“What I’m saying, 99!” Max shouted back, “is that I don’t want to make a mistake! If it were entirely up to me, I’d say that we ought to run! But, Hassan-”
“Max,” 99 screamed. “Hassan isn’t here!”
“Isn’t here? Oh, yes. . I see. There he is, running through the jungle! Well, 99, that gives me a pretty good idea what his advice would be. So-”
“Max! Run!”
Max and 99 plunged into the jungle, following Hassan, fleeing the sound of the stampeding animals.
“Max, we’ll never find a place to hide,” 99 said. “The animals are everywhere!”
“99, in a case like this, you have to depend on the quick thinking of your guide. That’s what guides are best at, protecting you in instances of dire emergency.” He called to Hassan. “Do you have a place in mind for us to hide!”
“The perfect spot!” Hassan yelled back. “A bowling alley in Provo, Utah. It’s never had an animal stampede!”
“That’s quick thinking, all right,” Max said. “But isn’t Provo, Utah, a bit far from here?”
“You’re trying to lead again,” Hassan said admonishingly.
“Sorry about that.”
“Max. . up ahead. . look!” 99 said. “There’s Paradise again. Maybe we can hide in there!”
“99, that’s only an illusion.”
“I know, Max. But it’s closer than Provo, Utah. So couldn’t we take advantage of it, anyway?”
“I’ll ask Hassan,” Max replied. “Hassan-” he called.
“Don’t bother me with questions!” Hassan yelled. “Quick-into the illusion. It’s a short-cut to Provo, Utah.”
The three dashed through the gate. Ahead, they could hear the sounds of battle; the protesters, the anti- protesters and the anti-anti-protesters apparently were still fighting. A moment later they reached the scene of the fray.
The host was shaking both fists at the inhabitants, who were busily engaged in dropping each other with karate chops.
“Okay, this is it!” the host raged. “I’ve been kidding before, but this is really it! I’m warning you! Stop the foolishness! Do you hear me? You’re really going to get it! Honest Injun! You really are! Such a lightning bolt! You’re really going to get it!”
Max, 99 and Hassan tried to push their way through the battling inhabitants. But they were mistaken for protesters and dropped with karate chops.
“Max, the stampede is getting closer!” 99 wailed. “We’ll be trampled!”
At that moment, however, one of the anti-protesters got a whiff of the terrible odor. “It’s the lightning bolt!” he shrieked.
Instantly, the rest of the anti-protesters, joined by the protesters and anti-anti-protesters hiked up their flowing white robes and fled the terrible odor.
“I warned them,” the host said.
“Uh, I don’t like to prick your bubble,” Max said. “But that wasn’t a lightning bolt.”
“Oh?” the host said, crestfallen.
“No, that’s a terrible odor, accompanied by the sound of stampeding animals,” Max said.
“Then what’s a lightning bolt?” the host asked.
“A great flash of light that destroys everything in its path,” Max replied.
The host looked around. “Well, they’re gone,” he said.
“But there was no great, flash of light,” Max pointed out.
“So? So it was a different kind of lightning bolt. It did the job, that’s what’s important.”
99 tugged at Max’s sleeve. “Max, please, let’s go!”
“You better come with us,” Max said to the host. “In a few moments this place is going to be trampled underfoot by a stampede of thousands of fear-crazed jungle animals.”
“Let ’em come,” the host replied cockily. “I’ll hit ’em with a lightning bolt.” He lowered his voice. “Frankly, I’d never used it before. But, now that I’ve got the hang of it, I’m invincible.”
“Max. . let’s go!”
“99, I think we have a duty to convince our host that he is not invincible,” Max said.
“Max, in a few minutes, when those animals come stampeding through here, he’s going to find that out.”
“You have a point there, 99. Experience is the best teacher.”
“Max. .”
“Let’s go, 99!”
Max, 99 and Hassan raced on. Soon they reached the wall that enclosed the illusion.
“Max! We’re trapped!” 99 cried.
“Hardly, 99. Remember-that wall is an illusion. We only imagine that it’s there.”
“You mean we can crash right through it?”
“No, what I mean is that if we can imagine that there’s a wall there, then we can just as easily imagine that there’s a ladder leaning against it.”
“Max, you’re right! Look! A ladder!”
“Up and over!” Max said, mounting the ladder.
Max, 99 and Hassan cleared the wall, then went dashing on into the jungle, followed by the terrible odor and the sound of stampeding animals.
“Max. . wasn’t that a little strange,” 99 said. “Until you mentioned it, there was no ladder there. Then suddenly it appeared. Whitestone must be somewhere nearby.”
“99, that’s ridiculous. That ladder helped us escape. Why would Whitestone do that for us?”
“I don’t know, Max. Unless-”
99 was interrupted by a ringing sound.
“Will somebody get the door,” Max said.
“I think it was your shoe,” Hassan said.
“Oh. . yes. .”
Hopping on one foot, Max removed his shoe.
