Heller's Punishment Read Online Free Page A

glanced
around and saw the burly fathers coming after me. Hurry!
Hurry! I told myself, flinging myself onto the first step of
the escalator. Elton would not only know what to do, but he’d
also protect me from the angry mob.
    The tail
continued to swing sideways, banging into the glass half-panels of
the escalator, causing me to overbalance. One of the fathers ducked
under the tail and at the right time, grabbed it and yanked on it.
I tumbled backwards, down five or six steps, well-cushioned by the
costume. Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for the fathers
who I bowled over, and not in the good, romantic type of way
either.
    The three of
them fell, banging into each other like dominos, to end a crumpled
heap at the bottom of the escalator. Righting myself as fast as I
could, and keeping them at bay with my tail, I scrabbled up the
escalator. I was moving too quickly and tripped as I reached the
end, falling face first onto the moving steps, no arms to save
myself.
    The big head
protected me from crunching my face onto the metal treads and one
mercy was that the impact finally stopped the roaring. I was almost
at the top and closer to Elton, when the entire escalator came to a
shuddering halt. It didn’t take me long to realise the reason for
the breakdown. One of my tiny puppet dino hands had become trapped
at the top tread of the escalator where it disappeared into the
metal landing. I tried to yank it free, but it was caught fast.
    Oh
great! I thought, anxiously looking over my shoulder at the
three fathers advancing on me. My sole consolation was thinking
about how flipped out were they going to be when they hauled
me out of the costume for a beating, only to discover a sweaty
young woman in underpants with spiders in her mouth.
    And then the
most miraculous thing happened. Elton appeared.
    He came
strolling down the corridor, hands in his pockets, whistling some
operatic ditty that – obviously! – I didn’t recognise. He
was off duty to have his break.
    “Elton,” I
called weakly, on the verge of spidery tears. But of course he
couldn’t hear me. The fathers clamoured over me to wrest the head
off me (literally and figuratively).
    Elton assessed
the situation quickly. “Whoa, you guys! Back off the Allosaurus.
Now.”
    The fathers
looked at each other in puzzlement. “Do you mean this T Rex?”
    “It’s not a T
Rex,” he explained with an impatient sigh, rolling his eyes. “Look,
it has three claws and . . . Oh, never mind. Just get away from the
dinosaur. There’s a young lady inside there. What are you thinking
climbing all over her like that? Get off her. You’re probably
hurting her.” And he’d never sounded more logical and calm. I could
have kissed him . . . well, maybe just a small hug of appreciation.
With one arm. Or maybe just a pat on the back in gratitude?
    “A chick?
Really?” asked one of the men, letting me go. “Are you sure? I
thought it was a man inside there. It was clomping around like a
man. It has a man’s build.” The other two men murmured in
agreement.
    “Hey! That’s
the costume, not me!” I yelled out from inside, but nobody heard,
and sure, I’d just invited another neighbourhood of spiders to move
into my mouth. I started twisting and spitting again, terrified
that even though they were only babies, they’d lay eggs inside me
and then they’d hatch and burrow into my brain and lay eggs and
then they’d hatch . . . and hadn’t we all heard that terrible story?
    “There’s
something wrong with her. Help me get her out,” Elton ordered and
surprisingly the angry fathers obeyed.
    I was
unceremoniously freed from costume, my delicates drenched with
sweat. Everyone looked embarrassed. Even I did, and I was
hysterical by then.
    “I have
spiders!” I sobbed incoherently when I was free.
    “ Eek! ”
screamed one of the fathers, waving his hands and backing away.
“She’s covered in spiders. Oh God, I hate spiders! Get her away
from me. Get her away. Get