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Authors: J.C. Greenburg

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BOOK: In the Jungle
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“Camouflage, shamouflage,” said Judy. “We could get bounced off this bug any minute. Call Uncle Al again, Thudd.”

“Okey-dokey,” said Thudd.

There were three rows of buttons on Thudd’s chest. All of them glowed green, except the big purple button in the middle. Thudd pressed the purple button. It blinked three times and went dark.

meep …
“Unkie not answer,” said Thudd.

“He’s probably on some super-secret project,” said Andrew.

Judy groaned. “Let’s get off this stupid
bug as soon as it stops,” she said. “We’ll look for a safe place and wait till Uncle Al calls us.”

As the stick insect skittered up the tree, Andrew noticed that the tree trunk looked like a tangle of fat snakes.

“This is a super-strange tree,” said Andrew.

meep …
“Strangler fig tree,” said Thudd.


Strangler!
” said Judy.

meep …
“Fig tree gotta strangle other tree to grow,” said Thudd.

“Start when bird eat strangler fig fruit. Bird fly. Bird poop. Fig seed fall into treetop. Seed sprout. Roots grow down to ground. Get big, big, big! Strangle tree underneath. Roots turn into trunk for strangler fig.”

“Wowzers schnauzers!” said Andrew.

“Meat-eating plants! Killer trees!”

“Weird-a-mundo!” said Judy.

All of a sudden, part of the gray-brown tree trunk above them seemed to whip around. It was scrambling toward them!

Andrew squinted. He made out a lizardy head with fearsome spikes at the top. A row of spikes ran down its neck.

“Yaaaah!” screamed Judy.

“Holy moly!” yelled Andrew.

Eek!
squeaked Thudd. “Forest dragon lizard! Eat stick insects!”

The creature’s neck was puffing out. Its mouth opened—a pink-purple cave surrounded by small, sharp teeth.

Their stick insect turned away from the forest dragon. Then it was still as a statue.

Judy gave it a little kick. “Get going! Giddyap! That monster is going to
eat
you!”

But the bug didn’t move. Suddenly Andrew was getting soaked. His eyes were
burning. His nose filled with a peppermint smell so strong, it hurt to breathe.

“Blurf!” yelped Andrew.

“Aaaack!” hollered Judy. An awful spray was shooting from the back of the insect’s head—and blasting the lizard’s face!

The lizard shook its head. In an instant, it sped down the tree trunk.

The stick insect scurried higher up the tree trunk.

“Eck-uh! ECK-UH!” Judy coughed. “It smells like peppermint, but it’s
awful
!”

meep …
“This bug called peppermint-stick insect,” said Thudd. “Peppermint smell make lotsa predators go way!”

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

meep …
“Unkie!” said Thudd.

“Finally!”
said Judy.

Thudd’s purple button popped open and a beam of purple light zoomed out. At the
end of the beam floated a see-through purplish Uncle Al.

Uncle Al’s shaggy hair always looked like he had just pulled a sweater over his head. His face crinkled into a smile. “Hey there!” he said with a wave.

“Hey, Uncle Al!” said Andrew.

“I’m away from my laboratory at the moment,” continued Uncle Al.

“Oh no!” said Judy. “It’s not Uncle Al. It’s just his answering machine!”

“Your message has reached my Hologram Helper answering machine,” said Uncle Al. “If you’re calling to have a friendly chat, please press one. If you have discovered life on another planet, please press two. If you’re complaining about smells coming from my laboratory, press three. If this is a purple-button emergency, I will contact you as soon as I can.”

The Uncle Al hologram waved. “Goodbye! Have fun! Think big!” Then it disappeared.

NO LAUGHING MATTER

“Cheese Louise!” said Judy. “Just when we need Uncle Al, he’s not there!”

Andrew tightened his grip on the peppermint-stick insect. “For now, I guess we should stick with this bug,” he said. “At least it’s got a way to defend itself, and us too.”

As the stick insect climbed higher, the tree trunk became a forest. Mosses grew in velvety green patches and hung in gray strands. Fern fronds leaned over Andrew and Judy like lacy green umbrellas.

As they passed dark holes in the tree trunk, Andrew heard noises—scratching, tapping, hissing.

Andrew imagined what was living deep inside the tree. He shivered.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Hee! Hee! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
came a sound like a wild party from the treetops.

meep …
“Laughing kookaburra bird!” said Thudd, pointing way above.

A bird the size of a seagull landed on a branch nearby.

“Jumping gerbils!” said Andrew. “It looks as big as a pterodactyl!”

Then another kookaburra flew down, and then another.

“I’ll bet they’re looking for bugs,” said Judy.

The peppermint-stick insect scuttled onto a branch and was scurrying around a mountain of brown fur.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Hee! Hee! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!

Andrew turned to see the kookaburras swooping toward them.

Hope this bug has a lot of peppermint spray left
, thought Andrew.

The fur mountain next to them shook. In an instant, it unfolded itself into a black-faced, sharp-clawed creature that towered over them like King Kong!

“Yaaaaah!” hollered Judy.

“Uh-oh,” Andrew gulped.

meep …
“Tree kangaroo!” squeaked Thudd. “Kinda kangaroo that always live in trees. Tree kangaroo leap far, far, far! Leap from tree to tree.”

The tree kangaroo crouched down, then sprang through the leaves.

Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!

The kookaburras scattered.

The tree kangaroo’s jump made the branch dip low, then spring up high and hard.

It’s like I’m on a bucking bronco!
thought Andrew, trying to hang on to the bug.

But the branch bounced into a dangling vine that scraped Andrew and Judy off the stick insect. They were falling through the branches of the tree!

“Yaaaargh!”
hollered Andrew.

“Yiiiiiikes!”
screamed Judy.

“Oof!” shouted Andrew, landing on a leaf lower down in the tree.

“Uuuuuck!” came a muffled screech from below. It was Judy. It sounded like she was inside a bottle. “Get me outta here!”

Andrew peered over the edge of the leaf, but he couldn’t see Judy.

“Where
are
you?” hollered Andrew.

“Here!” shouted Judy. A hand shot out of a hole in a giant white lump on a tree branch below. The lump was covered with long, sharp thorns taller than Andrew.

“Erk!” yelled Judy. “Hurry up, Bug-Brain! A monster ant is trying to bite off my leg!”

WE JUST ATE
WHAT
?

“Here I come, Judy!” yelled Andrew.

Grabbing on to ferns and mosses, he lowered himself down the tree trunk.

“Umf! Ack! Ugh!” came the sounds of Judy’s struggle.

meep …
“Oody fall into ant-house plant!” squeaked Thudd. “Ant-house plant got big, fat thorny stem. Ants live inside. Make lotsa tunnels inside stem. Make tunnels for baby ants. Make tunnels for garbage.

“Ants get place to live. Plant get food from ant garbage. Ants happy. Plant happy.”

“Judy’s sure not happy,” said Andrew.

By the time Andrew made his way
through the tall thorns of the ant-house plant, Judy was just pulling herself out of the hole.

“Whew!” she sighed, mopping strands of frizzy hair away from her face.

meep …
“Drewd and Oody go rest on branch for little bit,” said Thudd. “Thudd get treat.”

“Treat?” asked Judy. “Everything here is
nasty.

She and Andrew stepped carefully through the sword-like spines and crept toward the tree trunk.

meep …
“Put Thudd down, please, Drewd,” said Thudd. “Drewd and Oody close eyes.”

“Oh, all right,” said Judy, finding a velvety patch of moss to stretch out on.

Before long, Thudd came back. He was dragging two leaf pieces. In the middle of each piece was a spot of wetness.

meep …
“Treat ready!” said Thudd. He
handed a piece of leaf to Andrew and a piece to Judy. “Lick leaf!”

Andrew held the wet spot up to his nose. “Hmmmm …,” he mused. “This reminds me of something. Candy. Some kind of candy.”

He licked the leaf.

“Super-duper pooper-scooper!” Andrew cheered. “This stuff is
delicious
! Tastes like fizzy lime!”

“What
is
this stuff?” asked Judy, sniffing her leaf.

meep …
“Oody taste,” said Thudd.

“Humph,” said Judy. She touched the wet spot with the tip of her tongue.

“YUM!” she said, beaming Thudd a big smile. “Now you have to tell us what it is.”

Thudd pinched his way up Andrew’s shirt and crept back into his pocket. Then he pointed to a shiny green insect skittering along the branch.

meep …
“Green ant,” said Thudd. “Butt of green ant got powerful lime taste. People in rain forest lick butt of green ant cuz it taste good, good, good!”

Judy’s face went white. “Blurgh!” She spit out what was in her mouth, then she kept spitting.

Andrew grinned. “Aw, come on, Judy,” he said. “It tasted great, even if it did come from an ant’s butt.”

Judy wiped her mouth with her sleeve. “If you ever do anything like that again, Thudd, I’m going to take out your batteries and throw them away!”

Suddenly Thudd’s purple button started to blink again. It popped open and the hologram of Uncle Al appeared. He was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of an iguana on it.

“Hey there!” said Uncle Al with a big smile. “Sorry it took so long to get your message.”

BOOK: In the Jungle
13.22Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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