Henry, Ho-Ho and the bug flies

Author’s Note: warts in children are pretty common and are a nuisance to remove. Yet they do disappear by using suggestion – everyone has heard of “charming warts away” and the various “old wives tales” that have reputedly worked; I myself have hypnotised warts away on several occasions! This story was written for a little girl who was distressed by her warts and didn’t want to have them burned off. Unfortunately, the warts started to disappear while she was having the earlier Ho-Ho stories read and before she got to this “wart-curing” story! If your child has warts, why not try this story, altering the details of Samantha to fit your own child…. It is probably the best, and certainly the kindest alternative treatment!

Henry, Ho-Ho and the bug flies

“… but please don’t call me Sam!” pleaded Henry’s little cousin, “my name is Samantha!”  Henry was very impressed by her definite opinions on what she should be called.  “And please call me Henry” he responded in agreement… they were going to be good friends…

Samantha lived a long way away from Henry, so he rarely saw her, but as it happened, her parents were staying in the local town ‘on business’ and so it was arranged for Samantha to stay with Henry, so that she would have someone to play with.

This was her first morning and already they were sitting under the damson tree having a late breakfast of rolls and honey and orange juice.  She was talking about her school and her friends at her home in Ridgeley and what she wanted to do when she grew up.

“And how do you spend your time?”  She finally asked.  Henry really did not know what to say; he felt rather silly with this clever little girl who seemed to do so much.

“I sort of help to solve people’s problems!”  He finally said.

“What sort of problems?”  Asked Samantha, looking rather doubtful.

“All sorts… all sorts of problems” said Henry, hoping she would change the subject.

“Yes, but what sorts of problems?”  Persisted Samantha.  Henry scratched his head, “what sort have you got?”  He finally asked.

Samantha laughed a lovely tinkling laugh, “I don’t have any problems at all” she said shaking her head, then stopped and looked serious, “apart from these -look!”  She held her hand out to Henry; it had some strange shiny lumps on them.

“What are they?”  Asked Henry, never having seen anything like them at all before.

“They are called ‘warts'” said Samantha with an air of wisdom, “and nothing can make them go away, apart from having them burned off, and I certainly don’t want that!  I have been to the doctor and he has tried with creams, but nothing can make them go, and I hate them – they look horrible.”

Samantha was a mine of information about warts and Henry listened with great interest.  It seems that they are caused by tiny little creatures called viruses which set up house in the skin and although they don’t damage the person in any way, they look horrible.  Finally they just go away, but in the meantime, nothing works very well (apart from burning them away) and you just have to put up with them.

“Shall I get my magnifying glass so that we can see these tiny creatures?”  Asked Henry.  Samantha burst out laughing, “you can’t see them with a magnifying glass,” she giggled, “viruses are very, very tiny bugs indeed!”

Henry very much wanted to show Samantha that he was interesting and clever, but he had no idea how to tackle things too small to even see!

“Can girls keep secrets?”  He asked looking at her very carefully.

“Some girls can’t keep secrets, but I can; in fact there are some secrets I can’t even tell you, Henry.”

“All right,” whispered Henry, “here comes my big secret!”

Henry began to tap gently on the tree and called quietly for his friend Ho-Ho, “its okay to come on down” he whispered up into the branches.  Samantha looked on, amazed by this strange behaviour.  Suddenly there was a ‘ plop’ and a small object fell from the tree and landed on the grass.  Soon it began to grow bigger and bigger until it was a full grown, smiling elephant.  Ho-Ho looked very sleepy and was rubbing his eyes with his huge limbs.  He looked so funny that Henry began to laugh, and that made Ho-Ho start laughing and, finally overcoming her astonishment, Samantha began to laugh too.  Soon all three of them were crying with laughter.

“This is Samantha” Henry finally managed to announce, “she is my cousin and has invisible bugs that live in her skin and make it lumpy” he added to make her sound more interesting.

“They are called warts” added Samantha, “and nothing can make them better!”

“I bet Ho-Ho can!”  Said Henry, “can’t you Ho-Ho?”  The poor elephant looked so puzzled and sleepy that the two children burst into laughter once again.

“I needs to wake up first” said Ho-Ho, “Let’s go for a ride in the balloon!”

“Would you like that?”  Henry asked Samantha.

“I’d really love to go riding in the sky” she said, with great enthusiasm.

Ho-Ho smiled a mischievous happy smile: “that’s settled then!”  He said.

 

Soon the three friends were high above the clouds, bobbing along in Uncle Dennis’s huge balloon.  “This is wonderful” cried Samantha, her eyes wide open with delight, “this is far, far better than any of my secrets!”

The balloon as always seemed to have a mind of its own, and after what seemed like hours, it began to slowly descend from the sky.  Soon Henry could see a beautiful island nestling in the blues sea… it looked familiar, and it seemed that they were heading for a very special island

 

Even before the balloon landed, Samantha was amazed to see a crowd of children gathering in excitement and pointing up at them.  “It’s Henry and Ho-Ho – they’ve come back!”  One of the children cried.

Soon they had landed and the crowd of children were welcoming them with drinks.  It was very, very warm and the three friends were grateful for the long drinks which they drank very quickly indeed.  Life always seemed so happy on the island and the children were obviously delighted to welcome Henry and Ho-Ho back.  Samantha was soon established as a very welcome guest also… she had never felt so popular.

Later as they gathered around the campfire, Henry told of their latest adventures to a captive audience.  The food as usual, was wonderful and the happiness of the children was infectious.

“I like it here” said Ho-Ho contentedly, “but why” he puzzled, scratching his ear, “has the balloon brought us here this time?”

Henry and Ho-Ho looked at each other wonderingly; they would soon find out.

 

As they sat and ate and talked, there was something bothering Henry – he didn’t know quite what it was -some subtle annoyance.

“Is something different from the last time we were here?”  He asked.  The children didn’t know, but then Lydia, the big girl spoke up:

“It might be the bug-flies?”

That was it!  The flies!  They were small, brown insects and very irritating to the skin – and there were lots of them.  In the excitement of arriving, Henry had not noticed them.  Now he was very aware of them and how much they irritated the children who were scratching wherever the flies landed.  Perhaps that was why the balloon had landed on the island; it was up to Henry and Ho-Ho to rid the island of the bug-flies!

“How long have they been here?”  Asked Henry.

“Just a few weeks,” explained Lydia, but they seem to be increasing in numbers and we just don’t know what to do to get rid of them.”

“The only other slight problem,” Lydia continued, “is that we can’t drink our cool water any more as it is full of small creatures.”

The island, you see, had a spring in an underground cave, and, sheltered from the sun, provided the most wonderful pure, cool water any time of the day, no matter how hot it was outside.  There were many warm springs on the island, but no water tasted so good as the cool cave water.

Dusk was beginning to fall.  Suddenly all the flies were gone!  It was so nice to be free from the itchy ugly pest!

“Where have all the flies gone?”  Asked Henry.

“They just disappear at night” Lydia said simply, “… pity really, as they are luminous in the dark and easier to kill!”  She added laughingly.  Henry and his friends fell into a wonderful deep sleep, even though his mind was still trying to grapple with the problem of the bug-flies.

 

An hour later Henry was wide awake, thinking about the wonderful children and the bug-flies.  He looked over at Ho-Ho and Samantha; they were also wide awake and seemed to be thinking about the same problem.

“How can we get rid of the bug-flies?”  Henry asked out loud.

Ho-Ho, remembering how helpless he felt when he was sleepy, said:

“We must catch them when they are sleepy.”  The three friends thought for a while.  “That’s it!”  Said Henry at last, “we must find out where they go at night and catch them there!”

“But how can we find them in the dark?”  He added helplessly.

“The children said that they are luminous; “said Samantha, “that means that they glow in the dark and we should easily be able to find them!”

After a short discussion, the three friends decided to explore the island and find out where the buzz-flies went at night.  It was a brave decision, as the island had no lights, and away from the fire, it was pitch black apart from the light of the moon when it peeped from behind the clouds.

 

Everywhere on the island seemed to lead upwards to a central extinct volcano.  The friends had taken off their shoes to make less noise as they slowly made their way upwards.  At first, the ground was sandy underfoot, but later they could feel a coarse grass under their feet.  Occasionally they walked across small streams and rivulets which felt warm on their bare feet.

“What’s that?”  Said Henry, startled by a strange animal noise in the distance.

“That’s my friend the bird owl” said Ho-Ho smiling at a distant memory.  Henry stopped: “why do you call it a bird owl, Ho-Ho?”  Asked Henry.

“Because” said Ho-Ho thoughtfully, “that is its name… everything has a name for a reason.”

The friends continued.  The flickering shadows as the moon appeared from behind the clouds, cast an eerie light on the strange landscape that made you feel that you were being watched by a thousand eyes, peering from behind each bush and tree.  An occasional strange animal cry pierced the air and made the hair on the back of Samantha’s neck stand on end.

After what seemed like hours, the friends were close to the top of the mountain and were obviously no further in their quest.

“We are getting nowhere,” said Henry, “let’s have a rest and a think.”

They sat down in silence, soothing their feet one of the many warm streams that were all over the island, though each of the friends very sad at their lack of success.  A cloud passed in front of the moon, and everything was totally still and silent.

“What’s that noise?”  Asked Samantha.  The friends listened attentively.  Ho-Ho’s ears were not only enormous, but also very, very sensitive.

“It’s coming from down there,” he finally said, “follow me!”  They followed him down through some thick bushes to a small clearing.

“Careful!”  Said Ho-Ho.  There was a huge crack in the earth, quite big enough for a small child to fall into; this was where the noise was coming from.  The three friends peered down into its depths: there were the bug-flies, luminous, buzzing and diving in and out of the cold water at the bottom.  The friends watched in total fascination, amazed by the extra-ordinary sight.

 

Back at the camp, Henry stared into the dying embers of the fire, totally baffled by the mysteries of the bug-flies.

“Have you ever seen anything like this before, Ho-Ho?”  Asked Henry.

“mmmm” said Ho-Ho, thoughtfully, “the flies remind me of hippos”

Henry and Samantha began to laugh; they had both seen the hippopotamus at the zoo… it was so huge that any connection with the bug-fly seemed quite silly.

“You see,” went on Ho-Ho undeterred, “the hippo gets so hot, that he has to spend the whole time cooling down by sinking himself in rivers and mud!”

The friends thought for a while.

“Ho-Ho, you are a genius!”  Said Henry excitedly, “the flies become too hot and that’s why they glow in the dark.  That’s why they need the cool water at night to cool themselves down!  If we could stop them getting to the cool water, they will have to go somewhere else!”

But how were they to do it?  It would be impossible to seal off all the cracks in the earth to stop the flies getting in, and no one knew where the cool water came from… it seemed impossible.

Samantha looked at her hand and stared sadly at the warts; both the problem of the flies and the problem of her warts seemed hopeless.

“What if we could warm up the cool water?”  She finally said, “The bug-flies don’t seem to like the warm water and they would probably leave the island and go somewhere else.” Then she remembered all those streams of warm water, and a brilliant idea crossed her mind. She jumped up excitedly, “If we can channel one of those warm streams into that enormous crack where we nearly fell in, we can maybe warm up the cool water that way! Do you remember those warm streams?”

The friends did remember, they remembered the warm soothing water on their feet and how close it was to the bug-flies.  This was the answer: it was time for action!

 

Henry wakened all the children and told them to bring their spades, trowels and shovels – anything they could lay their hands on to dig a trench.  They trusted Henry so much, that the children didn’t even question what he was doing.  Soon they were high up on the mountain digging away and making a channel to take the warm water into the huge crack.  Ho-Ho, in spite of his huge size, was not very good at digging, but made himself useful by ensuring that none of the children fell into the crack in the darkness.  Soon the job was done, and the warm water was gushing down into the darkness of the crack onto the bug-flies, making a beautiful sound.

“To the top of the mountain!”  Cried Henry and everyone followed him to the very summit.  As Ho-Ho and all the children watched in the darkness there was not a sound to be heard, they just watched and waited.  Soon there was a loud buzzing, humming noise and an enormous cloud of luminous flies emerged from the crack, hovering above the ground for a few seconds and then speeding out across the sea.  The children began to cheer, a cheer that lasted until the first flickerings of sunrise crept over the horizon.

 

Back in the balloon, soaring above the clouds, Samantha could scarcely believe what had happened.  She was completely exhausted, but could scarcely sleep, remembering the excitement of her adventures… and she had been really helpful; it had been her idea to warm up the cool water.  Perhaps Ho-Ho and Henry could solve any problem… even her warts.  After all they were only little bugs in the skin, and although she didn’t want to have them burned off, she wouldn’t mind them being warmed off.  She asked Ho-Ho what he thought.  Everyone was dreaming in the balloon, and Ho-Ho’s voice was dreamy and made Samantha doze off… “your skin warms up when you’re excited or embarrassed” he droned on, as the gentle winds whispered around the balloon, “so you can let your skin warm up by just thinking about it and you can feel your warts getting warmer and warmer”… she wasn’t sure if Ho-Ho touched the warts with his trunk or if she had just imagined it, “and as they get warmer and warmer… every day… the warts get smaller and smaller and smaller… and the bugs don’t  like the warmth… and in the warmth they just go away… just smaller and smaller every single day…”… and it was all just like a dream, but the warts did feel warmer and she felt absolutely sure that they were starting to go; Ho-Ho’s voice droned on and Samantha felt just wonderful…

 

Later that evening, Samantha and Henry were sitting having supper.  Her mother and father had joined them for the meal.

“And what has my little girl been doing today?”  She asked.

“Oh, nothing very much,” replied Samantha, “we just sat and talked under the damson tree.”  She gave a knowing wink at Henry; he knew that his secret was safe with her.

As for Samantha, she felt happier than at any time in her life and as she watched the warts disappear over the next few weeks, she grew in confidence and every day remembered her amazing adventure with Henry and Ho-Ho.

 

©bernardshevlin©