Not the Enemy
Chapter 12
Well, the special little boy who Jack went to get was none other than Benjamin O’Brien, (and Benny Bear insisted on coming).
You see, I remember when Benjamin healed Sally’s injuries in the town fire. And then he went to heal all the other injured members of the town.
So, I thought that maybe Benjamin could help Sarmoo.
And he did.
Jack brought the little trouble and his trusty companion to the Easter Meadow to heal Sarmoo.
And then, I needed Sarmoo’s help.
I needed Sarmoo to talk to the wolves, who had stopped shivering but had stayed put.
But while Benjamin was successfully healing Sarmoo’s leg, Jack had a few questions for me.
“How did I do that?” Jack asked and gasped.
“What?” I played dumb.
“You know what. How did I use your power? I can guess that it has something to do with you heart, and that I was the one who put it back.”
“Well…” I tried to think of how to explain it. “Yes. You see, if you put one of our heart back, you obtain some kind of link between your heat and theirs. It’s like a reward for putting the heart where it belongs. Something happens to you.”
“Like when Sally learnt everything about Benjamin and she learnt that he was autistic? And that he was really good at remembering numbers?” Jack supposed.
“Yeah, just like that. And when you found my heart, you obtained the ability to use my sonic power. You have the ability to make loud sound like me, if I allow you to. You see, I have to activate it with my thoughts It’s a little complicated.”
This new information made Jack ponder.
“Hmm, I wonder what Charlie obtain from Sarmoo.” Jack asked himself.
“He can communicate in any language that I’ve ever spoke in.” Sarmoo answered for Jack.
Sarmoo started to stand up.
“You’re better, now?” Asked Benjamin.
“Yes, thank you, Benjamin.”
Sarmoo then looked towards the two wolves and the five cubs.
“Now,” Sarmoo began. “Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. In fact, I’m going to help you.”
The smaller of the two wolves cowered over the cubs, trying to protect them. And the bigger wolf moved in front of the cubs and growled at Sarmoo.
Mathew as a black bear growled back towards the bigger wolf.
Sarmoo signed to Mathew.
After that, Mathew stopped growling and sat down. Calm and quiet.
Sarmoo then turned back to the wolves.
“Please, I want to help you. We all do.” Said Sarmoo. “What is you name?”
The bigger wolf whined. And then the smaller wolf.
“Oh. So you’re the father.” Sarmoo said to bigger wolf. “And you are the mother of these cubs.”
The wolves nodded.
“Can you tell me what you are doing in the field?” Asked Sarmoo.
The father wolf whined again.
“Oh, right.” Said Sarmoo. “Emma.”
“What? What do they want here?” I asked.
“They’re trying to feed their cubs. They’ve been searching for food.”
“Well, it’s a good job they haven’t caught anyone so far.” Said Jack.
“Why would they catch people and animals if they’re wooking for food?” Questioned Benjamin curiously, obviously not knowing the cruel, cruel world for what it really is.
“I’ll tell you when you’re older Benjamin.” I said.
“I know.” Jack came to a conclusion. “What if we brought some food for the wolves. Christmas Town has plenty of food for Christmas dinners. I’ll bet they’ll like turkey.”
“Yeah! And that way they wouldn’t have to…err…well…they wouldn’t be a danger to the meadow, let’s put it that way.” I tried to change my words to make them suitable for Benjamin’s ears.
“Well,” Said Benny Bear. “I think we should get going. These cubs look so hungry.”
“Tell you what then. I’ll stay here with Sarmoo. And Jack, can you escort Mathew, Benjamin and Benny Bear back to Christmas Town?” I suggested.
“Of course.” Said Jack. “And I’ll be back with the best turkey for these furry little things.”
…
Right then, this is how it went. Jack took Benjamin, Benny Bear and Mathew back to Christmas Town. And I stayed with Sarmoo and talked to the wolves.
It turns out that their cubs got lost in this part of the meadow. Their parents came looking for them, and when they found them, they became lost as well.
They wandered to the meadow where they found plenty of food things wandering around the field.
The wolves forced the rabbits, hares, chickens, mice and beavers into the burrow. And the birds and squirrels had to stay in the trees.
The wolves roamed around, unable to get inside the burrow and they’d been looking for food ever since. It was nearly five days ago when this all began.
But, soon enough, Jack was back with a sack full of food kindly offered by the elf cooks of Christmas Town.
“Here you go, fellas.” He said, emptying the contents of the sack in front of the wolves.
Craps of meat on the bone fell out of the sack and the smell of hot, cooked turkey steamed out and floated over to the wolves.
The puppies suddenly leaped with excitement. And actually leaped on to the meat and bones and began chewing and munching happily.
The parents looked at each other, and then began to dig in them selves.
“Well, I’m glad everything is sorted out now.” I said. But then I thought of something. “But what are we going to do when we’re not in Christmas Town or the Easter Meadow? What if we have important business in another holiday world. Who’s going to feed them when we’re not here?”
“Well, Emma,” Jack began. “I’ve been talking to Mathew and he said that when we go to the other holiday worlds, he’ll feed the wolves.”
“Hang on a minute, Jack. How did you know what Mathew said? You don’t speak in sign language, do you?”
“No. But Charlie and Sandy Claws do.”
“Santa?”
“Yes. Apparently when he was visiting children on Thirty-First Street, he talked to this little girl in sign language.”
“Oh, so he can understand Mathew?” Asked Sarmoo.
“Yes.” Jack replied.
“So, Mathew’s gonna stay in Christmas Town when we travel to the next holiday world?”
“Yes. But, I’ll tell you now, Emma, Mathew won’t be alone.”
I began to wonder what he meant. He wasn’t going to stay here while I searched the holiday worlds alone, was he?
“You see, Emma, I must now make preparations for my wedding. Christmas is less than a week away.”
“Oh, I remember. You want to get married to Sally on Christmas.”
“So, you understand, if you wish to search the next holiday world as soon as possible, I won’t be able to come with you until after Christmas and after my honeymoon with Sally.”
Well, I wasn’t going to the next world alone.
“I can’t do my task on my own, Jack.” I began. “I’m not worthy of a leader. I don’t even have my confidence without a leader like you by my side, helping my find my friends. So…” I knew what I had to do. “So, I’m gonna have to wait until after you’ve wed before I proceed to another world. I can’t do it on my own. Not without you, anyway.”
Though Jack thought it was kind of me to say so, he tried to convince me to go with Sarmoo at my side.
But I said that having any of my friends with me when I went to search another holiday world would only make my task harder. I would also have to protect them as well as myself.
I guess I would have to wait until Jack’s wedding and honeymoon was over.
I was so happy for them both, but it did make my task a little harder.
But anyway, we left the wolves be. Full as they were, they wouldn’t try to kill any prey. Besides, they promised Sarmoo that they wouldn’t. And I said that if they did that I’d deafen them and leave them to starve.
So, the animals of Easter Meadow finally came out of their burrows and were once again were free to roam around in the open meadow.
That night, we lit a fire in the meadow and myself, Jack, Sarmoo, Mathew, Benjamin, Benny Bear, The Easter Bunny and the animals of Easter Meadow all gathered round and basked in the warm glow.
“I don’t know why you didn’t tell me about my special ability sooner.” Said Jack. “It might have come in handy.”
“Jack, the truth is that I wasn’t sure if I could trust you to use a power as…well…as powerful as mine. Not even I can handle some of my greatest sonic beams. I didn’t want you to accidentally cause any trouble.”
“Oh, Emma.” Said Jack. “You could trust me. What made you think otherwise?”
“Because of how you acted when you discovered Christmas.” I said. “I’m sorry, Jack, but from what I have heard, you don’t really think you often think before you act.”
Jack gave a quite mixed look. He kinda knew I was right.
“Hey, you know you have that power now, right?” I said. “And you’d better get practicing if you want to learn how to control it.”
Jack smiled and nodded.
But then he thought of something quite intriguing to say.
“But there’s one thing that makes me wonder.”
“Yeah?”
“When someone puts a heart back in a child of light then their hearts become specially linked and they get a special reward for putting the heart back, right?”
“Right.”
“Well,” Jack began to ask his question. “I wonder what happened to Shock when she put Anastasia’s heart back?”
