The Cubby Hole (IQ Testing Book 1) (11 page)

The skulls of the teens nod.

Duchie tosses her hands. “Okay, okay! I wrote my fear down on the app.  I fear snakes. Okay. I hate snakes. Some people hate spiders. Some people hate cats. Some people hate vegetables. Tell me! How did the knives get into the forestland? The me-chee placed them there for some sick fun. Trees limbs are cut with knives. Baby animal parts are cut with knives too. It is simply explained. The fire ants were a terrible luck for Rincon. We were roasting on their play spot. The thunder storm hits and strikes the valley between the mountains all the time, a common weather phenomena. It is bad karma for Nephella…”

Marsilla frowns with confusion. “How do you explain the cliff diving within the red color tone? I’m afraid of heights. Gosh, I live and study in the downstairs bedroom. I don’t walk up the stairs being so afraid of heights. Rincon, you were supervising the other teens for fun jumping off the cliff. Was there another teen like me afraid of the height or jumping from the rock into the water?”

“Naw, just you,” fingers and nods Rincon.

Marsilla wraps her hands around her breasts viewing the trees, the sky and then the sand. “Its like the me-chee machine is after me, personally with my personal fear. I can’t activate my me-chee to go back into the Cubby Hole, so I’m destined to stay here for the rest of the day and be afraid of jumping of the cliff until one of the me-chees retrieves me. I landed inside the red room with the mirrors first after answering those four questions. This was the first time that I was first. I want to finish the Cubby Hole too for the golden job. This ain’t fair to me,” sobs with tears then Rincon pats her back.

Nephella drops her mouth. “You landed first inside the red zone and you are afraid of heights. You landed on a high cliff for jumping off which is your fear. Gosh, I landed first in the orange zone and I’m afraid of lightning bolts.”

“I landed first in the pink zone and I’m afraid of knives from my childhood terror.” I gasp and drop my mouth.

Rincon tosses his hands. “This is not a coincidence but purpose. I landed first inside the yellow zone with my fears of ants…”

Nephella draws six boxes in the sand then fingers each one. “The first box is colored pink. The color represents the town of Tonkey. The radiation pits are there. Just follow my logical first then we can discuss. The color chart is in a specific order for a specific reason. I got this from my mama too. The second box is colored yellow for Dookie Town. The third box is colored orange for the farmland. The fourth box is colored red from the slaughter mills. The fifth box is colored green for the gardeners. The sixth box is colored blue for the merchandise makers and teachers. Now all the teens passed from the silver color into the pink color…”

“What about the golden color?” Duchie frowns.

I frown at her. “Do ya wanna add something here, Duchie?”

“Naw.” Duchie shakes her ponytail.

Nephella says. “I’ll get to that in a moment. All the teens from the Cubby Hole are playing and having fun patting the baby animals inside the pink colored park place. Then someone finds a knife. The knife object comes from the fear of Ketona. You have to assume that the me-chee or the MECHanical Energy Entity machine. It quickly materializes all the sharp deadly steel knives right after Ketona answered all eight questions with the faster time. So the knives are hidden within the thick healthy plant bushes. Then some of the rougher teens come along and finds a knife in each bush. They start killing the animals, first then the real beast, second. The really smart teens run back and leap into their me-chee chairs and then get dumped back into the Cubby Hole. The really smart teens answer the next set of questions then advance into the yellow color tone. The landscape is a pretty picnic table with food for eating which happens to be the fear of Rincon who had answered all eight questions faster than any other teen. The ants march down the mountain while killing some teens in the process for some evil reason. The smart teens run back and dump into Cubby Hole for a third time. Do you see the pattern here? The me-chee is using fear to stop the teens from accessing the next advancement into the color tone. Fear is going to freeze your feet onto the ground. After the ant attack, didn’t ya’ll feel like stopping or giving up? I did too. But I didn’t because of my mama, mostly. Well, because I’ve studied hard and I want the golden job badly. Inside the orange color tone the rain storm materialized. Actually the me-chee machine programmed all the teens into the valley of the thunder bolt because I beat out all ya’ll with my swift answers to the eight questions. I got into the orange room and then froze with my personal fear…”

Marsilla smiles. “So we’re supposed to work together and help each other. Is this the purpose of Citizenship Day? Well, I need help through this particular hostile park place, ya’ll,” nods.

Nephella says. “No. I froze with fear. I almost didn’t complete the physical feat of touching the rain water. Something so simple, I almost failed. Didn’t ya’ll see the pattern here? The me-chee uses fear to restrain the teens inside the color tone unless the teen fights back. Marsilla is so afraid of her fear that she might not leave. Inside the pink color tone all the teens having fun and laughing and eating the dead baby animal meat are going to work and live in Tonkey, the radiation pit. Now if someone told me that I was going to live and work there I would say, ah, naw. I’ll die within a year from the radiation poisoning. All the teens currently failing the academic questions and residing inside the yellow color tone are going to live and work in Dandine. All the teens inside the orange color tone are going to work in Burrville…”

“No, that’s not true,” I shake my curls.

Rincon nods. “Yes, all of this is very true. My mama didn’t tell me either but I figured it out when the vile teens started killing the poor animals. The Cubby Hole weeds out the smart teens from the rowdy teens using the IQ questions…”

“IQ testing, this is an IQ game. You’re smart or not.” Nephella nods and fingers the boxes. “This is not about jobs. This is about keeping the same population within their same park place. The trapped teens having fun and not giving a hoot about tomorrow inside the pink zone will live, marry and mate other single teens at Tonkey town square then raise little tikes to come into the Cubby Hole. If the little tike ain’t smart or serious enough about his personal freedom of choice then he is destined to be a radiation worker also. The cycle repeats…”

“So, what? I’ve studied all my life this day. I’m going to get the golden job,” Rincon nods.

Duchie frowns with confusion. “I think it’s very sad that the other teens already trapped inside their particular color tone don’t know this or haven’t been given the chance to improve their personal lives and meet their dream. My parents explained to me about the color tones, the me-chee, the Cubby Hole, the me-chee chair, and studying, but I didn’t understand the entrapment part…”

Marsilla frowns with disappointment. “This is non-fun mind game that determines your physical job for the rest of your life. Now I understand the order of the color chart.”

Rincon says. “Look, everyone gets a chance or a run of your personal intelligence or personal luck at the golden job during Citizenship Day and the Cubby Hole,” nods.

Duchie nods and smiles. “I agree with Nephella’s explanation except…”

“I told ya to spill your gust during the thunder storm, Duchie,” I fume with fury.

She grins. “I did. I will remind again. The next set of academic questions is going to get harder, not softer. I missed the fishes one. I know some of you did too. Okay, raise your hand if you got it right,” when I raise my hand alone then giggle. She frowns. “How did you get it right, Ketona?”

I nod and grin. “My parents purchased me a fish tank. Then I was expected to learn all about fishes, which is study of piscatology.”

“Good explanation!” Duchie frowns. “If I’m hit with more fishes question then I will not advance to the next color. I’ve been studying academic questions for years. I missed the fishes one. I do believe too that the me-chee wants more teens to stay behind and live within the outer towns rather than the posh and pretty Colfax. Think about it! If every single teen makes it into the golden color tone spot then Colfax would have to award every teen their dream job…”

Nephella smiles. “They do.”

I frown with confusion then scan the faces. “What? They do not. Where’s Lamis?”

Duchie giggles. “She jumped then fled the cliff. She didn’t like the jump or the water or the sun…”

“She’s going to grab the golden job first.” Rincon stands.

Nephella laughs. “Naw, there is no golden job. Every teen has an equal opportunity chance to answer 75 percent of the posed questions correctly then advance towards the gold color tone. I don’t know exactly who created the nickname, golden job…”

Rincon says. “My mama…”

Duchie nods, grinning. “This is about winning it all, including the golden job, your dream job for life, Nephella.”

Nephella laughs. “Where did your BPs end up after their personal visitation into the Cubby Hole? I can answer the question for you since we all live and play in Colfax except for Duchie. So Duchie is the exception here. Now our BPs have good jobs in Colfax too. This means that our BPs made it to the gold color tone. Why? Because they studied and passed the posed academic questions at least at the 75 percent passing score too. If every BP had failed the set of questions then we would not be here talking or living within Colfax. The other BPs, that did not make it into the gold color tone, live and work inside Montag or Tonkey or Albend or the outer towns. So the logical conclusion is that all the residents of Colfax who are our BPs passed the question and stepped into the gold color tone getting their dream job. So every teen here can pass the questions and step into the gold color tone getting their dream job too…”

I frown with confusion. “But…some of the teens that I know are kinda far behind like one or two color tones. How can they step into the gold color tone while I am kinda far ahead and will make it out, first?”

Nephella smiles. “Citizenship Day lasts until midnight. It does not end at one pm or three pm or six pm or ten pm or when the first teen reaches the gold color tone. No. No. No. I could be the first one before Rincon or I could hang out here under the cool shade tree for the rest of the afternoon then slide into my me-chee chair and then land inside the Cubby Hole. I can answer 75 percent of the next questions then advance into the green zone and then the blue zone and finally into the gold zone,” winks. “I have been studying, since talking too.”

Duchie nods. “The questions are getting both swiftly and harder. My mama said there are four questions timed at fifteen seconds each. So, four questions at 15 seconds are 60 seconds. The me-chee says the long winded question at a rate of six seconds. Four questions at six seconds are 24 seconds. I add 60 seconds plus 24 seconds is 84 seconds. There are 60 seconds in a minute. So we got one minute and 24 seconds within the next appearance of the Cubby Hole. That’s some swift time to address four hard questions then drop and zoom the me-chee into the next color tone blinking my eyelashes about 252 seconds since I blink at three lashes per second,” giggles.

Rincon frowns with confusion. “Nephella is half way right. Citizenship Day is almost all day long but the posed questions are finite and set and limited…”

Nephella nods. “Yes, each teen is asked the same academic set of questions within the Cubby Hole. It is a fair and just test but the system sucks,” nods with the other teens.

I frown with confusion. “Okay, wait! Let’s go back to some of the teens who are behind us. Actually, there are many teens behind us and out of the red zone based on the empty spots on the floor of the Cubby Hole. For example, the teen inside the orange color tone, she is inside the Cubby Hole in the orange color tone with the red walls for a second, because she failed the first time. But she has the chance to advance into the red color tone for a second try then his…her questions will be different from my set of questions that I original answered inside the red walls. So the second set of questions for the failed teen will be easier. Is this correct? Does everyone agree? Then the failed teen or the nervous teen can have a second try and pass into the new color chart while catching up with the other teens…”

Rincon shakes his curls then swipes away Nephella’s boxes. He draws a set of new boxes in the sand with his finger. “Naw, you’re incorrect. Each teen receives the same set of questions whether they reside in the red zone or the pink zone or the orange zone. I have drawn seven boxes staring with the correct color order of silver, pink, yellow, orange, red, green, blue not gold. Now, I will assign two teens symbols with the designation of A and B…”

Duchie laughs. “Use another set of alphabets like X and Y. Everyone uses A and B even my slow thinking teachers. Be creative, Rincon!”

Rincon laughs. “Yeah, creative. Okay, I will use the math number 1 representing me who races into the gold zone as first place. And I will use the math number of 0 representing the zero teen who gets to work all their life in Dookie Town,” laughs and winks at Duchie. She giggles.

I frown with annoyance. “Finish your illustration, Rincon. I’m waiting and watching and learning nothing here, so far.”

Rincon chuckles. “I draw the math number 0 and 1 under the first box of pretend color hue of silver. Use your creative minds here fooling your naked eyeballs. This is your starting point. Teens 0 and 1 are asked the same eight questions then the two teens pass and zoom into the second box of pink. Teens 0 and 1 are asked the same eight questions then the two teens pass and zoom into the third box of yellow. Teens 0 and 1 are asked the same eight questions. Watch me here! Teen 1 passes and zooms into the fourth box of orange. Teen 0 fails then stays inside the third yellow box. You see under my boxes. Teen 0 stays inside the third box of yellow. I have shifted Teen 1 forward into the fourth box of orange. Now Teen 1 gets tired of playing inside the fourth box of orange so Teen 1 drops into the Cubby Hole. The me-chee asks eight questions. Teen 1 passes and zooms into the fifth box of red. Teen 0 gets tired of playing inside the third box of yellow so Teen 0 drops inside the Cubby Hole. Teen 0 is asked the exact same eight questions from the me-chee…”