— Chapter 18 —

“Zach!” Oscar shouted as he and Asha walked purposefully down the street. The name felt strange and unwelcome in his mouth, like a bad-tasting vegetable he knew he had to eat. But he and Asha had been calling it for more than an hour as they shone the flashlights up into trees and over the roofs of houses.

A man standing outside watering his lawn heard them shouting. “Who are you kids looking for?” he called out.

Oscar and Asha glanced at each other quickly as they walked over to the man.

“It’s my cat,” Asha said. “He loves to climb trees, and sometimes he gets stuck in them.”

“Well, good luck. I hope you find him,” the man said. “If I find a cat in a tree, I’ll see if it answers to ‘Zach.’”

Oscar giggled as the man walked away, and Asha poked him with her crutch.

As they walked to the outer edges of the neighborhood, the houses became farther apart, and the sidewalk eventually disappeared. They stopped when the paved street underfoot became a dirt road. Up ahead, Oscar could see a handful of houses and trees, but only one or two dim lights on front porches broke up the darkness.

“Oscar, I have to go back,” Asha said. She balanced on one foot and rubbed under her arms, which were sore from her crutches, despite the gravity repellent. “The library will close soon, and I have to go there before I go home. I can’t lie to my mom.”

Oscar nodded. “It wasn’t your fault, anyway,” he said. “You shouldn’t have to rescue him.” He took the repellent out of his backpack and sprayed some more on Asha to make her walk home easier.

“Will you be okay by yourself?” Asha asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Oscar replied. “I’ll tap on your window when I get back.”

Asha pointed her flashlight straight at him, and he squinted and tried to shield his eyes. “Don’t stop until you find him,” she said.

He sighed and nodded. Then Asha started back up the street, and Oscar and his flashlight beam disappeared down the dirt road.

Oscar had never really been afraid of the dark before, but he had also never been surrounded by this much darkness — especially not by himself. The sun had set, and the tiny sliver of moon didn’t provide much light. The trees and unlit houses on the road were the same color as the black sky, so he couldn’t see them until he swept over them with his flashlight.

Oscar could hear his heart beating in his ears. He decided then and there that quiet darkness was much scarier than loud darkness. When it was this quiet, little noises became much, much bigger. A twig snapped under his foot, and it sounded like a monster chomping on a bone. Oscar accidentally kicked a pebble along the road, and the POCK-PUH-POCK sound it made as it bounced made him jump.

But then another noise sounded in the dark — a whimper. Oscar was embarrassed to think that he’d made the noise. He looked around to make sure no one had heard him, and realized how silly it was to be self-conscious when he was clearly alone.

Then he heard the whimper again. It wasn’t him! Oscar shined his flashlight around him but saw nothing.

The next whimper came from somewhere overhead. Oscar shined the flashlight upward and saw the branches of a big tree on his left. It was spindly and sharp looking and didn’t have the thick leaf cover of the tree in his backyard.

“Here!” the whimper said.

Oscar’s flashlight beam found a foot high up in the tree. The foot connected to a leg, which connected to a torso, which connected to a boy’s face — Zach! Oscar barely recognized him. The bully’s face was red and puffy, like he had been crying for hours.

“Who is that?” Zach called out in a shaky voice. “Can you help me?”

Oscar hesitated. Zach couldn’t see him unless he shined the light on himself. He switched the flashlight off and thought for a moment. What if I help Zach get out of the tree, but then he beats me up? Or steals my flashlight and leaves me here in the dark? Or what if he wants revenge for what I did to him, and he gets his friends together and they gang up on me?

But the puffy eyes and red, tear-streaked cheeks didn’t seem to want revenge. It wasn’t a bully Oscar saw in the tree — it was a scared kid who had no idea what had happened to him.

“Hello?” Zach called out, sniffling and hiccuping. “Are you still there?”

Zach sounded so frightened, Oscar decided he should reassure him a bit.

“I’m here,” Oscar said. He made his voice sound as deep as possible, so Zach wouldn’t guess it was him right away. “Hold on a second.”

Oscar knew he had to use the gravity repellent to help Zach get out of the tree, and Zach would want an explanation of what it was and where it had come from. If Oscar didn’t help him, Zach might tell the police what had happened, and they would definitely demand an explanation.

Oscar thought he now understood another of his grandmother’s sayings — he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

As Oscar weighed his options, Zach continued to whimper in the branches overhead. Oscar decided to do something that was either very brave or very stupid. He wouldn’t know which until the next day.

Oscar sprayed his shoulders, stomach, and back with a light mist of repellent, then put the bottle in his backpack. He tucked the flashlight into his belt so the light would shine on what was above him. Feeling lighter with the repellent’s help, Oscar climbed the tree easily and made his way up to the high branch where Zach was stuck.

When Zach saw Oscar’s face, he turned even redder, but not from crying. His face became familiar and mean again. “You!” he cried. “What are you doing here?” He angrily rubbed his eyes and runny nose with the sleeve of his shirt.

Oscar took a deep breath. He decided to act tough, like he was in control, even though he was terrified. “Look, Zach,” Oscar heard himself say, “you’re stuck up here, and I can get you down. Do you want my help or not?” He was surprised at how strong he sounded.

“You’re the stupid jerk who did this to me!” Zach cried. “Why should I trust you?”

He has a point, Oscar thought. Maybe he had to apologize in order to get Zach to trust him. The idea of apologizing to a bully made him angry. Zach wouldn’t apologize to me, he thought. But Oscar reminded himself that he was not a bully.

Taking a deep breath, Oscar said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I scared you.”

When Zach heard this, his face did something interesting. His eyes continued to glare, and his mouth sneered. But his eyebrows lifted in surprise. His nose must have been confused, stuck in the middle, so it continued to run.

Oscar almost laughed at how funny Zach looked, but he decided that would be unwise. “I can help you down, Zach,” he said, “but first you have to trust me.”

Zach looked at Oscar and then at his own leg. He shifted it an inch and winced. It occurred to Oscar that he might be injured.

“Are you okay?” Oscar asked.

“I’m fine,” Zach snapped. “It’s just a sprained ankle.”

Oscar took another deep breath and reminded himself to act like he was in control. “Let’s get you out of this tree,” he said firmly.

“How are you going to do that, loser?” Zach scoffed. “I’m bigger than you.”

Oscar winced at being called both a jerk and a loser in the span of a few minutes, but he forced himself to look Zach straight in the eye. “Do you trust me?” he asked.

Zach glared at him. He sneered, then smirked, and then seemed to run out of mean faces to make. “I guess I don’t have a choice, do I?” he said finally.

Oscar took a deep breath, unzipped his backpack, and took out the bottle of gravity repellent.

“AUUGH!” Zach cried, panicked. “Get that stuff away from me!” He tried to move away but shrieked in pain as his foot twisted.

Oscar waited for Zach to calm down and stop shouting. “It’s okay,” he said. “This stuff is only dangerous if you use too much. I put wayyy too much on you today.”

Zach stared at the bottle. “What is it?”

Oscar still wasn’t sure he could trust Zach with the repellent, so he decided to give him only as much information as he needed. “Watch,” he instructed. He took off his backpack, sprayed it lightly with repellent, and let it float upward a few inches.

As Zach watched, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. The corners of his mouth lifted into a tiny smile.

“See, it’s safe if you only use a little,” Oscar said. “If I spray it on you, gravity won’t pull you down as much, and then you’ll be able to get out of the tree without falling. When it dries, you’ll float down to the ground.”

“Where’d you get that stuff?” Zach asked, his eyes narrowing.

Oscar panicked. He couldn’t risk telling Zach the truth. He decided that telling a big lie was okay in a situation like this one.

“My uncle invented it, and it’s top-secret,” Oscar said. He thought for another moment, pondering whether Zach would try to take the repellent away from him. Oscar decided to take a big risk in order to protect the caboose. “I’ll give you this bottle to keep,” he continued, “but you can’t tell anyone about it.” He didn’t know if a bribe would work, but he couldn’t think of what else to do.

Zach’s eyes narrowed, and Oscar could tell the other boy was thinking about how much fun it would be to have a bottle of the repellent all to himself.

Finally, the bully shrugged. “Okay,” he said.

Oscar hoped Zach believed the story about his uncle and that he wouldn’t see the connection between the repellent and what Oscar was about to say next. He took a deep breath.

“If I’m going to help you and give you this bottle, I need you to promise me something else,” Oscar said. He tried to sound stronger than he ever had in his life. “Leave that caboose alone. I found it, and it’s mine.”

Zach sneered. “Whatever. Just ’cause you saw it first doesn’t mean it’s yours. It’s a free country.”

Oscar’s eyes narrowed as he thought fast about how to make Zach take him seriously. “If you go near it again,” he said, “I’ll tell my sister that I rescued you tonight and that you were crying when I found you. She goes to your school, and she’ll tell everyone.”

The sneer finally left Zach’s face. His eyes moved back and forth, and he seemed to struggle to turn his face from scared to mean again. “Fine, loser,” he muttered. “Just get me out of here.”

Oscar’s heart beat faster when Zach called him that word. The heat that had crawled up the back of his neck earlier that day returned. But this time he felt stronger — braver. He sat up tall and looked Zach straight in the eyes.

“STOP CALLING ME A LOSER!” Oscar shouted.

Zach leaned back and held up his hands in front of him. “Okay, okay! Chill.”

Oscar took a deep breath. Zach hadn’t exactly promised him anything, but he felt like he was in control, at least for the moment. “Ready?” he asked Zach.

The bully looked nervous, but he nodded. He winced as the first mist of gravity repellent hit his stomach, then relaxed as Oscar sprayed it lightly over his shoulders and back.

“Let go,” Oscar encouraged. “I’ll shine the light on you so you can see where you’re going.”

Zach let go of the branch. “Whoa!” he exclaimed as he floated away from the tree. He untangled his foot and grabbed it midair, screwing up his face in pain. “Now what?” he called out to Oscar.

“Don’t move around too much,” Oscar called back. “Wait for it to dry, and you’ll land.”

Oscar pointed the flashlight at Zach until he was sure he would land safely and then sprayed a small amount of repellent on himself. As Oscar pushed himself down out of the spindly tree, he realized he didn’t hear Zach below him. That made him nervous.

Oscar landed gently and shone the flashlight around him. Zach was still there, leaning against the trunk of the tree. He held his left foot off the ground and made a face.

“I think I broke something,” Zach said quietly. “It really hurts.”

“Here,” Oscar said. He sprayed some gravity repellent on the injured foot, and Zach’s face immediately relaxed as the foot floated effortlessly several inches above the ground. Then he sprayed Zach’s chest and back very lightly, so he would be lighter and could hop on his right foot more easily. When he was finished, Oscar put the repellent in his backpack, went to Zach’s left side, and stood close to him. “I’ll be a crutch.”

Zach hesitated, then put his arm around Oscar’s shoulder and leaned on him. Oscar was surprised to realize that Zach was only a few inches taller than he was. The bully had always seemed so much bigger.

The boys started up the dirt road, hobbling along in silence for a while. Finally Oscar said, “Hey, Zach?” The name felt different coming out of his mouth now.

“Yeah?” Zach said.

“What was it like to fly?” Oscar asked. “I mean, before the stuff wore off?”

“It was all right,” Zach said. “I saw some cool stuff up there. The thing is, though…” he trailed off and glanced at Oscar sideways.

“What?” Oscar asked.

“Well… I’m sort of afraid of heights,” Zach admitted.

Oscar tried very hard not to laugh, but a giggle escaped as he tried to imagine a bully being afraid of anything.

“Shut up!” Zach cried.

Oscar cleared his throat to hide the last giggle. “I’m afraid of spiders,” he admitted. He wasn’t certain, but out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Zach nod.

The two boys continued to walk and hop in silence. After ten minutes, they reached a corner, and Zach pointed down the street to the right. “The hospital’s that way,” he said.

“How do you know?” Oscar asked. Thanks to all his broken bones, he’d been to the hospital many times himself. But he didn’t know quite where it was.

“My mom works there as a nurse,” Zach said.

Oscar raised his eyebrows. He couldn’t imagine a bully having a mom, but the more he thought about it, the more obvious it seemed.

The two boys headed down the street toward the hospital. Zach didn’t call Oscar a loser once during the entire walk there. But Oscar wasn’t sure he actually knew his name. When they reached the hospital, Oscar left Zach standing at the door. “I hope your foot is okay,” he said. He paused for a moment. “And… I’m sorry.”

Zach nodded and lightly punched Oscar in the shoulder. Oscar decided that might be the closest a bully could get to actually apologizing.

Oscar reached into his pocket and pulled out the spray bottle of gravity repellent. He handed it to Zach and looked him in the eye. “You’ll leave the caboose alone. Right?”

Zach nodded and put the bottle in the pocket of his jeans.

It was impossible for Oscar to know whether Zach was telling the truth, but he figured he had no choice but to hold up his part of the agreement. “Be careful with it,” Oscar added. “You only need a tiny bit.”

“Duh,” Zach said. Oscar thought he saw him smile a tiny bit.

Suddenly Oscar realized he had a problem: What was Zach going to tell people about his foot? How would he say he’d injured himself?

“What are you going to tell people about this?” Oscar asked, pointing at Zach’s left foot.

Zach shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, dude,” he said, as he hopped through the sliding doors into the emergency room.