It has the power to make one change plans, mid-travel.
It has the guilt-wielding force of 100 nuns bearing 99 rulers and a laser pointer.
It's the Doppler Effect for Families of all sizes and locales. It's the chain reaction of mental sweeping that occurs when we witness our mothers cry!
So many neighbor people had seen Momma cry, that behind the scenes a story was brewing.
Tucked-away in the woods, she and the boys kept as quiet as possible. Like any strong-willed mother, Momma intended on making this "outdoor experience" as fun as possible while she thought of her choices. At the present, she was showing Manley and Mike how to make crafts out of freshly fallen pine straw.
An occasional snooping person would wander into the area, gawking. The three got used to not looking-up at the visitors, although Mike would point.
When all seemed about to burn in the belly of boy boredom, the wind began.
"...thop. Thop. THOP." The sound was certain. Mike jumped to his feet, tossing pine straw aside. He looked high into the trees and pointed-up.
"Helicopter, Momma" Manley said. "Helicopter!"
Momma gathered the boys as close as possible without skewering herself on an antler. "I see!"
"Maybe it's Daddy!" Manley said.
Mike must have heard the word DADDY because he jumped with glee and pointed so hard his arm could have pointed and kept rising and Manley wouldn't have been surprised.
The machine bore down on them with an obnoxious whomping.
"No," Momma said, seeing the number. "...sorry guys. It's just a Fox affiliate."
The boys looked puzzled, but kept crooning their necks until the helicopter disappeared behind them into the clearing. There was a big blue numeral---5...painted on both sides.
"It's the news, the local news station!" With this, Manley took-off on a trot.
Momma would have none of this and tried a look. But Manley wasn't in the direction to see the look, much less refrain from trotting. Mike followed, but was obedient to Momma's plea of STOP!
"We'll be on TV!" Manley shrieked.
"We'll be on TV." Momma shrieked, the latter having a more horrific tone.
The shadow of the helicopter from the clearing--- slowing eking it's way into the woods---brought with it more than just a chance for publicity:
The unloading news crew of one reporter, one cameraman and one knucklehead provoked these emotions:
It seemed curiously interested.
It seemed dangerously important.
It seemed to scare more than it wanted to share.
It was a chance to tell Manley's story. That's what the brunette female producer had said. The three media persons walked around them clipping-on wires and then hiding them away from camera views.
Manley seemed to smile and welcome the attention.
Mike just wanted to chew on the more expensive plastic they had brought. At one point he knocked-over a backlight and the bulb fell to the forest floor without breaking. Mike seemed oblivious to any danger.
Momma thought of her husband and was suddenly embarrassed and glad that Colonel Conrad Joesph Canterthumpy was thousands of miles away, across the ocean.
"Coming to us soon, Lynette," the Cameraman began.
As if she'd changed by forest phone booth--- the brunette female producer had added a red sports jacket, scarf, wig and was now the blonde female reporter! The newly coiffed blonde looked at Momma, Mike, Manley, and her crew, giving them one of Momma's looks "We're going LIVE, LIVE, LIVE in FIVE. SHHHH!"
"In five, four, three..." the Cameraman said.
"Good evening America," the reporter began. "I'm Lynette Jameson for Tomorrow's News Today, Tuesday's edition. Tonight---The Unexplained! Do we have a beast among us, which walks within our wood?" She grabbed Manley by the arm and pointed for the camera to GO WIDE GO WIDE on the forest.
Manley smiled, but as the producer-reporter grabbed him he began to get upset. His face began to squint as she grabbed harder and harder.
"A beast so lonely," she continued "...that it's forced to live here, deep in the woodland wasteland feeding on alfalfa. What is it, you say? Townspeople are said to be up in arms over this thing! But the rumor you hear is true. This thing is not a beast after all, but a boy. A sweet, sack of sticky sloppy selfish seven year old innocent baby boy whose name is Manley Canter...uh? Uh?" The reporter looked-down at her pad.
"Canter WUMPY" said the knucklehead, who was holding a huge silver thing that looked like a fan but seemed to also be a light.
"Thumpy, not Wumpy" whispered Manley. He smiled but again, the reporter reached around and pinched him on the back, just hard enough to make Manley wince.
"Canterthumpy," she continued. "And townspeople have gotten afraid---very afraid! of this phenomenon."
Manley didn't understand half her words, and the Knucklehead was trying to shoo little Mike away from some electrically taped plastic thingy. "Hey, hey..."
The reporter snapped her fingers silently, but so direct that Mike looked in that direction and dropped the goods. Not missing a beat, she continued. "...His father, a brave soldier fighting for each and every one of us, and our freedom, across the ocean, doesn't even know of this mystery..."
Momma began to sob, and Knucklehead moved the light in her direction. The cameraman, who was so plain looking he might as well have been a white M&M, broke the camera free of its tripod and ran-in for a close-up of Momma's tears.
"I love TV" Manley could barely contain his enjoyment.
The reporter whispered "Shhh" in Manley's ear and released some of the pressure of her pincher grip to re-direct the two cameramen in her direction. "What you will see tonight, Ladies and Gentlemen, will AMAZE you. May I present...ANTLER BOY!"
Manley, Mike and Momma all gasped. The cameraman caught all three with mouths agape and attentions ripe---just ripe!---for these very words from the brunette-blonde red coated, scarved and wigged reporter:
"...we'll be back to explain after these messages."
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