3 You’d Have to Be Awfully Thirsty to Drink That

Chapter 3 YOU'D HAVE TO BE AWFULLY THIRSTY TO DRINK THAT "Androooooo!" hollered Judy. She grabbed on to Andrew's feet and pulled. Andrew looked up at a pair of huge, toothy pliers—open wide! "Bug jaws!" hollered Andrew. meep… "Katydid!" said Thudd. "Kinda big grasshopper. Eat leaves. Eat bugs! "Katydid got good camouflage. Hide in bush. Look like twig. Wait for prey." "It could bite my head off with one chomp!" said Andrew. His heart was beating like a bongo

drum. Frantically he tried to pry the katydid's stiff legs off of his chest. The katydid was dragging him up into the bush. meep… "Katydid hide from birds," said Thudd. Plump… Plop… Ploop… The sound was coming from the puddle. Andrew craned his neck to look. The puddle was bubbling! Two big black eyes the size of marbles popped out of the puddle. They stared unblinkingly in Andrew's direction. The creature slowly crept toward the edge of the puddle. Its body looked like a round, puffy brown cushion.

Mwaaah… mwaaah… mwaaah… meep… "Water-holding frog!" squeaked Thudd. "Drink lotsa water when rain come to desert. Then dig tunnel underground. Make cocoon out of old skin. Can stay underground for five years! Come up when rain come again. "Sometime thirsty humans dig up water-holding frog. Stick frog butt in mouth and squeeze. Out come water." "Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!" gagged Judy dangling from Andrew's feet. "I wouldn't drink water from a frog butt if I was dying of thirst!" "Frogs eat bugs," said Andrew as the katydid dragged him higher up the bush—and closer to its jaws. "And that frog must be really hungry if it's been underground for five years." "You're going to get eaten by a stupid bug!" hollered Judy. "And I'm going to get eaten by a dumb frog! This is all your fault, Bug-Brain!" meep… "Got idea!" squeaked Thudd. "Remember when Drewd fight off beetle in bat cave? Katydids and crickets not like garlic. Drewd

got garlic breath. Gotta blow garlic breath on katydid knees." "On its knees?" said Judy. meep… "Katydid smell with knees," said Thudd. "Blow on them?" said Andrew. "I can do better than that!" Andrew leaned close to one of the prickly legs that had him in its grip. "URRRRRP!" Up came a giant burp of garlic breath. Suddenly the insect pulled its sharp spines out of Andrew's ribs. He and Judy were falling! Splop!

Andrew and Judy splashed down into a smaller puddle. Splat! The fat frog jumped out of the mud toward the bush. In one flick of the frog's tongue, the katydid disappeared. Mwaaah… mwaaah… mwaaah… The frog hopped into a nearby patch of grass. He stopped to munch, then disappeared behind a pile of stones. "Woofers!" said Andrew, scooping mud off his pants. "Let's look for a safer place to stay." Just then, the purple button in the middle of Thudd's chest began to blink. It popped open and a beam of purple light zoomed out. At the end of the beam was a pale purple hologram of Uncle Al. "Hi, Uncle Al!" shouted Andrew. "Hiya, Unkie!" squeaked Thudd. "Where are you, Uncle Al?" hollered Judy.

"What's important is where are you?" said Uncle Al. When Uncle Al visited Andrew and Judy by using his Hologram Helper, he could hear them but not see them. "I don't know," said Judy, "but we almost got eaten by a katydid. Then we almost got eaten by a frog." Uncle Al's fuzzy eyebrows met in the middle of his forehead. "Good golly, Miss Molly!" he exclaimed. "I'd better find you before you almost get eaten by something else! Are you near anything big?" "We can see a giant wall of rock," said Andrew. "But it's awfully far away." "That must be Uluru," said Uncle Al. "It's the highest spot in this desert. "It's such a beautiful place that people come to see it. There are hotels and restaurants. We can meet there." "But how can we get there?" asked Judy. "It's far away and we're the size of ants!"