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    Delano in Hollyhook
    Delano in Hollyhook
    Delano in Hollyhook
    Ebook303 pages4 hours

    Delano in Hollyhook

    By Cameron Glenn

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    About this ebook

    Delano Farnsworth is one of the few ‘lucky unfortunates’ chosen to receive an invitation to the magical Camp Hollyhook. After he arrives, however, he quickly discovers that not is all as it seems. With his new camp friends the ‘quirky’ Jackie, the ‘dour’ Lenore and the ‘lonely’ Wheeze, Delano seeks to uncover the sinister true purpose of the camp, as well as learn about his missing parents who abandoned him when he was three, his kidnapped uncle as well as his own self and destiny.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCameron Glenn
    Release dateSep 4, 2017
    ISBN9781370708185
    Delano in Hollyhook
    Author

    Cameron Glenn

    Cameron Glenn grew up the third of seven children in Oregon. As a child he dedicated hours to the pursuits of basketball and cartooning, as well as waking up way too early for his paper route in order to earn money to buy toys, candy and comic books. He also loved to read and write, which he continues to do voraciously. He currently lives in Salt Lake City after having earned a BA in literature from Boise State.

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      Book preview

      Delano in Hollyhook - Cameron Glenn

      275

      Delano in Hollyhook

      By Cameron Glenn

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2017 Cameron Glenn

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      DELANO IN HOLLYHOOK

      CHAPTER ONE

      There’s nothing glamorous about being an orphan. An obvious statement but if one reads enough children’s literature one might be persuaded to think otherwise. Delano Farnsworth had absorbed a lot of orphan children’s literature throughout his fourteen years. However while soaking in these particular stories he felt a tinge of bitterness as if just swallowing a gulp of radish juice. Seemingly, to get a fairy godmother to visit, to discover you’re a famous wizard with a secret stash of gold coins, to frolic near naked in a jungle partying with jazz riffing bears and dancing orangutans, or to grow up to become the coolest brooding bat-based vigilante superhero ever, you first need to be a parentless child. With the relatively small number of orphans in the world compared with all the adventure tales about plucky young heroes whose orphan status frees them, or forces them, to live daring, wild, large lives as they attract trouble, luck and magic, one might assume only child orphans invite the best stories. But Delano knew better. He knew orphans didn’t have zippy literary lives because he was an orphan himself.

      There’s nothing glamorous about being an orphan.

      Delano stared out the window admiring the red leafed stout oak tree. He thought how much more comfortable he’d be laying up in the oak’s gnarled branches rather than imprisoned by the stiff desk chair over the linoleum floor in second period English class. He had started the ninth grade about seven weeks before.

      He looked back down at the test paper on his desk. "Why do you think orphans are so prevalent in children’s literature?" essay question number three asked. Delano pressed his pen against the paper and wrote: Using the word, ‘orphan’ helps the author accomplish the goal of making the protagonist both sympathetic and riddled with inner conflict. He knew that Mrs. Benz, his English teacher, expected more than one sentence to answer an essay question but he didn’t know what else to write. He thought about how he felt ashamed of being an orphan and wanted to keep it a secret because he didn’t want anyone’s sympathy.

      He looked back out the window. His mind again drifted to what his Uncle Ted had told him that morning just as Delano had slurped up the remaining pink fruity milk from his bowl of Fruit Loops, slung his backpack over his shoulder and reached for the doorknob, ready to race out to catch the bus.

      Wait! Uncle Ted had yelled.

      Uncle Ted, I’m going to be late, Delano had answered.

      It’s time. You’re old enough now, Uncle Ted had responded.

      Old enough for what? Delano had asked.

      The talk, Uncle Ted had then replied. You’re old enough now to know the truth.

      Well…uh…okay, Delano had stammered. But I have to go to school first. And with that Delano had bounded out the door towards the school bus, now carrying a weight heavier than his backpack pressing down on him. A heavy and uncomfortable talk was ahead, and the subject was who knew what: puberty and changing bodies, expectations and disappointments, or…his parents.

      Delano did manage to avoid one familiar literary trope associated with child orphan stories; unlike Cinderella, Harry, Hugo, and all of Charles Dickens’s child orphan characters who suffer under abusive and neglectful parental replacements, thus making them even more sympathetic, Delano’s boisterous Uncle Ted, Delano’s guardian for eleven years was pretty great. He encouraged action, vigorous reading, and deep curiosity of the natural wonders of the world. However, the older Delano became the more he began to worry that some of Uncle Ted’s charming quirks were really the eccentric traits of someone who blurs the lines between reality and fantasy. For example, promoting certain myths as truths is harmless fun when children are under age nine, but to push these same Santa, fairies, magical creatures and monster myths as true once a child becomes more mature starting at around age ten, might be irresponsible. Uncle Ted would constantly say things to Delano like Magic has many names, but both literature and history prove that those who fear and dismiss the fantastical elements, the unseen and unknown, are only fools and grumps. Whenever Delano wanted to have a serious conversation with his uncle about subjects his uncle didn’t want to elaborate on, such as Delano’s parents and his family tree, his uncle would say cryptic and nonsensical things like: Delano, my dear boy, some things are so special that they need to be hidden from the horrors of the world. Too much sunlight can be harsh after all.

      Delano! Mrs. Benz snapped. Pull your head out of the clouds and finish your essay! I’ve warned you about daydreaming!

      The class snickered as Delano pulled down on the bill of his green Seattle Supersonics cap to cover his flushing red face. A wadded up paper struck the side of his head which caused more bursts of laughter from Delano’s classmates. Delano rubbed the smooth gray face of his pebble ring with his thumb. He had always been made fun of by some rude and mean kids for wearing the ring with the gray pebble set in a sun shaped silver frame, but he could no more take it off than he could remove his own nose. His ring felt like part of him, so much so that it seemed to grow with him. It always fit sung on his right index finger. His mother had given him the ring the same day she and Delano’s father had disappeared on Delano’s third birthday.

      Just then the head of a wasp peaked over the edge of Delano’s bill. Delano shrieked and tore the cap off his head uncovering his bushy brown unkempt hair. The wasp buzzed around Delano’s head, although, could it be called a wasp? It looked like a wasp except that its body shined a metallic scarlet red rather than yellow and black. Its stinger on its body was three times as big as that on a normal wasp. Go away!, go away! Delano yelled as he swatted at the wasp with his cap.

      Delano Farnsworth, what are you doing! Mrs. Benz scolded and tapped her knuckle against her desk.

      You don’t see it? Delano asked frantically.

      Sorry, dude, we can’t see your delusions, came a voice from behind him.

      The giant red wasp landed on Delano’s neck. Delano froze with his teeth grit, praying that the wasp would fly off and disappear. Instead the wasp plunged its long stinger right into a stretched out vein in Delano’s neck. Delano yelped in pain and slapped his neck. When he opened his eyes from wincing he no longer saw the wasp. If not for the lingering searing pain as evidence he might have thought that the wasp had not been real but rather some hallucination. Then his tongue felt numb and fat like it had been shot with Novocain from the dentist. He felt dizzy as if knocked on the head with a wood log.

      Delano, are you okay? Mrs. Benz asked with concern.

      Mrs. Benz do you have an evil twin? Delano asked as a glop of drool dropped from the corner of his mouth. If you do I bet she’s not half as mean as you are.

      His classmates gasped, guffawed and giggled at Delano’s rude comment. Delano felt shocked himself at what he had said. He felt as if his numb tongue had moved on its own.

      Mr. Farnsworth! That is enough! Take your things and leave my classroom!

      Delano quickly and sheepishly obeyed her while his attempts at apologizing just came as gibberish mumbling, the numbness spreading to his jaw making it difficult to speak coherently. He stumbled through the empty school halls towards his locker. He didn’t have a phone to call his uncle. Or maybe I should go to the school office and call the hospital. But then, how to explain to the nurse the cause of his pain? I was stung by a giant scarlet red hornet that then just vanished? That sounds crazy. Besides the symptoms of the sting didn’t seem to be progressing beyond the initial tingling prick, face numbing and dizziness. He decided he’d just walk the eight miles over the large evergreen lined roads towards the rustic shack where he and his uncle lived. As he trekked a fast moving thunderstorm rolled in. Rain poured down and muddy water splashed up as he kicked through puddles.

      He opened the waist- high wooden gate and ambled over the muddy path which led to the front door of the boulder and concrete one story shack where he and his uncle lived. He thought he saw perched high in a fir tree two buzzards looking down on him. Strange, since there weren’t many buzzards living on Bainbridge island near Seattle. Maybe his dizziness and weariness from the long soggy walk had caused him to hallucinate, he thought. Just as he was about to open the door two thoughts struck him which made him stop and wonder if it’d be better if he avoided his uncle Ted for just a little bit longer. One, Uncle Ted had threatened him with some serious talk that morning which might now take place, and two, during the long walk Delano had failed to come up with a good explanation as to why he was playing hooky from school. But the rain pounded down harder and he wanted to get inside and just face whatever potential hassle and scolding might be waiting for him on the other side of the door. He opened the door and walked in, greeted by his uncle’s taxidermy animals and the moose head looming large over the fireplace.

      Uncle Ted, I’m home! Delano called.

      No response. Delano felt some relief: Uncle Ted wasn’t home; he could lounge around and watch bad daytime TV and play video games for awhile without being badgered. His relief quickly turned to concern: something wasn’t right. The bobcat taxidermy had been knocked over. Uncle Ted would not have left it like that. The pungent odor of sulfur wafted in from the bathroom. Delano tentatively walked towards the strange smell. He gasped once he glanced in the bathroom. A pile of still steaming black ash smeared the floor in front of the mirror. Something has been scrawled over the mirror. Delano walked closer, his heart thumping, in order to make out the mirror vandalization. He had to stand over the ash and face the mirror in order to see. Written in what appeared to be either blood or lipstick, and he guessed blood because he didn’t think his Uncle Ted owned any lipstick, spelled out just two words: ‘Beware’ and ‘Divider’. What does this mean Delano wondered. With considerable understatement he then thought: What a strange day I’m having. He raised his right arm while looking in the mirror. Mirrors provide reverse images of you when you look into them he thought. Then he gasped again and tensed his shoulders. Another creature now occupied the space in the mirror’s frame with him: the giant scarlet red wasp clinging against the shower curtain behind Delano. He spun around and then the wasp zoomed right at his head. He ducked and the wasp landed on the mirror and crawled towards the mirror’s corner. It then plunged its giant stinger into the mirror making the mirror crack. A cracking sound emerged of electric buzzing followed by the sound of popping light bulbs. A faint light began to emanate from the mirror. As the light became brighter the disembodied voice of a woman speaking with a bright enthusiastic trill said: Delano Farnsworth! Because of the unfortunate lot which life as left you, I am happy to announce that you have been randomly selected among a pool of other troubled and unfortunate children, as one of the lucky few to attend Hollyhook summer camp! Please look straight ahead and watch the video. It will explain further.

      Delano obeyed the voice. The mirror became as a TV monitor. The words scrawled over the mirror in red burned away. Are you tired of being picked on? a male voice, sounding like the voice which narrates late night infomercials for magical cleaning and cooking devices, began. As the voice continued black and white images from a montage of mopey and sad children flicked across the mirror screen. …Tired of not getting your way, being misunderstood, feeling angry, depressed, lonely, or unappreciated for your uniqueness? Or are you just an orphan or terminally ill? Well cheer up! the voice said, and the black and white images of the sad looking children burst into color as a montage of the previously mopey children, now with wide smiles and bright eyes as their faces lit up bathed in a golden light, flicked across the mirror screen. You have been selected to join Hollyhook Summer Camp! It’s a magical place where you can enjoy the company of fellow misfits and rejects and feel free to be yourself! the narrator said perking his voice up and continued: Enjoy camp games on Playground Fields, splash in Gold Lake, rage out at Chaos Island, let your inner mope out at Creepy Castle, ride the Ferris Wheel along Friendship Pier, say hello to a butterfly child, and so, so much more! Images of these locations popped up on the screen as the narrator listed them. Gold Lake appeared to really be made from real liquid gold, Chaos Island appeared to be an island in Gold Lake that had roller coasters engulfed in flames over it, Creepy Castle looked like those images of Dracula’s Castle used in old horror movies, Friendship Pier seemed to be a pier along the bank of Gold Lake which had carnival and arcade games, ice-cream and comic book shops and the mentioned Ferris Wheel. The video presentation showed children, from around ages ten to fourteen populating these locations, all seemingly enjoying themselves, whether it be running and yelling while holding flags across the green grass of Playground Fields, punching, kicking and scratching in a brawl on Chaos Island, lounging and listening to moody rhythmic music in Creepy Castle, running along the boardwalk of Friendship Pier or water skiing over Gold Lake, being pulled by some type of giant water eel rather than a speed boat. When the voice said Make friends with a butterfly child, the image showed a ten year old boy reaching up to shake the hands of a light pink skinned ten year old girl in a dress made from big palm leaves and flowers, floating above him by the use of butterfly wings attached to her back.

      There are just three places you can’t go, the narrator continued: Monster Mountain, Butterfly Island, and Counselor Castle. You’ll sleep in our comfy cabins and eat our delicious meals in our cafeteria. There’s just one main rule to follow: Enjoy yourselves! Come see what magic awaits around every corner and make lifelong friends! And it will cost you nothing! This is an all expenses paid trip as your prize reward! All you have to do is step outside and climb aboard the Zeppelin waiting for you outside, and then its full steam ahead to adventure! The promotional video ended and the mirror returned to being just a normal mirror. Delano looked up at the scarlet wasp still in the corner of the mirror. What hallucinogen drug did you poison me with Delano thought while rubbing his neck, still feeling dizzy and bewildered.

      Then he heard an engine humming, the sound coming from just outside the front door.

      CHAPTER TWO

      Delano ran out his front door, mouth hung open from the shock. There, parked on his front lawn, sat a humming mini Zeppelin, the hydrogen- filled, oval- shaped, silver balloon about the size of a double Decker bus. A basket made from straw and branches attached below. In the basket stood a golden metallic robot man about four- and- a- half feet high, just his head peering over the top of the basket.

      Welcome sir Delano, I will be your chauffeur on your voyage to Hollyhook, the short man-robot said.

      Where is my uncle?

      The robot responded with a light chuckle. I do not know what you mean. You have seen the video presentation I presume? You are very lucky to have been selected. Hollyhook is a wonderful place of fun and friends and new opportunities. We are very lucky to have found you, Sir Delano… --er, I mean, you are very lucky to have been selected.

      Listen weirdo! Delano yelled. I know you took Uncle Ted. Something weird is going on. My uncle warned me about magical things unseen, and, and…

      Warn you? the robot-man said with a hint of skepticism. Or tell you? There is no need for warning. Did your uncle not tell you that marvelous things exist beyond this realm? Marvelous things.

      So you do know my Uncle! Delano pointed his finger at the robot like a lawyer catching a defendant confessing to a crime on the witness stand.

      Erm, um, well, sir Delano, no, but, yes, he, you, I mean he, was known among… the robot stammered and then said, please sir Delano, I am just a simple chauffeur built by the mechanic to transport unfortunate and lucky children like yourself to the wonderful summer camp of Hollyhook. Awards await for the sufferings you have endured…

      Why are you calling me ‘sir’ Delano questioned, deciding not to challenge the robot on the nonsense of calling a child both ‘unfortunate’ and ‘lucky’. I am nobody’s ‘sir’.

      Well, yes sir, er, I mean, not sir, the small robot man continued to stammer: But please, if you will just get in the basket we can leave, we are on a tight schedule, no time to waste now sir, if you would please step in the basket…

      What if I don’t? Delano challenged.

      How can you say no? You have already asked so many questions, your curiosity is already piqued. Another world reveals itself to you and all it asks is that you reach out to it in order to share in its wonderments. All your questions will eventually be answered.

      Delano mused over what this short golden robot-man said, or was programmed to say.

      How long is this ‘summer camp’? he finally asked. And why is it held in the fall?

      The seasons are different in our kingdoms, the robot-man replied. And it is only for three weeks. But you can leave or stay for however long or short you wish.

      You’re not lying? Delano asked.

      I have been programmed not to lie, The robot-man responded.

      Of course saying he was programmed not to lie might be a lie, Delano thought.

      One week of time in Hollyhook is equivalent to one hour of time in the dull world so that your loved ones will hardly know you’ve been gone, the robot man said. Delano knew this wouldn’t be a problem for him, as his only ‘loved one’ was his uncle, but he understood why the robot would be programmed to say it.

      And oh yeah, Delano said, Zeppelins are famous for only one thing: exploding in massive hydrogen fueled fire bombs. And you want me to go with you in one of those things?

      The little gold man responded by only laughing as if he had just heard something ridiculous. It was right in at least one regard however: Delano’s curiosity had been piqued. He considered his options. If he didn’t go, he’d have to rely on the local police to try and solve the mystery of his uncle’s disappearance. It had become clear to Delano as quick and shocking as an ice bucket being dumped over his head that his uncle had been right. His uncle’s tales of magical monsters and myths and fantastical unseen places were real, not delusional. The local police wouldn’t be able to account for the likely possibility that Delano’s uncle’s disappearance had a supernatural cause. How to explain the smoldering black ashes in the bathroom? (The terrifying thought struck Delano: maybe those black ashes were his Uncle Ted.) If I agree to be

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