ORIGINAL FICTION: "Climbers" (Chapter Fourteen)

seemed a bit desperate. Arthur knew that a great many things were being rationed because of the war, but nobody was starving. Nobody he knew, anyway.
He continued to watch without moving from his spot on the ground beneath the tree. Yes, that one was eating leaves. And the other one? Where did that other child go? Ah, right there- still by the main trunk. Tough to see, there. What were they wearing? Arthur watched and listened. The bigger one watched and listened. The music was still playing and he could hear the sounds of a city having fun in the distance. But here in the park, under the tree, all was silent. Those two weren't making a noise. As Arthur became more awake, the situation became more unusual. Who were those two and what were they up to? And why was that one eating leaves? Arthur stood up, and in doing so took his eyes off the tree for that split-second. Once he was standing, and looked back up, they were gone. How could that be? Arthur grabbed the tree trunk. Had he been dreaming? Was he only just now awake? It seemed the most likely answer to the situation. He listened. The sounds were the same. The music and the laughter were still in the distance. He looked up into the tree. Again, nothing there. He walked around the tree and looked all around the park. Not much to see in the dark, but Arthur knew he was alone. But why was he alone? Where were those two? And more to the point: Were those two?
Arthur had slept in the park for at least six hours. He was as rested as he had ever been in the last few years. Was too much fresh air a bad thing? It must have gone to his head. He was seeing people in the trees. How silly of him. Just dreaming, of course. He set a course for home without a glance back at the tree, where the climbers were still tightly blended with the tree trunk. It would be hours before they untangled themselves and lost some of that coloration to continue feeding. If seeing people in the trees had been an odd experience for young Mister Crutchfield, he had given the climbers a real shock as well. Asleep on the ground beneath them, neither climber had even noticed him there until he stood up. For them, it was as though he had risen straight out of the ground itself. Not a pleasant sight, if you weren't expecting it. They weren't. They were going to spend most of the night next to the main trunk, color matched to the bark. No feeding, no moving. And what was all that odd noise all around them? It was going to be a long night for them as well.
Past the palace and moving through Trafalgar, Arthur found his return trip home to be slow going. It seemed everyone left in London was hosting a party tonight, and poor Arthur was invited to every one of them. What was a simple half-hour walk out to the park became a two hour dance back to his home. In his well-rested, if somewhat confused state, Arthur couldn't see any reason to turn down a perfectly good invitation or two. Or at least a dozen, by the time he finally found himself on the street that ran in front of his own building. It was nearly eleven when he was close enough to the building's front door to see his parents, along with the other residents, sitting outside and enjoying the evening's entertainment. Odd, he thought: Two people missing. Then he remembered how badly his day had gone: the Hodgsons. Carted off by M.I. Gone but not forgotten. He joined the small group and settled in.
Arthur's initial inquires concerning the whereabouts of the Hodgsons were met with silence from the remaining tenants. Even his father had nothing to say on the subject. Did he know anything? Probably not. Hodgson was gone. Too bad. So sad. His father was kind enough to remove that rather obnoxious military sign posted on the Hodgson's door. The padlock was more than enough protection. No one was going to be wandering down to the third lower level of that building just to see what was there. And if the did? Well, that was the good news, Arthur: There wouldn't