Chapter 19
Short Straw: Monkey Spine and the Bamboo Forest
After school, I rode back to Fort Clayton. I was on the part of the trip where the bamboo grew.
The forest out here was completely unpredictable. I had been warned not to go into it. It was thick. It was easy to get turned around and lost in. I was on the side of the road when my tire blew out.
Unprotected.
There were three men in a car that took a U-Turn. They were headed back in my direction. Mom had given me a great warning. Everyone gets feelings. Trust the icky ones. I have an icky feeling.
The ickiest.
Don’t go into the bamboo. Don’t take chances. Don’t neglect icky feelings.
When the choice is only one,
No risk to weigh. It’s over. Done.
I dropped my bike… I took three giant steps back.
Three steps were enough. Three steps in could get me killed. Three steps in and you completely disappeared from the world. The car screeched to a halt right where my bike lay. They were right there. I couldn’t see them through the stalks, and they couldn’t see me, but I could hear them perfectly.
They are right here.
I can’t see them.
They can’t see me.
I can hear them.
English.
“Where is she?”
“She just disappeared.”
“That’s impossible.”
“We’ve got the bike.”
“They track the numbers on bikes.”
“Leave it.”
“But where is she?”
“It doesn’t matter now.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
I held my breath.
I was willing to take an extra two steps back, but not until I had to.
I didn’t have to.
They got in their car and sped away.
I held my bike up on the one working tire.
I pushed it a quarter mile toward the gate guards.
Toward Short Straw.
There wasn’t an argument between the MPs at the Fort Clayton gate.
When Short Straw lost the first time, Bubble-Girl was forever and always his responsibility.
He quickly stepped out of the guard shack.
“What’s happened Ma’am?
Are you okay?”
Just then, before I could answer, our conversation was loudly interrupted by a cruise ship passing through the nearby canal waters. Three teenage girls in very tiny swimsuits were leaning over the railing, waving frantically down at us.
“Eduardo!”
“Eduardo Garcia!”
“Corporal Eduardo Garcia!”
The second gate guard stepped out and gave a long wave back to the girls.
This caused them to immediately jump up and down, a little too enthusiastically.
“What was that?”
“Ed met them last night in a bar. I want someone shouting at me like that one day before I leave this place.”
“It can happen.”
“I don’t hang out in the right bar. It’s a port bar on the other side.”
“Ah. How… unfortunate?”
I was certainly out of my element on this one.
“Anyway, what happened to you, are you okay?”
“Thanks for asking, I’m fine. My bike just blew up on me.”
“Oh! I’ve seen this before. It’s your lucky day!”
“I don’t think so.”
I remembered the bamboo forest and shivered.
I didn’t mention it.
I had no proof it even happened.
I didn’t want to be questioned like I was being dramatic.
I didn’t see them.
I couldn’t even describe the car.
“May I look at your tire?”
I chose silence.
“May I look at your tire?”
“Go ahead.”
“See here! I told you that it was your lucky day. This is what popped your tire.”
I was looking at a bleached rock, maybe?
“What is that?”
“It’s monkey spine! It’s supposed to bring wicked good luck.”
“So far, it isn’t working for me at all.”
“Can I keep it? I think maybe I shouldn’t have told you that it was valuable and then ask for it.”
“It’s okay. Like I said, it may bring you luck, but I just don’t feel it.”
“Thanks!”
He looked at me going into my backpack.
“It’s okay, Ma’am. No I.D. today. I’ll catch you again tomorrow?”
I looked at the guard in the shack.
The other MP’s head was sticking out the door as he tried to figure out what went wrong this time.
“Are you two going to laugh at me again?”
“Oh, no ma’am. Not this time. Thanks for the monkey spine!”
When I got home, Robert was already there.
It takes considerably longer to walk a bike home than ride one.
He saw me coming up the drive.
“What did you do to that bike?”
“Thanks for asking. I’m fine. My tire just blew on me. I caught a monkey spine in the back tire.”
“Can I see it?”
“I gave it to Short Straw.”
“Who?”
“Strawberry Short Straw—the red-headed gate guard.”
“What’s the name on his tag?”
“Idunno. I don’t look for names and ranks. But he liked the monkey spine, so I gave it to him.”
“I don’t believe it was a monkey spine.”
No proof, no belief.
“Of course not.”
“Replacing an entire rim is about half of what the bike is worth.”
“I’ll ride Jane’s tomorrow.”
What if my tire hadn’t blown? Would I have noticed the U-turn if I was pedaling? I had come out of the bamboo forest safe.
It may have been the luck of the monkey spine.