Chapter 5
ar below Alvin landed with a soft "PLOP". Startled almost out of his wits, he lay still, wondering what in the world had happened. One minute he had been quietly investigating, and the next he'd been falling through space. It was almost more than his little reptile brain could fathom.
Slowly he got to his feet, testing to make sure nothing was broken. This place wasn't anything like he'd thought it would be. It was dark and smelly and there were....THINGS....down here. Things that skittered and scurried just out of his sight. He wanted out, and he wanted out now.
The boy dropped to his knees calling "Alvin! Alvin!! Can you hear me??" He reached his arm down the pipe as far as it would go, but he could find nothing.
"Don't worry Alvin, I'll get you out!! Can you hear me? Alvin? Please...." He listened carefully, holding his breath....
Far below Alvin heard the boy calling. "Yes!! I'm here!! I'm here!!" he squeaked as loud as he could. "I knew he'd save me!!" he thought to himself as he grumbled and squeaked and roared. If only the boy could hear him.....
The sounds were faint, and the boy, unsure whether they were real or not, bent closer still holding his breath. There it was again.....was it....YES!!!
It was Alvin and he was ok!! The boy sighed with relief, then called down to his pet, "Alvin!! Don't worry...I'll get you out of there!!! I'm going to get help!!! Just stay right there!!!"
Alvin, overjoyed, made happy little sounds. It was going to be ok now....
The boy ran upstairs to find his father. He was good at fixing things, so he'd know how to get down there.....
"Dad! DAD!!" he called, running down the hall, "Come quick!! Alvin's gone down the sewer and we have to save him!!!"
"What? Slow down!! What's this about Alvin?" his father asked as the boy rushed breathlessly into the study. "Take a deep breath......now, tell me what happened."
"Oh Dad....Alvin's gone down the sewerpipe. And it's all my fault...." Bit by bit the story came out.
"We have to save him," the boy concluded with a choked sigh, "He'll die down there. I didn't mean it....about throwing him down there....It's my fault he's lost. I can't just leave him....."
"We're not going to leave him," his father assured the boy. "Come show me where he is and we'll see what we can do." And with that, the two of them set off for the basement.
Down below, Alvin sat patiently. If the boy said he'd come to get him, then he would, and that was all there was to it, and Alvin knew that the safest thing for him was to stay put. And so he sat in the dark, listening for his friend. But it wasn't the boy he heard, when at last a noise reached his ears....
It was a scuffling noise...like claws on cement....that came from the darkness behind him. Alvin tensed. "What's THAT??" he asked himself, too afraid to look. It couldn't be the boy. He would have called to him. Could it be someone else?
There were more scuffling noises, and they were louder now...and closer. And now he could hear a kind of chattering. Very slowly he turned his head, not knowing what he was going to see.
For a moment all was quiet, the dark impenetrable. And then he saw them....Lights. Little tiny pinpoints of lights. He stared at them, trying to make out what they were. Suddenly he realized that they were moving....and coming straight at him!!
For several seconds he stood paralyzed with fright as the lights, glowing an evil green, grew ever-larger. They weren't lights!! They were EYES!!! And now he could see the little faces....rodent faces....grinning unpleasantly at the intruder.
Suddenly the pack of rats stopped, the eyes staring unblinkingly at Alvin, who was trembling under their scrutiny. For a long moment everything was completely still.... And then the leader pounced, his leap dropping him just short of Alvin, who, at last recovered enough of his wits to turn and run as fast as he could down one of the many tunnels leading away from the sewerpipe. He forgot all about the boy and being rescued. He just wanted to get away from those eyes!!!
Text © 1995 by Eva Frizzi. Used with permission.
