12 A Big Bat-tle

Chapter 12 A BIG BAT-TLE "Looks like a blond guy and a girl with long brown hair," said Judy, peering into the hole. "They can get us out of here!" Andrew got down on all fours and leaned over the edge. Judy knelt next to him. "Looks like the guy is putting something into a plastic bag," she said. "I can hear them talking." "This is exciting!" the guy said. "What is it, Cody?" asked the girl. "A newspaper from July 20, l969," said Cody. "Neil Armstrong Walks on the Moon." "My gosh!" said the girl. "Imagine reading a newspaper from so long ago." meep… "When paper get buried," said Thudd, "take long time to get eaten by worms and stuff. Long time to turn into good dirt.

"Plastic worse. Plastic last forever. Nothing eat plastic to make dirt." Down in the hole, Cody was asking Hannah a question. "What's the most interesting thing that you found, Hannah?" he said. Hannah held up a strange-looking container. "This whale-oil lamp," she said. "It's from about 1880. Imagine eating dinner or reading books by the light of burning whale fat." Cody nodded. "Garbage dumps are history books," he said. "You can tell a lot about the way people lived from the stuff they threw away." "This place has been used as a dump for hundreds of years," said Hannah. "If we had more time to dig, I'll bet we'd find arrowheads and stone tools."

"We'll never know," said Cody. "They'll begin to bulldoze the dump tomorrow. Then they'll cover it with clean dirt and grass." Hannah shook her head. "It's hard to believe they're turning the dump into a park!"

"Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "We're going to get bulldozed and buried!" "The new landfill will be cleaner than this dump," Hannah was saying. "But it's going to use up a tremendous amount of land. And they're building it close to the school, too." The sun was quickly sinking into a bright pink and orange glow. Cody looked up. "It'll be dark soon," he said. "Let's pack our backpacks and get out of here." Andrew looked Judy in the eye. "This is dangerous," he said. "But we don't have a choice. As Cody and Hannah come up the ladder, we jump onto one of their backpacks." "What if we miss when we jump?" Judy asked. "We'll be lost in that hole and never get out." The racket of the day was changing into the noises of the night—quieter noises, spookier noises. "My hands are still super-sticky from the slug slime," said Andrew. "I'll stick to whatever I touch. Wrap your arms around my waist. We'll

jump together and I'll grab on to Cody or Hannah when they come up." It was getting dark. Colors were fading to black and white. Most of the seagulls were gone. But a flurry of small, dark shapes were darting and diving in the sky. meep… "Bats!" "Eeeuw!" Judy shuddered. "We'll never make it through the night here." "Okay," said Andrew. "Jump when I say 'Go.'" Cody climbed so quickly that he was out of the hole before they were ready. "Oh no!" said Judy. "We have one more chance," said Andrew. Hannah was climbing up. Judy leaned over to get a better look. Andrew lost his balance, and they toppled into the hole! "Errrgh!" hollered Andrew as they tumbled down and down. "Aaaaaack!" screamed Judy.

Booof! Andrew felt himself sinking into something as soft as a feather pillow but stringy. "We've landed in Hannah's hair!" he said. Hannah stopped climbing. Her brown hair ruffled and separated into strands. Fingertips were rushing toward them! "Super-duper pooper-scooper!" yelled Andrew. "She feels us! She'll find us! We're saved! I can even get back in time to win the Young Inventors Contest!" Hannah's slender fingers combed through her long, soft hair. "Oook! Bugs!" she said as Andrew got poked in the stomach by her pink fingernail. Andrew and Judy were caught between her fingers! They were getting swept away! "Help us, Hannah!" they screamed, but she couldn't hear them. She flicked her fingers, flinging Andrew and Judy into the air.