The Onyx Stones 2: How Alexander and Cricket Save Uncle Chad

With Hero curled at her feet, Cricket listens, again, as I read from the odd narrative Uncle Chad has penned in his journal:

June 26, 2015 (continued)

“As I promised, I can now tell you my name. It’s Josh.”

“Josh?” I repeated. “Josh what?”

“Just Josh. And I’m here to offer you something.”

I crossed my arms. “I don’t need anything you’re selling, young man. I’m not spending a dime.”

At that, Josh smiled that aggravating smile of his. He pulled something from his pocket and laid it on the table.

“Really?” I said when I saw the object. “You think I want to buy a rawhide necklace with a polished stone? No thanks.”

“But it isn’t just any necklace,” Josh said.

Then before I could stop him, Josh slipped the lanyard over my head. I felt the stone land in the hollow of my throat. I grabbed at it and protested, “I said I didn’t want to buy this thing.”

“Oh, there’s no cost,” Josh said. “It’s a gift from the one who sent me.”

“Look,” I said trying to sound reasonable, “I’m not in the habit of accepting gifts from strangers. I’m sure he (whoever he is) means it as a kind gesture, but I’m uncomfortable with this. Please take it back with my thanks-but-no-thanks.”

Josh replied, “But you don’t know yet what the necklace can do.”

I rolled my eyes at the ceiling. “Okay,” I said, “let’s get this over with. What does this wonder necklace do?”

“This,” he said.

One word. That was all.

And as he said it, Josh clicked the stone on his lanyard against the stone on mine. And in a dizzying instant my reality changed! I looked down to see that my feet were no longer on the floor. Like a couple of balloons, Josh and I were rising toward the ceiling. And then somehow, we passed right through the ceiling and into the sky. Higher and higher we climbed, through the clouds and beyond.

Faster and faster we flew. When we entered the vacuum of space, I was sure we were going to die. But it didn’t happen.

We raced on. At the edge of the Milky Way, the nearest stars streaked past us like bullets.

Now we acquired a target, a planet. A mere pinpoint ahead of us. The orb expanded every fraction of a second as we approached. Finally, it loomed ominously, and terror filled me. At the speed we were hurtling we were certain to crash at any moment. Instinctively I curled up, shielded my eyes, and screamed.

But in the last fraction of a second before our imminent demise, our headlong rush stalled into a marshmallow of slow motion. I can’t explain it, except to say that it was as if time expanded, and we hung suspended only inches from the surface. Then we were deposited on the ground as gently as snowflakes on a winter day.

Before my brain could catch up, Josh reached out and steadied me. I stared past him at palm trees, sand, and a sun setting behind a horizon of pyramids.

Were we back on Earth? I didn’t think so, but it was so like the Earth I knew.