Point of view: creative fiction 8

Uncle Radcliffe’s House

1. My dad makes me visit Uncle Radcliffe every so often, and we stay the afternoon, usually. Dad chats with him about the weather, the president, and his customers at his appliance store. I bring my homework because I would rather do that than listen to Dad’s rants about the president. What’s great is that these visits have really upped my geography game. You see, Uncle Radcliffe has a globe in the corner of his living room—it’s one of those globes that rests on a wooden stand. I previously thought it was a coat rack, although there were never any coats on it.
2. One visit a few months back, I was mulling over my worksheet “Capitals of Spanish-Speaking Countries.” I didn’t know Uruguay from Paraguay, and Chile—I just thought that was something to eat. Anyway, that day, Uncle Radcliffe’s Wi-Fi was acting up, so I looked over at the globe and figured if I couldn’t count on Google to find my answers, the globe would have to do. As I placed my finger on a spot in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, about a foot of dust cascaded to the ground, and I sneezed loudly. Uncle Radcliffe yelled “Gesundheit!” as I wiped my nose. I then placed my finger back on the globe. The first country on my list was Argentina, so I said “Argentina” out loud, rolling my "r" like you’re supposed to. Oddly, and rather disturbingly, the globe started to turn very slowly. I was afraid to lift my finger, so I kept it on the globe. Suddenly, the globe stopped. Underneath my finger was the country of Argentina. I looked for the star that represents the capital city and found Buenos Aires. This definitely wasn’t normal and I started to question if my Uncle Radcliffe wasn’t really my dad’s brother at all, but rather some alien that had taken over his body. When I glanced over at him, he gave me a creepy nod, winked, and asked, “What do you think of my globe?” Unable to stammer a reply, I just nodded curtly and turned my gaze back to my worksheet. Rather than address the situation at hand, I just focused on my schoolwork. (Why? I don’t know. Panic probably.) Next on the list: Bolivia. I said “Bolivia” out loud in my best Spanish accent and the globe inched down and to the right so my finger rested on Bolivia. The capital: La Paz.
3. When I told my dad I completed my homework, he smiled. “This kid,” he told Uncle Radcliffe, “he’s a smarty pants!”
4. Each visit since that moment of discovery has been worthwhile not only because I’ve learned the provinces of Canada, the names of the rivers in Asia, and calculated the current time in different time zones based on UTC time—that means Universal Coordinated Time, in case you didn’t know—but also because I’ve discovered the truth about my old Uncle Radcliffe. So now when Dad says we’re visiting Uncle Radcliffe, I always reply “let’s go!”

“Unable to stammer a reply, I just nodded curtly and turned my gaze back to my worksheet.”