Read Online The Prince Who Fell From the Sky by John Claude Bemis - Free Book Online Page B

when he scared up a bright green anole.
    Dumpster chased the lizard around the underbrush until it disappeared through a crack in the side of a car half-buried under a fallen tree. As the rat barreled through the narrow gap to follow it, the side of the car moved in a squeal of rust and shut. A moment later, Casseomae heard the muffled cries of the rat, and she lumbered over to investigate.
    Through an unbroken square of glass, she could see Dumpster batting his nose against the surface, his eyes wide with panic.
    “What’s the matter?” Casseomae snorted. “Where’s the lizard?”
    “Scratch if I know,” he squeaked. “I’m trapped! The door … it closed.”
    “The what?”
    Dumpster gave her a venomous look. “The door. That … Just get me out already.”
    Casseomae sniffed at the car, searching for a way to get to the rat, but somehow the relic had sealed Dumpster inside. She pressed her paws against the glass and pushed. The clear surface bowed a little under her weight but didn’t break. “I can’t open it,” she said.
    Dumpster scampered back and forth inside. “There should be a latch. A metal part that you can turn.”
    “A latch?” she said.
    “Yes, a latch, you idiot! I don’t have time to explain about these Old Devil devices. Just look. Right down there somewhere,” he said, jabbing his nose to the bottom edge of the glass. “Don’t you see it?”
    Casseomae sniffed along the frame. There was a part sticking out, not nearly as rusted as the rest, but she didn’t know what to do with it. She bit at it, like she was prying the shell from a turtle, but nothing happened.
    She backed up in frustration as Dumpster lashed his tail angrily at her. “I don’t know what you want me to do,” she said.
    “I want you to get me out of here!”
    The child came up beside Casseomae, putting his hand on her back. He chirped something at her as he grabbed the part with his delicate fingers and gave it a turn. She heard a click, and then the child tugged open the door with a screech of rust. Dumpster dashed out as the child held it open. He wiggled his whiskers at the cub and then ran from the car.
    “Don’t you want the lizard?” Casseomae called.
    “It ain’t worth it,” Dumpster said, licking his front paws and shivering.
    Casseomae looked over at the grinning child and gave a snort. The child plucked another package of food from his side, broke off a piece, and tossed it down to Dumpster.
    Dumpster eyed the lump and then nibbled gingerly at it. “Not lizard, but it’s not bad,” he murmured before finishing it off.
    The air was still and muggy as the three began a hard climb up the highway.
    “That vermin-ridden Faithful is following us, you know,” Dumpster said, scampering up beside Casseomae.
    “I know,” Casseomae grunted. “I smell him.”
    “The cub likes him,” the rat said. “That’s not good.”
    Casseomae grunted.
    “You are trying to figure out a way to get rid of that cur, aren’t you?” Dumpster said.
    Casseomae grunted again. She wasn’t sure what to make of the cur. He was a Faithful, and that meant he was a traitor to the Forest. But she was protecting the cub, so what did that make her? She knew she couldn’t have the dog continuing to follow them. It would only bring trouble. But she felt a certain pity, admiration even, for this tough and lonely creature.
    As they reached the top of the climb, the cub wiped his brow. The tuft of hair atop his head was wet and dripping down his face. Casseomae didn’t remember the child dipping his head in a stream, and it certainly hadn’t rained. “Why is he so wet?” Casseomae asked.
    “Got me.” Dumpster rose on his hind legs and sniffed. “We’ve got to run that cur off—” He began waving his long nose back and forth more vigorously.
    “What is it?” Casseomae asked.
    Dumpster scampered a few steps, sniffed, and then ran rapidly toward an overturned car. “Look! Look!” he cried.
    Casseomae came over.