Chapter 7
lvin, running as fast as his little legs could carry him, turned down the first tunnel he came to. Those eyes!!! He shuddered at the thought and kept on going, following the twists and turns of the underground maze, following various openings at random. Finally, when he couldn't run anymore, he stopped and, looking carefully around for the eyes he'd felt sure were right behind him, sat down to catch his breath.
"Oh where is that boy?" he thought, his chest heaving, "He should be here by now...." He sat panting and listening for the familiar footsteps. And then suddenly the most horrible thought came to him.
"He doesn't know where I am!! Those eyes things scared me!! He won't know where to look!!" and Alvin began to cry. "I'm lost and and I'm scared and I want to go home....." he sobbed.. "I wish I had listened...." And there he sat for what seemed a long time, feeling very sorry for himself.
But at last his tears stopped and he began to think. "Well...if he can't come to me, maybe I can find my way back to him....." He stood up and looked around. "Now, which way did I come here?"
After a moment he decided to follow the opening to his right and slowly, because he was still afraid of those eyes, he started off. He walked and walked, sometimes coming to a dead end, sometimes finding a patch of daylight falling through a grating high overhead, but never finding the right way back. Finally, worn out with his search, Alvin found a little ledge and, with a great yawn, curled up and fell into a deep sleep.
When the boys came running downstairs the next morning they found a stack of bright green posters waiting on the kitchen table.
After breakfast, they each took a stack of posters and took off in different directions...the boys on their bikes, the father in his car, and the mother and little sister on foot.
Soon the bright green posters were appearing everywhere....on telephone poles and bulletin boards, on walls and benches, on car windshields and in store windows. They took posters to the police station and the city offices. They handed them to people coming out of the supermarket and the kids at the playground. They went to the newspaper office and the radio station. Soon Alvin's little face was the best-known one in town.
It was late afternoon before the tired, hungry group gathered at home again. They had done their best. All that was left to do now was wait.....
The rest of the afternoon was spent doing the usual afternoon things and listening for the phone. Every time it rang, the boy would race to be the one to answer it, but it was never about Alvin. Just his father's boss, or his mother's cousin or his brothers' friends. Nothing about a little alligator wandering around town, lost and alone. He sighed sadly and wondered if he'd ever see his little friend again.
Before going to bed, the boy went back down to the basement and checked the pipe.
"Alvin?" he called, "If you can hear me, I want to let you know we're looking for you...." He listened hopefully, but heard nothing. "Goodnight Alvin," he called softly. "Please come home soon." And he went slowly upstairs to his room and, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, he slept soundly through until morning.
Alvin, stretching and stirring in his sleep, rolled over and fell off his ledge.
"Wow," he thought, shaking his head a little, "What a way to wake up!!" He gave a huge yawn and looked around him, wondering for a moment where he was. Then he remembered....and realized he was hungry.
"I wonder what they eat for breakfast down here?" he asked himself nosing about. Finding nothing, he gave a sigh and, with a final look around, started off to continue his search. Down one opening and up another he traveled, always being careful to leave some kind of mark so he wouldn't keep going around and around in circles. He took his time, examining every opening he came to, listening for voices or other sounds that might help him find his way, and watching for those eyes....
All day he explored, going up and down, in and out. Whenever he saw a gleam of light he would head for it, knowing that it meant an opening to the outside world, but those openings were always too high for him to reach, and so he kept looking until, once again, he was tired out and ready for some sleep. He found himself a little hollow this time, and, thinking about the boy and home, he fell asleep.
Text © 1995 by Eva Frizzi. Used with permission.
