Tourist Trap

Chapter 18

"What's the matter? I thought you were going to kiss me?" 

"I'll tell you what, I'll take a rain check on that, okay baby?" Max's lips curled inwards in disgust. 

"Oh come on. What's one little kiss going to hurt? You said so yourself." 

"Yeah, but you were hot when I said that," Max gritted his teeth. "Look, I'll kiss you later. I promise." 

"But I want to kiss you now," she leaned in towards him. He tried to back away but found himself cornered against the wall. Suddenly she stopped short and grasped her stomach. "Oh, I don't feel so good." She tilted her head and threw up all over Max's shoes.

* * *

This time it was Sarah's turn to nap as Bobby pulled them steadily along in his rickshaw. She was still a rat and curled up contentedly next to Max, leaning on his shoulder. He tapped his fingers impatiently on the edge of the rickshaw and gazed glassy eyed at the passing scenery. "Sorry about causing that mess back at your house, Bobby," he broke the silence. 

"Oh, that's all right," Bobby said. "It wasn't too clean anyway, in case you hadn't noticed. How are your shoes, by the way?" 

"I rinsed them off as best I could. I'm sure they'll be good as new eventually." 

"That was pretty smooth operating, by the way. I actually thought she was going to kiss you for a minute there." 

"Yeah, well, I had to take a shot. So are we almost there or what?" 

"We should be reaching city limits any minute now," Bobby replied. 

As if on cue they turned a corner and the large bright blue sprawl of the city wall came into view. It was punctuated in the middle by a massive red gate that appeared to be constructed of solid wood. 

"Here we are," Bobby said cheerfully. "We just need to get through here and we'll be in the mountainous regions outside the city. The cloud factory should be up there somewhere." 

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Max said. "Let's go." 

"Okay, let me just... well... um... hmm..." 

"What seems to be the problem?" Max asked impatiently. 

"I don't see any sort of door handle or anything. I'm not sure how to get this thing open." 

"Let me have a look." Max wriggled out from under Sarah's head and hopped out of the rickshaw. He mumbled softly to himself as he ran his eyes all over the door. "You're right. No doorknob. Well, we may need to result to alternative means. Do you think we could climb this wall?" 

"Maybe, but I don't see how we'd get the rickshaw over it." 

"Hmm," Max considered. "That is a problem. Well maybe there's a way to open the gate from the other side." 

"It's worth a shot," Bobby conceded. 

They tried grasping at the wall but found that it had very few footholds. After several failed attempts, Max dropped to the ground gasping for breath. "Okay, clearly that's not going to work. Let me think on this a minute." He clicked his tongue and rubbed his chin as he stared upwards at the top of the wall. "Say, you're pretty tall. Do you suppose you could lift one of us over it?" 

"I might be able to," Bobby scratched his head. 

"Sarah's the lightest. Let me wake her up," Max said and walked over to the rickshaw and nudged her gently. "Hey, wake up sweetheart. We've got a task for you." 

"Hmm?" She opened her eyes slowly and appeared to be disoriented. 

"Come on, snap out of it. Do you want to find your uncle or not?"