Science Fiction for Young Readers, grade 4 up
Story by Terry Gibson ©

     The telephone rang insistently, 
repeatedly, bringing fear.  To Tab it 
was a jabbing with the knife of guilt, 
having brought such hardship to people 
who were too good for this: her mother,
Mr. Player, even Greggy.  Tears formed 
while a mix of alarm and anger 
tightened their mother's lips as she 
refused to pick it up.  Greg wondered 
who else would twist the knife.
     "Aren't you going to answer that?"
     "Later, Gregory.  They'll call 
back if it's important.  Now, Tabitha, 
you were saying?"
     "He carried me to the nurse's 
room."  What else dared she say?
     "Yes? And in the nurse's room, Mr. 
Player--?"  With a meaningful look, 
Mother asked, "Did he--?"
     "No!  He did not throw me down!  
Absolutely not!"  Tab had to protect him.  
"It was my fault-- But I didn't mean to."
     The phone rang again.  Eyebrows up, 
Mother went to answer it.  "Hello?  Yes."
     Greg whispered, "Mean to what?"
     Oh-oh, Tab thought.  "Here's 
trouble," she whispered back.  She could 
hear one side of the conversation, but 
her mother's face went through several 
changes as Tab heard, "Yes, Mr. Player..."
     Tab shivered, held her finger to her 
mouth for silence, and paid close 
attention.
     "Yes...  True, Mrs. Meander told 
me...."  Mother sat down suddenly, phone 
to her ear.  "I don't understand."  After 
a silence, "I see."
     Her mother looked curiously at Tab.  
"Really!  Well, she hasn't said...  Just 
a moment."
     Her mother was about to talk with 
Tab, then changed her mind.  "Tell you 
what," she said.  "Why don't you come 
over here?   All of this is just too 
confusing to discuss over the phone."
     Tab's eyes were big.  Mr. Player 
HERE?  She heard her mother give 
directions for finding them, and then 
she hung up.  "I swear the man's gone
strange!" her mother said.
     Gregory had sat silently until 
this point, not wanting to say anything 
that would betray the secret he shared.  
He couldn't resist asking why.
     "He said the strangest thing.  
That Tab had no weight at all.  And-- 
No, that's just too crazy."
     Tab and Greg exchanged looks.  
Suddenly the situation had become 
impossible.
     "Well, if we are going to have 
company, I'd better nip out to the store 
and get something to go with coffee."  
With that, Mother went out.


     What they didn't know would have 
alarmed them even more.  Several parents 
called a meeting of the School Council 
and listed the complaints against Jeremy 
Player.  Not only that, but they would 
discuss action at a joint executive 
meeting of area school councils next 
evening.
     Someone phoned the DAILY BUGLE which 
sent reporters out to gather stories, 
while her superiors questioned Mrs. 
Meander.  It would surely be followed 
by a closed committee meeting of the local 
Board of Education.  A nameless teacher 
had told the Children's Aid, and they
consulted police.  Very serious stuff.


     A hurricane would hardly have caused 
more uproar.  Meanwhile, in the calm eye 
of the storm, Alice Gray had arrived home, 
to be followed within minutes by Mr. Player.
     "Come in, Mr. Player.  We've been 
waiting for you."  Greg led the way to 
the kitchen.
     "Mrs. Gray," he said, holding out 
his hand, "I would have preferred to 
visit under more pleasant circumstances.  
I hope it won't take long."
     Tab's eyes were down, but Greg 
noticed that his mother pretended not 
to see the hand.  "Please sit.  Coffee?"
     Unsmiling, he accepted a cup, but 
passed on the doughnuts.  The kids each 
took one.


     "As you know, this is not a social 
call.  We were, uh... discussing what 
happened."
     "Yes, I had a meeting today with 
Mrs. Meander concerning this young lady.  
A most unpleasant meeting.  Tell me again.
I'm afraid I didn't understand."
     "I was called to the swings," 
he said, "where Maria said Tabitha had 
fallen.  She was obviously in pain--"
    "Tabitha, you didn't tell me about 
that. What happened?"
     "We were swinging quite high.  I 
slipped off." (So much was true anyhow,  
because she did.)  "And I hung onto the 
leg of the swings until Mr. Player 
rescued me.  That's about it."
     "Is that true?"  Mrs. Gray looked 
at Mr. Player and then back at Tab again.  
"She couldn't walk so you carried her, 
right?"
     "Essentially."  Mr. Player continued, 
"I thought she was in great pain, by the 
way she was hanging on so tightly.  
Carrying her seemed the best thing to do.  
What else did she tell you?"
     "Not much.  I wondered, when I saw 
no sign of injury from her fall off the 
swing..."  Mother faltered.
     "She didn't complain; just said 
she couldn't walk."  He stopped, and 
looked at her, as if wishing none of it 
had happened.  "Except that as I carried 
her, she kept slipping out of my grip.
She helped by holding on as I ran."
     "And that's what all the fuss is 
about?"
     "No-oo.  That, and the fact that 
when we got to the nurse's room, Tab fell 
rather hard onto the cot."
     "Can you add anything, Tabitha?"
     "No, that's pretty well all there is, 
except maybe that we must have looked 
kinda funny."
     "Which way, funny?"
     "How I was hanging on."
     Tab's mother could picture it, and 
shrugged it off.  "So you had all this 
trouble for nothing."
     "Not quite."  Mr. Player looked at 
Tabitha.
     Greg had been quiet until now but 
he was so upset about the whole thing 
that he burst in, "That the kids said 
she--"
     "That she hugged me?"
     "That's what the other kids are 
saying," Greg apologized for Tab.  "She 
didn't--"
     "She was in pain, and scared.  Why 
shouldn't she?"
     "It's not..."  What would their 
mother say?
     Mr. Player saw her embarrassment.  
"And if she did, what's wrong with that?  
What a sick world!"
     "Yes, it is, isn't it?  She told me 
she held on tightly because she was 
afraid she'd slip."
     "So tight she nearly strangled me!  
I could hardly see where I was going."
     "You were running, even so?"
     "Yes, to get her safely inside." 
He shook his head.  "I can't understand 
it myself."
    "Mom, what he's trying to say is--  
Uh, you won't believe it anyhow."  When 
Tab saw her mother's eyebrows rise, she 
added, "You didn't believe me when I 
tried to tell you before."
     "When?"
     "When I had no footprints."
     A blank look answered that.  Mother 
turned to Mr. Player.  "That's what 
you're trying to say too, that I won't 
believe it?"
     "No.  I wasn't afraid to drop her, 
but--"  He paused, and took a deep 
breath.
     "He didn't want to LOSE her," Greg 
said.
     "You know about it too?  Greggy, 
tell me!"
     "Mom," Tabitha interrupted, her 
voice louder than before.  "I almost 
floated away INTO THE SKY, and I knew 
nobody would believe me.  Not even you." 
Now the secret was out.
     "You're right, Tabitha.  I still 
don't believe you," but a strange look  
crossed her face.  Could it be true, 
after all?  When all three assured her 
that it really was true, she burst out
laughing.  "April Fool, right?"

TAKE ME TO