Horrible Harry and the Mud Gremlins (3 page)

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Authors: Suzy Kline

BOOK: Horrible Harry and the Mud Gremlins
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“We can't go over there,” Mary snapped. “It's a school rule. You never leave the playground. Can't we see the mushroom kingdom from the fence?”
“Nope,” Harry replied.
“The kingdom of mushrooms
is five yards away. Just beyond that oak tree.”
“Ooooh,” Dexter hummed. Then he started clicking his fingers.
“The kingdom of mushrooms.
That's got a beat to it!”
Harry lowered his eyebrows. “Haven't any of you ever gotten a ball from the other side of the fence?”
“I did once,” I admitted. “In first grade, I crawled under this very fence and got our kickball. The teacher didn't seem mad at all. She just said, ‘Don't do it again.' I think she was glad I got our red ball back.”
When I pointed to the fence where the wire was pushed back, everyone noticed there was an opening big enough for someone to crawl under.
“I'm not going under there!” Mary said crossing her arms.
“Chicken?” Harry replied.
“I'm not a chicken!” Sidney said, yanking his yarn necklace out from under his jacket. I think he was trying to copy Harry. “I'm tough!”
“Me too,” Dexter replied. “When Elvis was in the army, he had to go into dangerous territory. I'm ready.”
Harry looked at the girls.
Ida had the same question I did. “What if someone sees us?” she asked. “I don't want to get in trouble.”
“No one will see you,” Harry insisted. “That's the beauty of my plan.”
“What plan?” I asked.
Harry answered right away. “You guys go one at a time. I'll be waiting for you on the other side. Five of you will stand in front of the fence like a human wall. No one will see us back there.”
“A human wall...cool!” Dexter replied. Then he added a “bee bop de boo.”
I could tell Song Lee was curious about the kingdom of mushrooms. Her fingers were curled around the wire fence, and she gazed longingly at the other side. But I also knew Song Lee had never broken a school rule before.
“Why don't we go after school?” she suggested.
Harry shook his head. “Half of you ride the bus. This is the only time we can all go together.”
When Song Lee didn't say anything, Harry knew she was thinking hard. “It's for the sake of science,” he pleaded. “It will be our own secret field trip. No one will tell where we went. We made a promise about that. We're not going to Timbuktu. Just a couple of yards beyond the fence!”
Mary put her hands on her hips. “Five yards is not just a couple of yards, Harry Spooger!” she barked. “And what kind of mushrooms are in the kingdom anyway? Ordinary ones like the kind in tuna noodle casserole? I'm not going under the fence to see those boring beige ones!”
Harry pointed a finger at Mary. “I guarantee you the mushrooms are not ordinary. And they're not boring. They're ... stinkhorns.”
“Stinkhorns?”
we replied.
“They're slimy and smelly, too,” Harry added.
Mary took a step back. “I bet I'll hate them.”
Harry nodded. “Probably. But if you hate them, you'll have something to write about.”
Mary made a tent with the tips of her fingers. “Hmmm,” she mumbled, tapping them slowly together. “Miss Mackle is expecting a story from me this afternoon. And it would be something different. I don't want to let her down. Maybe I will make a quick visit to see the stinkhorns.”
Then she added, “But
if
I do, I'm going last!”
Hole in the Fence
S
idney scooted under the fence while the rest of us made our human wall.
“Act like nothing's happening,” Mary snapped.
Suddenly, we heard groans coming from Sidney. After he crawled back under the fence, he swayed back and forth. “Aauuugh, that smell.... Stinkhorns are so gross!” The next thing he did was fall flat on the playground like he was dead.
“Get up, Sid!” Mary scolded. “You'll call attention to what we're doing!”
Sidney acted like Mary was a drill sergeant. He jumped up, clicked his heels together, and joined our human wall. Dexter scooted through the hole, and then Ida went.
When I looked at my watch, I noticed we didn't have much recess left. “Song Lee,” I said, “you and I had better go together. There won't be enough time otherwise.”
Song Lee agreed. She and I scrambled under the fence then raced over to Harry. He was kneeling on the ground behind the tree. “Welcome to the kingdom of mushrooms, guys! Take a look at these babies.”
Song Lee's eyes were as big as mine!
It was like nothing we had ever seen before. Ten mushrooms poked through the earth like white thumbs wearing olive green slimy helmets.
“Stinkhorn mushrooms are cool, huh?” Harry exclaimed.
Song Lee giggled and nodded. She loved slimy things, like Harry did. I wasn't so crazy about them.
“My grandma and I spotted a whole bunch of them on our hike last Sunday in the woods,” Harry explained. “She has this neat mushroom guidebook and is teaching me the names. Smell the top of them.”
Song Lee kneeled down and put her nose real close. After she inhaled, she smiled at Harry. “I'll take this one back with me to make a slide.”
“Aaauughuuuuuuuugh!” I groaned. “These mushrooms smell worse than rotten eggs. No wonder the flies are buzzing around here.”
“It's a putrid smell,” Harry explained. “That's what Grandma says.”
The putrid smell didn't seem to bother Song Lee. She used Harry's magnifying glass to get an even closer look. “There are tiny holes in the stem, like sponge!”

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