In the Desert : In the Desert (9780307496126) (3 page)

“
Androooooo
!” hollered Judy. She grabbed on to Andrew’s feet and pulled.

Andrew looked up at a pair of huge, toothy pliers—open wide! “Bug jaws!” hollered Andrew.

meep
… “Katydid!” said Thudd. “Kinda big grasshopper. Eat leaves. Eat bugs!

“Katydid got good camouflage. Hide in bush. Look like twig. Wait for prey.”

“It could bite my head off with one chomp!” said Andrew. His heart was beating like a bongo drum. Frantically he tried to pry the katydid’s stiff legs off of his chest.

The katydid was dragging him up into the bush.

meep
… “Katydid hide from birds,” said Thudd.

Plump
…
Plop
…
Ploop
…

The sound was coming from the puddle. Andrew craned his neck to look. The puddle was bubbling!

Two big black eyes the size of marbles popped out of the puddle. They stared
unblinkingly in Andrew’s direction. The creature slowly crept toward the edge of the puddle. Its body looked like a round, puffy brown cushion.

Mwaaah … mwaaah … mwaaah
…

meep
… “Water-holding frog!” squeaked Thudd. “Drink lotsa water when rain come to desert. Then dig tunnel underground. Make cocoon out of old skin. Can stay underground for five years! Come up when rain come again.

“Sometime thirsty humans dig up water-holding frog. Stick frog butt in mouth and squeeze. Out come water.”

“Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!” gagged Judy dangling from Andrew’s feet. “I wouldn’t drink water from a frog butt if I was dying of thirst!”

“Frogs eat bugs,” said Andrew as the katydid dragged him higher up the bush—and closer to its jaws. “And that frog must be really hungry if it’s been underground for five years.”

“You’re going to get eaten by a stupid bug!” hollered Judy. “And I’m going to get eaten by a dumb frog! This is all your fault, Bug-Brain!”

meep
… “Got idea!” squeaked Thudd. “Remember when Drewd fight off beetle in bat cave? Katydids and crickets not like garlic. Drewd got garlic breath. Gotta blow garlic breath on katydid knees.”

“On its
knees
?” said Judy.

meep
… “Katydid smell with knees,” said Thudd.

“Blow on them?” said Andrew. “I can do better than that!”

Andrew leaned close to one of the prickly legs that had him in its grip.

“URRRRRP!” Up came a giant burp of garlic breath.

Suddenly the insect pulled its sharp spines out of Andrew’s ribs. He and Judy were falling!

Splop
!

Andrew and Judy splashed down into a smaller puddle.

Splat
!

The fat frog jumped out of the mud
toward the bush. In one flick of the frog’s tongue, the katydid disappeared.

Mwaaah
…
mwaaah
…
mwaaah
…

The frog hopped into a nearby patch of
grass. He stopped to munch, then disappeared behind a pile of stones.

“Woofers!” said Andrew, scooping mud off his pants. “Let’s look for a safer place to stay.”

Just then, the purple button in the middle of Thudd’s chest began to blink.

It popped open and a beam of purple light zoomed out. At the end of the beam was a pale purple hologram of Uncle Al.

“Hi, Uncle Al!” shouted Andrew.

“Hiya, Unkie!” squeaked Thudd.

“Where are you, Uncle Al?” hollered Judy.

“What’s important is where are
you
?” said Uncle Al.

When Uncle Al visited Andrew and Judy by using his Hologram Helper, he could hear them but not see them.

“I don’t know,” said Judy, “but we almost got eaten by a katydid. Then we almost got eaten by a frog.”

Uncle Al’s fuzzy eyebrows met in the middle of his forehead. “Good golly, Miss Molly!” he exclaimed. “I’d better find you before you almost get eaten by something else! Are you near anything big?”

“We can see a giant wall of rock,” said Andrew. “But it’s awfully far away.”

“That must be Uluru,” said Uncle Al. “It’s the highest spot in this desert.

“It’s such a beautiful place that people come to see it. There are hotels and restaurants. We can meet there.”

“But how can we
get
there?” asked Judy. “It’s far away and we’re the size of
ants
!”

Uncle Al scratched his chin. “It’s a problem,” he said. “But solving problems is what we Dubbles do best.”

Andrew nodded. “We got back from the beginning of the universe,” he said. “We can figure out how to get to a rock in the desert.”

“It’s a windy day” said Uncle Al. “Maybe you can use the wind to …”

The Uncle Al hologram began to flicker like a candle flame. It crackled, popped, and disappeared.

“Uncle Al!” yelled Judy. “Come back!”

Andrew shook his head. “The Hologram Helper is probably having battery problems again,” he said.

Judy checked the bush’s branches for katydids before moving into the shade.

“I know how to windsurf,” said Judy. “If we had something to use as a sail, we could windsurf over the sand.”

“Or if we had something to make a big kite with,” said Andrew. “Let’s think while we walk toward Uluru.”

“Humph,” grumped Judy. “At our size, it could take us
months
to walk there, Bug-Brain.”

“It’ll take even longer if we don’t start,” said Andrew. “Let’s go.”

Andrew crept over the bush’s woody roots. Suddenly he tripped and fell into a crack. He landed facedown on something soft and squishy—and wriggling.

“Holy moly!” cried Andrew. He was on top of a fat, white wormy thing squirming inside the root!

Judy peered into the cracked root as Andrew struggled out of it. “
Aaaack
!” she hollered. “There’s something
disgusting
in there!”

meep
… “Called witchetty grub,” said Thudd. “Larva baby of big moth. Native people eat larva. Sometimes raw. Taste like egg. Sometimes cooked. Taste like peanut butter.

“This bush called witchetty bush cuz witchetty grub live in roots.”

Judy rolled her eyes. “Yuck-a-rama!” she exclaimed. “Eating worms! Drinking frog water. What’s
wrong
with these people?”

meep
… “Australian people smart, smart, smart!” said Thudd. “Witchetty grubs and frog water lots more healthy than hot dogs and soda!”

“Urp!” burped Andrew. “I’m getting hungry. Uncle Al said there were restaurants at Uluru. Chop-chop, Judy! Let’s go!”

They began plodding away from the puddle and onto the dry sand. Even with their sunglasses, the blazing sun was blinding. Andrew propped his hand over his eyes like a visor.

With the heat and the wind, their wet, muddy clothes dried quickly. Soon they were meltingly hot again. Sweat trickled down their foreheads and dripped into their eyes. But they kept on trudging toward Uluru.

After what seemed like hours, they came to a place where the tall grass didn’t block their view of the distance.

“Look!” hollered Judy. “There’s a patch of blue ahead! It’s a lake! We can tell Uncle Al to meet us there!”

“Noop! Noop! Noop!” said Thudd. “Oody not see lake. Oody see mirage!

“In the desert, air near the ground super-hot. High up, air is cool, air is heavy.

“Light travel, light bounce. When light from ground hit cool air up high, it bounce back down to ground.

“What look like blue lake is reflection of blue sky.”

“Darn!” said Judy. “It’s not real!”

meep
… “Can take picture of mirage,” said
Thudd. “Stuff is real. Just not in place Oody see it. Like stuff in mirror.”

“Neato mosquito!” said Andrew.

“Stupid, stupid mirage,” complained Judy.

They were coming close to one of the mysterious tall mounds that loomed above the grass.

“Looks like a weird sand castle ahead,” said Andrew.

meep
… “Castle for termites,” said Thudd. “Home of termite colony. Termites mix spit with dirt. Make stuff hard as cement to build mound. A million termites in colony, maybe.

“Got all kindsa rooms inside. Garden rooms. Nursery rooms for babies. Rooms for queen termite.

“Termites even got way to make breeze come through. Keep rooms cool!”

Judy frowned. “I thought termites were supposed to eat wood,” she said. “There’s hardly any wood in this stupid desert. Just a few scrawny trees and bushes.”

meep
… “Desert termites eat poop and dead plants,” said Thudd.

“Yuck-a-roony!” said Judy

As they came closer to the termite mound, they saw dark streams spilling away from it. These weren’t streams of water, they were rivers of insects—thousands of ants!

meep
… “Meat ants!” said Thudd. “Eat up any dead animal. Even dead cow.”

One of the ant streams was heading toward Andrew and Judy. The ants skittered on their skinny, stick-like legs.

Some ants were carrying plump, white wormy things in their jaws. Others dragged ant-like insects as big as themselves.

meep
… “Meat ants eat live stuff, too,” said Thudd. “Raiding termite colony now. Steal termite babies to eat. Take big termites, too.”

“Don’t move,” said Andrew. “Maybe they won’t notice we’re here.”