Free A Highly Unlikely Scenario, or a Neetsa Pizza Employee's Guide to Saving the World by Rachel Cantor Page B

before he could grab her waist, slid down the garage chute and cycled off on her Roadster.
    Come on, Felix, Leonard said. I have something amazing to show you: the White Room isn’t white anymore!
    Really? Felix sniffed. Can I wear my lumberjack suit in there?
    Yup.
    And my peaked cap?
    You can wear anything you like.
    Wow, Felix said, trying to take that in.
    We can de-white the walls, Leonard said. I think we should do that right now, don’t you?
Can’t go back there
    While Felix was changing, Leonard thought about what Isaac had said. Go to the University Library. That’s all. The rest will happen and you will know what to do.
    What do you mean? Leonard had said.
    Go to the University Library, Isaac said. The rest will happen and you will know what to do.
    Oh, Leonard said. Will I meet her there?
    Really! Mebbe you can trust me just a little?
    How will I know it’s her?
    You mean, will she give you refreshment from a well?
    Isaac was being sarcastic. Leonard decided not to ask.
    I haven’t left the house in three years.
    I know, Isaac said. And tomorrow you will.
    I’m a little scared, Leonard said.
    Bring Felix.
    He has school, Leonard said.
    No he doesn’t.
    Then he was gone.
    When Felix arrived back at the no-longer-white room, Leonard could see he’d opted for his rainbow suit and shiny slippers.
    Good choice, Leonard said.
    Felix beamed.
    You having a problem with school? Leonard asked.
    Mom’s taken me out. I have to be underground-schooled with other kids in her book group. No more brainwashing. That was before she got the call on her red pocket phone and went off. My teacher said, Raise an ignoramus for all I care. So Mom called her an imperialist tool. I don’t think I could go back even if I wanted to, which I don’t.
    Not to worry, Leonard said. I’ll take you to the University Library tomorrow. You’ll learn a lot there, we both will.
    But as they commenced to drawing on the walls of the no-longer-white room, Leonard couldn’t help but wonder what.

PART TWO
THE BRAZEN HEAD

The caravan
    The next morning, Felix was up bright and early, while Leonard was still on night-shift time. The boy was wearing a little fur jacket and white pants on which he’d embroidered images of his heroes—mostly people Leonard didn’t know, but Leonard was also there, on Felix’s knee. Bleary still, Leonard made some cinnamon buns, put jujuberries in a chokebag for later, and left some mealie pudding next to the cat-chimney for Medusa. Then he consulted the Brazen Head about library hours and caravan routes. To humor Felix, Leonard had the Brazen Head fart his reply. He then gathered coins from the peanut-butter jam square jar and was about to usher Felix out the door when Felix said, You’re wearing
that
?
    It was only what Leonard usually wore—green army pants and a roomy silverscan overshirt—but Felix seemed to think a trip to the University Library demanded something special, so they went to Leonard’s closet and chose a flowered climbing suit Leonard had never worn and a long gabardine coat that had once belonged to his grandfather. Thus attired, they made their way.
    It had been three years since Leonard had left the house, not counting the Time between Here and There. There were no scripts to follow, no Probable Scenarios, no saying he wouldn’t get dumped onto the municipal compost heap, or the adult equivalent, whatever that was. Aside from clients-in-pain, the Chipmunk Patrol, and the occasional screen-yak, Leonard had spoken with no one outside his family since the day he’d made himself a White Room. Until Milione. And Isaac.
    When the caravan arrived, Leonard helped Felix up the ladder onto the back. Felix was fine, but Leonard was shaking. So many strangers! But the passengers hardly noticed their arrival. A man in a straw hat was talking soothingly to some chickens in a mesh bag, another was playing backgammon against