Ding! In front of him, two walls slid apart, and the angry human disappeared through the opening, dragging the smelly, nasty sack that still had his nest in it. And then the walls slid back together, and the room moved downward again.
Alone, he tested his bent digger, discovering he could still hop—but barely. The room stopped with another ding! and the walls slid apart again, and this time he heard the special music. His music. Ignoring the pain, he lurched forward.
Wham! Bam! Thud! He scrambled to get out of the way, but feet were everywhere. Great thunders of feet. High, fast, hard feet with sharp edges. One came down on his sore digger, making stars spark around him. Another kicked him. He flew through the air, landed with a whump!, and slid under something.
There were no more feet in that shadowy place, but he hurt so much he knew his time of passing into the Great Cycle had surely come. Sadness covered him like the darkest night. He had failed.
Chapter 30
CAMERAS FLASHED AND FOLLOWED THE DANCERS. Taylor hung on to the waist of the boy in front of her. She hopped forward, backward, and then forward again. Even the little kids could do the bunny hop, so it was the opening dance, not competitive.
Diana sat in the front row wearing the crown and sash. When the time came, she would crown the winner.
After lunch, she’d given Taylor a bunch of tips. Listen to the music. Smile. Don’t think about a single other thing. Smile. Follow your partner, but do your own stuff too. And above all smile.
Taylor glanced over at Diana and tried to keep a smile on her face, though she didn’t really feel like smiling. She kept thinking about the poor toad.
Ryan and the Rompers were playing for the Queen of the Hop competition. It was kind of embarrassing having her dad up in front of everybody like that, drumming the steady beat. He caught her eye and winked.
It was really embarrassing when her mother stepped up to the old-fashioned microphone and started to sing. But it was kind of cool too. Her mom stepped back from the microphone and gave Taylor a little wave. Taylor took her hand off the damp waist of her partner and waved back.
Her parents had stuck to her like rubber cement ever since she’d lost it over her missing toad. They’d asked housekeeping if they’d found a box in Taylor’s closet, and housekeeping said they never removed boxes from guests’ rooms. But Taylor was pretty sure he’d ended up in the trash compactor. She was glad she’d tried to save him. Really glad. He’d been the best toad in the world.
The bunny hop ended, and the dancers got a short break before the competition. Taylor ran backstage for some water. Hopping around in three layers of petticoats had made her really sweaty.
They’d set up a table with pitchers of water and plates of cookies. She was gulping water when somebody cried, “Watch it!” There was a bump, a sloshing sound, then a racket as one of the plastic pitchers bounced on the floor.
Kids leaped back. The white tablecloth turned dark, as water soaked through it and dripped off. The puddle spread under the table.
It was briefly very quiet as everybody put on an I didn’t do it! look, and backed away. Taylor could hear the emcee out front explaining to the audience how the elimination would work.
Then backstage, the racket started up again. Number 11 handed Taylor a sign, which she hung around her neck.
“We gonna shake it?” he asked, doing a wiggly thing that made Taylor laugh.
Taylor crammed a cookie in her mouth and nodded. “Shake it,” she mumbled around the crumbs.
They didn’t know what songs the band would play. That was the whole point. They had to show that they could dance to any of the songs. To improvise, just like they were at a real hop in the 1950s, which her grandmother had explained was a dance event back in the day when kids had to take off their shoes to dance on the gym floor. That’s why they’d been called sock hops.
Taylor would be glad to take off her shoes. They were already pinching. And she was relieved that the first song, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” was slow and smooth, because water was still sloshing around in her stomach.
Tad was in a little puddle of water.
Water.
He sat in the water, waiting a long time, until it finally began to fluff him up. The shadowy form of the Great Cycle rolled away, and Tad heard the music. A roach carrying a cookie crumb strolled past and—zot!—was inside Tad in the blink of an eye.
After a while, Tad tried to hop. He hurt all over, especially one of his diggers. But he could move.
Taylor caught her dad’s eye as Number 11 twirled her around. Her skirt spun like a Frisbee, and she was flying. Number 11 pulled her back and they touched palms, pushing away from each other. She smiled.
The band was on the second song, and the judges were starting to make their way through the couples to cut in as they called it, though it really meant, Sit down, you’re finished.
Taylor knew that could happen to her and Number 11 any second. But she kept her mind on the music. Nothing else.
By the time the band started the fifth song, there were only seven couples left. The dancers had done the shag and the stroll and the Watusi. She had a hard time holding on to Number 11’s hands because they were so sweaty. But she felt good.
When it got down to three couples, Taylor was totally into the music. But then her feet slid out from under her and she was on her butt.
She stared at Number 11’s knees.
The drums missed a beat, and she felt a million eyes on her.
Number 11 swung his leg over her head, grabbed her hand, and spun her around on the floor. She jumped up, and Number 11 made a little bow like they’d been practicing that special move all week.
Taylor bowed too. But mainly she smiled.
The audience clapped and her dad drummed louder.
Still. Taylor was sure the judges knew she’d fallen.
Finally, only two couples were left on the floor. This was it. Number 11 squeezed her hand.
“Fifty dollars,” he whispered.
“The crown,” she whispered back.
It would be fine to be interviewed on TV and in the newspaper and be able to talk about the pond—if it was still there when she got home. But whatever happened, she was having fun. She wiped the sweat off her face and wiped her hands on her blouse.
The last song, as everybody knew, would be “Queen of the Hop.”
“Smile,” she whispered to Number 11.
As her mother’s voice trailed off into softness for the last words of the song, one of the judges said something to Diana.
The audience applauded as the two couples joined hands and bowed. A trickle of sweat shot down the side of Taylor’s cheek as she bent forward. It stopped at the corner of her mouth, and she licked it away.
The room went silent. Taylor’s heart was practically flinging her into the air. Diana stood up. She looked at both couples as she came onto the stage. She removed the crown from her head and placed it on Taylor’s. The audience went crazy clapping as one of the judges draped the sash over Taylor’s shoulder.
The crown felt wobbly on her head. She held it with one hand and told the other girl how well she’d danced, and better luck next year. Then she kissed Number 11 on the cheek and waved at everybody.
All the dancers came back for one last song. The band broke into “Peggy Sue.” She felt so happy that Peggy Sue was sort of her name that tears came to her eyes.
Tad tried to understand what he was seeing. There was his girl—the one he liked more than night-smacky-goo—wearing the special shapes that marked her as the queen.
“Oh, kiss me, moonbeams!” he cried, finally believing his eyes. “Moondoggies!”
He forgot he hurt. He forgot everything except what he was going to do next. He was going to kiss the Queen of the Hop. He wiggled and bounced, shaking his belly. He even did a flip.
Taylor was desperate for a drink. But what was that on the floor, right at the edge of the stage?
It was her toad! He hadn’t been sq
uashed in the trash compactor!
Taylor dropped Number 11’s hand and ran to save the little guy before kids stampeded backstage.
“I’m so glad to see you, toad!” She scooped him up and ran behind the curtain. Where could she put him that would be safe for a few minutes? “I am so very glad to see you,” she whispered, holding him close to her face.
His eyes glistened. He looked tired but proud. “Oh, you are soooo cute!” And she gave him a great big kiss.
Taylor’s last thought before something exploded and she crumpled to the floor was, Did I actually smooch a toad that had been hopping around on the floor??? And then darkness closed in around her.
Chapter 31
WHAT HAD HAPPENED?
It was like he’d been sucked up in a whirlwind, pulled apart, jammed back together again, and spat out on the ground. The crumbs on the floor looked tiny and far away. Everything looked different. Way different. He felt so dizzy, the roach he had just eaten swirled around in his stomach and almost came back up.
“Hey,” he said to the girl, although he knew she couldn’t understand him. “Are you okay?”
Her eyes fluttered opened, then closed again.
It was his girl. The Queen of the Hop. And she had kissed him; he remembered that now. She had picked him up with her soft hands that smelled like the garden and kissed him.
He’d been trying to kiss her. Something had gone terribly wrong.
The girl’s eyes opened. Her eyes had always made him think of the clear water of the pond. He gazed into them, but he didn’t see himself. He saw a human.
He leaped back. Hack-a-manna!
He was as big as she was! Bigger. Where were his fine warts? His rear diggers? What had happened to him??
“What happened?” his girl murmured. “Have you seen my toad?” She tried to sit up, and he helped her. Her palm felt so soft and familiar that he shivered.
His hand looked just like hers! He understood what she said.
He fought the panic that rose in him.
“My toad has got to be around here somewhere,” she said. “I must have slipped on the slick floor and bumped my head and dropped him.”
She stood up. He stood up too. Everything whirled like it was going to tilt him off the edge.
How could he be so enormous? How could he stand on two long, straight digger things?
He tried to flick his tongue. It didn’t work.
A human came dashing up. He wore a sign around his neck that matched the girl’s sign. “Come on, Taylor! People are freaking out. We’re supposed to be taking bows and posing for pictures.”
The girl snatched up her crown and ran, calling over her shoulder, “If you see a little toad, take care of him until I get back, okay? Don’t let him get away! He’s really special.” Then she disappeared in the direction the music was coming from.
Tad was soon surrounded by humans who paid no attention to him, though he felt as freakish as a seven-legged cricket. He had on clothes, he realized. And on the front of his belly was a picture of a toad that made his heart hammer with homesickness.
He felt dried out and longed to squat down in the puddle of water, but it was so small. He watched the humans move water from one place to another, then put it in their mouths. When nobody was watching, he tried it.
It would have been a lot easier just to sit in the puddle, but he felt refreshed after he did it the human way. He did it over and over.
“Dude, save some for the rest of us!” a human said.
Tad was so hungry, he could have eaten a mulch pile of earthworms. A roach darted out, but was gone again before Tad could even move. He looked around. He didn’t see any more, but it was hard to spot bugs from this high up. That’s it, he thought; he was going to starve.
Chapter 32
TAYLOR HELD NUMBER 11’S HAND and made one last bow. She’d done it. They’d done it.
She felt like punching the air and screaming Yes! But that would be a little bit rude. She really hoped the pond would still be there when she got home so she could talk about it on TV.
She squeezed Number 11’s hand before she turned him loose. “You just won fifty dollars,” she whispered.
He grinned. “You look good in that crown. And you ended up being a really good partner. Nice recovery when you fell on your butt.”
She shrugged. “Sometimes things don’t work out like you plan.” She felt very grown-up and wise. She must have breathed too much oxygen.
She and Diana’s flashed each other a thumbs-up.
The second-place winner looked mopey backstage, so Taylor said, “I’ll bet you take home the crown next year.”
And then it occurred to Taylor that she would have to come back next summer to crown the new queen.
Backstage, everybody was putting on their street shoes and grabbing the last of the cookies. Taylor had to find her toad. She could hardly believe he had somehow escaped the trash compacter.
“Hey, want to go get some ice cream with me and my parents?” Number 11 asked. “To celebrate?” He grinned. “I’ll buy.”
“I can’t,” Taylor said. “I’ve got to find a toad.”
“What do you need with a toad?” Then he slapped his legs. “Oh, right! I get it. You’re the Queen of the Hop.”
Taylor gave him a look. “I’ve got to find my toad. I had him just a few minutes ago.”
Number 11 took a step back. “Okay,” he said. “Catch you later, then.”
Down the alley made by the stage curtains, Taylor could see Ryan and the Rompers packing up their instruments. Her parents would be coming to claim her soon.
Then she caught sight of the boy in the T-shirt with the toad on the front. “Hey,” she called. “Have you seen my toad?”
He looked at her strangely. What was wrong with boys? Didn’t they know girls could like toads too?
“Seriously,” she said. “He’s in the wrong habitat here. I’ve got to find him and take him home to my grandmother’s garden.”
“Toads are small,” the boy said. “Really small.”
Well, duh. “This little guy was so small he hid in my salad the first night we were here. I’ve had an awful time hanging on to him.”
She glanced back at the stage. The band was almost packed. “Will you help me look?”
“Okay.”
She checked under the table. That would be a good place for him. Out of the way of feet and where there was water. But no, he wasn’t there. She looked under the edge of the stage curtain.
The boy in the T-shirt seemed to be kind of copying her. Making the same moves she did. It was a little annoying.
“What’s going on?” her dad said, coming backstage.
“Did you see my toad?” Taylor asked.
“Oh, honey.” Her mother was tidying up her ponytail. “I thought we’d decided he ended up in the trash compactor.”
“But he didn’t! He somehow turned up backstage during the dance. I swear. I saw him.”
Her parents glanced at each other.
“He’s still here,” the boy said.
He said it like he had X-ray vision or something.
“Well, where?”
“Let’s look,” her dad said. “If all four of us look, it shouldn’t take long. And I hope not, because, I’ve gotta tell you, I’m hungry.”
The boy’s stomach growled so loud Taylor almost laughed.
After they’d lifted up everything and looked in all the shadows backstage, and hunted among the seats, they still hadn’t found him. As they searched, the boy kept banging into things. He was very clumsy.
“Honey, I’m starting to think that toad can take care of himself,” her mother said. “Maybe he got another ride back to Iowa.”
“No, he didn’t,” the boy said. “He’s still here.”
Why did he keep saying that? It was almost like he knew more about her toad than she did.
“Well, he seems to have at least nine lives,” Taylor’s dad said. “Let’s go get pizza.
Maybe he’ll turn up.”
“But—”
The boy’s stomach rumbled and gurgled. He put his hand over it and looked embarrassed. “Don’t worry about the toad. He’ll be okay.”
Well, fine. She hoped he knew what he was talking about.
The boy rode down in the elevator with them. He stared at the colored lights on the panel like he had never seen such a thing. When they got out in the atrium, Taylor’s dad said, “Is your family here?”
“Yes!” the boy said so loudly that a couple of people turned.
He was dorky, but kind of cute.
“What’s your name?” Taylor asked him. “I’m—” She didn’t want to say Taylor, for a change. “Peggy Sue.”
“My name’s Tad. You’re a great dancer.”
Taylor touched her tiara. Yes, she was. “Thanks. I just learned this week. Do you dance?”
The boy seemed thoughtful. Not like some boys who just shoved you in the lunchroom line and said smarty things.
Tad nodded. “I love that music.”
Taylor was surprised. Most kids thought old rock and roll was kind of silly. Just like she used to.
“You want to eat with us?” she asked.
“Yes!” he said, startling a lady in front of them who turned around to sneak a peek.
She stopped her parents. “Dad, can Tad eat with us?”
“If his family says it’s okay.”
“Why don’t you ask your family?” Taylor said.
He walked over to where some people were gathered outside the amphibian room. He stumbled over his own feet a couple of times before he disappeared inside. When he came out, he said, “It’s okay.”
As they walked to the pizza place, they passed the fountain where Taylor had taken the little toad that first night. She was so hot, and the water looked so sparkly and cool. “I’d like to just sit down and let the water splash on me,” she said.
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