Quite Contrary Read Free Page A

I can’t think of an example.”
    “Wash,” I insisted as my shoes squished under my feet and left rainbow colored puddles on the concrete. The last step left me in a huge courtyard of gravel and asphalt, with looming buildings made mostly out of rusty pipes.
    “I don’t know offhand.” The Rat sniffed the air, but all I could smell was me. “I will find it for you, mistress, trust me. Crossing running water wouldn’t be a bad idea right now anyway.”
    So many questions. Screw them, I didn’t want to sound ignorant. Besides, there was something I had to say. I didn’t want to, but it was more important than all the complaining I really felt like doing.
    “You tried to save my life back there, rat. Maybe you did save my life. Thanks,” I grumbled reluctantly.
    “You are my responsibility, and I am yours, mistress. I hope to give much more than I take,” the furry little beast replied. He sounded smug.
    “Don’t call me that,” I snapped at him. Every time he said it, it nagged at me. “I get it, you’ve decided you’re my pet or whatever, but nobody uses that word anymore. For anything. Call me Mary, or ‘Miss’ if you really have to be formal about it. And tell me your name.”
    “I am Rat-In-Boots, Mary,” he answered. He stood up on his hind legs, which rats are good at anyway, and tried to bow, which rats aren’t good at.
    He was going to say more, but I had to object. “It’s Puss-In-Boots, and you aren’t wearing boots.”
    “I’m smarter than any cat, and I’ll take better care of you,” Rat-In-Boots sniffed proudly. I would have smiled if I weren’t covered in what I was afraid was zombie filth. “But you must give me the boots yourself. That should be our first priority. Find me some boots, and I’ll prove to you I’m better than a cat.”
    “Our first priority is getting me clean,” I corrected him firmly. I felt like I’d just been through exactly what I’d just been through, and rust was the least unpleasant thing caked onto my clothes.
    To my surprise, he didn’t argue. He took this stuff seriously. His pointy face craned around as he studied the dark buildings, and he mumbled, “Water, water; anything near a factory would be contaminated. We need to get out of here anyway. Modern stories are all lost kidneys and poison and the undead. That greenhouse might be just what we need.”
    He took off, his little clawed feet rattling over the gravel. The temptation hit me to turn around and walk the other way, but he was doing what I told him. I squelched after him, sounding as nasty as I felt.



his industrial yard was huge. The only light was the moon in the sky, sullen and slightly red. The air was cool and breezy, but not unpleasantly cold. A perfect Halloween night, at least to look at. In the dim distance, I could barely make out high walls surrounding the yard. They were a long way away, and Rat was leading me to a greenhouse instead.
    It almost fit in with the other buildings. The glass started a floor up and was broken and filthy, while the lower walls were made of cinderblocks stained with ancient, illegible graffiti. Dead trees poked branches out through the holes in the glass. When I walked around the corner to the front doors, I only caught ‘27’ before the metal sign over them fell off and crashed onto the gravel in front of me, lying face down.
    Now I grinned, despite it all. That had been perfect.
    Rat-In-Boots tried to get the door for me, jumping up to wrestle with a handle. I showed him my way. I kicked the double doors squarely in the middle, and they both jumped off their hinges and fell inwards. Ha!
    “Where are we, Rat?” I asked finally. If he belonged to me, I guessed I was allowed to ask questions.
    “Abandoned factory district. For the moment. Look there,” he answered, pointing down the row of dead trees inside the greenhouse.
    Instead, I looked back over my shoulder at the decrepit buildings and their smokestacks and pipes and gigantic holding