Akiko and the Great Wall of Trudd Read Online Free PDF Page A

hint of irritation. “What about Beebs?”
    “ TO PUT IT DELICATELY, SIR, ” Gax answered, sounding slightly embarrassed, “ WHAT HE LACKS IN HEIGHT HE MORE THAN COMPENSATES FOR IN WIDTH AND SHEER DENSITY. ”
    “I
heard
that!” Mr. Beeba shouted indignantly.
    “All right, all right,” Spuckler sighed in exasperation. “What about ’Kiko?”
    “ OH, SHE’D BE NO PROBLEM AT ALL, SIR, ” Gax replied.
    “
Now
we’re gettin’ somewhere,” Spuckler said with a smile. Then he turned to me with a very serious look in his eyes.
    “Okay, ’Kiko,” he said, putting a hand on my shoulder, “I know ya must be pretty scared right now, an’ if you don’t think you can do this, just say.”
    I swallowed hard, nodded, and waited for him to continue.
    “What I need ya to do is grab hold of Gax an’ let him carry ya up to the top of the wall. I’m gonna have him check around and find the sturdiest part of the wall for climbin’, so as we won’t have any more nasty surprises.” Spuckler paused, looking up at the flags on the top of the wall as they flapped noisily in the wind. The sky was growing purplish as the sun began to set.
    “Once you’re up there,” he continued, “I wantcha to take all this rope and tie it to something good and strong, and then toss the other end of it down here to me an’ Beebs.”
    “Gee, I don’t know,” I said, trying to imagine me and Gax continuing the climb all by ourselves.
    “You can always say no, ’Kiko,” Spuckler said, his expression still very serious. “I’ll come up with a diff’rent plan if needs be. I don’t wantcha tryin’ to do this if ya don’t feel right about it.”
    I sat there on the ledge, looking up at the top of the wall, wondering what to do. I didn’t want to keep climbing, and I didn’t want to just stay there, either. What I really wanted more than anything else at that moment was to be right back at home in my bed, snuggled under the covers, waiting for Mom to bring in a little snack for me the way she always did on days when I was sick. I could almost see in my mind what the objects on the tray would look like: a little pinkish white ceramic cup filled with green tea, and a plateful of sweet cookies from our favorite Japanese grocery store, little white cookies with black sesame seeds and . . .
    “ ’Kiko, didja hear me?” Spuckler asked, waving a hand in front of my eyes. He had a very concerned look on his face.
    “Don’t badger the girl, Spuckler,” Mr. Beeba said. “Clearly she wants no part of this cockamamie scheme of yours, and I must say neither do I.”
    “Okay, okay, said Spuckler. “I’ll come up with something else, just gimme a minute. . . .”
    I felt something right behind my head and turned to look. It was Poog. He was staring intently at me, smiling just a little, and . . . I don’t know, it was as if his eyes were
shining
on me. There wasn’t any light coming out of them, but that’s how it
felt
. Slowly my body began to warm up a bit, and the goose pimples on my arms disappeared. My head started to feel much clearer somehow, and the queasiness in my stomach was almost gone. Poog continued staring at me, only now he was smiling even more than before, and it looked as if he was nodding slightly, over and over.

    “Wait,” I heard myself saying.
    Spuckler and Mr. Beeba both turned their faces toward mine.
    “I’ll do it.” The words came out quickly and clearly.
    “Ya . . . ya will?” Spuckler asked in astonishment.
    “Are you
quite
sure, Akiko?” Mr. Beeba asked, examining me like a doctor looking at a patient. “You’ve been through an awfully traumatic episode just now, and I must say I have strong reservations about allowing you to—”
    “I’m going to do this,” I said with an air of finality. “I’m the one who got us into this mess. I kept looking down even when Spuckler told me not to, and now it’s time for me to do whatever it takes to get us to the top of this wall.”