Inspirational English, Issue 42, Jan/Feb 2018 Inspirational English, Issue 42, Jan Feb 2018 | Page 52

Continued from previous page
Dinkykindy lost heart. He watched the officer waiting for his order to be executed. The fetch and miss of the
girl’s breathing made him more worried and scared.
The boy hemmed and hawed: “My goodness. We’re dead! No doubt.”
His anxiety made the picture on the ball fuzzed but he still was aware. He recognized the officer who turned
to his men and roared: “That axe !stupid men! This is bizarre there’s no grass on this part of the hill!”
Dinkykindy stood up, darted nervous glances around the place as though he hadn’t noticed he had been in a
cave so far. He looked scared. He whirled and twirled around thoughtlessly. The faint grunts of the little girl
confused him. He moved here and there. He felt the walls and scrutinized them for the least ray of light. There
was no escape. He was scared.
“I can’t breathe!” snivelled the girl. She became fainter and fainter. He got terrified.
“Cool!” urged Grasshopperboy.
He took a deep breath and rubbed his chest as if to pump oxygen in his veins.
He went back to his powder horn, held it carefully in both hands and uncapped it. He glanced in.
“ Too little!” said he exasperatedly: “What if the mountain is too thick?” He shook the horn, “The powder won’t
suffice!”
Grasshopperboy turned abruptly to the ball as if he had forgotten its existence. He watched.
“Dig here!” shouted the officer when his assistants appeared carrying axes.
Dinkykindy was about to fall down.
He watched them raise their tools and beat the rocky entrance. The little girl, also, raised her fading face to
watch. Surprisingly, the walls didn’t shake. Nor did they echo.
“It’s so thick, it seems.” whispered Dinkykindy.
Were it not for the magic ball that transmitted the scene live from the outer part, they would have never been
able to feel the shock of the striking tools on the wall.
Actually, he was aware of no shiver but that of his belly. It was rumbling and gurgling.
He glared downcast and murmured resentfully: “Shut up, stupid stomach!” Then he patted his belly tenderly
and whispered, “You’ve been spoiled for ages. Allow me a day off, then!”
He was about to have a breakdown. All that was happening was depressing: the digging outside ,
grunts of the little girl and the belly’s rumbling.
Would there be another daylight? How much time did they spend in the cave? How much time did he still
have to come back to his boy state?
He glanced at the little girl and saw that her chest was shifting up and down feebly. There, lay the horn that
contained little powder and the ball that was faithful and didn’t lose the signals. Here, he believed himself the
most desperate. He thought he had to rescue the little girl. He squeezed his small brain for an idea. He swiped
the screen to study the ground. There was a lot of room to escape through provided that he quit this place.
There were only an officer, two policemen and the two criminals. They were randomly deployed and most of
them were poorly concentrating and were indifferent.
“Get up baby. Don’t fail me for God’s sake.” begged the boy.
"Grasshopperboy" By Ezzeddine Cherni
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