Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE
FAMILY VOLCANO
copyright 2007 Brian Clopper

The early morning sky greeted Graham with glorious pinks and oranges playing across the horizon. Dawn had arrived. Graham glanced out his window, staring intently at Mount Prometheus in the distance. He was late. He imagined Blord and his gang already at Parsons’ Plateau, picking on his troll friend. Ot was very on time and had probably arrived earlier than the bullies. He hurriedly washed his face, hands and wings, looped his satchel for school over his shoulder and stole a look at his teeth before dashing out of his room.

He entered the kitchen to see his sister and mother were busy working on Flenn’s science project at the kitchen table. They were putting the final painted touches on her volcano.

His mom turned to him and said, “You’re up awfully early. What dragged you out of bed?”

“I have to run a few errands for Grandfather. Don’t worry, I won’t be late for school,” Graham said in rapid-fire fashion as he made a beeline for the front door.

“No breakfast this morning?” his mom said, arching her rim of horns.

“Can’t. Got too much to do.” Graham was almost out the door when he heard his sister’s grating voice.

“He doesn’t like my volcano, Mom,” Flenn said, adding a pouting face at the end to punctuate her statement.

“Graham, you don’t have a minute to see what your sister has worked so hard on these last few days?” It was a question, but came out more like a motherly suggestion.

Graham rolled his eyes. A minute in little sisterland was more like an hour. “Yes, Mom.” He strolled over to the kitchen table.

Flenn’s face switched from sad to happy in a flash. She wrestled with a pile of note cards sitting behind the volcano, out of sight from Graham up until now. “I can practice my presentation with him.”

Graham slumped in his chair, flopped both arms up on the table and laid his chin down in defeat.

“Go ahead,” he said, trying desperately to find a spot on the wall to occupy his time while his sister droned on. Flenn meant well and was a great little sister, but she had too many questions and way too many answers. Graham’s parents called it endearing. Graham called it torture.

Flenn shuffled her note cards, tapped them neatly on the table to straighten them up and then looked out at her audience. She cleared her throat and began. “Good morning, class. As you know, we have been studying the geology of Cascade. Miss Brennan defined geology as the study of the earth and the forces that shape it. Since we don’t live on Earth anymore, we study Cascade’s geology.”

Graham shifted in his seat. His mother shot him a look.

“Volcanoes happen on Earth and volcanoes happen on Cascade as well. I have made a model of Mount Prometheus. It’s an active volcano that we live next to.” Flenn paused and looked up from her note cards. “This would be the time when I uncover the volcano to show the class,” she said matter-of-factly.

“It’s very nice,” mumbled Graham, focusing his attention on the freshly painted volcano.

Flenn took his response as a sign to continue. “Mount Prometheus is a cinder cone volcano. Lava doesn’t flow out of it. When it erupts, cinder and ash spurt out. That’s why it seems to always have a dark cloud of smoke coming out of it. The council isn’t worried about it, as it’s such a small volcano and hasn’t been too explosive.”

“That’s excellent, Dear.” Graham’s mom clapped enthusiastically.

Flenn smiled. “I have more.”

Graham looked at his mom for any sign he could excuse himself. She smiled at him and directed him to return his attention to his sister.

“This next section is where I pull down the class map and point out Cascade’s eight other known volcanoes. I have their heights, what type they are and whether they are active, dormant or extinct. Should I share that, even though I don’t have the map here?” Flenn looked eagerly at Graham.

“Mom, I really have to go. I won’t be able to finish my errands if I stay any longer.”

His mother walked over to Flenn and gave her a big hug. She turned to Graham and said, “You can go, but your sister is going to share the rest with the family at dinner tonight, okay?”

Graham jumped out of his chair and headed towards the door. “Great, thanks.”

“Don’t be late for school,” his mom said.

“I won’t.” Graham was out the door and on the front walk when he stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned around and walked back into the house. He ambled over to his sister and gave her a quick hug. “Your volcano looks really nice, almost like the real thing.”

Flenn gave him a great big hug in return. “Thanks.”

Graham smiled at his sister and then was out the door. He had his own volcano to deal with.

Graham took the main path that led to the village. After he was sure he was out of his mother’s eyesight, he took off into the woods, heading towards Parsons’ Plateau.