4 Going Around in Circles

Chapter 4 GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES Uncle Al rubbed his chin. "Hmmmm…," he murmured. "You guys are in my circulatory system." "Circulatory system!" said Judy. "That means we're going around in circles inside you." Uncle Al nodded. "Blood does go in circles. Very predictable. "Do you have any idea where you are now?" meep… "Blood is dark," said Thudd. "Going back to heart." "Ah!" said Uncle Al. "You're in a capillary headed to a vein now. Veins are the tubes that send blood to the lungs to get oxygen. Arteries are the

tubes that send blood filled with oxygen to the body. "Soon you'll get to my lungs," said Uncle Al. "Then you can crawl out of a capillary, into my lungs, and start climbing up. "You'll get to my windpipe, the air tube that goes from my lungs to my nose. You climb up that and then, uh, crawl into my mouth." "Eeeew!" Judy groaned. "That is soooo disgusting!" Uncle Al chuckled. "Not more disgusting than getting flushed down the toilet, right? You've done that before. "Uh-oh," said Uncle Al. "I'm having a power problem with the… I'll try to… and… back to… "Hang… get to… heart. It… be… rough…" Uncle Al disappeared, except for his lips. They were still moving. But Andrew and Judy couldn't hear a word. Then with a small pop, Uncle Al's lips disappeared.

The narrow capillary was opening into a wider passageway. Red blood cells no longer rushed along in single file. Now crowds of them were tumbling through the chicken-soupy plasma. thumpa… thumpa… thumpa… It was Uncle Al's heart beating. White blood cells rushed like speeding jellyfish among the red cells. A giant white blood cell whammed into Andrew's and Judy's red-blood-cell disguises and flung them apart. "Androooooo!" hollered Judy. Andrew tugged the Drastic Elastic sharply. The next instant, Judy's head banged against Andrew's.

"Youch!" hollered Judy. "See?" said Andrew. "All I have to do is give the Drastic Elastic a big jerk." "You're the big jerk, Bug-Brain!" said Judy, rubbing her head. thumpa… thumpa… thumpa… thumpa… THUMPA… Now Andrew didn't just hear the sound, he could feel it pounding like a drum. "Uncle Al's heartbeat sounds really loud," said Andrew. "We must be getting close to his heart." The blood river sped them along. Through the plasma and red blood cells, Andrew thought he saw giant pink tent flaps! They sprung open. Then they instantly slammed shut. meep… "Flaps called heart valve," said Thudd. "Heart valve let blood into heart." "What makes them open and close?" asked Andrew. meep… "Electric signal," said Thudd. "Kinda like electric signal open garage door."

The next second, the heart flaps opened again. Andrew and Judy were sucked into a huge dark cave. meep… "Inside heart now!" said Thudd. Bzzzzzzzt… A powerful tingle zipped from Andrew's head to his toes. "Oofers!" he yelled. "I got an electric shock!" meep… "Electricity come from Unkie Al's heart," said Thudd. "Part of heart called pacemaker. Pacemaker send electric signal to open heart valve. Send signal to make heart beat." "We got shrunk by an electric shock," said Andrew. "If this shock makes us any smaller, we'll totally disappear!"