The Caterpillar King Read Free Page A

all I remember.”
    “Bad ending,” she said. “Lacking
resolution.”
    “Trust me,” I said. “I don’t want my
memory to stop there. It just does.”
    “Dream woman,” said Tika, clearly enchanted.
“Maybe we should find this dream woman.”
    That was just like Tika—always coming up
with something for us to do.
    “I wouldn’t have the first clue where to
look,” I said.
    “I would,” said Tika. She motioned to the
two holes. “Underground.”
    “No way,” I said.
    “You are afraid?” she said.
    “I’m not doing it.”
    “Well,” said Tika, “Why don’t we play a
game?”
    “Sure,” I said. I was more than happy for
her to change the subject, and I suggested we play sticks and
rocks. But Tika didn’t seem all that interested. I realized that
we’d been playing a lot recently, so it was understandable.
    “Hmm,” said Tika, thinking very seriously.
“Is there some way to make it more exciting? What if we were to bet
something on it?”
    I looked around every inch of the ditch.
“Umm…I don’t really have much to bet.”
    “How about this,” she said. “If I win, you
go down into the hole with me.”
    “No chance,” I said.
    “Wait, let me explain more.” She cracked a
smile. “And if you win, I’ll never ask you to follow me down
there again.”
    That was an offer worth considering. She’d
been asking me to go underground at least a dozen times a day, and
hearing the same question again and again had gotten a little bit
old.
    “Think about it this way,” she said. “You
win, and I stop bothering you. But even if you “lose,” you’ll have
a great time, going on an adventure. What else will you do
today?”
    It was hard to argue with her there.
    “So,” I said. “If I win, you’ll really stop
bugging me?”
    She frowned. “That’s not funny,” she said.
But I could tell she didn’t mean it.
    “OK,” I said. “Let’s play.”
    I gathered up the six sticks and four
stones. The game was simple: I had to throw all the sticks and
stones at least halfway across the ditch. If they landed clean side
up, I got a point. Dirty side up, I lost a point. Old Guy kept
score. First to ten points wins.
    Since Tika was too small to throw, I took
her turn for her. But before I made the toss, she always liked to
arrange the pieces in my hand just so. She thought she could change
the outcome with her strategy.
    “You first,” she said. It wasn’t often she
let me start, but I took it gladly. I tossed the pieces across the
line, and they scattered in every direction. One even bounced back
towards me, which meant it didn’t count. Old Guy held up two
fingers.
    “You must get me a four,” said Tika. “ At
least a four.”
    After I rounded up the pieces, Tika crawled
into my hand. She nudged one rock all the way into the middle of my
palm. Then she organized the sticks so they were touching at the
corners. It looked like a honeycomb.
    “Throw it, Finch,” she said. “Throw it
now.”
    I tossed the bundle. Even before it landed,
I knew it was a good one. As the pieces bounced across the line, I
saw a bunch of clean sides. After they settled, Old Guy held up an
eight. That was a fantastic score. I had the feeling that I was
going to be burrowing any minute now.
    “At this game, I am the world champion,” she
said.
    Going underground was bad enough, but losing
to Tika would be the worst. She’d hold it over me forever. So I
came up with a plan. I’d put together the sticks and stones just
like she did. That way, I’d get an eight, too. It was my best
chance.
    “I hope you enjoy your biggest failure,”
Tika said, laughing. But I wasn’t paying attention to her. I was
arranging my sweet victory. “Hey, what’re you doing?” she said.
“You cannot-”
    I let the honeycomb go with a standard toss.
It landed in almost the exact same place as hers did. Old Guy held
up a six. Now the score was eight to eight, and I was only two
points away from winning.
    “That’s not