2
The Cat Climbing Contest
The arena was the most magnificent structure that the Sleepers had yet seen in Nuworld. It was of light gray marble and was built in a circle.
“This looks like the pictures I saw of the old Coliseum back in Oldworld,” Josh said.
The Sleepers were settled in the box reserved for the king and his family. As Josh looked around, he saw that the huge stadium was packed with people in brilliant clothing. Below, a racetrack ran around the outer edge of the arena floor, and green grass grew in the middle.
“Looks like a big football stadium,” Jake said. “Well, they sure take their sports seriously here.”
Sarah and Abbey were much more interested in the large royal box than they were in the actual floor of the arena. For a time they wandered about, escorted by Princess Cosima. The king and queen apparently were not coming, but the princess seemed delighted to show them around.
“We have any kind of refreshment here that you like,” the princess said. She nodded to a white-coated attendant, who smiled back at her. “Just ask for it, and you can have it.”
“Do you have any hotdogs?” Sarah asked with a little smile. She knew full well that they would never have heard of this delicacy.
The attendant frowned in puzzlement. “Hotdogs? I’m afraid I don’t know that one, miss.”
“It’s what they used to call a kind of sandwich a long time ago,” Sarah said with a glance at Abbey. “Do you have any lemonade, then?”
The attendant listened as Sarah described lemonade. Then he brightened. “We have something very much like that.” He quickly concocted a drink, filled a glass, and handed the icy beverage to her. “I hope this suits you, ma’am.”
Sarah tasted it. “Delicious!” she said. “As good as I’ve ever had.”
As Sarah sipped her drink, Abbey was talking excitedly with the princess. “I’m so thrilled that you asked us to the ball! What sort of occasion is it?”
The princess looked puzzled. “Occasion? It’s … a ball.”
“Well, I mean,” Abbey said, “is it to celebrate something? Is it a special event?”
Cosima laughed at that. “Every ball is a special event.”
“Do you have them often?” Abbey asked.
“Oh, not too often. Sometimes three or four days will pass without a ball.”
“Three or four days!” Abbey was astonished. “I’ve never heard of so many balls.”
“Is that many?” Princess Cosima seemed truly puzzled. “How often do you have balls where you come from?”
Abbey muttered, “Well, we haven’t had any at all lately. But back where I used to live—in Oldworld—we might have what you would call a ball once or twice a year.”
“Once or twice a year!” Cosima appeared stunned. “That’s terrible! How did you live between balls?”
“Oh, we managed,” Abbey said. “But I like it better the way you do it here on Pleasure Island. I’m so anxious to see the dress that your tailors are making for me.”
“We’ll leave the arena early—as soon as Derek wins his race. I’m sure you’d rather look at dresses and shoes than to watch horses running around in a circle. Although Derek is awfully good at it. We’re all very proud of him.”
Down in the lower level of the arena, Reb Jackson stood beside the prince, who was stroking the nose of a beautiful mottled-gray horse.
“This is Thunder,” Prince Derek said. The horse suddenly nipped at his hair, and he dodged. “Now, now, I’m not an apple for you to bite on!” he said. He laughed and ran a hand over the silky mane. “He’s never lost a race—which means I have never lost a race since I’ve had him.”
“He’s some horse,” Reb said with admiration. “Don’t know as I ever saw a finer one.”
“I’ll tell you what we can do, Reb. Tomorrow we’ll go to the stables. There’s a horse there that I think you would like very much. The only trouble is that he’s difficult to handle. Not many can stay on his back, but …”
“Well, that’s my kind of horse!” Reb said. He felt excitement well up inside him at the very thought. “I wouldn’t want a horse that wouldn’t put up a fight every time somebody tried to get on his back.”
“You certainly won’t have that trouble with Lightning,” the prince said, grinning. “He tries to pulverize every rider. As a matter of fact, there are only two men that can ride him. Myself and one other.”
“Better make that three,” Reb said with a nod.
Derek clapped him on the shoulder. “Well, come on. Let’s go upstairs and join the rest of the family. I’ll introduce you to Lightning tomorrow.”
The two of them started climbing up to the level where the royal box was located.
“Hello. I won—as you saw,” Derek said.
Everyone crowded around the prince, telling him what a magnificent ride he had made. He shrugged them off with a grin, saying, “It all depends on the horse. I have the best. And now it’s about time for the cat-climbing contest. I want to see that.”
“About time for what?” Josh exclaimed, not believing his ears.
“The cat-climbing contest.” Princess Cosima smiled brightly. “Don’t you have that in your world?”
“Not that I know of.” Reb scratched his head. “What is it?”
“Come over here,” Prince Derek said. “I’ll show you.” He led them to the edge of the royal box, where they could look down on the arena. “See? They have the climbing poles already planted.”
Josh and the other Sleepers looked downward. Six poles rose some twenty feet in the air. They looked like large telephone poles to Josh. On top of each was a small platform with something placed on it.
“What’s that on top of the poles?” Dave asked. “I can’t make it out what it is.”
“Oh, that’s the food. Goodies for the cats,” Princess Cosima said.
“That’s the only way they get fed. They’re trained that way,” Derek explained. “And they’re kept quite hungry just before a contest like this.”
“You mean they have a race to see which cat can get to the top first?” Josh was amazed.
“Exactly! I can’t believe they don’t have this kind of competition where you come from?”
“Never heard of such a thing,” Josh murmured. “Is it a timed contest?”
“Oh yes. The first cat to reach the top and the food is the winner. The poles have been oiled to make the climbing more difficult.”
“The cat climb is a very important event today,” Princess Cosima said. “The betting is high.”
“Did you put down a bet, Cosima?” her brother asked.
“Yes, but only a thousand finnigs.”
“Uh … finnig? Is that what you call your dollars?” Josh asked.
“I suppose so,” the prince said. “If dollars are money.”
“And you bet a thousand of them on a cat climbing a pole, princess?”
“I do usually bet more,” Cosima said. “But it’s going to be a close contest. I wasn’t quite sure.”
“I looked at the odds,” Derek said. “I picked Black Diamond. He’s had a good season.”
As they watched, the cats were brought to the foot of the poles by their owners and held there. The princess and the prince continued to talk about their climbing qualities. Josh listened to them, totally astonished.
“They just look like big alley cats to me—lean and muscular.” Reb murmured. “This is funny. They talk about those cats as if they were horses.”
By now Josh was feeling stunned. He whispered to Sarah, “They do take their sports seriously on Pleasure Island. Anybody that would bet on a cat climbing a pole would bet on anything.”
“Time for them to go,” the prince announced. “Now let’s see who’s the champion. This is only the semifinal, though,” he added. “The grand championship will be next week.”
“Yes, I’m planning to bet a lot of money on that,” the princess said.
The cat-climbing contest was no
t particularly exciting to anyone in the royal box except the prince and the princess. But Josh watched as, at a given signal, the cats were released and began scrambling up the poles. The crowd went wild. He looked at the princess. She was screaming and waving her arms.
Leaning toward Wash, he said, “There’s something wrong with this place. Anybody that would bet on cats like this has to be crazy.”
“Black Diamond won!” Cosima cried. “I won, and I’m going to collect my winnings! Now I just wish I had bet more. Come with me, Sarah. You and Abbey come with me.”
The girls left, and the boys stayed with Derek. Other contests would follow, Derek said, including footraces and wrestling.
“I guess you have just about every kind of sporting event there is, Prince Derek,” Jake said.
“We do like our sports on Pleasure Island. They are very important to our people. They take sports seriously.”
Too seriously? Josh wondered.
Down on a lower level, the girls approached a row of elevated cages. People were lined up before them, receiving money.
“Just stay with me,” Cosima told Sarah and Abbey. “We’ll soon have enough money to do anything we want to for the rest of the day.”
Sarah watched the princess collect her winnings, all in coins. She put them in a large white leather bag and turned around, triumphant. “Now, let’s go spend it!”
Sarah was not as excited about this as Abbey was. For one thing, she had been watching a poorly dressed man standing by one of the nearby pillars that supported the upper levels. What caught her attention was his face. It was as pale as ashes. Then another man spoke to him, and Sarah heard, “What’s wrong, Garold?”
“I lost it all! I lost everything! I bet on Raffles. Everything I had.”
“Never mind. There’s another race. You can bet again and win it back.”
“But I have nothing left to bet! I gave my house for security. Now I can’t pay for it. My family and I will be out on the streets.”
The second man drifted away, after muttering a few words of comfort.
“Look there, princess,” Sarah said. “That poor man lost everything he had.”
“What’s that?” Cosima said absently. She gave the man a careless look. “Oh. Well, of course, somebody has to lose. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be any fun. I lose myself sometimes.”
“I don’t think that’s quite the same thing,” Sarah said thoughtfully.
“Whatever can you mean?” Cosima stared at her with astonishment. “Of course it’s the same. I lose. He loses.”
“I mean that you’re very wealthy. And if you bet and lose, you can just go to your father to get more money. But that poor man’s lost his house.”
“Oh, I understand that. But there’s plenty of work. He can work and save up and buy another house.”
Sarah stared at the beautiful girl with astonishment. Cosima had not seemed to be a heartless person, but Sarah saw that she was totally blind as far as the poor man’s plight was concerned.
Sarah decided she would risk telling Cosima what she thought. “It seems to me that your people take gambling so … seriously.”
“It’s just good sport!” Cosima cried. “Didn’t they have things like this in your world?”
“Yes, they did.”
“Well, it’s all the same, then. It’s just for fun.”
Sarah did not agree that the gambling part was just fun, but she said no more.
“Come, girls. Let’s go shopping,” Cosima said gaily.
And shopping they did go. For the next two hours, Sarah and Abbey were taken on a whirlwind tour of shops. The princess could not spend her winnings fast enough. She bought seven pairs of shoes.
Sarah was amazed. “Don’t you have any shoes?”
“Oh, certainly. I have more than three hundred pairs.”
“Three hundred pairs! Then why do you need more?”
The princess appeared bewildered that she should ask. “Oh, I don’t know. Some people collect some things, and I collect shoes.”
From then on, Sarah watched in silence as the princess spent all the money that she had won. She had boxes of clothes and shoes—including some she had bought for Sarah and Abbey.
Abbey, of course, was terribly excited. She whispered, “Isn’t this wonderful, Sarah?”
“It’s wonderful for the winners,” Sarah said quietly.
“I can’t wait to put on my new clothes. That ball is going to be fabulous.”
The ball was indeed fabulous, if fabulous meant expensive parties. Josh stood to one side with Wash and Reb, watching the activity. The ballroom was packed with young people and older people as well. The women’s bright dresses—reds, yellows, greens, blues—made a kaleidoscope of color. The music came from orchestras that were posted high on balconies. It appeared to Josh that all the Sleepers were stunned by the lavishness of it all.
“This is some set-to, ain’t it, now?” Reb marveled. “I been to two county fairs and three snake stompin’s,” he remarked, “but I ain’t ever seen nothing like this.”
Wash had just come back from the refreshment table, and he had both hands full. “I don’t know what all this stuff is, but it sure does taste good! It’s all free too.”
“No, I don’t think it is free,” Josh said. “Somebody’s got to pay for it.”
“Well, the king pays for it, I guess.”
“And where does the king get the money to pay for it?” Dave asked with a crooked grin.
“Never thought about it,” Wash said.
“He taxes the people.”
“That’s right,” Josh put in. “So no matter whether the people are here or not, they pay for these fancy balls.”
“Looks like they have some kind of special entertainment coming up again,” Dave said.
This time it was a juggler, who was marvelous indeed. He kept at least twenty balls in the air at the same time. At other times he threw lighted torches and caught them, seemingly with ease.
Following this there was a short play, then more dancing.
“This is just wonderful, isn’t it, Sarah?” Abbey had been conversing with a tall, blond-haired young man.
Sarah said, “I can see it’s going to be very tiring. We’ll be ready for bed tonight. Early.”
But they did not get to bed early. Food continued to be brought in, the entertainment continued, the ball went on, and it seemed as if it would go on until morning.
Finally Josh found Sarah and said, “I can’t take any more of this, Sarah. I’m falling to pieces, I’m so tired.”
“So am I.”
“We’d better pull our people out of here.”
“I expect you’re right. From what the princess said, there’ll be another day at the arena tomorrow—and another party tomorrow night!”
“They’ve scheduled events I never even heard of,” Josh groaned. “Even worse than cat climbing. And these people bet on everything!”
Josh soon found that all the Sleepers were ready to go except Abbey. She protested, but he insisted. “Tomorrow’s another day, Abbey. There’ll be another ball to go to—I’m afraid.”
“Isn’t this exciting! There’s always something going on! This is the best place I’ve ever been, Josh!”
Josh looked at her and then over at the merrymakers. He sighed. “I think a thing like this could get old very soon.”
Abbey looked back at him as if he had said something insane. “Get old! Why, I would never get tired of it if I lived to be a hundred!”
“We’ll see,” Josh said. “Now, let’s go get some sleep. We’re all worn out.”
3
Another Side of
Pleasure Island
The sun beat down upon the three figures lying on towels on the white sand. All three appeared to be asleep. The gentle sound of the surf lapping close to them was soothing. They had been up late every night for two weeks, and Sarah had finally suggested to Josh, “Let’s go down and just lie on the beach and do nothing.”
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“I’m for that,” he groaned. “This entertainment life is wearing me out.”
Surprisingly, Abbey had chosen to go with them. She and Dave had thrown themselves full speed into the life of Pleasure Island. Maybe even she needed a rest.
Abbey stirred herself and sat up. She was wearing a pretty light blue swimming suit. It was new. She studied her arms carefully. “I wish I would tan quickly like you do, Sarah. I’m so fair I have to take the sun in little doses.”
Indeed Sarah, being a brunette with darker skin, had gained a golden tan in the few days that they had been here.
Josh envied her. “You don’t burn quick like I do,” he said.
Then they all sat up and just enjoyed the quietness of the beach for a while.
Suddenly Abbey exclaimed, “That’s going to be a great party they’re planning for tonight. The princess says so. Everybody’s going to be there.”
“Oh no, not another one!” Josh groaned loudly.
“Why, Josh, of course there’s going to be a party. We’ve been talking about this one for days.”
He flopped back on his towel. He threw his hand over his eyes to shade them from the sun and then muttered, “There’s such a thing as partying too much, Abbey.”
“You’re talking to the wrong person, Josh.” Sarah stretched out on her stomach and, putting her head to one side, studied Abbey.
“Well, I think the two of you are wet blankets!” Abbey said, and she pouted a little. Then, shading her eyes with her hand, she watched a pair of sailboats that appeared to be racing, and then she remarked, “What was all that talk you gave Goél about wanting to get away from dragons and saber-toothed tigers and danger?”
Josh knew that he had, indeed, made such a statement. “Well, I do appreciate not having enemies and having to get up to do battle every day, but …”
“And now you don’t like it when everything is fun. You’re never satisfied, Josh!” Abbey tossed her head. Her lovely blonde hair fell down around her back, and she stroked it for a moment. “I’ve got to get my hair done in a different way. Sarah, let’s go look at some clothes.”
Temptations of Pleasure Island Page 2