Creatures

Chapter Nineteen

The next three races didn’t go very well for our team. Billy insisted on running as an otter. Otters don’t do too well with tire swings… Juan could turn into a lizard, he looked sort of like an iguana, but he said he is actually a blue-belly lizard. He went with just the tail and the blue scaly belly, but when he got to the room with the holes in the floor, he found a new one. Samantha, went as a chicken, which is not as bad as it sounds. I mean a chicken can’t really fly, but with a lot of flapping and squawking and flying feathers, she was able to cross the tire swing obstacle easily. Unfortunately, even though she did make across the room full of holes, she found there was a heavy door other side. She pecked at it desperately, but could not make it through.

We were coming down to the last few races, and we were about five points behind. This is not an impossible lead to beat, but my team was starting to look glum.

“Run me now,” said Sarah.

“It’s not time yet,” I said. “You’re a finisher, Sarah. We need your speed to zip through all the obstacles at the very end and win it for us.”

“I know, I know,” she said. “But people need a win now. I’m fast, I can beat anything they put up against me now, that will get us six quick points. Two for each obstacle.”

“Yes, but there’s no way you are getting past that last heavy door. If we run you last, we will get eight or ten points, instead of six.”

“But first, someone has to make it that far, and open that door.”

“I know,” I said.

“I can do it,” said Beth.

Sarah and I looked at her doubtfully.

“Well, even if I can’t, you have to run me at some point anyway.”

I nodded. Beth smiled and trotted over to the tent, even though she didn’t need to change into anything.

Sarah and I exchanged glances. We were both thinking, both hoping, that this would not turn out too badly for Beth.

I thought perhaps that Danny was in a cruel mood, because he ran Andy against Beth, who was probably their best player. He could change into a gibbon, a type of monkey that is particularly good at obstacle courses. Determinedly, the two of them crouched down at the base of the balance beam, waiting for the horn to blow.

From the very start, Beth was horribly outmatched. Andy zoomed ahead of her, scampering up the balance beam, swinging across the tire swing with smooth grace and hopping over the treacherous holes so fast he made it all look easy. But Beth did not even try to race with him, she focused on simply getting across each of the obstacles. I nodded my head in appreciation as I watched her. She had no intention of winning two points for any of the obstacles, but if she could make it through each of them to at least get one point, she would be doing her part.

And so she did. She was still on the tire swing, carefully swinging back and forth to get momentum enough to leap to the final ledge, when Andy managed to force open the heavy door more than two full obstacles ahead of her.

We forgot about Beth for a moment. All of us shuffled down to see the new obstacle. There were gasps from the crowd. The next obstacle was one that we had hardly ever seen. It was called the dominoes. Large wooden blocks standing on end, sort of like pillars formed steppingstones across the room. Each was easily tipped over. If you did tip one over it would hit the next one, until they all went down and you found yourself in a heap on the floor. The trick was to hop from one domino to the next, quickly and lightly, so that you could make it across before they all fell down.

Andy, of course, was a monkey. He had no problem with this. He hopped and leapt lightly from domino to domino, and made it to the other side before the teetering dominoes in his wake could fall and knock the them all down in a chain reaction. There was a tunnel and then, the next curtain fell. I looked back, thinking of Beth. She had made it past the tire swing now and was carefully crossing the treacherous room full of holes feeling in front of her with her toes at each step to find a new trap. I nodded again, appreciating her approach, she was going to get at least one point for the first three rooms. If she could at least open that heavy door and make it to the domino room, Sarah could fly against the next contestant and get two points per room.

The last obstacle was revealed. There were cries of dismay when we saw it. I had halfway expected a flaming hoop, but this was something else, this was something that I had never seen before. I’ve heard of it, but never seen it. It looked just like a flaming hoop around a tight wire, but instead of flaming, it rippled with blue-white electricity. The hoop spiraled like a giant spring around the tight wire that went through the middle of it. The wire itself was thick and black, like TV cable.

“A Tesla coil,” said Sarah in hushed awe.

“That’s not fair!” said Jake.

“I’ve heard of them,” said Eddie.

“Don’t they shock you?” asked Jake.

“Only if you fall off and touch the coil,” I said.

“Poor Beth,” said Sarah.

We watched Andy. He seemed as surprised as we were. Every other obstacle he had breezed through. But not this one. He sat there at the entrance without even touching the cable and watched the electricity spiral and twist around as if mesmerized. At this point, Beth managed to make it to the dominoes. Andy glanced back. I could see his team was calling to him. No doubt, Danny was shouting for him to continue.

Beth stood on her ledge looking at the dominoes. She frowned at them in thought. She still was not in a hurry.

Andy finally reached out a small hand-like paw and grabbed hold of the cable.

“He’s gonna do it,” said Jake.

Then, suddenly, he scampered forward running on that wire. I could tell he wanted to make it through all at once.

He made a mistake, however. Have you ever seen a monkey run? They often run with their tails high in the air. His tail reached too high and touched the coils. A brilliant purple spark jumped down his tail. All his fur stood on end and he gave a surprised squeak. He tumbled off and fell down to the mats.

The buzzer sounded. He was out.

We all craned our necks. We saw him jump up and run out of the course like his tail was on fire, even though it was only just smoking slightly. A round of hooting laughter mixed with applause went up from the entire room. Now, all eyes turn back the Beth. The surprising thing was that she managed to cross the dominoes at all. But she did it, proving her step really was light, as I had noticed. Everyone from both teams was impressed. Generally speaking, human bodies are not as good as animal bodies when it came to matters of speed and balance. But Beth made it, and with a good deal of straining managed to open the heavy door on the far side. One more point clicked up for blue on the scoreboard.

But she was no match for the wire and the Tesla coil. She didn’t make it to the coil itself. She couldn’t even hold herself up on the cable. She just let herself fall, and we all clapped. It had been a great effort. She had taken it slow, and it made it further than anyone else on our team.

I looked around and was a bit surprised to see that only Sarah and I were left.

“Okay,” said Sarah. “Now it’s my turn.”

I shook my head. “No, I’m going next.”

“What?!”

“We don’t know what is at the far end, after the coil,” I explained. “It could be another door. You can’t open a door as a five-ounce bird.”

Sarah shook her head. “You’re nuts,” she said. “But you’re in charge.”

I didn’t even bother with the tent. I just went to bottom of the beam and waited for the horn to sound.