making it an excellent tool for his mother to teach him geometry and geography.
When he was still in school, Sonu borrowed a marker from his teacher and drew out the map of the world on his window. She included the equator and all the degrees of longitude and latitude. He was the only one in his class to learn the different continents before the school shut down.
After the marker wore off, the window began to remind him of an oversized submarine ship. To pass the time without school, he found a deflated bicycle wheel and pretend that he was captain of the giant ship. He spent endless nights fighting slimy sea urchins and evil pirates in his rustic war sub. That was probably when he developed such a fascination with war and war machines in particular.
“I’ve wanted to do that for years,” Sonu said as she twirled the hammer in her hand. “What a great stress reliever.”
Brixton laughed at his mother. He found it funny that a person so small could feel such strength and power. Even if it was only glass.
“Yeh, except now we have a huge mess to clean up.”
“Oh Brix, live in the present for once. We needed this.”
“Says the woman who won’t cook or turn on any electrical device because it sucks in too much attention.”
They both laughed at that. He was only telling the truth. They hadn’t used heat since the schools shut down. The Fatalities’ main concerns were those who used the power, so he and his mother went without. Sonu figured if they only paid attention to those with it then they wouldn’t get any attention and that was a good thing to her. Brixton always guessed it was a good thing for him too. Up until now, he didn’t see that there would be a problem if they didn’t have all the things that the other children had. But he wouldn’t have minded getting checked-up on by the Fatalities. They never did anything wrong anyway; not entirely. Now, was a different story. They’d kill him and his mother on the spot if they found out about the books. For once he was thankful they didn’t have a reason for Fatals to come knocking on their door.
Usually, they did just fine during the cold winter months. They had plenty enough wool blankets. However this year, he planned to sleep elsewhere once the first frost came due to the fact that his mother felt the need to obliterate his window leaving a gaping hole in his room. He would have to take advantage of every ounce of fresh air for the next month or so. Soon it would be unbearable once the snow came through. The window would be missed, but the twisting branches creeping in didn’t bother him at all. They intertwined and fit into his room as if they belonged there all along.
Once the limbs loosened up after the jerking and twisting, it felt like the building was built around the tree instead of it being planted after the building was built.
How can trees live so long and we can’t even survive a day on our own? He would always ask himself.
With the month of October in full stride, the leaves glowed as if on fire. Bright red and orange illuminated his bedroom in the mornings. The crisp flames crackled until they let loose of their grip and fell to the ground. Brixton stomped around his room, crunching the fallen leaves. He pretended they were the enemy in some epic battle. He stood towering over them as if they were his victims.
Parts of the tree that grew closer together became more space for books. The ones further apart made steps for Brixton to climb. He climbed to the top and placed all of his sacred adventure books on the rafters and in between the pipes. Being up high like this provided a safe haven for his most cherished collection of sorts.
All the classics made themselves at home up there. Tom Sawyer, Boo Radley, and Gandalf all lived simultaneously amongst the splintered rafters with the autumn leaves brushing against their tattered bindings. In this light, it seemed almost as if the worn out novels gained a newfound strength. They stood taller, glistened brighter, and brought life to the before barren and lifeless room.
“Don’t worry about the window, Brix. We’ll get it fixed on the day of the ceremony,” mentioned Sonu at dinner.
“It doesn’t bother me. I like the breeze that comes in.”
“You say that now, but wait until gusts of freezing cold wind come barreling through. You won’t say that then.”
“Won’t it look obvious if we try and cover up a tree growing through our house? I mean, do you think they’ll notice?”
“The Fatals only see what they want to see. We did get lucky though that your room is in the back and off the street.”
“That’s true.”
“Plus that old tree has been there for so many years, you can’t even tell that it goes through the building. They’ll never notice a few missing branches.”
“Once again, very true. But why the day of the ceremony? What makes that day so special?”
“If we do it then, everybody will be so frantic at the library, they won’t pay any attention to someone hanging outside the building putting in a window.”
“Do you even know how to put in a window?”
“No, but you forget. I too read. I can figure it out easily enough. It’s getting the supplies that will be the harder part. Besides,” she took a bite of fresh lettuce from the garden and cheese from a woman she traded with, “I have an idea.”
“Well, we’ve only got two days to do it.” He knew by now not to question Sonu’s ideas. Even if he did, she’d do them anyway.
“Good thing we finished ahead of schedule. I don’t think I could carry another book. Let alone another load of them.”
“And you made sure to grab all of the good ones?”
“Yes, Brixton. I had to leave a lot behind so they wouldn’t be too suspicious, but I made sure to grab all your favorites. The ceremony is supposed to be a book burning. How are they to do that when there aren’t any books?” she laughed.
“I still don’t see why you never let me make a trip.”
“I couldn’t sit here and wait for you to get back if I let you do it. I would have worried way too much. I’m faster anyway,” she said the last part under her breath with a smile.
“Oh please,” he smiled back. “But I am old enough to take care of myself. I would’ve been fine.”
“Well, it’s over and done with. Your carpentry skills are impeccable too by the way. I’m very impressed with the window seat.”
As Brixton took a bite of broccoli and carrots, an even bigger smile drew across his face. He did do a pretty good job. With few supplies and even fewer bits of hardware, Brixton managed to take a rusted neon “O” from the junkyard down the street and bolt it in front of the window seat. The “O” had an outside ring and then a smaller ring lined the inside of it. This made a perfect place to store books. Once in place, he established sections for the books. Brixton and Sonu both were amazed that the bulkiness of books could flow so gracefully within the “O”. It brought the room together.
“You can let me go to an old landfill packed with all sorts of dangers that could get me into trouble but not to a safe library where the most that could happen to me would be a paper cut?”
“There’s a
