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a new classic by Edward Summer |
uick!Get
under me so I can stand on your shoulders!" Teddy shouted.
Dunkey turned and raced back to the fence. He ducked and squeezed halfway into the hole so that Teddy could brace his feet. The little bear balanced on Dunkey's shoulders. Again and again Teddy pulled at his left arm until finally the sharp wire slipped out and with it a small tuft of white cotton stuffing.
"I'm loose!" Teddy was overjoyed.
"Then sit down!" Dunkey commanded.
Teddy sat down. Dunkey backed carefully out of the hole, staring all the while at the demons moving relentlessly toward them. As soon as he was clear, he galloped off at top speed toward the cement runway.
"Oh, no!" Teddy cried. "I'm on backwards!"
"Too late now!" Dunkey kept on running. "There's no time!"
Terrified, Teddy grabbed Dunkey's tail and hung on for dear life as he bounced up and down.
"Wait a sec," Dunkey said. "There are people at the airport. What if they see us running around like this?" He slowed down as he spoke.
"It's people or them!" Teddy said, "And don't slow down! They're almost to the fence already."
Sniffler was exploring the opening in the fence. It would be a tight squeeze, but he was not concerned. His touch, spiny skin was almost as jagged as the wire. Sniffler's nostrils shivered, his mouth salivated at the nearness of Teddy's scent. There was even a small piece of white, furry cotton clinging to the piece of wire that had ensnared Teddy's arm.
So close! Sniffler thought. So close!. Catch it! Tear to pieces! He forced himself, snout first, through the hole. The spines on his back were a bit too long, so he wriggled and dug with his claws, enlarging the hole, and bending the wire further out of shape.
Realizing that they would not be able to get through the hole while they were mounted, the three other demons climbed down from their horses and waited to lead them through. Sniffler was out of the hole now and he immediately started off across the runway. He paused momentarily to see that the horses were on their way. One by one the riders urged their skittish mounts under the fence. The horses breathed sharp blue flashes of flame. Once past the hole, they reared and snorted, barely waiting for their riders to be seated before they galloped after Sniffler.
Teddy and Dunkey raced along the airstrip, following the landing lights toward the terminal where the plane stood almost ready for departure. A luggage truck was pulling away from the belly of the plane. By now, the two animals were close to the heavily trafficked area of the airport. All sorts of large vehicles were racing back and forth at frightening speeds. Even with his ears extended straight up, Dunkey barely came up to the treads on some of the trucks.
"I don't like this," Dunkey said. "We could get run over!"
"Don't worry, I'm watching," Teddy patted Dunkey's rump.
"But you're facing the wrong way!"
"Well, I'll make sure that none of the trucks sneak up behind us!"
Dunkey was too tired to answer.
"We've still got a good lead," Teddy continued. "Those demons are so far away that I can't even see them." What Teddy didn't say was that the heavy storm clouds were making it too dark to see much of anything.
"Which plane is it?" Dunkey asked.
"Good question." Teddy tried to turn, but nearly lost hold of Dunkey's tail. Teddy's neck was rather thick, so he couldn't turn his head very far. "Let's hide someplace and figure it out."
"Hide? Wherever can we hide out here?"
"I trust you. Any place you'd like is fine with me."
"Thanks. Thanks a lot!" Dunkey spotted a large string of baggage vehicles parked in a line not too far away. He made a beeline for them. After a few minutes of furious galloping, he ducked under the closest one and hid in the shadow of a large, heavy tire.
"Well, here we are!" Dunkey said, panting, "but where are we?"
"Closer to the plane," Teddy said still looking backwards over Dunkey's tail.
Dunkey scanned the area until he saw the only plane that seemed ready to take off. "That must be it," he said. A fuel truck pulled out from beneath the wing.
"How far is it?"
"A hundred yards or so, I guess…." Dunkey was absorbed in the activity around them. "Oh, no! I think they're starting to take the stairs away!" A man in heavy coveralls was releasing little stabilizing clamps at the corners of the staircase that led to the door of the plane.
"Well then, go!" Teddy pulled at Dunkey's tail as he did his best to turn and see.
"As soon as this truck passes." The fuel truck roared right across the path they would need to take.
"No! Go now! The demons are right over there!" Teddy screamed as the Sniffler and the horses' flaming red eyes burst out of the shadows of the airfield. "Just go!"
"But we'll get run over!"
"Go! Go!"
Dunkey wiggled his tail and leaped out from behind the tire as fast as he could. The fuel truck drew closer, its bright headlights shining across their route. Panic-stricken, Dunkey galloped out into the light, covering his eyes with his ears. He galloped forward expecting to be crushed any second under the fuel truck's gigantic wheels. Instead, Dunkey was hit by a gigantic whoosh of air.
The blast spun him around. When he peeked out from under his ears, Dunkey could see that the truck had just missed him. It was only the slip stream of air that had hit them.
"What happened?" Teddy wailed hanging on tightly.
"I don't know," Dunkey said. "Either it missed us or I'm dreaming." Dunkey blinked, staring at the fuel truck pulling away. Suddenly, Dunkey's heart sank as he saw Sniffler and the demon horses run out from under the parked luggage carriers. But as the truck turned, its headlights swept across the demons.
To avoid the bright light, Sniffler changed course and the horses followed him. Just ahead, however, was a large oil slick. His front feet went out from under him, and Sniffler slid out of control, past the front of the fuel truck. The wheels missed him and the first horse, but the second horse's timing was wrong. With the sound of a foot stepping on a beetle, the tire crushed the demon and its horse leaving only a small cloud of dust. The third demon stopped short, slid out of control and barely missed the truck's back tire. The fuel truck drove off toward the terminal in a cloud of exhaust fumes. Sniffler coughed and gagged on the fumes, his eyes dimmed momentarily and his sensitive nose clogged.
Dunkey had regained his presence of mind. He reared up on his hind legs - almost dumping Teddy onto the runway - turned and galloped toward the plane.
As they got closer, they began to hear a low whining sound. At first Teddy though it was Sniffler howling again, but then realized that the pilot had started one of the engines. The air compressor was beginning to gather speed.
A flight attendant walked out onto the top step of the loading stairs. She leaned over the railing and chatted for a moment with the workman preparing the stairs. They never noticed the two small stuff animals galloping toward them.
The whine of the engine intensified and the flight attendant stepped back inside the plane, just as Dunkey leapt up onto the first step.
The metal steps were not wide, and their knobby surfaces provided good traction for Dunkey's cotton feet. The next step was just above the top of his head, and there were twenty more steps leading up to the top and into the aircraft door.
"I don't know about this," Dunkey fretted, "these steps are pretty high…."
"No time to worry. You did the first one. That's always the hardest." Teddy gripped Dunkey's tail like a vise as Dunkey started to move.
By taking a short running start along the stair, Dunkey was able to generate enough momentum to leap up onto the next step. His back legs nearly missed the edge, and one slipped, nearly dumping Teddy. But the bear held on tight. Then Dunkey turned and ran across the second step in the opposite direction, finally leaping up onto the third. In crisscross fashion, they had gone up five steps when they were startled by a loud new sound.
The workman had climbed into the driver's seat above the engine attached to the underside of the stairs. He had started the engine and was now revving it, causing the stairs to vibrate. The din further increased as the pilot started the compressor in the left wing just above the loading stairs. The stuffed animals were bombarded with noises.
"Keep going!" Teddy screamed. "Don't stop now!" He searched the runway for some sign of the demons. They had disappeared into the exhaust that hung over the damp airstrip.
Dunkey ran across the fifth step and jumped to the sixth. Another short sideways run, then up to the seventh and the eighth and the ninth. They had just landed on the tenth step when Teddy spotted the Sniffler's flaming eyes dashing toward them.
"I hate to tell you," Teddy said in his most polite shout, "but we're being followed again!"
"Mmmmm," Dunkey jumped up to the next step. Though he had barely head Teddy's words, he had gotten the idea.
The
two demon horses emerged from the haze. They were galloping at full speed.
Within moments they had caught up with Sniffler and then passed him.
Below the stairs, the driver struggled to put the engine in gear. There was a grating clash as the gears failed to mesh. The air compressors made a sound so loud that it blotted out even the rumble of the gasoline engine.
The stairs were vibrating and shaking so much that Dunkey had a hard time landing on the next several steps. He could hardly maintain his footing. Teddy peered dizzily backwards down the seventeen steps they had already climbed. The first demon horse leapt onto the first step, with the second horse behind.
Teddy craned his neck upward. Only five steps to go! He could already see that the doorway to the plane was still open. "We can do it," he said out loud. "I know we can!"
Without warning, two hands reached around the side of the door and began to tug at it: the flight attendant was getting ready to seal up the plane! Dunkey opened his eyes wide with fright. He leapt up onto the next step. Only four more! Across the step, then another leap. Three to go!
The demon horses were on the seventh step when Sniffler arrived. His legs were just long enough to climb the stairs easily, so it took him until the tenth step to catch up.
There was another crunch of gears, and this time they meshed. As Dunkey jumped onto the next to the last step, the driver slipped the clutch and the stairs began to move.
Dunkey didn't bother to run across the step this time: he jumped straight up to the top one, just in time to see the stairs start to inch away from the plane. The metal lip of the top stair was just clear of the plane.
The flight attendant was talking with someone inside the plane and never noticed Teddy and Dunkey sitting on the top step of the moving stairs.
"She'll see me if I jump in!" Dunkey screamed.
"So what!?!" Teddy screamed back. The demons were within seconds of the top. He could see their red eyes bounding up the stairs. "Just jump! Jump!"
The stairs were two feet from the plane now, with the distance growing every second. And they were nearly twenty-five feet off the ground. Fortunately the staircase was too heavy to move quickly.
Dunkey was paralyzed. He saw the door begin to close. Then something happened . Teddy's word "Jummmmmmmmppppppp!!!!" echoed through his mind. It grabbed his body. He took a running start, and jumped!
As his plump, gray-cotton body sailed across the gap between the stairs and the plane, Dunkey's ears spread out like wings. He glanced down at the hard black asphalt twenty-five feet below. Oh! How I wish my ears were wings just long enough for us to get across, Dunkey thought. Teddy had closed his eyes long before. He hung onto Dunkey's tail and hoped.
There was a sudden jolt and a thump. Dunkey landed on a soft blue carpet. Teddy rolled off of Dunkey's back -- still clutching Dunkey's tail -- and landed on his head, upside-down. He opened his eyes to see a demon horse leaping onto the top step! Then the door slammed shut. The flight attendant locked it with a thud. Just as suddenly the howling noise of the plane's jet engines fell away.
"Quick!" Teddy whispered. "Play stuffed!" Still upside-down. Teddy collapsed into a brown bundle of cloth. The two animals lay there like discarded pillows.
But through the plane's walls, Teddy could hear the whine of the engine. Out on the steps, the demons were buffeted by the wind drawing toward the engine.
The stairs were moving rapidly now, and the driver cut the wheel hard to the right. The stairs turned. The first demon horse and its rider tried to turn around and go back. The second demon horse was still galloping up the steps at full speed. The stairs turned until the top step was in line with the engine. Just as the first horse turned, the second slammed right into it. Both horses collapsed into a tangle as Sniffler watched, helpless.
A startled look swept across the faces of the demons and their horses. With a sucking whooosh, they were caught up in the intake of the engine. Momentarily they floated through the air between the top step and the screaming jet engine. Then they disappeared forever into the whirling blades.
In the cockpit, a red indicator light flashed on for a moment, then off
again.
"Did the engine stall?" the pilot asked.
"Nope," said the co-pilot, "just gremlins, I guess."
"Ready?"
"Check."
"Attention, please," the pilot spoke into a microphone. "Prepare for departure."
He put down the microphone and grasped the throttle. The pilot eased the
handles forward putting the plane into full motion and carrying the children
farther and farther from home.
created 4/19/97
revised 11/17/97, 5/21/99m 19/22/99
