Even though Bat flew in circles and smacked his leathery lips when he saw the watermelon, it wasn’t long before he was right back to dripping—or crying—whatever you wanted to call it. Daniel was pretty sure neither of them slept a wink that night.
Daniel needed to get Bat home, and soon. He asked his parents about the land of Papaya Premium at breakfast, but they’d never heard of it either.
“Who told you about that?” his mother asked.
“Just a friend,” he answered.
“Oh,” she replied, hopefully. “Did you meet one of the kids next door?”
Daniel had seen the neighbor kids twice…once while carrying in boxes and again when he took out the trash. There was a girl about his age and a boy a little younger. He’d thought about waving, but they looked busy.
“No. Jason told me about Papaya Premium before we left Toronto,” he lied. His mom looked discouraged.
Daniel felt discouraged too. He couldn’t even look up Papaya Premium online because the Internet wasn’t set up. Then he remembered: there was another way.
“Can you take me to the library?” he asked.
“Sure,” his mom said. “The roofers are coming to look at that leak in your room anyway. Why don’t we go now?”
Daniel had almost forgotten about the “leak.” He couldn’t tell his parents what was really causing it. But he also couldn’t leave Bat to be discovered by the roofers.
“Wait! I just need to get my—um—bookmark,” Daniel said. He ran up to the attic.
“Bat!” he called.
Bat, who’d been fast asleep after a long night of keeping Daniel awake, blinked his giant eyes open.
“I’m going to the library to get information about your land. You need to come with me. Workers are on their way. If they find you here, they might hurt you.”
“Does theys gots brooms?” Bat asked, trembling.
“Ummm, I don’t think so,” Daniel answered. “But they probably have hammers and saws and things.”
Bat flew toward Daniel and latched on to one of his fingers with his feet, hanging upside down. Each foot had five tiny claws. They were sharp and grippy, but smoother than Daniel would have expected.
“Hide in my shirt pocket and stay quiet,” Daniel said. Then he remembered what he’d told his mom. He grabbed his Star Wars bookmark. “Hold this,” he said, tucking it into his pocket with Bat.
When they got to the library, Daniel’s mom went to sign up for library cards. Meanwhile, Daniel found a computer. It was in a corner facing the wall, so it was safe to let Bat out.
“If anyone comes, hide behind the bookmark,” Daniel told Bat.
Daniel started with an internet search for “Papaya Premium,” but all he got were recipes for smoothies.
Then he had an idea. Bat didn’t always call things by the right names…
“You said there are waterfalls, right? And orchids? Parrots? A raining forest and piggy elephants? And it’s near the sea…” Daniel entered those key words instead. The computer auto-corrected a few.
“Oh! You probably meant pygmy elephants!” he said. “And the rainforest. Borneo!” he announced, looking at the top search results. “Is your homeland Borneo?”
Bat was busy staring at the picture on Daniel’s bookmark.
“I think it’s probably Borneo,” Daniel concluded. “But that’s on the other side of the world!”
“Is a bat?” Bat asked, tilting the bookmark so Daniel could see.
“No,” he laughed. “That’s Darth Vader.” But he could understand how the bat might make that mistake. Darth Vader wore all black and his mask had a snouty look. “You know…from Star Wars. May the Force be with you!”
But, of course, Bat didn’t know a thing about Star Wars.
“I’ll show you later. Right now, look.” He pointed to some images of Borneo on the screen. “Is that home?”
“Undoubtedly.” Bat nodded. “There is being the raining forest…and the waterfalls are very much a-same.”
“Good,” Daniel said. “It’s Borneo. Now we just need to get you back. How did you get here, anyway? Did you fly all that way?”
Bat shook his head. “A Bat traveled in a crate marked with the name of mine land: Papaya Premium.”
“But why?” Daniel asked.
“Mine was napping on a tree one sunny day when, out of nowheres, mine sleeping-papaya was plucked and made to plummet into a crate filled with mores papayas,” said the bat, “which mine gobbled most hungrily. A bat journeyed many days. First in a rolling rectangle, then in the belly of a roaring beast. One day, mine arrived in a noisy land, filled with fruits mine could smell but not reach.” Bat winced as he remembered this torture.
“At last,” he went on, “a Daniel with white hair carried mine crate away. Before longish, the Daniel opened the crate, screamed shriekily and tried to flatten a Bat with a broom.” Bat trembled. “But mine made a daring upward exscape. And sincely, mine has been all alone—until yours arrived.”
Daniel took a minute to put the pieces of Bat’s story together. Suddenly, he remembered a jar of chunky papaya jam that had been left by the old owner as a welcome gift. She must have been the white-haired “Daniel” who had opened the crate, screamed and chased Bat with a broom.
“You know,” Daniel told the bat, “Not all humans are called Daniels. I think that one’s name was Mrs. Jenkins or something.”
“Mrs-Jenkins-or-Something is a great villain,” said Bat somberly. “Her thwacky broom is most terrible.”
Daniel was going to point out that Mrs. Jenkins was probably just a sweet old lady—but he noticed his mother coming. Quickly, he tucked Bat into his pocket.
