Star Wars - Episode I Journal - Anakin Skywalker by Todd Strasser Page A

hear much on Tatooine.
    Watto took the older man and the astromech droid out back to look for parts. That left me with the frog man and the angel. Of course, I didn’t know for sure that she was an angel. I only suspected it. So I just sat on the counter and pretended to clean a transmitter cell.
    The angel was sweating and she dabbed her forehead with a cloth. I had a feeling she wasn’t used to the kind of heat we lived with on Tatooine.
    She must have known I was staring at her because after a while she gave me a funny smile. That’s when I asked her if she was an angel.
    She looked surprised, then said she’d never heard of angels. I think she was telling the truth. So I told her maybe she was one and didn’t know it.
    We started to talk, and the next thing I knew, I was telling her that I was a pilot, and how Watto had won my mom and me from Gardulla the Hutt on a bet.
    She seemed surprised to hear I was a slave.
    Meanwhile, the frog man couldn’t keep still. He poked through the bins and shelves. It seemed as if he had to touch everything in the shop! Finally he accidentally activated a small pit droid. The droid started marching, knocking things over, and dragging the frog man around the store.
    It was a funny sight, and the angel girl and I laughed together. She had an easy laugh, and I knew I didn’t want her to go away.
    By the time Watto came back with the man and the astromech droid, I’d found out that the angel girl’s name was Padmé. She knew my name was Anakin Skywalker. I was sad that the man was in a hurry to leave. I knew we had a lot of parts, so that must have meant that the man and Watto couldn’t strike a deal.
    Padmé and I said good-bye and she left with the others. Watto hovered around the shop complaining about how the outlanders always try to rip him off. His wings beat through the air so fast they were nothing more than a blue blur. But the good news was that all I had to do was clean some racks—then I could go home!
    * * *
    Of course, I didn’t go home right away. Padmé may have left Watto’s shop, but that didn’t mean she was gone for good. As long as she was on Tatooine, I would find her.
    The outlanders weren’t hard to find, thanks to the frog man. You could tell he was a magnet for trouble. I found him in the market. He was lucky I did, because a Dug named Sebulba was about to squash him.
    Sebulba was my archrival at Podracing. He’s mean and ugly, with big eyes, long arms, and braids hanging down the sides of his head. Frankly, I don’t care about looks. Once you’ve lived on Tatooine for a while, you’ve seen everything. But I do care about cheaters, and Sebulba was the worst.
    Anything goes in Podracing. The only thing that matters is who crosses the finish line first. But some of us actually think it’s wrong to mess with each other’s Podracers. You should win by being the best and fastest pilot, not by knocking your opponent’s Pod into a canyon wall on purpose.
    But like I said, when it comes to cheaters, Sebulba is the worst in the galaxy. I wouldn’t care that much except that in our last race I was winning… until he flashed me with his vent ports and practically got me killed.
    Anyway, I found Sebulba standing over the frog man in the market. The frog man was squirming and trying to get away. But Sebulba wasn’t about to let him. I hate to think about what would have happened if I’d gotten there a minute later.
    I warned the Dug to back off. He wanted to know why, and I told him that the frog man was connected to the Hutts. Dugs aren’t the smartest creatures in the universe, but they know that messing with anyone connected to the Hutts can mean instant death.
    Sebulba was mad, but he turned away from the frog man. He told me that the next time we raced he’d make sure I didn’t live to see the finish line. I reminded him that if he killed me, he’d have to pay Watto for me.
    Sebulba left, and I helped the frog man to his feet. That’s when