The morning sun was still low on the horizon when two long- eared shadows fell across the city by the lake...

Ken and Jonni crested the hill and paused to peer down at the expanse of white squares that dotted the lakeshore. "See the big tall ones in the middle of them all, close to the water?" said Ken, pointing. He was the taller of the two boys, though that was only because his ears stretched up higher. At least, that was Jonni's contention. "I'll bet there's a billion of them in there."

"No way." Jonni scanned the countless wooden mounds. "I never thought I'd see so many in one place. It's kind of creepy."

"You aren't scared of a few crawlies, are you?" Ken jeered, and Jonni gave him a scowl.

"No way!" he said defensively, and then searched for a way to change the subject. "My science teacher has got some kind of thing for them. He's always going on about how they've got the most complex society short of ours in the animal king--"

"Shut up!" Ken reached over and gave Jonni's fluffy tail a yank.

"OW! What the heck was that for?"

"No more talking about school. It's summer. Next one that talks about the school, the other one gets to pull his tail. OK?"

"OK. Gotcha. How'd you find this place, anyway?"

"Just got to know where to look." Ken dropped his skateboard and rested one foot jauntily upon it. "See how they smoothed out the ground between the mounds? And how it goes up and down?"

"I hear you. You ready?"

"Let's do it!"

Ken let out an echoing "YEE-HAA!" and kicked forward, crouching on the skateboard for more speed as he barreled down the hill. Jonni was close behind, howling like a wild animal. When they reached the first of the box-like mounds, Ken showed off his skill by weaving side to side, expertly slaloming around them until they grew too tightly packed together. Jonni, less talented, simply rolled over them, smashing them to bits as the two boys headed for the tallest structures, where the smooth-floored tracks had looked most inviting.

Still in the lead, Ken spun around a tower and rocketed down along one wide track that ran straight as an arrow between two rows of mounds. Only when he was near the end did he realize that the whole track was blanketed with thousands of crawlies, and when he looked back, he could see two long, slimy trails cutting through the swarm. "Oh, wow! Awesome!" he crowed. "Hey, Jonni, c'mere and check this out!" He put one bare foot down to stop himself, and felt countless little bodies squash beneath it. "Huh? Ewwwww!"

Jonni rolled up and peered over the row with a grin. "NOW who's afraid of crawlies?"

"I'm not afraid!" Ken dragged his foot along the track to scrape the mess off of it. "It just felt weird for a second. If you want to see afraid, you should see my sister. She has a heart attack if you even just show her one."

"Cut the shit. You were grossed out."

"Was not."

"Were too."

"Was not!"

"You suck." Jonni, having delivered the final blow of the argument, kicked up onto two wheels and spun in place, then charged off along a parallel track. Heedless of the tiny bugs being ground under his wheels and his pedaling foot, he built up speed, finally crouching down tight as he reached the top of an incline that sent him hurling toward a low rock wall. At the last second, he gripped the ends of the board with his toes and leaped, powerful legs launching him high over the wall. He landed squarely on the other side and spun to a stop before taking a bow. "Oh, YES! And he makes it! The crowd goes wild! Thank you, thank you..."

"You think that's OK? Watch this!" Ken took off down narrow, intersecting tracks. weaving in dizzying patterns amongst the mounds. He turned toward a mound that was taller than the one Jonni had cleared, and raced toward it. Something caught a wheel, though, and sent him stumbling forward. He crashed headlong into the mound, smashing it to bits. his body ending up sprawled amidst its ruins. Hastily he scrambled to his feet and stumbled clear, coughing, only to be greeted by Jonni's sarcastic applause.

He felt his ears burn bright red. "Yeah, well, you know," is all he could think to say at first. He grimaced and, kicking his board up into his hand, stepped over the wall to join his friend. "Whew! Getting hot already, isn't it?" He shrugged out of his neon-colored tank top and draped it over one of the mounds; clad now only in his cutoff shorts, he flexed his young muscles. "Mr. Universe," he growled huskily, trying to regain a bit of his lost dignity. "Most awesome boarder, most awesome body in the world!"

"Yeah, right!" Jonni laughed as he took off his own T-shirt. "Only when I'm out of town, buddy." He did a few turns on his skateboard, then hopped off and sat down on it with a thump. "It is getting hot, though." Idly, he reached down and poked at one of the little crawlies that swarmed around him, using his finger to nudge it away from the pack. It squealed frantically and stumbled, herded by his finger. The touch of its clammy, furless skin made Jonni shiver a little. He hoped that Ken hadn't seen that. "Hey, Ken," he said. "Do you think they can talk to each other with those sounds they make?"

Ken bent down and snatched the little creature away from Jonni's fingers. "Bugs don't talk," he snorted as he whipped his slingshot out of his back pocket. "But let's see if they can fly." With a nasty grin he shoved the crawly into the leather pouch and drew it back, then let it go with a sharp crack.

Both boys watched as the tiny body sailed through the air, cartwheeling, and when it finally splashed into the lake they broke into peals of laughter. "Oh, cool!"

"Let's do another one!"

Jonni pulled his slingshot out and stooped to grab a crawly. The first one wiggled free and darted off; the second one popped bloodily between his fingers. He made a face and wiped his fingers off on his belly fur.

"You aren't doing it right," Ken said, appearing suddenly over Jonni's shoulder. "You've got to grab them by one of their arms, like this." He reached into the mass of creatures and grasped one of the tiny hands that rose up to ward off his fingers. "See? Like that."

Jonni found it easy to catch one that way, and the two boys stood up and armed their slingshots. "Ready..."

"Aim..."

"Fire!" A double crack split the air, and a moment later, two minute splashes far out in the lake brought fresh howls and cheers from the boys. "Get some more!"

Crack...splash...crack...splash....over and over, until there were no more crawlies within reach. "They all got away," Jonni said forlornly.

"Nope. They're just hiding. Look." Ken rose and strode over to a big, square mound, and pounded his fist on its top, caving it in slightly. "Now watch the bottom." Sure enough, crawlies started to pour out onto the track. They even scurried out from some of the neighboring mounds. "These boxes are their hives," Ken explained. "They go into them to hide. All you have to do is hit them a bit and they'll run back out."

Jonni was listening, though his attention was focused on the front of one of the hives, which was dotted with rows and rows of windows. "Look at this. The stuff that covers them." He poked at it with a finger, shattering it. "It's like real thin glass."

"Well, it couldn't be glass. It's something that they spit up."

"Are you sure? It looks like glass."

"It's not. How would bugs make glass?"

"I'll bet it's glass."

"Bet it's not."

"Bet it is."

"Bet it's not."

"Bet it is."

"You suck!"

Jonni grunted, and started to gather up a few more crawlies. Suddenly, something bright and shiny shot out of a narrow lane and headed straight for Ken's foot. "Look out!" Jonni cried.

Ken saw it coming; with a yelp, he kicked his skateboard onto its side in the thing's path. It squealed and bumped headlong into the board, hissed, and then was still. Both boys approached and bent over it cautiously.

"What is that thing?"

"I don't know. You threw it at me."

"Did not."

"Yeah, right." Ken reached for it and tapped it gingerly with a finger. It did not move, but squeaks and scurrying sounds could be heard inside of it. Curious, Ken grasped it in his hand and picked it up, turning it over and peering through its transparent sides. He broke into a grin. "Hey, check it out!"

Jonni craned his neck forward. "What?"

"It's full of crawlies! See?" He held it up so that Jonni could see. "There's gotta be thirty or forty in there. Oh-oh, they're getting out!" He poked them back in, and bent the flimsy walls of the box around the openings to keep them there."

"Whoa -- neat! So what do you think it is?"

"I'll tell you what it is," Ken said, tucking the box under his arm and brandishing his slingshot. "It's an ammo-box! Come on, I've got an idea."

The two stepped over a few rows of hives until they were opposite a very tall, very wide box. Ken set the box down and put his right foot on it, to keep it from rolling away again. "Pull two out, and let's see who can hit the most windows in that hive."

"All right!" Jonni giggled mischievously as he peeled open the front of the box, fished four crawlies out, then bent the metal closed again. He handed one of them to Ken, slipped one into the pouch of his slingshot, and held the remaining two against his palm with his pinkie. Something about breaking windows this way holds a universal appeal for all boys, even if the windows were just some hardened crawly-spit. "You go for the ones on your side, and I'll go for mine."

The boys braced themselves and tried to impress one another with how carefully each could take aim, and then let fly. Both of the crawlies smacked into the stone between the windows; both stuck for a moment before peeling away and falling, leaving behind a wet red splatter. "Shoot. Both missed." They shot again, and this time Jonni's struck squarely in the middle of a pane and disappeared into the depths of the hive.

"Yay! Bullseye!"

"Lucky shot. Get some more."

"WHOA! Right through to the other side. That's worth two points."

"No way!"

"Yes it is."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"You suck!"

Their aim improved as they went through the contents of the box, though there were still more red splatters on the walls than there were broken windows by the time the box was empty. Or almost empty. "Hey, there's still two in there. I can't get them out."

"Let me." Ken picked the box up in both hands and shook it hard while Jonni held his hands cupped under the open end. Nothing came out. After a few more tries, Ken got frustrated. "Stupid little bugs. We can get some someplace else." With that, he set the box down in front of him and stomped on it as hard as he could, twice, three times, until the box was completely flat. "There. They wanted to stay inside -- now they can."

The boys then started searching. Though they could easily have moved to another part of the colony where the population of crawlies was thicker, it was more fun to crawl through this section and try to hunt out the ones that remained. "I got one."

"I got some here. Hey, Jonni, come check this out."

Jonni rose to his knees, clutching his catch in both hands. "What?"

"I don't know. You've got to come see this."

Curious, Jonni transferred his collection of crawlies into one hand and started off in the direction of his friend's voice. He found Ken standing in the middle of a track and staring fixedly at the sky. "This is so weird."

"What is?"

"Come here and look."

Jonni took the bait. When he stepped forward and looked up, Ken, quick as a wink, grabbed the front of his shorts, tugged them forward, and dumped a whole squirming handful of crawlies into it. Jonni let out a howl and instinctively turned his back, giving Ken the opportunity to drop a second handful down the seat of his shorts.

Ken whooped hysterically as he bounced away, leaving Jonni dancing and leaping embarrassingly. Ears glowing crimson, he flailed and tugged at his shorts, shaking them, trying to shake the wriggling bodies out. Eventually, he had no choice but to drop his shorts down to his knees and brush the crawlies away, much to Ken's amusement.

"You...you...you FUCKHEAD!" Jonni shrieked as he pulled his pants back up, then he gasped and reached inside to fish out one last bug that he'd missed. "You're DEAD, Ken!" he cried as he stuffed that last crawly into the pouch of his slingshot and brought it to bear.

Ken ducked, but the shot went wild, making Ken laugh even harder. "Whassamatter, got ants in your pants?" he jeered. Then with a "whoa!" he dove behind a mound as a more well-placed shot whistled just between his ears. Snickering still, he groped wildly around the base of the mound for some ammunition. Turning to broaden his search, he felt something spatter wetly against his cheek.

"Gotcha, you son of a bitch!"

Ken wiped his face on his arm, then spotted a lone crawly cowering almost next to his foot. "Aha!" He snatched it up and loaded it. "Take that!"

Jonni spun around, and the crawly bounced off of his shoulder. When he turned back, Ken was racing headlong toward the tallest hives. Jonni could see the crawlies, an endless supply, carpeting the track between the towers, and he knew that Ken would have the advantage if he got there first. It became a race, with both boys pounding wildly through the forest of little boxes, oblivious to the countless pieces of ammunition that died under their feet.

Ken arrived first, and lunged into a narrow gap between two high towers. Squatting down, he scooped up as many crawlies as he could hold and still shoot, and then began stalking his friend. He tiptoed through the narrow lanes, barely breathing, trying to silence the crunch of his footfalls on the swarming bugs by sheer force of will, until...SPLAT! A red stain appeared on his chest.

"Gotcha again!"

"You bastard!" Ken brought up his slingshot, but then had to dodge as another little body soared past his cheek. He realized that, in his excitement, he'd crushed the crawlies in his hand to a useless mass, which he hurled aside and began searching frantically for more. Another shot burst on his thigh, and he scrambled forward, only to find himself trapped in a blind alley. He pushed against the walls, but these proved stronger than the rest, and though their faces crumbled, they withstood his pummeling. Turning then, he found himself face- to-face with Jonni, who had his slingshot drawn back and doubly- loaded. Jonni was grinning hugely, and Ken was unarmed. Slowly he put up his hands. "Truce?" he said in a small voice.

Jonni grinned more broadly, and took careful aim on the middle of Ken's nose.

"Truce?" Ken whimpered again, his eyes imploring.

Jonni's smile and gaze were unwavering for several immeasurably-long seconds, and then abruptly he dropped his slingshot down a few degrees and let fly. Ken yelped and doubled over in surprise as there was a sharp impact, and a red stain spread out across the middle of his crotch. "Truce!" Jonni said, finally.

Ken straightened up, staring down at the red spot on his pants. His ears turned the same color. "OK, you got me." He stepped out of the cul-de-sac. "Ugh...I got bug-shit all over me."

"Yeah, me too."

"Time for a swim?"

"You bet!"

They made their way around the towers and stepped over the lower mounds that lay along the beachfront. "Last one in is a rotten egg!" Ken called, and both boys raced into the water, splashing and laughing merrily. The bloodstains washed away; animosities were forgotten as the two, chums once more, wrestled and dunked one another. When they began to tire, they settled for floating on their backs and kicking in lazy circles, until Ken noticed some activity on the shore. "Look. The crawlies are coming back out."

Jonni stood up in the chest-deep water and looked. On the shore, he could see a swarm of countless crawlies milling about. For a brief moment, he had the chilling sensation that they were watching him. "I guess they don't know what to do, now that we've smashed their homes."

Both boys watched them for a while, and then Ken started to crash through the water toward shore. Immediately the mass of crawlies began to disperse. "That's it, run!" Ken laughed. "Let's get'em!"

Jonni fell in beside him. Their movement was slowed tremendously in the water, each step a struggle as they fought to gain the land before the swarm had vanished again. The water level fell to their waists, and then to their knees, and then by taking huge skipping steps they were able to run clear of it. Water cascaded off of their legs and washed away the closest of the little creature as the boys pounded into their midst. Roaring, Ken raised his left foot up high and brought it crashing down, stomping a deep print in the soft earth. When he lifted it again, he could see a number of little bodies flattened within it. "Awesome!" he hissed, and began stamping his feet one after the other, seeking to catch and crush as many of the little bugs as he could. Jonni joined him, the two laughing as they trampled the swarm into a blanket of squashed flesh, until the water's edge was covered with footprints and not a single crawly was left moving.

"That was great!" Jonni said as he stood and scanned the shore, and then stepped back into the water to rinse his feet off. "Felt weird, though."

"Told ya."

"Yeah. Hey, do you ever wonder what it would be liked to be REALLY this big?"

Ken smiled. "A lot. It'd be out of this world!"

"Yup! Step on the school, squish all the teachers. We'd be heroes."

"Nobody to tell us what to do. We could do anything we wanted to, and if anyone got pissed, we'd just -- " He brought his foot down hard. "STOMP'em into the dirt!"

"I'd round up all the guys who didn't get cut from the basketball team. 'Am I too short now, wise guys? Want to go one-on- one?' Then dribble them into goosh. Splat!"

Ken tugged on the front of his shorts, which seemed to be uncomfortable. "Hey, there's a thought. Go get the basketball -- I left it back on the hill. We could shoot some hoops."

Jonni nodded. "And dribble some snot-nosed basketball team members into goosh." He ran off, hurdling the hive-boxes nearest the water, and returned in a moment with the ball. Ken had gone back amongst the tallest towers and selected one with two points on the top. "Between the uprights is a basket. First to twenty wins it."

"Got it." Jonni dribbled the ball a few times, pleased with how well it bounced, though it did leave a small circular indentation where-ever it landed. "Better make it the first one to ten. I don't think the court will stand up to too much playing." He ducked forward, darting around Ken's defense. Even though he'd been cut from the team, he was still a talented player. He made the first "basket" with ease, then fetched the ball back and passed it to Ken. "Top that!"

"Watch me." Ken dribbled twice, then jumped straight up, sinking a hook shot between the uprights that made Jonni's jaw drop.

Growling, Jonni took the ball again, surprised at Ken's newfound skill. He must have been practicing. He dribbled idly, sizing Ken up, and then he realized that the ball was getting wet. Looking down, he saw red smears and tiny bodies stuck to its surface. "Ugh! It's picking up crawlies." He scanned the court until he saw a few of them darting about, and he slammed the ball down hard on them. "Spectators off the field!" he called. His next shot missed; he blamed it on the goo clinging to the ball.

The ball grew stickier and stickier as the boys began to concentrate less on shooting baskets and more on using it to see how many crawlies they could smash when they came into range. At length the game started to lose a bit of its sport, and Ken took the ball. "You can't play basketball with these little cruds around," he sighed. Then he perked, "But now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for..."Bowling for Crawlies!"

Jonni guffawed as Ken took off down one narrow lane, beating on the mounds to scare the crawlies out into his wake. At the end of the lane he turned, and with a wink to Jonni, he drew back his arm and launched the ball through the mass of bodies. It rolled erratically, leaning a narrow swath and picking up a thin band of redness around its middle. Jonni caught it and found another, wider lane, which was already teeming with targets. "Strike!" he yelled, as the ball cut another path through their numbers. Ken ran to catch it at the other end and shot it back, but it careened wildly off the walls and shot past Jonni's legs at high speed.

Jonni chased after the ball as it rolled into a patch of bare ground. There he found something interesting. "Hey, Ken! Someone left their fishing pole here."

Ken ran up behind him. Sure enough, there was someone's fishing rod, standing upright with a small hook still attached to the trailing line, though the reel was the strangest they'd seen. It was box- shaped and had two rollers on the bottom. Neither boy could quite make head or tail of it, though they found that they could unwind the line by hand. "This is great! Who do you think left it here?"

"Who cares. Finders - keepers! Go get some bait, and we'll see if there's any fish in the lake."

"Right!" Jonni trotted off the beach and onto the tracks again. Crawling on all fours, he soon found a nice fat crawly, which he brought back to the spot where Ken had taken the pole. Ken, whose father was an avid fisherman, carefully impaled the crawly through the legs on the hook, and tossed it into the water. Then they waited.

They waited some more.

And some more.

Finally, Jonni sighed. "I'm bored."

"Yeah, me too."

"There's no fish in that lake."

"Nope." Ken pulled the line in. The bait had long-since drowned, but hadn't even been touched. "Oh, well. Let's find something else to do."

They wandered back amongst the mounds, kicking half- heartedly at some of the tall ones. Still bored, they strolled out into the border area where the hives were only small boxes. Ken stepped on a few of them just to watch the crawlies squirm out of the wreckage, but even that was starting to get old. Then he perked up, and a mischievous gleam crept into his eyes. "Oh, Jonnnniiii..."

"Hmmm?"

"I dare you..."

"What?"

Ken's lips formed a slow, evil smile. "I dare you," he whispered, "to EAT one."

Jonni's ears stood straight on end. "Wh-what?"

"Scared?"

"No..." Jonni's voice sounded uncertain. The idea itself was enough to make his stomach do flip-flops, but to back down now would be to admit to cowardice. At this age, such a thing would be akin to social suicide. "No," he said more firmly. "I will if you will."

Ken nodded. "You first. If you do, I'll eat TWO of them."

Fighting down a shudder, Jonni scanned the ground around him. There was no sign of any crawlies at first, but his relief turned to dread as he caught sight of one lurking along a smashed hive. He knew that Ken had seen it, too, so there was no use in pretending not to have noticed. With forced bravado, he strode forward, knelt, and cornered it between his hands.

"Careful!" Ken shouted suddenly, making Jonni jump and nearly making him lose his quarry. "Don't crush it. It's got to be alive, or it doesn't count."

Jonni nodded, and with a gulp, he brought his hands together, herding the little morsel into a tighter and tighter space until he could catch one of its arms. Shivering with trepidation, he lifted it up to his face. He realized that Ken was watching him closely.

"Well?"

"Gimme a second." The crawly danced and wriggled as it dangled in front of his nose. He tried not to look at it.

"Watch out you don't swallow him whole. You have to chew him up. If you don't, he'll multiply in your stomach and they'll start to chew their way out through your --"

"Shut up!" Jonni shot him a murderous glance, which only made Ken giggle. What had he gotten himself into? This was a nightmare...but it was either this, or Ken would tell everyone else that he was chicken. So...

"Ahhhh...down the hatch," Ken said in a teasing tone as Jonni shut his eyes, opened his mouth, and pushed the crawly quickly inside. He fought down a gag as he pulled his fingers back out and pressed the wiggly creature tightly to the roof of his mouth with his tongue to try to make it stop moving so much. He felt faint, paused to rest a moment, and then used his tongue to push the creature between his teeth.

Ken took a moment to tug on his shorts, readjusting them. "Now chew," he commanded, his face set in a triumphant grin.

It took all of his willpower to clench his jaws. Jonni felt the soft little body crunch between his molars, and a warm, salty flavor flooded his mouth. Instantly his gorge rose. With a herculean effort he held it down, and quickly as he could he chewed the crawly to pulp and swallowed. "Oh, god..." he croaked, almost staggering. "Gross!" He spat several times, trying to get the salty tang out of his mouth. "OK. Now it's your turn?"

"Me? No way."

Jonni gaped. "But you said you would!"

"Why should I?" Ken suddenly broke and ran. "It's already been done. There's no novelty in it."

Treachery! "Why, you dirty..." Jonni shot off after him.

Ken yelped and jumped across a hive-row. His foot landed on a mass of crawlies and skidded on their mashing bodies; he regained his balance and tore off toward where the smaller boxes were clustered, but he had lost his lead. Jonni caught up with him and seized him in a flying tackle, and both boys crashed to the ground, shattering hundreds of the wooden mounds beneath their bodies as they rolled over and over. Ken struggled to free himself, but Jonni had a firm grip around his waist. "I'll get you!" Jonni snarled, twisting and throwing Ken to the ground again when the other boy managed to get to his feet. He pulled Ken's arms around behind his back and lay down atop him, pinning Ken in a backwards-mummy hold. "I'll GET you," he repeated, panting, as Ken whimpered and squirmed futilely beneath him. Jonni had learned this hold in wrestling class, and there was no easy way to break it.

A few of the boxes within reach were still intact. Jonni smashed their tops in with his fist and then gathered up the crawlies as they darted out the bottom. With his free hand he pinched Ken's nose shut. "Now open wide and take your medicine like a good little boy!"

Ken held his breath for an impressively long time, but when he finally parted his lips to steal a gasp of air, Jonni's hand was right there, cramming one of the crawlies between them. Ken felt its little limbs sliding around on the outside of his teeth. Sheer disgust made him open his mouth to cry out, and suddenly there were two wriggling forms inside it.

"Now chew," he growled, his voice an angry mimic of Ken's earlier tone. Knowing that he was defeated, Ken nodded slightly, and began chewing, his face a mask of revulsion. He had to chew for a very long time, and the crawlies were practically reduced to liquid in his mouth before he mustered the strength to swallow.

Satisfied, Jonni let Ken up. "That'll teach you. We had a deal, chum. Now we're even."

Ken gagged and coughed. "Even? But I ate TWO, and you only ate one!"

"And that was the deal, wasn't it?"

Ken somehow kept from throwing up. "I guess." He wiped his hand on the back of his mouth. "We oughta go home. The good shows will be coming on soon."

"Yeah. This was fun, though. Thanks for showing it to me!"

"You bet." Ken was beginning to get the color back in his ears. "Let's beat it."

Together, the two boys gathered up their skateboards and their basketball and their makeshift fishing poles and started back toward the hill. Ken paused halfway there. "Hey, wait. I forgot something." Jonni followed him back amongst the ruined mounds, and watched curiously as Ken punched through one of the hives and groped about until he found a handful of crawlies, which he pulled out. "Put these in your pocket. And be careful not to squash them."

Bewildered, Jonni let Ken drop the crawlies into his hand, and then he shoved them down into the pocket of his shorts. "What for?"

Ken stood up with more and filled his own pockets. "For my sister," he said slyly.

Jonni blinked and then barked with laughter. "Oh, no! You wouldn't!"

"I would. And I'm gonna!" Ken's grin was positively evil. "Let's get going. Oh, god, this is going to be soooooo cool!"