Chub
Cartwright’s Spirit Guide : Yellow Radish
Why was
I chosen?
Why did
Yellow Radish pick me?
Chub is
building a Flying Saucer in his backyard.
Principle Characters
Chub
Cartwright
Khaki
Wormburrow
Impurity
( Papaya ) Doggeral
Incestia
Fuchsia
When
Chub was only 4 years old; It was apparent that he had a precocious talent for
drawing, and mechanical drawing at that. His parents; Edith & Whitecollar
began with early hopes of Chub becoming a famous Architect or Engineer, and
although they bought him stacks of technical journals & expensive drawing
tools, It was soon clear that Chub was only interested in drawing one thing.
Flying Saucers, or more accurately; One Specific Flying Saucer.
Whitecollar
Cartwright took his son to expensive psychologists and was gently told that
Chub was probably Autistic, and would require life long supervision, as he
would never emotionally or intellectually develop beyound that of a 6 year old.
The
Cartwright’s didn’t believe this; As Chub seemed to be relatively normal other
than his preoccupation with The Flying Saucer that he drew nearly constantly.
When he
got to be 8; He suddenly stopped drawing The Flying Saucer and became an
obsessive bookworm, reading mostly chemistry & physics texts. At least once
a week, he would ride his bike to any one of The local universities or
community Colleges, corner a physics professor and get them to explain some
fine point regarding atomic theory, quantum structures or well established
dogmas that he invariably rejected.
He
became such a pest that several of The universities obtained court orders
barring him from setting foot on their campus’. But this was largely
unnecessary, as he soon tired of arguing with them anyways.
After a
year or so of reading voraciously; He abruptly stopped and began doodling
again.
When he
started drawing again though, it wasn’t The Flying Saucer, But geometric
looking graphs & what a lay viewer may have interpreted as algebraic
equations. When his parents showed these papers to mathematicians &
physicists though, they insisted that they were merely gibberish, and The
School psychologist said that he was engaging in ‘Drawing Behaviour’; Which was
quite different from actual drawing.
His
parents were sure that these appraisals were mistaken, and refused to have him
committed as everyone suggested that he should have been. The School District
even went so far was to have Chub’s parents charged with Parental Neglect &
Abuse, by forcing him to live at home & not in an institution where Chub
could receive all The Medications that he obviously needed.
It was
only after spending their live savings in legal fees were they able to fend off
this attack. With what little money they had left; They moved to a small house
in another town, changed their names to Peckeral & Magus Northtoes, And
never mentioned Chub’s peculiar habits to anyone ever again.
Chub
was able to remain Chub, as he refused to answer to any other name.
Magus;
Chub’s mother. home schooled him The best she could, and despite Chub’s
inability to learn any skills that might appeal to an employer; He won an
Interstate Lottery for 238 million dollars which should have set him for life.
Chub
gave 26 million to each of his parents and distributed most of The remainder to
other relatives and 3 of his friends from his old neighborhood.
He kept
only five hundred thousand for himself, which he converted into ten’s &
twenty’s and hid all The bills in a series of shoeboxes that he hid in many
different locations. Even his parents weren’t privy to where The shoeboxes were
located.
He also
was savvy enough to purchase a house of his own in a nice quiet neighborhood
and arranged with The town’s council to pay for all his property taxes,
electricity & Water for perpetuity in one lump sum payment which they
readily agreed to. Apparently it was their belief that this amount, which was
never disclosed, was quite excessive for The expected lifetime of Chub.
Then he
started to build The Flying Saucer in his backyard.
He had
chosen this house for two principle reasons;
One—
The Backyard was sufficiently large enough to accommodate The Flying Saucer,
And
Two— The lady that lived next door reminded him of A TV Character that he was
especially fond of.
The
lady next door; Horice Littlebats, turned out to be a very friendly woman that
liked to bake cookies & pies, which she often shared with Chub. Everyone in
The Neighborhood quickly came to understand that Chub was eccentric, in a
harmless sort of way, and easily tolerated The Flying Saucer, even after The
Initial Frame Work topped out over most of their houses. A local Television
Crew came out to interview him about The Flying Saucer, but at that time; It
looked quite ridiculous, and not at all like something that would even support
its own weight, and all of The Answers that Chub gave The nice lady that
interviewed him were completely incomprehensible to everyone there.
So that
thereafter; No one showed too much interest in him or The Saucer.
Occasionally;
Someone would drive through this town and hope to spot The Flying Saucer, but
in The Summertime, The Thick Foliage hid it, And in The Bitter Winter months,
The Snow kept everyone away.
It
wasn’t until Chub made some friends with three girls that walked down his alley
every day on their way to & from school that anyone really showed any
substantial interest in Chub’s project.
That is
where The Story Begins.
The
Three Girls were:
Khaki
Wormburrow
Impurity
( Papaya ) Doggeral
Incestia
Fuchsia
They
brought a pizza & A box of Diet Cokes over one sunny friday afternoon, On a
day that Chub happened to be taking ‘off’ and was laying on The Grass beside
The Saucer. A few flies were crawling on his bare back and this tiny amount of
contact with other living beings seemed to be just The right amount to sustain
his psychological equilibrium.
When
Chub saw that The girls had brought a pizza, he immediately warmed to them, and
was also delighted that when they asked questions about The Flying Saucer, they
asked intelligent followup questions which strongly suggested that they were
attentively & thoughtfully listening to his expositions.
No one
had ever ‘really’ shown any interest in The Project before.
Never.
That
morning, Chub had been painting over The (x Section with a Paint that
Catalytically Hardened into a Material substantially Stronger than Diamond.
This was Interlaced with Another ‘Paint’ that Foamed up when drying, forming a
QuaziCyrstaline lattice that was also substantially stronger than any material
known to mankind.
When
Impurity Doggeral, Whom most everyone called; Papaya, asked where he’d gotten
these paints from; Chub said that he’d created them himself, although The
Formulas came to him in waking dreams that ‘Yellow Radish’ had transmitted to
him.
This
was The First Day, The first time; That he had ever mentioned Yellow Radish to
anyone. That was how comfortable he felt around these girls. He went on to
explain that The Name; Yellow Radish was probably not The Actual Name of Yellow
Radish, but that’s what it ’Sounded’ like, although; He’d never really heard
The Name either.
The
Waking Dreams were very odd; As if he were perceiving them with Senses that his
Body wasn’t equipped with. He would see & hear & feel things in these
waking dreams, but The Colors were outside The Colors he could see with his
Eyes, The Sounds were unlike anything he could hear with his Ears and he felt
things that only his Soul could Touch.
The
Girls nodded, taking this all in, and actually seemed to empathize with what he
was saying. This was so uncharacteristic of all of Chub’s prior experiences
with people that he began to suspect that there was something very odd about
these girls and frankly told them so.
‘Oh
yes; Everyone thinks we’re odd.’ blurted Incestia.
The
other girls nodded knowingly.
‘You’re
The Only person that I’ve ever met that didn’t seem completely crazy.’ Added
Khaki.
‘What
about me?’ Shot Papaya.
‘Without
Saying; You Two as well!’
‘Hehm.’
sighed Papaya.
Chub
went on to Explain how he made The Paints and some other structural innovations
as well. He even showed them The Horn of Plenty which wasn’t working yet. When
I get it operational; It will make everything else that I need all by itself,
but it’s slow going.
I have
to build The Formation Grid on The Atomic Scale, And that required that I
incrementally created 18 levels of progressively smaller tools, Each one was
used to make The Next Smaller Level. I’ll need 6 more levels before I can begin
to assemble The First Plate; And once that’s fully functional; It should all go
pretty quickly after that.
‘So how
much longer will it all take?’ asked Khaki.
‘At
least 3 more years.’
‘And
you’ve already been at it for 6 years.’ said Papaya.
‘And
then what?’ Asked Incestia.
‘And
then?’ mused Chub.
‘I
don’t know. I suppose I’ll fly it off somewheres, but Yellow Radish hasn’t
suggested at all why I’m building it. And curiously; I have not been
particularly curious.’
‘Well;
that’s not entirely reasonable.’ Interjected Khaki.
‘How
can you not wonder what this is for? Who is Yellow Radish and Why did S’he (it
pick you to for this?’
‘OhKay;
I have wondered a little. And I did mention to a Psychologist when i was 9 that
someone was showing me The Flying Saucer that I was Drawing back then. And he
said; ‘Who is Showing You?’ and I tried to explain how The Images came to me,
and Dr. Greenleaves made it clear that he thought that I was possessed by a
Daemon.’
‘And
did he arrange to have you Exorcised?’ Asked Incestia.
‘No; I
refused to see him anymore and I never mentioned where The Images were coming
from. After that; I just let The Process come through me without giving it
anymore thought. It was so incredible to See & Experience what Yellow
Radish was showing me, I thought that if i began to Question it; It would stop,
And i most definitely didn’t want it to stop.’
‘Well;
It’s probably an Alien, And you just happened to have The Same Brain Frequency
that S’he(it does.’ Suggested Khaki.
‘Or
maybe Chub is A Reincarnated Alien and his visions are Memories from when he
was A Completely Different kind of Being.’ Added Papaya.
‘Maybe
it’s an Evil Alien, and his isn’t a Flying Saucer, But a Doomsday Device that
Will Destroy The Earth!’ Screamed Incestia.
‘We’ll
just have to wait and see.’ Concluded Chub.
‘Aren’t
you worried, At least a little bit?’ Asked Incestia.
‘I
can’t explain my confidence that this is going to be all right, and I can’t
even begin to suggest how Important this all is; But I’m absolutely sure that
things are being taken care of to complete this project beyound my backyard.’
‘What
do mean by that?’ Asked Incestia.
‘Things
have happened; Very unlikely coincidences & such that have forced me to
conclude that I am only a small part of A Larger Scheme. If any of The Other
members of This Project have doubts, The World will either be destroyed or
Saved by Action or Inaction.’
‘We’ll
just have to wait and see.’ sighed Incestia.
When
The Girls left later that first afternoon, each was sure that they’d become
part of this Greater Scheme.
And
they were.
