“So,” said Bug. “Where are we going exactly?”
The truth was, Gurl hadn’t thought much about where she would go after she found Noodle. She stopped walking and looked around with bleary eyes. She lifted his hand and used it to point. “The Palace.”
The Palace Hotel, fifty-four of the grandest storeys in the whole city, loomed to their left, bedecked in lights like strings of jewels.
“Wow,” said Bug.
“Yup,” said Gurl. “If you’ve got to run, why not run to the best?”
They slipped past the doormen and entered the opulent lobby, trying to keep their sneakers from squeaking on the gleaming tile floor. Chandeliers glittered way above their heads, while gold trim gleamed along the walls. Along one wall was a grand staircase carpeted in rich red paisley.
“What do you want to do?” said Gurl, whispering in Bug’s ear.
“We’ll sneak behind the desk and check the computers, find a room that’s empty and mark it occupied. Then we’ll go up to the room and get some sleep.”
“Oh!” said Gurl. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Don’t know; why didn’t you?”
Since it was late, only one person manned the reservations desk, and he was too busy talking about the stock market with one of the bellhops to notice that one of the computers seemed to be operating all on its own. In just a few minutes, Gurl and Bug had registered a room under the name “B. G. Noodle”. Bug even knew how to make a card key for the room, though, as with his skill with alarms, he didn’t seem to know how he knew.
They took the elevator up to Room 2305, hoping that there were no security cameras to catch the door opening by itself. When they walked into the room, Gurl gasped and dropped Bug’s hand.
“Look at this!” she said, running to the bathroom, to the bed, to the chairs, to the bathroom again. “This is bigger than the whole dorm at Hope House!”
“And about four hundred thousand trillion times as nice.” Bug sat on one the red velvet chairs. “I feel like a king.”
“You have to see this bathroom!” said Gurl. “A family could live in here.”
Gurl freed Noodle from the sling. The cat proceeded to sniff every corner of the suite before running into the bathroom and shutting the door. Gurl and Bug soon heard the shower.
Bug shrugged. “I guess she needed to freshen up.”
“I wouldn’t mind that either,” said Gurl, “but I also wouldn’t mind finding something to eat. I’m starving. There have to be some restaurants around here.” She was going to suggest that they wait behind one of them for a waiter, but Bug had other ideas.
“How about room service?” Bug said. “They usually serve food late in these fancy places.” He hunted around until he found a menu on one of the writing desks. “Well, we can have a lobster salad. Or how about sea bass in a potato crust? Or here’s some foie gras.”
“Fwa what?”
“It’s goose liver. I was just kidding though. I don’t like it.”
“Goose liver? When did you ever have goose liver?”
“I didn’t,” said Bug, a strange look coming over his face. “I don’t think I did. But I’m sure I wouldn’t like it. That’s what I mean.”
“OK,” said Gurl, really beginning to wonder who Bug was before Hope House. What kind of person ate goose liver and made card keys? “Don’t they have anything normal on that menu?”
“Hey! They do! Hamburgers! But they don’t call them hamburgers; they call them sirloin burgers. Whatever. That’s what I’m having. A burger with cheese and fries.”
Her growling stomach made the decision for her. “Make that two,” said Gurl. Inside the bathroom, Noodle turned off the water. Gurl heard the sound of a blow-dryer. “And an order of macaroni and cheese.”
With the food ordered, Gurl and Bug kicked off their shoes and sprawled out on the two beds to watch TV. Twenty minutes later, there was a knock. Gurl made herself invisible while Bug dived under the covers. Lowering his voice as best as he could, Bug bellowed, “Come in.”
The waiter wheeled in a cart piled with food. “Your food…uh…sir?”
“Yes, yes,” Bug growled. “Thank you. You can leave it right by the desk.”
The waiter stared oddly at Bug (or what he could see of him, just a little tuft of hair above the blankets). “No problem, sir.” He put the food where he was told and left without waiting for a tip. As Bug and Gurl were uncovering dishes, Noodle wandered out from the bathroom, fluffy as a poodle.
“Is that a feather duster or a cat?” said Bug. Noodle nipped at his ankle and mewled for her pasta.
Gurl took a big bite of her burger, chewing thoughtfully. “Does this seem funny to you?”
“What?”
“Being in this fancy hotel, hiding out from ‘scary men’?” What she meant to ask was whether it felt funny for them to be in the fancy hotel together, or rather, didn’t it feel funny that it didn’t feel funny at all? For a minute she let her mind wander into a brief daydream: a girl goes on vacation with her family and hangs out with her cousin, no, not a cousin, but a friend of the family, no relation at all. The girl and the boy spend all their time sightseeing, flying in the park and getting great snacks from room service.
But she didn’t want to tell him any of this for fear he’d think she was getting weird on him. “Think about it,” she said. “Tomorrow we could be waking up at Hope House to runny eggs and lumpy oatmeal.”
“Monkey chow,” said Bug.
“Right. And Digger’s attitude problem.”
Bug nodded. “And Mrs Terwiliger’s freaky trout face.”
“Instead we’re going to wake up here.”
“It’s pretty amazing,” Bug agreed. “Aren’t you glad I decided to take you with me?”
Gurl threw a napkin at him and he threw one back, but neither of them wanted to stop eating long enough for a serious linen fight.
Bug, Gurl and Noodle ate every morsel of food on their plates before collapsing into the huge soft beds. “I don’t know about you,” said Bug, “but I gotta get some sleep.”
“Me too,” said Gurl, through a yawn.
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
Bug flicked off the lights and the room was dark and still. Noodle looked from one bed to the other, unsure of who, exactly, she wanted to perch on. She settled for Gurl, curling up right beside her, so that the tip of her tail would occasionally brush against Gurl’s nose and make her sneeze.
Despite the heavy food in their stomachs, despite their sore feet and their exhaustion, they were restless. They listened to the sounds of the city street far below their window: the distant wail of tyres, the tired rumbles of the buses that methodically traced their routes like ghosts. The sounds of the city were low and sad, and it made them grateful that they were not alone. All through the night, they took turns watching each other sleep.
For two weeks they switched from empty room to empty room, floor to floor. And for those two weeks, ordering cheeseburgers, omelettes and fries from room service, taking hour-long baths in the Jacuzzi, watching Noodle attack the shoelaces that Bug dragged all around the room and crashing (invisibly, of course) four elaborate weddings was enough adventure for all of them. Then Gurl and Bug grew bored. Even Noodle seemed to spend much of her time napping and heaving long, pathetic sighs.
“How long do you think we have to hide from the scary men?” said Gurl, flipping through the 846 channels on the TV.
“I wonder how we even know that there are scary men,” said Bug. “I mean, this is the same guy who thought we were vampires. And the same guy who told us to take the subway. Maybe he’s just crazy.”
“Maybe,” said Gurl. “I’m getting sick of being in here. Why don’t we go out flying in the park for a while?”
“Tomorrow,” Bug said. “I want to make sure that I’m rested.”
“We’ve been resting for two weeks. And the Flyfest is coming up soon. They have an amateur race. If you practise, maybe
you could sign up for that.”
Bug said nothing, however. Gurl started to wonder if he wasn’t scared to try for fear that even with Gurl and with Noodle, he was still a leadfoot. That the one night in the park was a fluke and would never happen again.
“I have an idea,” said Bug, brightening. “Why don’t we go out and see a movie?”
“A movie?” At Hope House sometimes Mrs Terwiliger would rent old movies and show them on a big screen, but she had never seen a movie in a real movie theatre. “That would be great. But Noodle comes with us. I bet she’d like to see a movie too.”
“Fine,” said Bug, picking up the cat and cupping her chin so that she would look him in the eye. “But you can’t take that long in the bathroom, OK? I don’t feel like sitting around for two hours while you blow-dry your fur.” Gurl called the hotel concierge to find out where the nearest theatre was and then they set off. They didn’t bother with invisibility this time, since it seemed apparent that no one was interested in them. That was the thing about the city, thought Gurl. There were so many people doing so many things that no one person could keep track of another (at least not very well).
They had only been on the street for a few minutes when Bug stiffened.
“What?”
“How far is the theatre?” he asked.
“Around the corner, down a few blocks, why?”
“’Cause there’s a police car behind us, that’s why. Don’t look!”
But Gurl had already glanced back and seen the black and white car driving slowly up the block. “How do you know they’re looking for us?” Gurl said. “Do you think Mrs Terwiliger called them?”
“I don’t know what they’re looking for,” said Bug. “Pretend like you don’t notice anything. Once we turn the corner, grab me and turn us both invisible. Then we’ll be fine.”
“OK,” Gurl said. She forced herself to be casual as they came up to the corner.
“Ready?” said Bug.
“Yeah.” They turned left and Gurl grabbed Bug’s arm. Instantly, they vanished. They looked behind them and saw the cop car round the corner and stop dead. One cop got out of the car and disappeared into a nearby smoothie shop. After a few minutes, the cop returned carrying two giant fruit smoothies. The cop got back into the car and the two men drove away.
“Whew!” said Bug once the car was gone.
“They were just hungry. Had nothing to do with us.”
“We can’t be sure. Mrs Terwiliger could have called the police. Maybe we shouldn’t have messed up her offices so much. They could charge us with vandalism or something like that.”
“They’re not going to charge us with anything if they can’t see us,” said Gurl.
“Right,” said Bug. “No one can see us and no one can find us.”
Noodle made a low growl in her throat, a warning. A familiar slap-drag sound made the skin on the back of Gurl’s neck ripple in alarm and her stomach drop to her feet. “Nice?” said a guttural voice and the sounds of sniffing filled the air.
This time Gurl didn’t wait for the rat man to say anything else. She said it for him:
“Run!”
Chapter 19
What’s It To You? Has His Say
THEY RAN. GURL COULD STILL hear the snuffling sounds and knew that though the rat man couldn’t see them, he could smell them.
Bug tugged on her hand, yanking her into an alleyway where they crouched against several garbage cans. Gurl could hardly breathe for the noxious odour of the trash.
They watched anxiously as the rat man who had followed them passed the alley where they hid. He stopped, sniffing the air, but soon moved on.
“What is that thing?” said Bug.
“I don’t know exactly,” Gurl said. “And I don’t want to know.”
“At least the smell of the garbage confused it.”
“Yeah,” said Gurl. “It’s confusing me so much I think I might throw up.”
They crept up to where the alley opened on to the street and looked around. Several other dim, trench-coated shapes lurked in doorways and alleys, umbrellas lowered to hide their filed teeth.
“There’s more than one,” said Gurl. “What are we going to do?”
“Wait here for a few minutes. Then, when they’ve gone, we’ll go to the theatre. It’s closer than the hotel and there are always a lot of people there. All that candy and popcorn should cover up our smell too, don’t you think?”
“OK. Let’s do it.”
They watched the rat men patrol the street, sniffing and searching. Then they took their search up the next block. When Bug and Gurl couldn’t see them any more, they left the safety of the alley for the theatre.
They were just walking past the ticket booth to go inside when the man behind the glass said, “Tickets, please!”
Gurl and Bug checked to see if they were still invisible. They were.
“Yes, I’m talking to you. You do need tickets to see the movie or did you think you were special?”
Bug and Gurl moved dumbly towards the ticket booth, gaping at the man. Gurl thought the man’s deep, raspy voice sounded familiar.
“I recommend the French film myself,” the man said. “Très magnifique! But I can imagine that you two are going to want to see this stupid action-adventure. I can sum that up for you: the hero shoots all the bad guys and gets the girl. Or maybe you’ll like this horrid romantic comedy. Neither romantic nor comic, if you ask me.”
“Jules?” said Gurl. He looked different than he had at Harvey’s months ago, his glasses plain and round, his short dark hair slightly mussed. But it was definitely him. And just like in the Harvey’s changing room, he could see her. He could see them all.
“Nice cat,” Jules was saying. “I won’t charge extra for her since she’ll probably sleep through the whole thing. Unless you see the French film, of course. That’s right up her alley.”
“Jules,” Gurl began, but the man ignored her and kept chattering on about French films in general, how they were superior in every way to every other sort of film, except, he said, for kung-fu films, which he felt were underrated as a genre.
“Do you know this guy?” said Bug. “And how can he see us when everyone else can’t?”
Jules’s eyes got squinty behind the plain round lenses. “You’d be amazed at the things I’ve seen,” he said. “That will be ten bucks.”
“Ten bucks!” said Bug. “We don’t have ten bucks!”
“Ten bucks each,” said Jules. “The theatres keep jacking up the prices, just like certain monkeys I know.”
“What do you know about monkeys?” Bug said.
“Oh, all right all right. I never saw you. Go on,” said Jules, waving them inside. Gurl and Bug continued to stare until Jules leaned forward. “Darlings, I smell a rat. Simon says move!”
They needed no other warning. They turned and ran into the theatre, not even bothering to check which picture was being shown.
“Regarde en haut et vois le ballon rouge,” boomed the speakers as they sat down, way at the back of the theatre. “C’est mon coeur.”
“How did that guy see us?” said Bug.
“I don’t know. I was at Harvey’s a while ago and he saw me there too, when no one else could.”
“Do you think he’s going to tell anyone we’re here?”
“No. I don’t think so. Otherwise the police would have come already,” said Gurl. She sighed, sinking into her seat, cuddling Noodle close. “We shouldn’t have left the hotel.”
“What were we supposed to do? Hide out for ever?” said Bug. “We didn’t know that Mrs Terwiliger was going to call the police.”
“Regarde en bas et vois les rats! Les rats rongent mes orteils!”
“And I didn’t think the rat man was going to find me again.”
“So these are the guys that you were telling me about. When did you first see one?”
“A while ago, after I’d turned invisible once. I was at a restaurant in Little Italy. It chased me
and tried to steal Noodle.” At the mention of her name, Noodle mewled softly.
“Les rats? Les rats ne sont pas si mauvais! Ils ont des coeurs aussi!”
They watched the movie for a few minutes, trying to figure out what was going on. Unfortunately, reading the subtitles didn’t help much.
“And what was that about monkeys?” Bug asked. “About them jacking up their prices?”
Gurl remembered something that Mrs Terwiliger said a long time before. “Do you still have that monkey you’ve been carrying around.”
“Ole What’s It To You? Sure.” Bug pulled the bedraggled monkey out of his pocket.
“And do you have a penny?”
“Uh, I think so.” Bug set the monkey on his lap and dug around in his pockets and came up with two pennies, a nickel and a quarter. He held out one of the pennies. “Here.”
“No, I don’t want it. Give it to the monkey.”
“Huh? How do I give a toy a penny?”
“Put it in his waistcoat. He has a pocket. Trust me,” she added, seeing Bug’s sceptical look.
Bug shrugged. “OK.” He tucked the penny in the monkey’s waistcoat. “Now what?”
“Wait a minute.”
“Wait for what?”
“I don’t know. Just wait.”
They waited, staring at the monkey.
“Uh, I don’t think anything’s going to happen,” said Bug.
“Right,” said Gurl. “Of course. They jacked up their prices! Try the nickel. No, the quarter. Try the quarter.”
“Whatever you say,” said Bug. “You’re the lunatic.” He tucked the quarter into the monkey’s waistcoat.
Nothing.
“How about a dollar? Do you have a dollar?”
“Be serious!” said Bug, but he was already digging in his pocket. “Here. That’s it. That’s all the money I have.” He shoved the dollar into the monkey’s waistcoat. “Are you satisfied now?”
“MONKEY CHOW!” screamed the monkey.
Noodle howled, Bug and Gurl almost jumped out of their seats and all around them people said, “SHHH!”
But the monkey had just begun. “Your real name is Sylvester Grabowski,” it said, lowering its voice to a hoarse whisper. “Son of Sy ‘Sweetcheeks’ Grabowski, master thief and criminal. You’re here to find The Wall.”