Reggie & Ryssa and the Summer Camp of Faery by Bo Savino
Chapter 4: On The Road
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Reggie sat in the back seat of Mary’s car with Ryssa at his side. They had both been silent for some time now. Mary seemed content to let them get over the emotional shock and turmoil of leaving their home behind. Ryssa stared at the ring given to her by their mother, twisting it in absent-minded circles around her finger. Reggie had done the same for a while. He decided it was time to take a look at the book Terry had worked on so hard for them. Maybe it would give him a clue as to what they were getting into for the summer.
As quietly as he could, he removed the book from the bag at his feet and unwrapped it from the newspaper. The book itself was old. Reggie smiled. He remembered when Terry had picked it up from an estate sale. Terry loved old things—he thought they were pretty cool. This had been one of his favorites.
It was a blank journal with yellowing pages that appeared to have never been used. Reggie had never understood the attraction Terry had had for it until now. There had been a purpose for it all along. He ran a hand across the blue cloth surface, his smile turning wistful. He loved his foster brother, he just never realized until now how much he had underestimated that love being returned.
When he opened the journal, he found the first page blank. Curious, he turned the page. The page on the right was blank, but the one on the left had writing on it. He flipped through the book. All of the pages were the same—writing on the left, blank on the right. Ryssa watched over his arm, noticing the same thing. Reggie shrugged, having no answer.
He opened the book back to the first page with writing on it and started to read, sliding the book toward Ryssa to share. It contained a brief note from Terry:
Okay, so I know this is a little strange. In fact, from my understanding of it, if any of what I’ve found is true, then everything is going to be really strange for you from this point forward. If it’s not true and this is one of those cases where the story gets bigger every time it’s told, then I’ll bet that the reality of it will still be strange.
First, the reason that I wrote in this book the way that I did. According to what little Mom and I have been told, the people you will be dealing with have particular ways of doing things and most of them are very set in those ways. They have a tendency, if something isn’t done in the ‘normal’ way that they think it should be done and they can’t make sense of it, they ignore it like it’s not there. I don’t know if this is true or not, but I thought I’d try it with the book, just in case.
“Oh, great,” Reggie said with a groan.
“What?” Ryssa whispered.
“Our relatives are a bunch of moronic idiots incapable of original thought,” Reggie replied.
“That’s not exactly true,” Mary said from the front seat. When Reggie and Ryssa looked startled by her interjection, she added, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”
Mary blew out her breath like a troubled sigh. “Okay. Maybe I did mean to eavesdrop, but I was waiting for the right time to get started.”
“Get started with what?” Ryssa gave her a suspicious glance.
“Why, telling you a little bit about where you’re going. I thought you’d want to know.”
“It would help.” Reggie went to close the book on his lap, but when he shifted in his seat, the book flipped open to the second page with writing on it. He glimpsed at the heading.
Important Rules and Etiquette
[back to top]
Reggie sat in the back seat of Mary’s car with Ryssa at his side. They had both been silent for some time now. Mary seemed content to let them get over the emotional shock and turmoil of leaving their home behind. Ryssa stared at the ring given to her by their mother, twisting it in absent-minded circles around her finger. Reggie had done the same for a while. He decided it was time to take a look at the book Terry had worked on so hard for them. Maybe it would give him a clue as to what they were getting into for the summer.
As quietly as he could, he removed the book from the bag at his feet and unwrapped it from the newspaper. The book itself was old. Reggie smiled. He remembered when Terry had picked it up from an estate sale. Terry loved old things—he thought they were pretty cool. This had been one of his favorites.
It was a blank journal with yellowing pages that appeared to have never been used. Reggie had never understood the attraction Terry had had for it until now. There had been a purpose for it all along. He ran a hand across the blue cloth surface, his smile turning wistful. He loved his foster brother, he just never realized until now how much he had underestimated that love being returned.
When he opened the journal, he found the first page blank. Curious, he turned the page. The page on the right was blank, but the one on the left had writing on it. He flipped through the book. All of the pages were the same—writing on the left, blank on the right. Ryssa watched over his arm, noticing the same thing. Reggie shrugged, having no answer.
He opened the book back to the first page with writing on it and started to read, sliding the book toward Ryssa to share. It contained a brief note from Terry:
Okay, so I know this is a little strange. In fact, from my understanding of it, if any of what I’ve found is true, then everything is going to be really strange for you from this point forward. If it’s not true and this is one of those cases where the story gets bigger every time it’s told, then I’ll bet that the reality of it will still be strange.
First, the reason that I wrote in this book the way that I did. According to what little Mom and I have been told, the people you will be dealing with have particular ways of doing things and most of them are very set in those ways. They have a tendency, if something isn’t done in the ‘normal’ way that they think it should be done and they can’t make sense of it, they ignore it like it’s not there. I don’t know if this is true or not, but I thought I’d try it with the book, just in case.
“Oh, great,” Reggie said with a groan.
“What?” Ryssa whispered.
“Our relatives are a bunch of moronic idiots incapable of original thought,” Reggie replied.
“That’s not exactly true,” Mary said from the front seat. When Reggie and Ryssa looked startled by her interjection, she added, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”
Mary blew out her breath like a troubled sigh. “Okay. Maybe I did mean to eavesdrop, but I was waiting for the right time to get started.”
“Get started with what?” Ryssa gave her a suspicious glance.
“Why, telling you a little bit about where you’re going. I thought you’d want to know.”
“It would help.” Reggie went to close the book on his lap, but when he shifted in his seat, the book flipped open to the second page with writing on it. He glimpsed at the heading.
Important Rules and Etiquette