“No,” Paul answered.
“Yeah, I hear it,” Sofia said. “Sounds like it’s far away but I can’t tell from which direction.” She looked down one end of the tunnel, then turned to the other. “That way?”
Tick shook his head, still straining his ears. “No, it sounds like it’s coming from outside the tunnel. Or below us, maybe.”
“Do you people have Superman hearing or something?” Paul said, throwing his arms up in frustration. “I don’t hear a dang—hey, what’s that?” He pointed toward the ceiling.
Tick followed the line of direction, at first not seeing what Paul was pointing toward. Then he spotted it—a blinking red light.
“That looks like a button,” Sofia said.
Tick squinted to get a better look and agreed. “It’s definitely a button. With some words next to it, on a sticker.” The ceiling was about twenty feet above them, just far enough that Tick couldn’t make out the words.
“If you can read that, you are Superman,” Paul said.
“I can’t. But I bet we’re supposed to push that button.”
“You think?” Paul frowned. “Master George built this entire gigantic tube thing just to test us to see if we could push a button?”
“I don’t know,” Tick muttered, feeling confused and discouraged.
After a long pause, all of them staring up at the flashing button, Sofia spoke up. “Maybe if we stood on each other’s shoulders, we could reach it.”
“On each other’s shoulders?” Paul asked. “What does that mean?”
“Well . . . you’re probably the strongest, though that isn’t saying much.” She looked Tick up and down, weighing him with her eyes. “I’ll get on Tick’s shoulders, then you lift both of us up.”
Paul flexed his arms, showing off his not-so-impressive biceps. “I might have some guns, Miss Italy, but that sounds ridiculous.”
“Let’s just try it,” Tick urged. “Show us you’re a man.”
Paul laughed. “You two are crazy. But whatever, I’m game.”
Tick got down on his knees and let Sofia crawl onto his shoulders, wrapping her legs around his neck so that her feet dangled over his chest. As Paul helped him stand up, Tick thought the blood vessels in his brain might burst from the effort. He couldn’t help but groan out loud as he struggled to balance with Sofia on top of him. He opened his mouth to say something, but Paul held a finger to his lips.
“Don’t say anything,” he said. “Nothing. No matter what you say, you’d be calling her fat. So just zip it.”
“You’re not so dumb, after all,” Sofia said from above.
Tick braced his feet and finally steadied himself. “How in the world are you going to lift both of us?”
“I surf, man. My legs could lift an elephant.” He looked up at Sofia. “Not that I’m saying you weigh as much as an—”
“Just get on with it,” Sofia said, kicking out at Paul.
Paul smiled at Tick, then walked behind him. “All right, dude. Let’s do this thing.”
Tick shuffled his feet apart and soon felt Paul grabbing him by the thighs and lifting with his shoulders. To his complete amazement, he rose slowly into the air.
Paul screamed out words as he struggled to stand. “Good . . . gracious . . . mercy . . . mama . . . you people . . . are FAT!”
The three of them swayed slightly as Paul fought to keep his balance and strength. Tick’s stomach turned; he couldn’t believe what was happening. I’ve been zapped into a Saturday morning cartoon.
“I can’t reach it!” Sofia yelled from above. “I’d have to stand on Tick’s shoulders!”
“Then do it!” Paul screamed from below. “Hurry!”
Sofia lifted her right foot and wedged it between Tick’s neck and shoulder, grabbing his head with both hands and pulling his hair.
“Ow!” he yelled.
Sofia ignored him and tried pushing down and lifting her other leg up to his left shoulder. That’s when everything came apart and they fell on the ground in a chaotic heap of arms and legs.
After they’d finally squirmed away from the pile and stood again, the three of them stared at each other, panting with red faces.
“You’re right,” Tick said between breaths. “That was ridiculous.”
“I don’t think my body will ever heal,” Paul said through a wince.
Sofia stared up at the button with a grin. “Well, at least I got a closer look at the words on that sticker.”
“Really?” Tick asked, his hope rising. “What did it say?”
Sofia let out a discouraged sigh. “Two words: Push me.”
~