Wow," whispered Jack. He reached into his satcheland pulled out their rhyme book.
"I'll say the first line of the rhyme," Jack said toAnnie. "You say the second. Then we'll start pedalingas fast as we can. The street's empty. No one will seeus. So we can-""Good," interrupted Annie. "Let's get going." Jackheld up the rhyme book so they could both read bythe light of a streetlamp. He read his line first:
Whirl, and twirl and swirl and spin!
73Then Annie read the second line:
Tee-roll-eye-bee-eye-ben!
Jack shoved the book back into his satchel. "Pedal!"he cried.
Jack and Annie balanced themselves on the bikeand pedaled hard. The bike rattled over thecobblestones.
"Faster!" shouted Jack. He pedaled as hard as hecould.
The bike shot forward! The front wheel beganrising off the stone pavement!
"Whoa!" cried Annie. "Hold on tight!" cried Jack.
Jack gripped his handlebars as the wheels spunfaster and faster and the bicycle rose into the air. Itrose higher and higher above the dark street, abovethe rooftops, and into the moonbright sky.
"Turn left!" shouted Jack.
Annie turned her handlebars, and the flying bicycleheaded straight toward the Eiffel Tower.
7475The white beams of the tower's spotlights sweptover Paris, shining on chimneys, church steeples, anddomes. But Jack kept his eyes fixed on the glowingiron tower. That was where they had to go. That wastheir goal.
As Jack and Annie pedaled, the warm Paris airembraced them, holding the bike steady. With verylittle effort, they drew closer and closer to the tower.
Soon they were almost there.
"We have to land!" shouted Jack.
"I know!" shouted Annie. "Lean forward!" Theyboth leaned forward. The front wheel of the bikedipped. Annie steadied her handlebars as the bikezoomed down toward the base of the tower.
"Stop pedaling!" shouted Jack. He was afraid theywould dive straight into the ground.
But the bike seemed to have a mind of its own. Asit drew nearer to the base of the tower, it began todrop softly and slowly, like a falling feather.
The bike floated closer and closer to the76ground. Its wheels brushed the grass of a shadowygarden not far from the tower. Jack and Annie pushedon the brakes and the bike slowed to a stop. Then itfell gently onto its side, dumping Jack and Annie ontothe soft, wet grass.
Jack looked up. The Eiffel Tower loomed abovethem, reaching toward the bright Paris moon. "Wemade it," Annie said breathlessly.
"Not yet," said Jack. "We still have to find thatparty." He and Annie stood up.
"But first we have to leave the bike under thetower, like we promised," said Annie.
Jack and Annie picked up the big bike. Theyjumped back on and started pedaling toward theEiffel Tower. The bike felt a lot clunkier on theground than it had in the air. As they bumped overthe grass, they saw people streaming away from thefairgrounds.
"It looks like the fair's closing," said Annie. Jack andAnnie parked the bike in a bike stand beneath thetower. The area looked77deserted. There was no sign of a party or of the newmagicians. A single guard stood under one of the tallarches.
"Excuse me!" Annie called to the guard. "Do youknow what time it is?""Almost ten," answered the guard.
"Is the tower closed for the day?" said Jack.
"Yes, I'm afraid it is," said the guard.
"We heard there was going to be a party at theEiffel Tower tonight," said Annie.
The guard shook his head. "No, sorry. As you cansee, there is no party here-unless you mean theprivate affair at the top of the tower.""There's a private party at the very top?" saidAnnie. She and Jack looked up. The top of the towerseemed a mile away.
"Yes, with some very important guests," said theguard. He leaned closer and whispered, "Mr. ThomasEdison, Dr. Louis Pasteur, and Mr. Alexander GrahamBell.""That's our party!" exclaimed Annie. "Is there afourth guest?" Jack asked.
78"There may be others, but I did not see anyone elsego up," said the guard.
"We need to be there, too," said Annie. "How do weget up?"The guard smiled. "I am sorry," he said, "but theelevators are all shut down for the night. Even if youhad an invitation, the only way you could get to thetop would be to climb the steps." The guard lookedup. "And that is quite a few steps, indeed. Come backbright and early tomorrow and you can ride theelevators." The guard tipped his hat and strolledaway.
"Excuse me, sir!" Annie called after him. "Just howmany steps are there?""To be exact, there are 1,652 steps to the platform atthe top of the Eiffel Tower," the guard said. Then hedisappeared into the dark.
"That's too many steps," said Jack. "Let's fly up onthe bike!" said Annie.
"We can't," said Jack. "We can only use a rhymeonce, remember?" He pulled out their book of rhymesand read the ones they hadn't79used.
"Find a Treasure You Must Never Lose. ""That doesn't help," said Annie.
"Pull a Cloud from the Sky," read Jack.
"No help there, either," said Annie.
"Turn into Ducks," read Jack.
Annie smiled.
"Forget it. I'm not meeting Thomas Edison as aduck," said Jack.
"So ... ?" said Annie.
"The steps," said Jack.
Jack and Annie moved quickly around the base ofthe tower, searching for steps. "There!" said Jack.
They hurried to a staircase tucked inside one of thelegs of the tower.
Jack gripped the iron railing. "Ready?" he said.
"Yep," said Annie. "Let's go."Together they started up the 1,652 steps that led tothe top platform of the Eiffel Tower. |