Zorgamazoo (8 page)

 

But her belly had butterflies flitting inside.
Her breathing had quickened. Her eyes had gone wide.
She felt like her body was lit from within.
On her face, was the subtlest hint of a grin.

And so, it was then that Katrina Katrell
decided to have an adventure as well…

 

“Listen,” she said. “I don't mean to pry,
but I'd sure like to give an adventure a try.
I always wanted to travel, to ramble and roam,
but old Krabby won't let me. She keeps me at home.
So this is my chance, I'm off on my own.
I can travel the world! Explore the unknown!”

 

Morty thought for a moment. He paced in a loop.
He went moping around in a sort of a stoop.
“Wait a second,” he said. “Are you actually sure?
If you join me, who knows what we'll have to endure. . .”

 

“Of course!” said Katrina. “I could give you a hand.
I could help you to make it to Zorgamaland.
I'm good with a map and I'm quick on my feet.
Who knows? Perhaps we were destined to meet!”

 

Morty chuckled and smiled. “Okay, you can stop.
You know, you remind me a bit of my Pop.
He's nothing like me. He's all gutsy, like you.
Oh, and one other thing: It's ‘Zorgama
zoo.
'”

“Fair enough,” said Katrina. “Now hand me the map.”
Which he did, and she opened it up in her lap.

Every inch of the paper was covered with roads,
with passages, tunnels and curious codes.
It seemed to be utterly puzzling at first.
In no time Katrina was deeply immersed.

 

Then, all at once, it seemed to make sense,
despite being so inextricably dense.
“I've got it!” she said. “It's all coming clear.
There should be a doorway. . .

right
over

here
.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

She pointed across to a cleft in the wall,
a gap that was hardly a doorway at all.
It led to a tunnel, forbidding and dark:
the path onto which they were set to embark.

 

As they vanished inside and into the black
Katrina knew then:

 

There was
no turning back…

It seemed like
they traveled for several days, through a network of tunnels, an intricate maze.

Going farther, the passage began to ascend.
It appeared to go upwards, without any end.
The climb was so steep that their muscles grew stiff.
It seemed they were practically scaling a cliff.

 

Morty, of course, was the first to protest.
“This is awful!” he cried. “What a terrible quest!
Say, look at the map. Are we close to the top?
I'll tell you, Katrina, I'm ready to flop!”

 

Katrina, initially, didn't respond.
She stopped, looking up at the tunnels beyond.
She consulted the map that was guiding the trip,
and lifted a fingertip up to her lip.

 

“Quiet,” she whispered, “don't make a sound,
and whatever you do, don't stumble around.
We've almost arrived, but this next little bit—
it's kind of a doozy, I have to admit.

It's marked on the map like a forest of horns,
like a cluster of bristles and thistles and thorns.
But they'll be up above us, on the roof of the cave.
If we want to get through, then we'll have to be brave.

 

They're stalactites, you see, that's what they're called.
But these, it would seem, have been badly installed.

 

It says here they're hung with such delicate poise
that they'll
fall
in response to the tiniest noise!
So be very quiet. Don't hurry or rush.
We're about to go into…
the Tunnel of Hush.”
The inside of the passage was muffled and dull.
It was filled with an ancient, luxurious lull,
in which you heard nothing—not even your breath;
for the Tunnel of Hush was as silent as death.

 

Stepping into the tunnel, they tiptoed ahead.
Morty looked upward with shudders of dread.
Stalactites were hung from the ceiling above,
like the fingers and thumbs of some terrible glove.

Morty was scared. He was looking around,
but up at the ceiling, and not at the ground;
and there, in the dust, just ahead of his boots,
lay a raggedy bramble of creepers and roots.

 

So Morty, of course, was hardly prepared
when his foot was entangled, his boot was ensnared.
To his credit, mind you, he said nothing at all.
He just fluttered his arms as he started to fall.

 

He went tumbling, in fact, right smack on his rump,
and the action produced a most audible…

At first, there was nothing, no tumble of rocks,
no plummeting mountain of boulders and blocks.

But then came a noise. Just the tiniest sound:
the
plink
of pebble that fell to the ground.

cried Katrina. “Get up, and let's go!
It's the whole of the roof! It's ready to blow!”

 

Morty looked up and thought,
What have I done?!
Katrina was right. The barrage had begun!

 

Stalactites were falling, like bombs in a war,
skewers of granite and marble and more;
as Katrina and Morty both hurried ahead,
the boulders cascaded wherever they tread.

 

Like swords, or like sinister sabers of stone,
like jagged and tapering splinters of bone,
they fell to the floor with smashes and bangs,
like a venomous shower of vampire fangs!

 

“Quick,” cried Katrina, “just a little bit more!
It's there, up ahead! The exit!
The door!”
Each of them saw it, a pocket of light,
a patch of the sky that was blindingly bright;
which now, in their moment of peril and strife,
quite suitably glowed like the promise of life.

 

Meanwhile, the passage was falling to bits!
A shattering, clattering, battering blitz!

 

It was then that they made their respective escapes,
but not without bruises and scratches and scrapes.
They dove from the tunnel and onto a hill,
going head over heels, in a dizzying spill.

 

They rolled down the slope and muddied their pants,
and stopped in a thicket of bushes and plants,
where Morty said, “Well, I guess we've arrived,
and Katrina, guess what? I think we survived!”

 

Katrina, mind you, was a little bit peeved.
She didn't seem happy, or even relieved.
“Morty, you oaf! You lumbering lout!
We're lucky,” she cried, “that we even got out!

 

You're klutzy! You're clumsy! You're not very deft!
You might have two feet, but they're both of them left!
And speaking of which, it's because of those feet,
that we nearly were mashed into hamburger meat!”

Morty lay still, saying nothing at all.
He remained on his back, laid out in a sprawl.
“I'm sorry,” he said, with gasping fatigue,
“This adventuring stuff—it's out of my league.”

 

Katrina just scoffed. She was wondering why,
the zorgles would choose such a blundering guy
to go on a quest, with so much at stake.
To Katrina, it seemed like a dreadful mistake.

 

Thinking these thoughts, she started to stand.
She took a look round, at the lay of the land.

 

The view left her breathless, unable to speak.
They were high on the ridge of a mountainous peak,
surrounded by trees of the leafiest green,
in a place where the air was incredibly clean!

 

Morty stood up. He snuffled the air.
He brushed himself off and he straightened his hair.

 

And just as he did so, he spotted a sign,
nailed to the trunk of a towering pine.

The branches, however, disguised what it said.
It was partially hidden. It couldn't be read.
Only four of the letters were able to show: