Bam Bam Rubble's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

The storm hit the night after Jake left. Bam Bam watched the rain slide off his pitched roof while the wind howled. The boards held. But the empty ridge around him stayed dark and silent. A good roof wasn't a home. He needed people. The next morning he walked down to find Tinker, the young racer who'd helped build his hut. Tinker was in the garage, bent over his buggy, a wrench in his hand. He didn't look up. "Roof hold?" "It held," Bam Bam said. "But nobody's up there with me. Just me and the wind." Tinker set the wrench down. "So bring them up." Bam Bam frowned. "Why would they come? There's nothing on that ridge worth the climb." Tinker thought. "Give them a reason. People came to watch me run the buggy. Noise and fire pulls a crowd." He almost smiled. "I don't gather folks. I just go fast and they show up." He shrugged and picked the wrench back up. That stuck with Bam Bam. Back in Bedrock, the big fire pulled everyone close after dark. Here the fires went cold. So he would build a fire too big to ignore. He spent two days hauling stone and stacking logs on the ridge. He built a wide pit, taller than any hearth. On one side he set an iron grate so people could cook. When it was done, he lit it at dusk. Flames leapt higher than his hut. The glow spread across the whole ridge. Then he waited. The wind carried smoke down toward the scattered huts. Bam Bam stood by the grate and wondered if anyone would come at all. Elroy arrived first. He was the rocket pilot who'd helped raise the hut, fast on his feet and faster with words. He climbed the slope and stared at the blaze. "Saw this from my window," he said. "Whole ridge is orange." "Food's on the grate," Bam Bam said. "Stay." Tinker came next, carrying a drum of music under his arm. More followed, folks from the far huts who'd never climbed the ridge before. They came for the light and the smell of cooking meat. Bam Bam handed out food and kept the fire fed. By full dark, a dozen people sat around the grate. Elroy argued racing with Tinker. Strangers laughed and passed food. The ridge wasn't silent anymore. One old man set down his plate and looked around. "Good spot up here," he said. "Close to the quarry work. A man could build near this fire." Two others nodded. Bam Bam felt his chest go warm. He had his reason now. The fire was the pull. People didn't come for an empty ridge, but they came for a gathering place. And a gathering place could grow neighbors. The old man stayed late. Before he left, he pointed at a flat patch of ground downslope. "I'll stake there. Come spring." Bam Bam watched him go and knew his lonely ridge had just gained its first settler.