10 An Ear-ly Landing

Chapter 10 AN EAR-LY LANDING Uncle Al rubbed his chin. "I had thought you could slip through the cells in my eardrum. The eardrum is just a thin piece of skin. But you're much too big for that now." Andrew looked around the ear cave. His light fell on a round opening near his feet. He leaned down to look into the hole, but all he could see was a dark tunnel. "There's a hole under the ear bones," said Andrew. "It's big enough for us to squeeze into." meep… "Eustachian tube," said Thudd. "Connect ear to back of nose."

Uncle Al smiled. "You guys can slip into the Eustachian tube and get to the back of my nose," he said. "From there, you can crawl down through my nose and out!" "Eeeew!" said Judy. "Okey-dokey, Unkie," said Thudd. "Let's go!" said Andrew. He slipped into the Eustachian tube and Judy followed. The way down was steep and tight and damp. As Andrew slid down, the tube got tighter and tighter. He had to push himself through. I'm growing fast, he thought.

Andrew plopped onto a gooey, slippery shelf in a dark cave much larger than the inside of Uncle Al's ear. meep… "Drewd at back of Unkie's nose now," said Thudd. "Lotsa nose goo here, called mucus." Andrew felt something moving him backward. Below him, under the goo, he could make out a carpet of tiny, waving hairs. They were working like a slimy conveyor belt, dragging him to the back of Uncle Al's nose.

"What's moving me?" asked Andrew. meep… "Little hairs under mucus called cilia," said Thudd. "Mucus catch dirt. Catch germs. Cilia move mucus from back of nose to back of throat. Then mucus get swallowed." "Whoa!" Judy came sliding down and landed on a shelf-like place below Andrew "I'm soaked in Uncle Al's nose goo!" said Judy. A strong wind whipped by them, dragging them backward through the goo. And in a second, the

wind changed direction and nearly yanked them down from their slimy shelves. "It's Uncle Al breathing," said Andrew. Uncle Al's eyes squeezed shut and his mouth opened. "Uh-oh," he said. "You're tick-link the back of my nose. Ahm tryink not to shneeze." Eek! squeaked Thudd. "Sneeze can go two hundred miles an hour. Fast as winds of hurricane! Fast as winds of tornado!" Uncle Al's face was getting redder. His eyes were bulging. His cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk storing nuts for the winter. "AHH… AHHH… AHHHH…" —Uncle Al looked as though he was about to explode— "CHOOOOOOOOOO!"

Suddenly Andrew and Judy were flying through space like Superman and Super-woman. "Yeoooow!" hollered Andrew. His stomach flip- flopped as he zoomed through the air. Everything was a blur. He whammed into something soft and bounced away. He waved his arms to grab whatever he could. He caught something and hung on. Andrew was hanging down into empty space and seeing double. He was dizzy from the flying and falling and flip-flopping. But he had a grip on something soft and tan.