told me he was being genuine, It told me this was truly a friend who wanted to be completely truthful with me but who was being limited by those above him in his buggy kingdom. “I’m not at liberty to go into that yet.” I felt him shrug. “We don’t know, Tex. The fooch came from somewhere deep in a now long destroyed cave. But its smell lives in memory and helps us find it when we need it, in remarkable places that are not always the same places.”

I sat up straight. “But that doesn’t make sense.” I struggled with that thought, and Blae-Lok paused, not trying to help me with it until, finally, I felt him laugh. “You don’t know, Blae-Lok, do you? Not what it is, how it works, where it is or will be, nothing.” I shook my head. “Dang. But tell me, what happened next?”

“Our forebears tended to our remaining members where they found them. A constant cloud of the restored flew in slow circles above them, offering shade from the brutal sun above and warning off the hungry predators that surrounded them.”

“They could do that?” I said amazed. “Incredible. “Can you do that still?”

“How do you think we’ve lived this long? We die now only through accident. Or by willing death to come.”

My mouth was agape. “Willing it?! But why? To live … forever … would be so...” I whispered.

Blae-Lok nodded. “History is heavy, Tex.” And suddenly I could feel that weight. A crushing, awful weight. It lasted only moments, then was gone, but I had seen. In the end, it was simple: Too many ingredients spoil the soup. And life was the soup. Now, why can’t people share this way, this quickly, perfectly? I thought.

“You’ve got it, Tex. Now let me tell you what we’ve become.”

“Oh, please!” I said. “I love soup.”

If Blae-Lok could, he was squinting at me, but my head just wasn’t the same. I knew I was a kind of goofy guy. I always had been. But with Blae-Lok, I found myself feeling … smarter, more … self assured. I knew it was because he was messing with my brain, but … I really didn’t mind. Then my head would clear, like the sudden lifting of a hangover, and my old, weird self was back. Like I suddenly was, and I was both scared and fascinated. I needed to sit dow... -- and Blae-Lok was flapping his wings real s l o w in front of my left eye and I didn blame him ….

“Tex,” said Blae-Lok, “I think we may be moving too fast.” He hovered back and forth between my eyes until they crossed and I saw four of him, and he stuck out his tongues at me, all of them, while looking at me closely. “You need a good night’s rest, Tex. Why don’t you go back to the house. Have a good snuggle with Lorr….aine. We’ll start fresh in the morning.

“Okaaay. I am kina tireeee ...um.” Then that big ol moon came smiling down through the stars and the trees and said hello to the squirrels who were dancing with Morty on my crotch and Mr Mooon said CRAHNNNNGHHHHhh

_____________________________________________________

“Oh, hi, everybody. Sorry I uh, “left early” last night. I wasn’t feeling quite myself. It’s still a little early, so I’m going to have a couple quarts of coffee, then I’ll meet you down by the ol …”

“Randy!” my wife screamed, “who the hell are you talking to? I’ve been waiting for you to wake up for hours now, and I come in here and find you still lying in bed and talking to the air! What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Uh, Lor ...wrecka, I really …”

“Damn it, STOP CALLING ME THOSE STUPID NAMES!” she paused, breathing hard. “I’ve been playing along with your stupid game for weeks now! All those stupid people coming by and peeking in our stupid windows just to listen to those stupid stories you’ve been telling them, and I’m stupid tired of it! AHHHHHKKK!” Boy was she mad. I wasn’t sure what to do. I knew she was waiting for me to reply, just so she cou….Ohhhh, wait a minute! I slid out of the bed and hustled over to the bedroom window, the one that looked out over my private yacht club. I opened the window.

“Randy! What are you doing now! If you jump into my flower bed again and trample my four o’clocks, I’m gonna …!”

“Hey, Blae-Lok!” I yelled, are you out there?”

“Right here, Tex,” he said. I looked down to see him perched on the windowsill. “I’ve just been enjoying the morning sun while waiting for you to rise. I was just about to give you a wake-up call.” He flew into the room and landed on my shoulder. “Say, you’re not going to wear those pajamas again, are you? I had hoped for something more formal, for the occasion. You know, like jeans, maybe. Or a kilt, perhaps.” From the corner of my eye I could see Lorr ...alee was trying out her synchronized mouthtrap routine. Her sweet puss was opening and closing like a garage door with a haywire controller stuck on double-time.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” I said calmly as I crossed to her. Her eyes were fixed on my tiny companion, and they grew larger with each step I took toward her. She knew that I knew she was terrified of bugs of all kind -- so Blae-Lok knew it, too. I stopped in front of her and looked down at my friend, who was flexing his wings in a sure sign of dominance while doing some kind of dance on the large freckle that lived on my collar bone. I thought for a moment he would do a Michael Jackson imitation and walk backward to the end of my shoulder, but it appeared he was satisfied with just scaring the poop out of her. No need to send her screaming to the psych ward. “He’s a friend, baby,” I said in a quiet, calm voice. “Really. And I’m going to go on a little trip with him on a very important mission. Okay?”

She turned white, then whirled around in one swift motion that propelled her screaming from the room and all the way down the hall, and the stairs, and out the front door. Then realizing she was outside where bugs lived, she ran back in, still screaming, and vamoosed into her sewing room where she had many sharp instruments capable of buggy destruction, like sewing needles.

“I might have handled that better.” I said.

“Me, too.” said Blae-Lok. “But I admit I was entertained. Has she ever done opera?” I shook my head. “Pity. She could have had a real future there.”

“Mmmm,” I nodded. “Could be. “She did Pirates of Penzance once. She still knows all the words to, ‘I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General.’”

“Really?” said Blae-Lok. “But that was Stanley’s song. He’s a male.”

“It was in Junior High School. No one else in her class -- or any class -- could sing it. Just her,” I sighed. She still does, at least once or twice a year.” I did not say it happily.

“Ouch,” said Blae-Lok. I felt a mental head shake.

I looked down at him, realizing what we had been discussing. “You know musical theater?” I asked, very surprised.

“Hey, I told you I’ve been around a very long time. I saw it on Broadway, from the orchestra pit.” My eyes widened. “Why not? I get in for free.”

“That’s quite a distance from here, Blae-Lok”

“When time is long,” said my friend, “distance is short.”

“Uhuh.” We paused a moment, and I sighed. In our silence, we could hear loud crashing noises coming from downstairs. I looked at Blae-Lok and said, “We had better get going before she comes up here with her machine gun.” I could feel he was startled at that.

“She has a …!”

“No! I’m surprised you didn’t catch that.”

“Came too fast, Tex. Things like that, said off the cuff, can catch me by surprise, then reality catches up. So you can fool me for a moment, but not for long.”

“Good to know. But we had best be careful. By the time we return, she could easily have a machine gun.” He looked at me and we both burst into laughter. Then I quickly dressed, my best jeans and an old Pink Floyd tee that Blae-Lok swore would go over splendidly with June Bugs of all ages. I grinned at him and packed my cell phone -- for “emergencies,” ya know?

As I strolled away with the morning sun at my back and a large Bug on my shoulder, we could still hear Lorzilla screaming obscenities behind us. I had not been this happy in years. Oh, I knew my lovely, adorable wife would get over all of this eventually, I knew she loved me and vice versa, but damn, it was good to feel like I was in charge for a change! Then I thought about what I was doing, where I was going, and a chill ran through me. I couldn’t help but wonder just what I would find when we reached Blae-Lok’s tribe. He told me that they had been moving northeast toward us, to make the trip easier for me. I appreciated that because I am not much of a walker. I bought expensive new plush tennis shoes for this trip and paid the paperboy $20.00 to break them in. My idea of a good long ramble is writing around a long paragraph to reach a funny conclusion. Well, Blae-Lok thought it was funny.

And, we’re off!

END CHAPTER TWO

Author's Note

Again, please do not reveal anything that should be left for readers to discover.

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

I feel like I've been on a trip without even taking any LSD. It's wild, I tell ya. I 've taken note of some things, such as Tex's aural canals being abnormally huge, and Blae-lok's age means he must be one of the dunedain. (Such a long way from Middle Earth!) Also, I think Lorzilla might be Lurlene, a crazy woman who did naughty things, then punched me in the jaw.

[FlatDaddy]

Hey, no bad mouthing Lorzilla, dude (she has REALLY GOO, oo, oucWc! I'm trying to tell him, hone >OOF!< yah, yeah, sure, baby. Un, she's really really, nice, man!

[DIVYA]

Blae-Lok – The little brain surgeon is firmly in control now! He pulls Tex’s brain out of his ears and hand-dried with rough burlap towels (ouch!) then stuffed back and recombined with dull knitting needles. My brain screeched, reading that! So now he’s even deleting the questions in the Tex’s head and talking with Tex’s brain with all the brain nodding and brain head shaking. But Blae-Lok, the great bug has his restrictions too. Fooch. He isn’t allowed to talk about it. So, there’s some kind of human-type hierarchy going on, even among the super-evolved bugs. At this point, we just know Fooch is magnificent, and we must wait for more to be revealed, later.

This chapter was again, such fun to read but one has to read it a couple of times to appreciate all the little treasures in it – like your imaginative use of words to create a language for this unique interaction between a goofy human and a 70-year-old, know-it-all bug from nowhere. It’s a brilliant statement on how we’d innovate if we were to meet up with someone so unexpected, perhaps alien. A great example of flexing imagination’s muscle to create a world the reader immerses themselves in.

Blae-Lok, didn’t continue the story for he realizes Tex needs a good night’s rest and so he lets him return to bed. He’s a kind and perceptive bug. Except when he wants to scare Lor…wrecka. Loved how he did that! Blae-Lok! What a delightful little package he is! He buzzes his way straight into the reader’s heart. Where will you find a bug that appreciates opera and even approves of your t-shirt for an important bug meeting? Even I wouldn’t mind him messing with my brain.

And I was cracking up every few seconds - icing on the cake. “She still does, at least once or twice a year.” I did not say it happily.” LOL -Just too good!

I can’t wait to read more and you know it! 😊

[FlatDaddy]

Well, there certainly is more there for you to enjoy -- and I am so glad you are. I appreciate that you are re-reading parts to enjoy things you might have missed at first blush.

[DIVYA]

I'm going on to the third chapter today. Looking forward to it. :)

[FlatDaddy]

Oh, good. You've brought a smile back to my face just when I needed one.