 
JackG@Killerschool

By Pauline Gerber

Illustrations by Elmarie van der Merwe and Hanli Kellerman

Copyright in Text by Amelia Kellerman

First published in 2011

ISBN 978-0-620-52425-4

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Prologue

I, Jack Gullible, am a skateboarder. Some of my friends call me Jack G, but Damien doesn't. I must be accepted first, I guess.

Everybody should experience the kick you get out of free-flying on wheels. Some say it's dangerous and there are laws and rules. Who cares? What do they know anyway? There is nothing like it. So, if you bend a rule or two, it's not that hectic. You should check it out, and maybe someday you'll hang out with me on the Table Mountain Road. That'd be just awesome!

The result of a shift; 4 000 years ago

(which was the origin of all schools)

It's a woman behind the wheel. At first it looks like a shooting star, but as it approaches the showcase of the establishment, it shows that it is nothing but a run-down, souped up and heavily backfiring car. The rattletrap swoops down from the dark sky and bursts through the seventh floor of the prehistoric UNISA building, sending a fireworks display of glowing clay writing-tablets into the air.

When the wreck stops its bouncing trajectory down the Muckleneuk hill, the woman gets out, removing an ancient crash helmet with leather straps. On its one side the words: Future Lady Macbeth are engraved.

"Excuse me," she addresses one of the astonished, shaken professors who was working late, marking students' assignments.

"Is this Table Mountain?"

In the Age of 4000 plus

I, Jack G, the skateboarder, have decided to go do Damian's dare. It won't be just the Table Mountain Road; I'm taking on Kloof Nek as well, all the way to the Waterfront.

A strange woman came through the woods today and knocked at our door. She wanted to see my father.

"Who's asking for him?" I asked.

"Salmonella, " she said. "I bring him a message. You will bring me to him, if you know what is good for you." A bacterium that causes food poisoning. http://www.answers.com/topic/salmonella-enterica

I just laughed and noted the butterfly tattoo on her forearm.

"Dad, some salmonella is here to see you!" I yelled and then left with my skateboard under my arm.

Threats and banishments

The butterfly woman speaks to Mr. Gullible. A heated argument begins. She gesticulates and the bangles rattle over the butterfly tattoo.

"The lawyers say you are banished from that part of the wood. You will get killed if you go there!"

"This is criminal! They are supposed to be respectable!" protests Apatheto Gullible.

"Whatever, old man! If you try to remove the boy – we have ways and means. And the woman stays. She cannot even pay – so she will work to earn her keep – and pay her debts." Salmonella spits on the ground. "I have met your son. I don't like his sense of humour. Goodbye."

She turns and leaves.

"I won't be intimidated by some gypsy," mumbles Apatheto Gullible.

But fear strikes at his heart.

Gullible foolishness

It starts on Table Mountain Road, but not too near the cable car station. There are too many officials around there who will stop and chase you. It is the dusk of what was a beautiful, sunny day in middle May. Signal hill is still aglow from the last rays of the sun setting over the sea behind it, but Jack has other business to think of. This is a good time, because all those parked cars of the silly tourists who want to go up the Mountain have taken their pampered, narrow-minded passengers down the road and away. The road is beautiful and clear.

To his left is the mountain; in front of him the road that will take him down. Way down below to his right, he can see the ships in Table Bay and still further away, the outline of Robben Island. When he reaches the intersection, about two kilometres from his starting point, he will have to go right. Will there be cars? He will have to negotiate. If necessary, he can go left around the traffic island that links the Camps Bay road with Kloof Nek, but that will slow him down. Damien will try to stay behind him, or so Jack hopes. Damien's got his father's old battered brown Mercedes, but the hazards don't work anymore. He said he'll use the left flicker instead. That is about all that is still working on the car. And Damien and his crowd will be satisfied that Jack is good enough; if he makes it. He will be regarded and declared master of the skateboard. He will be accepted – and maybe they will also call him Jack G.

From the right turn onwards there will be traffic and robots. If he is lucky, the lights will turn green for him all the way down, so he can make it right down to the Waterfront, with the wind in his face...

Jack dons Damien's helmet. He knows Damien is too afraid to try this himself; his only reason for all this great-heartedness with the gear. Jack does not care. All he wants is to be declared a master. The gloves are OK. They are too small for Damien, who is two years older than Jack, and who has outgrown them. Jack is unaware that envy is not outgrown that easily, and he is too much enamoured by his dream to go right down to the Waterfront, and by his naïve rebellion against the traffic authorities to pay any attention to this. He is old enough, not afraid and ready to be accepted by Damien and his gang.

From behind the wheel, Damien is watching Jack's preparations with silent disdain. This kid is good, maybe even talented. There must be a way to prove to everyone that it was just a little luck; to prove to them that he, Damien Foster is the better one. Maybe this time Jack will get hurt...

So thirteen year-old, skinny little Jack Gullible, readjusts a knee guard, gives the thumbs up to Damien, then pushes off lightly. It is six o' clock. In fifteen minutes it will be completely dark. Jack does not have a single reflector anywhere on his body. His long pale-green shirt turns him into a ghost-like figure coming down the road, silent, but for the soft, whirring noise of the rollers. If Damien does not stay behind him, he will be virtually invisible to the cars coming down Kloof Nek Road, as well as to the few which are still using Table Mountain Road.

Jack has done the Table Mountain Road before. He knows the bends. Kloof Nek will be his first time, though. His speed is increasing. He bends forward slightly on the skateboard. Then, anticipating the first bend, he crouches and puts his hand out, but it never touches the road as he negotiates this, the first and very sharp toeside bend. [Jack is mostly regular, especially at high speeds. There are a few tricks though, where he prefers goofy. Not that he is into tricks, really. This, this is it!] A short straight follows, but it is steep. He goes into the heelside bend at a speed that will make a cheetah blush. Jack's backside goes down low next to the heelside of the board. His left hand lightly grabs the toeside of his board, but his right hand remains comfortably on his right knee. Then he is through the S-bend. Behind him the brown Mercedes is following. Damien switches from parks to full headlights. It is a good thing that they did not encounter the approaching car in the S. Jack used the entire breadth of the road to get around those bends.

The next kilometre is fairly straight, but there is one sharp incline – not much of a problem for someone like Jack and the level of control that he has over his board. He playfully carves a little before they reach the Kloof Nek intersection. Damien switches on the left hand flicker, but they are not going to turn left, of course. Anybody can see that. Left is uphill. Who wants to slow down now, while the running is so beautiful? The problem is, nobody can see them at all. It has become too dark.

A car is entering the circle from the Camps Bay side, but there is no other traffic. Jack calculates his speed and decides to cut in front of the car. He will make it safely, even if the driver does not notice him immediately, because the car is going slowly. Damien decides to follow directly behind Jack. The driver of the other car hoots angrily, but they are in. They are going down Kloof Nek road. Just keep your cool when someone hoots, Jack.

Signal Hill is peeping over Jacks' shoulder, casting its dark shadow over the road. To the front the houses of the Tamboerskloof are coming nearer. Jack keeps to the left hand side of the road. At this point there are no street lights. The few bends in the road are easily done and cool breeze of a perfect Capetonian day is in his face.

"I'm alive!" is the shout of joy that goes through Jack's mind. "This is what being alive means!"

When he reaches the Tamboerskloof, the traffic becomes somewhat more congested. He negotiates between the cars, with the brown Mercedes following suit, the left flicker telling the other traffic to yield...

Bellevue and Quarry Hill streets pass. The next robot is red. There is no carving to be done here – too many cars. Will he have to wipe out? Six metres to go. The light turns green. Jack enters the crossing with people on the sidewalk stopping and staring. A bakkie that planned on jumping the light comes to a screeching halt, front wheels already in the crossing. Capetonian drivers are staring in shock, but instinctively refrain from hooting. One slight miscalculation or wrong movement can result in death. You do not want to give this little daredevil a fright.

The next robot shows red, and turns green seconds before Jack whizzes through the intersection.

"Kykaai klein dywel! Hy's maller as n vet politician op n election run deerie Cape Flats!" shouts one of the pedestrians from the sidewalk. [Look at that little daredevil. He is even madder than a fat politician on an election run through the Cape Flats (a part of Cape Town where many disadvantaged and discontented people are living).]

Another thirteen-year old has come out of her father's shop, just in time to see Jack whizzing past her.

"That's what I want to do," she thinks. "I must fly like that until I am high, and gone."

Her beautiful, wide eyes follow Jack as he goes for the next crossing.

Three hundred metres further the red tourist bus is blocking Jack's way. It is moving, but at a much slower speed than Jack is. A Japanese tourist who has seen him coming, starts taking photos from the open roof. Soon the bus looks like the press conference for a celebrity, as the camera flashes of the entire tourist paparazzi focus on Jack. He will have to hug the bus to get past. Cars are everywhere. He leaves Damien and the Mercedes behind.

When he is past the bus, there is no space for him, except the 10 metres in front of the bus. He carves in. The bus' brakes screech. Most tourists lose their balance. Jack wipes out. The helmet connects mercilessly with some polystyrene packaging that was hanging out of the car boot in front of Jack. [I have learnt to plan ahead at lightning speed years ago – 13 years ago to be exact.]

He rolls towards the pavement in a wave of white polystyrene chips. Jack does not make it to the pavement, though. The bus comes to a halt, about half a meter from where Jack is lying in the road.

The brown Mercedes passes the bus. Damian shouts through the open window:

"Jack Gullible! You're rubbish! RUBBISH!"

He drives off, tyres screeching. Jack rolls onto his back.

"It's official. I'm rubbish," he thinks to himself.

When the girl with the wide, sad eyes hears Damien's shout, fear grips her heart like a cold, evil claw.

"You're rubbish!" That's what her father's hateful friend said as he had left her painfully injured. But worst of all is the fear that does not want to leave her. It smothers her, leaves her gasping and sweating, and seeing the cruel hands, the belligerent eyes. Every time the fear comes, the empty space inside her grows like some strange vacuum, and she is powerless against it all.

"That's what I want to do, only better." she thinks, pulling her mouth resolutely, showing the dimples in her cheeks. Only her wide eyes show the fearfulness of her situation. "I want to fly away like that, with wheels under my feet, and wings on my back; to a place where no evil will find me."

When all schools started, 4000 years ago

When no teachers, schools or universities existed, the first Jack and his wife knew nothing but love and bliss. He, being the inventor of the very first GPS, was making a good living by helping people to navigate by the stars of Love– all the myriads of those stars. His instruments were simple to use, tuned by the Breather of Stars and Times Himself.

When the snake saw the beauty and simplicity of it all, he could not sleep any more. He needed slaves. He needed blood. When he saw how gullible Jack was, it gave him an idea. He thought it was brilliant.

"I shall persuade little Jack to change the basis of his navigation just a tad," he smiled, showing his forked tongue, "just a teeny weeny angle, but acute. Nobody will notice, but the longer it runs, the further it will be removed from the true North, until the gap is millions of light years away from the Breather of Stars. And then, hopefully, it will be T-O-O L-A-T-E."

So he did. It was easy to convince innocent Jack Gullible the First that knowledge, and not love, was the thing of the future. It was so vital for everyone's survival to know, and to know thoroughly, the difference between good and evil.

And so it came about that the stars were on one navigation system, ruled by love, and that Jack the First's navigation devices were ruled by quite another, based on the knowledge of all kinds of things; good and evil. The more knowledge it gained, the more was needed to navigate through the intricate systems. Soon a whole army of slaves were building the University of Babel.

The people of Disconnectedania, of course, did not want to fall behind; so they built crèches and schools of all sorts: charm schools, circus schools, finishing schools, model schools, beauty schools, ordinary boring schools [they misunderstood boarding] and of course UNISA. They invented airtime, so that everybody from the beauty schools could stay in touch with their looks.

So here we are stuck with one of the products of these schools, who has just crawled from a car wreck at the bottom of Muckleneuk hill, staring expectantly into the eyes of one of the slave professors of philosophy.

"This GPS...you see... it says here, " says the woman-driver who wanted to reach Table Mountain.

"Yersinia, dearest, I told you and that snake to leave that, that man, that GPS builder alone," moans a rather overweight little man with a bad skin. He is trying to emerge from underneath a heap of broken writing tablets that have landed in the passenger seat of the convertible. "We shall never be able to find our way again!" So right you are

"Madam," the professor speaks sternly. "You have destroyed my entire philosophy department! How dare you! I shall have you banished to the woods until the end of all days!"

"But you are a sl..."

"I am a learned slave! I can do this, and I will!"

"No, no please!" cries the woman, but a powerful whirlwind is already sweeping her up, with her wrecked car and the little man with the bad skin. Soon her cries can be heard in the distance: "But there are no slaves there – no slaves! No shackles!"

And deep inside its dark lair, the snake hisses: "But there will be, and they will all be mine. I shall own every gullible human on this earth!" And his evil laugh resounds through the dark labyrinths of his dusty abode.

The Breather of Stars makes a decision

"My Liege, what will become of all those humans? They will never come out of the woods. Oh, they are lost to the Kingdom of Agapantia!" It is a being with four wings that is bowing in front of the Breather of Stars and Times.

"Now, now my friend, you know I could never just leave those dear creatures to their own devices! Yes it is true; Jack Gullible should never have listened to that snake of an enslaver, but I have my Word, my Beloved Word. So there is no need to worry."

"Surely You are not..."

Yes, I will – when it is the Fullness of Times – I will."

The winged creature bows again.

"My Liege."

"In the meantime, dear friend, will you please ask Amahl to help with the re-arranging of the stars? I have already breathed the 11 trillionth one for the new Jack G who will be born in 4 000 earth years' time, but first I must help those three kings who wish to find their King. And for that, it is best to rearrange everything somewhat." The affection in his voice is unmistakable. "You may also tell Amahl that he will be assigned to Jack Gullible the 100th. He will be a skateboarder, and no ordinary one either – this Jack G."

"Yes, my Lord," says the winged creature, before pushing off on a furiously fast, fiery skateboard.

Banished

The woman and her only slave had landed right in the middle of the woods, from where the snake had made thorough use of all the tablets full of words that were scattered throughout the woods from the broken-down Toyota prototype. It had scattered the words into the trees, causing a confusing din of chatter.

From the bushes, another woman peeped at them.

"Who is this little newcomer? I shall have to show her that I am the Superwoman of the Woods, not she! The Enslaver will like me, not her!"

"Don't worry, my love," the little man said to the woman Yersinia, who has crashed. They had just completed their base camp. "We shall build our own little paradise here. You will be very happy, because I love you." But Yersinia spat a beam of venom at him.

"Go get me some wood for smoke signals ," she ordered. In our present age, even she would learn to call it airtime – and how to use it. "To have to be here with YOU, until the end of all time...What an INSULT!"

But privately she thinks: "A slave, I have a slave! How convenient!"

What the man did not know was that the woman was a snake charmer and that she did not want anybody's love except that of the enslaving snake. All other men – and women- had to be her slaves. When she found out that the snake was an admirer of a future woman called Lady Macbeth, she decided to become Lady Macbeth.

Soon her and the snake's twins would be born. She would send them out into the woods, to be called Doubt and Fear.

So the man with the bad skin went to get the wood. He looked up at the sign that the woman had him put up at the entrance of the base camp. It said "Private". His poor, befuddled brain could not make much of that single word, so he decided to add another word: school. He did not realise what the result would be: In another 4 000 years' time all the posh Capetonians, Jo'burgers and Pop store owners would bring their children to this place to be enslaved. Yersinia would use a little marketing trick for schools: the word "privilege", and by doing so, set off the global swindle called education.

Two thousand years later: a crisis

Yersinia is making use of some ancient airtime to keep her skin young and her eyes full of lustre. At approximately 2000 years of age, this has become vital for her. It is hard work making all these smoke signals and at a certain point she starts coughing uncontrollably. Her tousled hair smells of smoke, to the point that it would make any normal person choke.

At exactly that moment, the snake appears from out of the woods, and enters her boudoir without knocking.

"It's happened!" it shouts. "I've been living in fear of this for the past two thousand years, - and now it's finally happened! We're done for!"

"Oh rubbish!" snarls the woman. "What can be so bad?" She is talking absent-mindedly, her attention focused on some unclear, ancient mirror that looks like a tin pan.

"The Breather – the Breather's Word became human!"

"The Breather? Who's that?" She is still checking her beautification progress. "Oh..." She suddenly stops and turns to the snake. "You mean to say..."

"Yes! The Star Breather's Word! He is here, born, come to...crush...This is devastating." The snake hangs its head into the dust on the boudoir floor. "If we don't do something, the Age of Freedom, will start and we will be lost – utterly lost."

The woman starts pacing her boudoir.

"So we are now in the Fullness of Times...Just be quiet. This is no time for panic. We must be calm! Maybe we can prevent this... this crushing business that the prophesy has... touched upon - I have an idea..."

She smiles at the Enslaver.

"Jealousy – and the fear of losing one's power... such handy tools. We can just send off our own son Fear. He will know where to find that sorry little king of the mountain city..."

The snake starts flicking its forked tongue excitedly.

"Oh brilliant! You will become a Lady Macbeth yet! [That woman was willing and ready to kill her own children!]

She must just be created in the real world! All boys must be killed. How about that?"

"Maybe all males under a certain age. We never know when we might need soldiers, especially with this threat at hand. War is such a wonderful thing, you know."

The enslaving snake hisses blissfully. Soon he shall have lots of blood, including that of the Word who was gullible enough to be born... risking his Kingdom for slaves? Well whatever; the only Threat that has ever plagued him will be destroyed!

Later that day, a legion of Roman soldiers approaches a rickety little building. "All young males must be killed!" shouts the centurion. The gifts that were left behind by the three kings are smashed with his sword. It becomes a powdery substance that seems to encompass the whole world. "Kill the boys! Kill all boys under the age of two!"

"The Word was in the world... yet the world did not recognize him" And for this reason the snake still enslaves, and has his lust after blood satisfied.

The winds of change, another 2000 years later

Jack Gullible the hundredth is lying in front of the red tourist bus. The ensuing hustle and bustle in the street does not deter the man with the old-fashioned briefcase on the pavement. The bus would obscure his vision, had he left the client's house further up in Burnside road a minute later, but he was at the corner of the road when Jack came whizzing past, and immediately recognised him, with shock and surprise.

The bus driver is busy 'phoning the police. The tourists are taking more photos, but the man with the old-fashioned briefcase pushes his way to Jack, grabs him by the collar and marches him off to a parked car. He takes no notice of the calls about being careful, because Jack might be hurt. Jack hangs onto his skateboard. For the first time he is frightened.

His father drives off with him in the front seat, without saying a word. Jack takes off the helmet, which unfortunately for him, did not hide his face, or his clothing, or his superb style; all of which his father knows too well. By the time the police arrive, nobody knows who took Jack. How do you report an incident, when the perpetrator-victim has disappeared so fast?

His father does not say a word.

"M...My b..back hurts quite b...badly, Dad." Jack tries. Silence.

"Maybe I'll be grounded for a month, this time. The previous time was two weeks," Jack muses, but his father does not tell him to hand over the skateboard. In fact, he ignores it completely when he pushes Jack into his workshop.

"D..Dad, my b..back r...really hurts," Jack vies for some sympathy. The fact that his father is not talking, not asking for the skateboard, is inexplicably frightening to Jack.

Apatheto Gullible, the father of Jack, now turns and looks him square in the eyes. Then he speaks slowly and resolutely, for the first time.

"You will know what a hurting backside is when I am done with you today, Jack. It is because I was disobedient for so long that you nearly got yourself killed today."

His father walks up to a cupboard and takes out a very thin, but flexible cane.

"This," he whips the cane through the air so that it makes a swishing noise, "belonged to my father. I always thought he was wrong." His father flicks the cane a few times. "But it turns out, I was wrong."

Jack is still leaning comfortably against the side of the work bench. What could all this possibly mean? Something is out of the usual, but if he gets to keep his skateboard.... He is surprised by the swiftness and strength in his father's arm when he grabs him by the neck, bends him over his work bench. No matter how he struggles, he cannot escape his father's firm grip. Jack receives three painful whacks over the fleshy part of his backside with merciless violence. Jack shouts out in pain and surprise. He tries to wrench himself from his father's grip, but it is useless.

"That was for my breaking my rules about the skateboard," his father says. "And this," another volley of excruciating whacks follows, "Is for breaking the traffic laws of Cape Town."

Jack's shouts fall on totally deaf ears. Tears of anger and pain start burning in his eyes. He tries to free himself from his father's grip, but he cannot move.

"And last, but not least," his father declares before the next volley comes down on his burning backside, "is for shamelessly lying to me about your back that is hurting. I know the look of real pain in a man's eyes, Jack. At least I have now changed that lie into a truth for you. Don't you dare become a spineless liar under my roof." [WHAT? How can this story begin in such a horrible way? It's all the fault of 05, but I'm waiting for him. If he thinks he's going to get away with this, he's in for a surprise; one big nasty surprise. Those robots, and the brakes of the bus, and the polystyrene coming out of the boot: they kept me busy! I was so flabbergasted, Jack's father got away with him! But don't you worry 05, you are in serious trouble, believe me.]

Jack's father lets go of him. He wants to make an angry dash for his room immediately, but his father holds him back.

"You will go when I give you permission to go," his father snaps. Jack watches the cane in his hands and obeys instinctively.

"The reason why you are surprised about what I have done to you today, Jack, is because I have neglected my duty about this for too long. Had it not been so, you would have known, and with certainty, what was coming to you. You will find that, for the next few days, it is going to be extremely painful to sit down. Every time you feel that pain, I want you to remember that you are lucky to be alive and count your blessings. I would far rather see you in pain like this, than I would have to zip open one of those yellow body bags and beg you to wake up, knowing full well that you will never do so again."

A voice sounds from some half-complete gadget – something that his father is busy building – on the table: "I rebuke and punish all whom I love."

Jack looks at the strange device; inexplicably, without any indignation. It is as if this new gadget can talk some strange, illogic sense, but it is probably just a coincidence. What is really beyond his grasp is that he does feel loved by his father now; for the first time since his mother died.

However, when Jack looks up at his father, he is truly shocked. The man is crying! His father is actually crying tears!

"And Jack, you can be very sure, if you ever, ever do something dangerous like this again, I shall not even think once before I tan your hides again – just like today. You may go now, and take your skateboard."

Jack feels a pleasant, warm feeling in his heart; a feeling of being safe, of being cared for. And he knows he won't do anything foolish to hurt his father. What a strange man his father is! It is as if he sees him for the first time in his life, today.

Jack has given his first step into a new journey.

The next day, his father receives a note with a little butterfly in one corner.

"Your son won't be so lucky next time. Either stop your GPS project, or bring the boy. Do NOT make us come and fetch him."

Apatheto turns cold with fear, because he knows that stopping the project is no option; he has discovered a deviance and has corrected it. Why don't they like this? But there is something he can do...yes, if he gives the first one to Jack – gutsy Jack G, his son, who took on the Kloof Nek Road...

Another father's decision

The girl's father knocks lightly before he enters her room. He looks at her with a powerless, cold incompetence; with a heartlessness that is born from helplessness and an inability to understand her pain.

"I have decided to send you to the Academy. The headmistress is a woman. She will understand better than I. She will know what to do for you. It's the best really."

The strange woman with the long nails and false eyelashes comes up behind her father. She puts her arms around his neck.

"Is this going to take long, my jelly bean?"

The girl's fear makes room for anger and undisguised hatred, but it does not slow down the increasing emptiness in her heart; a vacuum that needs to be filled.

"I thought if I were happy, she would be happy too," the father thinks, but he does not say anything. "I did not know that children could be so confusing to adults."

Some weeks later

For all of my known, conscious life, Apatheto Gullible was my dad. I had absolutely no reason to doubt that. So now he wants to stick me into this joint with some rich kids; talks about some trouble that must be sorted out. Dad was always kind and patient with everyone. Perhaps that is the reason he hardly ever got paid for all the work he has done.

"You do understand that I have no choice," Dad whispers to me.

The school mistress meets us in the hallway - a woman of strange beauty.

"Yersinia Pestis, pleased to meet you Mr. Gullible; and this must be Jack."

She smiles at us, but there is something cold about her smile – like she's some kind of dummy.

"Yes, this is my son, Jack. He will be no trouble at all, madam."

"I am sure." She is smiling again, but then Yersinia mutters inaudibly under her breath. "The raven himself is hoarse

That croaks the fatal entrance of Jack Gullible under my battlements..." [Yersinia's adaptation from Lady Macbeth's words in Act 1, Scene 5, Line 37]

"I'll be back as soon as I can, Mrs. Pestis," Dad tries again.

She flashes an inviting smile.

"Yersinia, please. Welcome to A..hum Paragon A..hum Academy. "

Yersinia emphasises the "please", as if to focus her fake charm on us, but I am not fooled. She has this perfect smile, like it's made out of plastic; this smooth skin – not a pimple in sight. She looks like a Barbie doll, but calls herself Yersinia Pestis. [Better known as the plague. An outbreak swept through Europe in the 1300s. Dubbed the Black Death, the disease killed more than 25 million people. Some worry about the plague's potential use as an agent of bioterrorism. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0310_040310_blackdeath.html] It's just the knee length skirt and the high leather boots that make her look like she's an alien from another age.

"You need not have any worries. As you know, we have excellent discipline and all our teaching is done straight out of the book, Mr. Gullible."

An ominous sound of struggling, something snapping, followed by shouting and wailing becomes audible from the back door. Yersinia Pestis calmly turns her back on the two of us.

"Doubt and Fear! You stop that immediately! Don't make me come in there!"

She flashes her perfect smile at Dad again. Something does not seem right about that smile. It is just too perfect.

"Boys will be boys, won't they? Always trying to eat each other alive!"

"So very true, Mrs. Pest...er...Yersinia"

But Dad is too sad to laugh his usual jovial laugh, and I know that in his heart, he does not agree with her. He is only trying to protect me by not making her angry.

"Oh but I am sure you are quite different. You certainly know how to act in an exemplary way." She smiles at me, batting her eyelids much too fast. Don't bet your life on it; I have a mind of my own.

I leave her alone in her office and follow Dad outside to say goodbye. He hugs me earnestly. His words to me are spoken softly, but in great earnest. They shock me, turn me cold with fear.

"Jack, my dearest son, I am not a good father for you. I love you very much, and as from today, I shall have to depend on you."

He looks into my eyes; sees my surprise and his own brim with tears, just like that day when he spanked me real solid about that little skateboard trip.

"Don't let this out of your sight. Please study it every day. Your very survival will depend on it! It shows the way to your real Father, the one who owns all authority. You were given to him when you were still small – with water. Find Him! Find out who you truly are!"

He puts this smallish parcel in my hands.

"Hide it in your jacket," he says. "Jack, you can do this. I know you can. There's more depending on this than you realise. So go ahead!"

"Do what?" I ask.

"You will find out when you come to that part of the journey – whether I am a bad father, or not."

He hugs me again.

"Go now, I'll pray my King to be with you."

"Your WHAT? Dad, we live in this democratic setup, remember?"

But he turns and quickly walks to the waiting car, and does not give me a chance to ask another question, or to try and stop him. He looks pale and tired when he waves. I hide the parcel in my pocket. Yersinia calls me back to her office.

She opens her mouth to speak to me, but before a sound can come from her yellow teeth, the door from which these strange sounds have earlier come, bursts open. Two fighting crocodiles scramble into the room, rolling, wrestling and biting at each other. I make a beeline for the door, but before I can close the door, I can see Yersinia jumping on the table. She grabs an umbrella from its stand and starts hitting at the two monsters.

"Fear! How dare you bite off Doubt's tail!"

I can hear the blows from the umbrella falling on some hardened, scaly skin.

"Ouch, Mom! That was my eye! I'll get you for this, "you horrible wench!"

Then I can hear Yersinia's voice again.

"Molluscum! Molluscuuuuuum! Come here at once! Why are you never here when I call you?"

I only hear this faint mumbling male voice.

"Well! Go get him!" It is Yersinia Pestis' voice again. "Do you want him to escape?"

The door opens. An overweight, sweaty little man appears. He has these festering sores all over his body.

"My name is Molluscum Contagiosum, " [Molluscum contagiosum (MC) is a viral infection of the skin. It is caused by a DNA poxvirus (MCV)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molluscum_contagiosum]he tells me in a gruff voice, and then continues as if reciting something that he has trouble memorising: "Welcome to A..hum Paragon Academy for the captives... I mean.. for the children of spies and saboteurs to be reha..liberated...I mean...re..ha.. bi..li.. tated. No...reading of books. No... studying in dun...dorms. Only smoking and taking the . dru...and fighting will be allowed. I shall now take you to your d... dunge... d.. dormitory."

What's going on here? My real father? Given? With water? I don't know what this is all about, but there is little time now for thinking about all that.

As I pass the long corridor of the first floor dorms, I see a girl standing at the very far end. For a moment she looks at me with her big, strange eyes and then quickly disappears into one of the doorways. It all happens so quickly, like I'm just dreaming or something. But at the same time, it feels as if she is still looking at me with those indescribable eyes.

Jack enters his new dorm

Molluscum does not seem to have learnt too many societal niceties from Yersinia. They reach the second floor which must be where the boys' dorms are; no security doors for barricading entrances – only obscenities written on the walls.

"No swopping places with other boys!" are Molluscum's parting words before the door is banged shut behind him.

The room is a little bigger than the four steel beds that it contains. Two depression grey steel cupboards are sighing a shared grief against the opposite wall.

Two boys are sitting on the furthest bed, playing chess, using a very old, run-down plastic set. A third is leaning through the window, trying to whisper something to someone in the neighbouring dormitory.

"A prison, exactly like a prison," are the thoughts that Jack simply cannot ban from his mind. "What is WRONG with my father?"

The boy at the window slowly turns around. He has a thin, pale face. His hair is a dirty white and seems pasted to his head with some low-quality office glue.

"So you must be the final captive - the one that inspires some repressed... childhood fear with the old girl? Wonder why she should be so afraid of YOU. "

He musters Jack. "We'll see... soon."

There is an unmistakable look of enmity in his glance when Wesley Southbound looks Jack over.

He deliberately and slowly walks up to Jack.

"I do not know whose side you are on, but you'd better choose quickly. If you choose blood, you will be better off, of course. I cannot do much for you if you choose water, and there is no place for turncoats."

He pushes his face right up to Jack's.

The other two boys have stopped their game, have become visibly tense.

"Says who?" asks Jack, who has neither lost his skinniness, nor his gutsy attitude since that day that he went down the Kloof Nek Road.

The other boy's expression turns to something snake-like.

"Says Wesley Southbound, you little weasel. Let's get things straight: In THIS place I ask the questions – YOU do the listening. You carry out my orders. Understand? So which will it be; blood or water?"

"You were given to Him with water..." is what Jack's father had said. He looks the other boy square in the eyes.

"Water," he says. "Now get out of my way!" He pushes the taller boy aside, using his skateboard. The other boy tries to hide his surprise.

"I knew it! I know who you are! You can only be Jack Gullible! She is afraid of you and you are stupid enough to choose water? You could have ruled this whole place! But it is too late NOW. That little privilege will now come to ME! And you will be just like any of the other trash around here. Take a look at ME. I, Wesley Southbound will be the Extractor of Blood!"

Jack shrugs.

"Just be careful not to wallow in your own blood."

Did Jack imagine it, or did the other boys seem relieved when he said that he chose water? What silly business is this anyway?

"So Wesley, you can mind your own business now. You've heard him. We' re now three against one!" The boy who has the name Amoran written on the suitcase under his bed has joined the conversation.

"Three MICE don't count for anything," Wesley retorts, but his expression shows irritation and displeasure; he is worried.

"It's the boy Yersinia and Salmonella was whispering about," Amoran whispers to the other boy, who is called Lefty. "Jack G."

They are interrupted by Molluscum once more. Jack is summoned to Yersinia's office.

"Yet again," he sighs.

This time, Yersinia looks quite different; with hair in disarray; with teeth that have unsightly stains on them.

Video clip, from the hidden camera in Yersinia's office

"Your father," Yersinia hisses through her yellow, knitted teeth, shaking her unkempt, tousled hair in all directions, "your poor sod of a father – is a spy! A rotten saboteur for that Alien Breather of Stars! But he is done for. You can count on that. You will NEVER see him again!" The rash on her skin turns to a red purple and her eyes look like two glow- in-the-dark pom-pom balls.

"My father," retorts Jack indignantly, "is a smart- phone technician. He designs them, assembles them, repairs them in a way nobody else can and he was chosen by his company, to go on this business trip. He even helps people privately with repairs!

"Interesting," sings Yersinia. "Can he also organise cheap airtime, you little rubbish?" But her eyes – they show something between worry and fear. If she knew Jack's thoughts at this moment, she might have more hope for herself:

"This is not the first time someone calls me rubbish."

Amahl

This is our friend's new school. What will this mad woman do to him? Oh dear, that is my responsibility, definitely my responsibility. And Jack, well he is a very nice boy. It is just.....Let's put it this way. He does make my work very...exciting. To be honest, breaking the million-light-years-per-second speed barrier is simply awesome. And I am the one who gets the most opportunities in my host. I thank Jack for that. His skateboarding also helps a lot, of course.

And who I might be, you ask? Why I am Jack's guardian angel, or rather guardian ARTIST, of course. You see the job of a guardian angel is to do his job in a very subtle, inconspicuous way. I'd be mortified if Jack ever makes a remark like, "I am sure I have a guardian angel," or "I know my guardian angel is not asleep." I'll be the laughing stock of my host. Jack should never suspect any of this guarding business. So, you see, I am an artist. My art speaks for itself, as if I, the artist, don't exist at all. (Oh, and I also put in all those little notes in italics for you – not all of them are googlable, as you will notice. We angels do not normally google – I did that for you, hope you like them.)

The best fun was the time when I tripped over that meteorite – they always get in the way, these meteorites. That was when Jack was dared to mount that camel at the morning market while the handler was having some lunch...In any event, the meteorite got caught in the seam of my robe... nearly dragged the whole lot along. Such luck it burnt out over Botswana and Limpopo... should keep these scientist types busy for a while... such a relief I did not get stuck with one of those – splitting hair over all that kindergarten stuff.

Jack is fun. I just hope he does not grow up too fast. That's when they become responsible, you know. The what? Oh the Table Mountain episode! When Jack got that hiding from his dad? Yes, I can explain that and I will, but first I have that bone to pick with demon 05. He's been pretty scarce since that episode. I wonder why...

Well, fortunately I am also in a groovy band, playing acoustic guitar. Soon we're going to rock the Milky Way, and who knows what next!

Let's see what Jack's doing at his new school. I hope this will be the cause of many opportunities for me.

Video clip, from the hidden camera in the school hall

"Hullo, hullo, airtime PLEASE!" Yersinia's face turns redder and redder until all of her hair goes up in flames and spitting snakes slither all over her head, right through the flames.

"Why is airtime so important to her?" Jack is whispering to Amoran and Lefty during school assembly.

"She uses her airtime to be a beautiful woman." whispers Amoran. "If she does not have any left, and she cannot buy any more, she will remain who she is: a hideous, evil woman." He nervously glances over to the girls' side, where his sister Shamare is standing next to some other girl. Jack has noticed her too; it's the same girl who disappeared into her room on the day that he arrived.

"Molluscuuuuum!" calls Yersinia. "You'll have to run to Pop stores immediately. Theirs is cheapest!"

"Can't we please wait until the weekend, Madam? My feet are killing me."

"And it's free over weekends!" shouts the girl next to Shamare and then bends down behind the others, pretending to tie her shoelace, but she is shaking with laughter.

"I said NOW, you sight for sore eyes!" Yersinia commands Molluscum. " What do you take me for? Do you think I am so cheap that I will fall for the free-over-weekends trick?"

"No, ma'am. It's just that wood...I just cannot get through it."

"Stand not upon the order of thy going, but go at once!" [Yersinia is again quoting Lady Macbeth (Shakespeare). This Lady M was responsible for the murder of a king. And your parents worry because you have a pop star for a role model? Rather annoying. I am kind of a pop star myself, you know.]

"Oh no!" groans Molluscum Contagiosum.

"You ARE cheap! You cannot make do without all these slaves, because you cannot afford paying anybody." the girl calls out again.

"If I get hold of the person who is giving all this running commentary, I'll show you what cheap is!" Yersinia peers over all the heads of the children, but the snakes on her head keep going over her eyes. The girl rises and starts looking around her with a mock expression of shock on her face. How could anybody be so cheeky when talking to the head mistress?

"If she gets angry, her airtime vanishes like it's my sister's on the 'phone – not a pretty sight," whispers Amoran.

"But why doesn't she just buy it online, or on her phone? That Molluscum guy thinks going through that wood sucks."

"We are all guessing, but it seems to have something to do with her credit checks... you know... strapped for cash type of thing? She's got some coupons from Pop stores – probably nabbed ones."

"Strapped for cash... like when they don't pay your father for his work."

Charming.

What I don't understand is: why do people always want to be, what they call, beautiful to look at? Why do they sometimes think they are ugly? I am surrounded by nothing but beauty. Even so, I have seen most human beings who have lived on this planet for the past 4 000 years, or so. I have never seen an ugly one! They are all so perfect to look at! Do they want to be loved? Yes, certainly. But what do looks have to do with it?

I am soooo glad I am not assigned to those woman kinds. You see, I may only intervene when I am commanded to do so, like when Jack was hanging around that camel's neck, silly boy. Thing is, I may never intervene when Jack must make a decision, must choose between certain possible actions. That's when I may only watch, even though I know the consequences will be bad for him. He has absolute freedom of choice and nobody may interfere, especially now, with his father gone and all. That is the Star Breather's explicit ruling. Not even He interferes. Humans must have freedom of choice. (They seem to realize that themselves, in some twisted way at least, with their little bills on human rights. Strange.)

So when it comes to being beautiful and attractive, humans, especially women humans, make the weirdest decisions, like that Yersinia creature. But I needn't worry about Jack, not even when camels are around. He certainly does not care about looks, not with that torn T-shirt that he wears just whenever it suits him. He is the most attractive being in the entire universe, especially with that T-shirt...and his left ear -protruding somewhat more than the right -also helps very much. Man, I am so proud of that boy!

But there I go again, blabbering. I need to tell you about the important event of the week; it's

The Official Class Photograph, commissioned by Yersinia [High on airtime].

Yersinia is in the middle, with her wagonload of airtime – focal point of the photograph – feet neatly next to each other and smiling her "look-at-me-I'm-Lady-Macbeth"-smile into the camera. Jack is the one right in the back row in the centre; the only other person smiling. The others are all wearing their be-polite-surly expressions. And then... the real focal point of it all: smiling and waving in ecstasy – is me.

I had to diminish myself by a good 90% of course, just to fit in. And I'm usually invisible, but for a few instances where I can make myself visible just for a flash – no pun intended. I donned the hobo look, dirt and bottle of booze included. It's my favourite. (The fact is, if the Star Breather were on earth in these times, that would  probably be the look He would adopt, maybe without the bottle. However, with that Star Breather, you can never be too sure. That is how his love works.)

So Yersinia is upset.

"What RUBBISH is this?" she politely enquires.

Her airtime is gone on account of me. She wants to know who this person on the photo is. It must be framed and exhibited in the entrance hall. (Well of course, but how dare she call me 'it'?) She says I must be photoshopped out. Why? I won't have myself photoshopped out on any account. So, she is furious every time I reappear. In the end she admits defeat, hangs the photo in the hall and puts a silk flower over my face. A silk flower? What a cheek! I move the flower so that it is in my hair. Perfect. A photo of Jack and me! I've always wanted something like that - a nice keepsake for a coming age. Just look at us! We are the two persons smiling.

A surprised Jack

Can you believe it? My Dad, Apatheto Gullible is a SECRET AGENT! [That sounds quite normal to me. It's those 'phone repairs that worry me.]

He is such a trusting person; he even believed what this Yersinia woman told him about her "good" school. How on earth has he ever managed to do the work of a secret agent all these years? Poor Dad really thought I would be safe here, and now I am stuck in this very scaly joint, from which there is little chance of escape. And what was all that talk about a king? In the new South Africa? And finding my real father? Can't be.

I opened that package that Dad gave me last night. It's difficult with all the other boys around. There is simply no privacy... There is a device in the package that contains code – secret code. But that's not all. It is also some kind of a GPS - but it's weird. It whispered something to me about Dad's assignment; something about a GPS message preventing bloodshed; about a very important kid that was taken from his mother. Is she going to kill to get him back? It does not make sense to me. Are we all on the verge of being killed? This device caused a fight between Wesley and me. You see, I had to hide the thing so Wesley would not see it, but it would not keep quiet!

Video clip, from the hidden camera in Jack's dorm

"What are you doing, Gullible? Are you busy with some little private business that I should know about? Wesley approaches with his cocky stride. "You know that nobody in this dorm keeps any information from me. And if you have something to share, it belongs to me. Do I make myself clear?"

Jack hurriedly hides the GPS under the mattress, but it refuses to keep quiet.

"Mind your manners, you miserable manipulative maniac!"

Wesley stops in mid-stride and mid-sentence. His surprise makes place for a fuming jealousy.

"What did you say? What is it that you're hiding under that bed? A tablet? MP3?"

"You leave my property alone!" Jack looks at Wesley with calm resolution.

"Ho! Ho! Look out! JACK is on the warpath!" Wesley looks at Jack mockingly. He is much heavier and taller than the latter, but Jack does not budge.

Amahl's little school moment

The problem with bullies is that they are so faint-hearted. It frustrates me to see that, because it does not give me much of a chance to become - what you guys call a star - a Milky Way star, perhaps? (These are very common in my world. We angels don't bother much about them.) I might be commended by the Star Breather and be famous in the Milky Way galaxy, if I do something, what you guys call like, really brave, you see. (I am not sure I have the concept right, though.) That's why I don't like wasting my time on bullies. OK, I know it's not the universe, but it's a start.

In a previous earth age, I had a little argument with a guy called Hitler, and my friend Caritas had Joe.... Stalin I think it was? We spent a whole afternoon (I think it was an afternoon, maybe it was 70 years...I don't know. We don't have that thing you call time in our dimension. I measure my speed in light years, just so you can get an idea of how awesomely exciting my life can be.) dissing each other about who was the most difficult to sort out, Hitler or Joey. It was OK, but I want to do something really important, something that will attract special attention from the Star Breather. Something that might make me the bearer of the Good News, like, in a real starry way. Wow!

Anyway, whining Wessie comes for Jack and trips over his own bag of supplies that he has stolen from the kitchen, (That was me – boring, I know) hurts his back and then poor Jack has to run for the Maitre D. Yersinia decides to save on doctor's expenses and gives him the injection (Or the infection, maybe?) with muscle-relaxer herself. ( I did not even have to organize that part – the things some humans organize for themselves – unbelievable.) All that yowling and howling is so commonplace. I wish Jack would wake up and give me a chance to do something really fabulous.

Jack's secret

I have a feeling I am going to need this GPS in future, but I shall have to learn how to control it. Wesley now knows something's going on. He wishes I am afraid of him. Well, I am not.

Just because Wesley has some backup in the dorm next door won't intimidate me. He is always ranting about this blood business. There's this guy, they call him Bitzer. The rumour goes he is a knife fighter. So Wesley wanted to be in his dorm. Yersinia decided he must be a good influence on Amoran, Lefty and me, because we are the water team and we do not care for all this blood thirst. So now he is stuck with us. Old Wes is real acid about it.

Next door are Bitzer, Sniper, Gugu and little Goody-two-shoes. Everybody calls him that. I don't know if he actually has another name, but Yersinia calls him Phillip. He is such a pain, always trying to please the other three from the blood squad. The reason he chose blood, is he is so afraid of Yersinia and her sorry side-kicks, I'm sure.

The water squad is me, Amoran, Lefty and Gugu. So Gugu is stuck with the rest of the blood squad. It must be hard on him, because we from the water squad have this policy of no violence, unless in self-defence. I got it from this talking GPS and it suits all of us just fine.

Wesley's into something with those two retard grallochers [the act or an instance of disembowelling a deer killed in a hunt. http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-definition/gralloch Jack once needed this word while doing a puzzle.] whom Yersinia calls her sons. They have jobs as security guards at the school, more to keep us slaves in that to keep tsotsis out, of course. They must be their mother's greatest joy. Apparently working this Wood of Words makes it impossible to change the name that the wood calls you. When they were teenagers, they tried to run away from home, couldn't find their way out and returned with their scaly tails between their legs, reinforcing their unenviable names of Doubt and Fear. Yersinia was overjoyed. She is forever telling everybody that her two brats 'have earned their titles." Excuse me.

Now we have to put up with that Goody-two-shoes who has become the slave of Doubt and Fear. He gets up at five every morning, kicks up one raving racket in that kitchen, preparing their bacon and eggs and forest fruits. He is so afraid that he might oversleep; he sleeps with his clothes on and with that blinking old-fashioned alarm clock in his steel cupboard. He gets all kinds of curses shouted at him, but all he says is: "At least I have a job. You are going to be part of the entertainment." Whatever.

Anyway, the Wood of Words surrounds this whole place. Before you can reach it, you will have to cross a huge, severely electrified fence that was made from Yersinia's hair - the kind before it turns into snakes – pre-snake hair, if you like. Previous inmates (Oh learners, sorry) had to plait and weave for months on end before it was ready. She powers the thing in person, or so the rumour goes. I wonder whether she can also get zapped by it in person, accidentally of course. This thing gives an entirely new meaning to the concept of security in the New South Africa. The worst is; it works like a trap. You cannot see it from the outside, and it allows you to enter, but believe me, once you are in, there is no doubt about its existence. You cannot get out again. The parents are assisted on the way out, of course, by one of Yersinia's side-kicks, but we, we are captives. We. Are. Captives.

You cannot pass through the Wood of Words unless you know the right words. No one here seems to know them, but Dad seemed to. I remember this weird, rather non-existent path that we drove along coming here, as if the trees were making way for us.

Does this have something to do with his undercover work? MY father, more than just a repairer of cell phones? And what did he mean by telling me to find my water father? I am going to get to the bottom of this. This place he's sent me to...Why? Something fishy's going on here. And I'm not just talking about this woman who is obsessed with Lady Macbeth; although she is a prime suspect.

In the meantime I am taking an increased interest in the work I must do for Yersnia's social climbing banquet. She says she is so frustrated and cannot understand why she always slips down the rungs of the society ladder again. In her opinion, this is so unfair, seeing that she is looking more and more like Lady Macbeth, whoever that may be. My only interest is THAT GIRL, the one from the corridor. She often hangs out in the kitchen with Amoran's sister Shamare. (Not much other place for hanging out here – how sad.) I do not quite know why she always seems to pitch in my thoughts. No! I am NOT falling for her or anything, so you need not sit up straight, or go get your pop corn or something. Why should I tell you her name? In any case, it's not that I really like her or anything like that. It's just... well... she is so... interesting...

Captivating.

She takes my breath away.

Amahl's terrible fright

Jack, I saw that....that look in your eyes. Jack, let me just remind you that I have experience in this kind of thing - thousands of years' experience in fact. Jack, will you LISTEN TO ME! Will you STOP that staring into sweet nothingness? You know I am not allowed to interfere with your choices, - no, sorry, you don't even know I exist - else I would whack you over the head with a lightning bolt. (It seems someone else has already done that for me.) Jack! Please! No! Oh no, Jack. Jack, how can you be so STUPID? Oh Jack, do you realise I can't help you here? Oh no, Jack. Do you really think I do not care?

Jack? What happened to your holey T-shirt? Where is it?

Video clip, from some obscure garden camera

"Jack Gullible! The one and same who could have been the Extractor of Blood, but chose water, is looking for company! How pathetic! You should be banished from this place altogether. I wish I could throw you out into the Wood of Words so that one of those trees can strangle you!"

Her eyes flash angrily at Jack.

"Don't bother. Just strangle me yourself if you hate me so much. I'm Gullible enough to believe it's an embrace. And the name of my killer would be... Delinquency, am I right?"

"None of your stupid business. And no, I am NOT going through the rose garden to pick the silly little blueberries on the other side. That's your job, Hector Protector, dressed all in green. You look like a mamba! [Ouch! ] You think I was going to fall for your silly pick-up line? I know them all and I know the end of them all."

"Oh really? And what might the end be?" Delinquency is not softened one bit.

"You boys, men, whatever. You think you can have anything you lay your greedy little eyes on. You think you can just take any woman you want, and throw another away, and you don't care about breakages. So just take your despicable little self and be off!"

Jack, taken aback by the words that are spewed like venom at him, puts his hand on the GPS that he carries in the pocket of his jacket. Suddenly his mouth opens and he says something, quietly and calmly, that he did not plan to say at all. In fact, he did not intend replying to her outburst at all:

"What did they do to you, Delinquency?"

She does not reply. She just looks at him from head to toe, then turns and walks away.

Someday she will be free, will have her own skateboard and she will go down that mountain...

Amahl

It's just as well she said no. Jack will come to his senses.

In any event, Jack mostly won't be allowed into that treacherous rose garden, because he is the wearer of that water mark, but it is still so important for him to make the right decisions; water mark or no water mark! If only I was allowed to decide for him, make a few choices for him! This is serious stuff. That girl is NOTHING compared to this so-called garden.

Isn't she just so sensible, so intelligent? She says no so very eloquently.

I actually like her – a lot.

Delinquency, I mean. Who else?

In Yersinia's Office

"Ah, it's so good to be my bionic self again." Yersinia turns a few times in front of a mirror that reflects a strange purple light. She has just finished "massaging" her lower right arm while looking at a slip with some cell 'phone airtime code on it. [Yersinia had a few electronic implants – a cross between a facelift and being in touch with herself and the universe, using airtime, but she has this sorely buried secret: she is technologically challenged.]

"Molluscum! Let's see that list!"

Molluscum Contagiosum comes ambling into the office with a long list of names in his hand.

"Well, hurry up! I don't have all day!" She looks at the list and then disdainfully throws it on the desk.

"Why are Professor and Mrs. Evilunion not invited? When last was my database updated? Did you run the query again this morning, like I told you to?"

"Yes, Ma'am"

"Let's see the servants' list."

Molluscum hands over another list.

"What? Not a single rubbish Gullible yet! Why doesn't Jack fight? I'm having all my plans thwarted by that little apology of a...SPY.! I have his son right where I want him – under my battlements - [Lady Macbeth – again] and yet...This is impossible! Someone must be protecting him – right under my nose!"

"He does not care about fighting much, madam, although that Wesley boy taunts him quite often." [Yersinia cannot, by the severely restricted power of Pestis, put someone on the "entertainment" list, unless they are fighters]

"This has never happened before...there are usually brawls of all kinds...wait a bit, who is this? Amoran Rafada...Wesley Southbound...interesting."

She runs her finger down the list.

"What about....yes, yes! Delinquency Taylor. What an excellent idea! I shall simply force them to fight. We'll have our blood, by hook or by crook. The snake wants the little critters' blood. He promised me I would look just like Lady Macbeth, if I do this for him. " Yersinia says the words dreamily, with a faraway look in her eyes. She turns to Molluscum.

"Molluscum, do you notice the resemblance already? I've been looking at myself in the mirror this morning."

"Well,...maybe...around the nose... it's just that it's still a bit,... crooked."

"WHAT! You're lying! That is impossible! Open your eyes, you fool!"

The snakes start appearing, hissing at Molluscum.

"Of course, madam. Now I ..s.. see. You are right!"

He looks at the provoked snakes on her head.

"You are the spitting image of Lady Macbeth, Madam...I don't know WHAT I was thinking. I ..need to fetch some more...airtime?."

She looks into her wall mirror, and her mean smile vanishes instantly.

Jack and Amoran scheme in the dorm

"Shamare asked me to give this to you." Jack hands him the little notebook.

"Do you write each other letters in it? You must be careful. If Yersinia..."

"No," interrupts Amoran. "That's not what we do. Shamare just wanted to see our mother's handwriting." He opens the little book, so that Jack can see the neat, precise writing:

But thus saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. [From the Star Breather's Word]

"Did your mother write this? What does it mean?" asks Jack.

"I don't know, but she wrote it, and this is all that we have of her."

"Did she die?"

"I don't know, but I think so. When I was about seven years old, my father came home one day, and he was very sad. And my mother was just gone. He loved her very much. That was clear to me since I was very small, but my grandparents did not like her too much. We lived with my grandparents. From that day on, my aunt looked after us and when my father died, she brought us here. I think she just got tired looking after us."

"So where did you get this notebook from?"

"My mom gave it to me the day she disappeared. She told me to hide it and not to let anybody see it, but I do not understand the writing."

"Yeah," says Jack absent-mindedly "It seems everybody who ends up here has some kind of mystery about their parents." He is staring at the screen of his GPS. It is not often that he has enough privacy to do this.

"Jack, what is all this secret studying about, just like a proper nerd! Don't you know the rules in this place about studying? Will you stop staring at that gadget? Where did you get it from?" Amoran asks.

"My father," Jack replies quietly. "If you tell anybody, you are dead meat, you understand?"

"OK, OK, but why is it so important?"

"I am not sure, but I think it shows the way to get us out of here. And also the way to my water father."

"Your WHAT?"

"Well Amoran, it seems my father has some secrets. He is a funny lemon, but this goes beyond anything normal. It turns out this job is more than I thought. I don't remember much of what my mother told me. She died when I was still small. My dad hired a nanny, but I did not give her time to say much. I did not give her much time for anything, if you know what I mean."

"Oh yeah, I know exactly what you mean. It WAS you who put that For-Sale sign on Yersinia's souped-up Toyota! I SAW you! But never mind, I won't split on you. It was so funny - Wesley's father phoning officially to buy the car for ten bucks [His father is a second-hand car salesman, with a (very) good eye for a bargain] and Yersinia exploding into snakes again. Did she really swop the car for air time in the end?"

"Yup," says Jack. " ' glad you enjoyed my little prank."

His eyes suddenly light up. "That's a good idea! If we can manage to get her angry more often,... don't you see.... she'll be bankrupt soon!"

"OK! He's got a brain also, this Jack. But first tell me, what on earth is a water father?"

"I am not sure - I was given to him when I was small...with water...I want to get out of here, with maybe some other people," he whispers. "Are you in?"

"And who might the 'some other people' be? Some of the female persuasion, I suppose."

"Well, it is my secretive father's wish that I should find my water father. You know how it is – probably an old man thing. And there is nothing wrong with helping other people. And it is unlawful to be sexist..."

"Oh yeah, I know."

The GPS starts talking. Amoran is surprised. It is the first time that he experiences this gadget's having a mind of its own.

"Press IE1 ! [Important Event 1] Come on! Press it!"

Jack stares at the GPS.

"You think I am only a silly little GPS. I am NOT. Press IE1! It's a history clip."

"Be quiet!" says Jack.

"Not until you do as I say! Press IE1!"

Jack hurriedly scrolls down some menu and presses on a certain point of the touch screen. Suddenly they are standing in an exquisite garden, but they cannot move around as they please. It is as if they are behind a glass pane. A man in a black tail coat, appears. His head looks like that of a spitting cobra.

Event 1

"It is the blood of slaves that I want," the man hisses. "These naïve little inhabitants of the garden; they're just what I need. I'm so glad I could entice them into gullible disobedience and rebellion against that Alien. Interesting, what a pleasant difference that slight deviation off north can make – for me, that is. His forked tongue plays within his seemingly toothless smile. – a smile that cleverly conceals its venomous fangs from any gullible spectator.

He then turns to two people from ancient times.

"So, I have you in my power now; two bright little Gullibles! How delightful; your sorry little descendants will also be part of the package."

He laughs a deep, disdainful laugh, showing his forked tongue.

The two Gullibles start looking around in panic.

"Oh, you can relax! HE won't be around anymore!" hisses the snake man. "Or did you think he would make an exception for you? Sssshhhame! Let me tell you how sadly you are changed now. He will not come to you while you are in this state – ever. And you cannot go to him, or change yourselves back to blameless again – ever!"

"You lied to me! And you are lying even more now! He will be back, you will see! Liar!" cries the woman.

The snake man continues his belligerent laughing.

"And suddenly she knows what a lie is. Formerly I had such trouble to let her have a grasp on the concept. Interesting."

He casually spits out a few hair balls – the only remnants of some previous prey.

"I wouldn't be so harsh in my judgment if I were you, woman. Let me point out another intriguing fact to you: you are now just like me! Call me a liar, and you call yourself exactly the same, my sweet. You are trapped in this infection, just like me! Only I have enough power to draw blood – yours. And HE does not associate with your blood type."

He roars with laughter.

The two little Gullibles try to flee in dismay. They hide themselves behind the shrubs that now suddenly have become viciously thorny. The snake man follows them in glee.

Then they hear a voice calling; calling their names, as if from behind a waterfall.

"It's Him!" cries the woman. "But I think we'd better hide deeper! He will know about our deceit if he sees us!"

"Hide if you must," says the voice. "But I shall never stop calling after you. What have you done to yourselves?"

The snake man seems startled and somewhat surprised. He stops to listen.

"From now on," says the voice, "you and this serpent will hate each other. You, serpent, will crawl on your belly and eat dust. Even though you will bite their promised Descendant in years to come, it will be of less consequence, for He will crush your skull."

"Remember the prophesy; remember!" whispers the GPS, and then all is over, and Jack and Amoran are back in their depressing dorm.

"What does it mean?" asks Amoran, but Jack is clueless.

Jack works on it

Little Goody-two-shoes has got out of bed hours before dawn for his kitchen duties. Yersinia has changed her mind and decided her eggs must be well done. Doubt and Fear have shown, by means of snapping their jaws, that the two dozen eggs that used to be the measure for their omelettes are to be increased to three dozen each. He agreed in a hurry when they started smiling at him.

So once little Goody-two-shoes has left to make all his deliveries, Jack and Amoran move into the kitchen. There is enough privacy for them to work on the secrets of the GPS.

Svetacip – the word that has appeared on the screen of the GPS.

"It looks like some Swedish word. Is there anybody here who is Swedish?" Jack is talking more to himself than to Amoran.

"Not yet, but you can be sure Yersinia is working on getting hold of a Swede as well."

They are looking at a word on the screen of the GPS. It seems Apatheto tried to protect Jack from people like Yersinia, who insists on evil plans, by creating all these passwords.

"Just like a girl," complains Amoran. "Now that she must talk, she refuses to say a word."

"It's only a machine, Amoran. But sometimes it does pick up some verbal clues. Maybe it's more like a robot."

"Svetacip,...svetacip," whispers Amoran.

But not a sound comes from the GPS.

"Try making up other words from the letters," offers Jack," like a conundrum."

"OK, that's easy, like tap, cat, vest, tip.....tips.....cap..."

"Yeah sure, Amoran, how about cap tips....You must use all the letters every time......"

Lefty, who has just entered the kitchen, looks over Jack's shoulder at the screen.

"What does this gadget want with captives? Can it see what we are?" he asks.

"Lefty! You're a genius!"

"Thanks, I know. Most dyslexics are." He takes a bite from a pizza that he has just heated in the microwave and that was scrounged out of Molluscum, who sometimes smuggles things from Spare.

Jack is not paying any attention to him any longer. He is busy typing in the password: captives.

Suddenly the voice of the GPS rings out, while the words start appearing on the screen:

But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. [A prophecy, written down about 2600 years ago]

"This sounds vaguely familiar ," muses Jack. "It must be some secret promise. Where have I heard this before?"

"You have not heard it, you goof! You have seen it! Look!" Amoran pulls his mother's notebook from his pocket. They look at the words in utter astonishment.

But thus saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

"WE are the children, aren't we?"

But the GPS refuses to stop, to give them time to work through this mysterious discovery.

Another voice starts speaking, but this time it seems to fill the room; the calm, confident voice of a man. It sounds more like water, rushing downstream:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. [Spoken about 2000 years ago, by the Word of the Star Breather. Jack is hearing a history clip, but doesn't realise it.]

The two boys look around the kitchen, and then at one another, because there is no one to be seen.

"Did you hear that?" asks Jack.

But Amoran looks unsure.

"Maybe we should just switch it off and put it away, Jack. I do not think we should meddle with this. It's none of our business."

"What do you mean? Of course it is! Don't you see? WE are the captives! This GPS will show us how to escape!"

Amoran looks at his friend incredulously.

"You are not really going to try to escape, are you? I ..I...was only joking the other day. Don't you know about the Wood of Words? It strangles you, all those branches, if you ever enter it. And there is that fence."

"Come on, Amoran. You're listening to too many old wives tales. What about Molluscum Contagiosum? He goes to Pop stores regularly enough – right through that wood! I am NOT staying in this dump to become a slave like that little Goody simpleton."

"And what about Doubt and Fear, guarding the woods? They will eat us alive if they find us there."

"But we have this GPS! Not even Molluscum has that, and he gets through the woods. If we use it - I bet we shall move faster than those two."

"Molluscum knows one of the secret words. We don't. And just look at the state he is in when he comes back; full of scratches and festering sores. One of those branches díd get hold of him once. He could not say the word in time, he says. He was half dead when Doubt dragged him back here."

"Yeah well, I don't picture him as a branch manager at all," Lefty chips in. He has finished his pizza slice.

But Amoran is in no mood for laughing.

"Please Jack, just forget about escaping. We're safer here. I don't want you leaving and not knowing what happened to you."

"That won't happen! You're coming with, so you can see what happens to me! Honestly Amoran, the things you worry about!"

"I am all for your plan, Jack, says Lefty. "Who wants to sit around here for the rest of his life, simply because it is dangerous to escape?"

"Good for you, Lefty! Just imagine: a skateboard and a long mountain road; that's FREEDOM!" Jack smiles at the thought.

Fishing for information

"Miss Fishistory tells me that you were late with Doubt and Fear's breakfast yesterday, boy." Yersinia looks down at Goody-two-shoes in disdain.

"Oh but,...I am sorry ma'am. It's because I was listening...at the door. Did you know, ma'am,...that...Wesley...he likes a girl!"

"No! A girl! How is that possible?" Yersinia's sarcasm is not completely lost on him, but he chooses to ignore it because of his fear for her.

"Her name is...D..Delinquency...She is very pretty."

"Yeees...Phillip" She purses her lips. "And what did you find out about that other creature, that Gullible?"

"I...he...not much, except... he...I saw him talking to that same girl, that Delinquency, but she does not like him."

Yersinia's expression changes from surly to someone who has just seen the light. When she realises her mistake, she curtly tells Goody-two-shoes:

"Well, keep on trying boy...er...Phillip You realise this is not much – and not at all what I am looking for! Please go now!"

But what Goody does not know, is that she is chuckling inward. Delinquency! What a happy coincidence!

Yersinia's public murder attempt

Yersinia sparkles charm. Ever so often she rubs her arm, emitting some more airtime into her system. She is wearing every single diamond necklace and bracelet in her possession, looking like a constellation of stars that have lost their way in the universe.

The glitterati out of the Woods have all arrived in style.

"The woman looks like a wandering Christmas tree," sneers an envious Mrs Fishistory, who has just disembarked from a school taxi bus, waving her head towards Yersinia.

"Oh Mr.Crabgait! So lovely to see you again!" sings Mrs. Pestis-Wannabe-Macbeth. "Please may I introduce you to Miss Torturekid. I hear so many wonderful things about her modern techniques. Are you still happy with your teaching position at the school, my dear?"

But before the dear can answer, Mrs. Pestis-Wannabe-Macbeth has turned her back and is already talking to one of her other weirdo guests.

"Is the Inspector of the Lady-Macbeth Foundation here?" whispers Mr. Crabgait.

"Haven't seen him yet, but I'm sure he's invited. You know how aspiring the woman is. I would not mind to meet him myself," chirps little Miss Torturekid.

Yersinia does not hear them.

"Mr. Barbedshoe! I have noticed your promotion of the new Spikebooties! So delightful! I really wish I could use a few. .. Come in everybody! Please take your seats. I have some entertainment organised!"

Yersinia takes a spray can with the words Wild Dog Breath printed on it from her clutch bag and sprays some of the contents into her mouth and down her throat.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to introduce our two gladiators for the evening: To my right we have... Wesley Southbound!"

Wesley enters the stage, bowing and smiling confidently. The guests applaud wildly and start chanting:

"Wesley Bloodbound! Wesley bloodbound!"

In a dark corner of the hall, a man who has slithered inside unobtrusively at the last moment is smiling contentedly. His snake head and forked tongue is not clearly visible in the dark, and he refuses to remove his bowler hat. After a while, he is joined by a woman who is wearing an exquisite hairstyle. "Salmonella dear, I see you are ready for our own little show. Half a truth is more effective that a downright lie. Don't you agree?"

"Show me the tattoo first," she sneers.

"It's dark. Wait your turn, wench! And be quiet." His look silences her. "I see the boy is still here. His mother still hasn't paid. What a happy little circumstance."

"And the other one is as good as dead. You need not be afraid of him anymore. He cannot fight."

"Who is afraid?" he retorts in an irritated manner. "Yersinia must earn her looks; that is all there is to it."

"Come on Wesley dear, choose your weapons. Look them through carefully," calls Yersinia from centre stage.

On the one side of the stage an array of primitive weapons is displayed: two swords; one modern anti-riot shield that was stolen from a policeman; and an ancient rusty Roman suit of armour of uncertain origin.

Wesley struts the stage towards the display with mock curiosity, but it is obvious that he has seen all of this before. He takes the light, highly polished stainless steel sword and the modern shield.

"I am ready," is all he says.

"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's winner of course, will have a date with the sweet little Delinquency Taylor. Come on girl. Let's see you!"

Delinquency is forced onto the stage by Doubt and Fear. She looks at Yersinia and her audience with defiance. Mr. Crabgait lets out a sick wolf's whistle.

"Well, that's enough girl," Yersinia snaps. "Get back to your waitering duties." She forces herself to smile at her audience before she makes the next announcement.

"And then last, but not least; our second gladiator for the night: Jack Gullible!"

"Is this really happening?" Jack asks himself. "Am I really part of this nauseating scenario?"

"Put on the full armour," says the GPS in his pocket. Fortunately there is such a racket that only Jack hears this. If he is going to be the laughing stock of this place, he might just as well do it. It seems nobody here cares whether he or Wesley, or both of them get killed! There are more sick people around here than just Yersinia.

Jack walks up to the suit of armour amidst jeers from the spectators. When he passes Wesley, the latter smiles at him.

"I've had lessons, Gullible. You don't have a chance; how will a few words, written on a rusty sword help you?"

There is a pair of sandals which seem somewhat big for Jack, but as he tightens the laces, they seem to adjust in size automatically. The plebeians are roaring with laughter.

"Don't be intimidated," says the GPS. "Put on the breastplate and the girdle."

They shrink to fit Jack perfectly.

"That sword looks very rusty to me," shouts out a man called Professor Evilunion. "You don't stand a chance!"

Jack puts on the helmet and takes the shield and the sword in his hands. It does indeed seem rusty. Wesley's sword is spotless and flashy. Jack looks at the blade of his sword. Some words are engraved on it. He can see the words 'hope', 'joy', and the other one looks like 'peace'. The rest is totally lost in the rust. How does Wesley know about these words? He must have seen this sword before.

"Strange," Jack thinks. "No part of this armour is as heavy as I thought it would be."

How exciting it would be to go on a real date with Delinquency! He had dreamt of it very often, but now his dream has become a nightmare. He is expected to kill someone for her, or get killed himself. In any case, he would never go on a date with her if she is forced to do so.

"Am I the only sane person in this place?" Jack wonders as he hesitantly walks up to Wesley and faces him. "Is someone really going to die? Is this really happening?" he thinks in fear.

"The Word was the source of life," whispers the GPS. Jack looks around to see if anybody has heard, but he only sees Doubt and Fear hurriedly leaving the hall through a side door.

"The Word was the source of life," he repeats to himself, without knowing why.

"You may start at the drop of my cell phone!" calls Yersinia. "Gladiators, are you ready? After this, you will never be what you have been before! En garde!"

Wesley instantly assumes some kind of fencing position of which Jack knows nothing. Yersinia drops the phone.

Wesley moves in on Jack like lightning. Jack wards off the attack with his shield.

The unknown spectator

How utterly stupidly these two kids are fighting. It's hard not to go and help Jack, of course, but my King, the Star Breather told me not to interfere this time, because Jack now has the Word in his hand. I don't argue of course, but I wish I could just once whack that little Wesley brat off his feet. I have handled a sword since the beginning of time!

It's Yersinia's fault that that Sword of Jack's is so rusty. It seems she has completely forgotten what she has actually handed over to him. She has been hiding it so fearfully from everybody for so long, she must have forgotten about it herself; big mistake. Come on Jack! Use that Sword! I can see the rust disappearing from it already!

Jack's skateboarding is probably helping his footwork. He seems to be quite fast. I remember how he, as a little boy, would run next to a moving skateboard, hopping on and off the thing at alternate sides. That was before he became so belligerent, oh but look! Jack's not on the defence anymore! He is starting to attack! He is getting the hang of tricking Wesley to open his body for a second and then thrusting that shining perfect Sword...Yes! Wesley's shield is shattered – to pieces! Poor brat! He has allowed Jack to get him a little off balance there. Then he was stupid enough to think that his shield would withstand the force of that Sword – naïve.

Oh no! Jack has just taken a hit to his left arm! There is blood! Stop revelling in small successes, Jack! Concentrate! Forget about the pain! This is no game! Don't get angry now! No, Jack you can't just charge in blind anger. Now look what you've done to yourself. Another hit – and that to your right shoulder! Oh Jack, concentrate! It's not as deep as you might think. Come on! Strategy! Forget the jeers of the crowd!

Wesley is smiling gleefully. It seems he is making the same mistake as Jack. Has he forgotten that he is minus his plastic shield? There you have it! Jack's sword strikes right at Wesley's heart! Look! Wesley's bending over in agony! What's going on? I don't see any blood! Oh yes, I have forgotten, of course there won't be any. He tries to come erect again, but Jack has hit his sorry little sword out of his hand. He is defenceless. Jack's sword goes right through his heart for a second time; there is no blood, no wound. Wesley is on his knees. He is begging for mercy. What? Jack hands him a glass of water!

Jack returns his sword to its sheath.

Yes, there you have it, Ladies and gentlemen, leeches and devourers. Look at those two boys very carefully; none of them will ever be what they have been before. I, Amahl, have experience in this.

Prizes returned

Yersinia is not in control of this situation at all. She walks up to Jack with small feminine steps, but she makes sure that she does not come too near to him.

"You may hand me back that sword now, young brat." She is talking to Jack under her breath while smiling at the discontented spectators.

"Delinquency won't go with me. She hates me. I'll have this sword instead," is Jack's firm answer.

"Stupid decision." Her mouth smiles, but her eyes; is it anger or fear in them?

"We want blood! We want blood!" chants the unruly mob.

"Ladies and gentleman, we have a winner; one wearing a shirt that is nothing but blood!"

"BOOH! BOOH!" the spectators start balking, but not for long.

Yersinia whips her arm towards Jack with affected grandiosity. Unfortunately she was too poor, but also too greedy when she had her diamond bracelet made. She opted for an extra diamond instead of a proper clip. Her arm movement causes the cheap clip from her bracelet to open and the glittering piece is sent on a comet-like path that ends in Professor Evilunion's hors-d'oeuvres.

Yersinia is somewhat taken aback.

"Delinquency," she whispers and motions with her head towards the guest who has hit the jackpot. "Go get it!"

"Look my dear, it seems we are the winners of the vanity prize!" chirps Mrs. Professor Evilunion.

Delinquency walks up to the Professor, who has taken the small platter in his hand and is trying to fish the bracelet out with a fork.

"Do you perhaps have some ice thongs, girl?" he asks Delinquency, not noticing her surly expression.

He holds the plate out to her. Delinquency is overcome by rebellious anger. She sees her chance for revenge, takes aim and kicks the plate clean out of the Professor's hand. It is launched and then placed in a semi orbit over the heads of the guests before it explodes against a wall, sending a constellation of small diamonds in all directions.

Yersinia's honoured guests start scrambling after them, crawling underneath the tables. Very soon, a general brawl has broken out as ladies in evening wear shove each other out of the way and attempt to tear each other's eyes out. The men initially try to be subtle by quietly slipping a diamond or two into their pockets. Under the circumstances, however, they are watching each other very closely and soon fists are flying.

"Hissssss!" go all the snakes on Yersinia's head. She kicks off her shoes and charges like a not-so-amorous nanny-goat.

"Give them BACK!" shouts Yersinia, snatching the ladies' handbags from them. She forces them open one by one and shakes out all the contents, groping after her lost diamonds. The snakes on her head keep everybody at bay, while lipsticks and rosy polyfilla tubes [These are actually meant for cracked walls, not for cracked ha...er... ladies] from the handbags are flying through the air.

Little Goody-two-shoes is crawling on all fours underneath the tables, enduring kicks from disgruntled guests who are trying to persuade him to leave the diamonds on the floor. He rushes off to Yersinia and pours a few of the diamonds into her upheld skirts.

"Ma'am, please tell them not to kick me like that!"

"There!" Yersinia shouts at last, holding the skirts of her evening dress up so that it forms a pouch. "I have them all back!"

Isn't it strange that those who own the most, often know the least?

"Go away!" Yersinia screeches. "This party is over!"

"Make your appearance and return without answering any questions," orders the snake man in a low voice. "The woman is becoming very irresponsible. How could she allow that boy to have the Alien's sword? It must be kept in the safe, never to be taken out!"

Salmonella walks into a spot of light, smiling at Yersinia, who is staring in disbelief, very nearly dropping all her diamonds again.

"You...," but Yersinia is too shocked to find any further words.

"Do you like my Lady Macbeth hairstyle? You should try it." Salmonella smiles confidently, then turns and leaves the hall.

Yersinia makes a concerted effort and turns her attention to the diamonds in her skirt.

"The old hag – she wasn't even invited. I'll sort her out – soon."

Seeing Yersinia in her office

"It's IDIOTS like you who give this school a bad name. I have a good mind and have you all suspended!"

Wesley, Delinquency and three members from the water team are standing in Yersinia's office. She is groping to keep the rip in the skirts of her evening dress together. The diamonds from the bracelet are scattered over her desk. In one corner, Goody-two-shoes is standing to attention with a clean, smiling, little demeanour, looking like a dummy in the display of a shop window.

Jack still has the sword in his hand and is still wearing the entire Roman suit of armour. He is looking down, lightly pressing the tip of the sword onto the sole of the sandal.

"YOU! Jack Gullible, have the NERVE to backchat me in front of all my guests! Give me back that sword this instant!"

But Yersinia has not noticed that Jack has changed since that strange duel with Wesley. He calmly looks her in the eye.

"I am sorry, Ma'am, but I have won this sword fairly and squarely. It is now my property."

The others look at Jack in shock and fear, but he does not budge. Yersinia's expression changes for just one instant. Jack does not miss the surprise and the fear, before she recovers her act and changes the subject.

"And you, little WEASLEY Southbound, have the nerve to tell me that you have had lessons! I have everything rig... organised the way you wa... it should be and then you go and lose the fight like a jelly baby in a scrum!"

"It's all his fault!" cries Wesley, pointing to Jack. "He broke my shield! And I am the one who had lessons..." he whines before he realises how ridiculous his speech is.

"Quiet! You silly sewer rat! How it is possible that you are still alive just beats me! [Actually she knows the exact reason, but she does not want Jack to find out.] You should have been dead! So stop your squealing!"

"What I was hoping, Ma'am," Wesley snobbishly tries again, "is that I could trick Jack to..."

"WHO said that?" Yersinia inquires. Her attitude becomes threatening

"It wasn't me, it was him," blurts out pathetic Wesley.

"It was definitely him," Goody-two-shoes is pointing at Jack, but Yersinia ignores him.

She bears down on Wesley until her face is right in his, as if he has used some swear word.

"Say what?" Lefty is hardly intimidated by Yersinia's trembling anger.

"That word." Wesley hangs his head.

"Hope!" pipes sweet little Goody-two-shoes.

Yersinia grabs him by the scruff of his neck and shoves his head into her waste paper basket.

"Don't you DARE!" She shouts at him. The snakes start obscuring her vision, as usual.

Jack and Lefty look at Yersinia and Wesley, puzzled.

"He only said," Lefty tries to explain, "that he was hoping..."

"Oooooh, no, no no!" yowls Yersinia. "Stop, stop!" She lets go of Goody and covers her head with her trembling hands. "Don't you dare, you little terrors. Get out of here! Both of you! Out! And be sure I'll be back for you, you insolent little scum balls!" she shouts after Jack and Lefty.

The two boys leave the office and Yersinia rushes into the adjoining store room, hoping to find a lost or forgotten airtime voucher. Her looks did not improve in the course of the evening.

"Did we say anything wrong, maybe?" Lefty asks when he passes Wesley. [In Yersinia's book, definitely. She is terrified of the word 'hope'.]

But Wesley only mumbles through his grimace: "Shut up."

Gugu is waiting for them around the corner of the main building.

"All the guests have left; even that character with the forked tongue and his lady friend with the weird hair. He just held onto his hat and fled through the rose garden. So what happened in there? What is she going to do to Wesley and Delinquency?"

"We don't know, but we must find out," says Jack resolutely.

"Oh, and another thing," remarks Gugu. "I saw Molluscum leave for the Wood of Words again. Maybe she gave him one of those diamonds to go and get some airtime..."

"She seems desperate enough," snorts Jack.

"Oh how will I EVER get an invitation to his palace with you idiots around?" comes Yersinia's wailing from inside the office. "Or to the Lady-Macbeth-look-alike-trials?"

A midnight rendezvous – behind Pop stores

"You tell me, tell me how to get out! I've been waiting for this chance for thousands of years..." Molluscum bends over Apatheto in a threatening way. "Every time I get out. I get that woman's blasted air time, but then the Wood calls me back, and I cannot ignore it! I must obey! YOU, you help me, or I kill you!"

Apatheto smiles calmly.

"I can't help you when I am dead, my friend. Nonetheless I will help you. Just think about it; I need a favour from you as well. You see, the Wood of Words won't allow any of my transmissions through to Disconnetedania I need to send Jack the word – the one that can free from the wall. I've heard about the incident at the party. Someone's going to need that word, and it's urgent...Tell me, do you navigate by the stars when you walk the Wood of Words?"

"Of course I navigate by the stars! There is no other way!"

"You are mistaken my friend. There is another; one that is free from the deviance. It is your only way out. Jack has the secret to the way out; he must just find it. Go tell him the word!

Yersinia's revenge

Delinquency and Wesley stare after Jack and Lefty as they leave the room; Wesley looks rather nervous, but Delinquency does not make the slightest effort to hide her bored indifference.

"What did we do wrong?" Amoran whispers nervously.

"Who cares?" Delinquency blows another gum bubble. "What you do or don't do – does it matter? She's gonna explode anyway. If I would be so lucky to hold that sword in my hand, I'd kill HER. I'd kill her first."

Wesley, however, looks worried. He was not supposed to lose the fight. It had all been rigged in his favour. What is even more puzzling is how that sword went right through him without harming him. Is Jack some kind of magician? And why didn't he kill Wesley? He had the best chance he would ever have. But the thing that spooks him the most, is that it indeed feels as if something inside him is dying; something like an attitude; HIS attitude; the one he was used to...; the one that gave him confidence and that made him fight. He must pull himself together; that's all.

Yersinia returns from the neighbouring store-room, where her hopes of finding a mislaid airtime coupon were disappointed miserably.

"What do you know about this rigged duel?" she demands.

"It wasn't us!" Amoran is now very nervous. "We know nothing!"

Yersinia does not seem to hear a word of what Amoran is saying. She has jerked her head backward, so that the two snakes stand up straight, facing each other.

"What is that in your pocket? A cell phone? And that after I have explicitly forbidden..." She pauses, and suddenly changes her tone of voice. "Oh, well.... Maybe you should just put it on my table. Say, does it have airtime?"

Amoran is now shaking visibly.

"Yes, ma'am, and it was repaired by a very good technician [We all know who that was, don't we?] just before I came here." He hastily puts the cell phone on her desk.

"Oh well, I am sure you just forgot to hand it in. I shall keep it safe for you. You may go, Amoran."

As he leaves the office feeling greatly relieved, Yersinia pockets Amoran's phone.

"As for you two; I no longer have any use for you. You! Boy! How dare you tell me you had lessons? And along comes that common little twit, who has never handled a sword in his life, and toasts your hides for you! And you: girl, behaving the way you did at MY points scoring function! I could have lost all those fake... all those extremely valuable diamonds! No! I've had it with both of you. You will both follow me. Doubt and Fear, heel!"

Yersinia marches the two of them to the gate of the rose garden, with Doubt and Fear guarding them, so that there is no possibility of escape. She has grabbed each of them by the scruff of the neck.

"Leave me alone, "moans Wesley. "This is child abuse!"

"You have NO idea what that means....YET," retorts Yersinia.

The snake-woman-who-has-lost-her-charm pushes her back against the gate of the rose garden. It swings open. She flings Wesley inside with unexpected violence coming from her evil, bionic power. He cuts himself against one of the rose bushes. Next is Delinquency.

Yersinia starts cursing aloud in some official language unheard of in South Africa. [And the South Africans have eleven official languages; they are still working on getting the 12th acknowledged: the language of Love.]

"I'll have that pesky little Gullible with you soon!" she threatens.

"Oh well, so much for a romantic walk in the rose garden," muses Jack, who has been following at some distance on the outside of the garden wall.

Yersinia grabs Wesley and Delinquency by the hair and marches to the end of the grove, where a huge concrete mixer can be seen.

"Take these slaves!" Yersinia calls into the barrel of the mixer. "Take them! And the third one is on his way!"

A toneless, hollow voice emerges from the mixer.

"Give me these two. I HAVE NO RIGHT TO THE THIRD ONE. Don't bring him near me! DON'T bring him here!" Only the last sentence has emphasis, and a distinct emotion is discernable: Fear.

"Who? Jack Gullible? I am counting on you to take Jack Gullible!"

"You will NOT DREAM of that! Or you will never be Lady Macbeth!"

"WHAT? How is this possible? You are certainly mistaken, Mr Pestis!. [Well, well. Too much partying, maybe?. Hiding in a concrete mixer. That is so past lame.] He is just a stupid boy..." [who always manages to make her airtime disappear, who somehow cannot be a slave, not even here, inside her school.]

"I am never mistaken, wench. Get him AWAY from here!"

On the outside of the wall, Jack drops down on all fours, finds a hole to peep through the wall and then remains silent. How can he help Delinquency? He will let himself in, whether this monstrous voice from a concrete mixer likes it or not.

"Then at least sort these two out, son of a coward!" Yersinia shouts, frustrated.

She grabs Delinquency by the arm and shoves her so that she stands right in front of the concrete mixer. A most shocking thing happens, which nearly causes Jack to call out in alarm, but someone has grabbed him from the back, and is now covering his mouth with a big hand.

The mixer has spewed out a huge amount of concrete, in such a way that it was flung around Delinquency's neck, like an overweight, deadly necklace. She has fallen flat on her stomach because of the weight of this very fast drying concrete and is now lying in the mud, a huge distance away from where Jack is, struggling to come erect again, but to no avail. The concrete necklace is weighing her down. It seems to be growing in size, and the opening for her neck is simply too narrow for her to pull her head through it.

On the outside of the fence, Jack hears a muffled "Ssshhh..." as someone is trying to persuade him to be quiet. He is allowed to turn around, just to look into the eyes of none other than...Molluscum Contagiosum.

"The word is 'hope'. Quick! Tell them that, but whisper, before all the concrete sets! Hope!" whispers Molluscum and then releases Jack. He quickly disappears between some buildings, apparently on his way to the kitchen.

Next a terrified Wesley is made to stand in front of the mixer.

"I am sorry, Mrs. Pestis, I mean... Look, I can do much better...just give me one more..."

"I heard the owl scream, and the cricket's cry." [Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2, Line 16]

That's the only consolation that Yersinia shouts at him.

The concrete hits him from a different angle and he lands near the spot where Jack is hiding. Jack, in fact, is staring into his yowling, tear-deluged face. Wesley is kicking up such a racket, and such an amount of mud, that he fails to notice Jack, who is right in front of him.

"Wesley! Stop it!" Jack picks up a pebble and flicks it at Wesley's nose. He stops wailing for a second, looking astonished, but in that second Jack whispers: "The word is 'hope'. Say it! Quickly!"

Wesley hasn't noticed Jack yet, and doesn't understand where the voice is coming from, but fortunately starts crying out between his shameless sobs: "Hope, hope, hope."

The same instant the concrete stops drying, starts crumbling and then falls to the ground. Wesley is freed.

"Go tell Delinquency!" whispers Jack, but typical of bullies, the frightened Wesley simply runs for the gate and increases the distance between himself and the mixer at a remarkable pace.

When Yersinia realises that Wesley is being freed, she runs after him, shouting furiously: "Spies! This place is infested with spies. Come back here, you little scumbag! I shall find out who this informant is, if it is the last thing I do!"

Fortunately for Wesley, the heat from flames on her head become too much to bear and she collapses on the lawn before she can reach the gate of the rose garden.

Only Jack hears the hoarse cries for help from that newly-formed concrete wall in the garden of roses.

Starting a new business

Yersinia has put up a new sign: Tattoo parlour. The recommendation underneath reads: All designs. Specialising in butterflies.

A sulking Salmonella is the first to notice. Why didn't she think of that? She has always wanted her own business, but could not think of anything she would really enjoy. And now this Yersinia creature has outdone her again.

At first Salmonella is hesitant to 'phone, but when Yersinia answers, it is obvious that she has forgotten all about the incident with the Lady Macbeth hair.

"Plastic surgery is so expensive these days, not to mention airtime. I thought a supplementary income was just what I needed," sings Yersinia into the ear of her friendly enemy. "A BUTTERFLY! At last I get the chance to show my real skill... yes...I know what you mean...he NEVER keeps a promise...Quotation? My dear, of course...I give discount for an old...en...er...friend."

Yersinia is smiling her Lady Macbeth smile when she ends the call.

"Now let's see...this old pest has dared to double-cross me..."

Project Delinquency

Now the Word of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope...

Jack is reading the words carefully. He has just tried the new password, the one he guessed after the disaster of the rose garden: hope.

"We must get out of this place, and quickly too! I must find a way to get Delinquency out of there. I am not leaving without her. What joy or peace will I have? None, until it is done."

"These words are too difficult to understand. How will they get Delinquency out?" asks Amoran.

"I don't know, but we must keep trying... that ye may abound in hope...That was the word that got Wesley out."

"And what does Molluscum know about all this? How does he know about this word, hope?"

In the mean time Yersinia paces her office once or twice before she summons Doubt and Fear.

Amahl's comments

Did I mention to you that I am the member of a great pop band? We are called Angels' Beat, after our very first song that we put on the Internet...wonder what you will thi...Is Jack still fiddling on that GPS, trying to get that girl out? He should get a move on to get himself out of this joint. That is why his father gave him the thing, not to bother about girls! Yersinia wants him dead, or at the very least, as a slave. And now that she knows that they have found out about the Word of hope – I think she is going to tighten the security. Aah, but look! They have reached the event where I was part of the choir. It was the most beautiful occasion of all times. Jack, take a careful look at History clip 2.

History clip 2

This time there is no garden, but Amoran and Jack are behind the glass again. The landscape is more barren. An ancient caravan of camels is approaching a small, dirty building. They stop in front of it. Three richly dressed men in turbans dismount; then take some containers from their camel bags and enter this rickety little building.

Once inside, they kneel in the gloomy, pitch darkness. "The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us," whispers the GPS. The first man presents his container.
"Gold, for the King of kings."

"Incense, for the Priest of priests," says the second man, whilst putting down his container in front of a sleeping child.

The third man can hardly speak.

"Myrrh," he whispers. "For the Sacrifice of al sacrifices."

"... he gave his one and only... Word of Truth..." whispers the GPS.

The men leave on their camels. Two persons are seen fleeing with the baby. A cohort of Roman soldiers approaches the unassuming little building. "All young males must be killed!" shouts the centurion, smashing the gifts that were left behind with his sword. It becomes a powdery substance that seems to encompass the whole world. "Kill the boys! Kill all boys under the age of two!"

Suddenly he sees Jack and Amoran. He charges at them with a blood- curdling cry. The glass partition disintegrates into millions of splinters. Jack instinctively wields his sword at the charging horse and its rider. Both seem to dissolve in thin air.

"The Word was in the world,..., yet the world did not recognize him," says the GPS, but the two boys are too shaken to pay much attention.

"Killing children! What madness is this?"

"And we are not even under two!"

"And not even part of that history!"

"Everybody's part of that history," comments the GPS.

The client arrives

"Salmonella, dear, so glad you're early. I have designed something special; just for you!" Yersinia is as jovial as a lioness preparing for the kill. The right shoulder, is that what you said?"

"Yes, I'm so glad I do not have to wait for that Pestis any longer. The way he makes promises and then just ignores you..."

"You're telling me..."

Soon the job is underway.

"So what are you up to these days, my dear?" (Except for stabbing me in the back) Yersinia asks.

"Oh not much," replies Salmonella. "I have this quaint little vuvuzela outlet, which is a nice little time killer, but for the rest, I spend my time on my looks."

Yersinia's hand jerks.

"Oops, I shall have to change the design somewhat now. If I just keep quiet, she won't notice," she thinks.

"My dear, so I have noticed. Er... that hairstyle the other evening..."

"Oh that! Yes, it was nothing really. A little accident really..."

"You're having another one now, silly wench, and it's not so little either..." Yersinia thinks privately.

"I left one of my vuvuzelas with your servant, as a gift and small token of my appreciation, Yersinia dear."

But before Yersinia dear can answer, her cell phone alerts her to a newly-sent sms. She hastily downs her tools to read it.

"A prerequisite for any invitation will be that water must turn to blood. This time, forward a formal, well-developed plan of action."

"Pestis..." she murmurs and then texts back. "Consider it done."

The job on Salmonella becomes an extremely hurried one. Yersinia's mind is not on her work at all.

"There, it's done," she announces after a while. "Please go."

"So soon? Oh I cannot thank you enough! Let me see!" implores Salmonella. "How much do I owe you?"

"No need to pay, you can go look in the mirror at home. Go now!"

But Salmonella is not put off that easily. She turns the two swinging mirrors that Yersinia had installed in the parlour so that she can see her back. She looks once. She looks twice and then utters a shriek of dismay.

"A FLY? This is not what I asked for! Where is my BUTTERfly?"

"It is for FREE! Didn't you hear me?" Yersinia becomes annoyed. She pushes a wailing Salmonella out of the door and promptly slams it in her face. Yersinia turns her back and starts pacing the parlour in deep thought, oblivious to the angry shouts that are coming from outside.

"Now let's see..." she muses. "Nobody wants to use the school's swimming pool except Doubt and Fear...These kiddies call themselves the water team and they don't like water? But the name can create a perception...And they can easily be pushed... accidents will happen...especially with Doubt and Fear around...it's just one of those things.

She goes over to her computer and starts composing an e-mail, addressed to ex-husband Pestis.

An attack and a rescue attempt

Bitzer, the knife thrower, has gained entry to the rose garden. He had been spying on Jack and that silly little friend of his, called Amoran. They were busy with some little electronic game when he left. Everybody has his little night-time secret, it seems.

"You are the knife specialist. See if you can get her out with your knife," is what the Extractor ordered. "She can then be MY slave. Female company is a good thing." Somehow Wesley did not utter the usual string of obscenities that he sends into the air when he is talking about girls.

When Bitzer comes to Delinquency, she starts cursing him. She has not accepted this terrible fate, or if she has, she has decided to do it with hatred against anybody who comes near her.

Bitzer takes out one of his knives. He bends over her.

"This may hurt quite a bit," he laughs. "It may draw some blood, a big amount in fact, but at least then you will get your head out of this mess – I think."

Delinquency starts yelling.

In the kitchen Jack is trying another password.

Bitzer stabs the knife into the concrete, very near to Delinquency's neck.

"Oh, sorry, I hope I do not slit your throat by accident."

"I hate you! Get away from me, you runt of a rat litter!"

Bitzer only laughs disdainfully and starts carving at the concrete, but it does not budge. He is far more successful with the skin on Delinquency's neck.

"It is bad luck that we must shed your blood, but that is the only way you can be free, little girl. And then you are coming with me, to see Wesley!"

"Turn around, Bitzer! Face me!"

Bitzer stops his work in surprise. Who was that? Wesley said he would see to it that no one disturbed him. He turns quickly. Someone is standing in the shadows. He cannot see who it is.

"Who are you?" he bellows, before quickly turning and ripping his knife from the wall. "Come out and fight!"

The other person does not answer. For a moment his silhouette is clear against the sky, as a fleece of cloud gives way before the moon. Bitzer aims and throws his knife, but the person is quick. He sidesteps the attack. The knife whizzes past him and disappears in the darkness.

"Who is this nincompoop?" Bitzer snickers. "Wanting to take ME on! Let him come!"

But when Jack steps out of the shadows, sword in hand, Bitzer stumbles backwards.

"Don't come near me! I'll kill you!" Bitzer's voice reveals his fear.

Jack advances with a steady gait, and without a word.

"It was Wesley; he put me up to it! I did not do anything to her, I promise."

Still Jack does not say a word. For a moment he stands in front of Bitzer, slowly measuring him from head to toe. When he steps forward, Bitzer turns tail and runs.

How could the GPS "know" what was going on? How could it be pre-programmed to warn Jack? His father built this? His father said he fixed phones!

Delinquency turns her eyes up to Jack as far as she can.

"You must get out of here, Jack. Flee from this school. It's you that she's after – that madwoman. If you don't, you'll end up here, next to me."

Jack sits down next to her. He has brought a clean hand towel from the kitchen and is now easing it into the space between her neck and the concrete.

"Oh, I shouldn't worry too much about that. Green mambas are not that easily caught by a squirt of wet concrete." He is laughing. "I am more interested to know what has changed since our previous conversation. Why are you so worried about me all of a sudden?" He helps her to drink something from a mug with a straw, but she abandons it abruptly.

"What has CHANGED? I got my neck into a block of concrete – that's what's changed in case you have not noticed. You think this is a joke? I hate that woman. I hate everybody who just doesn't care about what is happening to me."

Jack bends down to her, so that she has no choice but to look into his eyes.

"Delinquency, I care. I really do. That's why I am trying to find a way to get you out of here. How can I just leave you here?"

"Jack G, stop being so stubborn. There is nothing you can do."

Gifts

Salmonella cries all the way home, or nearly all the way. However, when she passes a liquor store, she dries her tears and promptly enters.

"Two packets of Ignition and two bottles of Johnny Warlord, please."

When the attendant hands her the shopping bag, she has a request: "Could you please wrap these properly please?"

She quickly makes a phone call while waiting.

"...For the two security guards, thanks Molluscum!...Oh, they have been kind enough to escort me to the parlour...in ten minutes? Super!"

A concrete problem

Jack stabs at the concrete block with his sword. It hardly makes a dent.

"It's not enough to break free from the guilt of Pestis," the GPS suddenly sounds a warning. "She must be free from the POWER of the guilt; from the power of Pestis. There is none but the Word that can free her from its power!"

"If only I could understand the meaning of these words." Jack, in frustration, jabs at the wall again, but it does not budge. Dawn is breaking.

Delinquency is startled by the GPS voice. Jack must explain everything to her, but he does not get much opportunity before he is commanded to go to another Important Event. Delinquency becomes the second witness, sharing with him one of the most atrocious; most needed and most world-changing events in all history.

It all starts with an unruly mob, following a horribly beaten captive, shouting and jeering. They force him up a hill. His kidneys are visible through his rib cage. Jack volunteers some help, or encouragement.

"I am also a captive, but I found this sword. I hope it will help me. Jack calls out to the stumbling, desperately injured man. At first the man does not speak to Jack, but he seems to be aware of him. Then he turns to Jack and he speaks to him in the same calm, commanding voice that spoke the time when he got the GPS to work for the first time:

"Hold on to it, Jack. It is extremely valuable. You are handling it well. It is a joy to watch you."

Jack's eyes become bright with joy.

The man then turns to Delinquency.

"Listen to my voice, Delinquency! I know all about your dream; the one about going down Table Mountain! Remember?"

Delinquency pulls in her breath sharply when she remembers. She has forgotten all about that wish, and about the boy that she saw on his skateboard.

Jack and Delinquency are all too soon shocked again when they become the witness of a most horrific murder. This captive who has spoken in such an encouraging way to them, is killed in a horribly inhumane, torturous manner.

Bleeding profusely from a scourging, and wearing a crown that was woven from a viciously thorny bush, this unfortunate man is nailed, by the wrists, to a rough piece of timber. He is then hoisted up, far above the ground onto a long, vertical pole.

"It is complete!" calls out the man. Jack does not understand what He means. This man then calls his own Father, but shortly after this, he dies.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son...the Word of Truth..." whispers the GPS.

The entire earth turns pitch dark. The clip plays out in a tumult of nightmarish, incomprehensible montages. A soldier drives a spear into the side of the dead man's body. Jack sees how blood and water pours from the wound. Graves open up and people who have been dead for many years start walking in the streets. A huge, thickly woven curtain seems to rip apart violently, from top to bottom, all by itself.

Delinquency yells out in fear. Shaken, Jack turns to her. It takes some effort to calm her down. Who was this man? All he knows is: His voice. When he talked to Jack, and when he called out before he died, his voice was audible, and it is the same male voice that speaks from the GPS with such calm, quiet authority.

"When you hear my voice, do not hesitate...." says the GPS.

"Delinquency, I simply MUST get you out of here! I know the answer is somewhere in this GPS, but I cannot work fast enough to find it!" He pokes at the wall again in frustration.

"How did that man know about my wish? I have forgotten about it myself!"

"Going down a mountain road? On a skateboard? Do you really want to do that?"

Delinquency becomes tearful again.

"Wanted to...but I can forget about it now."

Jack looks at her incredulously.

"Don't be afraid, Delinquency. It was just a video clip."

"It was NOT. How does a video clip know about my secret wish, one about which I haven't told a soul - ever! But I am more afraid of this wall."

Jack has no answer to that, but tries to cheer her nonetheless.

"I MUST get you out of here! Do you know, I went down the Table Mountain Road a few years ago? It was great! I did not know you liked skateboarding. " Jack looks at her slyly. "Bad luck for me, my father saw me. He spanked me in a way I shall never forget. Funny to think about him now – I think he is the only person in the world who ever cared about me...can't understand what this mess is that he's got himself into."

"When was that – just before you came here?" she asks, but she is still in too much shock to pay much attention. "Tell me about it, mamba boy," she says, but the tone of her voice has become resigned and disinterested. "It was him," she thinks, but she does not say anything.

An invitation

Yersinia is checking her e-mails. The one with the Pestis family coat of arms is opened first. The subject is: Lady Macbeth Look-alike.

She completely ignores the spam about straightening noses the natural way – even the newest discovery: horse dung cream. [The nose is straightened by getting kicked in the face].

She skims the page, as if in a dream.

You are cordially invited to a dinner in the Dark Castle...finalists will be chosen...profiles on Facebook...

"Whoopeee!" The woman rushes outside, clears a few cacti that were planted next to the promenade to her office.

"Molluscuuuuuum! Go get me some air time! And my evening dress from the dry cleaners. And my jewels from the motor mechanics [They are cheaper than jewelers, and they add some nuts and bolts for free.]..they had to repair them...and some more Wild Dog Breath from Pop stores....oh...look at my nails...I need some blood!"

A dangerous toy

Pestis has returned to his...unlit – palace, in quite a hurry after the episode with the concrete mixer. That sword that was shown at that place had made him feel very uneasy. Then there was that little wimp who said that word... And now, even after this time back in the Dark Palace, he cannot stop worrying.

It is pitch dark in his place. He is still too afraid to take his position on the dark throne and prefers slouching in one of the darkest corners. Not even the foul, moldy smell can chase him from his corner. The cap that he is wearing falls over his eyes and he must yet again push it back. He has completely underestimated the capabilities of that sword that was given to Jack. It was a nasty fright he got when Jack started wielding it at that other boy. Maybe this invitation that he has now sent Yersinia will sort things out. She'd better come and explain if she still wants her Lady Macbeth status. Just as important is finding out the details of her plan to kill those boys belonging to the water team. How is it possible that anybody would choose water in the School of Blood? This is very worrying.

When the piercing sound of a loudly blown vuvuzela enters this so-called throne room, he must use every inch of willpower not to cry out in alarm, and especially not to start trembling uncontrollably. Pestis, prince of darkness, should always put on a show of being in control, although it is a far cry from the truth. At the moment 03 and 04, 05 with Minus 1 and Minus 2, are all present. Oh, how horribly upsetting is that sound.

"My liege," comes the voice of 05. "Madame Yersinia Pestis-Macbeth."

Molluscum Contagiosum enters, holding the vuvuzela that was given to him by Salmonella. He starts blowing on it again with all his heart.

"What's the business,

That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley

The sleepers of the house? Speak, speak!" [Lady Macbeth in Act 2, Scene 3, Line 77] Yersinia calls out to Pestis, unable to hide her excitement, but she is quite shocked when Pestis orders 05 to take the vuvuzela from Molluscum. Was it somehow a mistake to have Molluscum announce her arrival like this? She had Molluscum blowing it all the way through those terrifying woods, so that she would not hear any of the words that were shouted at her by the trees.

"Disappear, go away!" she hastily whispers to Molluscum, who seems to be at a loss without his vuvuzela.

"Go!" Pestis shouts at 05. "Take that thing away from here! Go blow it at that... that... crevice...that fearful place." His headache has become far worse.

"No kidding? You mean the Precipice? Wow!" 05 excitedly blows his newly acquired vuvuzela over the dinner table and instantly sets fire to the served dinner and to the robes of -1 and 03 with his paraffin breath. Minus 1 and 03 run for the fish pond, but do not manage to emerge before Pestis' pet shark has tattered the burnt robes, so that they now look like two bats that have flown through a salvo of gunshot.

Two servants hurriedly put out the fire on the table, using buckets of dirty water.

"Dinner is served, lord. Your guest is waiting," says the one, pointing to Yersinia, who is checking her appearance and airtime in a dark mirror that shows her body as an X-ray image.

"Cold burnt offerings, topped with a piquant Vibrio cholerae [The bacterium that causes cholera, a severe, often fatal intestinal infection. http://www.who.int/topics/cholera/en/] sauce."

05 has no time to think of dinner. He runs off excitedly... the Precipice! If he gets to prevent a human from jumping...from committing suicide... it will prove that he actually is a good person at heart...especially to Pestis.

Escape attempt

Molluscum makes use of the chance to make yet another attempt at escape.

He had stolen Amoran's 'phone from Yersinia's desk. When he gets to the back of Pop stores, he phones Apatheto's number.

"Yes, I gave him the word, but it does not help me much. I know that word already," Molluscum grumbles in the telephone.

"I am so glad you could get out!" is Apatheto's cheerful reply. "Partner, I need to ask you another favour..."

"Oh great," mumbles Molluscum. "Here I am now: stuck with the Twelve Tasks of Molluscum Contagiosum."

When Apatheto arrives, Molluscum takes out a pencil and a note book. As Apatheto speaks, he scribbles something down about an abducted woman, separated from her children.

"I believe you are just the person to help this woman!" Apatheto smiles.

He hands Molluscum an envelope with a message for Jack: Get out of that place now. Take those with you that you can, and leave the rest! Get out now!

"In the meantime, you are gaining experience, my friend." Apatheto is beaming with enthusiasm that is unfortunately not shared by Molluscum. "I know it is not easy to break the habits of millennia, but you have started. Remember: your words have great power. If you follow Jack and the GPS, you might succeed sooner than you think."

Molluscum looks at him incredulously.

"Do my words have enough power to measure up against a bunch of lawyers?" he asks.

"For them, it will be a test in mercy. Maybe they would want to pass it."

Molluscum decides to rather keep in contact with Apatheto. Yersinia wants to kill Jack at the soonest excuse and opportunity, and Apatheto does not know it. Whatever the case may be, he, Molluscum has a better chance of escaping with Apatheto than with Jack, and even that does not seem very promising.

Polite conversation at dinner

Yersinia is not sure what to say about Pestis' tongue, which has become ever more forked over the years. They had vicious fights, even before the birth of Doubt and Fear. When these two arrived, Yersinia's situation just got worse. She insisted on having the looks of Lady Macbeth. Pestis agreed, provided that she helped him to reach some of his "goals" first. Yersinia agreed; if she could only have Doubt and Fear to protect her. In the two thousand years that followed, she only made slight progress with her looks. Pestis' goals have everything to do with his lust after blood - preferably innocent blood - and he has no inclination of keeping any of his promises.

"The problem is mainly with the Gullibles. They believe the Word too easily. Where are the days they chose to believe ME instead? It thwarts my plans every time. This time, I want to see them all killed. Enough of this nonsense," Pestis orders. "Now let's see about this pool, infested with Doubt and Fear..."

Yersinia starts explaining excitedly, completely forgetting to take some of the Vibrio cholerae sauce.

"So you see, the little schistosome [Bilharzia worm, a parasite affecting the liver. She means Jack, because he is still the liver and she does not like it.] won't have a chance," she concludes.

"For this, dear.. er...lady, you are the winner of a passive turbo gym – just the thing for a Lady-Macbeth workout. You will find that it works all the right areas."

"Oh...Oh...That's...just...wonderful. Thank you!" she mumbles through her artificial instant smile. "Exercise? Curses upon you, you darned old shyster!" she thinks privately.

"It could, of course, provide a perfect alibi for you, when you send Molluscum, Doubt and Fear out to do the job...just think...only a few more workouts...and you're there..." Pestis smiles his special smile, bearing his fangs.

The Lady Macbeth workout

Yersinia has just buckled herself to her passive turbo gym that was placed in front of the window overlooking the swimming pool. She is ready for her workout and for the spectacle that she has organised for her entertainment.

Looking like Lady Macbeth certainly is a lot of effort, although this machine is of some help. You simply strap every arm and leg into its own expandable lever. These levers are fitted with specific electrodes and monitors which will provide the exact amount of muscle contraction and movements in all directions to give you the correct exercise where needed.

Yersinia, as a result of being technologically challenged, has become a great admirer of the numerous "scientifically tested" devices that are so amply advertised in the popular press. Maybe Pestis really did mean what he said this time!

Goody-two-shoes is in his position, holding the remote control. He presses a button that promises to start with a light skip. Soon Yersinia is indeed skipping happily to the beat of Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.

"Now remember you little twit, when I say 'flip', you press that button and put me on a more advanced level, do you hear me?"

"Yes, Madam," Goody-two-shoes replies.

Molluscum runs his errands

"The water team must clean the pool - TODAY," is what Yersinia has told Molluscum. What he does not know, is that Doubt and Fear are waiting for them under the dark, green clots of algae that cover the entire surface of the water. He is so disappointed by the results of his secret alliance with this Apatheto guy, that he has forgotten about the envelope that he is supposed to give to Jack. He leaves the cleaning equipment next to the pool and goes off to find the water team.

Everything is ominously silent next to the pool. In her living room, Yersinia is happily skipping in anticipation. Suddenly a strange event occurs. The two bottles of Johnny Warlord, with the packets of Ignition are moving from the garden table to the side of the pool – all by themselves! [So now the old girl is somewhat spooked! I, Amahl, assigned to Jack Gullible, know how to make rearrangements with extraordinary poise and elegance.]

"Phillip! What is that?" shouts Yersinia and Goody-two-shoes, frightened, and not recognising his own name, presses hard on the button. Yersinia's pace is increased somewhat.

Doubt is the first to surface. He is still busy opening the bottle when the glass comes gliding towards him on thin air. [Yersinia should appreciate my trouble for this charming little showstopper.]

"Phillip! I don't believe this." Yersinia's pace increases again.

When Fear makes his appearance, both glasses are in place and Yersinia is jogging at a pace that is not so comfortable any more. When the two columns of smoke start curling lazily towards the blue skies, Yersinia is running.

"Get me out of here, you little twit!" She is shouting at Goody-two-shoes, but he is over-concentrating and hears "little flip", instead of "little twit". In his nervous state, he presses the button twice. Yersinia is sprinting.

Jack and the water team arrive at the pool. They look at Doubt and Fear apprehensively.

"What a lovely day for lounging around the pool," Jack remarks and the sedated Doubt and Fear both nod in bliss. "We won't disturb you," he continues. "Come on you guys; let's load those cuttings onto the wheelbarrows. We can take them to the dumping site." [Situated in the Wood of Words. How rewarding to be assigned to a brain!]

Into the Wood of Words

The water team passes the rose garden with their wheelbarrows.

Jack stops.

"Go on ahead. I'll be with you soon."

There is that embellishment with the slight opening in the wall again. He pokes his head through it.

"Delinquency!" he whispers. "I'll pass here soon when I return with the empty wheelbarrow. Keep your hopes up! I'm working on the problem!"

"I hope you make it," is all she says.

Entrance

"So," puzzles Jack. "How do we open this gate in the electric fence?"

"Why is this fence here anyway? What is she so afraid of?"

"The New South Africa?" offers Gugu.

"Words," explains Amoran. "And it must keep us in, of course."

"WORDS?"

"This wood is full of words, and somehow she is terrified by those words."

"But why? What can words do to you?"

"I do not know, but if we manage to escape into this wood, we'll find out."

Jack looks at the gate again.

"Well, I am not afraid of words. That's ridiculous. Let's try some word power on the gate: OPEN SESAME!"

Jack says the words as loudly as he might dare, but of course nothing happens.

"Oh well, maybe we should be more polite," says Jack with a twinkle in his eye. "Look, here is a sweet little button."

[Actually it is only a bolt that keeps one of the hinges in place.]

"Ding Dong!" calls Jack in a girlish voice, while pressing the button with his forefinger, pinkie in the air.

Astonishingly, the gate swings open. Jack gulps and gapes. [Even guardian artists cannot resist polite humour.]

"What did I do now? It actually worked!"

But Amoran sees their chance, and how short it is.

"Hurry!" whispers Amoran. "Do you want Doubt and Fear tailing us?" He casts one last glance at the buildings. None of the team members needs an invitation to follow; only Jack hesitates.

"Should we really do this, now? I did not think it would work at all! I only wanted us to push the wheelbarrows around the grounds until Doubt and Fear have finished their drinks..."

"Who is chicken now? Jack! I know you do not want to leave Delinquency, but you cannot help her unless you are free yourself! And you cannot do it without help, don't you see?" [How wonderful to have a good friend helping you make good decisions when your guardian artist may not!]

Jack wants to look back towards the garden and the wall, but Amoran grabs his arm.

"I am leaving Shamare behind! Once we are free, we can help them to be free also! We cannot if we are captives ourselves. Come on!"

The water team hurry down the path that leads into the infamous Wood of Words. They are soon surrounded by trees. The branches try to snatch their arms and ankles, but when Jack brandishes the sword that Yersinia allowed him to keep with fear in her heart, the trees retreat.

Two trees start whispering the moment they see Amoran.

"Look at that kid! He belongs to that woman!"

"Indeed! What a shame!" And suddenly the whole wood seems to be transformed into a murmuring mass. The boys can only make out snippets of what is being said: "...should be ashamed...","..and a sister too... Shamare...", "..poor things...", "..shock the community...", "..let down her children...", "..not HER fault...", "..what about the father...", " ..unthinking..."

Neither Amoran, nor Jack can make any sense of all this. He is not even sure that they are talking about him, or somebody else, but Shamare was mentioned. Who do these trees think they are?

"Why are they being so mean?" Amoran thinks by himself. He must not think of this; it is too hurtful.

"One blind person cannot lead another blind person! Go find the Light!" whispers the GPS from Jack's pocket.

Jack puts his hand on the sword again and then marches deeper into the Wood of Words. The rest of the team follow suit. A little way behind them, Molluscum starts off, traipsing along after them.

From the school buildings, an alarm starts sounding. Some beam has picked up the movement through the gate.

Fury

Yersina has been in the hyperactive turbo swim these past thirty minutes, her arms and legs flailing and circling in all directions until she looks like a huge four-bladed fan; a dangerously overheated fan. The snakes on her head are jerking and hissing on end. She tries shouting for help, but is so out of breath that she is only capable of a few wheezes. Little Goody-two-shoes, observing the state that she is in, has panicked, run off, and has also disappeared through the open gate in the electric fence. He has no idea how to "unflip" that complicated machine of Yersinia's. [So truly typical and symbolic of the human condition, but in this case, purely delightful and surprisingly entertaining.]

After a while, one of the straps snaps and her one leg is free, but the other three straps will still last for some time. This is a good quality product that Pestis has given her and it is hanging on for dear life.

"Jack GULLIBLE! You unspeakable little critter! Today is your day of doom! You rubbish! RUBBISH!" For once, Jack is already too far away to hear her pitiful, out of breath wheezing.

"I'll get you! I'll get you sooner than you think!" She swings her fist at them, once her one arm is released. At last she manages to free herself.

"Molluscum! Molluscuuuum!" rings her call through the empty dorms and classrooms, but Molluscum has decided to accompany the water team. He is nowhere to be found.

"Doubt! Fear!" Yersinia finds them lounging in the sun next to the green algae of the official school swimming pool, their eyes closed and their viciously teethed mouths gaping blissfully. The bottles of Johnny Warlord are already half empty. She kicks the bottles into the swimming pool and then Doubt's scaly rib cage receives her pounding foot.

"WHAT are you doing here? You were supposed to make a killing!"

She grabs the hose pipe and gives each of them a thorough hose down. Soon, the two reptiles are seen leaving through the same gate that Jack and all his friends have used some time ago. Doubt, in his half drunken state, has picked up Jack's skateboard that was left next to the pool and is carrying it with him into the Wood of Words.

For the fear of words

WANTED: Jack Gullible

Please 'phone his yearning mother, Yersinia.

She desperately wants him back;

Dead or alive.

Telephone: 000 000 0000

The accompanying photo was cut from the official class photo, but once again, Yersinia could not get rid of me, Amahl. I suppose that is why she added the endearing mother's touch to the text on the poster before she faxed it to Pop Stores and Spare. So there we are, glued to every single lamp post in town, without the silk flower. I just donned a dirty bandana instead. Maybe this is my first step to fame in the Milky Way galaxy.

People might even think I am the child abuser who kidnapped Jack; a perfect cover, should I ever need one.

When you cannot see the wood for words

"Wordssss rule! Wordssss rule!" the wood hisses. No other sound is heard – no birds singing, not even a breeze blowing through the tree tops, only the sinister hissing of the wood. Everybody is quiet – too afraid to say anything. They are walking in single file along a narrow path. Ever so often, a branch or a shoot from a tree will reach out, but it swiftly pulls back when Jack's hand reaches for his sword. Everybody takes care not to get too near the thorny trees, but some thorns are camouflaged so well, that you do get a scratch before you realise your mistake.

Jack has seen Molluscum leaving behind them at the gate, and has been looking for him all this time, but it seems Molluscum has sneaked away. He is nowhere to be found.

After a while, everybody seems to get used to the incessant whispering of "wordsss rule!"

Suddenly, the narrow path disappears completely.

"What do we do now?" Amoran asks.

"We did not know where this path was leading to anyway, maybe we should try making our own," says Gugu.

"How long have we been walking along this path?" asks Lefty. "Maybe it's all wrong!"

"How can it be wrong or right, if we do not know where we are going anyway?" sighs Jack.

"Where? Where? Wrong or right? Wrong or right?" echoes the wood but then it starts a new chant altogether.

"Go back, Jack! Go back, Jack! You don't know where you are, Jack! Why are you here Jack? Why? Why?"

Jack looks around him uncertainly and indecisively, but then he feels the GPS in his pocket. Of course! How could he be so stupid?

"I am here, because my father told me to find my Water Father – the One who can help me free Delinquency!" He is shouting into the Wood of Words.

Immediately the GPS has a voice.

"Turn to your right and cut down those brambles."

"Jack, you will wipe out, just like you did on the Kloof Nek Road!" hisses the wood. Some of the tree branches reach out to Jack. "You are rubbish! Foolish rubbish!"

"You don't have what it takes, Jack. Believe us Jack, you cannot do this!"

Jack walks up to the brambles rather uncertainly. The others follow him. If it were not for these friends who are depending on him, he would turn back immediately, but somehow that would not be right thing to do.

"You don't have what it takes, Jack. You don't have what it takes, Jack," chants one part of the wood. "Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish,..." the other half hisses in accompanying voices.

Jack starts cutting down the brambles, but he is hesitant. It is hard work and it becomes increasingly difficult as he starts tiring. The thorns on his left side start scratching him, because it is more difficult to get rid of them.

"Here, let me!" Lefty takes the sword from him and cuts back the brambles to the left. Soon the brambles seem to dissolve all by themselves, making it possible for the water team to reach a small clearing, where a little sunlight is breaking through the darkness of the wood of words.

"Not far enough, boys!" shouts the Wood of Words. "Not nearly far enough even!"

But the GPS is not deterred in the least. It calls out for another important event. This time it is number four. Jack and the water team start the journey from behind the thick glass.

History clip 4

Three men are walking down a road, talking earnestly.

"Are you truly the only stranger in this city? How is it possible that you do not know about all these things that happened here?" The man sounds astonished.

"What things?" asks the man walking in the middle with a twinkle in his eye. Jack immediately recognizes him and his voice. It is the same man that was so brutally murdered in the previous clip! How is this possible?

One of the men starts explaining. "It's all about the prophet who was killed! He did the most wondrous things: healing the sick and liberating people from all kinds of bondage. But the leaders, the leaders had him executed, put to death, three days ago."

"We thought he was the One, the One who would set the captives free..." the other one adds.

"And now, on top of it, some of the womenfolk returned to his grave. They could not find him..."

"But there were angels [Of course there were! The bearers of the Good News; any angel's dream!] at the grave who told them that the Prophet is alive – risen!"

"That's right! So I think by myself, I think: Women! They have too much imagination. So I go see that grave for myself. I tell you: no body. It's empty."

"Oh, those women, indeed!" laughs the man in the middle – the one Jack saw being killed. "So, I suppose you think someone has stolen that body?"

At this point Jack cannot help but to think about Delinquency, caught up in an unmovable, cold mound of solid concrete.

"We do not know WHAT to think! That grave is cut from solid stone, and the stone that was rolled in front weighs two tons! It was rolled in front of the entrance by a guard of tough Roman soldiers, and even THEY had to use levers to move it. No woman will carry that away!"

"No, bless their precious souls!" says the middle man, laughing again.

"And those Roman guards! They've all fled – gone! At the peril of being sentenced to DEATH for leaving their guard post, for sleeping on the job, whatever happened!"

"Have some mercy!" says the middle man. "If you see a ghost, are you going to worry about some future death sentence, or are you just going to run for your life?"

"You don't believe us, do you? Well, what do you say about this: the Roman seal that was put on that grave – it was broken, BROKEN! If the Romans catch you breaking their seals, they kill you!"

But none of these arguments can stop the light-hearted mood of the man walking in the middle.

"Very true; unless those Romans have ALREADY killed you, of course. They cannot kill you a second time. So - then you can go breaking their seals whenever you want to."

"What do you mean?"

The middle man becomes more serious.

"What I mean is: do you believe what the prophets have told you all along? Do you remember this, from the Torah?

'Then the LORD God said to the snake, "You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live. '"

The two men continue with the man walking in the middle:

"I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel."

"I see you both memorised this passage when you were little boys!"

The two men stop walking, staring at the one in the middle. It is clear that they both know this passage very well.

"This prophet – He is surely the offspring of a woman!"

"Of course," muses Jack. I have all that on a history clip ! There was this little baby, and all those soldiers that wanted to kill us.

"Aha! Can you see now?" asks the man. "The snake tried to kill this prophet, because He was the Word, but the only thing that the snake managed to do was to cause death itself to be killed instead! Not what he wanted, but that's what he got."

"Do you mean, those words, from the dawn of time are now fulfilled? Is THAT what you mean?"

"Yes, that is exactly what I mean. Can you remember what Hosea said 750 years ago? '... and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight .' [This prophesy was written about 2 730 years ago, more or less 720 years before the event in this history clip.] So, did not your prophet rise again, on the third day?"

"His grave is empty. I saw it." The two men stare at him, barely able to speak.

"So what are you worried about? What are you afraid of? This is the One, the One who will set the captives free. Can you see that now?"

The clip ends, leaving Jack with the question echoing in his mind: Can you see that now? They start walking again in a direction that is indicated by the GPS, but Jack cannot forget what the man has said: This is the One, the One who will set the captives free. Delinquency. And the GPS said: "When you hear my voice, do not hesitate...." But the voice belonged to Him; the man who was explaining everything.

Seeking advice

Molluscum Contagiosum has reached a certain extremely talkative part of the wood. He places a pair of dirty earplugs into his ears, until he reaches the noisiest part. There he takes them out again, just to be met by a din of chatter.

"Just talk to them," is what Apatheto said. "Maybe they will understand the situation."

"She'll have to stay pro tempore. [for the time being; temporarily] It is quid pro quo , [Something for something, or maybe just plain stinginess] you understand that my dear man," explains the one tree.

"Well, what do you expect for that; some marble monument with your statue on top?" grumbles another. Or can we just plant a tree for you? It has become very fashionable lately...."

"Very convenient...I AM a tree, you nitwit!"

"ALL I WANTED," shouts Molluscum, "WAS A LITTLE ADVICE, AND NOW, NOW I HAVE MORE TROUBLE THAN I HAVE HAD EVER BEFORE!"

The chatter stops for two seconds, but then continues more furiously than ever. The sound coming from the trees resembles that of a horde of angry wasps.

In the middle of the trees sits a woman, covering her ears. She is being kept hostage by the chattering trees. Molluscum looks at her in surprise, then hurriedly shouts a few words at the woman through the noise. Her face momentarily lights up.

Molluscum starts running again.

"Sciens res nuli !" [Knowingly being nobody's property, or some nonsense to that effect.]

When he comes to the end of this part of the wood, a last tree reaches out for him.

"You will have to pay first, you understand? That is just how it works," it blurts into Molluscum's ear.

"You did not serve me with one single piece of advice, but you want to be paid!" cries Molluscum.

"Sorry, but that is how it works. Talis qualis ." [Just as such, or such (tripe?) as it is]

"Tails of quails, my eye," mumbles Molluscum.

In cold pursuit

Doubt and Fear naturally have more agility in water, but their capability on land should never be underestimated. They don't ever seem to talk, but their silent single-minded teamwork is a very effective killing machine.

The radar in their jaws has picked up the location of the boys. And the Wood of Words cannot, and won't, do anything against their silence. Its prompts are mainly from the words spoken by people.

"Do you need help with Delinquency, Jack? We can help you free her! Come, come, this way!" whispers the wood. Jack stops to listen. A path has become visible again and the GPS is instructing them to take it.

"The help for Delinquency is this way, to where Virginia Creeper is living," shouts the wood. Its shouting becomes so loud that Jack cannot hear the GPS' voice any more.

"Jack, we are on the wrong way! The GPS wants us to take that path!" Amoran shouts at him, but Jack has heard Delinquency's name and that is all he hears.

"We'll come back later. I just want to learn how to free Delinquency first." Jack hurries along the path that is indicated by the trees. The others follow reluctantly.

Soon the group of young refugees enter a spot in the woods where the trees all seem to have wooden hands and wooden hearts. Many of the hands are painted red. These trees all look like young women who have taken much trouble to improve their appearance. There are leafy dresses of every imaginable variety; from autumn colours to tender spring greens. The flowering types have gone completely overboard. In colourful shocks, they prevent the children from passing.

"Are you here for the competition?" the one tree enquires. "Are you here to be served Delicious Monster ?" [I don't know whether or not it is delicious; it IS extremely poisonous; that I do know.]

"Is that other woman coming? That Yersinia? We shall teach her a few things if she dares," calls out an Oleander -clad sapling. [The same applies to Oleander. This was a bad decision, Jack.]

"Sure. She will never be the same again," replies a tree with some climbing poison ivy around it, and a nest of tree snakes in its crown.

"What competition?" asks Jack.

The tree that has persuaded a mangle of tree snakes to stay put in her crown, bends down to Jack. The snakes come uncomfortably near to his face.

"This is the Lady-Macbeth-look-alike competition, you urchin! If that Yersinia woman turns up, I shall tear her eyes out!"

"Oh, well...you certainly look a lot like her, madam!" Jack takes a step back.

"You think so? Well what do you know! Did you hear that, Virginia Creeper?" she addresses another tree who has donned some climbing plant. "I look just like Lady Macbeth!"

"Actually I meant..."

"Yes, dear boy?"

"You look a lot like Yersinia Pestis!"

Suddenly the atmosphere turns chilly, and then icy.

"What did you say?" The snaky tree hisses. "I shall strangle you and feed you to the vultures!"

Jack whips out his sword. He rips off some of the climbing ivy when the tree's red hand grabs at him. "Stay away from me!" Jack shouts. "I shall kill every single one of those snakes if you don't!"

The tree gets a fright and bends over to the other side, away from Jack. All the snakes start slithering out of the tree and disappear into the bush.

Jack looks at the sword in astonishment. For the first time he sees the words written on it: Word of words.

He turns it around. On the other side it says: Parakletos. But Jack is just an ordinary guy. He does not understand that. [Sorry, this is Greek to me. Do you mind googling this for me? I've got Jack, and 06 and that wood and the fact that Jack made a wrong decision. I 'll appreciate any help I can get.]

"Why now dear Poison Ivy, you have ruined your entire costume! What a shame!" Virginia Creeper spitefully croons over to the tree who has lost her snakes.

"Go away! All of you little beasts," the snake tree cries. "You think you are so clever, Jack Gullible; you have probably heard that you are to be a king; but I know something that you don't; Doubt and Fear – not Delinquency - are on their way, you little fool!" The tree makes a sound that must be a cross between a snort and a spiteful laugh. "Delinquency will never be free again! And Yersinia will never be Lady Macbeth! And you, Jack Gullible, you just don't have what it takes! A king? Like Macbeth? Pah! You're rubbish!"

Two pairs of glowing eyes become visible in the darkness of the woods. A single cry of panic ascends from the group. Jack hurriedly pulls the GPS from his pocket.

"..and leads me to quiet pools of fresh water..." it starts, but this time nobody waits for any directions from Jack. There is a stampede through a nasty shock of bramble bushes towards the sound of a flowing river.

Into the trap

The four boys are bleeding badly. Those brambles are being all but merciful, and the bleeding adds to the effectiveness of the crocodiles' tracking abilities. They have smelt the blood and are going mad with excitement, envisioning an entire troop of children in front of them.

Doubt lunges forward into the thorny undergrowth. Fear accidentally steps onto Jack's dropped skateboard. He is thrust, with the skateboard under him, into the back of Doubt. Both of them are swooped up by the skateboard and are catapulted downhill, in a rough and tumultuous ride, following the hazardous route that the water team have taken a few minutes earlier, when they followed the directions from the GPS.

Some way further down, the boys have reached a small clearing. The brambles around it seem impenetrable, except for the eastern side, where all land seems to dissolve into a thick, but somehow bright, fog. When they go over to inspect, it becomes all too clear that they are at the top of a cliff. Its depth seems to be endless. There is no telling what lies at the bottom, except for the calming sound of water rushing over stones, a little further below. It must be a waterfall.

"This is our only way out. Those brambles are so thick, the thorns so long, we shall eventually kill ourselves if we try to go through them!"

"Jack, this is no way out either. How can we ever go down here?"

"Just jump," a voice coming from the waterfall tells them.

"JUMP?!" That's crazy!" Jack looks at the GPS in shock, but it seems to agree. It indicates a direction that will lead them straight over the cliff. "How can anybody just jump into sweet thin air?" He looks down over the cliff again. The bottom seems to be non-existent.

"I can't even see the end of it!"

"... faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," the voice from the waterfall whispers again.

"When you hear my voice, do not hesitate...."says the voice, but before Jack can answer, another voice interrupts. It seems to come from a tree that's growing right on the edge of the cliff, and it is loud and boisterous.

"Oh, pardon me for chipping in. Of course that is crazy. How can anyone just jump down a cliff? Don't jump, Jack! Whatever you do, don't jump!" A vuvuzela is sounded, loud and clear.

Suddenly the brambles break apart and the two crocodiles end their bumpy skateboard ride in the middle of the clearing. The brambles had no effect on their thick, scaly skins.

Yersinia and the MRJ support group

At school, everything seems normal, i.e. Yersinia is yet again out of air time. There is a problem, though. She cannot send anybody to Pop stores, because there IS no one to send. The blood team deserted her the moment they realised that the gate was open, taking Amoran's sister Shamare with them as a hostage. They had seen Goody-two-shoes running for his life, and promptly followed. It seems everybody managed to sneak through that gate at longer and shorter intervals. There is no saying where they have ended up in the wood of words, or what has happened to them. Worst of all, nobody has yet answered to any of her posters. She is beginning to feel lonely and depressed. Why are Doubt and Fear tarrying for such a long time with those little misfits? They should have had them rounded up and brought back ages ago!

Her own telephone starts ringing; its number is displayed on the posters. At last; someone is responding to her commands.

"Yersinia Pestis. Good afternoon." She tries to sound calm and efficient. Jack will be back under her command soon.

"Hello Mrs. Pestis! I am phoning about your runaway Jack."

"Yes! Did you cat...I mean, did you find him? Dear lady, thy nature:

It is too ful o'the milk of human-kindness " [Lady Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 5, Line 14]

"No my dear, I haven't found your Jack, but take heart. I am phoning to invite you to our support group called Mothers-with-Runny-Jacks; MRJ for short. We'll help you cope with chores..."

"Jackass! Get off my phone!"

And another phone gets hurled against a wall.

"The first three months' membership is free!" yells the phone.

Brave Decisions

Doubt and Fear jump off the skateboard just in time. The next moment it is gone, and the only evidence that it ever existed are the bumping sounds it makes as it tumbles over the cliff. The sound becomes softer and softer until it dies out completely, but there is no indication that the skateboard has stopped falling. Soon everything is silent and the atmosphere is heavy with ominous doom.

Jack and Amoran are standing at the edge of the cliff. Lefty and Gugu try to hide in the brambles, but these are now locked into a thick, thorny mesh that won't let anybody through. The crocodiles are closing in on Jack.

"Jack!" shouts the tree. "That little sword is far too light for their thick skins! [Liar! He knows he is lying through his filthy, rotten teeth! Oh why must Jack always be so gullible?] Why did you not listen to the wood? You were warned to go back, Jack!"

Jack looks at the two advancing monsters. Fear is about seven metres long and Doubt may be even bigger. His sword does seem very small compared to them.

"You are a sensible boy, Jack. There is a way out, you know," croons the tree. "Hand over your weapons to them, and go back to Yersinia with them. How will you ever help Delinquency, if you jump over that cliff?" [Funny how this type is always ready with an excuse for any person who might need one.]

"JUMP!" says the GPS. "All of you! Jump!"

"How must I know who is telling the truth? And I need to find my father first! I can't help Delinquency on my own." Jack's eyes are wide with consternation.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me, " comes the soft, calm voice from the waterfall, and this time Jack listens more carefully. "Find your real father," Apatheto said. "You were given to him with water."

He wants to listen to the sound of the waterfall, but then the voice from the tree again cuts in with its high-pitched, hysterical shouting.

"This is the precipice of doom - of no return. If you jump, you can never come back! Think of your loved ones! Think of them too!" [Well, no wonder! Even Satan can disguise himself to look like an angel of light. His servants seem to thrive, spreading all these half truths.]

The two crocodiles lunge forward. Jack quickly moves to the side, taunting them, so that their attention is averted from the other three boys, or at least for the moment. However, Doubt is too quick on Jack's left hand. He snaps at Jack's hand, but only manages to get hold of the GPS before Jack thrusts his sword at Doubt. Doubt retreats, but not before he has swallowed the GPS in one piece.

The water team stares in consternation.

"Don't be afraid" speaks the calm, commanding voice from the waterfall, and this time Jack is certain; it is the voice of the man from the history clips.

The crocodiles start snapping playfully and mockingly at Jack's ankles. He averts them by skipping sideways.

But then Fear becomes bored. He makes a full, vicious charge at Jack, his widely opened mouth exposing his fierce, cruel teeth. Jack looks at the huge jaws that are approaching him, and then turns to face the cliff. The next moment, Jack jumps. [I hope you still remember: I may not influence Jack's decisions.]

Fear's jaws snap the air where Jack was standing a second ago.

Amoran cries out in alarm, but Jack's shouts are much louder.

"Jump! Amoran! Jump! JUMP! You must all JUMP!"

Amoran turns to watch Jack going down, but now a horrible apparition with goat's feet and with an evil-looking, animal-like face and pointed ears appears at the edge of the cliff.

"Oh no, you are not going with Jack. YOU were not given to anybody with water and you do not have any defence. YOU are mine! YOU do not HAVE a water father!" A spine-chilling laugh fills the air. And Amoran remembers what the GPS has told them, and only now it makes sense:

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

"If only I too had been given to this father of water..." Amoran shudders. He moves over to Lefty and Gugu. The three of them huddle together against the fierce thorns of the brambles, with three glaring monsters slowly approaching.

The invisible battle

I, Amahl, am the first to recognise that loud voice shouting against the waterfall, of course. What a sneaky, cowardly way of trying to influence Jack! From a tree growing in the Wood of Words! Typical. And how does he know Jack's name? The brazen cheek!

On top of it, it wants to influence the others, now that Jack has jumped and that very helpful GPS has been swallowed. It seems my moment has arrived. It's ShowTime. I have waited long enough to put this creature in its place. I know, I know – I am assigned to Jack. But what would YOU do? That stinking creature is right. Amoran is defenceless, and Jack? Jack jumped! Still, here I am, witnessing 05 cheekily threatening Amoran. There is simply no end to the brazen insolence of these creatures. To make matters worse, those two crocodiles are closing in on Amoran. In this case, the Star Breather would agree with my actions, I'm sure.

"Excuse me, haven't we met before?" I politely tap him on the shoulder. He turns around. I smile my friendliest smile.

"Aaaah! No! I have NEVER seen you. You are mistaaakeeeeeeen!" I whip him up to the end of my sword and twirl him a few times round the Milky Way.

"Do you REALLY think I, I Amahl, the assigned to Jack Gullible, will forget about that...little incident two years ago?"

"It wasn't me, I sw..."

"DON'T YOU DARE! Don't you EVER try swearing in my presence, you wicked little war monger." I whack him down on the sun, but the resulting eclipse is rather minute. He shouts out in pain.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It was an accident! I did not mean to have Jack Gullible spanked! Pleeaase!"

"You did not mean to. So what DID you mean, maggot pie?"

"It made your work easier; you can't deny..."

"How DARE you IMAGINE that I will EVER accept any help from the backside of a SKUNK? And what is that little girl doing in your concrete wall? ANSWER ME, you gastro-entiritic entrails of a DEAD RAT! "

"Oh please! I'll go to that pig sty and I'll never..."

"The PIG STY! What do you take me for? A marketing agent for a five-star hotel?"

This is the one time when it's really hard for me not to be allowed to influence someone's decision. These dirty demons are not restricted in the same manner, and the way they pretend that their "advice" is in one's best interest, like Frog Face here, telling Amoran that he cannot jump. They make everything look so right; so innocent.

Well, you scum ball, it's time for you to learn your place in the universe. While once more bearing down on 05 like an avenging angel (That's what you people call it, don't you? Your words do have a nice angle at times.), I step on Fear's head. The old rubber skull is temporarily thrown out of action.

My sword meets with 05's. And again. And again. Doubt tries to get to Amoran, but I sweep him off his feet with my sword, sending him reeling a few metres back.

Amoran cannot see me, of course. I am only allowed to show myself in very special circumstances. He got the fright of his life when this unspeakable horror of a 05 dared to show himself. However, for now this low life is too busy, and too frightened to try that again.

Amoran runs to the edge of the precipice.

"Jack! Where are you? I cannot jump! I do not have a water father!"

But Jack does not answer, and my relentless battle with 05 is continuing at a pace that must be measured in light years, I think. Then, from the waterfall, I hear his voice again:

"I was not sent into the world to be its judge, but to be its Saviour. "

And Amoran hears it too.

"Will there be anybody to catch me? If I jump...."

And his voice answers:

"Before you call I will answer; while you are yet speaking I will hear."

05 lunges at me. I neatly step aside. When he whizzes past me, I hit his wrist with my sword. His sword clatters to the ground, but 05 himself still has plenty momentum. I assist it with a nice slap on his backside with my sword. He crashes through those brambles, roaring in anguish:

"Oh no! No! NO! I'm doomed! No please! I do not want to be banished again to that palace! Oh noooo!"

Then he is gone and on his way back to that dark palace where he came from. All is silent, but for the two crocodiles who have made use of my divided attention to undertake another charge at Amoran.

"Come! Don't be afraid," comes the voice from the waterfall again.

And Amoran jumps.

Long before any of those two reptiles can reach him, Amoran is gone. Lefty and Gugu are left behind, facing the crocodiles. Shall I chase Doubt and Fear away? Will it do any good? If these two strike at your heart, you need a special shield to keep them at bay, or else they will return. Once they possess someone's heart, how can I kill them without killing that person also? These two boys must decide to jump of their own accord. Hiding in the brambles won't help them, I'm afraid.

A Team of blood

Wesley and his gang managed to catch up with Goody very soon. The Extractor of Blood has plans to conquer the wood of words.

"What's the idea little Goody-two-shoes? Did you have plans to leave without us, you little deserter?" Wesley bends over him in a threatening way. "Too meek and mild to put up a fight, I guess. Tie his hands," he orders the other two.

"But I thought you had left already," protests Goody. "I just saw the gate was open, and I wanted to follow you."

"What? Why would the little teacher's pet want to follow us? For spying, maybe? Tie him up properly!"

Bitzer and Sniper use coarse shoots and monkey ropes from the wood to tie Goody's hands behind his back.

"You're hurting me!"

"Shut your trap, before I show you what hurting really means, you little gnat!" rasps Sniper.

"Stop that! You are mean!" protests Shamare, but nobody even hears.

The wood of words has picked up a phrase and started chanting: "You are going to get hurt, get hurt, get hurt, little quisling!"

"Now start walking. Take us to where they have gone," demands Wesley.

"I do not KNOW where they have gone," whines Goody.

"Of course you do, you little double dealer! Now move!" Bitzer sharply prods Goody in the ribs, and he starts walking, although he does not have the foggiest idea of where he is headed, and the blood team follows suit.

Behind the stores

Molluscum has been sitting on an old storage box behind Pop stores all morning. Some passers-by look at him scornfully, or make some disdainful remarks.

Will Apatheto come today? What will he say when he hears that the woman is still in captivity?

"What a bother that I cannot get this device to cut out the interference from the wood of words," Apatheto speaks behind him. "How are you my friend?"

Molluscum swings around.

"Oh I am fine, just fine, Mr. Gullible. Just sitting... waiting. Yes..."

"Well, it is such a wonderful day to be out in the open..." Apatheto's eyes belie his words. "Any news from Jack? From Jack G?"

"Jack! Yes, Jack, that boy actually managed..."

"What?"

"He's escaped... with some friends... yes...journeying through the wood of words, as far as I know, Sir."

"Escaped! That is the best news I've heard in months! Ah, that's my boy – always knew he would do it!"

"Yes sir, definitely a chip of the old block!" Molluscum smiles, pleased that he can evade the subject of the woman, but Apatheto is more attentive than that.

"And did you find the lawyer trees? I see Merriam is not with you yet."

Molluscum hangs his head.

"I see," nods Apatheto, "but all is not lost – not with Jack out of that place. He will find his way... if he will only listen to that GPS...hopefully that wood will not interfere with its true north..."

"What shall we do, sir?"

"It's time for me to take my chances with the wood of words. If Jack's out there – and Merriam – well, I must forget about the danger – and try to help."

"You mean..."

"Let's go!"

Apatheto heads for the path that leads into the wood of words.

Blood

Goody is plodding along one of the pathways, afraid and tired. His plan to keep safe and away from harm has backfired and he has no idea how to free himself from these treacherous members of the blood team. "Stick to those who are the strongest, and agree with them even when you don't," always seemed to be the safest course to take. What has gone wrong? What will happen to him?

"Aha! "shouts Wesley, poking a sharp stick into Goody's back. Blood comes oozing through his shirt. "He does not know where they are, but he certainly knows how to find the trail of blood! So how is that possible, little weasel?"

Goody shouts out in pain, but Wesley shows neither remorse nor mercy.

"If I cannot have Jack's blood, I shall have yours instead. Jack had better be at the end of this trial. I know Yersinia is looking for him... all those posters."

"What are you talking about? Please leave me alone!" begs little Goody-two-shoes through his tears. Then they all see the stains of blood on the bramble bushes ahead, where the water team has cut down the bushes some time before.

"Locust! Locust! Locust," the wood starts chanting.

"It seems," Wesley rasps, "the water team kindly left a trail of blood for us to follow." He starts laughing, but his voice disappears and a strange vibrating, chirping sound comes from him. Goody turns around in surprise. Wesley's face has changed and he is beginning to look like a grasshopper. The stick that he used to prod Goody, has grown into a tail for Wesley, with a nasty sting at its end.

"You three, follow that trail!" he ominously chirps and then whips the tail over his head, stinging Bitzer on his back. He cries out in pain, but the three of them do not wait to protest at this treatment. They start running along the man-made path in a great hurry, although they might have laughed at Wesley's strange voice under different circumstances.

Wesley follows suit, although he cannot understand what is wrong with his voice. He is aware of the stick's strange behaviour, but has no idea how the shape of his head, and the rest of his body is changing. The Extractor of blood's looks are changing to match his reputation. What power does the wood of words have over these boys? It's just his hair, his hair remains human. It becomes soft, and long, like that of a woman.

"Locust! Locust! Locust!" The wood continues its incessant chanting. Bitzer and Sniper are now also growing tails with stings at the end. Their eyes are growing bigger and their heads are becoming square. Soon they are hopping instead of walking.

Deserted

Yersinia is hiding in her boudoir. How unfortunate that there is no way she can hide from the truth about herself. She is turning into the hideous old witch she has always been; a true Lady Macbeth; one who does not want to look into any mirror any longer, because she frightens herself to death.

In spite of all this, she decides to realise one final hatred. If she cannot be Lady Macbeth, nobody else will be either.

"But screw your courage to the sticking place, And we'll not fail," [Lady Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 7, Line 60] she mutters through her knitted teeth and then starts crawling downstairs to avoid all the mirrors in the hallways and on the landings.

In the kitchen, she grabs hold of a butcher's knife and then resolutely sets off for the rose garden.

A sobbing grasshopper

Wesley has noticed the small pool first, and has chased the others away from it.

"I saw it first!" He whirrs and then bends over in anticipation of the cool water quenching his thirst. "What? No!" The grasshopper face stares back at him in shock, the hair falling over his face.

"Wesley Bloodbound, Wesley Bloodbound," the wood starts chanting. "Don't forget who you are, Extractor of blood, Extractor of blood!"

A slight snicker becomes audible from the blood team, or maybe it was Shamare. Wesley spins around and angrily starts chasing them along the trail of blood. He realises that everyone in the blood team except little Goody, is hopping instead of running. Bitzer is right in front of him, and his looks have also changed. The three of them are becoming grasshoppers! Soon they reach the clearing where Lefty and Gugu are held hostage against the brambles by Doubt and Fear.

"Aha! We have two of the pathetic little team members. Where is Jack Gullible?" Wesley asks in his whirry, chirpy voice.

"This is where it ends; it ends here," whispers the wood.

Lefty and Gugu don't recognise Wesley at all. They stare at him as if he is a complete stranger.

"Jack and Amoran jumped down that cliff!" Lefty yells in panic.

Doubt looks at the newcomers with interest. Shamare looks like the easiest victim, so he approaches her first, grinning from scale to scale. She does not see this immediately though, because she has her back to Doubt, staring down the cliff and calling for Amoran.

Doubt opens his mouth, but then a curious thing happens. He starts shouting at Shamare.

"Jump, little girl! Shamare, jump! Can you hear the waterfall?"

Shamare turns to the sound of the GPS speaking from within Doubt's throat and gets a fright.

"It's the water team that will be saved!" says Doubt cum GPS. "Blood has been replaced by water two thousand years ago! Listen!"

Shamare can indeed hear a voice calling from the waterfall.

"Don't be afraid, Shamare! I shall in no way cast out anybody who comes to me!"

Fear angrily grabs Doubt by the tail and whacks him on the back, trying to get rid of the GPS, but for now it seems to be stuck in Doubt's valved throat, that prevents water from entering his lungs. Not only Shamare, but also Lefty, Gugu, and even Goody-two-shoes make use of the diversion to jump over the cliff.

Fear lets go of Doubt in exasperation. They have lost most of their victims. He turns his attention to Wesley, smiles and hands him a little hand mirror, so that he can look at what he has become; a long-haired grasshopper, and the name written on his forehead is Hatred. He stares at the image, and at the words that are written over the mirror: You are now one of us.

It is possible that Doubt and Fear expected a reaction from Wesley; something like a self-satisfied smirk, or a confident laugh, but Wesley, the Extractor of blood, does nothing of the kind. He looks down at his feet and starts crying shamelessly.

"Jack G, if only I could ask your advice. I think you know something I don't...." Wesley sobs.

However, when Bitzer and Sniper see themselves in the mirror, they seem to be pleased beyond words. They cannot understand what is wrong with Wesley. Everybody seems to have forgotten about the duel between Jack and Wesley.

Doubt and Fear force the three grasshoppers to return to Yersinia's school with them.

Yersinia's private murder

Delinquency has become unrecognisable. Her struggling to free herself from the concrete's merciless and cold grip has caused the mud and mulch to cover her whole body, her face and her hair. The exposure to the weather elements has made her ill. When Yersinia reaches her, it becomes clear that Delinquency is dying.

"I might have saved myself the trouble, coming here with this knife and all. A little water will clear me from this deed, though. " [Misplaced confidence? Is she really still quoting Lady Macbeth?]

She smiles through her gapped teeth. Delinquency is too weak to even try crying.

"This is my last chance, you see. If Pestis is not satisfied with this sacrifice, there is nothing else I can do. For once, he could be a gentleman and keep his promise – just for once."

From the dark belly of the concrete mixer, two evil looking eyes are watching her.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Pestis muses.

Out of the Woods

At first it is bumpy, and somewhat frightening. All of this is just too new and strange, but in some way it is also the same feeling as Kloof Nek; just better, maybe more exhilarating. It does not feel like going down at all; more like floating, like being uncertain of the ride, but inexplicably, knowing it will end well; certainty without seeing.

The sound of the waterfall is now very near. It seems one with the voice of that man. What happens next seems to happen in a new, unknown reality. Jack is aware of everything that happens. It is real, but it is also as if he is looking at himself from some other place; as if something is happening, but it has not yet happened, all at the same time. Is he at two places at the same time? Or does that precipice act as some kind of time machine? Jack then hears the man's voice clearly:

"He is coming! Are you ready for a party?"

Excited shouts and exclamations ring out from all around him, as a host of wondrous, strange creatures become visible to him. They all have wings, and the shapes and colours seem to be in an endless variety. The ones who forcibly capture Jack's attention are the winged skateboarders. Those skateboards! He has never imagined that anything like this were possible!

"He is here! It's time! Let the party begin!"

Jack wonders who "he" is, but then a strange, anticipating silence takes hold of everybody. Jack becomes aware of a powerful, shimmering Being. He seems to radiate joy and abundant life. Again, Jack recognises the voice, and he is utterly surprised by the words.

"He is indeed here – to complete my joy!" The voice from the waterfall starts laughing joyfully. "Jack! Come over here! It's time for your party! Welcome to the Kingdom of Agapantia!"

A Being like a man becomes perceivable, his arms opened in a welcoming way. He seems to be surrounded by shining waters, like crystal. It is not possible to really see him; he seems to be sheer, shimmering brightness. Somehow Jack seems to be part of this brightness. This Person's feet are surrounded by emerald-like rainbows. His face is simply too bright to look at, but most of all, Jack is aware of a welcoming warmth, to an extent that he could never imagine possible.

He sees a host of other creatures bowing and kneeling in front of this King of Light and he spontaneously does the same. Without having to ask, Jack knows that He is the same person from his history clips. What a joy to be here, with Him, in person!

"Don't be afraid," says the King. "I am the Word – the one who crushed the skull of Pestis. I notice he is running out of ideas for hats to hide in. I see he is using a concrete mixer these days. Let the music play on!"

Jack seems to be moving effortlessly with this music. It seems to resound from just everywhere. There even seems to be music coming right though him, Jack Gullible, in a beat that keeps you going, sweeping you up in an overwhelming song of joy. He has never enjoyed music as much as now.

"I am overjoyed, Jack, that you decided to jump! You are so very important in my Kingdom!" The King turns his head. "Aha, I'm sure you know this boy! Come, Amoran, join our party!"

"Amoran!" cries Jack.

Amoran enters the place of light, wide-eyed and full of wonder.

"Jack, you told me to jump, but how did you know about all this?"

"I did not. But I heard the King's voice, like the one on the history clips."

Jack looks around in awe of what he is seeing. He cannot help staring at those creatures on the sophisticated skateboards. They seem to have wheels made of precious stones. These intersect at right angles and can move at the speed of lightning, in any direction in which these strange creatures direct their glances. Jack has never in his life even imagined such control. He remembers his encounter with Kloof Nek Road. It all seems very silly now, looking at these creatures and what they can do. They fly on those wheels! The wheels also seem to be fireproof, because their movements leave a trial of lightning which does not seem to harm them in any way. He wants to talk to them, but then Amoran speaks next to him.

"Hey Jack, I never thought you would get me to do a bungee jump like that! And without any rope or safety equipment! It was awesome! What happened to the monster?" asks Amoran.

"What monster?"

When Amoran starts telling about his encounter with 05, the King puts up his hand:

"No need to worry about him anymore, Amoran. He has been banished to a place from where he can never escape. He will not bother you again. Enjoy your party!"

When the music seems to fade a little, the King beckons Jack and Amoran.

"Jack, I am glad that you have your Sword with you, and that you are practising how to use it," He says. "Keep up the good work! And you Amoran, you were so willing to trust what Jack has told you. I have a gift for you also."

Two of the skateboarding beings approach, and each boy is presented with his very own suit of armour. They immediately try these on. There are two funky belts, two bullet proof vests, but they are not heavy at all. The shields are virtually unbreakable, but also light and easy to handle. Jack notices the shoes before anything else. These are the best skating shoes imaginable! And the matching helmets! Damien won't believe this when he sees it!

"You must remember; these are not just ordinary ware. Keep it in good condition and practise using it every day. When it is necessary to fight, you will find my power through your equipment. The people in your world won't see your armour, but that does not mean it is not there."

Only now, the boys remember about the others again.

"Gugu and Lefty are still in the brambles with those two crocs that are after them," says Jack. "And Delinquency..."

"Gugu and Lefty will soon be here," says the King. "Amoran, turn around and start looking out for Shamare. She should be the first to arrive; brave little girl."

Then the King turns his full attention to Jack.

"So tell me Jack," and everybody can hear the mischief in the King's voice, "this Delinquency – are you quite willing to honour her and to serve her?"

Jack gulps and blushes. He becomes angry with himself for not being able to answer. Peals of laughter ring out from all the party goers, but strangely, Jack feels welcome and understood all the same. It just seems impossible to feel threatened at all in the presence of this King of Light. Somehow he feels that the King understands his every thought, and that he is accepted unconditionally.

"Please my Lord, is there any way we can help her? She is caught...I don't even know how to say this...I mean...in a way that you will believe me... what's happened to her..."

The King looks at Jack in earnest.

"Jack, do you know, who I am?"

"You are Someone...extremely powerful...awesome..."

"Jack, I am...your Water Father. You will inherit my Kingdom. You will rule with me, because you have accepted my sacrifice – the only complete and perfect sacrifice of blood that will redirect your heart's GPS to its true North – to ME. I am the only One who can turn Pestis' demand for blood into the gift of cleansing water for all humans. And Jack, I know, I know everything about you, and about Delinquency, in fact. I don't have to believe you, but YOU must believe ME; that I can nullify and reverse this curse. Do you believe me?"

Jack can hardly speak. Somehow everything seems very overwhelming, but he just knows that all this is how things should be, and that Delinquency will be out of harm's reach in the presence of this King, the One who sets the captives free – his very own Father!

"I do believe that. You are the King of Light! I saw how those people killed you, but no grave could keep you; you are alive."

"You are right, Jack. I am the only Person who has power over death and life... Oh, by the way, I breathe stars; they were all breathed by me. You can call it my hobby, if you like. If you want me to help you free Delinquency, you must understand that she – not you – must call upon MY Name, and on none other. I am the only Word of Truth who was sent to deliver the captives. I am the only One who can break down that wall."

The King's voice is calm and soft, but self-assured. He leans over and speaks to Jack in a secretive way.

"I see you've noticed. I like skateboards very much"

"Oh yes, those wheels!" Jack exclaims. "They're awesome!"

"Awesome, hey?" The King is laughing. "Well, a certain skateboard came this way some time earlier and I decided to have it modified somewhat. I hope you like it."

One of the skateboarding creatures comes forward and presents Jack with his own skateboard that has come over the cliff. It looks brand new, but most of all, it has the same fiery, interlocking wheels that seem to turn in any direction, inexplicably, at the same time!

"Wow! Amoran, check this!"

"Go on, try it!" The King seems to be more excited than Jack himself. "And remember this type can take passengers as well – very important for the work that I have for you."

Soon, Jack is literally flying without wings. The skateboard seems to be part of his body. It reacts simply perfectly to every move that Jack makes. Incredulously Jack, the one who has always been interested in speeding only, becomes the speeding stunt skater. Somersaults and pirouetted turns follow short on each other, while everybody is cheering him on. When he stops at last, he is beaming from ear to ear.

"Jack," says the King. "I have given you this skateboard, and the armour, and I want you to know that it is fireproof."

"Fireproof? Wow!"

"You will need it very soon, Jack. I depend on you. Amoran, I am giving you a skateboard too. I love seeing how you enjoy yourselves."

Amoran is presented with his very own skateboard. He soon manages a speed that makes him look like a shooting star.

When all the excitement has calmed a notch or two, the King calls the two boys to Him again.

"Amoran, take this bag. It contains thirty pieces of silver. Earlier in history, somebody wanted it very badly, but when it came to the final decision of the heart and its horrific vacuum, nobody wanted it. Take your skateboard, go into the Wood of Words and give it to those trees who demand it. The wood will soon burn. If this money will make those trees so happy before they die, they may have it. Bring the woman out of the wood, to me."

"I'm gone already," calls out Amoran, pushing off.

"Oh, and Jack," the King puts his hand on Jack's shoulder for a moment. "You may go to that young lady who is waiting at the school. Never underestimate the power of that Sword in your hand. Remember, I am in it, but she must make her own choices. Allow her to decide whether or not she wants to jump."

Jack does not wait for any further invitation. Soon his board is flying over the wood of words. The abuse that the wood is shouting at him simply makes no difference any more. He looks back one last time. The King is welcoming the other members of the water team – and some other children from the School of Blood, but Jack is already too far away to see who they are.

Vuvuzela blower

The reason for 05's "losing its way" through the wood of words is his attempt to postpone his banishment to the palace of Pestis. He has reached the pick of the woods that is ruled by the wordy lawyers of the world. Who is that? Somehow these lawyers have company again.

"If the only thing you can ever do is deliver speeches and shuffling mounds of paper, what does the money mean to you anyway?" Apatheto protests.

Molluscum has untied the woman named Merriam. One of the trees grabs hold of Molluscum's arm.

"Leave her alone! We told you she must pay!"

"Just look at you!" Apatheto tries again. "You do not even look like trees any more. You are all as dry as tinder!"

"So what?" blurts a tree with a huge trunk. "How does that relate to the case?"

05 looks at the scene incredulously. He is hanging from a tree, as usual, and nobody seems to be aware of his presence.

"This is my lucky day," he thinks. "If I could be the whistle-blower on these people who are trying to free a slave... why Pestis might be more lenient with me..."

Of course he does not blow on a whistle, but rather on his vuvuzela. The dry lawyer trees do not have any defence against the sparks that had also set fire to Pestis' dinner table. Within a minute, two of them are alight.

"Go away from us!" The other trees shout, but of course there is no way any tree can move itself.

"Get us some water!" the trees shout out in panic, but none is available.

At that moment a very able skateboarder enters the ring of lawyer trees. He dumps a seemingly heavy bag in their midst.

"There is your money," Amoran shouts. "I shall now have my passengers, thank you!"

He helps the woman called Merriam onto his skateboard. Molluscum and Apatheto have no problem boarding and helping him push off again. Amoran wonders at the lightness and control of his skateboard, which seem to improve with every new passenger coming on board. It is so much easier to fly over the wood now than when he had that bag full of silver in his hands.

"This money is far more than we charged," shouts one of the trees.

"You can have it, little boy!" another one tries. "Just bring us some water!"

But Amoran does not listen to them. His Water Father said to bring Him the people; not the money.

Within seconds, they are all up in the air. The ring of trees is ablaze, melting the pieces of silver that were left between them.

A wish granted

"Such a pity," croons Yersinia. "You might have been a queen in my future kingdom, but it turns out you are nothing but a quean. " [An impudent, badly-behaved girl or woman. Yersinia is a few millennia old. That must be the reason for her use of archaic language and bad puns.] She is enjoying her moment of power over Delinquency, throning over her, the knife in her extended right hand.

Delinquency is showing neither fear, nor remorse, nor hatred. She does not seem to care about herself any more.

"I guess it's good bye...," Yersinia hisses. Her right hand starts the violent downward plunge.

Yersinia is hit by a huge, fiery force. The knife is sent flying through mid-air, but she has no experience or feeling of it; only that she is suddenly spinning about, whirring like a spinning top, her hair twisting into a tower, looking like a huge mound of candy floss on her head. Her last word seems to have stuck in her mouth, echoing all around her and filling the empty buildings with an eerie eye-eye-eye-eye–sound.

"Delinquency! Open your eyes!" Jack kneels next to her. "The Master is here, and he is calling YOU!"

She opens her eyes for a moment.

"Jack," she murmurs, "YOUR Master?" "The One who protected you, when you went down Kloof Nek," she thinks, but she is unable to say anything.

"My Water Father! He is sending for you!"

Delinquency smiles faintly.

"Take me to Him," she whispers.

In an instant, the forbidding concrete wall crumbles to rubble. Jack helps her to her feet, but he has to keep her upright. She does not seem able to walk on her own.

"Oh, just a moment, Jack," a voice calls from the concrete mixer. "Let me help you! You cannot possibly manage on your own..." Jack turns to see who is talking to him.

"You need not be afraid, Jack," croaks Pestis. "All I want to do is help. Can we talk?"

"No thank you," Jack answers politely. My Water Father said I could do this with his help. I don't need any other."

What did I tell you? Jack has grown up! He is the most sensible boy in the whole world! And he is giving me my chance! I knew it would happen with Jack! I knew it! Do you still remember; I Amahl, am assigned to Jack Gullible – by the Power of the King!

The first thing I do is to turn the concrete mixer upside down and to start shaking it violently, like it's a trash can. He did strike at me a bit with some kind of thunderbolt, but I have some practice myself, after 4000 years or so. (I don't like history and all those dates much.)

So he rolls out of there like a dung ball. Drunk Yersinia comes swaying along and stops right in front of him.

"Pestis, I have done my part! I insist on having my looks and my title NOW!" she cries. "I've had it!"

"Not now, please," is the only reply she gets.

OK, there is this storm when our swords start clashing. I don't actually see Jack taking Delinquency in his arms and pushing off on his skateboard; but I know it does happen. I am just concentrating on this huge fight that I am in. Of course I am not afraid. Is there anything to be afraid of? The whole time I just wonder: Am I being brave now? Is this like being, like, really brave?

Then suddenly I hear the Star Breather's voice.

"I guess so, Amahl. I guess so. You can stop now. Jack is back with his father, Apatheto. And Amoran and Shamare will soon be with their mother, Merriam. Just hit him back to his dark palace."

So I give Pestis this final whack. It's just so good to hear the Word of words saying all that to me.

"You look just like Lady Macbeth!" Pestis shouts to Yersinia before he flees the premises of her academy, the School of Blood.

I watch Doubt, Fear and their new friend Wesley Bloodbound entering the school yard. Bitzer and Sniper follow. They cannot stop turning to admire their hind legs and the way they are hopping along. They sneak past Yersinia, who is still sitting on the ground in front of the overturned concrete mixer, trying to straighten out her hair.

The whole wood is now burning.

I find my way over it, so that I can return to Jack.

Some days later

The woman called Merriam has noticed Shamare immediately. She walks up to her hesitantly.

"Do you remember me, Shamare?"

"But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered," the woman whispers.

"....for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children," says Shamare.

"It is time, Shamare, for us to be together again. "

Shamare is laughing tears. "Mom, what happened to you? Where were you?"

"I jumped, many years ago, but there was some misunderstanding in the family about this. I was taken away from you, because your grandparents did not like my new way of life. But that is over now. You will soon understand how you and Amoran were saved by the King. " Merriam looks at her daughter.

"It is so good that you memorised the message that He gave us," she smiles.

A forgotten wish, remembered

The roads are cordoned off. The pointsmen and the traffic officers are waiting.

"Are you ready?"

"Always, Jack G." she smiles.

Jack pushes off from the Cable station. The girl follows suit. They seem to move in tandem, as if they are doing a specially choreographed dance. Hope remembers the day that she stood outside her father's house; how she told herself that this is what she had always wanted.

"I am doing it now," she thinks, "I am doing what I always wanted to, and it is so much better than I ever thought it would be. I am free! I am alive!"

"Hope is with Jack G, the Faithful. That is just perfect," Jack thinks as they negotiate the S bend. "Simply awesome."

Their Father gave Hope her new name that day when he brought her on his renovated skateboard.

"I shall make all things new," is what He had said. "Jack, don't you think Hope is a beautiful name for a precious girl, who did not stop hoping when there was no hope left? Come get your skateboard, Hope! I know this is what you have wished for!"

Amoran follows with another team of skateboarders. There are many onlookers with cameras, and others that are cheering.

Down, down, down, with soaring spirits, at a speed that can only be loved by those who love skateboarding, and into Kloof Nek Road. The Waterfront is waiting.

A red tourist bus is parked alongside Kloof Nek Road. The road is lined with huge bales of hay. All the lights remain green for them.

"What it say?" a foreign tourist asks, pointing at the banner displayed where the road enters the Tamboerskloof. Jack and Hope pass underneath it, followed by the rest of the group.

The tour guide starts reading:

FREELY TO THE WATERFRONT,

FOR THE WORD OF TRUTH

#######

Author's note

Is the story of Jack Gullible true?

In part, yes. I was inspired to write this story by an incident that happened in May 2011. My husband and I were driving down the real Kloof Nek road in Cape Town. (We do not live there and were only visiting for the week end to attend a family wedding.) From the corner of my eye, I became aware of a silent, ghost-like figure that was passing our little hired car at lightning speed. It was a young boy on a skateboard, negotiating the traffic and followed by an old brown Mercedes that had only one flicker in working condition. The driver was a teenage boy.

Jack Gullible was born. No matter how much I tried to forget about him, or tried to run from him, he would return and would not stop bothering me until I had his story written down. During the process of writing I used to give snippets of the writing to my English pupils to read. They never knew who the author was and I expected a disinterested, bored reaction. I was surprised by the amusement it caused.

Two of the girls repeatedly asked where they could buy this book, because they wanted to read the whole story. I was too embarrassed to tell them the truth and just stayed aloof whenever the subject was raised. After a year, I have nearly finished my work. Both girls have left the school where I teach at the beginning of that year and I thought that the matter was now forgotten. However, when the one girl returned to my school after another year, the first thing that she enquired about when she saw me again, was Jack's story.

So this is for that girl and for the boy on the skateboard, although by now they must have outgrown the story.

Are the prophecies true?

Yes. All of the prophecies in this story were written down in the time span as indicated by Amahl, and were fulfilled in history as indicated. So, if you have a need for a "Water Father", the good news is that He is real. He can free you from your concrete mound and you can also "jump" to him by taking a leap of faith. He is waiting for you to invite Him to have a personal relationship with Him and be freed from the bad consequences of evil things that happened to you, of wrong decisions, of hatred, of fear, of disappointments, and of bitterness. Don't allow anything in your life to under-estimate his power! No one has power over life and death, but He has.

For more information on the web:

http://www.e-sword.net/

 http://www.reasons.org/articles/articles/fulfilled-prophecy-evidence-for-the-reliability-of-the-bible

http://100prophecies.org/

 http://ebookbrowse.com/more-than-a-carpenter-pdf-d46626557

http://www.amazingmuslims.com/

http://www.everystudent.com/africa/features/bible.html
