9 Eggbeaters, Aardvarks, and Abraham Lincoln

Chapter 9 EGGBEATERS, AARDVARKS, AND ABRAHAM LINCOLN Uncle Al's eyes lit up. "You must be in the part of my brain that gets smell messages!" he said. "When you smell something, your nose sends a signal to the part of your brain that deals with smell messages. "You're messing around in the smelling part of my brain. My brain thinks it's getting signals from my nose." "Sorry about the smell, Uncle Al," said Andrew, climbing through the nerve cells. Uncle Al rubbed his eyes. "I'm seeing stars!" he said.

"You're stomping around at the back of my brain. The part that gets signals from my eyes. "But this means that you're going in the wrong direction. Thudd, are you okay?" zleep… "Knock, knock…," said Thudd. Andrew pressed Thudd's reset button before he could say another word. "Oops! Oops! Oops!" said Thudd. "Thudd make boo-boo. But Thudd know right way." He pointed left. "I hope you're right," said Andrew. "Because I can feel myself growing. We'll wreck Uncle Al's brain if we get much bigger."

Andrew and Judy took a left and continued creeping through the tangle of Uncle Al's brain. Uncle Al's hologram looked away. "Hammer, pliers, monkey wrench," he said. "Drill, scissors, eggbeater…" Judy rolled her eyes. "You're not making any sense, Uncle Al," she said. Uncle Al smiled. "That's because you're trekking through the part of my brain that stores the names of tools," he said. "Strange-a-mundo!" said Judy. They trekked on, slipping and sliding along Uncle Al's nerve cells. "Crocodile, aardvark, rhinoceros beetle, giant squid," said Uncle Al. "Tyrannosaurus, bald eagle, humu humu nuku nuku apu ah ah fish." "Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "We must have crawled into the part of your brain that stores the names of animals!" "Right!" said Uncle Al. Andrew and Judy pushed on.

"Abraham Lincoln, Chief Sitting Bull, J. K. Rowling, Queen Elizabeth, King Tut, Judy Dubble," chanted Uncle Al. "The part of the brain for people's names!" said Andrew. Uncle Al smiled. "That means you're going in the right direction," he said. "Good work, Thudd." "Thunkoo," said Thudd. "Ha ha ha!" Uncle Al laughed. "Hoo hoo!" "What's so funny?" asked Judy. "I feel like I'm being tickled," said Uncle Al. "Hee hee hee! But you're on track. Keep going! Hoo hoo!" "Bluck!" blurted Uncle Al. His face scrunched up like a wad of paper. "What's happening, Uncle Al?" asked Andrew. "My mouth tastes like an old boot," said Uncle Al. "You're in the taste area of my brain. Ah! You must have moved. Now I'm tasting pepperoni pizza! Wish you could stay there for a while."

Thudd pointed up. Andrew and Judy pulled themselves higher. Uncle Al chuckled. "Now I'm hearing, um, a rude sound and a toilet flushing," he said. "Thudd, you're doing great work! You're in the part of my brain that gets sound messages from my ears." "Thunkoo, Unkie!" said Thudd. "Now you need to find the big nerve that leads to my ear." Thudd looked around till he found a thick tangle of brain cells. meep… "Big nerve!" he said. "This way!" As they crept along, Andrew's backbone began to feel stretchy. "I'm growing again," he said. "Me too," said Judy. meep… "Thudd too!" squeaked Thudd. As Andrew groped his way through the thick, soft clutter of brain cells, he found himself in a space that seemed to be filled with red pudding. He banged his head into something hard.

"What's this?" said Andrew. "Everything else inside Uncle Al is squishy!" meep… "Nerve going through skull bone now," said Thudd. "This can't be bone," said Judy. "It's full of holes! Bone is solid and hard!" Uncle Al shook his head. "Parts of bones are solid and hard," he said. "But some bones, like skulls, have hard bone on the outside and spongy