9780008390662

dream
This morning I wake up in my cozy bed, way too early for Julia to make me
breakfast. She and her mom and dad are still asleep, and even the guinea pigs
are silent. My belly grumbles, and once again I curse my thumblessness.
Humans are one big design flaw. The inferior noses. The inscrutable,
humdrum rumps. And don’t get me started on their—ahem—odor. But the
opposable thumb idea? Yeah, that was a nice upgrade.
The cans I could open! The doorknobs I could conquer!
Anyways. I feel worried. Off.
Worry’s a waste of time. And it doesn’t fit with my tough-guy act. But
sometimes I can’t seem to help myself.
Before I woke up, I’d been dreaming about Ivan and Ruby and Stella.
It wasn’t a nice dream, a fun-and-run toe-twitcher.
Nope. This one was a nightmare. A bad one.
We were swimming, all four of us, in a black, raging river. For some reason,
I was in the lead. And I kept looking back, telling them I was gonna save
them.
Me. Save them. Two elephants and a gorilla.
As I paddled like mad, their voices faded. I looked behind me and they’d
vanished.