I couldn't answer. I didn't have a human mouth or throat.
Could I get out of morph? I had to try.
I focused my mind on my own body. My human self. And slowly at first, then faster, I began to shrink.
Suddenly the boards and Sheetrock were no longer pressing in so tightly around me. In the hallway I could hear Jordan saying, "Nine-one-one?
Urn, um, we have an emergency! Our house fell in!"
I would have laughed ... if I'd been sure Sara and my mother were both safe. Then I remembered - my mother was out. That just left Sara.
Meanwhile, I began to see the best sight in the world: human flesh emerging from the thick gray skin of the elephant. I was still on all fours, but I could see fingers beginning to grow from the massive elephant feet.
"Rachel! Rachel, where are you?"
Sara's voice this time. She must have taken the phone. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"Yes, get here right away! Please! I think my sister is trapped!"
My trunk slurped up into my face, leaving my tiny human nose behind. I cleared my throat. Could I talk yet?
"Jordan?" I said. Yes. It was my voice. My own human voice!
"Rachel? Is that you?"
"Well, who else would it be?" I asked. I didn't mean to sound sarcastic.
I was scared half to death, and I get snippy when I'm scared.
"That's Rachel, all right," Sara said.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm bruised up," I said. "But I guess I'll live."
Had I been in human form when the floor collapsed, I'd have been dead or on my way to a long stay in a hospital for sure. On the other hand, if I'd been human, the floor wouldn't have collapsed in the first place.
What was happening to me? Why in the heck had I morphed?
I had a few minutes to think that over while the paramedics and fire department and police and my mom and every person within six blocks showed up. But there were no answers.
I had morphed without wanting to.
The fire department guys dug me out of the rubble. They kept telling me not to worry. What
did they know? Had they ever suddenly turned into a crocodile? Had they ever had uncontrolled rnorphing?
My mom was home by the time they dug me out. She did a lot of yelling and wailing and hugging and crying. They made me take an ambulance to the hospital to be checked over.
It was total E.R. for a while. I told them I was fine, but no one could believe it. No one could believe that a girl could be trapped in a collapsed house and still be unhurt.
Then the TV stations found out I was the same girl who had "fallen" into the crocodile pit. So for about an hour after that I had to answer really stupid questions from reporters who shoved cameras and lights in my face.
I sat there on the hospital bed, wearing the black leotard I wear for rnorphing, entirely surrounded by microphones being jabbed at me. I just kept thinking, Man, my hair is probably a mess.
"How did it feel to fall into a crocodile pit, then have your house fall down on you?"
"Not very good," I answered.
"Don't you think you're incredibly lucky?"
"Urn, no. If I were lucky I wouldn't keep falling. Right?"
"But you weren't hurt either time."
"I think winning the lottery would be lucky.
Having the house fall on me, that's not all that lucky."
Behind the cameras I saw a familiar face. Cassie. The two of us locked eyes. All I could do was shrug.
"Do you have any advice for other kids like yourself?"
"Dm, yes. My advice is don't fall into crocodile pits and don't have the house fall on you."
After that, the news people decided I was being sarcastic, I guess. They decided they'd had enough. Which was good, because I'd definitely had enough.
"Sweetheart, are you okay?" my mom asked for about the millionth time once all the cameras were gone.
Cassie was right beside her. "Yeah, how are you?" she asked in a carefully neutral voice.
I shrugged. "I'm fine. I'd be even more fine if I weren't suddenly The Amazing Falling Girl.'" Unfortunately, my mom was not one of the people I could talk to openly about what had happened. Cassie was. But that would have to wait till we were alone.
My mother laughed and ruffled my hair. "You are amazing, Rachel. It's a miracle you survived. I think we should all be thankful."
"Thankful? The house fell on me. The house is destroyed."
"We have insurance," my mom said. Then she grinned. "Plus we probably have the mother of all lawsuits. I mean, houses shouldn't fall apart like that. We can go after the builder, all the contractors and subcontractors, the city inspectors, the previous owners, the . . ."
She went on like that for a while. See, my mom is a lawyer.
"Can we get out of here now?"
"The doctors say you're okay. But the question is, where do we go? We can't go back to the house and -"
"Daddy!"
I caught sight of him looming up behind Cassie. My parents are divorced.
My dad lives in another state now, but I get to see him once a month.
Most months, anyway.
"Hi, Dan," my mom said in the fake-nice voice she uses with my dad.
"Hello, Naomi," he said in his version of the fake-nice voice. Then in a genuine voice he said, "How's my girl?"
I shrugged. "No biggie, Dad. The usual day: a little crocodile-diving in the morning, then the house falls in on me."
He laughed. My dad is very cool. He's a TV reporter himself. But not like the ones who'd been driving me crazy. My dad is more like one of
those 60 Minutes guys. You know, like very responsible and serious.
At least on TV he's serious. In regular life, he's not that way at all.
"I saw the report on the thing at the zoo," he said. "I caught the next flight. It never occurred to me you'd be performing another bizarre stunt the same day."