The Swiss Family RobinZOM (Book 2) (16 page)

No matter how many times Fritz wandered through the jungle he could never figure out precisely where he was. Jack would climb a tree and reveal their location, and it was always thirty minutes east or west of the location he had in his mind. It was as if the island shifted while they weren’t looking.

In his mind he grouped the island into sections. There was the swampland in the north, the river that bisected the island in half from the north to the south coast, and the mountain to the southeast. Now they were heading to the last blank space on the map – in the northwest.

“Fruit doesn’t move,” Fritz said. “It takes skill to bring down an animal.”

“Have you ever seen Nips picking a fruit?” Jack said. “He checks them so he only takes the ripest one. That’s more skilful than a lot of the shoppers in the supermarkets back home. And fruit is better for you.”

“You’re a fool if you think that,” Fritz said. “It’s packed full of sugar.”

“Delicious sugar,” Jack said. “Meat just has fat. Yuck.”

“I’ll remember that the next time Beauty catches a duck,” Fritz said.

Jack screwed up his face.

“Then I won’t give you any of the fruit Nips finds!” he said.

Fritz reached up and plucked an apple from a tree.

“Oh, you mean this fruit?” he said, taking a bite from it.

“Calm down you two,” Ernest said. “A human diet requires nutrients from all the major food groups. Meat is no good without fruits and vegetables, as fruit and veg is not a complete meal without meat. It’s basic nutrition.”

Fritz and Jack pursed their lips and looked at one another.

“So anyway,” Jack said, “fruit, and therefore Nips, is better.”

“Meat, and therefore Beauty is better,” Fritz said.

Ernest sighed.

“This is why I don’t have pets,” he said.

“My Nips is better than your Beauty!” Jack said.

“Let’s let them go and see who brings back the most animals,” Fritz said.

“That’s not fair!” Jack said. “Nips doesn’t eat meat!”

Fritz shrugged.

“Then you lose,” he said.

“I don’t lose!” Jack said. “Nips could win if he wanted!”

“Prove it,” Fritz said.

“Fine, I will,” Jack said, his bottom lip stiff with indignation.

“On the count of three,” Fritz said, releasing Beauty’s strap. “Beauty. One, two, three!”

Fritz raised his arm and Beauty took to the sky with a screech.

“Nips,” Jack said. “Animals! Kill! Rabbit! Kill!”

Nips stared at Jack, tilting his head to the side in his failure to comprehend.

“Living thing,” Jack said, pointing to a flower. He savaged it. “Kill! Kill!”

Nips reached over for a flower and bit it, a timid ravaging.

“No,” Jack said. “An animal! Go! Kill!”

Beauty screeched high overhead and swung in to land on Fritz’s gloved hand. She had a small rat in her outstretched claw. Fritz took it and hung it from his belt.

“Let this be a lesson to you,” Fritz said. “A bird of prey is a bird of prey, a monkey a monkey. You can’t change something’s nature. They are what they are. Play to their strengths. Nips could have won if it had been about gathering fruit, or being stupid.”

“Nips isn’t stupid!” Jack said. “Take it back!”

“You’re right,” Fritz said. “I take it back. It’s not his fault. It’s just something he picked up from somewhere. I can’t for the life of me think where.”

Jack leapt and plucked an apple from a tree branch. He drew his arm back and threw it. It smacked the back of Fritz’s head.

“Uh-oh,” Ernest said. “Now you’ve done it. You know how precious Fritz is with his hair.”

Fritz spun around

“Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!” Jack said, covering his head with his arms and running away.

“Come back here you little snot!” Fritz said, giving chase.

Jack ran a dozen yards before he looked back and realised Fritz was gaining on him. He was never going to be able to outrun him. He turned and climbed the nearest tree trunk he came to.

Fritz jumped, hooked his foot on one of the trunk’s thick protruding ridges and threw himself upwards, catching the seam of Jack’s trousers before gravity took control and dragged him back to earth.

Fritz had only a tentative hold on Jack’s trousers, but as he fell, they came down with him. Jack kept his grip, but his trousers slipped off and fell to the ground.

“Haha! Look at that!” Fritz said. “I didn’t know there were baboons on this island!”

Jack pulled himself up into the upper reaches of the palm tree to conceal his nakedness.

“Fritz!” he shouted down. “Give me my trousers back!”

“Come down and get them,” Fritz said.

“Leave, and I’ll come down,” Jack said.

“Where would the fun be in that?” Fritz said. “I want to see if we can make you run through a thorn bush.”

“Fritz, I swear…” Jack said, but his threat sounded empty even to his own ears.

“Fritz, just give him his trousers back,” Ernest said.

“Hm,” Fritz said. “I have a better idea.”

He put his fingers in his mouth and blew, emitting a loud whistle. After a moment, Beauty swung down from the sky and landed perfectly on Fritz’s gloved hand. Fritz gave her a treat and then handed her Jack’s trousers.

“Fritz,” Jack said. “What are you doing?”

“Take this to the top of that tree,” Fritz said, pointing.

Beauty, without hesitation, flew up and swung around in a wide arc.

“Thank you, Fritz,” Jack said, extending his hand for his missing clothing.

Beauty flapped and landed on the tree beside Jack’s.

“Good girl,” Fritz said. “Come!”

Beauty returned to him.

“Get to the other tree and you can have your pantaloons,” Fritz said. “Simple enough, I would have thought, for a vertically inclined person like yourself.”

Jack looked down. It was a long way. He looked across at the other tree. The wind blew and rustled the leaves.

“Fritz, what are you doing?” Ernest said in a hushed voice. “If he falls…”

“He won’t fall,” Fritz whispered back. “And if he can manage it, this could be a great skill for him to master.”

“Bungee jumping without a bungee?” Ernest said. “You’re insane.”

“Watch,” Fritz said.

“I’m not about to sit here and let our brother kill himself,” Ernest said. He turned to Jack. “I’m going to get your trousers, Jack. Don’t worry.”

“It’s all right, Ernest,” Jack said. “I can get them.”

“I don’t think you can,” Ernest said.

Jack turned to Nips and spoke in a low voice.

“I can’t let Ernest kill himself just for my trousers,” he said.

Nips gibbered.

“You’re right,” Jack said, “they are my favourite pair, but that’s still no excuse.”

Jack shut his eyes and let out a breath.

“I can do this,” he said.

He stood up on the top of the palm tree and peered down, the distance intimidating, and yet somehow invigorating at the same time. His tree swayed in the wind. He felt the movement beneath his feet. He looked out across the sea of greenery and noticed the whole jungle moving with the wind, waving back and forth.

Jack focused on the tree next to his. Ernest was still only five feet off the ground, his gripless shoes about as effective at climbing as a pair of roller skates on ice.

Fritz watched Jack, who was visible between two broad leaves.

“Go on,” he said under his breath. “You can do it.”

Ernest, exhausted and dripping with sweat, paused to look at how far he’d managed to climb and how much farther he still had to go. He groaned. He was barely off the ground. The broad leaves above parted and he caught a glimpse of a pair of paper-white legs. They crouched down and prepared to jump.

“Jack, don’t!” Ernest said, reaching up with his hand. He regretted it instantly, losing his grip and falling to the ground.

Fritz stood over him.

“If my animal is a hawk, and Jack’s is a monkey, yours must be a buffoon,” he said.

He extended a hand to Ernest, who took it and got to his feet.

“Did he make it?” Ernest said.

“Of course he did,” Fritz said. “Did you ever doubt it?”

Jack slid down the tree, leaping from ten feet up and rolling to his feet, all in one smooth movement. Jack jammed his finger in Fritz’s face.

“Ha!” he said. “You thought I couldn’t do it! Ha! I proved you wrong!”

“Well done,” Fritz said, a proud little smile on his face.

Jack frowned. This was not the reaction he expected.

“Thanks…” he said. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“A monkey is a monkey,” Fritz said. “There’s no changing our nature. Nips is still stupid, though. And as one of his brethren, I suppose that makes you stupid too.”

Jack barrelled toward Fritz, who ran away, laughing. Jack leapt at a tree and used it to gain extra momentum. He slammed into Fritz, knocking the wind out of his lungs. He flew backward, into a forest of green-white canes. A white powder showered down from the top, like a thin drizzle of snow onto Jack’s head. Nips breathed it in and sneezed.

“That’ll teach you!” Jack said aloud.

There was no reply. But a shadow appeared from the white mist.

“Fritz?” Jack said. “Are you all right? I didn’t mean to hit you so hard…”

Something solid and white smacked Jack on the face and exploded in a puff of white. Another ball came from the bamboo cane forest and struck Jack on the arm. It didn’t hurt. Jack bent down and scooped up a handful of the powder and formed his own ball. He pulled it back and waited for Fritz to come at him. Another ball flew from the mist. Jack ducked, identified the origin and threw his own ball. It disappeared inside the mist.

“Ow!” Fritz’s voice said. “You got me in the eye!”

“Serves you right!” Jack said. “You would have hit me in the eye except you’re not a good shot.”

“Only joking,” Fritz said.

Another ball flew from the mist and struck Jack on the chin. Jack growled under his breath and bent down to scoop up another ball.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Ernest said. “Stop this. You don’t even know what you’re playing with. It could be poison for all you know.”

“Why don’t you taste it?” Fritz said, emerging from the mist. “You’re a fan of trying out new food.”

He jammed a small ball of the white powder into Ernest’s mouth. Ernest turned and spat the ball out, rubbing his tongue clean with his fingers.

“You idiot!” Ernest said. “That could have been dangerous!”

“As dangerous as eating a cocoon full of grubs?” Fritz said.

“I took a calculated risk,” Ernest said. “It didn’t pay off, but that was my mistake to make. You just forced something into my body without even knowing what it was!”

“Taste it,” Fritz said, white powder drizzling his head and shoulders.

“I’m not going to taste it,” Ernest said.

“I can see you’ve already tasted it,” Fritz said. “Your eyes have dilated.”

“Dilated?” Ernest said. “What are you talking about?”

“Taste what’s in your mouth,” Fritz said. “I could taste it in the air. It’s not harmful.”

Ernest smacked his lips. His head snapped toward Fritz.

“It can’t be,” he said.

“What?” Jack said. “What is it?

Ernest snapped off one of the white-green canes and a thick substance dribbled over his fingers. He sniffed it and put it to his tongue.

“Sugar?” he said. “These are sugar canes?”

“Mum’s cooking is about to get a whole lot better, don’t you think?” Fritz said.

“I’ll say!” Ernest said, upending the cane into his mouth.

“Give me some!” Jack said.

“Get your own!” Ernest said.

Jack did, snapping off a cane and sucking on the end.

“Looks like we have a replacement for fruit,” Fritz said. “What’s Nips going to harvest now?”

Nips sat in the white powder, tossing it up into the air with a big grin on his face. He laid back and made a snow monkey.

“I don’t think he’s too worried about being made redundant,” Jack said.

“Hold up, guys,” Ernest said. “You’ve got to come see this.”

Fritz, Jack and Francis’s smiles faded.

The turkey’s body had been torn open, the insides consumed with ruthless efficiency, the feathers spread across the ground.

“What do you suppose did this?” Ernest said.

“I don’t know,” Fritz said. “Something big.”

“We should tell Father,” Ernest said.

“Let’s get back to the treehouse,” Francis said, eyes wide with fear.

Jack couldn’t take his eyes off the bloody fly-infested mass.