James, Anna-Maria and the Giant Peach Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Later that night, nearly everyone had fallen asleep, all full of peach. Mr. Centipede tried to stay awake, as he had to steer the peach, but he eventually fell asleep, snoring.

Down below, Ms. Spider was putting the finishing touches on her web. Sitting in the middle on two large leaves were James and Anna-Maria, both sleepy from the events earlier that day. "You keep to yourself, don't you?" James yawned.

"I prefer to be alone." Ms. Spider answered.

"Anna-Maria and I were alone for a long time once. I think it's much nicer to have friends, don't you?"

"I would not know."

"They would be your friends too." James pointed out. "The others, I mean, if you'd just let them."

"No, it is in their nature to have fear of me." Ms. Spider said. "This I cannot change."

"You're very kind to us," He pointed out. "Anna-Maria and I."

"Maybe this is because you and your sister are kind to me first." Ms. Spider said, gently pushing James and Anna-Maria back.

It was then the young boy realized something. "You were the spider in our window."

"Mm-hmm." She nodded, smiling. She began to cover the children's lower halves with her string to keep them warm.

"You were our first friend. I mean, since we went to live with our aunts. They hated us!"

"Shh," She shushed, laying a hand on his lips. "Do not think of them now."

"But what if they find us? What if we don't make it to New York? I'll die if Anna-Maria and I have to go back to the way we were!"

"They can't make me!" Anna-Maria declared, crossing her arms.

"Nobody can make you, or your brother, do anything, Anna-Maria," Ms. Spider comforted her, laying her back next to her brother. "If you do not let them; you are both brave children." She covered them with James' coat, and kissed their foreheads. "Now to sleep. You both have had a very 'tired-making' day."

"Stowy?" Anna-Maria asked.

"Not tonight. It is late, and you both need your sleep." She climbed back into her spout to sleep, pausing to blow out a candle.

"But I'm not sleepy…" Anna-Maria whispered, drifting off to sleep. James yawned and watched the moon float by in the clouds through the open hatch. Eventually, his eyelids closed heavily, taking him into the warm arms of sleep.

The next morning, Anna-Maria was awoken by her brother's shaking, and a sudden coldness in the air. Waking up, she realized it was snowing. Eyes widening, she looked up at the hatch to see snow falling down it.

"James!" She exclaimed, sitting up and shaking him. "James, wake up!"

Gasping, his eyes popped open. They both crawled out of the web blanket; James put his coat on, and they climbed up the ladder and out of the hatch. The peach was covered with a thin layer of snow, and there were icicles on the stem. "Whoa!" He exclaimed. They were in a very cold place. There were glaciers, and a frozen lake with cracks in it. It was also full of abandoned ships.

"James," Anna-Maria shivered. "I'm c-c-cold."

James picked up Anna-Maria, wrapping her inside his coat, shivering as well. When they looked up, to their surprise, the seagulls had icicles, and were very sluggishly flapping their wings, pitifully screeching.

"This is an outrage!" They heard Mr. Grasshopper yell. Looking over the edge of the peach, they saw him yelling at Mr. Centipede on the boardwalk. Mrs. Ladybug and Earthworm were with him, and both didn't look very happy as well.

"You are a disgrace to your phylum, class, order, genus, and species!" He continued.

"Say it in English!" Mr. Centipede snapped, shoving his face to the grasshopper's.

"You, sir, are an ass!" Mr. Grasshopper declared, pointing a finger to the centipede's chest.

"Where are we?" James shivered. "What's going on?"

"I found this dime-store Timmy asleep at the helm," Mr. Grasshopper explained. "Now we're lost!"

"We are not lost!" Mr. Centipede countered.

"Then where are we?"

"Somewhere north…or possibly very, very far south."

"What's your latitude? What's your longitude?"

"Hey, hey, hey!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms up. "That's personal, bub."

"You said you could navigate!" Mr. Grasshopper yelled exasperated, advancing towards the centipede.

"You said you seen the world." Mrs. Ladybug pointed out.

"You said you'd been to Bora Bora." Earthworm added.

"Well, not Bora Bora, per se," Mr. Centipede confessed sheepishly.

"What about the shores of Tripoli?" Ms. Spider asked, popping up over one side of the peach.

"Did I say 'Tripoli'?" He chuckled. "I meant the Halls of Montezuma."

"That's what you said!" Earthworm protested.

"Never have I heard such mendacity!" Mr. Grasshopper huffed.

"You liar!" Ms. Spider scowled.
"Charlatan!" Mrs. Ladybug scolded.

"Wait!" James snapped, still holding Anna-Maria. "If he says he's seen the world, then he's seen the world. Right, Mr. Centipede?"

"Yeah!" Anna-Maria nodded. "Centipede don't lie! Right?"

As of now, the centipede now had a very guilty expression. "Well…I did live between two pages of the National Geographic." He confessed, not quite meeting the children's eyes.

James looked both confused and betrayed. "Huh?"

The other bugs were horrified as the centipede continued, "Very informative, National Geographic. Wonderful pictures."

Mr. Grasshopper had had enough. "You incompetent, blithering, nitwit!" He yelled outright.

"All right, Hoppy, them's fightin' words!" Mr. Centipede declared, throwing his cigar onto the boardwalk and holding up all twelve of his fists. "Put 'em up! Put 'em up! C'mon, gimme your best shot!"

Mr. Grasshopper simply kicked him in the jaw, knocking him onto his back, and making his hat fall beside him. "Whoa, good shot." He muttered, rubbing his jaw. He then spat out a tooth. "Did you see what he did to me?"

"Hmph, serves ya right." Mrs. Ladybug huffed. The bugs turned away from him and walked back up the boardwalk, leaving him to pick himself up, put his hat back on, and nurse his bruising jaw.

"Why Mr. Gwasshopper kick Centipede?" Anna-Maria asked innocently.

"Because he lied to us," James answered. "And lying is wrong." He then asked Mr. Grasshopper, "What do we do now? Which way do we go?"

"Oh, it's simple, really," He answered. "All we need to do is determine our coordinates, then use triangulation to chart a direct route to New York."

"Then there's hope." Earthworm smiled.

"Don't be ridiculous," He snapped, poking the worm in the nose. "There's no hope at all! We don't have a compass."

"We'll never reach New York," Earthworm moaned. "We're gonna be stuck here forever. We're gonna be frozen, like living statues."

"Dead living statues." Mr. Grasshopper corrected grimly. If the grasshopper agreed with the earthworm's moans, then there was indeed no hope.

"No dark hiding places." Ms. Spider sighed.

"No cozy leaf in the park." Mrs. Ladybug said.

"No city where dreams come true." James added.

"No New Yo'k." Anna-Maria finished, sniffling.

Mr. Centipede had heard what everyone said, and now felt immensely guilty. He leaned back against the peach, and sat on the boardwalk. He held his face in his hands, feeling really bad for lying to his friends. It was his fault they were in this situation. But what could he do?

As if to answer, James spoke up, "Don't ships have compasses?"

"No doubt," Mr. Grasshopper agreed, but continued, "But to brave those icy waters would mean certain death."

Hearing that, Mr. Centipede gulped, holding his hat nervously. He looked out at the icy lake, hearing the grasshopper's last statement, "Only a fool would do it."

"Uh-huh." He decided, shoving his hat on his head and putting his cigar in the corner of his mouth. He was going to do something right this time. "Geronimo!" He yelled, diving neatly into a hole in the ice.

"What? What?" Earthworm exclaimed in surprise. "What was that?"

"The centipede jumped in!" James exclaimed, seeing he was no longer on the boardwalk.

"Good heavens!" Mr. Grasshopper gasped. "He's committed pesticide! Oh, this is all my doing."

"Don't take all the credit!" Earthworm complained, pointing his tail at the insect. "I helped too."

"I have to go after him!" James said, setting Anna-Maria on the peach.

"Not on your life!" Mrs. Ladybug snapped. "You'll catch your death of cold."

"But he's my friend!"

"James is right," Ms. Spider spoke up. "Centipede is one of us. Get on my back, I am going with you."

James climbed onto her back. "You had better take good care of him." Mrs. Ladybug declared.

"This I promise." She nodded.

James pulled out some of her string and threw it to Mrs. Ladybug, who tied it to the peach stem. "Stay by the line," He said. "And when you feel two tugs, pull us up."

"I'm going too!" Anna-Maria declared, and started to climb onto the spider.

Earthworm grabbed her around the middle with his tail and pulled her back. "No you aren't!" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed, holding her firmly by the shoulder as the earthworm let her go. "You're staying up here!"

"I wanna save Centipede!" She screamed, jumping up and down. Then she started to cry; not only because she wanted to save the centipede, but she missed him as well.

Thinking quickly, James said to his little sister, "Anna-Maria, I have an important job for you. You have to make sure the line is tugged two times. Can you do that?"

Eager to help, Anna-Maria stopped crying and wiped her tears away. "I do that, James!" She nodded. "I do that!"

On that note, Ms. Spider jumped over the side, letting out her string as she went, and dove into the hole Mr. Centipede had dove into.