The Caterpillar King

by Noah Pearlstone

  “But you’re so much smaller,” I said. “It balances out.”

  She smiled. “I do not think it works like that.”

  The daylight faded, and I couldn’t convince Tika to get back on the raft. So I had to think of a different plan. The last two times we’d run into trouble, there had been another animal around- first a caterpillar, then a squirrel. I kept waiting for a fish to jump out of the river, but it never happened.

  In order to convince Tika, I tried to come up with other options for getting down the river. She rejected every one of them, though. I don’t even think she gave them a fair shot. For example:

  “What if we had another pile of batteries?” I said. “You could charge on them for a while, and then you could run across the top of the water.”

  She laughed. “They do not make us move that fast.”

  She picked out the tiniest flaws in my ideas, just so we wouldn’t have to go through with them. It didn’t take long for me to get impatient. We had a raft. We had a river. All we had to figure out was which way to go. As it turned out, I had a pretty good idea about that.

  “I already figured out which direction we need to pick,” I said.

  “Oh?” said Tika, looking surprised.

  “We should go left. The first two were left, so this will be left, too.”

  “You do not understand probability,” said Tika. “There is always a 50% chance you will be correct, independent of the last result.”

  “So you’re saying we should go right?” I said.

  She sighed. “I am starting to think you are the fool.”

  ***

  It was almost impossible to get Tika to leave her tree. But the river was clearly the way forward. So I took a different tact. If you can’t convince someone with words, then maybe you can convince them with action. I dragged the raft back to the mouth of the river. The water was calm, so I put the raft on it. Then I sat down on top.

  “Look at this!” I said. I held my hands in the air. “I told you it was safe. Come over here and try it out.” Still, she hesitated. “Look,” I said, “We won’t move anywhere. We’ll just sit here for a few minutes until you feel comfortable. Then you can decide if you want to float down the river, or go back to land. OK?”

  Tika took one step towards me. “I will make an attempt,” she said. “But you must not let me drown.”

  “That sounds fair,” I said.

  I thought getting the both of us on the raft would be easy, but I was wrong. First, I had to get off the raft and drag the thing back to shore. Then I put Tika on the raft and got ready to push off the edge. I was planning on jumping aboard once she was on the water.

  “No! No!” said Tika. “You must be seated at the beginning. I do not want to be catapulted away.”

  I didn’t think that was going to happen, but she was anxious. So I did it her way. In the end, we decided it would be best if I held her in the palm of my hand, and then pushed off the shore with my leg. I got on the raft with Tika and pushed us about three inches off land.

  “We’re floating,” I said. “Not so bad, right?”

  She smiled. “It’s all right.”

  Then the raft wobbled a bit.

  “Oh!” she screamed.

  “Relax, relax,” I said. “It’s fine.”

  “I’m trusting you,” she said.

  “You’re doing great. We’ll just stay like this until you believe it’s safe.”

  We sat like that for a couple minutes, with Tika in my palm. There was no breeze or current. A little water did flow over the edge of the raft, and it got the side of my pants wet. Of course, Tika noticed.

  “What is that?” she said.

  “The raft must’ve rocked a little. It’s not a big deal.”

  “I am not sure,” she said. “That much water could have washed me away.”

  “There’s nothing to be worried about,” I said.

  But the longer we sat there, the more water soaked into my pants. At first, I tried to ignore it, but Tika was quick to catch on.

  “You are wet,” she said. “The raft is wet.”

  “Not really,” I said.

  “I know it’s true,” she said. “We are too heavy together. We are sinking.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  But after a while, I had to admit she was right. More and more water crept onto the raft. First, it pooled in the center, and then it spread to the edges. Before long, I was sitting in an inch of water, and Tika was getting frantic.

  “Finch! Put me back! I do not want to capsize!”

  “Alright, calm down,” I said. I hopped off the raft with Tika, and it resurfaced. Once I’d pulled the raft in safely, I took Tika back to her tree.

  “The raft cannot support us both,” she said. “Maybe one, but not both. So I will not ride on it. I am sorry. Let us sleep here tonight, and maybe tomorrow there will be a new path.”

  Tika curled up and settled in. It was completely dark, and she made her preparations for the evening. Just before she dozed off, she opened her eyes and looked at me.

  “This time, do not make any stupid actions in the night,” she said.

  And then she went to sleep.

  ***

  The next day, we woke up to find everything the same as before. The river was just as it had been. There was no new path. The only thing that had changed was Tika’s attitude.

  “I think today, we should go onto the water. We will take the oars with us. When we sit still, we sink. But if we paddle, we will not.”

  I couldn’t believe it. “You’re sure you want to do this?”

  She nodded.

  “But we still don’t know which way to go,” I said.

  “We have to move closer to the split,” she said. “Then I think the path will become clear to us.” With that, Tika picked up the little oar and boarded the raft. I decided I better go along with her before she changed her mind.

  We pushed off the land with my oar, and started towards the fork. I paddled on the left side, while she took the right side to balance us out. Since I was stronger than her, I thought we might have some problems keeping straight. But somehow, our raft went right ahead in a perfect line. Tika must’ve been a very powerful paddler.

  We were making good progress, and our raft hadn’t sunk at all. That half of Tika’s plan was working really well. Unfortunately, the other half wasn’t. We got closer and closer to the fork, but the white line was still nowhere to be seen.

  “Tika,” I said. “Should we just guess?”

  “Keep going straight,” she said.

  After a little while, we made it to the fork, and slowed to a stop. There were thick bunches of trees all around us, like giant fences. There was nowhere to pull our boat ashore.

  “Is anything becoming clear to you?” I asked.

  “Not yet,” she said.

  A minute passed, and then the raft began to sink. It was only a little bit of water, but Tika dropped her paddle at the sight of it, and it sunk into the river.

  “That is fine,” she said. “Less weight means we will sink more slowly. Can you pick me up?”

  I lifted her into my hand. The water kept pouring in all over the raft. I looked back to the opposite shore, but it was too far away to go back now. Before long, the water was up to my ankles. I was considering throwing my oar in the river too, and I told Tika.

  “No,” she said. “You will need it to continue.”

  She stared down at the water. It covered my shins. Then Tika did something very strange. She looked up at me and smiled.

  “Do you have faith?” she said.

  “Umm…” I said.

  “What I mean to say is, do you have faith in me?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  “Good,” she said. “I am sorry.”

  “For what?” I asked.

  She gave me an answer very quickly. She leaned in and bit me right on the hand.

  The first caterpillar had been bad. The squirrel had been worse. Bu
t Tika caused me enough pain that I really thought I had died. My mind fell into darkness. It stayed that way for a long time. When I opened my eyes again, I was in my only memory.

  This time, the old woman’s hands were removing the needles from the fabric. At first, I thought she was unraveling her work, but then I realized she had finished it. She spread out the large white cloth on the floor. It looked like a giant rug or blanket. Once again, I tried to get a look at the woman’s face. But no matter what I did, the image still cut off right beneath her face.

  Fortunately, I was able to get another look at her necklace. It hung down off her neck, the pendant swaying as she arranged the blanket. It wasn’t glowing, though, which worried me. What if she wasn’t going to tell me the way this time? But just as I started to doubt her, the left part of the necklace began to glow.

  When I woke up, I could see the white line beneath the water, and it was glowing, too.

  “I told you we had to go left!” I said to Tika.

  I looked down at the raft, and saw that the water was gone. But Tika wasn’t there anymore, either. In her place, there was a small, wooden piece. That was all that was left of Tika.

  16.

  My friend Tika had been transformed into a woodchip, and it was my fault. If I hadn’t dragged her along to help find my mother, if I hadn’t convinced her to come on the raft with me, none of this would’ve ever happened. Now, I paddled as hard as I could down the river. The sooner I got to land, the better. But before long, I wore myself out, and I collapsed in a heap. I sat still, not rowing at all. And that’s when the current picked up and carried me right to shore.

  Once I got on dry land, I laid my three wooden pieces on the dirt. They were all identical, so I couldn’t tell which piece belonged to which animal. I arranged the three pieces in the same pattern as the woman’s necklace, and then I pushed them together. The edges of the pieces started glowing. For a second, I thought all three might turn back into squirrels and caterpillars. But then the light died down, and I was still looking at the same shape. The only difference was the three pieces had fused into one.

  With the pendant in hand, I started forward once again. Not only did I need to find my mother, but now I needed to change a piece of wood back into living, breathing animals. It didn’t sound too simple. I traveled deeper and deeper into the forest, but there was hardly any sign of life, besides plants and trees. Then, through the brush, I saw a big gray shape. It looked like a stone wall. I followed the wall around to another side, and took a dozen steps back. I was looking at a castle.

  The castle was pretty small, which I thought was fun. It was about the size of a regular house, but with castle-like features such as turrets and spires. Right in front of me, there stood a ten foot tall door.

  Unfortunately, instead of a handle, there was a round hollow space. I had no way of getting the door open. I knocked very politely, but no one answered. I pushed against it as hard as I could, but no luck. I jammed my fingers into the edges and pulled. Still nothing. After a minute, I decided to walk around the perimeter and check for other entrances. But my search wasn’t successful. All the walls were solid stone. The door was the only way in.

  The door didn’t want to budge, so I figured I’d take a break. I sat down right in front of it and took out my pendant. It had appeared in my memory each time, and now here it was in my hand. I held it up and let it catch the sunlight. Behind the pendant, I could see the door, and the empty space where the handle should’ve been. Then I had an idea.

  From this spot, it looked like the empty hole and the pendant were about the same size. I went to the door and compared it from a closer distance. It looked like a perfect fit. I slid the pendant back into the space, and it completed the wall. The pendant glowed, and a loud rumbling noise came from inside. The door slid away to the right, and the pendant disappeared with it. As the door opened, three gold coins fell at my feet.

  In front of me, there was a path that trailed into darkness. On my way in, I picked up the three gold coins. They were all blank, and they fit nicely in the palm of my hand. I hoped the coins would make up for the fact that I lost the pendant. It was stuck inside a crevice in the wall, and there was no getting it out.

  Once inside, I headed down the dark passage. It curved off to the left and then slithered back to the right. It would’ve been pitch black, if not for the gold coins. As it turned out, they glowed in the dark. I held them up in front of me, and they lit my way. After a few more twists and turns, I walked out of the hallway and into a great hall. The hall was well lit, from a window high up in the ceiling. The light shone down on the only other thing in the room: a giant red dragon.

  I turned back to the path I came from, but it had disappeared. I was staring at a solid wall. Then I looked back to the dragon. He was lying calmly on the ground, his head buried into one of his legs. He seemed to be sleeping. Behind him, I saw a single door. At least there weren’t two paths to choose from here.

  For about the thousandth time since I left them, I wished I had some nets or batteries. I just didn’t realize how important it would be to keep things sleeping, and to move really fast. But there didn’t seem to be anything in the room to help me. It was me and my gold coins against a dragon. Hopefully the coins did something more than glow in the dark.

  As far as I could see, I had two options: 1. I could wait for him to wake up and murder me, or 2. I could make a run for the door now. At the moment, I had the element of surprise on my side. That had to count for something. Things didn’t look like they were improving any time soon. With all that in mind, I crept towards the door behind the dragon.

  My first few steps were stealthy and excellent. But the closer I got, the more nervous I became. With one very unfortunate misstep, I tripped on a raised stone. I stumbled and almost fell, and in the process the gold coins slipped out of my hand. By the time I caught my balance, the coins were already clanging off the ground. They bounced up and down a couple times before settling. I held my breath, even though I knew I had woken up the dragon. I was paralyzed.

  “Leave me alone,” said the dragon, burying his head in his leg.

  I exhaled. He was still dreaming. I picked up the coins and took another small step forward…

  “I mean it,” he said. “Go away. Please.”

  The dragon lifted his head and looked at me with ferocious eyes.

  “I…can’t,” I said.

  “Leave now or…I’ll eat you,” he said. “I’ll do it. I mean it.”

  But something about the way he said it didn’t seem true.

  “There’s no way out,” I said. I pointed to the entry that had been behind me. “That doorway closed up. So if you could just let me through, I’d be really grateful.”

  “Sorry,” he said. “It’s not allowed.”

  It seemed like another dead end. But then I wondered if he’d be open to negotiation.

  “What if,” I said, “I gave you a shiny gold coin?”

  I pulled a coin out and showed it to him. He looked it over, and puffed out his nose in disgust.

  “Gold coins are stupid,” he said.

  “You don’t like gold?” I said.

  “I don’t like anything,” he said. Then he curled back up into a ball and pretended to sleep.

  It seemed like the dragon was very depressed. I decided it would be best not to push my luck with a second attempt at the door. Instead, I tried to lighten the mood by making conversation.

  “You ever fly out through the ceiling?”

  The dragon looked up at me. “What’re you saying now?”

  “The ceiling,” I said. “There’s a huge window way up there. You ever go outside and stretch your wings?”

  “I can’t leave,” he said. “I’m the security. I have to sit here all day and all night forever. I can’t even fall asleep. It’s terrible.”

  “Well,” I said. “It doesn’t seem like there’s much to protect.”

  “Yeah, just some old lady,” he said.
“She’s been here as long as me. Only she gets friends. I hear them talking all the time, while I have to sit here and scare everyone away. Of course, I like being alone, but still…”

  “Wait,” I said. “There’s a woman who lives here? And you’ve heard other voices?”

  The dragon suddenly got suspicious.

  “What’s it to you?” he said.

  “Nothing,’ I said. “Just good to know.”

  “Hmph,” he said. After that, he fell silent again.

  Of course, what he’d said made me feel hopeful for the first time in a while. I was almost positive the woman he was protecting was the same one I’d seen in my memories. Not only that, but the dragon had heard other voices, too. I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions, but those could easily have been the voices of Tika and the others. Maybe someone had trapped them all here, and they were just waiting to be saved. My thoughts turned back to the prophecy. I didn’t think I made such a great savior, but here I was. And all I had to do was get past a giant dragon that never moved. No problem.

  The dragon didn’t talk much the rest of the day. His bad mood just never improved. All the while, I was planning my next attempt. This time, I’d try to sneak by under the cover of night. Once the sun set and darkness fell, I was ready to go. A cloud must’ve been covering the moon, because even the skylight disappeared. It was the perfect time to act. I stood up and took two soft, small steps towards the door.

  “I can see in the dark, you know,” said the dragon.

  And that was the end of my second attempt.

  It’s not easy falling asleep when your life’s in danger, but somehow I managed a couple hours. I even had a great dream, where someone was tickling my face. Then I woke up and saw a big, fluffy bumblebee resting right on the tip of my nose.

  “Aaaahh!” I jumped up and started running in circles. I also might’ve screamed in a slightly feminine way. I wasn’t too scared of bugs (especially after hanging out with Tika for so long). But I’ll admit it, something about bees always gets me.