Tenuous Connections

It's a long flight, from Adelaide to Dubai.

Arthur and Sweezus have slept most of the time.

Gaius has stayed awake thinking.

What a pity he had to leave the algal bloom unresolved, and has he packed underpants? What if he did not remove all the spiders from his bicycle, and what if he is asked about the French grandfather, who is supposed to be his father? What a tangled web has been woven, which reminds him again of the spiders....and the underpants, via a tenuous connection.

We're there! says Terence. And I didn't get my box!

It was unlikely your box would be delivered while we were flying, says Gaius.

But Roo-kai can fly! says Terence.

Even so, says Gaius.

And it is so.

There is no box. 

They get off the plane in Dubai.

......

They are now on the next flight, to Paris.

Terence is sitting between Sweezus and Arthur.

He is looking through the gap where his claw used to be. And before that, his finger.

What's up little buddy? asks Sweezus.

I can never count to a hundred, says Terence.

What about twenty? asks Sweezus.

Or ten, says Arthur. 

Why do you want to? asks Sweezus.

If I'm playing hide and seek, says Terence. And I'm the one counting to a hundred, with my hands over my eyes. But I can see through the gap.

Yeah, well, that's an advantage, says Sweezus. You can see where they went.

And they can't say you cheated, says Arthur.

Terence doesn't think this sounds right. He will never get picked to be the finder, because the others will know.

A flight attendant comes by, with a box.

Yay! says Terence.

It's not for you, sorry, says the flight attendant. It's for someone with special requirements.

I've got special requirements, says Terence.

But you're not on the list, says the flight attendant. Never mind, can I get you something?

A claw or a finger, says Terence.

She smiles at Terence, and keeps going, up the aisle to the person with special requirements.

Ten minutes later, she returns with a box and hands it to Terence.

Terence starts to open the box.

Will it be a claw or a finger?

It's ... what?

Two cooked chicken feet, on a bed of steamed rice.

No use to anyone.

Bump.

The plane lands in Paris.