5 We Just Ate WHAT

Chapter 5 WE JUST ATE WHAT? "Here I come, Judy!" yelled Andrew. Grabbing on to ferns and mosses, he lowered himself down the tree trunk. "Umf! Ack! Ugh!" came the sounds of Judy's struggle. meep… "Oody fall into ant-house plant!" squeaked Thudd. "Ant-house plant got big, fat thorny stem. Ants live inside. Make lotsa tunnels inside stem. Make tunnels for baby ants. Make tunnels for garbage. "Ants get place to live. Plant get food from ant garbage. Ants happy. Plant happy." "Judy's sure not happy," said Andrew. By the time Andrew made his way through the tall thorns of the ant-house plant, Judy was just pulling herself out of the hole.

"Whew!" she sighed, mopping strands of frizzy hair away from her face. meep… "Drewd and Oody go rest on branch for little bit," said Thudd. "Thudd get treat." "Treat?" asked Judy. "Everything here is nasty." She and Andrew stepped carefully through the sword-like spines and crept toward the tree trunk. meep… "Put Thudd down, please, Drewd," said Thudd. "Drewd and Oody close eyes." "Oh, all right," said Judy, finding a velvety patch of moss to stretch out on. Before long, Thudd came back. He was dragging two leaf pieces. In the middle of each piece was a spot of wetness. meep… "Treat ready!" said Thudd. He handed a piece of leaf to Andrew and a piece to Judy. "Lick leaf!" Andrew held the wet spot up to his nose. "Hmmmm…," he mused. "This reminds me of something. Candy. Some kind of candy." He licked the leaf.

"Super-duper pooper-scooper!" Andrew cheered. "This stuff is delicious! Tastes like fizzy lime!" "What is this stuff?" asked Judy, sniffing her leaf. meep… "Oody taste," said Thudd. "Humph," said Judy. She touched the wet spot with the tip of her tongue. "YUM!" she said, beaming Thudd a big smile. "Now you have to tell us what it is." Thudd pinched his way up Andrew's shirt and crept back into his pocket. Then he pointed to a shiny green insect skittering along the branch. meep… "Green ant," said Thudd. "Butt of green ant got powerful lime taste. People in rain forest lick butt of green ant cuz it taste good, good, good!" Judy's face went white. "Blurgh!" She spit out what was in her mouth, then she kept spitting. Andrew grinned. "Aw, come on, Judy," he said. "It tasted great, even if it did come from an ant's butt."

Judy wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "If you ever do anything like that again, Thudd, I'm going to take out your batteries and throw them away!" Suddenly Thudd's purple button started to blink again. It popped open and the hologram of Uncle Al appeared. He was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of an iguana on it. "Hey there!" said Uncle Al with a big smile. "Sorry it took so long to get your message."

"Hey, Uncle Al!" said Andrew. "Hiya, Unkie!" said Thudd. "We're up a stupid tree, Uncle Al," said Judy. "You've got to get us out of here!"

Uncle Al's eyebrows went up. "You guys are great climbers," he said. "I'm surprised you can't get down by yourselves. But I'll be right over. Where are you?" When Uncle Al visited Andrew and Judy by using his Hologram Helper, he could hear them but not see them. "In the Australian rain forest," said Judy. "Good golly, Miss Molly!" exclaimed Uncle Al. His eyebrows came together. "How did that happen?" "It's a long story," said Andrew. "But—" "It doesn't matter how we got here," Judy interrupted. "All that matters is getting out before we get eaten by beetles or birds or something." "The Australian rain forest is a dangerous place," said Uncle Al, "but you don't have to worry about beetles and birds." "Um, that's not exactly true," said Andrew. "We, uh, got ourselves shrunk by the Goa Constrictor I built to shrink garbage. Now we're the size of small beetles."