Jacky the Brave

Published by Jim Sellers

info@jimsellerswriter.com

www.jimsellerswriter.com

ISBN 978-0-9948414-1-4

Copyright © Jim Sellers 2014

Cover art, design, typesetting: Magdalene Carson

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted in any form or by any means without

the prior written permission of the publisher or,

in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from

Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency),

One Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1E5.

Cataloguing in publication available from Library and Archives Canada

Contents

Cover

Titlepage

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

About the Author

To my mother

Acknowledgements

Jacky The Brave is a story that started forming in my head years ago. It needed a lot of help getting out of there, onto these pages, and into your hands. I would like to acknowledge the people who helped me along the way. Thank you from my heart to Judith Millar, Candas Jane Dorsey, Michael Korb, Millard Foster, and Dean MacKenzie (who, combined, are my Mrs. Miller), Mary Burchak, and Greg Kennedy. To Zoë, Christine, and Stephen: all my love and gratitude. Thanks also go to Chrissy Shannon at Point. Writing and Editing Services http://www.tothepoint.co for the editing and Nancy Syrett for the proofreading. Special thanks to Magdalene Carson at New Leaf Publication Design http://newleafpublicationdesign.ca for the cover artwork and putting the whole book together.

Highland Cathedral

The song that Jacky learns to play in this story is a popular one for pipe bands around the world. It was written in 1982 by two German composers named Ulrich Roever and Michael Korb. Although Mr. Roever passed away, Mr. Korb is still writing and performing. His website is http://www.highlandcathedral.de. Highland Cathedral is published by Universal Music Publishing Group. Michael Korb and the people at Universal have graciously given us permission to publish the song lyrics in this book.

You can hear this song performed by many different artists on iTunes but, if you search for the title on YouTube, you will find a fantastic array of bands and musicians around the world performing it. I listen to this song whenever I feel sad or discouraged.

Chapter One

HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED how normal things seem just before disaster hits? Lenny asked, breaking the silence of the moment. I mean, every time you hear of something bad happening, they always say things were so calm, so normal — then boom."

Lenny and Jacky were lying on the grass in the backyard staring up at the sky as it gradually shifted from a cloudless, pale blue to deep, dark cobalt — the colour of Jacky’s favourite Aston Martin in Test Drive Unlimited. The day was blistering hot, and even though the sun had rolled out of the sky an hour earlier, everything in the yard was still radiating heat — the house, the garage, the sidewalk. Only the grass provided a cool break. A slight breeze was starting, riffling the leaves of the old ash tree high above them. Jacky and Lenny were in shorts and T-shirts, trying to cool off. The windows of the house were opened wide. Jacky’s parents were inside, and the sound of the stereo drifted out to where the boys lazed on the lawn, watching as the western sky began filling with clouds. Rain was coming; maybe a storm.

Jacky and Lenny were lifelong friends, inseparable and identical in every way but their appearance. Jacky’s freckled face, green eyes, and tightly curled, reddish-blond hair contrasted with Lenny’s pale skin, long, dark hair, and dark eyes. Where Jacky was average height, Lenny was a pole, thin and tall. Lenny was easily the tallest kid in school, except that he slouched so that hardly anyone noticed. Few people actually saw Lenny’s ears or eyes because he grew his hair long and usually looked down at the ground when he walked, or at his books in class. Lenny wasn’t into sports or science like Jacky, but they both loved music and video games. Lenny was awesome at finding shortcuts and cheats in the new games, and always, always made the highest scores of anyone at school. Lenny was a fantastic drummer, easily matching the famous solos on his drum set, and most impressively, on Rock Band. Playing virtual guitar on Xbox was the extent of Jacky’s musical knowledge. He didn’t know a note from a drumstick.

Looking up at the sky, Jacky was savouring the fullness of his life. He thought about how everything that had happened led to right now, this moment, when all the good stuff in his life converged into this perfect point in time. Last month, for his eleventh birthday, he got an Xbox from his parents and a stack of gift cards from friends at his party at the Paintball Palace. At school, he’d won first prize at the science fair and a sportsmanship award for athletics, and was on the honour list for top marks in math and science. His parents finally started letting him stay home alone when they went out, and he could even have friends over, which basically meant Lenny. Most important, he got his own computer — after a long lecture about safety on the Internet — which gave him freedom to connect with the rest of the world. He was finally in control of his universe.

Best of all, his days at kid school were over. After six years of going to the same school with the same teachers, he and Lenny were graduating to middle school. Jacky liked school and was an excellent student — except for the time he and Lenny tried to sneak out early on track and field day — but he couldn’t wait for it to end. He was done with elementary school and being around little kids all the time.

The graduation ceremony was great, even though it seemed lame to call passing from grade six to grade seven graduating. They dressed up, ate hot dogs and pizza, and the principal announced their names and gave out awards to the top students. Jacky’s parents cheered and took pictures when he was up on stage getting his awards. Afterwards, his parents took him and Lenny to Bob’s Food Paradise and Buffet where they gorged themselves. It would be hard to find anything about this day that wasn’t perfect.

Yet Lenny’s statement was the strangest thing Jacky ever heard him say. Whenever Lenny spoke, it was usually with the fewest number of words necessary. He hardly ever started a conversation, and his usual response to questions was yeah or whatever. Jacky sat up and looked at him, puzzled.

What are you talking about?

Lenny continued to stare at the sky toward the building clouds in the west. I mean, like, you know; right now it’s quiet, but in a few minutes it’s going to be storming like crazy around here. One minute calm and the next — thunder, lightning, rain, floods, and death and destruction everywhere. You just never know, you know.

Lenny had a strange, serious look on his face that made Jacky feel uneasy. Then Lenny looked at him, blinked, half smiled, and then returned his gaze back up to the sky. The cloud formation was growing larger, and they could hear a low, distant grinding of thunder.

Jacky had known Lenny for as long as he could remember, and he expected they’d be friends the rest of their lives. They usually knew what the other was going to say about most things, but Lenny’s comment was way too random.

Uh, are you okay, Lenny? I mean, everything all right? Jacky asked.

Yeah, dude, just saying. Back to the old Lenny, the man of few words. Jacky wanted to keep digging: there was clearly something going on in his friend’s head, but he knew further questions would be met with the same whatever Lenny always gave as his standard response.

Jacky leaned back again on his elbows and tried to relax, to go back to his earlier thoughts, but he couldn’t help but wonder what was up with his friend. Suddenly, the rain roared in. No warning drops, just a solid sheet of water washing down on them. Water bounced and steam rose off the hot sidewalks as the rain cooled the hot concrete; the trees seemed to be applauding the relief from the heat. They raced back into the house, where Jacky’s mom and dad ran around laughing and closing windows.

Chapter Two

SUMMER HOLIDAYS were the part of the year that Jacky lived for. Each season had its moments: Christmas in winter, Easter in spring, and Thanksgiving in fall. His birthday came in May when days were getting longer and warmer but the bugs weren’t out yet. But when school finished for the year, that’s when life was sweetest. Long days with nothing to do. He could stay up late or sleep over at Lenny’s and stay up all night.

He learned a lot about families and how different the term normal applied to other people when he stayed over at Lenny’s. Jacky’s house was always quiet and orderly. His mother worked at home most of the time, and even though Jacky wouldn’t call her a neat freak, there was never anything out of place. The house was never loud, no one raised their voice, and all three of them usually stayed in their own area doing their own thing. The only time there was any real conversation was at dinner, but after that Jacky was usually in his room playing games on his computer or chatting online. If there was ever an argument in his house about anything, it got really quiet.

Jacky had no brothers or sisters, so he pretty well had the run of the house and never had to fight over things or share his room with anyone. At Lenny’s, by comparison, people were yelling all the time. It was impossible to tell if they were fighting or just trying to talk over each other. They spoke loudly when arguing, loudly when telling a joke, and even louder when laughing. They would yell to each other even if they were upstairs with the door closed. Lenny was the youngest of three kids and, with his dad away at work most of the time, the only guy in the house. With his two sisters constantly bringing friends over, and relatives dropping by, Lenny’s place was never quiet. Dinner was usually a raucous event, and there was always way too much food. Jacky enjoyed the whole show: talking, arguing, laughing, trying to keep up with at least three conversations at once. It was like being on another planet.

Lenny’s house resembled a disaster zone compared to Jacky’s. There was always junk piled in the corners and on flat surfaces in every room. The walls and hallways were a permanent and growing tribute to all of the family members’ successes. Graduation pictures, trophies, ribbons, and awards won by the various members of Lenny’s family were displayed prominently in the mix of pictures of relatives, babies, family vacations, and special events. It was like a fun house at the fair.

The only one not constantly talking at the top of his lungs was Lenny. He seemed unaffected by the mayhem, responding to questions and jabs from his sisters and his mother with one-syllable answers, or just ignoring them. Once they had finished eating, Lenny ran up the stairs to the refuge of his bedroom with Jacky trailing closely. Lenny slammed the door, selected AC/DC on his iPod, and cranked up the volume on his Jawbone speakers to shut out the noise.

What was all that about? Jacky asked, flopping on the bed and picking up a copy of Gamezilla magazine that was lying on the floor.

Nothin’. Just my stupid sister sticking her face in my business again, Lenny said, tapping his game controller. The screen lit up, and Lenny picked up on a game he’d started earlier. The sound of ominous music and the voices from other online players came through the speakers. Jacky didn’t recognize any of them.

It sounded like a fight. I thought you guys were going to start a cage match.

Nah, said Lenny. Just a regular day at the house of crazy.

Jacky spent a lot of time in Lenny’s room, from when they were kids racing Hot Wheels and sharing their secret stash of Halloween chocolate, to now, when their greatest challenge was to see who could stay awake the longest and score the highest on Call of Duty. Lenny’s room was pretty much the same as his with the same basic collection of comics, models, video games, and posters covering the walls. There wasn’t a blank space that didn’t have a rock group, a comic book character, a car, or a famous saying taped over it. Lenny’s current favourite was Be Calm and … followed by a variety of gags like Drink Beer, Play Video Games, or Blame Someone Else. Although they spent as much time chatting online as they did in person, Jacky liked that he and Lenny could still do stuff together. It was reassuring knowing that some things would never change.

The only thing that was different about Lenny’s room was a picture of his dad and him, sitting on his desk next to the computer. It was a few years old, taken when they were camping somewhere; Lenny had caught a fish. It seemed kind of strange to Jacky. He couldn’t understand why anyone would want to have a picture of his parents in his room when he could see them anytime by just walking down the stairs. Even if his family was away, Lenny could see them on all of the walls. Jacky realized that there were hardly any pictures of his family anywhere in his house. Their walls were decorated with artwork painted by artists whose names could not be pronounced, purchased and framed by his mother, the art lover in the family. The only exceptions were a few black-and-white framed images of people Jacky didn’t know that stood on a bookshelf in the living room. There was nothing anywhere of him and his dad.

Jacky knew that Lenny had a special relationship with his dad; that was clear whenever Lenny talked about him. The few times Jacky had seen Lenny actually excited and worked up about anything — other than the release of a new game — was when he was going to do something with his dad. This was part of Jacky’s understanding of what normal meant to different people. He thought Lenny’s dad was okay, even funny sometimes, but mostly he seemed kind of tough. Not the superstar Lenny described him as. He was a heavy-equipment mechanic, very tall and very big. He didn’t speak much, and when he was home he was usually sitting in front of the television. Jacky didn’t see a whole lot of love between him and Lenny’s mom, but what did he know? Lenny was crazy about him; that was certain.

Jacky tossed the magazine back on the floor and thought about his relationship with his own father. While Lenny spent weekends with his dad going fishing or camping, Jacky rarely spent any time with his dad doing guy stuff, and any activities they did together included his mother. His parents called it quality time; the significance of that was lost on Jacky. His parents couldn’t get enough quality time if they were lost together on an island. It usually meant going out to a restaurant, seeing a movie, or travelling to a resort and staying at a hotel. Jacky didn’t know if his dad knew how to fish. He didn’t feel jealous or anything — he had no great desire to sit in a boat all day catching fish — but he wondered if his dad was purposely avoiding doing anything alone with him.

Dude, what’re you doing? Lenny yelled from the desk, his fingers mashing the keys on his controller in a mad panic. "They’re