RARE BEASTS Read Online Free

noises, and then stuffed them into the burlap bags. Soon, their collection grew large enough that Edgar and Ellen found it hard to carry, so they set everything down to rest.

     
    “These animals are heavy, Edgar. All their squirming doesn’t help, either.”
    “My arms are starting to get sore, too. But don’t worry, Ellen, I’ve got a plan for transporting our cargo tomorrow. Just you wait!”
    “Well, I won’t—hey you! Pipe down!” Ellen whispered as a steady low wail came from one of the sacks. Some of the pets began to growl and whine, so the twins poked and prodded the sacks with their toes, trying to keep the animals quiet.
    “Noisy things,” muttered Edgar. “If we don’t watch out, they’re going to give us away. We’d better carry these home where no one will hear them, and then we can come back for more!”
    The twins lugged the sacks back to their garden, where they piled them in the overgrowth. Returning to their task, they continued down the block, Ellen filching pets and Edgar running the new finds back to their stash.
    They came upon a bright yellow house on thecorner, its pretty painted mailbox decorated with bees, butterflies, and the family name
Pickens
. There was an enormous cage in the middle of the backyard, and coiled in the center of it, fast asleep, was the largest snake the twins had ever seen. Edgar and Ellen had to take a moment to admire the sheer size of the thing, wrapped around and around itself, forming a snoring pyramid.
    It didn’t wake up as Ellen opened the cage door and maneuvered behind it. Edgar held open the biggest sack they had, and his sister grunted as she pushed the massive reptile through the gate of its cage and into the bag. The snake stirred and half opened one eye, but Edgar lifted its tail in his arms and rocked it gently until the snake let out a low whistling snore and returned to its nap.
    “That’s a full load by itself,” Ellen said. “You take it home while I go look for more animals.” Edgar shuffled back to their house, huffing and puffing from the weight of the snake. He pushed open the back gate with his foot and staggered into the yard. As the gate swung closed behind him, Edgar stopped suddenly, his breath catching in his throat.
    All of the restless sacks were still thrashing about, small sounds emanating from within. And standingabove the many bags, leaning over for a closer look, was Heimertz. The stocky caretaker lowered himself to his hands and knees and took great big sniffs of air around the sacks.
    Edgar didn’t know what to do. The caretaker was inches away from uncovering their ill-gotten booty. A simple tug on one sack’s cord was all that was needed. Edgar tried to stand very still but the heavy snake was making his arms ache.
    Heimertz sat back on his haunches as the animals, lost in the darkness of the burlap bags, shivered and whined. It seemed an eternity before Heimertz stood, wiping his hands on his stained overalls.
    Edgar felt a chill as Heimertz turned and stared at the giant sack in the boy’s arms. He inhaled deeply as if to draw the scent off of Edgar and his parcel from across the garden.
    Edgar gulped. Without Ellen, he felt particularly vulnerable.
    The caretaker’s habitual smile twitched; his nostrils flared wide. He stood still for several tense moments, giving no clue as to his next move.
    Maybe it heard Edgar’s heart pounding furiously, or maybe it felt Heimertz’s eerie presence, or possibly it was just having a bad dream, but the snakestirred against the boy’s chest. Edgar, already unnerved by the caretaker, let out a jumpy “Eeee-
ah
!” as he let the sack drop to the ground.
    Heimertz briefly surveyed the rest of the grounds before pivoting his short bulk on his left foot and stumping off toward the shed.
    Edgar fled the garden.
    The snake shifted in the burlap and settled back into deep sleep, resuming its whistling snore.
    Edgar caught up with his sister on the far side of the neighborhood,