Racing through a stop sign on Phlox Drive, Ella hung a sharp right onto Zinnia Street, but with Richie mounted to the handlebars, she couldn’t turn soon enough, and the bike careened into the Hugheses’ yard. She tore through a lifeless garden of flowers, exploding wilted petals into the air. Richie thrashed about, his skinny rear end bouncing off the steel bar, the gearshift, and the pointy knobs of Ella’s knees.
“Owww!” he squealed. “My butt! My butt! My butt!”
Marlo, still perched on Richie’s hat, took issue with the shaky pom-pom beside him. It kept crashing into him, prompting the kingfisher to peck angrily at the offending ball of yarn.
Ella realized she could save time if she continued straight, cutting across the Hugheses’ backyard and then through the Wilhelms’ property, where she could rejoin the street. To gain speed, she raised herself up from the seat and bounced her weight on the pedals.
“Hold on, Richie!”
But Richie had only a single concern: “My buuttt!”
She sped around the side of the house and bounced onto a backyard patio. Glancing at the windows, she saw the lights were out. She wondered what Mrs. Hughes would think if she were to look out and find Ella tearing across her snowy patio on a bicycle with Richie sprawled across the handlebars, yelling about his rear end while a bird pecked angrily at his hat. Certainly she wouldn’t be able to categorize it as an everyday sight.
Ella steered around a shed in the back reaches of the yard, then sped across the Wilhelms’ lawn, crashing through several bushes and clipping a ceramic garden gnome, which lost its cone-shaped hat and the better part of its big nose. She bounced back onto the road, narrowly avoiding a rusted-out pickup truck. She leaned forward and pedaled with all her might. Marlo continued his assault on Richie’s pom-pom, and Richie continued his daffy proclamations about his bottom.
Ella sped down the sidewalk on Walkers Boulevard and turned into the zoo parking lot. Except for a few cars, it was empty. She quickly neared the front gates, where a guard, recognizing Ella and Richie, leaped from his booth and kicked open a squealing gate. The guard waved them through with exaggerated sweeps of his arm. Ella zoomed past him, bawling out her thanks.
She turned onto the main path. In no time, the three of them passed Flamingo Fountain and rolled deeper into the zoo. As they sped by the exhibits, Ella didn’t see anything out of the ordinary—certainly nothing that would have caused the panic she’d seen in Marlo. But minutes later, as they neared Creepy Critters, a sasquatch lunged out of the shadows and onto the path directly in front of them.
As the monster swung at them, Ella leaned to one side, intentionally dropping the bike. Claws whooshed through the air, just missing her head. The bike slammed into the legs of the sasquatch, tumbling the beast to the ground.
Ella’s head smacked the concrete. Her eyes filled with stars, and a squeal erupted in her ears. The world clouded out. She lay on the path, too hurt to move, her cheek pressing against the cold concrete, blood trickling from her nose. Marlo jumped in front of her face, chirping wildly and fanning his wings. From her perspective, he seemed gigantic—larger than the distant buildings.
Forcing her head to rise, Ella spotted Richie. He was rolling on the ground, clutching his knees in pain. Next to him, the sasquatch lay in a heap, its legs tangled in the twisted frame of the wrecked bike.
Just as Ella hoped that the sasquatch had been knocked unconscious, the beast lifted its head. Then it looked around and fixed its stare directly on her.