The Mysterious Wheelchair

Chapter 4: Zuphixy and Purpleten Get Caught

The path did some more zigzagging until it suddenly stopped at a river. Purpleten and Zuphixy saw a raft on the other side.

Purpleten spoke nervously, “We are now stuck here because my wheels will get all rusty if I go into the river.”

Zuphixy looked around and said, “I can swim across and get that raft and bring it to you.”

Purpleten replied, “Ok, if you say so.”

Zuphixy pulled off his clothes and jumped into the river. He swam to the raft, untied it and swam back pushing the raft. Purpleten got on the raft and Zuphixy pushed their way across the river. As they were crossing Purpleten had the look that people get when something terrible is about to happen. She saw Mr. Oidohombre, who looked like he was made up of ears. He pointed towards the river and yelled, “What do you think you are doing using my raft without even asking me if you can?” He kept repeating himself.

Zuphixy, who seemed calm and relaxed, tried to explain why they were using the raft. But when he found out that the man seemed not to be hearing him and saw the look of horror on Purpleten’s face he realized that if they stayed any longer something terrible might happen. Zuphixy climbed out of the river and got dressed. Just as the children were about to go down the path, the man grabbed Purpleten and started shaking her.

“Where do you think you are going?” he demanded. Before either of the children could answer, the man dragged them to his house where he tied them up in his basement and left them for a very long time.

While in Mr. Oidohombre’s basement Purpleten said, “I guess this is a good time as any to tell you what my dad told me about what had happened 2000 wheels ago.”

She paused for a few moments and finally explained, “Things were going well in our land until one day about 2040 wheels ago this family had a baby. The baby was not the usual wheel baby of our land. It could walk. This had never happened before in Silla-Tierra. The baby had ears all over it like the man who grabbed us just now. As the baby got bigger and went to school, the other children made fun of his looks. That made him angry.”

“As he grew older, the man worked in a factory where he made wheelchairs for all the people in our land, who could not walk. At that time, none of the people who lived on Silla-Tierra could walk. He was made to work harder than anyone else and in the noisiest part of the factory. One day he was so angry that he made new wheelchairs and made the old ones break so everyone needed the new kind of wheelchair.”

“As soon as the people sat in their new wheelchairs they changed into living wheelchairs like me. From that time on, children were born as living wheelchairs.”

“To break the spell, a living wheelchair must get through the Woods of Despair, the woods we just passed through, and pick the heart-shaped flower found only on Magic Flower Hill where Mr. Oidohombre, the man with many ears, lives. The flower must be given to a true love who is also a human from another world. Only when the human and the living wheelchair are married in front of their friends and have a baby of their own, will the spell be broken and the man with many ears will magically disappear.”

Just as Purpleten had finished telling Zuphixy what her dad had told her about Mr. Oidohombre, he came in with a dozen men that looked just like him. Six of the men grabbed Zuphixy and the other six men grabbed Purpleten and took them to two different rooms in the house.

Mr. Oidohombre asked Zuphixy, “What do you think you were doing with my raft?”

Zuphixy stammered, “I-I-I-I did not …..”

The man interrupted Zuphixy and rudely said, “Write it down. I am deaf and can’t read lips well. All I know is that your lips are moving.” As the man was talking he tossed Zuphixy an electronic note pad and pen.

Zuphixy wrote on the pad: I had to borrow it to help my friend across the river. I did not know it was yours.

The man rudely uttered, “You didn’t know that raft was mine? Everyone here knows it is mine — unless you don’t know me!”

Zuphixy wrote: No. I didn’t know you or anything about this land until I met a girl in the woods. She did not tell me about you until you tied us up in the other room. I was just trying to find a way back to my world.

The man rudely uttered, “Are you trying to tell me that you had no plans on trying to get the flower that is the shape of a heart and also that you aren’t trying to get rid of me?”

Zuphixy wrote: Yes, I do not want to harm you. I am only trying to get back to my own world alive.

The man rudely uttered, “OK. I will go talk to the girl now, but I cannot let you go yet.”

The man turned to the other five men and made some hand movements. Then all the men walked on and closed the door behind them making a clicking sound.

Meanwhile the other six Oidohombres were trying to get Purpleten to talk. She was so scared that she did not write a thing down on the electronic note pad one of the men had also tossed her.

The six men who had been with Zuphixy entered the room where Purpleten was. The owner of the raft asked Purpleten if she was trying to get rid of him. Purpleten still did not write a word down.

Finally, as the men left her the leader said, “If you not write down your answer as to whether you are trying to get rid of us, I will destroy your fields unless you forget you ever saw me.”