grazing.
Aoide and Rhodia walked toward the gap in the
sugarcane.
“Will this really work?” Rhodia whispered.
“Those unicorns look useless.”
“They say unicorns are more than what they
appear to be,” Aoide whispered. She nudged Rhodia’s arm and
pointed.
Cinnamon raised her head from a sugary pool,
grasping a black and red swamp cobra in her mouth. Its hooded head
arched above the unicorn’s face, and its fiery red eyes glared down
at her. The cobra hissed, with its long fangs dripping venom, and
poised to strike the unicorn’s soft nose.
Cinnamon snapped her head from side to side,
whipping the cobra like a rope. Cracking sounds burst all along the
snake’s spine. When Cinnamon finally stopped shaking, the long
cobra lay limp in her mouth. She sucked up the cobra’s body like a
noodle. When she’d devoured it, she belched, her ears flattening
and her mouth flaring wide. Then she trotted off into the
swamp.
Chapter Fourteen
Jason decided to stop by The Creamery in the
middle of Friday afternoon, well after the lunch rush but before
people got off work, so the place would be as quiet as it got. Erin
sometimes talked about being bored that time of day, with nothing
to do.
As he rode his bike through the streets of
the little town, he imagined how it might go. She’d be happy to
take a break. They could have an ice cream at one of the little
tables outside on the sidewalk (and he’d have a cone of Chocolate
Cashew Snowslide, his favorite flavor). He was determined to tell
Erin how he felt about her.
Normally, the idea of talking about such
things created a tense ball of nerves deep in his gut and stopped
his mouth from working properly. The more he played his new guitar,
though, the bolder he felt. It made him feel like taking risks.
He’d even brought the song “Angel Sky,” again
on a folded page of notebook paper in his pocket, though he’d
rewritten some of the verses a number of times since his last
attempt to present the song to the band. Maybe telling Erin how
much he liked her and giving her the song at the same time would be
too much, and she would deem him a creepy stalker guy. But having
it in his pocket was like a statement to himself that he was going
to make things happen today.
He rode along the sidewalk and glanced into
the plate-glass front window of The Creamery. Erin was there behind
the ice cream counter, in her paper Creamery hat and white apron.
She leaned over the counter, talking intently to someone.
He passed the huge ice-cream-cone-shaped
chalkboard in the window. On the other side, he could see Erin was
talking to Zach, her boyfriend. He took her hand, and Erin smiled,
shaking her head about something while she spoke.
All his nerves crashed. It was scary enough
trying to talk about his feelings with her. He definitely wasn’t
going to do it with her current boyfriend right there. It would
just turn into a fight with Zach—not exactly the afternoon he’d
envisioned.
Jason turned the next corner and rode up the
block, so he wouldn’t pass The Creamery again. It was a bad idea,
anyway. She was already with someone. He had no reason to think she
would rather be with him.
A few hours later, Jason stepped up to the
counter at Buddy McSlawburger’s, facing a long line of customers.
The Friday night shift was busy. He saw a number of people he knew
from school, and all of them seemed to be pointing at Jason and
smiling at each other.
Like every McSlawburger’s employee, Jason
wore the trademark funny hat. It was like a baseball cap, but with
a giant bouncing “slawburger” sewn to the top. The thing was
stuffed with cotton and included a bun, burger, cheese and slaw,
all made of felt. The top bun tilted jauntily to one side, making
the tall fake burger bounce and sway every time you turned your
head. There was even a spring inside it to enhance the effect. It
looked especially goofy with a group of employees running around
behind the counter, the ridiculously
Aoide and Rhodia walked toward the gap in the
sugarcane.
“Will this really work?” Rhodia whispered.
“Those unicorns look useless.”
“They say unicorns are more than what they
appear to be,” Aoide whispered. She nudged Rhodia’s arm and
pointed.
Cinnamon raised her head from a sugary pool,
grasping a black and red swamp cobra in her mouth. Its hooded head
arched above the unicorn’s face, and its fiery red eyes glared down
at her. The cobra hissed, with its long fangs dripping venom, and
poised to strike the unicorn’s soft nose.
Cinnamon snapped her head from side to side,
whipping the cobra like a rope. Cracking sounds burst all along the
snake’s spine. When Cinnamon finally stopped shaking, the long
cobra lay limp in her mouth. She sucked up the cobra’s body like a
noodle. When she’d devoured it, she belched, her ears flattening
and her mouth flaring wide. Then she trotted off into the
swamp.
Chapter Fourteen
Jason decided to stop by The Creamery in the
middle of Friday afternoon, well after the lunch rush but before
people got off work, so the place would be as quiet as it got. Erin
sometimes talked about being bored that time of day, with nothing
to do.
As he rode his bike through the streets of
the little town, he imagined how it might go. She’d be happy to
take a break. They could have an ice cream at one of the little
tables outside on the sidewalk (and he’d have a cone of Chocolate
Cashew Snowslide, his favorite flavor). He was determined to tell
Erin how he felt about her.
Normally, the idea of talking about such
things created a tense ball of nerves deep in his gut and stopped
his mouth from working properly. The more he played his new guitar,
though, the bolder he felt. It made him feel like taking risks.
He’d even brought the song “Angel Sky,” again
on a folded page of notebook paper in his pocket, though he’d
rewritten some of the verses a number of times since his last
attempt to present the song to the band. Maybe telling Erin how
much he liked her and giving her the song at the same time would be
too much, and she would deem him a creepy stalker guy. But having
it in his pocket was like a statement to himself that he was going
to make things happen today.
He rode along the sidewalk and glanced into
the plate-glass front window of The Creamery. Erin was there behind
the ice cream counter, in her paper Creamery hat and white apron.
She leaned over the counter, talking intently to someone.
He passed the huge ice-cream-cone-shaped
chalkboard in the window. On the other side, he could see Erin was
talking to Zach, her boyfriend. He took her hand, and Erin smiled,
shaking her head about something while she spoke.
All his nerves crashed. It was scary enough
trying to talk about his feelings with her. He definitely wasn’t
going to do it with her current boyfriend right there. It would
just turn into a fight with Zach—not exactly the afternoon he’d
envisioned.
Jason turned the next corner and rode up the
block, so he wouldn’t pass The Creamery again. It was a bad idea,
anyway. She was already with someone. He had no reason to think she
would rather be with him.
A few hours later, Jason stepped up to the
counter at Buddy McSlawburger’s, facing a long line of customers.
The Friday night shift was busy. He saw a number of people he knew
from school, and all of them seemed to be pointing at Jason and
smiling at each other.
Like every McSlawburger’s employee, Jason
wore the trademark funny hat. It was like a baseball cap, but with
a giant bouncing “slawburger” sewn to the top. The thing was
stuffed with cotton and included a bun, burger, cheese and slaw,
all made of felt. The top bun tilted jauntily to one side, making
the tall fake burger bounce and sway every time you turned your
head. There was even a spring inside it to enhance the effect. It
looked especially goofy with a group of employees running around
behind the counter, the ridiculously
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