The Wild Things by Dave Eggers Page B

looked up. It was Katherine.
    "Hey," she said.
    "Hey," Max said.
    "Are you all right?"
    "My foot's stuck."
    With her free arm, she pushed someone's blubber off and reclaimed his foot for him.
    "Now you owe me," she said.
    "Okay," he said. He liked the idea of owing her.
    She looked at Max, grinning for a moment. "Wow, I can't even look at you."
    She closed her eyes tightly.
    "Why?" Max asked.
    Her eyes remained closed, a wide smile on her face. "I don't know. I guess you just seem good ."
    "What do you mean?" he asked.
    She opened one eye, just a sliver.
    "Yeah, wow. It's almost unbearable."
    Max didn't know what to say. Katherine opened her other eye just a bit now. "I'm getting used to it now," she said, squinting. "But it's like staring into the brightest light."
    Max smiled. Was there something new about him that she was seeing? His stomach was shooting all over, splitting, oozing down his legs -- he liked this creature, her bright eyes and raspy voice, so much that he couldn't control his interior.
    "So why'd you come here?" she asked.
    Max cleared his throat and thought of how he would explain it. "Well, I'm an explorer," he answered, trying to sound professional. "I explore."
    "Oh, so no home or family?"
    "No. Well. I mean ..." This was a tough question, when Max really thought about it. What had become of his family? It seemed like months since he'd seen them. He tried to explain: "Well, I had a family but I--"
    "You ate them?" she blurted, very excited.
    "No!" Max gasped.
    Katherine quickly backed away from her assumption. "Of course not! Who would do that?"
    Max shrugged.
    "So what did happen?" she asked.
    Max wasn't sure how to explain what had happened. "I don't know," he started. "I did something. I mean, I think I did stuff to make them not like me anymore."
    "So you left," she said, matter of factly. "That makes sense. Will you go back?"
    "No. I can't," he said. "I caused permanent damage."
    Katherine nodded gravely. "Permanent damage. Wow, that sounds serious." Just as quickly, she brightened into a bigger, toothier smile than before. "Well, now you're our king. Maybe you'll do a good job here."
    Max really believed he could. "Yeah, I will," he said.
    Just then, a body on top of Katherine shifted and seemed to put extra pressure on her head. She looked pained, her expression changing from a sleepy smile to one of great contortion.
    "You okay?" Max said.
    "Yeah, I'm used to that kind of thing," she said. "Well, good night," Katherine said, though her face was still squashed.
    "Night," someone else said.
    The beasts began to bid each other good night, and this turned into a hubbub of talk about the best parts of the rumpus.
    Ira laughed. "Remember when we threw you, Judith? You were so beautiful."
    "I'm most beautiful flying through the air, is that what you're saying? Was I beautiful when my head hit the rock?" She shrieked suddenly. "Hey, who's tickling?"
    Ira got it next. "Yow! I think it's Carol. Is that you, Carol?"
    Carol laughed. "Who, me? I would never--"
    Judith snorted. "You haven't tickled in years, Carol. Is this the influence of the new king? Do we have more tickling to look forward to?"
    "I told you, it's not me!" he said.
    Then Judith shrieked again.
    "Not there, Carol! I'm feeling vulnerable! No!"
    As the rest of the pile calmed down and began to sleep and snore, Max crawled out of the pile-on to find fresh air. He settled on the edge of the fur mountain, putting his head on someone's leg. The sky was just beginning to change, the world pulsing in the gauzy pink light of dawn. There was debris everywhere, like a landscape after an earthquake, and Max felt very much at home.

CHAPTER XXIII
    Max was still half-asleep, his eyes closed, when he realized he was bouncing. There was a gentle wind on his face, and the air was cool and crisp. He wasn't in the pile anymore, he figured -- that smell had been strong, the air thick with sweaty fur. For a moment he feared he was back on the rolling sea, but