Runaway Ralph - Beverly Cleary [11]
Ralph made up his mind not to budge. If he stayed perfectly still, sooner or later they would all go away and let him enjoy peace and quiet in his nice safe cage. Then maybe Garf would come back. He might even think of bringing a corner of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then Ralph would simply explain to Garf that he needed to get out of the cage because he had to take care of his motorcycle. He was quite sure that Garf could understand, for he looked like the kind of boy who was interested in speed and motorcycles and who would know how to make a miniature motorcycle go.
4
Chum
When Ralph awoke, the camp was dark. Crickets chirped in the weeds outside the craft shop. In the distance frogs croaked, were suddenly silent, and croaked again. Timidly Ralph began to investigate his new home. Someone had supplied him with food and water. A piece of paper had been dropped thoughtfully into one corner. Knowing that he was safe from the cat, Ralph nibbled at some dried corn and a lettuce leaf until his stomach was full. Then he shredded the paper, which was somewhat harder to chew than the Kleenex he had enjoyed at the Mountain View Inn, and spread it around his cage before he summoned enough courage to explore his exercise wheel.
Ralph climbed cautiously onto the wheel, which swung back and forth so alarmingly that he jumped off. He ran around his cage examining the wheel from every angle. Deciding that the worst that could happen to him was falling off, Ralph tried again. This time he stayed on the wheel, and when he became accustomed to the swinging motion, he tried a few cautious steps. The wheel spun pleasantly beneath his feet.
Ralph ran faster. The wheel increased its speed. Ralph raced as hard as he could run, and then stopped. To his astonishment, the wheel continued to spin, and Ralph was carried completely around the circle so that for an instant, before he began his descent, he was upside down at the top of the wheel. This ride was fun! When Ralph had coasted to a stop, he began to run again so that he could spin around the full circle once more. Round and round went Ralph as the shadows in the craft shop faded. Spinning on a wheel was as dangerous and as exciting as riding a motorcycle.
His motorcycle! Ralph leaped from the wheel to the side of the cage nearest the window. The rays of the rising sun slanted through the bamboo, but no matter how hard Ralph strained his eyes he could not catch even a glimpse of chrome or red metal. If only he had some way of knowing his motorcycle was still hidden beneath the bamboo husk.
An alarm clock went off in a lodge nearby, and a boy in rumpled pajamas stumbled out to blow the rousing bugle notes that brought the camp to life. Ralph busied himself scattering his shredded paper about his cage, nibbling his food, and racing on his wheel. While the campers were in the dining hall eating breakfast, Garf slipped into the craft shop, checked on Ralph’s food and water, and slipped out again so quickly that Ralph only had begun to summon his courage to speak. That’s funny, Ralph thought. The boy acts as if he’s doing something wrong.
After breakfast Aunt Jill and several boys and girls straggled into the craft shop and settled down to make pictures by gluing dried rice, peas, beans, and corn to scraps of plywood. Mosaics, they called them. Such a waste of good food, thought Ralph, recalling some of the hard times he had gone through with his family back at the Mountain View Inn. Those campers were ruining enough food to keep a mouse family healthy for weeks.
Before long the mosaic makers discovered Ralph, who obliged them by racing on his wheel.
“Hey, look at him loop the loop!” said a boy named Pete.
“Isn’t he darling!” cried a girl. Apparently all girls called mice, at least mice in cages, darling.
Ralph could not resist showing off by looping the loop once more, and when many hands pushed bits of the mosaics into his cage, he nibbled greedily. At least there was no scrounging at Happy Acres Camp.
The next time Garf slipped into the craft