Traveller - L.W. Samuelson (free e books to read online TXT) 📗

it to buy food and pay the rent. You must do that for me.”
“Sign it,” Lori said, “and I’ll cash it for you.”

This lunchtime Traveller sat by himself. He had made his own lunch. Peanutbutter and jelly sandwhiches, heavy on the jelly. He was just biting into the first one when he heard the foreman yell for everyone’s attention.
“Listen up guys. I have a young lady here who would like to ask you a few questions. Her name’s Lori.”
“Hey Lori,” one of the guys said.
“Go Lori!” another yelled.
“Lori,” Traveller said quietly. His eyes filled with tears.
She waited for them to be quiet. “I’m taking a survey for my Sociology class,” she said. “I’ve brought donuts for those who help me out.”
The workers cheered. When they quieted, she began, “How many of you graduated from high school?”

Traveller wanted to wake up Lori when he got home from work that night. It took all the self-control he could muster to let her sleep. He slid beneath the sheets she had put on the couch before setting his alarm. He turned the lamp off and slept for the first time in days.
It seemed that minutes later the alarm went off. Traveller jumped out of bed. He fried eight slices of bacon to extra crispy then drained the grease and wiped the pan out. Next, he made pancakes. When everything was ready, he put the food in the oven to warm then waited.
Lori awoke to the smell of bacon frying. She smiled. Lori loved her morning breakfasts with her favorite Martian, Benwarian. She put sweats on then her robe.
“Good morning,” Traveller beamed. He got up from the table where he was reading the newspaper and hugged her. “Thank you.”
“It’s the least I could do after the great breakfasts you’ve been cooking.” She pulled the envelope from her robe pocket and handed it to him. “Here’s your money. Four-hundred thirty-seven dollars.”
Traveller grabbed both of her hands. “I will keep the thirty-seven, but you keep the rest. You must,” he said conveying how much it meant to him by his touch.
His sincerity wasn’t lost on Lori. “I’m going to cook you a special meal this Friday,” she said.
“You’re going to be late for school,” he cautioned.
“I don’t have to be there until eleven. We can enjoy our breakfast together.”
They waited until breakfast was over to discuss Lori’s interview. “Fifteen out of twenty-two of them had never voted,” Traveller began.
“Just over twenty per cent of Americans vote in the primaries, forty percent in the mid-terms with only half voting in the regular election. Many issues are decided by voter apathy,” Lori said. “That’s why a worm like Nixon was elected twice.”
Lori continued, “They don’t read. They love to hunt, fish, and go four-wheeling. Over half of them said that drinking beer is their favorite pasttime.”
“I liked it when you asked how many of them had done the dishes or housework in the past month. Only two of them raised their hand,” Traveller said.
“And yet sixteen out of twenty-two had wives that worked. That is the working-class American male. Theirs wives pay while they play,” Lori added. “Each worker had an average of three kids who will most probably grow up to be working class consumers. They’ll consume natural resources and pollute without a concern for the future.”
“But it isn’t their fault,” Traveller defended. “They just lack an education.”
“How do you educate someone who won’t read or pay attention in class?” Lori asked. “Your fellow workers will never change.”
“In Benwarian society it was a matter of pride to educate your child and enrich his or her life.”
“What about the other societies on your world?”
“They were much the same as Earthlings.”
“And isn’t that how your world was destroyed, by too much apathy?”
“So if you were an alien race looking for a home and you found Earth, what would you do Lori?” Traveller asked.
Lori looked shocked, like she’d been slapped across the face. She thought about population projections, environmental problems, and the lack of political leadership. It became abundantly clear what would have to be done. “I don’t know,” she said quietly.
Traveller nodded knowingly, “That is what scares me. The Benwarians are ready to make the tough decisions.”Chapter 33 - Back on the Team
The score of the basketball game was Idaho State 48, Montana 60 when Willy was inserted into the game. Lori, Traveller, Jesse, Tim, and Bill stood up, screamed, and stomped their feet so loudly when he got to the scorer’s table that Willy actually looked their way. Traveller caught his eyes with a look that said you will do this.
ISU’s center stood seven foot one inch tall. Montana had been double- teaming him all night. The rest of the team hadn’t been able to hit their outside shots. As a team they were shooting thirty-eight percent. Montana, however, was shooting well over fifty percent. Their star forward had twenty-eight points on twelve for eighteen shooting with four points from the foul line.
ISU’s coach had called a time-out to get Willy into the game. He called a play to go inside to the center then back out to Willy for a jump shot when Montana collapsed into the key.
The ISU guard brought the ball up and passed to the the center. When the Montana players swarmed him, he passed to Willy. Willy kept his eyes on the basket, jumped, shot and then followed through. Swish! Willy scored, the crowd roared.
Willy never heard them. He immediately got back on defense staying in front of Montana’s star forward. Willy played just off the passing lane as Montana fast-breaked down the court. This enticed the point guard to pass the ball to their main man. When he did, Willy cut into the lane and intercepted it. He then passed it to ISU’s center underneath the basket for a dunk.
Traveller and his friends jumped up from their seats cheering wildly.
Luckily no one but Lori could hear Traveller yelling, “Boni bon bon! Boni bon bon bon!” He was as proud as a new father holding his baby for the first time.
Time was running out. There was just over two minutes left when ISU went to a full court press. Montana brought the ball up court. The guard dribbled down the left side with ISU’s player fronting him. When he got in the corner Willy rushed over trapping him. The guard jumped up, tried to pass the ball, and Willy caught it in mid-air.
Willy pivoted. He threw the ball to his guard streaking down the court; he caught it in mid-stride for a lay up. Montana’s coach called a time-out. The fans were roaring, pleased that the lead had been cut to six. Willy couldn’t help but smile when he heard the words “boni, bon, bon” coming from his blood brother.
After the time out, Montana inbounded the ball. One of their guards screened Willy. Montana’s star streaked to the basket while Willy rolled off the screen. He imagined himself standing in the key to take the charge and ran to make it so. Just as he set his feet, the forward slammed into him. Willy fell to the court with his legs in front of him as he skidded on his butt clear into the photographers that were sitting just out of bounds. He watched the referee signaling a charge. Boni bon bon, he thought.
Willy got up limping. He winked at the coach as he hobbled by ISU’s bench. Montana’s star stayed with Willy, kept a hand on his chest. Willy winced encouraging his opponent to get physical and body him up.
Montana’s star had his back to the basket. Willy drove him into the screen set by an ISU guard and broke hard to the middle of the key. With his limp gone, his quickness and speed purchased him an open lane to the basket. The other guard dribbled up and threw him the ball. The Montana center came over too late but he jumped high and brought both hands down on Willy’s arms. Willy broke through the foul for two points. When he made the foul shot afterward, the crowd broke into pandemonium. Willy looked at his friends then held both arms out before running back on defense.
With a minute left, Montana went into a stall to slow the game down. Willy fronted his man waiting for a chance to make a steal. He played the passing lane in front of his man and cheated up. Watching the ball handler’s eyes when he was double-teamed, Willy anticipated a pass to the other Montana guard. When the ball was thrown across court, he intercepted it and drove hard to the basket for a lay up. The crowd went wild. After they sat back down, chants of Willy, Willy, Willy, filled the Minidome. Montana called its final timeout with ten seconds left.
Montana’s team had lost their poise. When they got the ball, the other forward ran along the baseline trying to get it inbounds. No one was able to break open. Panicked, he called time out.
The referee blew his whistle then pointed back to the Montana forward making a T with his hand. ISU’s coach wisely called upon Willy to shoot the technical. He stood at the foul line basking in the chants of Willy, Willy, Willy, before calmy shooting an all net point for the tie.
The Montana guard quickly took the ball out. When he threw it back in, it came off their star forward’s hands landing out of bounds. The referee pointed that it was ISU’s ball. He handed it to ISU’s center underneath the basket. Willy came off a screen and the center threw it to him. When two Montana players converged on him, the center stepped back in holding his arms high. Willy threw the ball. The center caught it going up for a slam dunk. The whistle sounded, the game ended. ISU had won. The Bengal bench emptied. Eleven players swarmed Willy. The stands emptied and swarmed the whole team.

Willy’s personal team had arranged to meet at Lori’s after the game. Traveller and Jesse had picked up several pizzas along with a couple of liters of pop. Bill and Tim brought a sixpack of beer.
When Willy arrived, his most fervent supporters encircled him and chanted “Willy, Willy,” and then Jesse who had had a beer shouted, “Speech, speech!”
The room grew quiet. “Man, I ain’t never had so much fun! Did y’all see me out ‘dere? I be movin’ faster than Traveller, stealing the ball, shootin’ it. Coach say he never see anyone take a game over like that. Everyone on the team be pattin’ me on the back like I a war hero.”
“Way to go Willy!” Jesse shouted after a long pull on his beer.
“I couldn’t have done it without you guyses help. Especially Lori, she’all fix my essay, helped me bring my grades up. Man, all I needed was little help from my friends. Boni, bon bon bon!”
Everyone cheered except for Jesse. He yelled, “Pizza, pizza! Boni bon bon bon!”
The boxes were laid on the kitchen table. It seemed to Traveller that a thousand hands appeared to grab the food he had purchased with the change from his pay check. It pleased him to partially repay them for all the nice things they had done for him.
When Jesse handed him a can of beverage, he took it. He popped the tab without thinking and took a drink. The first sip tasted bitter, awful. Not wanting to disappointed his friend, he took another sip, it tasted better. The next sip became a drink. The next drink became two swallows. Now that his taste buds