The History of the Ear Men
Chapter 9: The Family Leaves Silla-Tierra
Back in Silla-Tierra, Catkaty was still grounded because of what happened with the Ear Men. Her mom had only stepped out for groceries, trusting that Catkaty would stay put.
Purpleten said as she left, “I’ll be back in ten minutes! Remember, you’re grounded! Don’t leave your room!”
As soon as Catkaty heard the door close, she wheeled out the back door and went straight to the Ear Men’s place. They were surprised to see her. They were no longer angry about their flowers, since no one had touched them.
Catkaty said, “I came to check if anyone has wrecked your flowers.”
The Ear Men, who had never seen a wheelchair care about them before, replied, “Why do you care? You’re just one of those wheelchairs!”
Meanwhile, Purpleten, Zuphixy, and Zoofixy Jr. came home and were shocked to find Catkaty missing. They all went out to look for her.
Purpleten was terrified that Catkaty had gotten into trouble. She was thinking, “What if she got them to put a cup‑holder attachment on?” To Purpleten, that would be the wheelchair version of a six‑year‑old getting an ear piercing without permission.
So Purpleten asked Mr. Stripes to go with Zuphixy to look for Catkaty at the Ear Man’s place. Mr. Stripes was so nervous he acted like a little kid who didn’t want to go somewhere with their parents. Only once they arrived did he decide to act professionally. He professionally but nervously said, “We’re looking for Catkaty. You’d better not have hurt her!”
The Ear Men were shocked to see three of the most powerful wheelchairs.
The Ear Men said, “We did not ask her to come. She just keeps coming here, insisting on checking our flowers. “
Then Zuphixy saw Catkaty was just sitting in the greenhouse writing down what’s happening to the plants.
Zuphixy and Zoofixy Jr., not trusting the scene, decided Catkaty should come home. They had Mr. Stripes hook her up to his chair, and they started to leave. Just then the grandfather came into the room, to get an update on the flowers for his code.
Only Catkaty knew her grandfather was there, which made Zuphixy, Zoofixy Jr., and Mr. Stripes even more suspicious that the Ear Men were hiding something.
Catkaty said, “Sorry, Grandfather! I guess I’m not allowed to help you. See you later.”
Hearing that, they decided to take him with them, thinking he must be in danger.
Zuphixy, Zoofixy Jr., and Mr. Stripes believed it was never a good sign to see wheelchairs with the Ear Men.
The Ear Men were actually relieved to see their guests leave. They did not want to be accused of something they hadn’t done.
The next day, the Ear Men noticed that without Catkaty’s detailed logs, the flowers weren’t growing as fast. The grandfather’s code helped, but it required updates every half hour. Without Catkaty, they didn’t have that data.
Back home, in Silla‑Tierra, Catkaty gasped. “Wait! You said the Ear Men got mad and that’s why we became living wheelchairs. So… what if we show them we’re nice? Maybe that’s what changes us back.”
The grandfather nodded. Maybe Catkaty was right. He agreed with her that the Ear Men hadn’t seemed that cruel to him. Purpleten still didn’t believe it. She didn’t want to think her parents were wrong. She also knew Zuphixy’s dad had only been here once before, so he didn’t really know anything.
Just then, Zuphixy got reports that the flowers were dying unless the grandfather fixed his code soon. The report didn’t come from the Ear Men but from a local news wheelchair.
Thinking it was a trick, Zuphixy went back to the greenhouse with the grandfather, while Catkaty stayed home.
Zuphixy’s chest tightened. When he was sixteen, there were only a few flowers, and they grew fine without any tech. Now there were rows of them. Of course things had changed.
Zoofixy Jr. said the Ear Men needed help now because the business was so big. But Zuphixy thought, We only need a few flowers to get home. If we can save just a few, that’s enough.
A young Ear Man suddenly said, “If you let the flowers die, all living wheelchairs will vanish. Do you want that to happen?”
That was new information to everyone except the Ear Men. Mr. Stripes realized Ear Men had been keeping the wheelchairs alive all these wheels. He did not understand why they would do that.
While Zuphixy was tasked with finding out, Zoofixy Jr. tried to organize the town’s living wheelchairs to take turns doing Catkaty’s job. But none would, As they were too afraid of the Ear Men. So it was up to Catkaty.
When Zuphixy told Purpleten the news, she reluctantly let Catkaty go back, but Zuphixy or Zoofixy Jr. had to keep a close eye on her.
One day, while Zoofixy Jr. was watching Catkaty work, he accidentally touched a flower. Doing so made him vanish back to the real world.
The next thing he knew, he was in their kitchen with the 1980s tech. At first he was puzzled why he was standing on his hands without clothes. After looking around, he remembered that’s what he’d been doing before.
Back in Silla-Tierra, Catkaty, knowing her mom didn’t want her alone with the Ear Men. So she sent a brain message to her dad: her brother had been transported by the flowers.
Zuphixy raced to Catkaty, leaving Mr. Stripes confused. They were supposed to be doing research. When Zuphixy reached the greenhouse, he saw one flower knocked over in its pot, right where his son had been standing.
He picked up the pot, believing that if he just touched the pot he would not vanish. He knew that his skin had to touch the pollen to work. What he didn’t realize was that part of his arm brushed the plant. The next thing he knew, he was back in the hospital in the real world, holding a brace.
Back in Silla-Tierra, Catkaty sent another brain message. This time to her mom: both her brother and dad had been transported by the flowers.
Purpleten sped to the greenhouse, relieved the Ear Men were nowhere in sight. She didn’t want to risk anything and tried to pull Catkaty away. Just then the grandfather stopped them by asking for Catkaty’s next report, unaware the others were gone.
Purpleten wanted to go back to the real world to be with her husband. Catkaty wanted to stay and keep the flowers healthy. They tugged at each other’s arms. By doing so they knocked over a flower, sending pollen all over them.
The next thing Purpleten knew, she was in the real world, making dinner with her son standing on his hands beside her. Catkaty was nowhere to be seen.
Catkaty found herself lying on the operating table as her father, Dr. Zuphixy, prepared to cast her leg. Suddenly she felt the pain from falling from the monkey bars, which made her remember what happened.
Meanwhile, back in Silla-Tierra, the grandfather was still working on the Ear Men’s flower code. As time went on, he realized he was the last of his family still in Silla‑Tierra. Once he knew that he reworked the code so it no longer needed Catkaty’s logs.
After that the grandfather decided he wanted to stay a wheelchair. Then as he was going home, the magic had other ideas. A gust of wind blew the magic onto him, and he woke up back in the long‑term home. He was just an eighty‑six‑year‑old man again, and his memory was bad again. Just like before he could not remember if it was day or night. So he had forgotten all about Silla‑Tierra.
A few weeks later, Catkaty was discharged from the hospital. Like her father, she now had a disability. She would live in a wheelchair because of her fall from the monkey bars. Instead of that upsetting her, she just made the best of it. Her family were surprised that she was so happy. She would laugh every day with memories of Silla‑Tierra.
She would go with her parents and sometimes her brother to visit her grandfather weekly and tell him this story.