Captain Critter

"Please just get it out of here," Wyatt's dad called from the bathroom. "You know the rules. Nothing with more than four legs in the apartment."

"Fine," Wyatt huffed. "But I don't get why it's always my job. You trapped the thing! How come I have to take it out?"

"It's about being a team player, hon," came his dad's reply. Wyatt could hear him washing his hands again. "Molly found it in the sink. And she, uh, raised the alarm." Wyatt could still hear her sobbing in the next room. "I chased it around and trapped it. It almost took some of me with it, too. Now you just have to bring it downstairs and set it free. Everyone does their part."

"Ugh, fine. Here I go!" Wyatt called. "But if I'm not back in five minutes, call the fire department. Tell them it ate me alive! On your orders!"

Wyatt kneeled down. He lowered his face to the level of the glass. Trapped inside was a big, disgusting centipede. It was crawling all over. Its creepy little legs were wiggling like crazy.

"Gross," said Wyatt. Then he took a deep breath.

Wyatt slid a take-out menu under the glass. He was careful not to leave room for the bug to crawl out. Then he picked up the glass– menu, bug, and all. Holding it at arm's length, he walked out the front door.

Wyatt's family lived in an apartment building. All the windows had screens on them. And they lived on the 11th floor. That meant that Wyatt had to bring the bug all the way down to the lobby just to let it out. Wyatt reached the elevators.

He had one hand on the menu under the cup. His other hand was planted firmly on top of the cup. He was NOT going to let that thing get out until they were outside. But it left him no hands for the elevator button. He crouched down and pressed it with his elbow.

"You're just lucky you didn't end up in a bug-crushing household," Wyatt told the bug. "My dad doesn't like to kill things. Even gross-out things like you. I guess I don't either. But I don't like being your personal driver much better."

The elevator dinged and Wyatt got in. Using his elbow again, he pushed the button for "lobby". He looked into the cup. The centipede was racing around inside. It crawled up the sides and back down again. It ran around and around.

"Wow, you're fast!" Wyatt said. "You must be pretty scared, huh? I would be pretty scared if I was you. Some weird looking giant traps me in a tank and runs off with me? Yeah I'd say that's nightmare fuel for sure."

Wyatt watched the floor numbers light up as the elevator went down. 9...8...7. He looked into the cup again. He brought it a little closer to his face. The centipede had stopped running. It was standing on the side of the glass. Its long skinny antenna waved slowly back and forth.

Wyatt laughed. "It looks like you're waving at me!" he said. "Helloooo in there!" Wyatt tilted the glass a little. The centipede didn't move. "It's cool that you can crawl up walls," he said. "I wish I could do that. Then you could see the whole world upside down! With that plus your speed, you'd make a good superhero. We could call you Captain Critter!"

The elevator rumbled down a few more floors. 4...3...2. Wyatt had a strange feeling. He was almost at the lobby. He was almost done with this gross, icky job. But he felt sad. He didn't want to lose Captain Critter.

The elevator dinged again. The doors slid open. They had reached the lobby. Wyatt could see the big glass doors to the street. But he didn't step out.

No, Wyatt crouched again and pushed the number 11 button with his elbow. The doors slid shut. Wyatt looked at Captain Critter and smiled. His dad was not going to be happy about his new pet.