James, Anna-Maria and the Giant Peach Chapter 2

Chapter 2

That evening, when James and Anna-Maria were finally finished with chores, as you can imagine, they were both hungry. James told Anna-Maria to go upstairs to their room while he tried to get some food for them. "Ok, James." She nodded, carefully tiptoeing up the stairs into their room. Luckily, the aunts were busy eating, and didn't notice the toddler go up.

Once she was in the room, she went right for her "toys". They were only pieces of wood, charcoal, and rocks. But to her, they were building blocks, just waiting to be built into something.

She made a house from the rocks and wood, then set the charcoal around them to resemble trees, and used the remaining wood as a fence. Since there were no bugs to live in her house, Anna-Maria settled for three pieces of wood. The biggest was the father, the next biggest was the mother, and the last was the child. It was never the same; some games, it was a boy, while other games, it was a girl.

Growing bored, she pushed her "toys" back against the fireplace, where they looked as though nothing had disturbed them, and continued to sit on the floor, waiting for her big brother to get them food.

In a few minutes, although it seemed like longer for Anna-Maria, James came upstairs, holding a chip bag. "It's not much," He sighed, sitting on the bed and pouring a few chips into his hand. "But at least it's better than rotting fish heads on a plate."

"Ewww!" Anna-Maria giggled, taking the half portion of the chips James handed her.

"That's what I thought." James smiled, eating his chips. He tore the bag open to try and lick the crumbs off of the inside.

"Spidow web!" Anna-Maria exclaimed, pointing to the window.

When James looked up, he saw there was indeed a spider web in the window. Dropping the paper to the floor, he climbed onto the chair. He saw a black and white spider climb down on a string of silk. "Hello, there! Where did you come from?" He said, holding out his hand for the spider to climb on. "You know, you probably shouldn't build your web up here in the window. Spiker and Sponge might see you, and they hate spiders."

"And bugs!" Anna-Maria added, siding up to James, as he climbed down, to look at their new friend.

"We'll be your friends, though." He said, laying his hand on the chair to let the spider climb onto. Anna-Maria watched the spider crawl around, half-listening to her brother beginning to sing,

My name is James;
That's what Mother called me.

He laid the paper flat on the floor and pulled out a floorboard, revealing a small box. Inside was a toy car, some rocks, the boy and grasshopper candle from his birthday cake, and a small tin of bare, used crayons.

My name is James;
So it's always been.

He poured the crayons onto the floor and began to color on the paper.

Sometimes I forget,
When I'm lonely or afraid.
Then I'll go inside my head,
And look for James.

"Here's something we've never shown anyone." James said, taking out the candle and placing it on the chair next to the spider.

"It's a boy widing on a gwasshopper." Anna-Maria told the spider. "The boy has a candle on his head."

James just smiled at his sister's description of the candle, and continued to color the paper.

There's a city that I dreamed of,
Very far from here.
Very, very far away from here,
Very far away.

There were people in the city,
And they come to me
But it's very, very far away, you know.
Very far.

Anna-Maria temporarily forgot the spider, and went to look at James' finished drawing. It was the two of them, flying from their aunts' house and over the ocean to New York. He folded it into an origami ball, remembering how his father taught him to do so.

They'll say James, James, James how are ya?
Isn't it a lovely day?

James blew into the ball, blowing it up into a ball, then tied the candle to it so it resembled a hot air balloon.

James, James, James,
We're so glad you came here, where we are,
From so very, very, very far.

Anna-Maria watched as James allowed the spider to crawl on his hands, and as he held his hand up to its web, allowing it to climb back on.

My name is James, James, James…

Then he lit the candle with a match, situated his hot air balloon so the candle was inside, and didn't make the paper catch fire, and released it out the open window. He lifted Anna-Maria up so she could look out the window. "Bye-bye, paper ball." She said, waving a little hand at it.

James just set Anna-Maria onto the floor and said, "You better get to bed, Anna-Maria."

Yawning and rubbing one of her eyes, Anna-Maria walked towards the bed. "But I'm not sleepy."

"Good night," James said to the spider. "Pleasant dreams." He closed the window. Both siblings changed into their pajamas and climbed into the bed under the thin sheet they used as a blanket. "Good night, Anna-Maria." James said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Night-night, James." She whispered, kissing him on the cheek in return and going to sleep. James drifted off as well.