The Caterpillar King Read Free Page B

fair,” said Tika.
    Old Guy gave her a blank look, which I think
meant, ‘play on.’ I grabbed the pieces and Tika shuffled them
around. This time, she tried a kind of zigzag formation. “I would
like to see you copy that ,” she said.
    But it was my turn to play a little trick on
her. Instead of my normal, underhanded toss, I pulled back and
launched the bundle at the wall as hard as I could. Tika gasped.
“What in the…” The sticks fell flat, while the rocks bounced off
and rolled back towards us. I scanned over the result, and it
looked like an even zero. I was happy.
    And then Old Guy held up two fingers.
    “Aha!” said Tika. “I know you are not much
of a student, so let me explain: eight plus two equals ten .”
    “But that was a zero point throw. Where are
all the clean ones?” I asked.
    Old Guy pointed at a few of the sticks and
rocks. Last but not least, he stabbed a finger at the heart-shaped
rock, which was obviously on its dirty side.
    “Are you serious?” I said. “The heart isn’t
clean! The heart isn’t clean at all!” I flipped it over to show him
the other, cleaner side. He shrugged.
    “There is no use in arguing,” Tika said.
“Now you must go in the hole.”
    I crawled over to the black space.
    “Can’t we just do this some other time?”
    “In the hole,” said Tika. “ Now .”
    I looked at Old Guy. He was smiling
again.
    “For the entire time, I will be right beside
you,” said Tika.
    She readied herself next to her usual
passage, while I crawled forward just a little. The ground slanted
down into darkness. When I put a hand out to test the area, I
already started to lose my balance. I couldn’t see in very far, but
I have to say, it did not look like it would lead to a ‘great
time.’ I climbed in anyway.

 
    4.
     
    Tika and I crawled down our tunnels side by
side in total darkness. Thick walls pushed against my body, but I
was able to slither through. As we moved further along, the
pressure loosened up, and before I knew it, I could breathe again.
Even so, it was still almost completely dark, and I had no idea
where I was.
    “See?” said Tika.
    “Aah!” I said. I hadn’t expected her to be
right next to me.
    “What?” she said.
    “Nothing. Sorry.”
    “You’re really strange,” she said. “But do
you see?”
    To be honest, I could hardly make out my
surroundings. But up ahead, off in the distance, there was just a hint of light. We crawled towards it, and a moment
later, I could stand. Once we got closer, the light came into
focus, and I realized it was a room. We went inside.
    “So,” said Tika. “This is my home. Do you
like it?”
    I didn’t want to offend her, but there
wasn’t much to it. In total, it was only about the size of a
bedroom. In one corner, there were the remains of a desk that had
crumbled away. On the other side were two very large piles: one of
batteries and one of basketball nets. There were also three doors
lined up in a row on the wall.
    But the most striking thing about the room
was a sculpture in the middle: It was a bronze squirrel, and it
looked like it was being burned to death in a bronze fire. Tika
must’ve caught me staring at it.
    “It is very beautiful, isn’t it?” she
said.
    “Uhh…sure,” I said.
    “Squirrels are our natural predator. They
are always telling lies about us.”
    “Really?” I said. “They seem harmless and
cute.”
    “No,” she said. “They are crafty. They
hollow out acorns and fill them with crushed…I do not want to say.
It is too much. But you must never trust a squirrel. This is a
reminder of what they deserve.”
    After that, Tika took me on a quick tour
around the rest of the house. She shared the space with her family,
and they’d given her the nets as her own personal space. According
to her, they were very cozy to nap in. It didn’t seem like much,
but then again, I’d been sleeping on a dirt floor. Nets didn’t
sound that bad to me.
    “You should have seen it long ago,”