Life in the NohoDome: "Davis Williams: True Adventurer #1" by Sam Neill Bebergal

Sam (left) is my seven year old nephew. He is writing a book. Its title is "Davis Williams: True Adventurer #1" and he has completed one chapter. My sister Amy Neill, his mother, has transcribed the story and it is presented here for the first time. The book will be illustrated by his father Peter Bebergal. In the meantime, I have taken liberties and added images to the story which do not do it justice but just consider them placeholders. If anyone wants to submit illustrations for any of the scenes, please feel free.

"Davis Williams: True Adventurer #1" by Sam Neill Bebergal

Preface Ah hem, sorry about that. Have you ever heard of the person named Davis Williams? To be exact, Williams is his last name. So, start the story now, go on, it’s not scary.

Once upon a time there was a boy. Years passed, and he grew into a grownup like anybody else. He knew about Indiana Jones, who was his favorite character. And his favorite actor was Harrison Ford. So, he was a grownup, and he decided to do something very secret, well, not exactly secret, but we’ll get to that later. He was 30 when he decided to do that secret. This man, Davis Williams, is going to live to be 125 years old. I know that’s pretty old, but that’s how long he’s going to live for, so let’s start the story.

There was a man named Davis Williams. Well, before this I told you the above words. He decided to do the secret. So the man’s secret was to be a hero and save people who were in trouble. Now I will tell you his strengths: boomerang, his muscles, a whip, and sometimes he senses packs of cherry bombs he can use. Now let’s get to the final final story—no more of this dumb talk.

Once upon a time there was a man walking in the jungle. He didn’t sense any trouble, no nothing, he was just having a fun time in the jungle, where he lives, a jungle by the beach. He was almost to his house when he saw a branch fall. A stick fell on his head and he said “Ow,” in an inside voice. He covered his head. He took his hands off his head and looked up and saw…..a giant Godzilla throwing sticks and trees and leaves and lizards. He saw the head and body of a lizard falling down, and then he saw a full lizard falling on his head, pulling his hair. He took the lizard off and threw him back. It landed on the gorilla’s head and he kept walking. The gorilla got up and ran towards him. He tapped his back.

Davis Williams turned around and said "what" in a tired voice. The Gorilla took off his head, and there was a human inside. He took of his suit and it turned out to be his long lost brother Freddie. He was only 46—a lot older. Davis Williams took his hand and wiped off the sweat on his forehead. "What a relief," he said. "I thought it was going to be some monster or the gorilla!" Davis said to Freddy, "come to my house this way." Freddy was twirling his head in circles and didn’t know where he was going. He ran towards him and said, "wait up." " You’re right next to me," said Davis. "I was behind you," said Freddie.

They finally got to a quiet little house and a butterfly went past. He opened the door to his house. There were two monkeys holding hands going in circles. The radio was on playing jazz. Davis turned off the radio and looked at the monkeys with a naughty look on his face. One monkey was wearing his baseball cap from the US from before he moved to the jungle. The other monkey was wearing a birthday hat from when he was a kid. He picked up the monkeys and took off the hats and threw them outside. The monkeys grabbed onto vines and climbed up. Davis didn’t know what the vines were attached to because there were no trees or branches above. He looked up and saw a world, like a globe. The monkeys kept climbing so Davis said, "c’mom Freddy, let’s go."

Freddie climbed faster. Davis caught up and at the same pace they went all the way up—well not exactly all the way--they had a few more minutes to go. They started to get hungry. Davis said to Freddy in his inside voice, like always, "good thing I brought my snack machine." He poured it into his mouth, a few chunks of food fell in. He swallowed them without chewing. Freddy did the same thing and gave it back to Davis. Davis put it in his pocket and they kept climbing.

They finally got up. He knocked on the world. It felt hollow. He looked to the left—nothing there—more trees. To the right he saw a small platform and those two monkeys doing flips. Then he saw a small door that seemed like the right size for three monkeys. He saw the two monkeys going in. He jumped as far as he could, saying "AHHHHH." Then he realized he was on his feet with his mouth open from the scream. He went into the door to the world—it was a dance room.

He saw a dinosaur coming down and falling. He looked down and he started to fall. He knocked on his head a few times, and then he woke up. In his mind he thought it was just a dream.

"Tomorrow I have a big day. I am going to move to California." He got out of bed and put his clothes on, the suit that he had of the secret I told you about above. So, he got on that suit and he went outside and started to walk down the street some more. He got in his car, a convertible, and he drove away. He drove and drove and took the map out of the car and looked at it even though the car was still driving. He was very good at safety. He squinted at the map and realized he made a wrong turn on route 69. He saw a house in the distance.

He got out of the car with the map and backpack and suitcase and everything and went to the house. The little slot on the door opened, a ball connected to a bendy pipe came out. He heard a speak he had never heard before in a very low voice. Super low, lower that you would think. He heard a short word: "meekkoba." He knocked on the ball connected to the pipe and he heard a high voice just like a mouse that was about to die. The voice stopped and the door opened. He saw a regular person from America he could tell, but it didn’t speak the same language. He put a little thermonator* in his mouth and he started to speak Davis’ language.

He said "Hello," and Davis said "Hello" back. He saw the mouse voice was Freddy and Freddy was drinking some coffee. The unknown person said to Davis, "come in, sit next to this man named Freddy." Davis said to the man, "I know who Freddy is, he is my brother." The man said to David: "Good luck! You see your brother." The man said to nobody in a loud voice: "Avotolose." And he disappeared. Right in front of them, Davis and Freddy saw a black cloak on the table. Davis walked over and picked it up. There was a man inside with a wrinkly gray face and red pointy eyes. Davis saw two black lines, and knew they were his arms.

The cloaked man started to choke Davis. While he was getting choked, Davis punched him in the nuts. The wrinkly man fell down and pulled on Davis’ legs; instead of falling down, he did a back flip and hit his nuts again. The wrinkly man took off his cloak and underneath there was another cloak so if it came off he wouldn’t have to be naked in front of everyone. He put the first cloak around Freddy to see Freddy’s strength. Davis took a shovel from Freddy’s shoulder belt and bumped Freddy’s head. Freddy slid out of the cloak but the wrinkly man thought he was still inside the cloak. While the wrinkly man still holding the empty cloak, Davis took him and threw him up and down, catching and throwing, catching and throwing, 4 times. The wrinkly man got up and took his head off, and there was nothing there but two floating eyes. He reached into his neck and took out a replacement head.