When the Godzilla Wasps let them go, Lulu and Reggie found themselves in a strange room with only the wasps that had held them. It was all black. The floor looked like some kind of black stone, polished to a mirror shine, and where walls would normally have been, there were black curtains. The light was pale.
Above them the moon glowed among stars. It shone through a tangle of barren tree branches. In the center of the room were two red chairs.
The wasps no sooner released Lulu and Reggie, then flew away. As their buzzing faded into the distance, Lulu was relieved. At least they were still alive.
“Well, here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten me into,” Reggie remarked, looking at their strange surroundings.
“I don’t think we’re in Texas anymore,” Lulu answered, not really hearing his complaint.
“Where’s Bob?” Reggie asked, looking around. He realized that he hadn’t seen one of the Godzilla Wasps carrying Bob.
“He must have hidden in the taco stand when the wasps came, and the witch forgot all about him,” Lulu surmised. “What’s going to happen to him all alone in the taco stand?” She was now terribly worried about poor little Bob. Nobody would take care of him, or walk him. He wouldn’t know what to do.
“He’ll eat a lot of tacos,” Reggie joked.
“It’s not funny, Reggie. Bob is just a little dog and now he’s been left behind in Texas and we don’t even know where we are.”
“We’re in the Black Mansion,” Reggie answered. “And Bob will figure out something. He’ll probably even take a message back to Mom and Dad.”
“He doesn’t talk so how will he deliver a message? Not only that, but how is a small Rat Terrier[61]going to make it all of the way from Texas to Walla Walla?”
Reggie had to admit (to himself) he didn’t know the answers to these questions, although he didn't admit it (to Lulu).
“Maybe we can escape from this place,” Lulu suggested. “Let’s find the door and see if it’s locked.”
“I’m sure it will be,” Reggie said. “Otherwise why would she have sent us here?”
“Just start looking behind the curtains.”
Lulu and Reggie looked behind the curtains, only to find that they were in some kind of curtain maze. And every curtained passageway led right back to the same place, the place where they had started out. There was nothing like a door, or a window, or any opening, nor did there seem to be any outside, since passing through a few curtains found them right back in the room with the red chairs. As they stood in the center of the room, perplexed, an armadillo ran from behind one of the curtains and, seeing them, made for another curtain behind which it disappeared.
"Follow the armadillo," Lulu said as she and Reggie ran to where it ducked behind the curtain, only to find it was gone.
"Where'd it go?" Reggie asked.
Lulu just stood there. She had no answer for him.
"Maybe it's a magic armadillo," Reggie suggested.
"It definitely knows something we don't."
“I’m going to climb the curtains,” Reggie suggested. He was the school rope-climbing champion, so it seemed a good idea, even to Lulu who rarely acknowledged Reggie had a good idea. He grabbed the curtain and started to climb but only got a couple of feet off the ground before he was climbing as fast as he could just to stay in the same place. He couldn’t get any higher but the curtain didn’t seem to be moving either.
Exhausted, he finally gave up, letting himself plunk onto his behind on the gleaming black floor. “There’s no escape,” he panted. “I give up.”
“You're right,” Lulu stated in agreement.
Lulu and Reggie sat down in the armchairs, dejected.
“I guess we might as well wait and see what the witch is going to do to us,” Reggie said. “She’s really going to be mad after what you did.”
“At least I tried to do something,” Lulu said. “I didn’t see you trying to escape. And how would I know she had an army of giant wasps at her disposal? I’ve never read about that kind of thing.” Then she realized she had, sort of. Armies of winged minions weren’t unheard of.
“Well, we might have been better off if you hadn’t tried anything,” Reggie sulked.
Lulu didn’t answer. She wasn’t ready to accept defeat yet.
It wasn’t long before they fell asleep and dreamed of taco-making and giant wasps and home. But the dreams of home were the most fleeting of all.
[61]President Teddy Roosevelt had a Rat Terrier in the White House during his time as president.
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