10. A Big Mistake

CHAPTER 10 A BIG MISTAKE George and Harold sat together in the detention room, reading through their newest comic book and beaming proudly. "We've got to go to the office and make copies of this," said George, "so we can sell them on the playground tomorrow." "We can't," said Harold. "Don't you remember? Mr. Krupp said he'd suspend us if he caught us leaving this room!" "Then we won't let him catch us," said George.

George and Harold sneaked out of the room quietly and crawled down the hall to the office. "Uh-oh," said Harold. "There's a bunch of teachers in there. We'll never get to use the copy machine." "Hmmm," said George. "Are there any other copy machines in this school?" "How about the one that Melvin had in the gym?" asked Harold. "Oh, yeah," said George.

George and Harold crept over to the gym and found the PATSY 2000. "I wonder if this machine still makes copies," said Harold. "Melvin did say that he had made some adjustments to it." "Oh, he probably just crammed a mouse in there to fool us," said George. "It's the oldest trick in the book. I'm sure the machine still makes regular copies." George placed the cover of their new comic book facedown on the glass screen and pressed "Start."

All at once, the lights in the whole school dimmed, and the PATSY 2000 began to shake and clunk around wildly. Giant volts of static electricity zapped out the bottom of the machine as a great whirlwind rose from the top. Loose papers and other small objects in the room were sucked into the wind, and they spun above the machine like a raging cyclone. "I don't think it's supposed to do this!" shouted George over the horrible noise.

Finally, after a series of flashes and loud zaps, the noise, wind, and sparks stopped altogether. The only sound that could be heard was of something groaning and clawing about inside the bloated, battered frame of the PATSY 2000. "It sounds like something's alive inside there," said Harold. George snatched the comic book from the top of the machine. "Let's get out of here!" he cried.

Just then, a small ding was heard, and a full-sized, shiny white toilet emerged from the side of the PATSY 2000. Its teeth were sharp and jagged, and its angry eyeballs glowed with red, swelling veins. "YUM, YUM, EAT 'EM UP!" cried the evil toilet. Almost immediately, another talking toilet emerged, followed by another and another and another. "YUM, YUM, EAT 'EM UP!" they cried. "Oh, NO! Melvin was RIGHT!!! The Photo-Atomic Trans-Somgobulating Yectofantriplutoniczanziptomiser really DOES create living, breathing, three- dimensional copies of two-dimensional images!" Harold cried convolutedly. "I've got an idea," said George. "What?" asked Harold. "RUN!" cried George.