Expedition to the Far Fence

Expedition to the Far Fence

Shriya spread the Expedition Map across the grass and weighed its corners down with four rocks. "The Far Fence is uncharted," she announced. Cat sat on the paper's exact center, which was not helpful and also, somehow, correct. "Fine. You're the navigator."

Her brother Vihaan leaned out the back door, chewing toast. "What's the mission?" "Classified," said Shriya. "Is it the fence?" "...Maybe." He grinned, and she knew he would follow at a respectful distance, which was exactly the right distance for a rear guard.

Halfway across the lawn, Cat froze, one paw lifted. Something rustled in the hedge and something else, deeper, rattled like a tin of marbles. Ahead, the map's X pointed two ways: toward the hedge's dark tunnel, and toward the shed's crooked door.

Shriya studied the map, then the hedge, then the shed. Vihaan caught up, breathing hard. "Pick one," he whispered. "Cat's already decided." Cat had not. Cat was watching her.

"Right," said Shriya, folding the map into her pocket. "Here we go."

Shriya dropped to her belly and wriggled into the Hollow Under the Hedge, Cat slinking ahead like a small tiger. Dry leaves crackled. Halfway through, her fingers closed on something round and cold: a lost soccer ball, flat as a pancake, wearing a beard of cobwebs.

Behind her, Vihaan's voice echoed down the tunnel. "Is that my ball? I lost that in second grade!" Cat sneezed at the dust. Shriya held the ball up like a trophy, cobwebs and all.

They wriggled out into the sunshine, three explorers with leaves in their hair. Vihaan fixed the ball with the bicycle pump while Shriya marked the X. "Discovery complete," she said. "Now we play. Winner gets the toast."