The Boy from Earth by Richard Scrimger Read Free Book Online Page A

to keep up.
    I wonder where everyone is. The countryside below us looks like Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard. I ask Norbert about it, and he tells a strange and disturbing story. –
This land wasn't always empty
, he says, poking his arms out.
It used to be prime pasture for rocking horses.
    “With saddles and big staring eyes and handles you can hang on to?” I say. I had one like that.
    –
Many years ago, this land was filled with them. They were everywhere, rocking wild and free. Brown, red, purple, black, orange … all the colors of the ice-cream parlor. And the Black Dey came by and decided that he wanted to ride a rocking horse, so he caught one and climbed on, but he was too big, and he broke the rocking horse. He caught another one, and tried again, but he broke that horse too. He tried again, and again.The more horses he broke, the more he felt he just had to ride one. He caught them one by one, and sat on them, and broke their backs. And now they're gone
.
    Ew.
    –
That's the Dey's source of strength. Need. He doesn't want anything; he needs it. He has to have it. And he's stubborn and determined. He never learned that he was too big for the rocking horses. But he never stopped wanting to ride one. He caught every last horse in the land and sat on them and crushed them all to death.
    I swallow. I don't feel well. I wonder what happened to my rocking horse.
    We fly on. The empty land rolls beneath our slippers. The sun sinks behind us. I keep staring at the sky because it looks so strange with four moons in it. Norbert is on the lookout, checking the horizon, left to right, right to left. I'm feeling hungry, but I don't like to ask to stop.
    –
Look, Dingwall!
    “What? Where?”
    –
Minions!
says Norbert, pointing.
Behind those bushes. Now they've disappeared back into the air again. Did you see them?
    I peer over. “Nope,” I say.
    –
Blind as a ball
, he says.
    I try to work that out.
    We keep flying. The landscape changes. The bushes and trees become scarcer. Now there're grasses and mud, and more and more water. Bored, stagnant water. Some ofit trickles gently; most of it just stands around. If the water were a teenager, it would be hanging around a street corner with its hands in its pockets. The smell is strong and swampy. The teenager had beans for lunch.
    I'm getting tired. Correction. I was already tired. I'm tireder. I realize that my feet are asleep. I concentrate, trying to wiggle my toes. I forget to look where I'm going, and, “Help!” I cry.
    Now my feet are pointing at a clump of trees, and, of course, so am I. I'm flying through leaves before I know it. I clench my toes, and stop just in time.
    I'm hovering beside a smooth gray tree trunk. There's a branch in front of me, with a comfortable-looking notch next to the trunk. A perfect resting spot. I step out of the air and feel the springy give of the branch under me. After a bit of squirming, I'm sitting comfortably, with my back against the notch of the tree and my knapsack open on my knees.
    That's better.
    Norbert flies over.
    “Can we stop a minute?” I say. I already have my knapsack open. “I don't know about you, but I'm going to see if there's anything to eat. I'm famished.”
    –
Good idea.
He hops onto the branch beside me.
Hi, Casey. How you doing?
he says.
    “Who are you calling Casey?” I ask.
    There's a Frisbee in my knapsack. And a TV remote. And a jar of brown liquid. And a packet of sandwiches. Mmm, sandwiches. I wonder what kind.
    Rowf! Rowf!
    At first I think it's a dog. Then I realize it's the tree that's making the noise. Of course a tree would bark. There's no wind, but the branches wave back and forth, like a tail.
    Norbert leans over and pats the branch we're sitting on. –
Good girl. Good Casey.
    “You're talking to the tree?”
    Rowf
, says the tree. I can feel it shiver.
    Norbert uses that talking-to-a-dog voice. –
You're a good boy! Aren't you a good boy! Oh, yes, you are! Yes, you are!
    “But how do