Toad Heaven - Morris Gleitzman [18]
Then a voice rang out above him.
“Limpy. Grab my arm.”
A familiar voice.
Limpy looked up. And even though the pounding sheep feet were only meters away, he froze in amazement.
“Goliath!” he yelled, weak now for different reasons. Relief and quite a bit of delight.
“Grab my arm!” shouted Goliath, hanging off the concrete wall and reaching down toward Limpy.
“Yes!” yelled Limpy. “I'm grabbing, I'm grabbing. Stack me, am I glad to see you!”
He lunged up toward Goliath's arm.
Then, delight turning to anguish, Limpy remembered something.
The virus germs.
He pulled his arm away from Goliath's.
“No!” yelled Limpy above the thunder of the sheep. “Go away!”
Goliath didn't go away.
Limpy felt muscular fingers grab the loose skin at the back of his neck. Suddenly he was dragged up the wall. Dust and wool and sheep saliva tickled his feet as the mob charged under him into the tunnel.
“Please,” Limpy begged Goliath. “You mustn't touch me.”
Goliath didn't seem to hear. He heaved Limpy onto the top of the wall, put his arm round him, and jumped with him down behind some wooden crates.
“We'll be safe here till the panic's over,” said Goliath.
No you won't, thought Limpy miserably, pulling away. You'll never be safe again. I've probably just infected you with virus germs.
Limpy could hear the sheep bursting noisily out of the other end of the tunnel and milling around, with humans shouting at them.
I should be down there, he said to himself, glands aching with anguish. Flattened to a pulp by hundreds of sheep feet. At least I wouldn't have done this to poor Goliath.
Goliath was grinning at him.
“Stack me, you look pale,” said Goliath. “Must be the shock of seeing me. I'm pretty amazed I made it here myself.”
“Goliath …,”croaked Limpy.
The sooner Goliath knew, the better. Perhaps if Goliath lay down and put his feet up, the germs wouldn't affect him so badly.
Wouldn't kill him so quickly.
“There's something I have to tell you,” whispered Limpy.
Goliath wasn't listening.
“Talk about good luck,” he was saying. “You know those flying beetles you sent over to me yesterday? I mustn't have chewed one of them properly, 'cause it crawled back up my throat and gave me your message. About you saying you were dead when you weren't really. Stack me, I thought. If Limpy's saying that, he must still be alive. So I went looking for you. Couple of snakes with herbs on them told me where you'd gone. When I heard you were definitely still alive, I was delirious. Nearly choked on the snakes. Got to the train just as you were jumping on and hopped on the back myself.”
“Goliath …,” said Limpy.
Goliath threw his arms round Limpy again. “You don't have to say it,” he said. “I know you're tickled pink, and I am too. Tickled pink you're still alive and tickled even pinker I can go on a quest with you instead of that oversized wartbag Malcolm.”
Limpy couldn't get a word out, partly because Goliath was hugging him so hard and partly because he felt so sad.
I've got the most loving cousin in the universe, thought Limpy, and I may have just killed him.
Limpy wanted to cry and never stop.
Instead, he pulled himself together.
It could be worse, he thought. I could have infected Charm as well.
Limpy struggled out of Goliath's arms and was about to break the awful news when he saw what was on Goliath's back.
A shiny pink plastic backpack.
Limpy recognized it. He remembered the day a child having a tantrum in a passing car had pulled the backpack off her doll and chucked it out onto the highway. Limpy had waited for the car to turn round and come back, and when it didn't, he'd added the backpack to his drink can and chicken bone collection.
Now he stared at it in amazement.
Partly because Goliath had managed to squeeze it over his broad shoulders and partly because it was moving.
Something inside it was wriggling and kicking and grunting.
Stack me, thought Limpy. He's brought a bag full of bog worms to eat on the trip.
He saw that Goliath was glancing nervously over his shoulder at the bag.
“I