The Sapphire Box (1)
David L Buchanan

 

CHAPTER 1

"So, Pearla? Whatcha put on your career form for Career Day?" Paula taunted after class as the students and teacher left the classroom.

"Well, uh--" Pearla hesitated.
 
"Let me guess . . . . a Christian cartoonist?" Paula interrupted. Then Sally and Donna laughed. Pearla remained quiet.

"She oughta know by now that her Preacher Creatures cartoons--whatever they are--ain't no match for those Doug and Pepper Ann cartoons on TV," added Sally. "Can you just imagine one of her cartoon animals telling people about this . . . . Jesus Christ?"

Donna and Paula giggled.

"I'd be scared if my dog Leo came into my room one night and started talking to me." Donna interjected. Pearla picked up her book bag and tried to leave, but the three girls walked up in front of her.

Donna pointed her finger in Pearla's face. "Where you goin'?! You don't like us talkin' 'bout those dumb, funny-looking creatures in your cartoons?!"

"Look, Donna, I gotta get home. Okay?" Pearla asked. Paula and Sally snickered as Donna poked fun at Pearla's cartoons.

"You really think those cartoons gonna' be in comic books and on television?" Donna continued.

"Donna? Let me get past!" Pearla insisted.

Donna refused to let Pearla pass and persisted with her taunts. "I thought humans supposed to be talkin' to people 'bout Jesus. Not animals!"
 
Pearla became furious at Donna's remark. "Look! If you three don't like my Preacher Creature cartoons, fine! But there's a whole lot of famous people who came up with weird ideas and became successful, and I'm gonna be--"

"Who you think you hollerin' at?" Paula interrupted, poking Pearla in the head. "Nobody hollers at Donna; not even at me, and not even at Sally."

"You know that's right," said Sally, giving Donna a "high five."

"So you think you gon' succeed with those . . . . those stupid cartoons?" asked Paula.

"Well, we'll just see about that." Then Paula whispered something in Donna's ear while Sally watched Pearla. Suddenly, Donna snatched Pearla's bookbag out of her hand and started digging through it.
 
  "What are you doing? Stop!" Pearla tried to reach for her bookbag but Paula and Sally pushed and held her against a wall.

"She's gotta have those cartoons in here somewhere," Donna said, ignoring Pearla. Donna found some and started tearing them up and throwing them around the room.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Pearla screamed. Mrs. Jones heard the commotion from outside the classroom while she was on her way back and rushed inside. "Ladies? Ladies? What's going on in here? And what are all these papers doing on the floor?" Donna ceased throwing around Pearla's drawings, and Paula and Sally released her.

"I asked a question. I'm waiting for an answer," demanded Mrs. Jones, with her hands on her hips.

Sally pointed at Pearla. "She started it."

"Uh-huh," agreed Paula.

Donna added, "She was showing off her drawings, so we decided to teach her a lesson and I--"

"Save it, Donna," Mrs. Jones interrupted. "And that goes for the two of you, Paula and Sally, because you're lying. Pearla didn't start this. Ever since she's attended this school, I've known her to be a well-behaved student."

"But Mrs. Jones-"

"Not another word out of you, Paula," Mrs. Jones interrupted again. "Every time there's trouble in this school, you, Sally, and Donna just happen to be in the middle of it. Now, the three of you, go down to the principal's office and get a three-day suspension. I'll be calling your parents this evening, too." Paula, Sally, and Donna left the room bickering over which one of them caused the incident with Pearla.

"I said not another word out of you three," Mrs. Jones repeated. After they left the
classroom, Mrs. Jones helped Pearla pick up her torn drawings.

Looking over and smiling at Pearla, Mrs. Jones asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah . . . . I'm all right. Thanks, Mrs. Jones."

"Now that those students are on suspension, you shouldn't have to worry about them for a while. If they still harass you when they come back, just notify the principal or myself, and we'll see that they never bother you again. Okay?"

"But, Mrs. Jones, what if they sneak into the school and--"

"Now, Pearla, don't worry about them. What I'll do is have security be on the lookout and keep them away if they see them. Okay?"

"All right."

Mrs. Jones and Pearla had just finished gathering and placing the pieces of her cartoons into her bookbag when Mrs. Jones asked, "By the way, Pearla, did you hear from that magazine publisher concerning your Preacher Creature cartoons? I remember you telling me months ago that you sent them."

Pearla looked sadly at the shredded pieces of her Preacher cartoons in her bookbag and sighed, "Uh . . . . no. Maybe I'll hear from them today, though."

"Well, let me know what they--" Mrs. Jones paused and studied Pearla's somber face. "Pearla, what's the matter?"
 
"Maybe those girls were right what they said about my cartoons," said Pearla, glancing at a piece of a cartoon."They don't look like any of those Doug and Pepper Ann cartoons on Saturday mornings."

"No cartoons look that much alike. That's what makes them so unique . . . . not bad. So stop worrying about what they said about your cartoons," said Mrs. Jones, lifting Pearla's chin, "And hold that head up . . . . Smile."

Pearla began to beam. "I know. I know." She stooped to pick up her bookbag and leave. She was almost near the middle of the hallway when Mrs. Jones called out to her.

"Pearla! Tell your parents I said hi!" Mrs. Jones shouted.

Pearla shouted back, "I will!"









CHAPTER 2

Pearla caught the Pace bus in time to get home before dinner. As she rode down Taft Avenue, she thought about Donny. She hadn't looked forward to telling him about the incident in school that day until she'd received some positive remarks from Mrs. Jones about her cartoons. It was five months ago on her thirteenth birthday that Pearla's mother had passed down a sapphire box as an heirloom to her. It had been in her mother's family for over three hundred years. Her mother told her that a Virginian slave master, architect, and explorer, Emile Taylor, presented the sapphire box as a gift to their African ancestor Tubali' for all the hard labor he and his family had put into the plantations. Tubali' and Taylor first met when Tubali' and his family were imported with other African natives from Nigeria during the slave trade. Taylor became so impressed with Tubali's and his family's years of loyal servitude that he decided to educate them. He taught them English, etiquette, reading and writing. Taylor did this for the other slaves, as well.
 
The day that Pearla's mother gave her the sapphire box, she told Pearla about a holographic image named Donald who, at the call of a secret code, would rise forth in a cloud of white.Her mother thought of this "Donald" being as a fairy tale and never tried the secret code. However, Pearla, curious to see whether there was such a being as Donald, called out the code she saw in Tubali's journal. After crying out, "I wish I knew the secret code!" seconds later she heard a sound. She was covered by a cloud of white smoke surging out with a faceless figure inside, with only eyes to see and mouth to speak. She realized it was Donald and remembered him introducing himself as Donny. Afterwards, he told her about his first appearance to her ancestor Tubali'. According to Donny, it happened one stormy and thunderous night when Tubali' was rushing back to his master's house by horse. As he neared home, rain began to fall, and the winds blew hard, knocking him to the ground by a tree. The sapphire box fell out of his sack and was struck by lightning. When Tubali' came to, he became so fearful of Donny's appearance that he began to run. But Donny assured Tubali' that he meant him no harm and told him the code to chant whenever he needed him. After that, Donny grew very close to Tubali' and some of Tubali's descendants.

Pearla arrived home that afternoon to her serene, suburban neighborhood on Taft Avenue in Berkeley, Illinois. Most of the neighbors were nice, friendly and got along well. She was the only child of Patrick and Ella Pierson. Her father worked as an electrician for a public high school, and her mother worked as a U.S. mail carrier. Around her neighborhood were the public library that she frequented, the hardware store, and the Metra train station that her father normally took to work. Pearla entered the living room through the front door to the aroma of freshly baked chicken, corn, biscuits, and other foods her mother was preparing in the kitchen.

After hearing someone come inside the house, her mother looked outside the kitchen and said, "Pearla? Is that you?"

"Yes, Mom," said Pearla.

"How come you took so long getting home from school?" Ella asked.

  "Because uh, uh, something came up . . . . but everything's fine! Oh, Mrs. Jones said hi."

"Oh, okay!" responded Pearla's mother, coming out of the kitchen and wiping her hands on her apron. "Tell her I said hi when you see her again. Oh, you got some mail from Peterson's Christian Youth Magazine. It's over there on the coffee table in a manila envelope. They're probably going to publish your cartoons."

"I don't know about that, but there's one way to find out." Pearla walked eagerly to the coffee table to get the envelope.

As Pearla ripped open the seal, her mother asked impatiently, "Well? Well? What did they say?"

"Hold on, hold on," Pearla said, removing the contents of the envelope. "Hm. They returned my cartoon strips to me with a letter."

After she removed her cartoons, she read the letter to herself. Pearla's mother stood there with her fingers crossed.

Suddenly, Pearla threw down the letter, saying, "I knew it! I knew they wouldn't like them! I'm never gonna be a cartoonist!"
 
"Pearla? Did they say what was wrong with--" Pearla darted upstairs to her bedroom before her mother could finish and locked the door.

Pearla's mother went to the foot of the stairs, looking upward. "Pearla? Please talk to me." Not hearing a response from Pearla, her mother gave up and walked over to where Pearla had thrown down the letter.

Pearla's mother picked up the letter, read it, and muttered, "So they didn't think her Preacher Creatures cartoons were believable enough. They didn't feel that people would be interested in reading about talking animals witnessing to people about God. Hmph! I've seen many Christian cartoons with animals on their talking 'bout God. I've even listened to Christian radio stories with talking animals." She set the letter on the coffee table and went upstairs to try to console Pearla.

"Pearla?" her mother said, knocking on her door. "I read the letter. May I come in and talk to you?"

Pearla lay on her bed crying and choking on her words. "No, Mom. I'm okay!"

"Are you sure? It sounds like you're crying," her mother persisted.

"I said I'm fine, Mom."

"Well, I just want to let you know that I'm sorry this magazine didn't accept your cartoons. There are many other magazines that you could send your cartoons to. Anyway, I'll be downstairs in the kitchen. Dinner will be ready soon," Pearla's mother returned downstairs to finish cooking.

Pearla lay across her bed, staring up at the ceiling. In her head, she saw an image of the letter from Peterson's and then heard a replay of the negative feedback she'd received from Paula, Sally, and Donna about her cartoons. She rolled over and rested her head on her pillow. Looking around at her bedroom walls, she saw her Perfect Sunday School Attendance certificates and some of her drawings with Bible verses underneath, including one of a boy and girl kneeling at a white, shiny cross. The scripture underneath this drawing was from Proverbs 3:5-6. After looking at her drawings, she reached over for some Kleenex on the lamp table to wipe her face and then drifted off to sleep.

Some time later, Pearla awoke to a loud sound. She looked up at her dresser and saw the sapphire box flipping up and down. She heard a muffled voice coming from the box.

"Pearla!? How long you plan to keep me cooped up in this thing!?"

"Donny?" Pearla muttered. It had just dawned on Pearla to tell Donny what Peterson's had said about her cartoons.

"Just hold on, Donny!" Pearla rushed over to the sapphire box and chanted, "I wish I knew the secret code!" Gradually, the lid opened, and a cloud of white smoke blew upward. Within it, a faceless image with bright, yellow eyes, tan eyelids, and peach, curved lips appeared.

"Donny, I'm so--"

"It took you long enough," Donny began without letting Pearla finish.

"Donny, I'm so sorry. I--"

"You forgot. Uh-huh. I'm not important to you anymore. You just walked in here, lay down on your bed, had your hands all on your face like somethin' was wrong with you--"

Pearla chuckled. "Don't be ridiculous--"

"And you and your mother talkin' about some Peterson's thing--"

"Donny? Please let me explain. I--"

"And then you dozed off and I waited and waited and waited for you to summon me out of this stuffy thing and--"

Pearla then scowled. "DONNY!? I SAID I'M SORRY!" Pearla turned away from him and let out a breath.

"Pearla?"

"YES, DONNY!"

"I was only pickin' on ya." Donny began to laugh.

"Yeeaahhrright. Ha, ha, ha. Very funny, Donny."

"For real, Pearla," Donny said.

"Okay, okay," Pearla said. "No hard feelings."

"Well, anyway," Donny rushed to the point. "Did you hear from this Christian magazine about your cartoons?"

Pearla stared down at the carpet."Uh, yeah, I did."

"And?"

"And they rejected them."

"Why? They were so good."

"Peterson's--"

"Wait a minute. You and your mother were talkin' about this magazine when I heard her say Peterson's?" Donny interrupted.

"Yeah, Peterson's was the name of the magazine--"

"So this whole problem with this magazine caused you to forgot about summoning me, and you musta been crying about it," Donny interrupted again.

"Yeah, I was," Pearla said. "Anyway, Peterson's liked my cartoons but didn't feel their readers would be ready for the kind where animals witness to people about God because normally human beings do that. I told them I wanted readers to just imagine what it would be like if Christians stopped witnessing and God decided to have animals do it, instead."

"Well, that's not the only Christian magazine in the world. There are a whole lot more you can send your cartoons to. Let me show you on my built-in projector."

"Donny, I don't know." Pearla went and sat on her bed, staring at the floor with her hands under her chin.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Donny asked.

 

 

Go to part:2 

 

 

Copyright © 2001 David L Buchanan
Published on the World Wide Web by "www.storymania.com"