They Call Him Judah

By Domenic Russo

In, They Call Him Judah, Judah and Barney become fast friends. Both boys are caring and trusting. Throughout the story Barney experiences some strange occurrences when around Judah. Judah’s the new kid, and Barney, who is constantly being impressed by Judah, enjoys taking him around the school. Judah is quickly introduced to a Bully in this story. On several occasions, Judah and Barney find ways to get out of the situations without harm. Unfortunately, the Bully is relentless which leads to a showdown with Judah. This is only the beginning, as reality and make-believe start to cross, engaging Barney, his friends, and the Bully into a waking dream.

Pg. 52We weren’t far at all from the lake when we heard the first scream. Instantly we were running in the direction of the lake. Judah was in the lead, he was holding back because he didn’t want to get too far ahead of us. Joe and me were right behind him and Manny was pullin’ up the rear. My heart was pumping so hard I could feel it in my ears. The trees were rushing by us. At first all we could hear were screams of terror. None of us spoke, but I’m sure we were all thinking about what we were going to find up ahead.

The boys learn about trust and loyalty. They gain greater understanding of friendship and the importance of family. Barney learns all of these things and discovers his missing confidence through Judah.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Domenic Russo
• Release date: Oct 23, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310923784

Book preview

They call him Judah

Written by: Domenic J RussoCover

Art by: Megan Yiu

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 Domenic J. Russo

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

Prologue

I walked up the steps to my dirty old attic, lost in thought of the nightmare from my dreams last evening. I haven’t had one as chilling in a long time.

CREEEEEEEK! The door to the attic doesn’t get used a whole lot. I should probably put some grease on those hinges.

The nightmare Cole had the other night, triggered something in my mind. Do I tell him that monsters aren’t real? I hadn’t thought of it for so long.  I needed to remember.  Or did I?  I felt compelled to read my journal. That is what dragged me up here to the attic in the first place. If I talked to Judah about this he would probably tell me to stop thinking about it.

The chest is beat-up and old. Thankfully it has a key lock because there is no way I would remember a combination. I open the top and begin rooting around through my journals. There are more here than I remember writing. But I know it’s at the bottom. It’s the first one.

Pulling the journal out of the wooden chest, I look around for a chair to sit on. The light switch is dangling in front of me. I hesitate, my eyes following it as it swings back and forth. Sighing, I give in and turn it on. The light shines down on the title. The Case of the Grizzly Goulish Man-Creature. Chuckling to myself about the title, I slowly opened the cover and began reading.

Chapter 1

My name’s Barney, and boy do I have a story to tell. It all began innocently enough one evening when I saw a moving truck outside. The truck pulled up and parked in front of the house directly across from where I live. It made a lot of noise and shook the windows when it rolled up around dinnertime. My parents and I just sat down to eat.

Dad, let me run over and say hey! I continued, I saw a boy my age!

Barney, the boy is probably busy unpacking. You can go say ‘hey’ after dinner or in the morning, my father replied responding to my plea.

So we continued to have the dinner my Dad prepared for us. I told my parents about my day and enjoyed a delicious meatloaf with mac n’ cheese and broccoli on the side meal. It’s one of my favorites. I love meatloaf. I can eat it hot, cold, at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Tomorrow, it’ll be leftovers and I’ll get a meatloaf sandwich for lunch. Sweet!

As I helped clean up the table and dishes, my mom shared a letter from my brother Anthony. He traveled to Guatemala building homes with the Peace Corps. We all missed him and looked forward to his letters and pictures. Shortly after, with my homework already finished, I went outside. Unfortunately, the truck had already gone and the driveway sat empty. I felt a little disappointed. I looked forward to meeting the new kid. It’s not that I don’t have friends; but I believe what my mom always tells me, ‘It’s better to have one more friend, than one less.’ Also, I understand the difficulties in being new. It would be nice for both of us to have someone to walk to school with since my closest friends walk to school from a different direction. So, I went back in the house, grabbed my new Spiderman comic, and went upstairs to get ready for bed.

Lifting my head from my pillow the next morning, I looked out the window as the sun peeked out and began to shine. I could already tell the day would be beautiful. Only a few clouds in the sky and a whole lotta’ sun! There will be a slight chill in the air, but at least the sun will be out. I love sunshine, so I sat for a moment soaking it up while I wondered if our new neighbors were home. We had to go to school; so maybe I can meet the boy walking to school. But, maybe I should go over to his house first. He might not know the time we have to be at school. A silver, four door car now resided in the driveway.

Anyway, ‘I gotta’ get ready,’ I remembered. First, I picked my clothes for the day, jeans and my favorite green-hooded sweatshirt. Second, I took a shower and brushed my teeth. My routine. Finally, I headed downstairs for some morning breakfast before I headed off to school.

Barney, please fix your own bowl of cereal, you are a big boy, my mother stated as she never falls for my pleas of laziness.

Of course I hoped to find it ready for me as we teased back and forth. I’m always asking her why my breakfast isn’t ready, and she just teases back.

I’ll get it. I’m only trying to make you feel better, thinking you would feel like I still needed you, I muttered trying to butter her up.

I love you too, honey. Now finish up and get yourself off to school, she said with a smile.

My mother epitomized the phrase busy lady, and hurriedly got herself ready for work. So I ate, cleaned my plate, gave her a kiss and thought ‘I still need those’, headed out the door, and across the street.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what the boy was going to be like. What if he wasn’t nice? What if he didn’t like me? ‘Just be yourself, Barn,’ I said to myself. Who doesn’t want to make a new friend, especially if you’re a new kid. All I can do is ring the doorbell and put out the hand of friendship; guess it’ll be up to him to take it.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Yikes… as the awful sounding buzzer stopped. It sounded like a sick duck trying to be a bee. I hope his parents weren’t sleeping.

Who is it? The voice came from behind the door. Sounded like a boy.

It’s Barney. I live across the street and am heading to school.

And you felt the need to come to our house to tell us? the voice responded.

I smiled. My statement did sound kinda’ funny. "Well…no, I just thought I saw a boy over here who might be goin’ to my school. Silence. The door opened.

The boy had stringy brown hair flowing down past his ears and he let it hang down in the front, almost covering his eyes. He had a long thin face and stood a full head taller than me. He appeared to be very skinny but seemed to have a roughness about him. The boy stuck out his hand and said, Name’s Judah. Wow, his strength came through as he grasped my hand. I felt like he could have crushed my hand had he wanted to.

Sorry, sometimes I squeeze a little too tight if I don’t think about it, he said calmly.

‘How strange, it is as if he heard what I was thinking,’ I pondered to myself.

Hey, Judah! My name’s Barney. I held up a hand to stop the retort I knew would come. "Before you ask, yea it’s from the Flintstones. Both my parents loved the Flintstones. My mom… well… she thought the name Barney sounded cute. They didn’t put too much forethought into it though because it seems most teenagers do not think it’s cute. So, are you going to school today?

I am. My things are packed and I am ready to go. My mom signed me up yesterday, so I knew where to go, but I’m glad I have someone to walk with. I’ll be right back, the words trailed behind as Judah dashed away.

In the meantime, his mom came to the door and introduced herself as Sheila. She thanked me for coming over to get Judah. Sheila worried for him as this began a new chapter in his life. She extremely appreciated my welcoming him to the neighborhood. Sheila wished us both a good day and off we went.

We were just walkin’ and talkin’. Judah immediately came off to be genuinely kind. He told me again how relieved he felt by me stopping by to pick him up for school.

He continued, Me and my mom have moved around a lot. It gets frustrating sometimes, to constantly be making new friends.

I wanted to meet you last night; but when I ran over to say hello, the moving truck had already gone, I said.

Judah responded, "We