Chapter Two

Harvey, now three years old, was playing hide and seek with his mother. Harvey was really good at this game and this time he had the best hiding place. Mother looked for almost an hour before she went to pull the lamp cord and realized her son was impersonating the pole the lamp rested on. Lampshade on his head like a funny hat.

Laughing, hugging and kissing him she declared it bath time and Harvey dutifully marched to the bathroom. He pulled off his pants and shirt and stood on the fluffy bathmat, he glanced at his reflection in the mirror. Boney was a word that didn’t even begin to capture how he looked; he stuck his tongue out at himself and giggled.

Mother dipped her hand in the bath water. Harvey looked up at her, excited.

“Yes, dear, it’s warm enough,” she said with smile. Gleefully, Harvey climbed into the bath.

“Brrrrr-ing!”

Mother looked at Harvey, bewildered. Harvey knew why. The phone almost never rang. Harvey and Mother lived alone in their little house. Harvey was never allowed outside.

But now the phone was ringing and Harvey was in the bathtub.

“Be careful, Harvey, I’m leaving you alone while I get the phone.”

Harvey nodded and pushed his boat around the tub, creating a wake that slapped at his knobby knees.

Mother’s voice came from the hallway. “Harold!”

Mother sounded really happy.

“It’s so wonderful to hear your voice little brother. How are you?”

The boat continued to skim the bubbly surface and Harvey’s other hand moved around, bringing a biplane flying into the chase.

“This is Commodore Mitchell of the Lake Escadrille,” whispered Harvey urgently. “You pirates heave-to and drop anchor or be shot with machine gun fire!”

“Yes, we get your checks regularly, thank you dear, the money is very helpful. You are? That’s wonderful, Harold, a new invention? You’re so clever!”

The pirate ship picked up speed but the biplane swooped down. “Buhdda-Buddha” Harvey said and then he made blub-blub sounds as the pirate ship sank beneath the soapy water. He saluted with a pink, wrinkled, and extremely thin hand.

Mother’s voice continued, “Harvey? Oh, he’s fine – but still growing rather strangely, Harold. Well, he’s growing upward, but not deepward, you might say. He looks a little like a stick-figure, really.”

Harvey’s eyes drifted across the water and stopped at the silver chain stretching from the faucet to the drain plug.

“Well yes, his shape and weight pose a challenge. His foot got stuck in between the floorboards once and the breeze from a fan knocked him down flat. I even had to use neckties to make diapers for him! Oh, and just last week I saw him sticking his legs underneath the bedroom door!”

Harvey lunged forward and snatched the chain. Leaning back and pulling with all of his strength, he heard a satisfying “THWUNK!” as the drain plug pulled free. Harvey listened to the funny gurgling noise. The water rushed down the drain.

“Harold, the amazing thing is that Harvey can sew! His skinny fingers are very nimble and even at three years old he’s so fast and accurate – I mean, I barely had to teach him anything – it’s really quite impossible!”

Harvey squealed with delight as he felt the pull from the water. It tugged at his legs and he felt his feet move toward the bathtub drain. He laughed nervously. Then, as more water drained from the tub, the rushing water grabbed one foot, and then the other, and pulled both toward the drain. The left foot went in, followed by the right, but they were too thin to stop the flow and block the drain, they only increased the pull and Harvey’s body flipped back as his legs went down to the knee. He scrabbled against the porcelain bathtub but it was too slick. Harvey heard the gurgling from the drain and felt the pressure increase, pulling at him, tugging harder and harder! Now that it had a taste of him, the drain seemed to want the rest. As if it was hungry!

“No we’re fine. He’s safe here, Harold but it’s not safe for you. Who knows what Bob Gacy will do if he finds out you’ve come back?”

“Mommy . . .. ” Harvey muttered in fear. He bent his knees to keep them from going down too. He pressed his palms flat against the slick sides of the tub and pushed with all of his might. He managed to stop himself but the pressure kept increasing.

“Yes, dear and thanks for calling, but I should go. I’ve left Harvey in the bathtub and -”

“MOMMY HELP!”

The phone fell to the floor and a split second later Mother roared into the bathroom like a freight train. Reaching in, she hoisted Harvey out of the tub, pulling his dangling legs from the suction with a “Pop!” Then the last of the water went down the drain.

“Burrr-UPPP!”

Harvey looked into the tub, eyes wide and breathing heavily, then turned and pressed his face against Mother. He sobbed there for a long, long time.

Mother whispered urgently into his ear. “I’ll keep you safe. I’ll keep you safe.”

Harvey took showers from then on. Quick showers, lasting no more than five minutes each and with the drain safely plugged up.

* * *

Harvey, now 6 years old . . .

“Harvey,” said Mother one morning, “You have to go to school today.”

“Why?” asked Harvey.

“It’s the law. All children have to go to school when they turn six years old.” She combed Harvey’s dark brown hair, neatly forming a part right down the center. “Whether I like it or not.”

“You mean I get to leave the house? See other kids?” Excitement swept through Harvey and he felt like his heart would burst out of his narrow ribcage.

Mother smiled, but she still looked sad, “Yes, and hopefully you’ll like the other kids.”

Harvey took his mother’s hand. She opened the door and began the walk to the school on the other side of town.

It was a long way. Harvey watched as all kinds of people stopped, stared, and pointed at him. He stared back and pointed too, until Mother told him it was rude. He heard them mutter, “Stickman!” and “He does exist!”

As they approached the schoolhouse Harvey saw other children up close for the first time. They didn’t look like he looked in Mother’s big gilded mirror. They looked strange. They were thick and beefy in all the places where Harvey was thin and boney.

The children gawked and pointed too, just like the adults had in town. Harvey waved to them and called out “Hello!” and “Haloo!” and when they didn’t respond he tried a few nonsense words he’d made up: “Baloot!” and “Varfoo!”

The kids laughed. But they didn’t smile or wave and they didn’t say “Baloot”, “Varfoo,” or even “Hello.” They just kept pointing and staring. Harvey looked up at Mother. Her jaw was clenched and her mouth formed a thin line that made her lips completely disappear.

One oafish parent, a big, bald man wearing sweats and a whistle around his neck, was towing a little blond girl toward the registration desk. He shouted, “Hey, look at the Stricklund stickman!” other parents turned to gawk but if he was going to say anything else he was cut off by a single scalding glare from Harvey’s mother. Harvey watched the man as they marched past. The bald man sneered at mother but he remained silent. Then he grinned at Harvey, his teeth were a sickly green. “I just can’t wait until I have this little bugger in my P.E. class!” The little girl, in blond pigtails and with eyes the color of the grass on the other side of the fence looked Harvey in the eye and then looked down quickly.

Mother muttered the name, “Gacy,” as if the name tasted bad in her mouth.

Picking up speed, she marched up the steps and through the big doors of Toebridge Elementary School. Turning left, she dragged Harvey passed the crowd of parents and kids and down the hall. Harvey glanced at the kid’s artwork on the wall. The artwork was drawings of people, crude stick figures mostly.

Are those pictures of me? thought Harvey.

Mother pulled him into an office where there was a woman with spiky blond hair talking on the telephone.

“I want to see Principal Groppi,” Mother said curtly. Not waiting for the woman to finish her call.

The woman looked up, and then pointed at the door behind her. Then she glanced at Harvey and her eyes widened. Harvey smiled at her. The woman didn’t smile back. Instead, her hand rose up to her mouth.

Mother pulled Harvey to the door the woman indicated. Her grip on his arm had started to hurt and Harvey was very confused. Why was Mother so angry? He watched her other hand shoot out and grab the doorknob. She yanked the door open and let it go. It rattled against the wall.

A portly man with a kind face looked up. His soft eyes fell on Harvey, and he grinned a wide and friendly smile, and then he began to giggle. Then his eyes met Mother’s and his giggle stopped.

Mother’s face was purple, her eyes were narrowed, and her jaw was clenched. Harvey felt scared.

The principal opened his mouth to speak but Mrs. Stricklund opened hers first.

“Principal Groppi?”

He nodded yes and smiled. Then he straightened his tie and stood.

“My name is Miss Stricklund.”

The principal held out his hand politely. She stared at it like it was a rotten fish.

“This is my son Harvey, and he is a fine boy. He would be an asset to this school because he is very bright, very good. A very special child. I have now seen the caliber of the students, the parents, and the faculty that attend this school…”

Principal Groppi paled and he put his hands up and said, “Now ma’am I’m sure people mean no harm –”

Mother raised her voice and went on. “I’ve decided that my boy is too good for this school! I’ll teach him myself! Home schooling Principal, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Picking Harvey up, she pivoted on her heel and marched out of the office, slamming the door behind her.

Chapter Two

Harvey, now three years old, was playing hide and seek with his mother. Harvey was really good at this game and this time he had the best hiding place. Mother looked for almost an hour before she went to pull the lamp cord and realized her son was impersonating the pole the lamp rested on. Lampshade on his head like a funny hat.

Laughing, hugging and kissing him she declared it bath time and Harvey dutifully marched to the bathroom. He pulled off his pants and shirt and stood on the fluffy bathmat, he glanced at his reflection in the mirror. Boney was a word that didn’t even begin to capture how he looked; he stuck his tongue out at himself and giggled.

Mother dipped her hand in the bath water. Harvey looked up at her, excited.

“Yes, dear, it’s warm enough,” she said with smile. Gleefully, Harvey climbed into the bath.

“Brrrrr-ing!”

Mother looked at Harvey, bewildered. Harvey knew why. The phone almost never rang. Harvey and Mother lived alone in their little house. Harvey was never allowed outside.

But now the phone was ringing and Harvey was in the bathtub.

“Be careful, Harvey, I’m leaving you alone while I get the phone.”

Harvey nodded and pushed his boat around the tub, creating a wake that slapped at his knobby knees.

Mother’s voice came from the hallway. “Harold!”

Mother sounded really happy.

“It’s so wonderful to hear your voice little brother. How are you?”

The boat continued to skim the bubbly surface and Harvey’s other hand moved around, bringing a biplane flying into the chase.

“This is Commodore Mitchell of the Lake Escadrille,” whispered Harvey urgently. “You pirates heave-to and drop anchor or be shot with machine gun fire!”

“Yes, we get your checks regularly, thank you dear, the money is very helpful. You are? That’s wonderful, Harold, a new invention? You’re so clever!”

The pirate ship picked up speed but the biplane swooped down. “Buhdda-Buddha” Harvey said and then he made blub-blub sounds as the pirate ship sank beneath the soapy water. He saluted with a pink, wrinkled, and extremely thin hand.

Mother’s voice continued, “Harvey? Oh, he’s fine – but still growing rather strangely, Harold. Well, he’s growing upward, but not deepward, you might say. He looks a little like a stick-figure, really.”

Harvey’s eyes drifted across the water and stopped at the silver chain stretching from the faucet to the drain plug.

“Well yes, his shape and weight pose a challenge. His foot got stuck in between the floorboards once and the breeze from a fan knocked him down flat. I even had to use neckties to make diapers for him! Oh, and just last week I saw him sticking his legs underneath the bedroom door!”

Harvey lunged forward and snatched the chain. Leaning back and pulling with all of his strength, he heard a satisfying “THWUNK!” as the drain plug pulled free. Harvey listened to the funny gurgling noise. The water rushed down the drain.

“Harold, the amazing thing is that Harvey can sew! His skinny fingers are very nimble and even at three years old he’s so fast and accurate – I mean, I barely had to teach him anything – it’s really quite impossible!”

Harvey squealed with delight as he felt the pull from the water. It tugged at his legs and he felt his feet move toward the bathtub drain. He laughed nervously. Then, as more water drained from the tub, the rushing water grabbed one foot, and then the other, and pulled both toward the drain. The left foot went in, followed by the right, but they were too thin to stop the flow and block the drain, they only increased the pull and Harvey’s body flipped back as his legs went down to the knee. He scrabbled against the porcelain bathtub but it was too slick. Harvey heard the gurgling from the drain and felt the pressure increase, pulling at him, tugging harder and harder! Now that it had a taste of him, the drain seemed to want the rest. As if it was hungry!

“No we’re fine. He’s safe here, Harold but it’s not safe for you. Who knows what Bob Gacy will do if he finds out you’ve come back?”

“Mommy . . .. ” Harvey muttered in fear. He bent his knees to keep them from going down too. He pressed his palms flat against the slick sides of the tub and pushed with all of his might. He managed to stop himself but the pressure kept increasing.

“Yes, dear and thanks for calling, but I should go. I’ve left Harvey in the bathtub and -”

“MOMMY HELP!”

The phone fell to the floor and a split second later Mother roared into the bathroom like a freight train. Reaching in, she hoisted Harvey out of the tub, pulling his dangling legs from the suction with a “Pop!” Then the last of the water went down the drain.

“Burrr-UPPP!”

Harvey looked into the tub, eyes wide and breathing heavily, then turned and pressed his face against Mother. He sobbed there for a long, long time.

Mother whispered urgently into his ear. “I’ll keep you safe. I’ll keep you safe.”

Harvey took showers from then on. Quick showers, lasting no more than five minutes each and with the drain safely plugged up.

* * *

Harvey, now 6 years old . . .

“Harvey,” said Mother one morning, “You have to go to school today.”

“Why?” asked Harvey.

“It’s the law. All children have to go to school when they turn six years old.” She combed Harvey’s dark brown hair, neatly forming a part right down the center. “Whether I like it or not.”

“You mean I get to leave the house? See other kids?” Excitement swept through Harvey and he felt like his heart would burst out of his narrow ribcage.

Mother smiled, but she still looked sad, “Yes, and hopefully you’ll like the other kids.”

Harvey took his mother’s hand. She opened the door and began the walk to the school on the other side of town.

It was a long way. Harvey watched as all kinds of people stopped, stared, and pointed at him. He stared back and pointed too, until Mother told him it was rude. He heard them mutter, “Stickman!” and “He does exist!”

As they approached the schoolhouse Harvey saw other children up close for the first time. They didn’t look like he looked in Mother’s big gilded mirror. They looked strange. They were thick and beefy in all the places where Harvey was thin and boney.

The children gawked and pointed too, just like the adults had in town. Harvey waved to them and called out “Hello!” and “Haloo!” and when they didn’t respond he tried a few nonsense words he’d made up: “Baloot!” and “Varfoo!”

The kids laughed. But they didn’t smile or wave and they didn’t say “Baloot”, “Varfoo,” or even “Hello.” They just kept pointing and staring. Harvey looked up at Mother. Her jaw was clenched and her mouth formed a thin line that made her lips completely disappear.

One oafish parent, a big, bald man wearing sweats and a whistle around his neck, was towing a little blond girl toward the registration desk. He shouted, “Hey, look at the Stricklund stickman!” other parents turned to gawk but if he was going to say anything else he was cut off by a single scalding glare from Harvey’s mother. Harvey watched the man as they marched past. The bald man sneered at mother but he remained silent. Then he grinned at Harvey, his teeth were a sickly green. “I just can’t wait until I have this little bugger in my P.E. class!” The little girl, in blond pigtails and with eyes the color of the grass on the other side of the fence looked Harvey in the eye and then looked down quickly.

Mother muttered the name, “Gacy,” as if the name tasted bad in her mouth.

Picking up speed, she marched up the steps and through the big doors of Toebridge Elementary School. Turning left, she dragged Harvey passed the crowd of parents and kids and down the hall. Harvey glanced at the kid’s artwork on the wall. The artwork was drawings of people, crude stick figures mostly.

Are those pictures of me? thought Harvey.

Mother pulled him into an office where there was a woman with spiky blond hair talking on the telephone.

“I want to see Principal Groppi,” Mother said curtly. Not waiting for the woman to finish her call.

The woman looked up, and then pointed at the door behind her. Then she glanced at Harvey and her eyes widened. Harvey smiled at her. The woman didn’t smile back. Instead, her hand rose up to her mouth.

Mother pulled Harvey to the door the woman indicated. Her grip on his arm had started to hurt and Harvey was very confused. Why was Mother so angry? He watched her other hand shoot out and grab the doorknob. She yanked the door open and let it go. It rattled against the wall.

A portly man with a kind face looked up. His soft eyes fell on Harvey, and he grinned a wide and friendly smile, and then he began to giggle. Then his eyes met Mother’s and his giggle stopped.

Mother’s face was purple, her eyes were narrowed, and her jaw was clenched. Harvey felt scared.

The principal opened his mouth to speak but Mrs. Stricklund opened hers first.

“Principal Groppi?”

He nodded yes and smiled. Then he straightened his tie and stood.

“My name is Miss Stricklund.”

The principal held out his hand politely. She stared at it like it was a rotten fish.

“This is my son Harvey, and he is a fine boy. He would be an asset to this school because he is very bright, very good. A very special child. I have now seen the caliber of the students, the parents, and the faculty that attend this school…”

Principal Groppi paled and he put his hands up and said, “Now ma’am I’m sure people mean no harm –”

Mother raised her voice and went on. “I’ve decided that my boy is too good for this school! I’ll teach him myself! Home schooling Principal, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Picking Harvey up, she pivoted on her heel and marched out of the office, slamming the door behind her.