The Swiss Family RobinZOM by Perrin Briar Page A

right,” Liz said,
enthused with the subject. “A force of three hundred men held off
an enemy of thousands with the knowledge of their
terrain.”
    Jack frowned with thought.
    “ Or Superman versus
General Zod and his Disciples,” he said. “Comic books are history
too now, aren’t they?”
    There was a pause.
    “ History is our
heritage,” Liz said. “Tell them, Bill.”
    Bill turned from his journal, caught unaware.
    “ Uh, yes, dear,” he said.
“You boys listen to your mother.”
    Liz rolled her eyes.
    “ Why should they?” she
said. “You don’t.”
    “ Be with you in a minute,
babe,” Bill said.
    Jack turned to his brothers.
    “ It’s boring in here,” he
said. “Let’s go to our treehouse.”
    “ All right,” Liz said,
“but take the winch down. I don’t want you on the wire in this
storm.”
    “ We’ll get soaking wet,”
Jack said.
    “ Unlike taking the zip
wire,” Liz said.
    “ We’ll be across in two
seconds.”
    “ If it wasn’t broken it
would. There’s a storm. You could get struck by
lightning-”
    “ Geronimo!” Jack
said.
    H e ran across the living room and threw himself out the
swing doors. He caught the cable with one hand, swung his legs up
and curled them around the cable. Jack threaded himself along it to
a second treehouse, which they affectionately referred to as
Robin’s Nest. The main treehouse was called Falcon’s Nest. The rain
stung Jack’s face and soaked his clothes. Thunder rumbled in the
dark ceaseless clouds overhead. Jack stopped, turned, and hung by
one arm to look back at his mother. The drop was thirty feet and
make Liz feel queasy.
    “ Don’t do that!” Liz
said. “You know I hate it when you do that. If you fall and break
your neck, don’t come running to me.”
    “ How could I run to you
if my neck was broken?” Jack said.
    He threw his other arm up and monkey-barred his way across the
wire. Nip leapt out through the swing doors and followed
Jack.
    “ Don’t worry,” Bill said.
“He won’t fall. The boy’s got monkey blood in him, I’m sure of
it.”
    “ If he does, it’s from
your side of the family,” Liz said. “And I’m not worried about him.
I’m worried about that wire. It could snap at any
minute.”
    “ It’s high tensile steel.
It’ll never snap.”
    “ Never say
never.”
    Liz watched with undisguised fear, and didn’t breathe again
until Jack got off at the other end.
    “ I swear, I’m going to
kill that boy,” Liz said.
    She turned to Fritz,
who was now looking into a hand mirror,
making minute alterations to his hair. Beauty the eagle was also
looking at herself in a mirror, preening. Pets really do act like
their owners, Liz thought. Fritz was handsome and well-built,
taking after his father. He had a strong square chin that hadn’t
yet seen a razor, and wore a pair of jeans and T-shirt like they’d
just come from the store.
    “ Fritz,” Liz said, “can
you get Beauty to catch us a couple of quails for tonight’s tea,
please?”
    “ It’s raining,” Fritz
said. “I’m not sure if there’s much out there for her to
catch.”
    “ Try.”
    “ All right.”
    Fritz put on a thick glove that covered his arm up to the
elbow.
    “ Come on, girl,” he
said.
    He picked Beauty up off her perch. He moved to the swing
doors, opened them wide, and then spoke into Beauty’s
ear.
    “ We want quails. Okay?”
Fritz said, holding up two fingers. “Quails. Two. Got
that?”
    Beauty nodded with vigour.
    “ Good girl.”
    Fritz extended his arm
and Beauty took flight into the driving
rain.
    “ Maybe you should train
Beauty to obey Ernest too,” Liz said. “In case you’re busy
elsewhere and we need a fowl.”
    Fritz shrugged.
    “ I tried,” he said, “but
she’ll only obey me. What can I say? I must be more popular with
the chicks.”
    Liz rolled her eyes.
    “ Fritz,” he said, “will
you go over to Robin’s Nest and keep an eye on Jack for me,
please?”
    “ Can’t Ernest do it?”
Fritz