Children

248

In Book two Hobee sails on a ship and ends up on an Island and ends up helping them with there problems of Greed, as he looks for others like himself.

Hobee and Bobit leave their home island and head out for open sea with an old sea rat named O'Rourke. There ship gets damaged in a storm and the ship has to make land for repairs. They start looking around on the island and meet some of the islanders and found that they all had a faddish. They guarded their personal source of food and wouldn’t let anyone else near it. Hobee and Bobit help the inhabitants with their greed. After wards, they find out that they have missed their ship and now have to ask the Teekers for help that lived in a stump in order to get off the island and peruse Hobee’s Quest. 

Excerpt
Hobee and Bobit walked toward the next door. As they drew nearer, they could see a silhouette of someone.

“What’s that up ahead of us, Hobee?” asked Bobit.

“I can’t tell from here. All I see is a black shadow.”

The silhouette started to take shape as they got closer to the door. Bobit said, “Look, Hobee, it has four arms and two legs.”

“Yes, I can see that.”

As they approached the door, they could see a one-eyed, light gray fellow not much bigger than Hobee. The Pauper Babies started to make their squealing sound again.

Bobit whispered, “That must be a Teeker.”

In a soft voice, Hobee replied, “I think you’re right, Bobit.”

The Teeker at the door asked, “What’s in your bags making that squealing sound?” Scared stiff, Hobee and Bobit just stood there shaking. They opened their bags, so the Teeker could look inside.

The Teeker looked in both of their bags and said, “Just as I thought – Pauper Babies. You both may pass. But first you must put on these safety glasses.” The Teeker handed each of them a pair of safety glasses, then opened the door.

As Hobee and Bobit looked inside, they could see a long hallway with another Teeker sitting at a desk. As they entered the hallway, they could also see all kinds of gadgets and small machine parts along the walls, and carts filled with more parts of all shapes and sizes. As they walked closer to the desk, they could see the second Teeker wearing a visor that had all kinds of magnifying lenses attached to it. His desk was covered with piled-up papers. In between the piles of paper there were lots of strange looking gears, levers, and shafts that the Teeker was looking at closely as if he were inspecting them for something.

Walking up to the desk, Hobee said shakily, “Hello, I’m Hobee, and I’m looking for someone like myself.”

The Teeker lifted his visor up and looked at Hobee, and replied, “That’s what we’re all doing in life, isn’t it?”

Looking a bit bewildered, Hobee said, “I suppose we are.”

“Where are my manners?” said the Teeker. “They call me D.J., and I’m the Head Tool Teeker, and this is my Tooling and Inspection Department. Nothing goes out of here unless it’s exactly right and has been inspected by me personally.”

Looking at Hobee, Bobit said, “That’s good. Right, Hobee?”

D.J. asked, “What’s that I hear in your bag? Is it a Pauper Baby?”

Hobee and Bobit opened their bags, so the Head Tool Teeker could see the Pauper Babies. “Oh, my!” he said. “You have two Pauper Babies. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen one, let alone two!” He picked up one of the Pauper Babies and began to pet it.

Hobee asked, “Do you know anything about Pauper Babies?”

“I know that they used poems to communicate with thousands of years ago, and that everyone can feel the soothing-ness of the Pauper Baby when a poem is read to them, but no one has seen or heard a word about a Pauper Baby in a Teeker’s lifetime.”

Bobit asked, “How long is a Teekers life time?”

“About a thousand years.”

Bobit’s eyes widened.

“What’s a poem?” asked Hobee.

“Kind of like a short story that sometimes rhymes,” DJ answered. “I’ll show you later when we get to the library. Come with me – I’ll give you a short tour of our community.” He headed for a door at the end of the hall, and Hobee and Bobit followed.

As they walked toward the door, Hobee asked, “Why couldn’t Nebbins come in with us?”

“Nebbins isn’t an explorer like you two,” D.J. said. “He was born on this island, but you two have ventured off your home island and have also found the Pauper Babies. That’s why.”

The three walked through the door and down another hallway.

Hobee said, “Speaking of explorers, do you know anything about the Marching Rodent Explorers?”

The Head Tool Teeker replied, “The Marching Rodent Explorers are just like you and me – they’re all curious. All you have to do to become a Marching Rodent Explorer is help others as you pursue your own quest. Then that mammal helps another, and it gets passed along. That’s how the Marching Rodent Explorers got started.”

Bobit asked, “Is this your job, answering questions?”

“It does seem that way at times,” said D.J. with a smile, “but no. Being the head Tool Teeker, I make all the new parts as the old ones wear out or break in our big machines. Head Tool Teeker is the highest office held in our community.”

Looking at the Head Tool Teeker’s missing eye, Bobit said, “Hoppi told us the kumquat tree took one of your eyes. Is that true?”

“That’s just an old tale,” D.J. answered. “We use a lot of microscopes, magnifying glasses, and other instruments to see fine details, and over time we lost the use of the other eye from lack of use.”

Still looking at the Head Tool Teeker, Bobit responded, “Wow, that’s really weird.”

“What do you know about the fruit tree fetish that some of the animals have on this island?” asked Hobee.

“Many years ago, a ship full of Smooth-skins was marooned here,” said D.J. “Wanting to leave they cut down the biggest tree to make a boat – the very tree stump we live under now. They also took all the fruit on the island for their voyage, leaving none for the animals living here. That led to an intense desire on the part of the animals to protect their fruit trees – what you call their ‘fruit fetish.’”

“Did some of them have to go without eating?” asked Bobit.

“Yes, a lot of them did go without eating because of the food rationing that went on until the next spring.”

Bobit’s throat got a lump in it, as he remarked, “I don’t think I’d like going without eating.”

As they approached the end of the hallway, Head Tool Teeker D.J. stopped and stood in front of another door. “This is the backbone of our community,” he said. The door opened and the machine noise grew even louder. Hobee and Bobit walked through the door and looked at all the massive machines at work.