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adventure,
Mystery,
Texas,
dog,
cowdog,
Hank the Cowdog,
John R. Erickson,
John Erickson,
ranching,
Hank,
Drover,
Pete,
Sally May
yes.â
âWe have to fall at the same time, see?â
âSame time, yes.â
âWhen you hit the ground, jump to your feet so that youâre standing upright.â
âJump to my . . . upright, yes, go on.â
âWhen youâre upright, your power ought to work again, right?â
âOne would hope so, wouldnât one?â
âAnd then you make a wish.â
âA wish. One wish. I think Iâve got it.â
âOkay, ready to push off?â
âReady as Iâll ever be.â
âOne! Two!â
âHank?â
âHuh?â
âWas there any particular wish I was supposed to make?â
Holy cats, Iâd almost forgotten the most impointant parnt, important point!
âYes, of course, I was going to wait until the last . . . never mind. Okay, the wish. You will wish that Rip and Snort be hungry for nothing but cat .â
âCat? I donât think I understand.â
âNever mind, Iâll explain it all later. Ready? One! Two! And for Peteâs sake, get it right this time! Three! Charge, bonzai!â
Iâm not going to reveal at this point whether Madame Moonshineâs power worked or if we were eaten alive in the Pit of the Hungry Crocodiles. If I did, you might not read the next chapter. But now, because Iâve withheld crucial information, you simply must go on and read it.
Chapter Nine: Eaten Alive by Crocodiles
As you might have guessed by now, we were eaten alive by the hungry crocodiles.
Beat anything I ever saw.
Boy, were those guys hungry!
Of course, that sure messes up the story. What do you do and where do you go after something like that happens, and the story ainât but partway done?
I guess weâll just have to shut her down and find something else to do. I hate it, but I donât know what else to tell you.
Except that Iâm sort of pulling your leg, so to speak, and playing an ornery little prank. Ho, ho, ho!
See, I knew youâd be all worried and scared and sitting on the edge of your chair, and I thought it would be fun to . . . I guess you probably figgered it out without me.
Where was I? Oh yes. Madame Moonshine and I had just fallen out of the tree, into the Enormous Gloomy Bottomless Pit of Hungry Crocodiles, and you were wondering if her magic power worked on the croc . . . coyotes, actually.
Well, I donât know. Weâll just have to see. Hereâs what happenedâthe whole entire truth this time, no fooling around.
We hit the ground with a thud. Two thuds, actually. THUD! THUD! Rip and Snort werenât expecting us to drop in on them that way, donât you see, and our sudden appearance startled them for a couple of seconds, which gave us time to get into position.
I leaped to my feet and yelled at Madame Moonshine to leap to her feet. âGet up, Madame, feap to your leet!â
âWhat?â
âLeap to your feet!â
âOh yes, my feet.â She placed her wings on the ground and tried to push herself up. âOh my goodness, I landed right on my fanny, and it hurts!â
âNever mind your fanny. Get up and say the words before those guys make hash out of us!â
By this time Rip and Snort had recovered from the shock, and big nasty smiles were rippling across their mouths. âUh! Now we have big supper, oh boy!â
âHurry, Madame, the words!â
She struggled to her feet and gave her head a shake. âThe words, the words, oh dear, what were they?â
âCat.â
âCat, of course, how forgetful of me.â
The coyote brothers licked their chops and started towards us. Madame Moonshine closed her eyes and started muttering:
Power power, rain and shower, spider webs and this and that,
Make these ruthless savages hungry for a bat.
I couldnât believe my ears. âNOT A BAT, A CAT!â
She stared at me and blinked her eyes. âDid I say
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