by Jim Benton
She felt sad that so many people had suffered, and angry with herself for letting it all happen.
“Hey,” she said. “I think I have all my feelings back.
“And it’s up to me to fix this,” she added, smiling when she recognized her sense of duty shining through her other feelings.
“You know, I think my sense of duty might be my favorite one of all.”
CHAPTER TWELVE PUTTING BUGS INTO THE SYSTEM
Franny’s fingers became so stubby and toady that it was hard for her to finish her work on the vaccine, but she didn’t give up, and she finally completed it just before she totally transformed.
“Toadly,” she chuckled to herself. Her silliness was definitely back.
She used it on herself first, and it worked perfectly. She cured Igor next.
“Granny Fran, I’d give you a dose of medicine, but you look fine to me.”
“It’s probably because of all that homemade soup I eat,” Granny Fran said with a grin.
“How will I ever get this medicine to everybody? That’s, like, eight billion shots!”
The number was terrifying.
She felt overwhelmed.
“I hate this!” she shouted. “I hate these feelings!”
Granny Fran patted her gently on the back. “Our feelings are what make us move forward—they inspire us.”
“But this is a HUGE problem, Granny Fran. I’m not big enough to handle this.”
“You remember what we talked about at my house the other day?”
“I sure do. It was something… something… soup, I think.”
“That’s right. But we also talked about how small things can have a big effect. Just because you’re small doesn’t mean you can’t solve this.”
“You’ve just given me an idea!” Franny said. “It’s a little silly, but it might work.”
Franny opened a window.
“Bugs are attracted to you, Igor. Just sit here by the window for a minute.”
It wasn’t long before a mosquito flew in, and Franny captured it in a jar. Then she took it and a needle full of the medicine and put them together in the Mixer-Upper.
After the machine had done its blending, Franny proudly showed Granny Fran and Igor the results.
“It’s a mosquito, but when it bites you, it injects you with the cure. I’ll make a whole bunch of these and then just turn them loose.”
“Won’t the toad people just eat the mosquitos?” Granny Fran asked.
“Even if they do, they’ll still get the medicine. I developed it so that it would work either way.
“And mosquitos have a way of getting in everywhere. Before you know it, everybody will be cured.”
“But how will you make enough of them?” Granny Fran asked.
“Just stick it in the copier and turn the dial to eight billion. My gosh, Granny, haven’t you ever seen a copier before?”
CHAPTER 13 A MILE IN YOUR SHOES
In a matter of weeks, the medicated mosquitos managed to get everywhere, and pretty soon everybody had recovered and things went back to normal.
“I don’t think I want to do any more mixing for a while,” Franny said. “But before I take this thing apart, I’d like to try one last mix.”
The Mixer-Upper whirred for a moment then and made the ding sound like a microwave oven.
There was a hiss and the door opened, and a very strange figure stepped out.
It was Franny and Igor, mixed together.
Their two bodies were mixed together, but so were their two minds.
They could hear through each other’s ears, see through each other’s eyes.
“WOW. This fur is really itchy. I can’t believe that you ever stop scratching yourself!”
After walking around for only a few minutes, they were ready to be unmixed. They hit a few buttons and stepped back into the machine.
There was a whirr and a ding, and the door creaked open again.
Franny gave Igor a big hug and said, “Why don’t you go play or something while I take this thing apart?”
Franny watched as he got out one of his puzzles and made space on the table to put it together.
She felt like she understood him better, after being all mixed up with him for a minute.
She set down her wrench and joined him.
“I’ll bust that thing up later,” she said. “I get why you like puzzles now. It feels good to work on a problem that you KNOW can be solved. Can I do one with you?”
Igor smiled and made room for her at the table.
“I wanted to apologize, so I made you a special puzzle,” Franny said.
“I used a painting you made of us together. It’s pretty much my favorite painting in the whole world.”
The two worked on the new puzzle for hours and hours.
Even Franny’s mom, who was no longer a toad, sat down and helped.
After that, Franny always tried to appreciate and respect Igor’s interests. Having your molecules chopped into chunks with somebody will do that.
Although she never really got why he liked eating socks.
More from this Series
Lunch Walks Among Us
Book 1
Attack of the 50-Ft.…
Book 2
The Invisible Fran
Book 3
The Fran That Time…
Book 4
Frantastic Voyage
Book 5
The Fran with Four…
Book 6
About the Author
Jim Benton is a New York Times bestselling writer and cartoonist whose unique brand of humor has been seen on toys, television, T-shirts, greeting cards, and even underwear. Franny K. Stein is the first character he’s created especially for young children. A husband and father of two, he lives in Michigan, where he works in a studio that really and truly does have creepy stuff in it.
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Jim-Benton
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Simon & Schuster, New York
frannykstein.com
READ ALL OF FRANNY’S ADVENTURES
Lunch Walks Among Us
Attack of the 50-Ft. Cupid
The Invisible Fran
The Fran That Time Forgot
Frantastic Voyage
The Fran with Four Brains
The Frandidate
Bad Hair Day
Recipe for Disaster
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Jim Benton
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Interior design by Tom Daly
Jacket illustration © 2021 by Jim Benton
Jacket design by Tom Daly © 2021 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
The illustrations for this book were rendered in pen, ink, and watercolor.
CIP data for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978153441
3436
ISBN 9781534413450 (ebook)