116. Uncle Jumbisack

“Whoever has a comic has a treasure,” said Don Alonso.

It was another bright summer morning and he was enjoying it reading comics with some Leafies under the golden sunlight, sitting against the Owl Wood Manse wall. We had told Don Alonso we knew of a fine spot to enjoy a good read at and had taken him there with us.

“I can’t thank Michael enough for allowing me to borrow comics from his collection. While studying the list of vocabulary of jobs and occupations in English, I was drawn to that of super hero. And now I’m learning all about them.”

While Don Alonso and the Leafies read, Alpin and I searched for magic pencils that might be lying hidden among the grass and the wild flowers that grew along the wall. We didn’t find any. But there was a hole in the wall and we began to think we might find what we were looking for on the other side of it.

“I wish I were a super hero,” sighed Don Alonso.

“Why?” asked Vinny.

“They’re like knights, but with science instead of magic aiding them.I think I wouldn’t be breaking my promise to refrain from being a knight errant if I became a super hero. Even scientists couldn’t object to that. And no one ever made me swear I wouldn’t be one.”

“If you want to do something dangerous, crawl through that hole in the wall along with us and see if you find a pencil or more on the other side. We’ve been warned it could be dangerous,” said Alpin, “and there’s safety in numbers, so are you with us?”

                  
“Yes, it’s dangerous,” said Vinny. “We Leafies are well aware visitors aren’t welcome in the manse.”

“We’re not visitors. We’re trespassers. And there’s no sign saying there’s to be no trespassing,” distinguished Alpin.

“You can tell that to the man with the sack. If you have time to,” said Vinny.

“There’s a man with a sack in there? Like the bogeyman?”

Vinny nodded.

“We call him Uncle Jumbisack. My cousin Johnsie fell through one of the chimneys in the manse one fateful evening. It was like falling into a black hole. Tell them how it went with you, Johnsie.”

Johnsie said he wished he could. But he couldn’t remember a thing, though he knew for sure something dreadful occurred.

                   

“After my fall, I woke up in a nest hanging from a eucalyptus tree somewhere in the tropic of Capricorn. It took me months to get back home. But I consider myself lucky. I don’t know how, but I’m sure I eluded a sad fate. Although I can’t remember what happened, I have nightmares about sacks that are full of moving, writhing creatures to this day.

“All the more reason to barge in there!” cried Don Alonso. “That sinister and unfriendly master of the house owes Johnsie an explanation. And if he is up to something dastardly, we’ll invite him to put a stop to it. Oh, how excited I am! I’m about to return to my chivalrous ways, but this time with the blessing of Science! However, there are two details I must see to first. I will need a mask. Two holes made in this red scarf I’m wearing and it will do for now. I will also need a new name. It would defeat the purpose of the mask if I were to act under my authentic name. ‘Super Quijano’ won’t do because I would be giving myself away. ‘Mancha Man’ is so good that somebody is probably already using it.”

“Call yourself The Raving Reader for The Bookworm is already taken,” suggested Alpin.

I didn’t say anything because I had noticed that there was a very odd kind of writing on the wall. It seemed to have just appeared. And I had the strange sensation that it was meant for me to read.

“You remind me of the man...” was written on the wall.

“I´ve seen this on mortal TV,” I thought. “It’s from an old film.” And I asked the wall, “What man?”

 “The man with the power.”

That was suddenly scrawled on the wall. I was right. It was just what I thought it would be. It encouraged me to continue and see if the wall would too.

“What power?”

“The power to tear me down, Arley!”

  

“Wow! You’re really speaking to me!” I cried out loud.

Everyone turned to see why I had shouted. But my eyes were fixed on the wall.

“Tell the man with the sack what the man with the power plans to do with this place,” wrote the wall.

“Why did you shout, Arley?” asked Alpin.

“Guess what? I’m reading a talking wall!”

“Save me, Arley!” supplicated the wall.

“We’ve enough with one mad reader!” shouted Alpin giving me a thump on the back of the neck. “Follow me! I’m crawling inside!”

And he and Don Alonso and our Leafy friends crawled through the hole.

Before I followed them inside, I saw the wall had written, “If you do as I ask, I’ll tell you where you can find two of the pencils you are looking for.”

“Yes,” I said. “I’ll do that. I’ll speak to the man with the jumbisack.”

It may sound odd to some, but I felt a kind of loyalty to that wall. I had played by it and leaned on it to rest and scrawled on it for years. And it had appealed directly to me. I felt it deserved to be repaired, not felled.  

"Do you think this kid will have what it takes to break the news to Mr. Jumbisack?" the Owlwood Owls asked themselves.