Chapter 4
ver the next few days Alvin slowly adjusted to his new routine, and as he did, his natural curiosity asserted itself again and he began exploring. He investigated the pile of lumber in the corner and strolled along the toolbench, looked into the dryer vent and explored the furnace. He poked and pried into every box and can and jar he could find, and stuck his head into every opening he came across. He spent time playing with the boy too, and so his days were busy and full.
One day, while making his usual rounds, he spotted it....a small, round grating set into the floor. How he had missed it before was a mystery, since he had either passed by it or walked across it at least a hundred times. None of that mattered now, though. He had seen it, and it fascinated him.
He crept over to it and peered down through the grating. With the instinct of all water creatures he could sense wet down there and he wanted to explore. But how was he to get down there? The grating seemed immovable. He tried pushing it. Nothing. He tried pulling. Nothing again. Jumping on it only got him a bruised foot, and turning it made his muscles ache. And so he sat and looked and wondered about the world down below, and whether he'd ever get to visit it.
One day soon after he'd first become aware of that fascinating opening, the plumber arrived to do some work on the water system. Alvin, shut in his carrier, watched with intense interest as the plumber, with a tremendous effort, opened the grate. He couldn't see much, but what he did see interested Alvin greatly. The hole underneath was plenty big enough for a little fellow like him. Now if he could just get out.....
The plumber finished the job quickly, replacing the grating with a loud "clang!". Alvin's little heart sank. He'd never get down there now....
When the boy came down that afternoon for their regular playtime, Alvin wasn't in the mood, but, glad to be out of his carrier he half-heartedly joined in the fun, chasing his toys and charging at the boy in mock anger. It was while running after a ball that he crossed the grating for the first time....and instantly brightened. It had moved!!! He ran back across it again. Had he imagined it? He felt it rock gently beneath him. NO!! It was loose!! He stopped and, forgetting the game and the boy and everything else, he started trying to open it again. He had actually succeeded in sliding it about a quarter inch, revealing a dark crescent of open space, when the boy noticed what he had done and came running.
"Alvin!!! NO!!! Stay away from there!!!" He reached down and grabbed the little alligator up. "Don't so that...you'll get hurt!! You could fall down there and be lost...." Alvin gave a little squeak of surprise and tried to wiggle away, but the boy kept hold of him and returned him to his carrier, all the while repeating his warnings.
"Now Alvin," he concluded, 'if you don't stay away from there I won't be able to let you run around down here anymore, and you'll have to stay in there all the time. You don't want that do you?" Alvin blinked in agreement, shaking his head "No". He certainly didn't want to be kept confined. He'd NEVER get down there if he had to stay locked up.....
The boy smiled at this, and closing the carrier door, said goodnight and promised to give Alvin his freedom again in the morning. Alvin, alone in the dark, curled up and began planning....
The next day, true to his word, the boy gave Alvin the run of basement as usual. "You'll be good, won't you?" he asked, watching Alvin begin his morning rounds. "You promised to stay away from that sewer pipe, and you shouldn't break a promise....If you do, I'll just throw you down there, and we'll see how you'll like THAT!"
Alvin looked up at him and made a little sound of agreement. The boy smiled. "Good," he said, starting up the stairs. "I knew you were an alligator of your word. I'll see you when I get back from the library...." And he was gone, leaving Alvin to carry out his plan.
No sooner had the cellar door closed than Alvin streaked across the floor, heading straight for the grating. He stopped and stared at it for a moment or two, peered down into the darkness, walked across it two or three times, then settled down to work.
It wasn't as loose as it had been, so it took quite a bit of effort to get the grate moving, but Alvin was determined, and eventually he could feel it begin to rock much more easily with each jump he gave. He gave a little squeal of triumph and started pushing as well. The grate slipped a little....then a little more. A quarter inch....a half inch....bit by bit an opening appeared.
He finally got it wide enough to stick his head down inside the pipe and take a good look into that underground world. Something seemed to be shining down there, and he leaned farther and farther down, trying to see what it was. He was so absorbed that he didn't hear the door open or the boy come down the stairs.
"ALVIN!!! NO!!!!" the boy yelled, running across the cellar. "Get away!! You promised!!" Alvin, startled, looked up just as the boy stepped down hard on the grating, causing it to rotate on end and flip Alvin into the air. The boy reached frantically for his pet, but just a second too late, as, with a rumble of surprise, Alvin disappeared head first down the sewerpipe.
Text © 1995 by Eva Frizzi. Used with permission.
