June 28. He fell asleep immediately and had strange and scary nightmares again.

He was woken up by Roach fairly early in the morning.

“Get up. Get up, Slowcoach. It’s time you started walking.”

“Why are you waking me up so early? I want to sleep some more. And how have you landed on the 22^nd floor?”

“I told you I visit different apartments in the building. My friend Poach told me that she had kept some food away for me. That’s how I landed up here. You do look very tired. It’s actually 4 in the morning. Do you want me to wake you up at around 6?”

“That’s will be very kind. Are you sure it’s no hassle?”

“Not at all. Now go to sleep.”

“Slowcoach slept peacefully for two more hours when Roach tapped him on his shoulder—Wake up, Slowcoach. It’s 6 in the morning. Don’t you want to get a head start?”

“Thank you, Roach. You’re a sweetheart. Would you like to come with me on this world tour? You and I can have some fun.”

“No way. I get so much to eat and live the good life here, why would I give it all up to go on a world tour? You go ahead and have a great time.”

“Slowcoach ate a few nuts to break his fast and began walking. He broke his journey around mid-day to eat and rest. He gauged that the time would be around 1.”

“By 6 in the evening when he called it a day, he had reached the 20^th floor. He was happy about his progress. Another 10 days and he would be outside in the open. Slowcoach was thrilled. He munched on a carrot stick, covered himself with the shawl and was out like a light.”

“He dreamt he was in a beautiful landscaped garden. There were lots of animals there including five strays, one of whom had been thrown out on to the streets by his owners. His name was Shabby. Apart from Shabby, there was Sadhu, Raja, Dushtu and Puchki. He introduced himself to all five. Apart from these five, there was a caterpillar named Caterpillar and a frog whose name was Floppy. All of them made friends with Slowcoach and shared their food with him. Slowcoach felt he was in paradise and felt that life outside his old apartment wasn’t all that bad. By the time he woke up, it was nearly 7.”

“He got dressed quickly and, since he wasn’t hungry, thought he’d eat a little later. By the time he reached the 18^th floor, it was around 7 in the evening.”

Slowcoach reached the ground floor exactly 11 days after the 26^th. He heaved a sigh of relief and looked around. There were lots of people on the streets. They all looked like Goliath. Cars were whizzing past. Slowcoach kept to one side of the road and trudged along holding on tightly to his belongings.”

“Button, it’s time you and I went to sleep. Shall we continue our story tomorrow? Do you like the way it’s shaping up?”

“I love it. Do you think we are good story-tellers?”

“I think we are rather adept. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”