2 Attack of the Big Eaters

Chapte 2 ATTACK OF THE BIG EATERS Andrew tumbled over and over into warm, dark wetness. He reached for the mini-flashlight that he always kept on his belt loop. The batteries are just about dead, he thought. But I'll give it a try. He clicked the switch. The light went on— and it was bright! Maybe the batteries got recharged when we got shocked by the electrical fish, he thought. By the light, Andrew saw he was in a tight, twisty tube. He bounced against rubbery walls as a fast-flowing, chicken-soup-colored river dragged him along.

Uh-oh, thought Andrew. We must be in a capillary. The rushing stream was stuffed with round red things that looked like doughnuts without holes. The doughnut-y shapes were as big as Andrew. They felt like Jell-O when he was squeezed against them. Andrew and Judy got sandwiched between two of the squishy things. These must be red blood cells! thought Andrew. The guys that carry oxygen from our lungs.

Andrew had been holding his breath as he bumped and tumbled through the tube. He felt he would burst if he didn't breathe now. I designed the Schnozzle's mustache to get oxygen from water, he thought. I sure hope it can get oxygen from blood, too. Andrew took a small breath through the Schnozzle nose. Yay! he thought. The mustache picks up oxygen from blood. I can breathe! Now let's see if the thought-phones work. From a pocket, Andrew pulled two tiny wire spirals and slipped them over Thudd's antennas. Thudd! Judy! Can you hear me? thought Andrew. "Yoop! Yoop! Yoop!" came Thudd's voice through the Schnozzle's earpieces. "You've really done it this time, Bug-Brain!" came Judy's voice. "Super-duper pooper-scooper!" Andrew said in his head. "You can hear me!"

All he had to do was think and the Schnozzle's earpieces would send out his thoughts. And he could pick up the thoughts of others, too. As Andrew tumbled through the river of blood, he turned up a tip of his shirt collar and unzipped a secret pocket. He pulled out what looked like a piece of rubber band with a black rubber cup at each end. It was the Drastic Elastic, one of Uncle Al's inventions. It could keep anything connected to anything. Andrew pressed one of the cups against the back of his neck. It stuck. He tossed the other cup to Judy, who was just behind him. "Shove the Drastic Elastic cup against the back of your neck, Judy," he said. "It'll keep us from getting separated. No matter where we are, pulling on the Drastic Elastic will snap us back together." Andrew tied Thudd to the Drastic Elastic, too. "Oh, great!" said Judy. "If we ever get out of Uncle Al, I'm going to invent something that will keep us apart!

"How on earth did you manage to get us into Uncle Al?" meep… "Mosquito squirt us inside," said Thudd. "Mosquito got two tubes inside snout. One tube squirt spit into bite. Mosquito spit make animal not feel mosquito bite. Then other snout tube suck up blood. Female mosquito need blood for babies. Male mosquitoes not bite." "This stuff we're in doesn't even look like blood," said Andrew. "It's yellow." meep… "Yellow stuff called plasma," said Thudd. "Plasma kinda like river that carry red blood cells. Plasma carry food to body, too. Carry bad stuff away." "How do we get it to carry us out of— Aaack!" Judy hollered. "Something just landed in my hair!" Andrew felt something plop onto his head, too. Long, twisty spirals dangled over his eyes like wet pasta. A few of them sped off into Uncle Al's blood.

meep… "Bacteria!" squeaked Thudd. "Germs! Can make Unkie sick, sick, sick!" Suddenly a giant white blob covered with shaggy tentacles squooshed through a slit in the capillary. The blob was bigger than the red blood cells. It squashed Andrew and Judy against the side of the rubbery capillary wall. "Oh NOOOOO!" hollered Judy. "It's horrible!" meep… "White blood cell," said Thudd. "Called macrophage. Macrophage mean 'big eater.' White blood cell eat up lotsa germs." The tentacles swarmed over Andrew in the tight capillary. They were touching his cheeks and