Orlo’s Velvet Valve Cap — Under the crooked towers of Grinspire Castle, Orlo polished one tiny velvet valve cap until it shone like a blackberry seed. Read the full story →
Under the crooked towers of Grinspire Castle, Orlo polished one tiny velvet valve cap until it shone like a blackberry seed. He kept it tucked beside his horned hood ornament, because its soft nap made a whispery vup-vup sound when he tapped it. Tonight, he wanted to roll at the exact middle of the pumpkin parade, where the bridge stones clicked under his giant tires and every jack-o’-lantern made a different grin.
The parade gathered nicely. Pumpkins rode in Orlo’s bed, ghosts bobbed on his doors, and bats looped overhead with squeaky little notes. Orlo tapped the valve cap: vup-vup. The bats squeaked back: eek-eek. He tapped faster, just to be silly, and the bats tucked their wings, flipped upside down, and made a neat zigzag over his windshield. “That was not in rehearsal,” Orlo said, delighted.
Then the smallest bat landed on his mirror and bowed to the velvet cap. It was not a keepsake from his old tire, as Orlo had always thought. It was the missing baton of the Belfry Bat Choir, last seen during a thunder-hiccup seven Halloweens ago. Orlo placed it on his hood, tapped once, and the whole causeway answered: tires, pumpkins, bats, and castle bells, all going vup-vup together. If you can spot the tiny cap’s favorite place, you’ll know exactly where Orlo belonged under the crooked towers.
