Chapter 5
SAMI CARRIES CHARLIE on his shoulders, I carry the pole and shovel, and we cross the river. It’s an historic moment. Sami’s got our new flag in his backpack, but we haven’t seen it yet.
CHARLIE: “Don’t drop me.”
SAMI: “I won’t drop you. Stop wiggling!”
CHARLIE: “I can’t help it; your strap is invading my crack.”
SAMI: “Stop wiggling! You’re making me lose my balance.”
The river rises to our necks, forcing Charlie onto Sami’s head, like a squirrel on top of a bird feeder. There may be shallower spots, but we haven’t found them yet. It’s extremely exciting to take the last few steps out of the river and set foot upon our own brand new country. As soon as Charlie jumps down from Sami’s shoulders, we declare all together: “We claim this land in the name of democracy, and hereby call it the Kingdom of No Worries.”
Our country is flat, bald, and sandy, but it feels so good beneath our feet. It’s long and narrow, but you can lie down on it and stare up at the clouds, which we do, and at the sun, which moves in and out behind the clouds and seems to smile at us, as if it’s shining down on us with approval. Most kingdoms were probably taken by violent force, but ours is taken without a struggle, and we aren’t putting anybody out of their home. We are simply taking what doesn’t belong to anybody else, and hadn’t even existed before.
SAMI: “Let’s hang the flag.”
ME: “Okay.”
I select a spot close to the centre of the island and dig a hole. Sami pulls the flag out of his pack and ties it to the top of the pole. We sink one end of the pole into the hole, push it up straight, and stand back and stare at the flag.
CHARLIE: “It’s pink.”
SAMI: “Yeah.”
CHARLIE: “How come it’s pink?”
SAMI: “Pink is the best colour to let everyone know that they are welcome. It’s the colour of tolerance, and … it was the only decent material I could find.”
ME: “I like it. But what’s on it? We can’t see it because there’s no wind.”
SAMI: “It’s a sprouted seed. I sewed it on.”
ME: “A sprouted seed?”
SAMI: “Yeah.”
ME: “That’s good, I guess.”
SAMI: “It’s a symbol for growth.”
CHARLIE: “I saw it; it looks like a turd.”
SAMI: “It doesn’t look like a turd.”
CHARLIE: “It does. It looks like a purple turd with green hair and a pink background.”
We all stare as the flagpole begins to lean. It leans slowly to one side, then picks up speed, and then smacks flat onto the ground.
SAMI: “You insulted our flag, Charlie.”
CHARLIE: “I didn’t insult it.”
SAMI: “You have to treat it with respect, Charlie.”
Sami looks at me. I nod my head.
ME: “You have to treat it with respect, Charlie.”
CHARLIE: “I didn’t mean any disrespect. Let’s straighten it up.”
ME: “Okay.”
SAMI: “Where’d you get this flagpole anyway, Billy? It doesn’t stay up very well.”
ME: “It’s an old clothesline pole. We just need to dig a deeper hole.”
We try three more times, but the flagpole won’t stay up in the sandy soil.
SAMI: “There’s an old flagpole in the woods behind the school, a real flagpole. Why don’t we take it and set it up here properly? I don’t want our flag to hang from a clothesline pole.”
CHARLIE: “I don’t want a clothesline pole.”
ME: “Okay. Let’s get it tomorrow and carry it over. That’d be cool: a real flagpole.”
CHARLIE: “I want a real flagpole.”
ME: “Okay.”
CHARLIE: “Let’s sing our anthem.”
SAMI: “Let’s wait till the flag is flying. We should sing the anthem when we can see the flag.”
ME: “Agreed.”
CHARLIE: “Okay.”
ME: “We should put the name of our country on a sign and hammer it into the ground, too, so people will know what it is.”
SAMI: “Yeah.”
CHARLIE: “Okay.”
ME: “My mom’s got a whole bunch of wooden letters in the garage. I could probably find enough to spell the name of our country. We could nail them onto a board and paint them.”
SAMI: “Sounds good.”
CHARLIE: “Sounds good.”
ME: “Excellent.”
The next morning, we meet in the field behind the school. At the back of the field is a woods, with a ditch that’s always dry except during heavy rains. In the ditch is the old flagpole. We have all seen it before. It looks a lot bigger once we stare at it with the intention of carrying it to the river. When we try to lift it, we’re in for a shock. It weighs a ton.
CHARLIE: “This is impossible.”
SAMI: “But it’s perfect. Everybody will see our flag for miles. We have to have it. Come on, let’s carry it.”
ME: “Sami, we can’t carry it. It’s too heavy.”
CHARLIE: “We’ll all get hernias.”
ME: “What’s a hernia?”
CHARLIE: “I don’t know, but it’s from lifting something too heavy, and it’s really bad.”
SAMI: “Let’s just try.”
ME: “It’s impossible, Sami.”
CHARLIE: “I don’t want to get a hernia.”
ME: “Just a minute you guys.”
I look around. Some players from the basketball team are practising in the courtyard behind the school. They’re older than us. I recognize Jason Knight, who’s in my sister’s class, and who really likes her. I don’t know why. He’s an athlete; she’s a scholar. She thinks that athletes are born with hairy armpits. But as I watch them jump up and down on the court, I get an idea. Maybe it’s not the smartest idea in the world, but it’s an idea.
ME: “Let’s ask those guys to carry our flagpole down to the river.”
CHARLIE: “Why would they do that for us?”
ME: “I don’t know, I’ll make a deal.”
CHARLIE: “What deal?”
ME: “I don’t know. I’ll figure something out.”
SAMI: “What deal?”
ME: “Just wait.”
I run across the field, push open the gate, and enter the court where they are playing basketball. Our quest fills me with a boldness I have never felt before.
“Hey Jason!”
They stop jumping. The ball rolls into the fence. Everyone turns and looks at me.
“What?”
“Could you guys give us a hand with a flagpole?”
“What?”
“We have to carry a flagpole down to the river and we need help. It’s too heavy.”
“No way. Carry it yourself.”
They pick up the ball and continue the game.
“We can’t. It’s too heavy.”
They ignore me. One of them bumps into me and knocks me down by accident. I pick myself up and keep trying.
“It’s not that far.”
“No way.”
“It’s good exercise. It’ll make you stronger.”
“You’re in the way.”
And then, I say it. I don’t plan it; don’t think it through, like whether or not it is a good idea. I just say it.
“My sister will go out with you if you do.”
The ball stops again and rolls into the fence. Nobody says anything. Jason comes over and stands in front of me. He’s all sweaty and his muscles are bulging inside his shirt. I wonder if I will ever have muscles like that.
“She will?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, show us the pole.”
They follow me back to the ditch, Jason and four others, where Sami and Charlie are standing around like gremlins who just wandered out of the woods. They look so much smaller all of a sudden. Jason stares at the pole, looks in the direction of the river, and says, “Okay, let’s do this.”
They grab the pole, pull it out of the ditch as if it’s made of cardboard, and start off at a trot. Sami, Charlie, and I hold on as well, so as to look like we are helping, but we are probably just slowing them down. A few times on the way to the river I catch a glimpse of Sami’s eyes and I know exactly what he’s thinking: these guys would make an awesome army for our kingdom.
It takes only minutes to get to the river, and a few more for them to carry the flagpole through the water and drop it onto the ground. Then Jason comes close to me and looks me in the eye. He’s a nice guy. Why wouldn’t my sister want to go out with him?
“Tell her I’ll call her tonight.”
“Okay.”
They swim back across the river, run up the bank, and disappear. We watch them go. They look like young lions in the sun.
SAMI: “What deal did you make?”
ME: “I don’t know. Nothing.”
CHARLIE: “What did you say?”
ME: “Nothing.”
CHARLIE: “You had to say something. Those guys wouldn’t carry our pole all the way here for nothing. What did you say?”
SAMI: “What was the deal, Billy? We have a right to know. Tell us.”
ME: “Okay. I told Jason that Merilee would go out with him.”
Sami and Charlie stare at me with shocked faces.
ME: “What? What’s the big deal? She won’t go out with him. He’ll ask her, and she’ll simply say no. What’s the big deal?”
SAMI: “You’re toast.”
ME: “No.”
SAMI: “You are so toast, and you don’t even know it.”
ME: “What’s the big deal? He’s just going to call her.”
CHARLIE: “You can stay at my place tonight if you need to.”
ME: “Why are you guys making such a big deal out of this? It’s fine. My sister won’t mind. She’ll understand when I explain it to her. You guys are acting like it’s my funeral or something.”