Nothing To Believe In

If we do this, says Arthur, and it works, you'll have the knowledge.

Agreed, says the waxworm. What happens now?

You throw the Sea Salt, says Sweezus.

Excuse me, says the waxworm. No arms.

I'll do it for you, says Sweezus.

Shouldn't it be someone with no vested interest? says the waxworm.

I'll do it, says Saint Roley. I have nothing to believe in.

That's terrible, says the waxworm.

Get on with it, says Arthur. Here's the Sea Salt. Don't use too much.

He opens the packet and Saint Roley sticks his beak in.

Not the beak, says Arthur.

Quite right, says Gaius. The Sea Salt will stick to it. Use your feet.

A brush of a wing tip was what I was thinking, says Saint Roley.

Okay, says Arthur. Go for it.

Saint Roley dips a wing tip into the Sea Salt and flicks.

Up flies the Sea Salt (not too much).

Down drifts the Sea Salt.

Saint Roley steps away.

Will it form a W?

Not yet it won't.

There, says the waxworm. Nothing definitive.

Sweezus and Gaius agree.

Saint Roley steps forward. He needs to be sure that he hasn't affected the reading.

No! Look now! says Arthur.

Saint Roley has left a footprint.

And he has three toes. Two outer and one inner, each with toenails.

That's a W, says Arthur.

No one can deny it, unless they are a pedant, and think that three webbed prongs do not constitute an identifiable letter.

There are no pedants in the frog room.

Well I never, says the waxworm. This means I turn into a wax moth at some point in the future. I must tell the others. Lift me up to the table.

Gaius lifts him up to the table.

Guess what? says the waxworm to the ten others.

Humboldt comes in, one knee bleeding.

I've got the hang of it, says Humboldt. I circled the square.

And fell off, says Gaius. Do you need a plaster?

Not at all, says Humboldt. I'm proud of my war wound. Now I must learn to ride faster.

And up and down hill, says Gaius.

Weren't there more bikes in the store room? asks Sweezus.

Two more, says Humboldt.

Let's see, says Sweezus. He goes out and comes in again.

Yeah, two mountain bikes, says Sweezus. Wanna go Arthur? The three of us could head for the coast.

Okay, says Arthur. What about the waxworms?

Bring 'em, says Sweezus. But don't put them in the same pocket as the Sea Salt. They'll eat through the bag.

We wouldn't! says the head waxworm.

Arthur scoops up eleven waxworms and shoves them into his other pocket.

The pocket contains Flap, the mutant marsupial tree frog and bike knicks template, who will not have eaten since being put there.