Excerpt
An Excerpt from The Cricket in Times Square
The three of them jumped down to the floor. The crack in the side of the
newsstand was just wide enough for Harry to get through. As they crossed
the station floor, Tucker pointed out the local sights of interest such
as the Nedick's lunch counter--Tucker spent a lot of time around there--and
the Loft's candy store. Then they came to the drain pipe. Chester had to
make short hops to keep from hitting his heed as they went up. There seemed
to be hundreds of twistings and turnings and many other pipes that opened
off the main route, but Tucker Mouse knew his way perfectly--even in the
dark. At last Chester saw light above them. One more hop brought him out
onto the sidewalk and there he gasped.
They were standing at one corner of the Times building, which is the south
end of Times Square. Above the cricket, towers that seemed like mountains
of light rose up into the night sky. Even this late the neon signs were
still blazing. Reds, blues, greens, and yellows flashed down on him. And
the air was full of the roar of traffic and the hum of human beings. It
was as if Times Square were a kind of shell, with colors and noises breaking
in great waves inside it. Chester's heart hurt him and he closed his eyes.
The sight was too terrible and beautiful for a cricket who up to now had
measure high things by the heights of his willow tree and sounds by the
burble of a running brook.