When Izzy and the nine entered the Kiddie Kennel, they were shocked but none of them cried out. The former wild boy was especially brave. Apparently, the staff wasn't ready for their arrival for it was Monday.

On Monday mornings, everyone moved down a cage. Cage 20 stood empty; the bald children were no more. The attendants ordered Izzy and the nine to stand against the wall as the children in Cage 1 moved into Cage 2 and so forth.

JM was busy helping the younger ones along and Panney carried the crippled boy on his twisted back. Only after they were in their new confinement did the Tunnel Children catch a glimpse of Izzy. She gave them the death stare and warned them not to let on who she was. JM quickly went from child to child telling them to keep Izzy a secret. She covered Nissa's mouth just as she was about to call out Izzy's name.

Izzy mouthed, "Wait until we are alone. I'm going to act crazy. But-I'm-fine." She laid down on the concrete floor and began sucking her thumb. She kicked her legs and crawled in a circle. It alarmed the nine children and they tried comforting her. She popped her thumb out briefly and whispered, "I'm pretending to be nuts! I've got a plan!" 

The children scattered to the four corners of the cage and watched the Looney Show. Izzy sat up, began rocking, mumbling to herself and for some added color, she threw in a bit of twitching spasms. Her wild hair resembled Albert Einstein's. She drooled.

An attendant in a yellow walked over and asked, "What's her problem?"

The former wild boy spoke up, "She's crazy!"  He climbed the cage and acted like a monkey. "You shoulda seen her on the truck!" He wished he had some poo to fling at the man in yellow.

The man muttered, "Stupid retards," and walked off.

Izzy whispered, "Are we alone yet?"

Mars was still hanging from the top of the cage. He scanned the room with his yellow speckled eyes, "Yup the coast is crystal clear." He hopped down.

"Good..." She crossed to Cage 2. "Hi you guys! Are you okay?" Then she became frantic. "Where's Bell?"

"Oh Izzy..." JM began to cry. "Two very bad men came and took her away!"

"Try to calm down JM. Do you think they meant to kill her?" On the inside Izzy freaked out. She took a few deep breaths, forcing herself to relax.

JM tried hard to remember. "I don't think they want to kill Bell.  The meaner one mentioned something about her being a perfect specimen."

"But what about her blind and deafness?" Izzy was confused and never more worried.

"They seemed more interested in the way she looked than her disabilities. They rejected me because of my fingers. I heard one of them mention breeding her. What does breeding mean?"

Izzy couldn't bear to explain what breeding meant, especially in front of all the children. "It's not good," was all she would say. No need to pretend insanity now. Izzy thought she'd lose it on the spot. Her acting ability no longer be required.

As Izzy scoped the captured children her brain raced. Is this genocide or ethnic cleansing? She couldn't remember the difference but it didn't matter. In an instant she understood the New Regime had designed a twisted way to cure the food shortage while simultaneously ridding the mutated from the gene pool.

To encourage her King Rophe's mighty voice cried out, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for I go with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you."  His voice was powerful, beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. Izzy's resolve was renewed.

She climbed the cage and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Don't be afraid of those who kill the body but can't kill the soul."

Onyx put her shyness aside and weakly tugged on Izzy's pant leg. "Excuse me Izzy... is that supposed to be a pep talk?"

Izzy laughed for the first time in days. She hopped down and hugged her newest friend. She asked her, "Was that too much?"

"Maybe a bit... but I like that we are never alone. Can you tell me some more?" Onyx loved knowing there is a better place than this.

"How's this?"  Izzy quoted another passage, "King Rophe is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"

Onyx tilted her frail head. "Man can do an awful lot of damage..." She put her wrinkled hand on Izzy's perfect one.

"Listen Onyx... this horrible place doesn't have to be your home. I'm a citizen of heaven now, that's where the Author of The Book lives. And I'm eagerly waiting for him to return as my King. For everyone that trusts in him and him alone, he will take their weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer everything, everywhere."

Onyx hugged Izzy delicately. "Thank you Izzy. King Author is now my king. I have complete trust in him and I can't wait to get a new body..." She looked around the cage,  And a new address."

Izzy pondered correcting the name but she instead smiled and thought to herself, King Author is the perfect name.

—-

As Speed rounded the corner he was only 30 yards from his Woodsburgh destination. He could smell it. As he ran down the desire path, through the piney woods, he wondered what had happened to the clumsy brown bear?

Suddenly a large bear stepped out from the thicket, stood on his hind legs, and roared.

Speed came to a screeching halt. "Ahhhhhh!" He crashed into the bear's big squishy belly and careened backwards. Speed got back up and shook his head. "Lonely, what are you doing here?"

Lonely answered, "Does a bear pee in the woods?"

Speed barked, "I mean how'd you beat me here?"

Lonely chuckled, "Would ya believe me if I said I called an Uber?"

Getting annoyed Speed growled. "What's an Uber?

Lonely replied, "Dogs are not very well read."

Speed scoffed, "I'm supposed to believe smelly bears do an awful lot of reading?"

Lonely quoted, "'There is no friend as loyal as a book.' – Ernest Hemingway."

Like a teenager, Speed rolled his big brown eyes. "All right Hemingway we've got an assignment to do. This isn't Oprah's book club." Speed moved around Lonely and trotted down the path.

Lonely called after him, "Hey! Who's Oprah?"

Speed yelled back, "Dog's know stuff!"

-End of Chapter 19-