Kyle was sitting in the bed in his squatting position, the lights were out and he was almost asleep when he heard the car coming in. It took a couple of minutes before the girls knocked on the door and opened it.
“Missed us?”
They had a blue bucket in their hands. Becca took it and took a pass forward in his direction. She put the bucket down in front of Kyle who stood up.
“No! Don’t mind, go back to sitting like that” she said. Kyle nervously wanted to say a simple “ok” but his throat croaked instead.
Sam took her cellular and told him.
“We’re going to chronometer the time now, we’ll get out of the room for ten minutes and we’ll come back. You have the company of our pet store…friends” as she ended both giggled and got out of the room; the door thumped and the chronometer started.
What did she mean with that?
Kyle leaned and peeked at the buckets interior. There was a bunch of crickets and white worms that were used to feed the lizards and pet dragons. Kyle stood there as immobile as possible. The crickets were making noise scratching the blue plastic and inside Kyle there was an urge to clean the bucket. Could I eat them? No, that’s the test.
But he wanted, though.
“What if I take one? Just one? They won’t notice it” he said. Kyle opened his mouth and slipped his tongue that glued three crickets in one scoop. They were crunchy and tasted like fresh mint. Kyle managed to get a hold of him until it was past the ten minutes. The girls got inside the room and Becca went immediately for the bucket. She had a fainting expression.
“He passed it” she said.
Kyle leaped with happiness. They got his things and the machine and went to the car. They silently drove him back to his house. Kyle jumped out of the car into all fours as a proper frog, he hopped the stairs to the porch. He could hear his mother, father and siblings inside. He turned to them, Samantha had the machine in her hands. She started to type something.
“Hold still” se ordered. Kyle was flashed with the beam of light, he opened his eyes…