by J.A. Sprouls
Chapter 16
Lark and Pill were playing hide and seek with Tally and Wicket just outside the cave area. Tally was losing and doing so in rather undignified manner.
"There's no crying in hide and seek," Wicket said in a rather exasperated tone.
"You're cheating. I see you peeking when you're supposed to be hiding your eyes. And why is it I'm always the first one found? Huh? It's because you're cheating."
"There's no cheating in hide and seek," Lark pointed out.
"Well, Wicket is cheating. And that's why I keep losing. It's not fair." Tally's lower lip was stuck out and he was obviously about to start pouting.
"I tell you what, Wicket's 'it' again and he has to stay hidden, over here. See, Tally, he can't see anything when he's in this area." Pill was showing them all an area where the side of the cliff had been worn away by erosion and had created a small indention in the side of the cliff. "So Wicket has another go and if he finds you this time then…"
Before she could finish Wicket said, "Then it shows that I wasn't cheating and that you are just a lousy hider."
"I am not a lousy hider. I happen to be a darn good one. You're just a lousy cheater and now you're about to be found out. He then stuck his tongue out at Wicket.
"Oh, that was real mature. Here we are supposed to be role models for the girls and you're acting like a kid."
"Okay, enough, let's get on with the game at hand. Wicket you get into the indent and start counting. We'll go and hide." Lark said in a commanding voice.
So Wicket forced himself to squeeze into the indent and started to count very loudly. Lark, Pill and Tally took off to find a good hiding place. Tally, who was really bad at finding a hiding place, which was the real reason he was always being 'it,' tried to hide behind a mesquite tree. It wasn't a very full tree. It had very few leaves and you could see Tally's red bandanna very easily. Lark was much better at hiding and she found a place behind a clump of cacti. Pill found a boulder that was big enough to hide her if she hunched over. So they waited for Wicket to finish counting and come looking for them. Pill thought to herself that Tally was really a bad hider. She could see him from clear over where she was hiding.
Gorbook had donned his cactus disguise and had found a nice quite spot to stakeout. It wasn't long before he heard arguing and he knew that no one in their right mind would stay in the Square unless they had a good reason. A good reason, like they were hiding out after robbing the wagon train. So he sat and waited to see if any of them would show themselves. Sure enough, in a matter of minutes three of them came out from behind the cliff and scattered. The man went to stand behind a mesquite tree. Gorbook figured he had to relieve himself. Though, he thought to himself that if it was him he would have found a much leafier tree to do his business behind. One girl took off to hide behind a boulder. No doubt she knew what the man was doing and she wanted to shield herself from such indecency. The last girl had come over and was hunched down behind him. Great! Now he would have to concentrate on not moving and work on his shallow breathing. Wouldn't you know it, he always managed to get an itch when it was necessary for him not to move.
He heard another voice; this was of a man who seemed to be counting. In a few minutes this counter came from around the side of the cliff and started to look around. He obviously saw the man behind the mesquite tree but knowing that he was relieving himself he turned his back to give him some privacy. The man started to walk towards the boulder the little girl had hidden behind. As he turned the corner he said something to the girl but Gorbook couldn't make out just what he said.
"Hey, Pill, I just want you to know that Tally is hiding behind that mesquite tree over there." He pointed in Tally's direction. "But if I find him first then he'll have another hissy fit and I'm getting tired of him being a sore loser. I just wanted you to know that I can see him and that he's just a lousy hider and that I wasn't cheating."
Pill sighed and said, "We knew you weren't cheating and that he's a lousy hider but we just didn't want to hurt this feelings."
"Great, could you tell him that?" Wicket implored her.
"Not on your life. I'd hate to hurt his feelings."
"What about mine. He's gonna go on thinking I'm cheating and I'm not. That hurts to have him think I'm a cheater."
"I'll ask Jethro how to handle the situation. He's good at dealing with kids and their feelings," Pill suggested. That seemed to make Wicket feel a little better.
"Let's go get Lark now and then we can come up with some other game to play. One that Tally won't be so bad at," Pill said as she headed over to the clump of cacti.
When they got behind the cactus Wicket felt the need to tell her, "I can see Tally behind that mesquite tree so I wasn't cheating. I'm just trying not to hurt his feelings by letting him know he's a lousy hider." He certainly didn't want her thinking he was a cheater either.
But Lark wasn't paying attention to the two of them. She was looking instead at the cactus.
Gorbook was afraid he had moved and given his disguise away. Piddle, now they would take away his 'covert' title. He had worked hard to earn that title. Not everyone was lucky enough to manage to get it. His brother, Levious, had failed his boulder disguise class and was never able to attain the title. His brother was shattered when he failed. But that was mainly due to the fact that he had chosen a spot too close to the edge of the canyon cliff. When the CO said something to him about how bad his disguise was, it startled him. He ended up losing his footing and took a header off the cliff.
"What is it Lark? What are you looking at?" Pill asked in a hushed whisper.
Lark pointed over to the center of the cactus. Pill and Wicket strained to look but didn't see anything. They both shrugged at Lark to let her know they didn't see anything. She gave them an exasperated looked and motioned for Pill to come closer. When Pill got right up to her Lark leaned over and whispered something to Pill. Pill immediately stood straight up and moved very quietly to Wicket and whispered in his ear. Gorbook really wished that Flugs had better ears and hearing. He really needed to know if they were on to him. Wicket nodded at whatever it was Pill had told him and started to look around on the ground for something. This made Gorbook even more unsettled.
It was just about this time that they all heard a soft rattling sound. Gorbook froze. Here he had been so focused on the humans that he had allowed a rattlesnake to curl up nearby. Since he didn't want to give his position away he couldn't tell the snake to leave. As he was trying to think of some way to get the snake to move, Wicket came up on the cacti with a big old stick clutched in both hands raised over his head. He then started to beat the cacti senseless in hopes that he would hit and kill the snake in the same process. Unfortunately, Gorbook was one of the cacti beaten senseless. Though, being senseless helped him not to move and reveal his position. But at the same time it didn't feel all that great before the senseless part finally took hold. After that he didn't feel a thing.
"Okay, Wicket, I think you got him. He's not moving." Pill had grabbed Wicket's arm to stop him from bludgeoning the snake any more.
Lark reached down and looked at it more closely. "Yep, you definitely got him, Wicket. Good job. And what's great about this is we don't have to go hunting for supper. Rattler makes a great stew and it tastes just like chicken."
Pill and Wicket thought to themselves, there's no way it's gonna taste like chicken. So they grabbed the snake and headed over to Tally's mesquite tree to show him what was for supper. Gorbook just laid there and hoped that he would regain the feeling in his legs soon so he could get back to headquarters to make his report and apply for a Purple Bruise Medal, a medal given for those Flugs wounded in the line of duty.
"Hey, how'd you know where I was?" Tally asked looking askance at the snake in Lark's hand.
"Your bandanna gave you away. There isn't anything that is naturally red in this area. I would suggest the next time you not wear it. That could be one of the reasons that you have been found so easily.
" Lark replied with a perfectly good reason, other than he sucked at hiding, as to why he was found so quickly. Pill and Wicket looked at each other in relief. This meant they wouldn't have to tell him and hurt his feelings.
They headed back to the cave with Pill asking the others, "Did you notice that when Wicket pounded the cacti that it yelped in pain a couple of times?"
"I thought that was Wicket and he had been stuck by some of the needles," Lark said.
"Nope, I didn't get poked once. I thought it might have been the snake," Wicket replied.
"Do snakes have vocal cords to make noise? I thought that was why it had a rattle because that was the only way it could make itself known," Lark explained.
"So if it wasn’t the snake and it wasn't Wicket, then who or what made the noise?" Pill inquired. They all took a look back at the cacti clump and wondered.
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