The Thirteenth Story: Banana in the Sky Part 2
Second Part of Banana in the Sky
***
“I’m this close Col. All I have to do is finish this ratio and I’ll have the perfect algorithm. Just wait till I get this right, just wait. When we can prove it exists, maybe we can get there. See everyone who’s just sitting on those clouds, waiting for us. I don’t know why no one’s tried it earlier! Just one banana Col, that’s all it’s going to take to change the world. Just one banana...”
“Is that really me?”
Jason stared unblinking at the tape recorder, face leached of color.
“Yeah.” Colleen reached out and gently touched his shoulder. “Fifth night in a row.”
“Shit.” He lowered his face into his hands. “I sound batshit crazy.”
Colleen began rubbing gentle circles on his back.
“I’ve heard stress can cause people to talk in their sleep and things.”
“You think?” He seemed really young all of a sudden, his eyes large and frightened.
“We’ll go talk to someone. It’ll be fine.”
***
“And just how long have you been talking in your sleep Mr. Arthurs?”
Jason gave Colleen a lost look.
“Uh, I don’t know...” His eyes were begging her to say something.
“I don’t know when the talking started, but he began calling me about a week ago.”
The Doctor nodded and glanced down at his notebook.
“You probably don’t have anything to worry about. Sleep talking is not unusual. Why don’t you come in and talk to me a few times Jason, just work through some of that stress, eh?”
He nodded, squeezing Colleens hand.
“Really, you don’t have to worry.”
***
“I think I found it.”
“What?” Colleen looked up from her newspaper. Jason sat across from her, eyes glazed.
“I found the secret to heaven.”
“Jason...”
“No, just listen. I worked it out. I’m going to test it tomorrow, with the banana, and if it works I’ll send myself up.”
“Jason, wake up...”
“I’m not sleeping Col!” He stood, grinning at her. “I’ve just made the biggest scientific and religious breakthrough of the twentieth century, you should be excited!”
Colleen stood shakily and walked over to him, touching him gently.
“Jason?”
He blinked, eyes focusing, and gave Colleen a strange look.
“What are we doing?”
***
“And how many times has this happened?”
“Three times now.” Colleen gripped Jason’s hand hard. “It was one thing when he was sleeping, but now he’s doing while he’s wide awake. It happened in the supermarket once...”
“I don’t remember it.” Jason’s voice is small. “I never remember it.”
The doctor took his glasses off and polished them on his shirt.
“Alright, well. We’ll run some tests.”
***
“How is he?”
Sarah offered Colleen a cup of coffee and she took it gratefully.
“Not well. It’s happening all the time now. And he never remembers it after...”
“How long is he going to have to stay there?”
“They don’t know.”
***
His apartment is nearly empty. The kitchen has a few plates and some silverware, a frying pan, and a carton of milk. His living is decorated with packing crates and cinderblock coffee tables. This is the first time Colleen realized that, in all the months they’ve been together, she’s never been in here. He’s always gone over to her place. Now she knows why.
The living room and kitchen are depressing, but the bedroom is frightening. There are diagrams and pictures covering the walls, pictures of space and clouds and catapults. His floor is littered with notes and bits of wood and string. And bananas. A hundred rotting bananas scattered all over the floor. She can’t bring herself to clean them up, just grabs his clothes and leaves.
***
“Did you bring my things?”
Colleen hands him his backpack and he takes it eagerly, riffling through the stacks of underwear and cooks and socks.
“It’s not here.” He begins throwing things out. “Why didn’t you bring it?”
“Bring what?”
“My model!” He’s getting more agitated and begins dumping things onto the floor. “I asked you to bring my model!”
“No.” Colleen can’t tell if she wants to cry or not. “No Jason, you didn’t.”
“But I did! Yes I did! Damn it Colleen!” He threw the backpack across the room. “I needed that to finish building it!”
“I’m sorry.”
He stands up suddenly and grips her arms tightly, looking her straight in the eye.
“I know you think I’m crazy, but I swear to you I`m not. I really have found a way. Just wait. Just wait and see...”
The orderlies rushed in then and pulled Colleen outside.
“He’s just having a rough day,” His nurse told her kindly. “We’re trying him on a new medication and it’s making him a little violent. Just wait, in a few days we’ll have it all sorted out.”
***
“Have I ever told you about the little sand boy?”
Colleen looked up from the rose bush and smiled at Jason, lounging casually on a bench nearby.
“No.”
She walked over and sat next to him, letting him pull her close.
“Well, once upon a time there was an old couple who lived by the sea. Now just like in every other story that starts this way, this couple wanted a child very badly. One day the old woman walked down to the beach and made herself a little boy out of sand. Every day she’d go down to see her Sand Boy. She’d fix it when it got knocked over, and she dressed it in old clothing. Now, the rest of the town thought the old woman was crazy, but the old man felt very sorry for her and that night he wished that the little Sand Boy would come to life. The next morning he looked out the window to see if his wish had come true, but there was the little Sand Boy, still made of sand.
That day the old man went fishing, just like every other day, and when he got back he saw his wife sitting on the beach and combing the little Sand Boys hair. He walked over to her and tried to get her to come away.
“He’s not real,” He said to her, but she wouldn’t listen.
“He is real! Just last night I heard him calling to me! He called me mother!”
The old man finally got his wife to leave the little Sand Boy, but that night he caught her sneaking out again to go sit with it.
“I hear him calling me!” She said. “He’s calling me mother!”
From then on the old woman spent every waking moment with the Little Sand Boy. She read to him, and sang to him, and began teaching him his numbers. Everyone in the village thought the old woman was crazy, but the old man just felt sorry for her. He brought her food and water and clean clothing, and made her come in to bed when it got too dark.
One night he couldn’t take it any longer, and in the middle of the night he snuck out and knocked the little Sand Boy over. The next morning he expected to see his wife crying, but instead she was down by the Little Sand Boy, who didn’t look any different.
The next week the rest of the townspeople came to see the old man. They said his wife was crazy and she needed to be taken away where someone could look after her. The old man didn’t want to let her go, but the people insisted so he packed her a bag and kissed her goodbye.
“Take care of my Sand Boy!” She wailed as they drove her away.
That night the old man walked down to the beach. He meant to knock the little Sand Boy down for good. But when he got there he could see that there were tears running down the Sand Boys cheeks, and he could hear something in the distance crying “mother...”
***
“What do you mean he’s gone?”
Colleen was throwing her coat on and halfway out the door before the Doctor could reply.
“He snuck out this morning, but it’s alright. We’re pretty sure we know where he’s gone.”
“The park,” Colleen agreed. “I’ll meet you there.”
Colleen reached the park before the orderlies, and there was Jason, staring a banana lying at his feet. There was a strange contraption next to him, some sort of cross between a sling shot and a catapult.
“It didn’t work,” He whimpered as Colleen reached him. “I thought for sure it would work, but it just fell back down.”
“Come on honey, let’s get you back.”
***
“Are you sure it’ll last?”
The Doctor shrugged.
“Nothing is certain. But he’s been stable for a few months now and we’re optimistic.”
“And you’re sure it’s safe for Colleen if I go home?” Jason looked half elated, half terrified.
“Yes. Just be sure to call if anything changes.”
***
“Do you want to dance with me?” Colleen grinned at him, reaching out her hand.
Jason shrugged, not getting up from the couch.
“Fine then.” Colleen sat down next to him and held his hand. “How are you feeling?”
He shrugged again.
“Fine. No different.”
She smiled and squeezed his hand. They sat in silence for a few minutes.
“Who do you think would win in a fight, a giant squid or a giant spider?”
Jason shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter, it could never happen.”
***
Colleen stood in the middle of the park and watched the banana soar up into the sky. The little catapult hummed softly beside her, rubber band still vibrating faintly. If it did fall back down she didn’t see it.