11 Taking the Wrong Tern

Chapter 11 TAKING THE WRONG TERN "We made it!" cheered Andrew. "I don't believe it!" said Judy. "Thudd was right!" "Thunkoo, Oody" said Thudd. His face screen turned pink. Andrew used the bug leg to keep the boat from smacking into boulders. With the light from the cave opening, they didn't need the torch anymore. Judy dunked it in the river and used it to push them away from the rocks.

At last they swirled through the opening of the cave. The light was so bright, it hurt their eyes. "Where are we?" said Judy, blinking at the land around them. On both sides of the river stretched fields of weeds. In the distance was a pine tree forest. "I saw a rusty plow on the riverbank," said Andrew. "Maybe this is a farm. Maybe we can find someone who can get us back to school. But first we have to get to the river-bank." "There's lots of weeds hanging into the water," said Judy. "If we get near them, we can grab on and pull ourselves to shore." Andrew and Judy used their bug legs like hooks. "Got one!" said Judy. Her bug leg had caught on a vine trailing in the current. "Yay, Oody!" said Thudd. "Super-duper pooper-scooper!" said Andrew. As Judy held the boat in place, Andrew climbed onto the vine and pulled himself to-ward the

shore. Judy climbed out and followed. The bug boat took off down the river. In a minute, Andrew and Judy arrived onshore at the end of the vine. "Woofers!" said Andrew, leaning against a big brown lump. It was hard, but not as hard as a rock, and the vine was growing out of it. "I landed on a potato!" said Andrew. "I see one of its eyes!" "Who cares about your stupid potato, Bug- Brain," said Judy. "We're in a field. There are mice in fields—and snakes. We could get eaten. We need to get out of here—fast." "I know how to make a battery out of a potato!" said Andrew. "If we had some electricity, maybe I could get us back to normal size! Or at least a little bigger. We'd be able to get back to school and get totally unshrunk! "Do you have anything that's made out of metal, Judy?" "Maybe some hairpins," said Judy, running her fingers through her soggy, tangled hair. She pulled

out six hairpins and a hair clip and handed them to Andrew. A shadow darkened the ground. Andrew looked up to see the white underside of a bird overhead. It was flying low and unsteadily. "That bird is coming in for a landing," said Andrew. "Hide!" said Judy. "Birds eat bugs, and we're looking awfully buggy!" meep… "Hide in skunk cabbage," said Thudd, pointing to a strange plant behind Judy. Its single reddish leaf was twisted into a round tent shape. There was a slit on its side. "Pee-yew!" said Judy as they rushed toward the skunk cabbage. They crept inside the slit. "It's warm here!" said Andrew. "Yoop! Yoop! Yoop!" said Thudd. "Plant make heat."

They peeked out of the slit. The bird landed on the edge of the river and began to drink. A long feather drooped from one of its wings. meep… "Bird is arctic tern," said Thudd. "Arctic tern make long, long flight, from North Pole to South Pole and then back again, every year. Called migration. "Most time, arctic tern not stop between Arctic and Antarctic. This bird got problem with flight feather."

The bird finished drinking. It hopped into the air, flapped its wings—and fell back to the ground. Then it walked toward a patch of grass and tucked its head under a wing. "Aw," said Judy. "The poor thing. I wonder if we can help." meep… "Maybe if feather get stuck back in place," said Thudd. "Let's sneak up and see what we can do," said Judy. They left the skunk cabbage and crept up to the bird. It didn't seem to notice them. "Let's climb up on the wing," said Judy. "Maybe we can tuck the feather in place with my hairpins." "Let's try it," said Andrew. They climbed onto the wing and crept among the feathers. Andrew tugged at the long, heavy flight feather but hardly moved it. "Give me a hand here, Judy," he said. She grabbed the feather, too.