James and the Giant Peach Chapter 7
The night was all around him now, and high overhead a wild white moon was riding in the sky.
There was not a sound, not a movement anywhere. Most people - and especially small children - are often quite scared of being out of doors alone in the moonlight.
Everything is so deadly quiet, and the shadows are so long and black, and they keep turning into strange shapes that seem to move as you look at them, and the slightest little snap of a twig makes you jump. James felt exactly like that now.
He stared straight ahead with large frightened eyes, hardly daring to breathe. Not far away, in the middle of the garden, he could see the giant peach towering over everything else. Surely it was even bigger tonight than ever before? And what a dazzling sight it was! The moonlight was shining and glinting on its great curving sides, turning them to crystal and silver. It looked like a tremendous silver ball lying there in the grass, silent, mysterious, and wonderful. And then all at once, little shivers of excitement started running over the skin on James's back.
Something else, he told himself, something stranger than ever this time, is about to happen to me again soon.
He was sure of it. He could feel it coming. He looked around him, wondering what on earth it was going to be.
The garden lay soft and silver in the moonlight. The grass was wet with dew and a million dewdrops were sparkling and twinkling like diamonds around his feet. And now suddenly, the whole place, the whole garden seemed to be alive with magic. Almost without knowing what he was doing, as though drawn by some powerful magnet, James Henry Trotter started walking slowly toward the giant peach.
He climbed over the fence that surrounded it, and stood directly beneath it, staring up at its great bulging sides. He put out a hand and touched it gently with the tip of one finger. It felt soft and warm and slightly furry, like the skin of a baby mouse. He moved a step closer and rubbed his cheek lightly against the soft skin. And then suddenly, while he was doing this, he happened to notice that right beside him and below him, close to the ground, there was a hole in the side of the peach. It was quite a large hole, the sort of thing an animal about the size of a fox might have made.
James knelt down in front of it and poked his head and shoulders inside.
He crawled in.
He kept on crawling.
This isn't just a hole, he thought excitedly.
It's a tunnel! The tunnel was damp and murky, and all around him there was the curious bittersweet smell of fresh peach.
The floor was soggy under his knees, the walls were wet and sticky, and peach juice was dripping from the ceiling. James opened his mouth and caught some of it on his tongue. It tasted delicious. He was crawling uphill now, as though the tunnel were leading straight toward the very center of the gigantic fruit.
Every few seconds he paused and took a bite out of the wall. The peach flesh was sweet and juicy, and marvelously refreshing. He crawled on for several more yards, and then suddenly - bang - - the top of his head bumped into something extremely hard blocking his way.
He glanced up. In front of him there was a solid wall that seemed at first as though it were made of wood. He touched it with his fingers. It certainly felt like wood, except that it was very jagged and full of deep grooves. "Good heavens!
he said. "I know what this is! I've come to the stone in the middle of the peach! Then he noticed that there was a small door cut into the face of the peach stone.
He gave a push. It swung open. He crawled through it, and before he had time to glance up and see where he was, he heard a voice saying, "Look who's here!" And another one said, "We've been waiting for you! James stopped and stared at the speakers, his face white with horror.
He started to stand up, but his knees were shaking so much he had to sit down again on the floor.
He glanced behind him, thinking he could bolt back into the tunnel the way he had come, but the doorway had disappeared. There was now only a solid brown wall behind him. James's large frightened eyes traveled slowly around the room.
The creatures, some sitting on chairs, others reclining on a sofa, were all watching him intently.
Creatures?
Or were they insects?
