Native Tongue by Shannon Greenland

visibility.” He nodded to Beaker.
     
     
    She climbed up with no showmanship to her at all. Holding her arms out for balance, she carefully made her way across the beam. Reaching out, she grabbed the ropes supporting the floating tiles and used them to wobble across. She jumped down onto the wheeled platform and stood for a second balancing herself, then crossed it and jumped off.
     
     
    Not bad. No doubt our cheerleading training for our last mission had helped her.
     
     
    “If you’re in a situation you’re not comfortable with,” Jonathan said, “stop and think. Ask yourself: What is my objective? What is my terrain? Is there an enemy nearby? Is there a team member nearby? How much time do I have to meet my objective? What resources do I have at my disposal?” He nodded to Cat.
     
     
    She climbed up and traversed the obstacle course, doing just as well as Wirenut.
     
     
    Then Mystic, who, of course, had to meditate to channel the balance gods before gracefully completing the course.
     
     
    Then Parrot, who seemed to perform a little better than Beaker, but not as well as Cat. I was sure his years of horseback riding gave him a natural balancing ability.
     
     
    “Lastly”—Jonathan looked right at me—“be confident with your movements. The jungle is no place to question yourself.” He nodded me to the balance beam.
     
     
    I walked over, going over everything Jonathan had just said . . . and felt a bit overwhelmed.
     
     
    With all eyes on me, I stepped up onto the balance beam. So far no one had fallen off. Mystic almost had at the floating tiles and Beaker nearly lost it on the platform, but they’d both managed to recover.
     
     
    Everyone knew I had exactly zero coordinated bones/muscles/ organs/ligaments and whatever else in my body. And I knew, just knew, that they knew I was about to really entertain them.
     
     
    I glanced over at them all lined up, trying to hide their smiles.
     
     
    “Whenever you’re ready,” Jonathan encouraged me.
     
     
    Taking a deep breath, I pulled my shoulders back, stretched my arms out for balance, and fastened my gaze to the end of the beam. Carefully, I put one foot in front of the other and made it all the way to the end. I turned to my friends with a “take-that” smirk.
     
     
    “Save that look until after the floating tiles,” Wirenut teased.
     
     
    Bruiser snorted.
     
     
    If I didn’t love them so much, I might have had to hate them.
     
     
    Grasping the ropes supporting the floating tiles, I placed my right foot on the first tile . . . and swung forward . . . then backward . . . and forward . . . then backward . . . The swaying motion made me dizzy, and I squeezed my eyes shut. Both my legs and arms began uncontrollably shaking.
     
     
    My teammates busted out laughing, and I fell flat on my face on the mat below.
     
     
    Sigh . At least we had a full-service hospital now. I suspected that Dr. Gretchen and I were going to be fast buddies.
     
     
     
A couple Of days later I met Jonathan, Parrot, and TL outside the barn. Parrot stood with his horse, Carrot, beside him. And TL had a pretty brown one beside him.
     
     
    Off to the side was Dr. Gretchen, holding a doctor’s bag.
     
     
    I gave her an inquisitive glance.
     
     
    With a wink to me, she held up her bag. “Just in case, GiGi.”
     
     
    I smiled weakly. Great. She’d been here only a week and already knew I pretty much needed her on call. Well, at least she addressed me by my name now.
     
     
    TL held up the reins. “This will be your mode of transportation in the jungle.”
     
     
    “Right,” I replied, clearly not looking forward to this.
     
     
    “Have you ever ridden a horse?” Jonathan asked, turning toward me.
     
     
    I shook my head. I mean, really, did they even need to ask?
     
     
    Parrot reached up and stroked his hand down Carrot’s muzzle. “Give her a pat.”
     
     
    Cautiously, I approached and reached my hand out to touch her