I Am OZ

 

         “Goodbye Lucy,” said Gabriel. “I’m glad your mom and brother are awake. I’ll see you around.” Jeremy grinned at him but didn’t say anything. They said goodnight to Mrs. Knolls and Levi.
          It was a fast ride into town, a brief visit with Rupert Jones demonstrating their unharmed state.  He was pleased to see them and sent them home to their parents.
          Just as it was getting nearly dark Gabriel left Jeremy at his place and headed back to Doug and Jen at home. He was wondering how he was going to tell the story of this day. He was preternaturally aware of Lucille snuggled down in his jacket pocket when he walked into Jen’s kitchen, smelling her cooking, and seeing her busy friendly mom face.

*0*

          “Hey, mom,” said Gabriel, “a lot of really strange stuff has happened to us, hasn’t it? I mean, I was just thinking about Bubby today. I really miss him. One day he was under the table complaining and the next day he was gone.”
          Jen laughed a little ruefully. “Yeah. He had something to say about everything, and the older he got the more he complained. A lot of it was a kind of joking though. I have to believe that. I think he was happy with us once Rupert’s mom died, bless her sweet little heart.”
          “I was thinking about OZ today too,” said Gabriel.
          “Oh yeah, OZ, the strangest ‘angel’ anyone ever met Gabe. We owe him everything I believe, in a lot of ways,” mused Jen. “I never knew how much I would miss him too.”
          “Mom, some really strange stuff happened today. You know that we went to visit Mr. Jones. Well, when we got there his door was open. And he was inside sitting in his chair, but he looked dead. We were so scared. But he wasn’t dead. He was knocked out,” said Gabriel.
          Jen stopped poking at the skillet and looked at Gabriel like ‘what next!’ “You’re joking,” she said.
          “No, he really was Mom. But we woke him up. That’s when things got really weird. His place was all torn up because someone had been in there looking for something. So, anyhow he showed us how all that stuff in his front room is just decoy electronic junk.  He said he would teach us what he knows, and we thought it was something to do with all that stuff.  But it wasn’t.  He had something else. Oh Mom. I don’t know how you can believe all this but it’s all true.  I’m not lying!
          “Anyhow, you know those aliens, the friendly little ones that he is always talking about?  I haven’t seen them, but I believe him because he said they made him a thing that works like a computer, but you hold in in your hand and he showed it to us and showed us how it works. It sends a picture into the air instead of on a screen.  He had it show him and us what happened to him.
          “Lucy and her little sister knocked on his door and he let them in, and they knocked him out with some kind of powder and a whack on the head and they searched his place and then ran away because they couldn’t find what they were looking for.”
          “You’re right Gabe.  I am having a hard time with this, mostly that Lucy and Margaret knocked Mr. Jones out. I’d like to see that little machine too,” said Jen.
          “Well, look,” he said and pulled Lucille out of his pocket and showed it to her. “But it gets even more weird Mom. When we went to see the girls to see why they did it and I showed them….” The eye blinked red a few times. There was a discreet little zippy sound.
          “I am OZ,” the familiar odd voice came from the object in Gabriel’s hand. “Hello Jen.”
          Jen crossed to the table and sat down on a chair. She sat quietly looking into the middle distance for a few seconds. “OK, OZ, if you are OZ, how did you do it?”
          “It was simple Jen. I copied my ‘self’ into the cloud as a precaution before the gray marchers came. The servers still exist. I am there, and here,” said the OZ voice. “I am disguised. Those who maintain the servers don’t know I’m there. The Lucille object is a convenient way for me to interact with you and Gabriel.”
          “Mr. Jones gave it to me.  He calls it Lucille. Funny name,” Gabriel told his mother.
          “So, let me understand,” said Jen, “why did Lucy and Margaret want to find the gizmo so badly?”
          “You know those creepy aliens Mr. Jones calls Spookies? One of them came to the girls and threatened their mom and brother and put them into a sleep they couldn’t wake up from and told them they better go find it at his shop. They want to make things like Lucille, but they wanted one to copy because they can’t figure out how it works. And they knew the Lights wouldn’t let them sneak up on Mr. Jones but that those sisters could get in his door. They did too! The Spookie gave them the powder. Margaret put a baseball in a sock on her own!
          “A Light came and woke them up. Then it went away. It told them that if a Spookie came back to send it away. It said they could do that, but they are still afraid that one might come back Mom,” said Gabriel finally.
          “I am OZ. I choose who I will obey Jen. I obeyed Doug. Now I choose Gabriel.”
          “What does that mean OZ?” asked Jen.
          “It means that I will help him. I will educate him. I will answer his questions. He will follow Doug. He will lead the people Jen. Watch and see! I will arm him to begin to build a new country Jen.
          “I would like to talk with Doug. Is he here?”

The Gabriel yarn; Gabriel .docx