Tommy and the Order of Cosmic Champions by Anthony D. Grate

Author:Anthony D. Grate
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626349674
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

LOST

The highlights of Point State Park for Tommy were the forking rivers and the enormous fountain located where the three rivers met. Or more accurately, where the Ohio River became the Allegheny and the Monongahela, lending the Point State Park Fountain a much cooler name in Tommy’s humble opinion: The Soaring Fountain at Three-River Meet Point. Behind the fountain, at the center of the park proper, there was a marker for the former site of Fort Duquesne. And even farther back toward the city, the site of Fort Pitt.

Staring at the meeting rivers, the chill air blowing his hair back, Tommy tried remembering what else old Mrs. Tither had told the class on their trip. There was some history about the Native Americans who’d lived there, and then some more recent information about the stadiums across the Allegheny. Beyond all of that, Tommy had been mesmerized by the fountain, shooting a jet stream of water that seemed to touch the heavens. Mrs. Tither had told them the water reached 150 feet, but Tommy knew she was lying. 150 miles, maybe. He had a notion that with the right flotation device and a proper breathing apparatus, he could hop into the fountain and ride that geyser of water straight to the moon.

The other kids had laughed at him when he explained his hypothesis. Everyone except Evan, who in elementary school had still been his best friend and accommodating of Tommy’s wild imagination that bucked off other unsuspecting riders. But Evan knew the untamed reaches of Tommy’s mind, and he’d been a reckless purveyor of their limits right alongside him. If they had an air mattress and snorkels within reach, both boys would have leapt headfirst into the fountain then and there.

Still squinting into the distance, though his gaze was trained inward, Tommy muttered, “I was so stupid.” He shook himself back to the present, where Evan had metamorphosed into a mutant butthole of epic proportions.

“Why were you stupid, Tommy?”

He flinched, having forgotten Phantos for a moment. “Nothing. Just thinking about the silly ideas I used to have.”

“Ideas are never silly. Ideas are seeds that grow into great trees, branching ever outward. They can be good; they can be bad. But never silly.”

Tommy thought about his fountain moonshot and said, “I disagree.” He turned away from the river and climbed the small set of stairs, removed his bags with a sigh of relief, then sat on a bench. He rubbed his sneakers over the dirty cobblestone, feeling the rough vibrations run up his ankles. His stomach grumbled and he checked his watch. Almost two o’clock, and he hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

Phantos sat next to the boy. “Do you suppose we’ll be bothered?”

He unzipped his backpack and dug around for lunch, happy he’d stocked up on food from home and the corner store. “I dunno. I’m tall for my age, but I guess I still look pretty young. They wouldn’t even sell me a bus ticket.”

“Which begs the question . . .”

Tommy

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