In the Garden

by J. C. Greenburg

  Hiya! My name Thudd. Best robot friend of Drewd. Thudd know lots of stuff. How bug walk up wall. Why bubble break. How spider make web!

  Drewd like to invent stuff. Thudd help! But sometime Thudd and Drewd make mistake. Invention plus mistake make adventure! Thudd and Drewd go on adventure now. Want to come? Turn page, please!

  Get lost with

  Andrew, Judy, and Thudd

  in all their exciting adventures!

  Andrew Lost on the Dog

  Andrew Lost in the Bathroom

  Andrew Lost in the Kitchen

  Andrew Lost in the Garden

  AND COMING SOON!

  Andrew Lost Under Water

  To Dan and Zack and Dad

  and the real Andrew, with love.

  —J.C.G.

  To Barb, my mother, for her

  love of gardening.

  —D.P.

  Andrew’s World

  1. The Big Buzz

  2. Bear-ly There

  3. Bug-Goo, Where Are You?

  4. Big Green Lips

  5. Feeling Shaky

  6. Ant-icipation

  7. Very Import-ant!

  8. So N-ear, Yet So Far

  9. What’s Up?

  10. SCHLOOOOOOORP!

  True Stuff

  Where to Find More True Stuff

  ANDREW’S WORLD

  Andrew Dubble

  Andrew is ten years old, but he’s been inventing things since he was four! His newest invention is the Atom Sucker. It shrinks things by sucking the space out of their atoms.

  At noon today Andrew shrunk himself, his robot Thudd, and his cousin Judy. Now they’re so small, they could play baseball on the head of a pin. If they don’t get back to the Atom Sucker by eight o’clock, they’ll be small forever!

  Judy Dubble

  Judy is Andrew’s thirteen-year-old cousin. She’s pretty annoyed at Andrew. Since he shrunk them, she’s been snuffled into a dog’s nose, flushed down a toilet, and buttered on a slice of toast. But Andrew shrunk her parents’ helicopter, too. If they can find it, she can fly them back to the Atom Sucker. But they’ve got only two hours before the Atom Sucker explodes!

  Thudd

  Thudd is a little silver robot and Andrew’s best friend. The letters in his name stand for The Handy Ultra-Digital Detective.

  Thudd has a super-computer brain and knows almost everything. Thanks to Thudd, Uncle Al is on the way!

  Uncle Al

  Alfred Dubble is Andrew and Judy’s uncle. He’s a top-secret scientist. He invented Thudd!

  Uncle Al wants to help Andrew and Judy and Thudd get unshrunk. But there’s no way he can get there before eight o’clock!

  Harley

  Harley is a basset hound. He belongs to Judy’s neighbor Mrs. Scuttle, but Judy is his best friend.

  Judy thought she saw her parents’ helicopter in Harley’s ear. But Andrew and Judy are buzzing over the garden on the back of a fly. How are they going to get off the fly and back onto Harley?

  Mrs. Scuttle

  Mrs. Scuttle is Judy’s next-door neighbor. Harley belongs to her. Mrs. Scuttle is getting ready for a garden party. The Atom Sucker is getting ready to blow up!

  THE BIG BUZZ

  I guess you should never count on a bug to solve your problems, thought Andrew Dubble as he flew above the garden on the back of a fly.

  Bzzzzzzzz …

  The fly wings behind him buzzed like a noisy engine. The wind whooshed against his face.

  Next to Andrew was his thirteen-year-old cousin, Judy. She was clinging to a hair behind one of the fly’s huge black eyes. Andrew’s little silver robot, Thudd, was hanging tight to the same hair as Andrew.

  A few minutes ago, they’d almost become part of an afternoon snack for Judy’s neighbor Mrs. Scuttle. But just in time, they’d managed to flee on the fly. Now they were zooming above Mrs. Scuttle’s garden.

  Kraaaack!

  Mrs. Scuttle’s screen door slammed.

  “Disgusting fly!” yelled Mrs. Scuttle. She ran from the kitchen waving a yellow fly swatter. “I’ll get you!”

  Below them, Andrew and Judy could see a brick path. It led from Mrs. Scuttle’s kitchen door to a cement patio with a picnic table.

  All around the path was Mrs. Scuttle’s garden. Purple daisies and pink lilies waved in the breeze. Rosebushes grew next to a white fence that separated Mrs. Scuttle’s yard from Judy’s.

  “Look!” said Judy, pointing to her yard. “I can see your stupid Atom Sucker!”

  The Atom Sucker was Andrew’s latest invention. At noon today, it had shrunk them so small they could take a hike on the head of a pin.

  To get unshrunk, they had to get back to the Atom Sucker by 8:01, before it blew up!

  Andrew and Judy felt a gust of wind as Mrs. Scuttle’s fly swatter swished by them. The fly flew in dizzy circles to get away.

  Floating through the air were things that looked like spiky Ping-Pong balls. Some of them got stuck in Judy’s long, frizzy hair.

  meep … “Pollen!” squeaked Thudd. “From flowers! Make baby plants.”

  “Oh, great!” said Judy, trying to pull the sticky things out of her hair. “I’m allergic to pollen! Ah … ah … ahhhhh … chooof!”

  The fly swatter was right above them when Mrs. Scuttle let out a scream.

  “Harley, noooo!”

  Harley was Mrs. Scuttle’s basset hound. He was standing next to the white fence. He was raising his leg!

  Suddenly Andrew felt his stomach fluttering up to his mouth. The fly was going into a dive! The wind rushed against his face so hard he could barely keep his eyes open. The garden turned into a green blur.

  Andrew and Judy almost flew off the fly as it landed in the dirt. Their noses filled with strange moldy smells. On one side of the fly was a huge leaf bristling with hairs. On the other side was the brick path.

  The fly crept along the ground. It stopped in front of a pile of shiny black goo and un-rolled a fat hose from below its eyes. It dipped the hose into the goo.

  meep … “Fly eating!” said Thudd.

  “What’s it eating?” asked Judy.

  meep … “Oody not want to know,” said Thudd.

  “Yes I do,” said Judy.

  meep … “Bug poop!” said Thudd.

  “Eeeeew!” said Judy. “Let’s ditch this yucky bug!”

  She started unwrapping the stretchy strands of Drastic Elastic that Andrew had used to hold them on the fly. It was another one of Andrew’s inventions.

  “Don’t tangle the Drastic Elastic,” said Andrew. “We might need it later.”

  Judy finished unwrapping herself and handed the long loops of Drastic Elastic to Andrew. He snapped it like a yo-yo, and it shrank drastically. It was only as long as one of Andrew’s fingers!

  Andrew tucked the Drastic Elastic into the secret pocket under his shirt collar. He zipped the pocket closed.

  “I’m out of here!” said Judy, sliding down from behind the fly’s eye. Andrew followed her. Since they were as light as dust, they floated gently down.

  Suddenly a scream rattled Andrew’s ears.

  “Cheese Louise!” Judy hollered. “This is more disgusting than when we were flushed down the toilet!”

  BEAR-LY THERE

  Andrew landed next to Judy. He landed on something squishy! It was a transparent blob. And it was squirming!

  As far as Andrew could see, blobs and globs were wriggling over chunks of damp brown dirt!

  There were blobs that looked like hairy party balloons with mouths!

  There were globs shaped like rubbery pancakes that folded and flopped along.

  Wormy things wiggled over the others.

  meep … “Lotsa little guys live in dirt,” said Thudd. “Billions! Eat germs
and dead stuff. Recycle stuff. Make food for plants!”

  “Look at this one!” said Andrew. He pointed to something shaped like a hairy basketball with a mouth. It was as clear as a plastic sandwich bag. In the middle, there was a much smaller, pillow-shaped creature tumbling around.

  Judy’s eyes got wide. “I think this guy’s lunch is still alive!”

  As Andrew bent over to get a better look, something whacked him from behind.

  “Oofers!” Andrew yelled.

  “Eeeek!” screamed Thudd.

  A black tentacle, long and fat and gummy, whipped around Andrew’s chest. Parts of the tentacle puffed up like beach balls!

  The tentacle got tighter and tighter. Andrew could hardly breathe!

  THWUNK!

  Suddenly the tentacle started to go squishy! Thick yellow goo oozed out all over Andrew! The tentacle let go.

  “Woofers!” said Andrew, catching his breath. He turned around.

  Judy wagged her ballpoint pen in front of Andrew’s face. It was dripping with tentacle goo.

  “You owe me big-time, Bug-Brain,” she said. “I just saved your annoying life!”

  “Thudd, are you okay?” asked Andrew, reaching into his pocket.

  meep … “Okey-dokey!” said Thudd as Andrew wiped goo off of him. “Drewd caught by noose fungus! Noose fungus catch tiny worms. Squash ’em! Eat ’em!”

  Judy shook her head as she cleaned off her pen. “Fungus, shmungus. The only good fungus is a mushroom on a pizza.”

  Just then, Thudd’s antennas started to wag. Thudd pointed to a bushy clump of moss under the giant leaf.

  meep … “Want to go there, please!” he squeaked.

  “Okay, Thudd,” said Andrew, surprised. He had never seen Thudd so excited.

  Andrew started toward the moss.

  “Hey, wait a minute!” said Judy. “Before we do anything else, we need a plan. We’ve got to get to the helicopter.”

  Judy’s parents kept a helicopter for their adventure-travel business. The helicopter got shrunk when Andrew and Judy did. Judy was sure she could fly it back to the Atom Sucker—if they could find it.

  Judy tugged at a grain of pollen tangled in her hair. “I’m pretty sure it’s stuck inside Harley’s ear,” she said. “The problem is, how do we get there?”

  Thudd’s antennas waggled toward the moss.

  meep… “Think better over there,” Thudd said.

  Judy groaned. “Oh, all right!”

  They hiked toward the moss. Every speck of dirt was as big as a boulder and covered with squirmy things.

  When they got closer to the moss, they could see drops of water caught between the dark green leaves.

  meep … “There!” said Thudd, pointing to a water drop.

  Thudd pinched his way up Andrew’s shirt and crept onto his shoulder.

  Andrew looked into the drop. It was like looking into a huge fishbowl. There was something moving inside!

  It looked like a chubby bear with eight legs and no hair. It was bigger than Andrew. It paddled toward the front of the water drop.

  meep … “Want pet, please!” said Thudd.

  “What is it?” asked Judy.

  meep … “Water bear!” said Thudd. “Water bear special! If moss get dry, water bear dry up, too. Not eat. Not drink. Can live for hundred years! Come back to life when moss get wet again. Good pet. Not need litter box! Want to take Spot home, please!”

  “Spot?” said Andrew. He sighed. “We don’t even know if we can get home.”

  Judy shook her head. “And look how big it is!”

  Thudd sat down quietly on Andrew’s shoulder.

  Andrew thought for a moment. “How about this?” he said. “When we get back to normal, we can ask Uncle Al to come get Spot. Mrs. Scuttle likes Uncle Al.”

  “Good! Good! Good!” said Thudd. “Thunk oo!”

  Thudd pressed a button on his chest. A thin yellow beam shot toward the water drop.

  meep … “‘Where’s It?’ beam find water bear again,” said Thudd.

  He waved to the water bear. Its little legs seemed to wave back.

  As Thudd crept back into Andrew’s pocket, they heard a sound like paper crinkling. Andrew turned.

  A skyscraper-tall monster was standing behind them!

  BUG-GOO, WHERE ARE YOU?

  The monster’s green legs seemed to go up forever. Way, way up, its front legs were folded.

  At the top, its head was the shape of an upside-down triangle. Huge green eyes seemed to be staring down at them.

  “It looks like those pictures of aliens,” whispered Judy.

  meep … “Praying mantis!” squeaked Thudd. “Praying mantis eat bugs. Even eat lizard!”

  The mantis slowly raised a rear leg.

  Judy shivered. “We’re not big enough for a praying mantis snack,” she said. “But it could stomp us like a Tyrannosaurus.”

  “If only I had some Bug-Goo,” said Andrew, digging through his shirt pockets.

  “Bug-Goo!” said Judy. “Sounds like one of your stupid inventions. It better be bug repellent!”

  Andrew looked away. “Um, actually, it smells like pizza to bugs,” he said. “They’ll come from miles away to get it.”

  “Super nutso!” said Judy. “You want the praying mantis to come and get us?”

  Andrew unzipped a pocket on the leg of his shorts. Nothing was there. But at the back of that pocket was another pocket. Andrew felt a little lump. He pulled out a tiny plastic squirt bottle.

  “Watch this,” said Andrew.

  He flipped the lid off the bottle and aimed behind the praying mantis. He gave a quick squeeze. One gloppy green drop of Bug-Goo squirted out toward the shadowy leaves.

  The mantis wagged its head. Its praying legs twitched. Then it turned and lurched toward the Bug-Goo!

  “Look!” said Andrew.

  Overhead, flies and bees and mosquitoes were zooming toward the Bug-Goo. Shiny brown beetles hopped off leaves and trudged toward the Bug-Goo, too.

  Besides the buzzing of the bugs, there was another sound. It was coming from Judy’s yard.

  KAPOCKET … kapocket kapocket KAPOCKETA

  It got louder.

  POCKETA … POCKETA POCKETA

  “What’s that weird noise?” asked Judy.

  “Uh-oh,” said Andrew.

  Judy glared at Andrew. “‘Uh-oh’ is not a good answer,” she said.

  “It could be the Atom Sucker,” said Andrew. “Um, it might mean it’s getting kind of hot.”

  Kraaaack!

  The screen door slammed. Mrs. Scuttle’s giant feet clomped toward them in flip-flops.

  Andrew and Judy looked up to see Mrs. Scuttle towing a bunch of colored balloons. A white banner trailed from her hand.

  She went over to the fence and tied the balloons to it. She hung the banner between two trees. Big red letters said: HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY BOOT-A-PEST.

  “Boot-a-Pest” was the name of Mrs. Scuttle’s business. Boot-a-Pest got rid of bugs and anything else people didn’t want living in their houses.

  Mrs. Scuttle stepped back to take a look at her decorations. “Lovely!” she said. “This has been a terrible day, but I shall have a perfect garden party.”

  She turned around and clomped back toward the kitchen door. One of her flip-flops almost flapped onto Andrew and Judy and Thudd!

  Judy pointed to a leaf farther away from the path. “Let’s climb onto that leaf before Mrs. Scuttle stomps us.”

  To get to the leaf, they had to climb over chunks of dirt the size of doghouses.

  Dirt creatures tried to suck their feet. And the ground was a junkyard of other weird stuff.

  Andrew stopped in front of something that looked like a piece of an orange wall. It was covered with scales, like the skin of a fish.

  meep … “Butterfly wing,” said Thudd, pointing to his face screen. “Bright orange color tell birds, ‘Don’t eat! Taste bad! Poison!’”

  Andrew was looking toward the top of the
wing when he saw something spinning down through the air. It was enormous! And it was spinning straight toward them!

  “Run!” yelled Andrew.

  BIG GREEN LIPS

  The thing thumped down right in front of them. It was huge and clear and hollow. It looked like a Jell-O mold of a blimp-sized bug!

  meep … “Bug skeleton!” said Thudd.

  Andrew touched it. “Feels like plastic!” he said.

  meep … “Old skeleton from bug called cicada,” said Thudd. “Bug grow. Get too big for skeleton. Grow new one.”

  Judy frowned. “I don’t like the buzz-saw racket cicadas make on hot summer days,” she said. “And these stupid bugs even made me lose a spelling bee!”

  “Huh?” said Andrew.

  Judy rolled her eyes. “I thought cicada started with an 5 because that’s the way it sounds.”

  meep … “Seventeen years ago, lotsa this kinda cicada hatch from eggs,” said Thudd. “Little cicadas dig deep into ground. Stay underground seventeen years! Suck tree roots. One night in June, cicadas crawl out of ground together!”

  “After seventeen years, they all suddenly decide to come up at once?” asked Andrew.

  “Yoop!” said Thudd. “Need safe place to get out of old skeleton. Crawl up tree. This skeleton from cicada that come up early. Million cicadas coming up soon!”

  “When?” asked Judy.

  meep … “Tonight, maybe,” said Thudd.

  Judy shook her head. “So far today, we got snuffled up into a dog’s nose, flushed down a toilet, and nearly melted onto a cheese-and-tomato sandwich. Now we could get trampled by a bug stampede!”

  Kraaaaaack!

  Mrs. Scuttle stomped out of the kitchen carrying a big white platter heaped high with sandwiches.

  “Quick!” said Judy. “Get onto the leaf!”

  The enormous leaf was touching the ground. Still, climbing onto it was like climbing a cliff.