Zac 29 Episode 6
This time there was a definite glint of enjoyment on his face, and tears came to Kweku’s eyes immediately.
So this was how it felt like to be bullied, he thought miserably.
“Oh, forgive my bad manners,” the man continued. “I know you’re Kweku. I didn’t introduce myself. You can call me Mr. Happy.”
Kweku gaped at the man with such surprise that he all but forgot his fear, and as tears coursed down his cheeks he spoke loudly, without fear now.
“No, you can’t be Mr. Happy!” Kweku wailed. “You can’t be happy!”
He saw the monster’s eyes changing, going perfectly round and huge for a moment, before narrowing into vertical slits again, and then the monstrous thing laughed.
It threw its head back and laughed, and Kweku noticed for the first time that the man had no teeth, but instead, he had about ten things in his mouth, five up and five down, that were curled just like the fangs of a snake, and way down in his black throat Kweku saw yellow flames burning.
“That’s a good one, my paddy!” the man laughed and slapped his thigh with his many stump-tipped long fingers. “You can’t be happy! That’s a good one, my paddy, a very good one!”
Still laughing, he turned and then Kweku heard a terrible wailing sound, like an aeroplane in the sky, and he looked up because it seemed to be getting closer.
The noise was so terrible that it hurt his ears. He looked into the skies, but the bamboo leaves had blocked his view, and he couldn’t see anything. The whining noise became a high whistling sound, and suddenly the leaves parted, and a great golden door dropped down and hit the banks of the Whistling River.
Kweku noticed that it was made entirely of gold and was mighty and gigantic. The image of a golden anaconda was carved on the door.
Mr. Happy was still laughing as he approached the door.
It opened smoothly inward. Kweku noticed that within the door fire blazed terribly, and he could hear screams from inside the fire.
Mr. Happy entered, and the door swung shut violently and disappeared instantly.
Kweku overcame his crippling fear and ran to the safety of the orphanage like the devil was after him.
Which, indeed, could just be the case.
Zac was still laughing!
He was in the museum now, with Mr. Adokoh, and he had just finished eating the best meal he had tasted in years.
Of course, he did not know what had happened between Kweku Obi and Mr. Happy.
He was just so happy that he now had such awesome powers!
He was bursting with excitement! It felt as if he was dreaming! He could not believe what had just happened! He had been so sad, and had not wanted to come to the museum…but something amazing had just happened to him!
He had awesome powers!
Mr. Adokoh took a small mirror from a drawer in his desk and approached Zac. He held it up for Zac to look at the chain of the leaps.
“Don’t waste your powers! Look at the chain! Look!” Mr. Adokoh said.
He held up the mirror. Zac saw that one of the lockets on the chain was no longer silvery! It was still silver, but it had lost its diamond-like glow! It had just become an ordinary silver locket, dull and lifeless.
“Every magic you perform takes one locket!” Mr. Adokoh said. “When all the pendants turn dull you would have no magic left! That’s what the legend says, anyway!”
Zac laughed.
“I know, Mr. Adokoh,” he said happily. “The wearers told me, remember? But I just couldn’t help it! I have twenty-eight more awesome powers of magic left, so stop fretting!”
Mr. Adokoh laughed and sat down. Zac touched Mr. Adokoh’s shoulder.
There were tears in Zac’s eyes.
“Thank you, Mr. Adokoh,” Zac said. “Thank you so very much. I’ll never forget your kindness. I wish I would see more of you!”
Mr. Adokoh nodded, and his kind eyes filled with warmth as he squeezed Zac’s hand.
“When I saw you, I could see just how sad and unhappy you were, Zac,” he said gently. “Now I am happy that you’re happy. I just want you to be very careful. What you have got now is the most powerful thing in the world, and I’m sure there are unscrupulous people who might wish they could control a gift like that. You have to be very careful with how you use it, Zac.”
Zac nodded.
“I know, Mr. Adokoh. I’ll be careful.”
“Okay, come on then, you have to go back and join your friends. They must be worried by now. But first, I must find a replica to put in the box. The rules here are very strict, and it would be very awkward explaining how the Chain of the Leaps went missing from its box. It could cost me my job.”
Whilst Mr. Adokoh was speaking Zac was smiling, and no longer had the old man finished speaking than a rusty replica of the chain appeared in its box.
Mr. Adokoh smiled and shook his head.
“That’s two magical pendants used, my boy!” he said. “Okay, come on now. Let’s join your friends then.”
Zac’s face clouded over all of a sudden.
“But I don’t want to go!” he said earnestly. “I’m so unhappy at the orphanage! Can’t I stay with you, please? I won’t worry, you, I promise. Anything that you want, we would use the chain to get anything we want, Mr. Adokoh! Please let me stay with you, please!”
Mr. Adokoh held Zac’s shoulders and looked into his eyes.
“Zac, I promise you I’ll come to the orphanage and look you up. After meeting you, even for this short a time, I find myself liking you tremendously. If you really want to be with me, I’ll use all the legal means necessary to adopt you.”
Tears slowly fell down Zac’s face.
“Oh, you would? You really cross your heart promise to do that?”
“It’s a promise, Zac,” Mr. Adokoh said, and he hugged Zac. “I live alone. My dear wife passed a couple of years ago. We never had children. I’m all alone, and I could use some company. Of course, my dear boy, I’ll come over and make the necessary arrangements to adopt you.”
Zac was so happy. His tears fell freely.
“What about the chain, Mr. Adokoh?” Zac asked. “The Ohenewaa Dragon would surely ask me to take it off when she sees me wearing it. She takes a lot of things from us and keeps them.”
Mr. Adokoh’s pursed his lips for a moment.
“Tell her it’s a gift from me,” he said. “If she insists just let her try and take it off herself. She just might enjoy the experience, I think.”
Both of them smiled at that, and then they left the office and went back to the yard.
“Remember, Zac, don’t tell anybody yet of my plans to adopt you,” Mr. Adokoh said when Mistress Ohenewaa saw them and stood glaring at them from across the yard.
“I wouldn’t, Mr. Adokoh!” Zac said tremulously, and the old man squeezed his shoulder fondly.
Mistress Ohenewaa stood by the door of the bus whilst the excited children boarded. She was seething with rage, and was all huffed and puffed up because her intense dislike of the boy called Zac was once again at play.
Zac had pulled the neck of his shirt up and buttoned it so that it hid the chain of the leaps. He had tried to take it off in the washroom to hide it, but every time he tried to take it off the chain shrivelled and became a tight choking band across his throat, and in the end, he had sensibly left it on.
“And would you tell me why your shirt is buttoned to your neck on a hot afternoon like this, you evil nincompoop?” Mistress Ohenewaa asked, her eyes squinted with wrath. “Unbutton the top two this instant!”
“Yes, Mistress Ohenewaa,” Zac replied and held his button, at the same time trying to move past her into the bus before unbuttoning it. Mistress Ohenewaa barred the way and shoved him back fiercely.
“I said unbutton it now, and I want to see you doing it, worm!” she said.
Zac sighed and slowly unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt.
