Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 Michael and Justin raced their bikes to the park. Merle and Pearl rode along in their usual place inside Michael's backpack, popping their heads out of the top like puppies hanging out a car window, ears flapping in the wind. "Woohoo!" Merle shouted. "This is even better than roller-skating!" "I know, right?!" Michael called over his shoulder. He was relieved to be out of the house. He'd been starting to feel guilty; any longer and he might have had to come clean to his mom about Jane and the elephant.

They rolled up to the park to find Sadie waiting for them. Before long, a three-versus-two soccer game was under way— Justin and Sadie against Michael and the squirrels. Merle turned out to be a natural. Squirrels' ankle joints are super flexible, which helps them to climb up and down trees, and had the added benefit of helping Merle control the ball amazingly well. In no time, Michael and the squirrels were up 5–0. "This is not a fair match!" Sadie complained. Merle bicycle-kicked the ball into the back of the net. "Where has this game been all my life?!" he wondered aloud. "Soccer's been around for thousands of years," Sadie informed Merle. "It was being played in China and parts of the Roman Empire in your day." "If you wanna know anything about history," Michael said, "just ask Sadie."

"Yep! You don't know where you're going unless you know where you've been!" Sadie quoted. It sounded like something she had said many times before. Pearl decided to sit out for a few minutes to rest and even up the teams. On the sidelines, she noticed a nice, straight line of acorns running from the soccer field into a hedge of bushes. Due to her squirrel instincts, Pearl was always on the lookout for food, especially tasty acorns. Had she thought about it a little more, she might have noticed that they were laid out a little too neatly. When acorns fall naturally from oak trees, they don't land in a straight line. "The Romans would wrap seeds or hair in linen cloth to make balls for kicking around," Pearl heard Sadie say in the distance as she collected the nuts, picking up the nicest ones as she followed the line into the hedge. As she crawled into the bushes, she suddenly felt like she was

walking on a wood floor. If she hadn't had her mind on collecting acorns, she might have thought this was a bit odd and turned around. Suddenly, a door snapped shut behind Pearl. She was trapped in a cage!