10 The Biggest Problem Is Getting Smaller

Chapter 10 THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IS GETTING SMALLER… meep… "Ghost mushrooms!" squeaked Thudd. "I never thought I'd be so happy to see a fungus," said Judy. They picked their way through the darkness toward the little lights. The ghost mushrooms surrounded a huge tree trunk like a necklace. The cap at the top of each mushroom looked like a glowing, pale green parachute.

Judy stood under one of the mushrooms. "We're too small to break off chunks of these mushrooms," she said. meep… "Cap of mushroom got lotsa thin, thin sheets underneath," said Thudd. "Sheets called gills. Gills got tiny spores. Spores make baby mushrooms. "Gotta climb up stem of mushroom, pull off gills." Andrew and Judy shinnied up a mushroom stem. The gills were as thin as tissue paper. They were almost as close together as the pages of a book.

Andrew and Judy ripped off bits of the soft, spongy gills and tossed them to the ground. Tiny round spores rained down like twinkling fairy powder. Before long, a circle of glowing shreds surrounded the mushroom. "Okey-dokey!" said Thudd. "Got enough pieces now." Andrew and Judy climbed down the stem and gathered up the bits of mushroom in their arms. The mushroom heaps were bright enough to light their path. Andrew spied a streak of moonlight on water. "The river!" he shouted. meep… "Careful, Drewd!" squeaked Thudd. "Lotsa strange stuff near river. Fish-catching spiders! Toad that spray deadly poison!" "Thanks, Thudd," said Judy. At the riverbank, their feet sank in the squishy mud up to their ankles. They plodded along until they found a little pool of water at the edge of the river.

Andrew placed his pile of mushroom gills on a pebble. From a pants pocket, he pulled a small paper-wrapped square. The wrapper was printed with the word UMBUBBLE. Andrew pulled off the paper, popped the blue square into his mouth, and chewed. He blew a bubble as big as his head. Andrew kept blowing until the Umbubble was bigger than he was, till it was as big as a Ping-Pong ball. "Whew!" Andrew sighed. He rolled the Umbubble onto a leaf. "We'll stick the mushroom pieces on the inside so Uncle Al can see us," said Andrew. Then Andrew rolled the Umbubble to the edge of the water. He found the small hole in the Umbubble where he had blown air into it. He shoved his head through the hole, then his shoulders, then the rest of him. "Hand me all the mushroom pieces, Judy," he said. "And come on in." Judy heaped the shreds in her arms and shoved them through the hole. Then she pushed herself

inside the Umbubble. "Stick the pieces on quickly," said Andrew, "before the Umbubble dries and gets hard." Andrew and Judy worked fast to cover the inside of the Umbubble with the glowing fragments. When they were done, Andrew sealed the Umbubble by pulling the edges of the hole together. "It'll be ready in a few seconds," said Andrew. Judy tapped the Umbubble. "Feels like plastic," she said. "Now we get the Umbubble into the water," said Andrew. "Just walk inside it like a gerbil in a wheel." They walked, and the glowing Umbubble rolled into the little pool. Moonlit ripples of water pulled them away from the dark shapes on the shore. Soon the river current picked them up and raced them away. All of a sudden, the Umbubble came to a stop.

"We must be caught on something," said Andrew. He peered through a space between the mushroom pieces. The Umbubble had washed up against something—something big. "Looks like a log," said Andrew. He squinted. "A log with eyes!" meep… "Platypus!" said Thudd. "A platypus!" said Andrew. "I've always wanted to see a platypus. But I always thought I'd be bigger than the platypus when I saw it." "Platypus!" said Judy, trying to get a good view. "The bizarre-o mammal that has a beak like a duck and lays eggs." meep… "Got beaver tail and webbed feet," said Thudd. "Platypus beak feel electricity from animal muscles. Find prey same way as echidna." "And we're right next to its beak," said Judy. The Umbubble rolled over a wave. On the other side of it was a flying-saucer shape.