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CIRCUS MONKEYS
Chapter 8 I spent the rest of the day in my room. I snapped and took out my irritation on my dad, the creaking bathroom door, and my sheets that must have shrunk in the wash because they were too short to stay tucked into the bottom of the bed. Basically, I was being a grump. But I couldn't help it! Every time I thought of Joshua, I thought of the argument, and all of a sudden I wanted to strangle my old teddy bear. Then if I thought about my other friends, I was reminded that I wasn't going to see them for a while and filled with sadness. So I decided to be a mature, well-mannered woman and holed myself up in my room and prided myself in my methods of self-pity which I had perfected over the years. While I may be good at it, it did nothing to rid me of the boredom that I felt. This, of course, only caused me to pity myself more. It wasn't long before dusk was going to start to fall when I thought I would scrounge up some food for myself. I stopped, however; when I heard a commotion outside. I wasn't sure what it was, but it wasn't a bunch of people laughing that was for sure. I jumped up from my bed and looked out the window. My eyes popped at what I saw. Oh my god, were those animals out of the pen?! I jumped and headed for the door, a million thoughts racing through my head. I pulled it open and with a shock, I found Joshua on top of me. "Whoa!" I cried and stood him up. His cheeks were scarlet and he explained with a sputter that he was just about to knock, and then the door wasn't there! I couldn't help but laugh aloud and even he grinned. But even with the extreme humor of the matter, I hadn't forgotten the argument. As he stood on step below me, we were eye level for once. I felt like I had to say something. "Josh, I -" He shook his head, putting a hand on my arm. "Don't." He looked over his shoulder then proceeded to tell me what he knew. "Some animals are out of their pens. One elephant is loose." He hesitated slightly, looking me in the eye. "All the camels too." Immediately my thoughts flew to Poppy. "Come on!" I said and grabbed his elbow, my anger forgotten. We had to act fast; there was a road just over the river. If the camels somehow got across it, it was going to be almost impossible to track them through all the homes. We ran over to the man who was giving out fistfuls of food. I shoved three in my pockets and Joshua and I started out. Our eyes combed the range. We were early on the scene but those camels were scared and moved fast. I could see Rupert over by the pens and he was hysterical. Apparently no one had noticed anything come loose until they were already spread out everywhere. "We better make sure none cross the river." Joshua said and we ran over to the bank. Our eyes combed over the shores on both sides and through the water. Nothing. I realized I wasn't too worried about it since camels probably couldn't swim, but as Joshua started to turn around, I saw her. "Look!" I cried, pointing down the river. There she was, dodging across the shallowest part of the river. I silently cursed the slight drought we were having; Poppy was going to get across in no time. She was already more than half the way across and would be out soon. There wasn't time to run to the bridge and there definitely wasn't time to run all the way to where Poppy was. She would be up the embankment on the other side before we even reached the top on this side. So there was only one option. Without thinking and without looking over to consult Joshua I kicked off my shoes and pulled my sweatshirt over my head. I could barely hear Joshua has he started to protest. "Oh, no - Lory?! What -" With my shorts and t-shirt I jumped into the river, gasping as the breath escaped me for a moment. It was cold! I froze for a moment, but regained my limbs and was soon stroking across. Seconds later I heard Joshua splash in and he gave a little yelp at the temperature. I would have laughed if I could. Looking ahead I saw that the camel was already on the other bank, making her way up. I was only half across. I stroked harder and, finally, I was on the other side. I glanced back to see Joshua fumbling up on the bank. He caught his breath, his white t-shirt clutching his chest tightly and his hair dripping and mussed. I kept my eyes on him only a second longer than I should have, sacrificing for the emergency. Quicker than a flash we were scaling the steep incline to the road above. Joshua huffed beside me, as we slipped the way up. Half of the way there, the camel went over the side. I waited for a screech of tires and a horn, but, thankfully, there was none. "Would have been...faster to take the bridge..." Joshua huffed beside me and I almost lost my grip to laugh. I managed to hold it in however and put more effort on my climbing. I couldn't help thinking that Joshua was right, but this was the only way to keep our eye on the camel the whole time. We made it over the ledge and rolled onto the shoulder of the road. I just wanted to stay there and just breathe, but out of the corner of my eye I saw that mangy little animal turn the corner into someone's backyard. With an "oomph" I got up and pointed to where I saw her and sprinted to the house. By the time we reached the backyard she was gone, but Joshua pointed to a corner and I saw the fleeing leg of a camel. I couldn't help thinking of the game cat and mouse. Only we were incredibly overweight cats -that were blind. The mouse was swift, young and had a head start. In other words? It wasn't fair! We rolled around another corner and stopped. No trace of the elusive camel. I put my hands on my hips and struggled to take in some air. I looked over at Joshua. We were both soaking wet, muddy, and out of breath. It wasn't pretty. I was about to jog around the corner and look to see if I found footprints or the camel itself when we heard a high-pitched screech from two houses away. I looked over at Joshua and beamed. We found her! We sprinted over to the house and found the camel trapped. She was at the corner of a garage and a fence, with a woman holding back her child but not allowing it to run away either. Joshua and I arrived on the scene and despite our appearances she looked relieved. We eased up to the camel and I could tell right away that it was Poppy. "Give her the food." Joshua whispered to me and I snapped my head over to him. Oh my god, the food. I slowly looked down to the bulge in my jeans pocket. My soaking, wet jeans. Joshua followed my gaze and a small laugh erupted out of him. I shot him the look of death. "Have fun!" He called and I snarled. "You want to reach in?" I asked and he put up his hands. "No way! They're your pockets!" Then he laughed again and I decided to suck it up. It was the only way. Slowly I reached in and touched the slimy, soggy mass of what should be dry food. It squished and made a sucking noise when I pulled it up and Joshua burst out laughing, doubling over and slapping his knees. Even the little child that the mother had been holding back started to giggle. I managed to get a dripping chunk out and held it in the palm of my hand. I slowly walked up to the frightened Poppy and she sniffed, and then nibbled. Apparently she didn't care if the food was wet or dry. I took a hold of her collar and Joshua took some of her fur and we caught the mouse. We thanked the woman and gave her our apologies. She said that it was no problem and told us it was worth the laugh. Then we led the camel back down through the houses and to the circus. As we crossed the street, Joshua gave me a look. "Let's take the bridge this time, don't you think?" He said and I looked over at his mud splattered face with a laugh. "Hey now, you didn't have to follow me! I totally could have done it on my own." I gave him a wink and rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, like I was going to let you get all the glory. But I don't know if there could have been a worse way of going about it." "Oh, I don't know - it was kind of fun! It was like a triathlon. Swim, Scale, Sprint!" We both burst out laughing, and arrived on the scene still giggling over little jokes. We arrived as heroes. A resounding cheer went up when they saw the last of the camels that had escaped being brought in. Then a thunderous laugh rolled over all the jolly people when they saw the soaking wet, chilled to the bone, mud splattered, and exhausted rescuers. We would never hear the end of it. We both headed off to get cleaned up, but on our parting of the ways I remembered the two handfuls still left in my pocket. A sly grin took over my face and I dug in when he turned around. "Hey, Josh!" I said, and he turned around, completely unsuspecting. I tossed the disgusting mass and it landed directly on his face. Bull's eye! I heard some sort of muffled cry and then he spoke from under the gunk. "Lory, you are going to get it!" He threatened and I was about to laugh in his face, when I realized he was wiping the food off his face and balling it up. Uh-oh. I gave a screech and ran away from him, but it was too late. His legs were long and within two strides he had caught up and grabbed me across the waist to bring me down. I was utterly helpless, and he rubbed the goo all over my face. I gave a cry and flicked it off, giggling hysterically. We were both lying on the ground, our stomachs shaking and our lungs gasping for air. I grabbed the bottom of his pants and used it to wipe off the grime. "Hey!" He said feebly, but was laughing too hard to really protest. I took the advantage to tickle the bottom of his feet. He just roared with laughter and kicked at me. I fell back into the straw and closed my eyes, squealing. I couldn't breath! It wasn't until I felt his hands on my sides that I realized he was going to tickle me, and by then it was too late. Tears streamed down my face and I couldn't catch a breath. I finally had to get violent and kick his ankles out from under him to get free. He landed on my leg and just stayed there, laughing aloud. I was wet, and freezing. Dried mud and food was plastered all over my body. I was completely exhausted. I could barely breathe and Joshua's big, fat head was starting to hurt my leg. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in my entire life. "Circus Monkeys -- Chap 9" 
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