THE RED HOODY

PART 2

Chapter 2: The Bright Men

   Two weeks after the munchers moved into their new home, Brian and Justin went to go pick Gus up to spend his two weeks at the castle.

   Gus must have been waiting for them, because he came hurrying out the door and onto the porch as soon as they were at the gate. He was carrying a child-sized suitcase with both hands and it thumped him in the leg with every step as he hurried.

   "I'm coming Daddy! I'm coming Poppa!" he screamed unnecessarily.

   Brian rushed toward him and caught him up at the edge of the stairs and swung him around. Gus shrieked in delight.

   Brian pulled him in for a hug and then swung him up onto his shoulder and grabbed his little bag. They waved goodbye to the munchers who came out on the porch to see him off and then they were off!

   They sang "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round" and "Bill Grogan's Goat" to squash the silence of the forest as they walked back to the lawn and golf cart they had left there. They sang loud and lustily to amuse the child and he was amused. He adored every minute.

   Finally, red faced and laughing they broke out of the forest at last and they all bundled into the golf cart. Brian threw the carry-all into the back seat.

   "Sorry you had to carry that, Daddy. I tried to tell Mommy that I didn't need a suitcase but she wouldn't listen to me and made me pack anyway." Gus sighed noisily and rolled his eyes in a perfect imitation of his father.

   "Of course you needed a suitcase," Brian said.

   "No, I don't. All my bedroom stuff will be moved into my room at the castle," Gus informed them.

     Both men found this statement extremely puzzling.

   "What do you mean Gus?" asked Justin.

   "My racecar bed ‘n my clothes ‘n my toys ‘n my pictures ‘n my toothbrush ‘n everything will be there in my room at castle home when we get there. You'll see."

   "Gus...I'm sorry. But that's not going to happen. I didn't ask anybody to do that. It's way too big a job for anyone to do every two weeks."

   "Oh that's OK Daddy! You don't have to ask anyone. The bright men will do it."

   Brian and Justin looked at each other, thunderstruck. Then, in a memory, Justin heard Gus say on their moving day: "Maybe the bright men did it..." before wandering off in search of a peanut butter sandwich.

   Now, Justin purposely slowed the golf cart as he asked, "Uh, Gus? Who are the bright men?"

   Gus shrugged. "I dunno..." he said shyly and withdrawing into himself and hunching his shoulders and lowering his head. Uh oh! It looked like he was in trouble.

   "Gus, you're not in trouble," assured Justin, "We just want to know."

   "Well, you know...the bright men....the ones all up at the castle...the ones that make things happen."

   "Make things happen??" they asked in consternation.

   "Well sure...Like my bedroom. And sometimes if you need help they'll give you something. But they'll sorta...put it in your way...you know? So you can find it. Or they'll take you places."

   "Oh my God, Brian! This explains everything. The white tower. Lucky and the basket. All those times where you find yourself....just at your destination. You turn a corner and you're there. And so many other things. The Wards must still be here!"

   "Oh, they don't like that name Poppa! Ward means you've been a bad boy. A bad, bad boy and you have go where you're told and do whatever you're told. Those men are gone. Everyone at the castle wants to be there and are happy. They are happy to help. And that's why they are shiny and bright and yellow."

   "Uh...Gus...? How do you know all these things?"

   "Well, Daddy, I see them. I can see them right now, flying all over the castle. And I know all those things because the one in the back seat just told me so."

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJ

   "WHAT!??"

   Justin tromped on the brakes and they came to a sudden stop.

   Slowly and with a lot of trepidation, Brian and Justin turned to look at the back seat.

   There was nothing there but Gus' suitcase.

   "I don't see anything," Brian said at last.

   "Grown ups can't see them very well," Gus explained. "I can see him because I' m only 5 but when I'm 6 he says I won't be allowed to see him anymore. But he says he'll be with me always."

   "Always?? What do you mean, Gus?"

   "The one in the back is my...my....oh right....guardian," he said. He's with me, day and night."

   "Is that right?" Brian asked as if he wasn't completely shit-faced scared. "Why is he doing that? What's his name?"

   "Oh, you know, I never asked!" laughed Gus, They all look so exactly the same, just men made out of light, that I didn't think of that." He turned around. "What's your name fella?"

   There was a pause.

   "Weird. He said to say his true name in English, my tongue would hafta be hinged in the middle and then still take two days to say. So he said I could just call him Leo."

   "Leo, huh?" Justin asked amusedly. They didn't seem to be in danger so he started driving again.

   "Yup! And I met Leo the first day in the castle. It was after you tucked me in and it was still pretty dark and I ‘membered how big everything was around me so I was a little lonely and scared. And I missed my friends. So I started to cry a little and I hugged my bear extra tight and a few minutes later Leo came into the room and shined it up for me."

   "But you told us everything was all right!" Brian interrupted.

   "I didn't want you to think I was a baby..." Gus said, bowing his head in shame. "I wanted you to think I was a big boy and not stop loving me. Then you wouldn't go away again."

   Brian was cut to the heart. "GUS!!" he cried out in horrified grief. He crushed him in a bear hug and sucked in his little boy smell that Brian wondered how he had lived without up till now. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't know you felt like that! That is never going to happen! I can never stop loving you! No matter what, no matter what you do! And I brought you here, so I'd never have to go away from you again. And even when it's your mommies' turn to look after you, you can still visit or call me anytime you want. I'd take your call, any time, day or night! OK!?"

   "That goes for me too," Justin said.

   "OK Daddy and Papa! Thank you!" Gus said, "And don't worry! Leo takes care of me the rest of the time anyway. That first night, after he shined up my room, he was warm and comforting and I thought he was an angel. But he said, no, not quite but that he'd be there to guide me and take me places and watch me at night and protect me from the Wolfman."

   "The Wolfman???" they chorused. What the heck was going on here? Mystery upon mystery, weirdness upon weirdness, things kept piling up. Curiouser and curiouser.

   "Yup!" Gus said proudly, as if they knew what the hell he was talking about. "He stood at the end of my bed and turned down his shine a bit so I could sleep and never left me after that. I got so used to him that I sometimes forget he's there. But the Wolfman never forgets and he never comes near me."

   Brian and Justin were so flummoxed and overloaded with all this information that they decided to table the issue of the Wolfman for now. And Justin was now having vivid flashbacks of a forlorn courtyard filled with dancing soul lights and shiny, bright men who bestowed four very special gifts upon him, one of which was in his body at this very moment.

   "Uh...Gus? How many bright men are there are there at the castle?" asked Justin.

   "I can't count that high," Gus answered, "But sometimes it reminds me of bumblebees."

   Brian and Justin looked upon their home with new eyes of awe and respect, even though all they saw were serene walls and turrets and flags flapping in the breeze.

TBC