The Monster Variations by Daniel Kraus

Author:Daniel Kraus [Kraus, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-375-89264-6
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2009-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

My Panic Inches Closer

“Reggie.”

“What?”

“You think he’ll be mad?”

“Who, Willie?”

“Yeah.”

Reggie considered it. “I guess it doesn’t really matter. He’s never going to know we’re up here.”

“Yeah, but it’s his tree house.”

“It was his tree house. He can’t own it anymore, James, you know why? Because you can’t own something you can’t touch. Just like you can’t own the sun and I can’t own the moon. Look, we tried. That pulley idea of yours was great. But face it. He’ll never see the inside of this thing again. He’s probably already forgot what it looks like.”

“Maybe we should try again. We could lift him, maybe. If we tried together, you think?”

“It’s impossible. Remember how hard it was getting him through the school window? I thought he was going to kill himself. No way we’d ever get him all the way up here. He’d fall and break his neck. And then we’d be in real trouble.”

There was silence for a while. It was late, well past curfew, something that still made James nervous when he thought of his folks noticing the toll of the grand father clock, which they would any minute now, any second, and the two boys lay on their backs on the wooden floor of Willie Van Allen’s tree house. Their heads almost touched so that they could both stare through the rectangle Mr. Van Allen had cut from the roof long ago. There were tree leaves above, blacker even than the night, and then, above those, the shimmering pinpoints of stars.

On the wall before them hung the oversize Mel Herman painting they had stolen from the school. It had been there for weeks and both boys had spent much time, together and alone, studying its infinite detail. Reggie said it looked like blueprints. James kept returning to the tiny vehicle running over a tiny person, and for that reason insisted the painting must be a map. If they could just decipher it, he said, it could lead them somewhere important. “To Mel’s house,” said Reggie, his dark eyes flashing, although that was not what James meant.

From his spot on the floor James looked from the painting to the dark sky above and breathed deeply. Reggie had a point. The tree house was pretty high. At night even he and Reggie had to be cautious when they climbed.

“Well, we at least should’ve told him we’re borrowing it,” said James.

“What, you just want to make him feel bad?” said Reggie. “It’s better this way. It’s better if we just sneak in after his parents have locked the doors and tucked him into bed.”

“He’s not asleep yet, it’s not that late,” said James.

“Of course he’s not sleeping.” Reggie sighed. “He’s sitting around staring at his Lincoln Logs or telling Softie how crummy it is to have one arm.”

“Shh.”

“Stop worrying,” Reggie said. “He sure as hell can’t hear us. They have their fans on full-blast because the dummies keep all their windows locked. I guess they think …”

He trailed off.

“They think what?” asked James.

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