21 - Go Eat Worms! (6 page)

“They saw what you did,” his sister had said in a low, frightened voice. “And
now they’re planning their revenge.”

That’s so stupid, Todd thought, pretending to read his social studies text.

So stupid.

But thinking about Regina’s words gave him a chill.

And thinking about the worms waiting in his cap, crawling so wetly through
his hair, made Todd feel a little sick.

He told Danny all about it at lunch.

They sat across from each other in the noisy lunchroom. Danny unpacked his
lunch from the brown paper lunch bag and examined the sandwich. “Ham and cheese
again,” he groaned. “Every day Mom gives me ham and cheese.”

“Why don’t you ask for something else?” Todd suggested.

“I don’t like anything else,” Danny replied, tearing open his bag of potato
chips.

Todd unpacked his lunch, too. But he left it untouched as he told Danny about
the worms.

Danny laughed at first. “Your sister is really a jerk,” he said through a
mouthful of potato chips.

“I guess you’re right,” Todd replied thoughtfully. “It’s
got
to be
Regina. But she acted so surprised. I mean, she
screamed
when she saw the
worm floating in the cereal.”

“She probably practiced screaming all day yesterday,” Danny said, chomping
into his sandwich.

Todd unwrapped the tinfoil from his sandwich. Peanut butter and jelly. “Yeah.
Maybe,” he said, frowning.

“Come on, Todd,” Danny said, mustard dripping down his chin. “That worm tank
of yours is really deep. The worms didn’t crawl out all by themselves. And they didn’t
crawl upstairs to your room and then find your hat and crawl inside.”

“You’re right. You’re right,” Todd said, still frowning thoughtfully. He
pushed back his Raiders cap and scratched his brown hair. “But I just keep
seeing those worms staring up at me, and—”

“Worms don’t have eyes!” Danny declared. “And they don’t have faces. And,
mainly, they don’t have brains!”

Todd laughed. Danny was completely right, he realized.

The idea of worms planning to get their revenge was just dumb.

Feeling a lot better, he slid down in the chair and started his lunch. “Let’s
talk about something else,” he said, taking a long drink from his box of juice.
He raised his peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich to his mouth and took a big bite.

“Did you see Dawkins fall off his chair this morning?” Danny asked,
snickering.

Todd grinned. “Yeah. Miss Grant jumped so high, her head nearly hit the
ceiling! I thought she was going to drop her teeth!”

“Luckily Dawkins landed on his head!” Danny exclaimed, wiping the mustard off
his chin with the back of one hand. “Dawkins can’t stay on a chair. No balance, or something. Every day he—”

Danny stopped when he saw the sick expression on Todd’s face. “Hey, Todd—what’s your problem?”

“Th-this peanut butter sandwich,” Todd stammered. “It… tastes kind of
strange.”

“Huh?” Danny lowered his eyes to the half-eaten sandwich in Todd’s hand.

Reluctantly, Todd pulled apart the two slices of bread.

Both boys moaned in disgust and let out hoarse gagging sounds as they saw the
half-eaten purple worm curled up in the peanut butter.

“Have you seen my sister?” Todd asked a group of kids at the door that led
out to the playground.

They all shook their heads no.

After angrily tossing away his lunch, Todd had run out of the lunchroom in
search of Regina. He had to let her know that her dumb joke had gone too far.

Putting a worm in his peanut butter wasn’t the least bit funny. It was
sick.

As he ran through the halls, searching in each room for her, Todd could still
taste the faintly sour flavor of the worm, could still feel its soft squishy
body between his teeth.

It made his teeth itch. It made him feel itchy all over.

Regina, you’re not getting away with this!
he thought bitterly.

By the time he reached the end of the hallway, he felt so angry, he was
seeing red.

He pushed past the group of kids, opened the door, and burst outside. The
bright afternoon sunlight made him lower his cap to shield his eyes.

He searched the playground for his sister.

Some kids from his class were playing a loud, frantic kickball game on the
Softball diamond. Jerry Dawkins and a few other guys called to Todd to join the
game.

But he waved them off and kept running. He was in no mood for games.

Regina—where are you?

He circled the entire playground and teacher parking lot before he gave up.
Then he slowly, unhappily trudged back toward the school building.

His stomach growled and churned.

He could picture the worm half wriggling around inside him.

All around, kids were yelling and laughing and having fun.

They didn’t eat worms for lunch, Todd thought bitterly. They don’t have a
mean, vicious sister who tries to ruin their lives.

He was nearly to the door, walking slowly, his head bowed, when he spotted
Regina standing in the shade at the corner of the building.

He stopped and watched her. She was talking to someone. Then she started to
laugh.

Keeping against the redbrick wall, Todd edged a little closer. He could see two others in the shade with Regina.

Beth and Patrick.

All three of them were laughing now.

What was so funny?

Todd could feel the rage boiling up in him. As he crept closer, trying to
hear what they were saying, he balled his hands into tight, angry fists.

Pressing against the building, Todd stopped and listened.

Regina said something. He couldn’t make out the words.

He took a step closer. Then one more.

And he heard Beth laugh and say, “So Todd doesn’t know you’re doing it?”

And then Patrick replied, “No. Todd doesn’t know. He doesn’t know I’m doing
it.”

Stunned, Todd jammed his back against the brick wall.

Patrick?

How can
Patrick
be doing it? Todd wondered.

That’s impossible! Unless…

Todd couldn’t hold back any longer. He angrily stepped forward, feeling his
face grow red-hot.

The three of them turned in surprise.

“So
you’re
doing it?” Todd cried to Patrick. “You’re giving my sister
the worms?”

“Huh? Worms?” Patrick’s mouth dropped open. He held a large sheet of
construction paper in his hand. Todd saw him slip the sheet of paper behind his
back.

“Yeah. Worms,” Todd repeated, snarling the words. “I heard what you said,
Patrick.”

“Patrick isn’t giving me worms,” Regina broke in. “What is your problem, Todd? Why would I want worms?”

“That’s where you’re getting them!” Todd insisted. “I heard you! I heard the
whole thing!”

The three of them exchanged bewildered glances.

“I’m not into worms anymore,” Patrick said. “I tossed all my worms into my
dad’s garden.”

“Liar,” Todd accused in a low voice.

“No. It’s true. I helped him,” Beth said.

“I got bored with them. I don’t collect them anymore,” Patrick told him. “I’m
into comic strips now.”

“Huh? Comic strips?” Todd stared suspiciously at Patrick.

The two girls began to grin.

“Yeah. I’m drawing comic strips,” Patrick said. “I’m a pretty good artist.”

He’s just trying to confuse me, Todd thought angrily.

“Patrick—give me a break,” Todd muttered. “You’re a really bad liar. I
heard
what you were saying, and—”

With a quick move, Todd reached out and grabbed the sheet of paper from
behind Patrick’s back.

“Hey—give that back!” Patrick reached for it. But Todd swung it out of his
reach.

“Huh? It’s a comic strip!” Todd exclaimed. He raised it closer to his face
and started to read it.

THE ADVENTURES OF TODD THE WORM

That was the title in big, block, super-hero-type letters.

And in the first panel, there stood a smiling worm. With wavy brown hair.
Wearing a silver-and-black Raiders cap.

“Todd the Worm?” Todd cried weakly, staring at the comic strip in disbelief.

The three of them burst out laughing.

“That’s what we were laughing about,” Regina told him, shaking her head.
“Patrick can draw pretty well—can’t he?”

Todd didn’t reply. He scowled at the comic strip.

Todd the Worm. A worm in a Raiders cap.

Patrick thinks he’s so funny, Todd thought bitterly. “Ha-ha. Remind me to
laugh sometime,” he murmured sarcastically. He handed the sheet of paper back to
Patrick.

The bell on the side of the building rang loudly above their heads. Todd
covered his ears. Everyone on the playground started running to the door.

Beth and Regina jogged ahead of Todd.

“So what about the worm in my sandwich?” he called to his sister, hurrying to
catch up. He grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around. “What about the worm?”

“Todd—let go!” She spun out of his grasp. “What worm? Are you still
carrying on about breakfast?”

“No. Lunch,” Todd shouted furiously. “You know what I’m talking about,
Reggie. Don’t pretend.”

She shook her head. “No, I really don’t, Todd.” She turned to the door.
“We’re going to be late.”

“You put the worm in my sandwich!” he screamed, his eyes locked on hers.

She made a disgusted face. “Yuck! In your sandwich?” She seemed really
shocked. “That’s gross!”

“Regina—”

“You didn’t
eat
it, did you?” she asked, covering her mouth in horror.

“Uh… no. No way!” Todd lied.

“Ugh! I’m going to be sick!” Regina cried. She turned and, still covering her
mouth, ran into the building.

Todd stared after her. She seemed totally shocked, he realized.

Is it possible that Regina didn’t do it?

Is it possible?

But then, if Regina didn’t do it—
what does that mean?

“Aren’t you sick of worms? Why are we digging up more worms?” Danny demanded.

Todd dug his shovel into the soft mud behind second base. “I need more,” he
murmured. He pulled up a long, brown one. It wriggled between his fingers. “Move
the bucket over, Danny.”

Danny obediently held the bucket closer. Todd dropped the worm into it and
bent to dig up more. “My worms are all disappearing,” he said softly,
concentrating on his work. “They’re escaping, I guess. So I need more.”

“But they
can’t
escape,” Danny insisted.

Todd dropped a short, fat one into the bucket.

They both heard the rumbling sound at the same time.

The ground behind second base trembled.

Danny’s eyes grew wide with fright. “Todd—another earthquake?”

Todd tilted his head as he listened. He dropped the shovel and placed both hands flat on the ground. “It—it’s shaking a
little,” he reported.

“We’ve got to go!” Danny cried, climbing to his feet. “We’ve got to tell
someone.”

“Nobody ever believes us,” Todd replied, not moving from the ground. “And,
look—the rest of the playground doesn’t seem to be shaking at all.”

The mud made a soft cracking sound as it trembled.

Todd jumped to his feet and grabbed up the bucket.

“Maybe we should find another place to get worms,” Danny suggested, backing
away from the spot, his eyes on the shaking ground.

“But this is the best spot!” Todd replied.

“Maybe it’s a sinkhole!” Danny declared as they hurried off the playground.
“Did you see that sinkhole on the news? A big hole just opened up in somebody’s
back yard. And it grew bigger and bigger, and people fell in it and were
swallowed up.”

“Stop trying to scare me,” Todd told his friend. “I’ve got enough problems
without worrying about sinkholes!”

When he arrived at school on Friday morning, Todd found three worms wriggling
around in his backpack. He calmly carried them out to the front of the school and deposited them in the dirt under the long hedge that lined
the building.

I’m going to stay calm, he decided.

They’re only worms, after all. And I like worms. I collect worms. I’m a worm
expert.

He returned to the building, frowning fretfully.

If I’m such an expert, he asked himself, why can’t I explain how the worms
are following me everywhere?

When he took out his math notebook an hour later, he found a mass of long
purple worms crawling around near the binding and between the pages.

The kids sitting near him saw them and started pointing and screaming.

“Todd,” Mr. Hargrove, the math teacher, said sternly, “I think we saw enough
of your worms at the Science Expo. I know you’re attached to them. But do you
have to bring them to math class?”

Everyone laughed. Todd could feel his face growing hot.

“Todd’s saving them for lunch!” Danny exclaimed from two rows behind him.

Everyone laughed even louder.

Thanks a bunch, Danny, Todd thought angrily. He scooped the worms up, carried
them to the window, and lowered them to the ground.

Later, in the lunchroom, Todd unwrapped his sandwich carefully. Peanut butter and jelly again.

Danny leaned across the table, staring hard at the sandwich.

“Go ahead. Open it,” he murmured.

Todd hesitated, gripping the sandwich in both hands.

How many worms would be crawling through the peanut butter this time? Two?
Three?
Ten?

“Go ahead,” Danny urged. “What are you waiting for?”

Todd took a deep breath and held it. Then he slowly pulled apart the two
slices of bread.

“No worm!” Todd declared.

Both boys let out long sighs of relief.

Danny sank back into his seat and picked up what was left of his ham
sandwich.