7 Ch7-It's Alive!

Chapter 7 It's Alive! Ms. Krup led us to a room with a sign over the door that said IT'S ALIVE! We went inside and saw lots of animals in cages: snakes, tortoises, South American poison dart frogs, and a blue-tongued skink. They were awesome. "These animal friends help us teach people about conservation and the environment," Ms. Krup told us. "They also help us learn to respect wildlife." Ms. Krup led us into another room that was really cool because there were butterflies all over the place. "Look! A Giant Swallowtail!" Ms. Krup said. "And there's a California Dogface! We have thirty different species. In here the butterflies are free." "Great!" I said. "I'll take ten of them." "That means they're free to fly wherever they want, Arlo," said Andrea, rolling her eyes. "I knew that," I lied Bummer. I thought they were giving butterflies away. Next, Ms. Krup took us to the Creepy Critters Room. She was all excited, running from cage to cage to tell us about the Giant Desert Hairy Scorpion, the Funnel-web Spider, the velvet ant, and the Mexican Red Knee Tarantula. They were gross, but cool. I kept an eye on Mr. Docker, to see if he was going to eat any of the bugs.

"Eighty percent of the earth's living creatures are insects," Ms. Krup told us. "So you're in good company, Arlo," Andrea said. I was going to say something mean back to Andrea, but I didn't get the chance because Ms. Krup pulled this disgusting brown thing with wings out of a cage and held it up for us to see. It was about four inches long. "This is General Muffin," she said. "He's a very rare hissing cockroach from Madagascar." "WOW!" we all said, which is "MOM" upside-down. Ms. Krup told us that most cockroaches have eighteen knees. And they can live for a week after their head is cut off. "What do they eat?" asked Emily. "They eat girls named Emily," I said, and everybody laughed. Well, except for Emily. "Cockroaches will eat almost anything," Ms. Krup said. "General Muffin even likes to eat candy." "Why is he called a hissing cockroach?" asked Andrea, who has to know

everything. "Because General Muffin can hiss by pushing air through a hole in his tummy," said Ms. Krup. "Make him hiss!" we all chanted. "Make him hiss!" "The general only hisses when he's disturbed," said Ms. Krup. "But he's so used to being handled that he hardly ever hisses. Would anyone like to hold General Muffin?" "No way!" we all shouted. "Psssst! A.J.!" Michael whispered. "I dare you to hold the cockroach." "Forget it," I said. "I'm not touching that thing!" "A.J., if you don't hold the cockroach, it means you love Andrea." "WHAT?" I said. I didn't see what holding a cockroach had to do with Andrea, except that they were both gross. I sure didn't want to hold a disgusting cockroach. But I didn't want anybody to think I loved Andrea, either. I was faced with the hardest decision of my life. If I didn't hold the cockroach, the guys would think I loved Andrea. But if I held the cockroach, then... well, I would have to hold a disgusting cockroach! I couldn't decide what to do. I thought so hard that my brain hurt. "I'll hold it," I finally said. Everybody cheered. Ms. Krup told me to put my palm out flat. Then she placed General Muffin on it. Ew! Yuck! There was a giant hissing cockroach sitting on my hand! I thought I was gonna throw up.

And that's when the most amazing thing in the history of the world happened. General Muffin jumped off my hand!