Contest entry

 Hey, President Fantasy! Here is my contest entry...

Bananas, Holtal Bilgurten and Lords of the Pencil

By Samantha

On June 21^st, 2011, Berry Blue got a letter in the mail.

That was unusual because Berry never got letters -- and he didn’t want to get letters.

“And if you had a name like Berry Blue,” he complained to no one in particular, “Would you want to get letters with your name right there in the middle of it?”

But he did get a letter that day -- a letter with only one word in the place where the return address should have been:

Basdorkinfairy

“Basdorkinfairy?” Berry said aloud, looking over the letter. “What’s that?”

He tore the envelope open to find a single piece of paper with the following typed onto it:

Dear Berry Blue,

You have been chosen to enter a contest. This contest is the most secretive ever held -- but it also has the highest stakes. If you win, you will inherit ten million dollars in cold, hard cash.

“Well,” commented Berry, who was very fond of talking to himself, “That’s nothing to sneeze at.” He made a note to pay attention to what was written from now on.

There are rules to this contest, but you will not be told what they are. There is a goal, but you cannot be told this either. Rules will be given as you proceed. This contest may take you anywhere, and you may have strange experiences. Or not. It all depends on how you look at it.

Berry thought for a second, and then turned the paper sideways.

“Hmm,” Berry said thoughtfully. “If I look at it this way, there’s a watermark.”

Gloppin Dombilterkin, proclaimed the watermark.

“Is that a name?” Berry said aloud. “Why are there all these odd names about?”

The letter would not answer him, but Berry was cheerful nevertheless -- no one usually did answer him. That was why he talked to himself so much.

“Well, then,” he said jovially. “Best to find this Gloppin Dombilterkin. Assuming that he’s a person. Or that he’s a man. He might be a woman. Or he might be a place. Or I might be pronouncing it wrong.”

So Berry Blue left quite jauntily, as he had nothing else to do that summer, and was content to take this as a possibility.

_____________________________________________________________________

　

As soon as Berry Blue left the safety of his home, someone was watching him. It was Basdorkinfairy. She watched Berry as he left the front steps, walked down the street and headed towards town. She watched as he disappeared out of sight, and even kept watching once she could see no more of the boy. It was all she could do to stop herself from laughing and revealing her hiding place. This was all so funny! And to think, that she had got even two other people into it! This was going to be a great adventure…like Bill and Ted’s from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. That is, assuming she could pull it off. Once she was sure no one was around the small cul-de-sac, she walked out of her hiding spot in the bushes and traced Berry’s steps exactly, all the way to town.

_______________________________________________________________________

Berry Blue (or Berry for short) didn’t know he was being followed. Berry, in fact, was so focused on his plan that he didn’t really notice anyone. First off, he didn’t really know what he was doing. Gloppin Dombilterkin could be anyone, any place or any thing really. But Berry was smart. He decided that his first move should be to head the post office. They had sent the letter, and maybe they knew where to find Basdorkinfairy, or maybe a Gloppin Dombilterkin. So he walked, proud of this new installment in his life, but also a little nervous.

When he reached to post office, immediately he was noticed by Tom. His mom was always getting letters, and it was always Tom who was there to greet her and her son. This morning, Tom seemed a little worried, seeing as his smile seemed a little forced.

“Morning, Berry!” His chipper voice cut through the crowd of people waiting for their letters, or packages, or stamps.

“How’s everything going, Tom?” Berry asked cheerfully. Berry was a person with few friends, but having Tom made it all worthwhile. He was always so bright and cheery. Some people thought the postman odd, especially because of his appearance, but Berry didn’t care. He liked Tom’s long, golden brown hair that hung in ponytail at the nape of his neck, and that his teeth were a pristine white. And, not to mention, the not so few freckles that were splashed across Tom’s nose. But Berry’s favorite feature of Tom was his eyes. Warm, chocolaty brown, Berry always remembered them as. They always twinkled and sparkled with never ending kindness.

But today, Tom’s eyes didn’t sparkle. This was the first time that they seemed to lack their warmth, Berry noticed. But he was too focused on his question to ask Tom about it.

“Um, hey Tom, I have a question to ask you.” Berry was a little nervous that Tom maybe couldn’t answer it.

“Listen, Berry, today’s really busy. Let me get someone to take over my shift for a few seconds and then I’ll talk to you, okay? Shelia!” he called out quickly.

“What is it, John?” a lady’s voice rang from the back of the post office. “I won’t be tricked into taking over your shift, and you know it!”

“No, this is Tom. And I just need you for a few seconds to take over while I talk to Berry here. Is that alright?”

“Oh, Tom, I’ll do it, of course! But only for you and not your bro-”

“Grandma Shelia?!” Berry shouted, interrupting her in his disbelief.

For a lady had just appeared out from the back of the office, and it indeed looked a lot like his grandmother. She had the beautiful white curly hair, the smile lines in her slightly wrinkled face, and those sea-blue eyes that seemed to make you want to immediately call her your friend. No, Berry thought, it has to be her. But how did she get here?

“Hello, grandson,” Grandma Shelia replied warmly, patting his head gently. “It is me, and not someone else. I got the job here a few days ago. Isn’t it lovely?”

　

Berry nodded, but didn’t understand. His grandma was really rich. Why did she need-

“-a job, you wonder?”

Berry nodded again, knowing that his grandma knew exactly what he was thinking. How, he didn’t know, but he was grateful she guessed it and he didn’t have to ask her.

“Well,” his grandma started, “As a little girl, I always enjoyed getting letters from people, and I always thought I wanted to be a post woman. That way, I could make other people happy, just like I always was when I got a letter. I never got the chance, and my dream faded. But now that I’m almost grown up (she chuckled), I remembered my dream and wanted to make it come true. So here I am.”

She finished with a smile, and some of the older residents coming in to get their letters smiled as well. Grandma Shelia was known every where for her knowledge that one is never is too old to start living the life you want to have. Even Tom looked a little less stressed as he laughed.

Berry smiled, glad that he had such a nice grandma. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Good,” replied his grandma. “Now why don’t you and that nice young man go over into the corner and talk.”

Tom walked out from behind the counter and laid a hand on Berry’s shoulder.

“What is it, my boy?” he asked.

“Well…,” Berry started. How was he going to tell Tom about this? “Today, I got a letter from a…Basdorkinfairy.”

“A…what, excuse me?” Tom questioned, confused.

“A Basdorkinfairy. I don’t know who it is, or what, or anything. All I know is that I got a letter announcing a really weird contest. It didn’t mention the rules, or the goal, or anything. It just said it had really high stakes, and that I could win a million dollars.”

Tom took his hand off Berry’s shoulder, white as a sheet. “A…million dollars?”

“Yeah,” Berry went on, “and I found a name on there…a Gloppin Dombilterkin?”

Tom’s normally warm eyes bore into Berry. Tom was shaking slightly, and some of the customers were starting to stare. Shaking himself out of his trace, Tom led Berry out the door and into an ally by the post office. He was still pale, but he was no longer shaking. He knelt to the ground and laid his hand on Berry’s shoulder again. His eyes gazed into Berry’s. He knew that this was going to be a serious discussion.

“Berry…” Tom’s voice whispered. “I’m Gloppin Dombilterkin.”

Berry gasped. “But…your name is Tom…” Berry stated weakly.

“That’s my common name. My real name, the one on my birth certificate is really Gloppin Dombilterkin Jones. You see, my mother was not really coherent when she signed that paper. Once my mom had gotten over the stress of having to name us-”

“Wait!” Berry interjected. “Us?”

“Yeah,” Tom told him in a louder voice. “Remember my brother: John?”

“Oh,” was all that Berry said. Everybody knew John, but it was a mystery as to who actually liked him--besides his brother.

“So,” Tom continued, “she knew what a mistake she had made and called me Tom.”

“But why did your brother get a normal name? I mean, you two are twins…aren’t you?” Berry inquired, wondering how much he knew about the Jones family.

“Yes, we are twins. My mother actually named him Holtal Bilgurten Jones.”

“What?” Berry laughed. John was known for his being mean, sneaky and crafty. And he got landed with the name Holtal Bilgurten!

“Yes.” Tom laughed as well. “I actually think his name is better than mine. “Gloppin” sounds like a mistake, while “Holtal” could actually be a name.”

To cheer him up, Berry added, “Bilgurten couldn’t.”

Tom laughed again. “You’re right. Bilgurten probably couldn’t pass as a real name. But that’s besides the point. I want to tell you…I got that exact same letter.”

At this, he pulled out a long, white envelope with Basdorkinfairy written in ink on the back of it.

Berry gaped and gawked at Tom. “You…you did?”

“It was the same as yours, only mine had my brother’s name on it.”

Tom opened the envelope and showed Berry the watermark on his. Holtal Bilgurten. Berry stared at it. Did this mean what he thought it meant? Was Tom wrapped into all of this as well?

Then a voice called out from the entrance to the alley.

“My letter had Berry Blue on it.”

The speaker walked from the entry way and saw Tom kneeling by Berry. The speaker was John--otherwise known as Holtal Bilgurten.

John couldn’t have been more different than Tom. Where Tom was light, John was dark. And since Tom was all brightness and cheer, John was all seriousness and anger. Certainly, the two looked nothing alike. John’s dark brown hair stuck up on top of his head, whereas Tom’s was sleek and shiny. John also didn’t adhere to the dress code of a postman: he wore all black--black jeans, black jacket and black shades on top of his head. John didn’t even have Tom’s freckles; instead he had a small, almost black goatee on his chin. And his eyes…they were brown, but almost black as night. They held no warmth, nor anything humane.

Berry had seen John before: oh yes, many times, for the two brothers worked at the post office together. But Berry had never talked to John. Hardly anyone did, a matter of fact. But John never tried to talk to anyone, so it wasn’t such a big deal. But this time, John wanted to be heard. Tom stood up.

“What? And you didn’t tell me?” Tom sounded slightly hurt.

“Of course I didn’t tell you. You care too much for him, and that would get in the way.”

“Get in the way…how?” Tom asked, incredulous.

John looked even more evil as he glared at Berry.

“We are going to win those ten million dollars. Not some little upstart like Berry here.” He pronounced the name as if it was an insult.

Berry glared at him, letting him know his thoughts. John glared back. Tom tried to act as peacemaker.

“What…what if this some practical joke of some kind? I mean, this may just be a prank, or…something?”

John shook his head. “No one would be foolish enough to risk a million dollars. And besides, would this be a practical joke if I had gotten this?”

John reached inside his pocket and pulled out a long envelope. On the back, Basdorkinfairy was clearly written.

“I just got this from Shelia,” he told Tom, “and she said he found it lying on top of my laptop. John opened up the envelope to reveal a small white paper.

“Read it,” Tom told John.

John pursed his lips and glanced at Berry.

“He’s in this too, remember.” Tom bent his head in Berry’s direction.

“Well, he’s our competition, remember,” John replied, imitating Tom. Tom looked away, embarrassed.

John took the piece of paper and read it silently to himself. His brows furrowed in confusion, then he handed the piece towards Tom. Tom took the paper, read it, and he too, seemed confused. Berry tried to read over Tom’s shoulder, but John snatched the paper and slammed it into his pocket before Berry could even see a word.

John quickly laid a hand on Tom’s shoulder.

“Come on, we have to go. Let’s check out this clue.”

Tom nodded. John slowly turned around and walked out of the ally, expecting Tom to follow him. But Tom quickly started to whisper to Berry.

“Listen: I know that John doesn’t want you to be in this contest, but I’m gonna help you as much as I can. Take this: it’s my cell-phone.”

Tom handed Berry an I-phone. Berry stared at him.

“Why do I need your cell-phone?”

“Listen: I don’t know how far John is willing to go to win this. But I don’t want that to happen. If we find any new clues, I’ll text it to my phone on John’s.”

“But…why would you text it your phone? I mean, he thinks you’re gonna have it right?”

“I’ll make something up. Just take it, okay?”

Just then, John’s voice broke through the ally.

“Let’s go, Tom! Stop talking to that little brat!”

Tom stood there, hands on his hips. But he didn’t stop and correct John. Instead, he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked out of the ally to follow John. Berry was left standing there, staring at his friend, hoping that John wasn’t going to treat his brother like he treated him.

_______________________________________________________________________

Berry walked back into the post office. His head hung a little lower than normal. Now what was he going to do? He didn’t even see the clue! Berry thought about texting Tom. But wait! He remembered that Tom was using Holtal’s phone. (Because John had been so mean to him, he decided he was going to use John’s real name whenever possible.) When he opened the door to the familiar store, it wasn’t busy at all. In fact, there was no one there. His grandma sat in a chair behind the counter, sipping some iced tea.

“Berry! What’s wrong dearie?” she asked, concerned.

Berry thought about telling her, but decided against it. She would only insist that he not do it, trying to keep him safe.

“Nothing,” was his safe reply.

His grandma got up, picked up an envelope and handed it to Berry.

“This came for you,” she told him, and then promptly went back to her iced tea.



Berry grabbed the envelope and tore it open. Sure enough, it was a clue. The first piece of paper floated out, followed by a second. Two clues! Maybe Holtal didn’t get the other one, he thought. The first piece of paper read,

Dear Berry Blue,

This is a clue. You’ll know what to do. This is the first cog, find the Lords of the Pencil blog.

-Basdorkinfairy

Berry looked at the letter. It was a poem, of that he was sure. Admittedly a bad poem, but a poem. And what was the Lords of the Pencil blog? He decided to look it up on the computer.

He headed to the back room, and picked up his grandmother’s computer. Surely she wouldn’t mind, right?

Lords of the Pencil blog, he typed into the search browser. He clicked on the first entry, Lords of the Pencil Writing club. It brought up a blog, apparently of a writing club. It had a lot of different pages, with weird names like Showstopper, and A Text to Save the World. Were they stories, or what? He scrolled down, and read the few posts on there. They were funny, but confusing. He assumed that this was what Basdorkinfairy wanted him to see. He brought out the second clue.



Dear Berry Blue,

Find the post entitled, “This is It”

Then you decide: which Airline is better: Continental, or Delta. You’re going to be leaving soon.

-Basdorkinfairy

Berry stared at the clue. Oh, well, he thought. I might as well look up that post. He typed in, “This is It”… and it brought up a post. Great, Berry thought to himself. He started to read it, and gathered a little information. What use it was to him, he had no idea, but somehow, it had to help.

Basically, what he understood was that the leader of this club was going to Rome, and leaving behind a few things on things on that post to amuse her club members, as well as leaving someone else in charge for a while. Why did Basdorkinfairy want me to read this? Berry thought. Then it hit him: the post was about Rome, and the clue mentioned leaving here…he had to go to Rome! Right? Berry checked the clue and the post again. He was going to Rome, or so it would seem. But then he hit a road block.

“My parents will never allow me to go to Rome,” he thought aloud.

A voice made him jump. “What is this about Rome?” his grandmother’s voice called out to him as she entered the back room.

Berry searched his head for an excuse. “Um…in school, there was this big fundraiser to send…uh, some lucky kids to Rome for a history tour, thing, and I want to go, but my mom and dad probably won’t let me.”

“Aw, poor dear.” His grandmother hugged him. “I’ll let you go. Don’t worry: I’ll talk them into it.” She smiled at him. “It is for school, right?”

“Right,” Berry told her. Wrong, Berry thought. He felt really awful for lying to his grandmother, but what if he won a million dollars? Wouldn’t that make up for it?

As he was thinking, his grandmother had been talking, and he struggled to catch up.

“When are they leaving? You’ll need to pack, and call your teacher, and then you’ll probably need me to buy your ticket online, and then-”

Berry cut it. “We’re leaving tomorrow, but I can pack quickly. I already called my teacher and told him…that I couldn’t go, but I can call him again?” he added hopefully.

His grandmother nodded, distracted. “Yes…I want to talk to your teacher, I would like to hear more about this trip.”

“No!” Berry yelled.

Shelia looked up. “What?” she asked.

“Um…” Berry searched his head for an excuse. “Uh, he talked to us all about it. He’ll meet us at the airport, and…stuff, and he’s probably really busy right now organizing the trip, so can I call him later?”

“Of course! That’s so sweet of you to think of that! Okay, why don’t I buy your ticket?”

She grabbed the computer and quickly looked up the sight for an airline. Berry didn’t have time to register that she might have seen the blog page. While she looked this up, Berry heard a ring from his pocket. He checked the phone Tom had given him. A text was visible.

We are going to Rome. That’s where the next clue led us to. What about you?

Berry stared at text, then texted him back, yeah thats the same with me

It didn’t take time to hear Tom’s reply. Great! Basdorkinfairy must not be harsh on you to give you clues. Do you think your parents will let you go?

Berry typed back, no, but shelia will. when are you going

Tomorrow.

Me 2. C u then?

See you. Good luck, little buddy.

The texting ending, and Berry was sad to leave his friend with Holtal. His grandmother looked up with a smile on her face.

“Finished! One ticket to Rome! I’ll drop you off, tomorrow, okay, Berry?”

He nodded, feeling dazed. What the heck am I doing? he wondered to himself.

“Going to Rome,” his grandma replied, with a confused look on her face. “What do you mean?”

Realizing that the had thought it aloud, Berry blushed, lowered his head and mumbled, “Nothing.”

“Okay…I’ll meet you here tomorrow morning to drop you off, alright?”

Berry nodded again. His grandma left the room, and he collapsed into a chair. This is nuts, he thought. I’m going to go to Rome, unaccompanied, in search for…someone. Some he didn’t he even know. And he was going to have to find…it. In the middle of Rome. This was impossible. But as Berry thought these unwelcome (but admittedly true) thoughts, a pleasant thought hit him. But I won’t be completely without help. Tom will be there, and he’s an adult. He’ll get the clues and help me. We’ll be getting on the same flights, and going to the same places…the thought gave him comfort. Tom would never let him down. Ever. And with that, Berry jumped up to head home and pack.

________________________________________________________________________

　

After the long and lengthy flight to Rome (a little bit over 10 hours), Berry was crabby, tired and hungry. The perky flight attendants only had peanuts, pretzels or a cookie for passengers not willing to pay for lunch. Berry’s grandmother had given him lots of money for the trip, but he knew that he would need it later.

In the airport on the way to Rome, Tom had contacted him via text message, but it only said that they were on the same flight, and that he would help him with anything he needed. Berry had tried to find them on the plane, but it was impossible among the harried mothers and their children, the sleeping business men and the American tourists. So he sat next to a crazy old man, who kept muttering, “Eating bananas is a whole lot easier than slicing up laptop computers,” and an old snoring lady. The only interesting thing that happened on the flight was that Berry realized that the old man wasn’t crazy: he was eating a banana, and (when the man’s the business card fell to the floor) his job was destroying old laptops that had no use in them anymore.

In the Leonardo De Vinci airport in Rome, Berry found a little snack shop and bought a slice of pizza. It wasn’t that bad, except for too much mozzarella, and not enough sauce. As he landed his bum in a plastic chair next to the terminal and ate his pizza, Berry was without a clue of what to do. But as his gaze drifted, he saw a man holding a sign that read, Berry Blue. Berry stared at the sign. That was his name. And no one had a name like Berry’s. No one. Berry knew that this was for him. After all, the sign clearly read his name. Before he could walk over to the man, however, he saw a familiar face. John…he thought to himself. No, wait, it’s Holtal now. Berry smiled to himself. Behind Holtal, Tom was following, texting madly on his phone. Berry’s phone beeped. Holtal’s head swiveled around, looking for whose phone it was. Berry turned away, hoping that he wouldn’t be noticed. Thankfully, Holtal seemed satisfied, and he didn’t come over to investigate.

Berry turned around slowly. Holtal and Tom had disappeared, and so had the man with Berry’s sign. Berry Blue sighed. Why was everything so hard? But then he saw another two men, holding another sign.

Tom and John Jones it read. Berry’s heart nearly stopped. Just as he had a sign, so did they. They must have missed it, or something, Berry thought. His feet carried him, without his consent, to the man with the sign.

The stranger had on shades and a dark suit. He seemed pretty strong, and rather scary. He looked down on Berry.

“Are you Tom or John Jones?” His voice had a very low tone, and it made him sound like the Grim Reaper. Berry nodded silently. “Where’s the other one of you?” the man said, completely unemotional. Berry shrugged, unable to think of a lie. The stranger shook his head.

“You don’t even know where your brother is?” Berry was about to shake his head, when he heard a voice behind him.

“No, he doesn’t, seeing as he’s an only child!” John snarled. Tom followed behind him, his hands in his pockets, and his head hung low. John (Holtal) grabbed Berry’s collar, and hurled him backwards. Berry’s rump hit the floor hard. Tom didn’t even have time to catch him.

“This boy,” John snarled with disgust, “would have his own ride if he was more observant.”

“I saw the sign, but he disappeared,” Berry shot back. He hated the way John (Holtal, he mentally reminded himself) walked over him, and made Tom submissive. Berry would have none of it.

“That’s because I got rid of it,” John whispered savagely. A tremor went through Berry’s body. He now knew just how far he was willing to go. Sabotaging his ride wasn’t just for fun. Holtal really was in it for keeps. Tom helped Berry up as John talked to the scary man.

“You’re here to be our ride!” John argued with the man.

“He said he’s one of the Jone’s family, so I’m taking him,” the stranger uttered in a monotone.

“Well, I have an I.D.!” John shoved it in the man’s face. The strange mumbled something.

“I can’t hear you!” John sang. The man glared at him.

“Alright, alright, no need to get pushy. You there-,” he pointed to Tom, “-do you have any I.D.?”

“Um…you know what? I might have lost it on the-,” John grabbed Tom’s wallet and showed the man Tom’s I.D. Berry knew that Tom had been trying to see if he could snag a ride for him. Tom sighed.

“Alright, I didn’t lose it. Let’s just go….” As John walked behind the stranger, Tom whispered to Berry, “I’m sorry, little buddy.”

“It’s alright,” Berry murmured back. Just as Tom was about to leave, a Spanish lady walked up to Tom. A white envelope flashed. Tom took it with a nod of his head, and the lady left. Berry slowly followed Tom. The envelope (conveniently) dropped onto the floor, and he picked it up. Before he opened it up, he scanned the airport. Holtal wasn’t around. He opened the letter and pulled out the paper.

Turn around. She’s behind you; she wears glasses, a red shirt, blue jeans. She’s surrounded by many people, but mostly just two girls.

The paper seemed to make no sense: then why, when Berry turned around, was there that girl, right there!? It didn’t seem to be even real. It was like magic. Berry turned back to the paper: maybe his missed something. He turned it over.

Go over to her, and ask her about her club.

-Basdorkinfairy

That was all it said. Berry gave a shrug and headed over to her. She didn’t seem to notice him. Before he lost his nerve, he gave a loud, wet cough. The girl turned around.

Berry nearly fainted. He didn’t like girls his age, and this one seemed to be much older. Her serious expression revealed that she was mature for her age, and Berry wanted to run. Girls were bad news, and this one probably followed that rule.

“Um…hi. I know you don’t know me, but I’m Berry.” He stuck out his hand, and she tentatively shook it.

“Um…hello.” She seemed rather apprehensive.

“I heard about your club. And I sort of read your blog. The…writing one? Are you President Fantasy?” He hoped that this was the leader of Lords of the Pencil club. Otherwise, he was clueless about her.

“Yeah…did you read it?” Berry could see that she was starting to warm up to him.

“A little. I thought it was pretty funny. So…good job on writing it.” He stuck his hand out again. She shook it, and he walked away.

“Hey!” she shouted. He turned around. “Thanks for reading the blog. And it wasn’t just me for the writing part. I had some help. And by the way, here‘s this.” She smiled a smug little smile, and handed him a white envelope. The title read, “Basdorkinfairy.”.

“She said to give this to the person who found me first and asked me about my blog. I have no idea what’s in it, but…thanks for talking to me.”

Before he had even turned around fully, he heard a shout behind him.

“There she is!” John then shoved into him, followed by Tom. Berry watched as Holtal talked to President Fantasy.

“Are you with him?” he heard President Fantasy say, as she pointed to Berry.

“No! Why do you assume that?” John argued. The girl backed away and joined her group again. John tried to follow her, but the group moved away, leaving John alone.

His red face was visible even from far away. John stormed over to Berry, who was still holding the envelope.

“YOU…LET…HER…GET…AWAY!” His rage was almost inhuman. “That was our mission! Not yours!” Then John noticed the envelope. John’s hands seemed to act without his consent.

They gripped his neck, raising Berry a few centimeters off of the floor. Tom shoved his brother.

“Get off of him!” he shouted. John glared at Tom.

“This little imp just cost us ten million dollars, and you’re telling me to get off of him!? There’s a million dollars in there! Just look in there, kid! I’m not going to let you steal that away from me!”

Tom stood in front of Berry. “I will not let you hurt him.”

“Oh, really?” John looked almost crazy now. “And I’m supposed to just back away? You were always the scared one, the timid one, the geek, the nerd. And now you think you’re going to be all heroic and tell me to give up ten million dollars? I DON’T THINK SO!”

With the last sentence, he sprung at his brother. Tom yelled over his shoulder to Berry. “Run! Get out of here?”

John and Tom were now engaged in a silent struggle, each one trying to push the other backwards. John spat at Berry.

“Yes, little brat, run. Go away from crazy Holtal will you? Go run away! I’ll find you! I’ll hunt you! You can’t hide from me!”

One punch. That’s all it took to break a nose. John held the damaged limb, screaming with pain. Only now did Berry notice that the people around them had formed a perfect circle, and everyone had their mouths open wide. No one had even thought to call someone.

Berry continued the conversation. “No.” His voice was deathly calm. “I will not run. I will not hide. I’m done battling you, John. You can’t hurt me anymore. And here’s a clue for you: you can take those ten million dollars. I don’t want them.”

Tom and John looked straight at him. “What?” Tom asked, holding his hand that had punched John. “Why?”

“I won’t fight for something I don’t want. Sure, it would be great, but I’m not taking it. If you’re going crazy over this, I’m not going to stand in your way. This is end. You said so. Take the money. I’m going home.”



Tom put his uninjured hand on Berry’s shoulder. “You’re sure?” Berry nodded. Tom looked at John. He was crumpled on the floor, holding his nose. It seemed that he was in shock.

“I can’t let him have it.”

“Why not?”

“Berry, what you did was noble and just. Not everyone could do what you just did. But if John is willing to physically attack someone like that, I’m not going to give him what he wants. Who knows what he’ll do after this? You keep it.”

Berry shook his head. “No, I don’t want it. Not after what he was willing to do to get it. You take it.”

The envelope slipped out of Berry’s hands and into Tom’s. He stared at it.

“Why? Why me?”

Berry shrugged. “You’re a good man, Tom. You stood up for me when no one else would. You’re my first real friend. Use this money to…I don’t know, support yourself.”

Tom smiled a little. “You’re my first real friend, Berry. And I’m glad to take this if you want me to. No matter what happens, I’ll always be your friend.”

He ruffled Berry’s hair and smiled. Someone around them started clapping. Then the rest joined it. Soon, it was a huge frenzy of shouting and clapping.

　

Two police men came to take John away, while a figure emerged from the crowd.

“Grandma!” Berry shouted. He rushed over to give her a hug.

“My darling grandson!” She hugged him back. “So…what is your friend Tom going to do with the million dollars?”

“Well, I think he’s…wait, how do you know about that? And how did you get here?”

She laughed. “Grandson, I’m Basdorkinfairy. And I took the plane, of course.” She said it so matter-of-factly, that Berry was struck dumb.

“But…why did you set up the contest?”

“Oh, I wanted you to do something with your life. Go have some adventures. And I loved the Lords of the Pencil, and I wanted to see her in person. So it all worked out. I saw what you did, Berry. And I’ve never been more proud of you than I am right now.”

They hugged again. Tom coughed a little.

“Miss Shelia?” he asked.

“Yes, Mr. Jones?” She smiled at his expression.

“I think I’m going to put some of this to good use for the post office.”

“That’s a wonderful idea, my boy. What a wonderful idea.”

 Sorry, it's not edited very much, but I hope it's okay. Please tell me what you think!
-Tigerr